Belonging (33 page)

Damian

He was crazed with worry and sheer terror. Overcome with guilt, functioning was nearly impossible. He hadn’t slept at all in three days. He’d barely eaten, hadn’t showered, hadn’t changed his clothes.
He
was responsible for the fact that his Analise was missing, kidnapped…vanished. And he was no closer to finding her three days later than he was the second he’d found Geoffrey gone, along with Analise. He’d torn up this whole goddamned country, using every single resource he had available to him, running into brick wall after brick wall. It was like they’d vanished off the face of the earth. He’d fucked up royally and deservedly tormented himself every single second of every single day because of it. And to make matters worse, he’d spoken unforgiveable words the last time he’d seen her.

They’d at least been able to piece together what happened that fateful night. Geoffrey had the skill of mimicry. He could take on the form of another person and obviously quite successfully, for he must have convinced Analise to go willingly with him. Sebastian and Devlin were right outside her bedroom door. No one entered from the outside and they hadn’t heard a thing. There was no sign of a fight, no struggle. No blood, nothing. Not one thing to indicate that Analise didn’t willingly leave with him. The thought that Geoffrey could still be impersonating him and doing God knows what with Analise made him fucking homicidal, as the guard he’d sent to watch over Geoffrey had, unfortunately, discovered.

He’d been gone all of two minutes tracking down Rom and by the time he’d returned, Geoffrey was gone. He had been
let go
by the guard. Geoffrey had convinced him that
he
was Damian that there was an intruder in the house and he’d been shackled to the wall like a dog while the intruder roamed free and his mate was in danger. Like Damian would ever let that fucking happen. Two minutes, one hundred twenty seconds that changed the course of his life, ripping his only love away from him. He might as well have handed her over to Xavier on a freshly polished silver platter himself, complete with all the trimmings and an apple shoved in her mouth.

“Maeve is here,” Dev said, walking into the living room where Damian now sat, Patrón in hand, staring into a roaring fire. Fire calmed him and right now he was a raging volcano, spewing fire without control, so to be any good to Analise, he needed to find his center again. Clear his head; get a new game plan. The only ones who’d dared approach him the last twenty-four hours were Devon and Rom. Even his own men gave him a wide berth, fearing he’d involuntarily burn them to a crisp where they stood. It wasn’t unfounded, he supposed.
Was that only yesterday an unsuspecting source had spontaneously combusted?

“If I even get a whiff of that witch, I promise you, Dev, she’s dead.” Damian didn’t bother even looking at Dev, the mesmerizing colors of the blaze entrancing him. Already he was starting to feel a little more grounded, but he certainly wasn’t feeling forgiving toward that…
thing
. Especially given the lies she’d spewed the last time she was here.

“Well, that’s a shame given she knows where Analise is.”

Damian’s head whipped around so fast, he felt his brain rattle. “What do you mean she knows where Analise is?” He started toward the door, but Dev held him back.

“Damian, stop. Look, I
personally
know what you’re going through, but if you don’t remain calm and rational, you’ll do your mate no good and could even put her in more danger. You are a lord for a reason.” What he left unsaid was—
act like it
.

Dev and Kate had returned the day before yesterday to complete and utter chaos. Analise was missing, Sarah was still recovering from her brush with death and Damian was on the warpath, mowing down everything and everyone in his path on his quest to rescue the only person that had ever really mattered to him.

But Dev was right and he was ashamed to admit it. He needed to take a step back, strategize and stop acting like a goddamned lunatic. “Bring her in, but I’m warning you, it’s in her best interest to be as far away from me as possible. And you may want to get a bucket of water handy.”

Dev smirked and left to get Maeve. Dev thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. In the least. Several minutes later, in walked Maeve, Dev, Kate and Rom. A sharp pang of jealousy stabbed his heart when he saw Dev’s mate. While it was clear Kate was worried about a sister she hadn’t met yet, she was also glowing from her pregnancy. The soft swell of her belly was already more prominent since he’d last seen her.

While Damian and Kate weren’t particularly close, she came to him, laying a comforting hand on his arm. “We’ll find her unharmed, Damian. I feel it.” He forced a smile, hoping she was right, because hope was about all he had left to grasp onto and she was a wily bitch, taunting and teasing him, as he’d found out over the last several days.

Maeve took a place over by the bookshelves on the far side of the room and out of his peripheral he noticed that Ren, Circo and Marco had taken up position right inside of the door. Jesus, he really was off-kilter if everyone thought he’d go all pyro on his own family. And along with Analise, that was what these people were to him. His family. And they’d been doing nothing but trying to help him over the last several days. And as usual, he’d acted like a bastard. He straightened his spine, took a deep breath, and pulled his shit together. For Analise.

“Maeve, thanks for coming. What do you know?” he asked as politely as he would have in a general conversation with Dev or Rom. In glancing around the room, he almost burst out laughing. Everyone’s eyebrows were cocked high on their foreheads in disbelief. Christ…he
could
be nice if he
chose
to be.

His genuine sincerity particularly threw Maeve off her game and she stumbled over her first few words, having to restart. “I…Mara visited me in a dream last night. She told me in her last dream with Analise, she’d warned her of danger and put a locating spell into her bonding mark.”

Analise’s mother had put a locating spell in her bonding mark during a dream and didn’t tell Analise? Or perhaps she did and Analise hadn’t had a chance to tell Damian. With all that had happened with Sarah and then their argument, they’d never gotten around to talking about Analise’s dream with her mother.

“Who the hell is Mara?” Ren interjected.

Damian had been so focused on finding Analise that no one was fully up to speed on all that had happened in Dev and Kate’s absence.

“She’s Analise’s dead mother,” Damian clipped, eyes never leaving Maeve. There would be plenty of time for explanation later. Right now, he needed to find his mate. “Where is she?”

“I did a locating spell when I woke and she’s in a remote location east of Olcott, New York. I have specific coordinates.”

Damian looked at Rom and Dev. “We need a plan.” And while it gutted him to wait another damn second to flash to Analise, they needed to formulate a solid strategy not only for Analise’s rescue, but Xavier’s future. To capture or to kill became a heated topic of conversation. For every ounce of pain he may have caused Analise, his vote was instant but painful death and Dev was one hundred ten percent on his side, but Rom had made some very good points for capturing him instead.

While trying to help him locate Analise, over the last couple of days Rom had apparently spent quite a bit of time talking to Big D about the coincidence that Xavier not only sired three female vampires, but that all three were dreamwalkers. The chances of that were billions to one, which meant that for all his abhorrent fucked-upedness, Xavier had an unheard of ability. But in the end, they decided on death. Xavier simply couldn’t be kept alive.

After several hours they had a plan, plus several contingencies. Dev, Marco and Giselle would stay back, protecting Kate and Sarah, while Rom, Ren, Thane, Circo, T, Manny and two-dozen others would accompany Damian to the small town right off the banks of Lake Ontario. They were going in blind. No idea how many enemies would be present and whether Analise was being held with other missing girls or if she was alone with Xavier.

Either thought made the ever-present acid in his stomach churn like a blender on full speed. The bitter taste burned a slow path up his throat, threatening to choke him with its causticity.

They flashed to the designated location, two miles from where Maeve indicated they should be and began scouting the area. Against her wishes, Maeve was glued to Damian’s side until they invaded Xavier’s compound. Then he’d leave her with one of his men, far enough from the melee, but close enough to assist, if necessary. Much to his dismay, Xavier wasn’t an idiot. He’d be expecting them, likely setting some fun little traps, but the bigger risk was that he would flash away with Analise to another, unknown location. His only hope, if that happened, was that Maeve could find her again.

“She’s still in the same location,” Maeve whispered.

Vampires had a keen sense of hearing, but not two fucking miles away. “There’s no need to whisper, witch. The enemy can’t hear you this far out.”

Embarrassment tinged her cheeks. He really needed to work on his spiteful comebacks. He could do
far
better than that.

Since Ren had the ability to sense vampire and human presence and Manny could see through shrouding, they’d been sent to scan the area, only just returning. There was no shrouding and Damian wasn’t sure what to make of that. Either Xavier was getting sloppy or he
wanted
to be in plain sight. He voted for the latter, which meant they had to be extra cautious.

Ren reported, “There are roughly twenty rogues posted outside the compound and I sense only twenty or so inside as well. There are also thirty-two humans, some in clusters, some in individual rooms just as with the last raid we conducted.” Ren filled them in on the layout and the specifics of where the vampires and humans were as of now. With three floors, it would be more challenging getting everyone rescued without casualties.

Damian recalled Dev’s words of warning.
“Xavier works closely with witches. When I was in his last lair, there was a spell of sorts that prevented me from flashing outside the compound once I had Kate. I had to wait until I was clear to get her to safety. He’ll likely have the place spelled in a similar manner again, so be prepared and get out of Dodge as fast as you can.”

Duties split, it was time. Rom was assigned to Xavier, while Damian, Ren, Thane and T would rescue Analise. The rest would rescue the other humans. When he got closer, Damian hoped he could reestablish his connection with her, but if he couldn’t, the bonding mark would allow him to at least sense where she was.

Damian had always been confident in his abilities as a lord, as a vampire and as a warrior. He’d not once worried about the outcome of the battle, ever assured he would be victorious. But the outcome had also never mattered as much as it did right now. For the first time in almost five hundred years, doubt, like the fingers of deadly toxic smoke, crept its way into his head and he hoped he didn’t fail. He quickly pushed those poisonous thoughts aside. Doubt got one killed on the battlefield and he wasn’t about to die today. After three long, agonizing days, he was getting his Analise back.

Hold on, kitten. I’m coming
.

C
hapter
48

Analise

She opened her eyes, all too aware of her surroundings. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper scratching her corneas raw. She was hungry, dehydrated, and every muscle in her body ached.

She was still here—stuck in hell—with Lucifer playing the role of doting father and the Four Horsemen as his minions. Well, it was more like forty horsemen, but that didn’t quite fit with the horror story. If Xavier had his way, the Apocalypse would rain down on the world and he’d sit high on his throne, watching as the earth burned and chaos erupted. And he expected
her
help with that.

“Ummm…that’s the offer of a lifetime
DAD
, but I think I’ll have to pass. Thanks anyway.”
Needless to say, that response hadn’t been too well received. She’d received a nice heave against the wall and lost consciousness for several minutes for that particular retort.

She knew she should keep her smart mouth in check, as it had gotten her
punishment
more than once over the past several days, but right now that was the only thing also keeping her alive. Xavier
liked
that about her and while she was disgusted being anything he enjoyed, she had to keep her wits about her until the cavalry arrived. And she knew they were coming. Damian was coming. Her bonding mark had heated up twice now…once in front of Xavier, almost revealing the magic her mother had unknowingly weaved. And that would most certainly be the death of her. She’d gritted her teeth so hard against the white-hot pain, she’d truly felt a tooth crack.

Her mother came to her in more than dreams now. She would see visions of her while awake, she heard her voice whispering instructions in her ear and whenever she succumbed to the drugs they’d given her to keep her pliable, she was there. Teaching and helping and
mothering
. Analise thought back to just a few short days ago and the first time she heard her voice while awake.

After hours of being alone with these stone walls, the door finally opened and she was frozen in fear.

“Fire, Analise,” her mother whispered urgently.

“Mother?” she murmured back.

“Now. Hurry!” Mara replied. “There is no time!”

What. The. Hell?

Instead of overanalyzing, the second she
’
d set eyes on the enormous, menacing vampire walking through the now open door, she’d focused all her anger and all her fear and all her thoughts on one thing. F I R E.

And with one foot inside the door, the sick bastard erupted into fiery flames, screaming and moaning and thrashing in agony until he dropped to the floor in a dead heap. He was pulled quickly out and the door shut, leaving Analise alone once again. She abhorred violence, but couldn’t even make herself feel sorry for doing it. He’d intended her harm and it was time to do or die. And she didn’t intend on dying. Not when she finally had life beating within her.