Chains of Darkness (Men in Chains 2)

She pushed herself to a sitting position. “What is that?”

“Restraints. Though I’ll be stable for a while, maybe even a few hours, the recovery from blood-madness takes time, and I’ll probably spiral out of control at some point. The bindings will be necessary at least once during the process. But Rumy told you this, right, or some version of it?”

“Sort of. I think he didn’t want to weigh me down with too many details.”

He glanced at her. “So your name is Claire. What did you do before you were abducted? I mean, who are you? Where did you come from?”

“Santa Fe in New Mexico. Do you know it?”

“Sure. What was your life like there?”

“Well, my family has lived in the area for three generations. I had my own place, of course, but my mom and dad were only a couple of miles from my apartment. My brothers are eighteen and twenty-one now. When Rumy brought me here I went on the Internet and found that they’re all doing well. Both the boys are in college.” She repressed a sigh. She didn’t mind sharing the details, but the conversation was reminding her way too much of her family and how much she missed them. She couldn’t imagine how hard her sudden disappearance had been on everyone.

Lucian watched her closely. “And what about your friend, Zoey, were you always close?”

She chuckled, though her throat had started to ache. “More like sisters. We grew up together. Lived on the same street. We even roomed in college. But we’re so different, I mean even physically, she’s shorter and has black hair, blue eyes. And she has a totally wicked sense of humor. She had really long fingernails though, with jewels on them.” When tears touched her eyes, she cleared her throat and changed the subject. “She majored in economics and worked for an investment firm.”

“And you?”

“I have a master’s in social work. Before being taken out of that club in Santa Fe, I worked with ex-prostitutes, not an easy job.”

He frowned. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be.”

She found it a lot easier to talk about her work rather than either her family or Zoey.

She added, “Prostitution is rarely a first choice for these women. Most of them suffered horrendous childhoods before they entered the profession, so trying to extract them from that kind of work involved treating two layers of dysfunction at the same time.”

“We have a similar problem in our world, especially working with the sex slaves we recover. There’s always a lot of damage.”

She watched his gaze slide to the floor and his jaw flex a couple of times. “What are you thinking about?—because the chains tell me you’re really upset. Of course, I can see it as well. What’s wrong?”

He met her gaze. “I’m thinking about your friend Zoey and my brothers, what we’ve all been through, including you. Daniel is the author of all this suffering, and I want him dead. You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for Daniel—and then there’s Marius.” He shaded his face for a moment as grief swelled over him. She felt ill as she recalled the event. She closed her eyes and let the moment roll through them both, knowing this wouldn’t be the last time.

When he drew a deep breath and seemed more himself, she asked, “So what exactly is Daniel’s role in your society? I mean, I know that he’s in charge right now, but what does that entail?”

“Daniel set himself up as head of the Ancestral Council and now rules our five governing courts. He has tremendous power as an Ancestral. But he also has great wealth because of the sex-slave operation he’s built. That wealth has bought him many allies, which is part of the reason he succeeded in taking over the Council. Right now he’s damn near invincible.”

“And what’s an Ancestral?”

“It’s the name given to any vampire who achieves a certain level of preternatural power. Only a small portion of our population become Ancestrals, and Daniel’s at the top of that food chain.”

A knock on the door made her jump.

“Are you okay with someone else coming in here?”

Claire glanced at Lucian, almost startled by the question. For some reason, maybe because of the brutality of the situation she’d found him in, she hadn’t expected him to be concerned about her comfort level.

“And now you look surprised. You don’t think me capable of kindness or consideration?”

She met his gaze. “I just thought, given what you’ve been through … I don’t know, you just surprised me.”

He looked away from her, his jaw hardening. She hadn’t meant to offend him, but she could see that she’d touched a nerve. She just wasn’t sure exactly what it was.

Rumy’s voice sounded through the door. “Okay to come in? I brought food.”

“Well?” Lucian asked, but this time his voice had an edge.

“Of course. It’s Rumy. And I’m sorry if I offended you.”

His jaw worked. “You didn’t.”

Right.

“Come,” he called out.

His voice had an authoritative ring. Rumy had told her that Lucian ran a small policing force in their world, protecting as many innocent people as he could from the depredations of Daniel and those aligned with him. Clearly, he was used to command.

Rumy came in, along with wait-staff and a trolley bearing two covered dishes. Her stomach rumbled, partly no doubt because she’d just fed a vampire, but she also hadn’t eaten for several hours.

Rumy glanced at Lucian. “You’re looking better.”

“I feel much better, thanks to Claire.”

* * *

Later, after he and Claire had consumed a simple but savory meal of burgers and fries, Lucian knew the time had come to get down to business.

Rumy had left so that they could eat in peace, especially since the subjects that would soon be under discussion weren’t going to be pleasant. But Lucian now got Rumy on the room’s landline and asked him to rejoin them, to discuss how to proceed with finding out what had happened to Zoey and with locating the weapon.

When Rumy came in, however, he wore a serious scowl.

“What’s wrong?” Lucian offered Rumy his chair, but the short vampire paced instead.

“We’ve just had word that Daniel is offering a big reward to anyone who can give him solid information about the whereabouts of the remaining extinction weapons.”

Lucian’s nostrils flared. “How much is the bastard offering?”