Allegiance (41 page)

“Hours. A day, tops,” Lilly responded, perched on the back of a wing chair like a cat ready to pounce. She turned to regard me. “You should eat and get some rest. You look like hell.”

I responded with a snort.
That’s because I have sickly, jaundiced eyes, Lilly. And I’m giving serious consideration to what it will feel like when I step off the roof of your building after I kill Caden. You’d look like hell too …

“Well, go sleep at least,” Caden answered softly, reaching for my arm. I recoiled like a snake, earning a pained look. I didn’t care. It was better than a dead look. “I’m not tired.” That was a lie. I was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically … exhausted.

Caden sighed. “Maybe if you slept, you’d see Veronique and learn something about Julian.”

Wait a minute …
That thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I had dozed off several times on the plane coming here but I never connected with her. Maybe if I could fall asleep, I could make sure Julian was safe. Maybe this sleep thing was a good idea. Without an answer, I turned and dragged myself toward the stairs.

Wraith was up and shadowing immediately. For once, it didn’t bother me. He was the only one I couldn’t kill once I succumbed to this magic. Heck, we’d be best buddies soon enough. Caden appeared ahead of me without prompting to lead me upstairs, down a long hall, and into a simplistic bedroom with white walls, white curtains, and a simple teak bed. It reminded me of a page from an Ikea catalogue. For what reason Lilly needed a bed, I had no idea. To keep up appearances, perhaps. Whatever. It didn’t matter.

Wraith took to inspecting the closet and walls for secret entrances. After my bathroom disappearing act, he was hypervigilant in ensuring I had no escape routes. It made for a few awkward moments in the plane’s cramped bathroom, but I didn’t bother fighting him anymore. The escape had been worth it a million times over.

Finally satisfied that there was no way for me to sneak off and no way for anyone to sneak in, Wraith stationed himself in a chair near the window.

I crawled under the welcoming white duvet and let my head drop to the pillow, ready to be left alone. Like an animal about to die. That wasn’t going to happen, though. The bed sank as Caden reclined beside me. I immediately scooted away until I was hugging the edge of the bed, near falling off.

I heard his heavy sigh. “Please don’t be like this.”

“Like what? About to kill you, Caden?” I spat back.

“You’re not …”

“Look at my eyes!” I yelled, enunciating each word. Sitting up, I glared at him, my eyes intentionally overextended. “It’s only a matter of time! Everything that’s supposed to happen is happening. Now, I’m … this!” My hands flew out in front of my face. “There’s no way around this, Caden! I’m going to be one of them!”

“You’re still able to touch me, Eve,” he whispered.

“Not for long! Did you know—twice now I’ve done something strange to Amelie to hurt her. Soon, it’ll be permanent!”

Caden pulled himself up to meet my face, his lips and nose only inches away. “Sofie will figure it out,” he growled. “Don’t give up on her.”

I flopped back down on the bed, throwing my arm over my forehead. “I can’t help it.”

“You have to help it. This isn’t you. You don’t give up, Evangeline. Ever! You’re the most resilient person I’ve ever known! To a fault sometimes.”

I sighed. “Maybe I was. I’m not anymore. I can’t do this anymore …”

He paused, moving in to hover over me. His voice turned gentle. “Please don’t give up. For me.” My body tensed as his hand moved to rest on my thigh.
I shouldn’t let this happen … I need to push him away … I need to
. My willpower went toe to toe with my desire and failed miserably. Caden’s hand slowly slipped up along my thigh, over my hip, to my waist. Up and up it slid until his index finger was running along my bottom lip.

“You’re toying with fire, Caden,” I warned breathlessly.
I’m pathetic. I’m weak.

“And I will happily do so if it means being able to do this,” he whispered, leaning forward to touch his lips to mine, stopping my heart altogether. I reveled in the feel for a few moments but eventually couldn’t ignore the eyes tickling the back of my neck.

“I’m not desperate enough for exhibitionism … yet,” I said, jerking my head in Wraith’s direction.

Caden’s light chuckle turned into a groan as his face rested into the curve of my neck. “I can’t wait until he goes away …”

That earned a sniff from me. Wraith was never going away. Not until I died. I bit my tongue, choosing to lay next to Caden in silence instead of reminding him of that.

Someone knocked lightly on the door. “Yeah?” Caden called out.

A timid Lilly poked her head in, a tall glass in her hand. “Warm milk always helped me sleep when I was human,” she murmured with a sheepish smile, reminding me that she was, above all else, still an abused child trapped in a lethal vampire body. I took the glass with a smile of gratitude.

“Mage has Bishop,” she announced, catching my mouth midair before I took my first gulp.

“Seriously? When? How?”

Lilly grinned with pleasure. “She caught him in Labrador, Canada. Not without a battle and, um, a bit of a scene. She’s covered it up, though. They’re on their way here.” The grin disappeared. “I don’t think she’s very happy about us being here. I had to tell her about Veronique, Evangeline. I hope you’re okay with that. And she has demanded that, under no circumstances, are any of us supposed to go into Viggo’s place.”

“Did you tell her about Julian?” A head shake confirmed that she hadn’t. “Well, this’ll be awkward,” I muttered wryly, wondering if the blood-sucking Mary Poppins would keep her cool when she found out.

“Not if we get in and out of there before she arrives.” Lilly disappeared but not without me catching her excited little smile.

Caden rolled onto his side, his head propped up on his elbow, quietly toying with my hair while I guzzled the milk. Once I finished, he set the glass on the nightstand and pulled me down with more force than usual, pressing himself against me, setting my head against his chest. His fingers stroked my hair soothingly.

“Oh, and you’re not going in there, by the way,” he said.

My snort echoed through the empty room. “Oh, and yes, I am, by the way. You need me to get through that secret passageway and break the Merth binding so you can get through.”

“We’ll have you go through and then the wolves will bring you back here,” he fired back.

I felt my face screw up. “No, you won’t! And besides, you don’t
know
what Veronique looks like.”

“We’ll look for the tortured woman,” he answered calmly, his fingers coiling into mine, still relaxed, sure of his plans.

“She won’t go with you,” I countered.

With a loud chortle, he reminded me, “She’ll go with anyone offering to get her out of there.”

I opened my mouth to argue but then stopped. He was right. And I was getting nowhere with this. “You are not going in there without me. I’m not sitting around like some inept human while you go fix my mess!” I finished my angry decree with a stifled yawn.

“How is this your mess, Evangeline?” Caden asked, shifting me so he could see my face, his own a picture of bewilderment.

“Because if I hadn’t agreed to get up on that platform, Veronique would still be in her tomb, safe and sound. That’s how!”

“Yeah, and you’d be dead,” Caden’s voice turned cold and sharp suddenly. “And then Sofie and I would have gone ballistic. There’s no way Sofie would ever let Veronique out then, just to spite Viggo. She’ll get over the abuse, Evangeline. When they turn her, she’ll—”

“She can’t be turned, Caden! She’s like me! And what happens when Viggo and Mortimer find out about that?”

Caden’s lips pursed. “Sofie will figure it out. She always figures it out.”

“Yeah! At what cost?”

He shrugged. “She’ll figure it out!”

I threw my hands up in the air. “Well, look at you. Mr. Has An Answer For Everything! Except for one small problem—Sofie doesn’t know about Veronique so how can she figure it out?”

Caden wavered, an instant answer not coming to him this time. I had cornered him with reality. His brow furrowed deeply as he thought. “I don’t know how, but she will.”

“I’m going in there with you,” I said defiantly.

With a grin, Caden’s hands curled around my shoulders, pulling me back down to rest next to him, chuckling as he planted a kiss on my forehead.

“What’s so funny?” I muttered.

“You. Stubborn. You’re sweet, remember?”

I rolled my eyes and shook him off, turning onto my side, my back to him, to sulk. “I’m not sweet. I have a wraith and ancient vampiress sworn to me and I’m poisonous to you. I’m deadly.”

Caden burst out laughing. I rolled back over and took aim at his chest, punching him hard. Only I had no gusto to it, my arms suddenly feeling like water. That earned another laugh. Pushing a few strands of hair off my forehead, he leaned in to whisper in my ear, his lips grazing my lobe, “Like I said—sweet.”

I gazed up at his face—so perfect, so real … so blurry? My eyelids suddenly felt like magnets, pulling together despite every effort to keep them apart. I felt my body sink deeper into the mattress, seeping into the springs and stuffing. Tingles rippled through me.

“Why am I so …?” I began to ask but my words dropped off. The milk … “Damn it, Caden …” I cursed in garbled speech as I drifted off into a drug-induced sleep.

That familiar prickle, now instantly recognizable, coursed through my body. It was coupled with fogginess this time. I blinked and narrowed my eyes, straining to carve through it. Would Veronique know something about Julian? The haze finally dissipated to reveal a dimly lit chandelier, the light dancing off crystals. I knew that light. It was my old room at Viggo’s. Not the first room—the princess suite designed to buy my adoration—but the blood-red room meant to remind me that I was a prisoner.

“Veronique?” I forced her lips to move so she would know I was there.

“Oui? Evangeline?” came the sickly response.

A shock of unease rippled through my chest. “What’s happened? You sound worse than before.”

Of its own accord, by Veronique’s control, my arm lifted up to within my vision. I gasped as I saw the fresh batch of black and blue bruising and angry burns. “They’ve started again?”

“Yes, but it’s nothing compared to what we’re going to do to your friend here,” a wicked voice sang out. With difficulty, I rolled my head to the side, toward the voice. Bile instantly shot into my throat. There, slumped over in a chair next to Imogen, was a bloody, battered, gagged, barely conscious Julian.

Panic detonated inside me. They had Julian.

Imogen stalked forward. “You will come here at once—with Sofie, with those other leeches. Bring all of them or both of your friends die. Do you understand?”

I froze, unable to speak, unable to move, unable to breathe. My face flew to the side as she slapped it. “Answer me!” she shrieked.

The stinging pain in my already injured jaw lasted long after I found myself back in the condo room. Night lurked outside. City lights streamed in through the window, allowing me to discern shapes and shadows. Wraith still sat in his chair. Caden was gone.

And they had Julian.

Scrambling out of bed, I stumbled a few steps, feeling a rush slam into my head. What was wrong with me? Oh, yeah. They drugged me, I thought bitterly as I headed toward the door, reminding myself never to take a drink from any of these vampires again. Still, I needed to warn them. We needed to get in there, to rescue Julian … My hand faltered on the doorknob. Wait a minute. I was doing exactly what the witches wanted me to do. Imogen asked me to lead all the vampires there. If I stormed out there and told them what I’d learned, I’d escort them right into Imogen’s trap. To their deaths. Stupid Evangeline. Think!

I slumped against the nearest wall and sank until I was curled up on the floor, my forehead in my hands. What the hell was I supposed to do now? What choice did I make? Did I say nothing and let Imogen torture Julian and Veronique to death? Or did I run out there and sign everyone else up for their own deaths? Knots upon knots constricted until my insides were a grotesque mass of anxiety.

Maybe … There was one other option. The logical choice. The least risky for everyone.

If I could just get out of here without being noticed … I quietly got to my feet, now intent on making less noise than the dead. Luckily, this wasn’t the average closet condo and my room was far from the main living area.

“Wraith?” I hissed.

“Yes?” came the monotone reply.

“Did you see any way out of this place other than the front door? Somewhere we could sneak out without everyone noticing?” Wraith had scoured the entire condo upon entry, taking inventory of all potential exits. I couldn’t be more thankful for his standard protocol than at this particular moment.

“Yes. There is a service entrance off the end of this hall.”

Perfect
. “And were you paying attention to Caden when he explained how to get to the underground garage? All those tunnels we needed to take?” I silently berated myself for tuning him out.