Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines Book 1) (30 page)

“Yes, before he built Kalin that enormous house on the hill,” Rhiannon mumbled. She turned the knob and slowly pushed open the door. The light from the hallway cast a narrow strip of white onto the hardwood floor. Lying around the bed, she could see wayward sheets, an expensive down comforter, and every stitch of clothing that Taris and Sarah had been wearing the night before. She nudged the door open a little more and let more light in. There was just enough illumination for her to see that Sarah was not in the bed at all.

“Oh my Lord!”

The tray went crashing to the floor, the glasses shattering and spreading out over the hardwood. She flipped on a light and screamed for Achan and Judah.

Taris was lying in the bed, facedown. A large pool of blood was soaked into the pillow beside his temple. She checked his pulse and pulled back the sheet, looking for any more wounds. When she was confident that there wasn’t anything else that needed attention, she pulled the sheet back over him.

Achan and Judah piled in and immediately began searching the room for any sign of Sarah.

“What happened?” Judah searched through the large closet and came back to stand beside Rhiannon.

“Looks like he was hit with something,” Rhiannon ran her fingers over the matted, bloody indentation on his head. The blood is dry, so it wasn’t recent. Taris,” she gently shook him. “Wake up, Bhalthair. Call Kalin and see if Sarah is with her, and tell her to get up here. And someone get me some hot water and some bandages. Now!” Achan and Judah filed out of the room in sprints.

“There’s no way she did this,” Achan called out as he ran out the bedroom door.

“Not likely,” Rhiannon muttered, looking around at the shattered vase on the floor and the rumpled sheets. “Which makes me nervous about where she could be.”

* * *

If searing pain had a taste, it would be comparable to the bitter acid that was rolling in Taris’ mouth. His head was throbbing. His heart was pounding. His soul felt like it had been torn out, pissed on, wrung out, and shoved back into him through his asshole.

“How did this happen?” he muttered, holding the ice pack to his head. Sitting down wasn’t an option. He couldn’t help but pace, his coping mechanism of choice.

“We’re working on it, T,” Achan rubbed his shoulder from the chair in front of the portable video monitor. They’d spent the better part of an hour scanning the security cameras that lined the perimeter of their two-hundred-acre spread. “Kalin is on her way down.”

Taris felt the bile rise in his throat. How could he have been so careless, so stupid? They were lulled into a tenuous complacency with the great news and the celebration of so many things that the smallest of precautions were overlooked. Something as simple as locking a pissing door was thrown by the wayside. And now that bastard of a brother of his and the ex-wife that even hell would spit back out had Sarah.

It wasn’t a matter of whether they had her or not. He knew they did. The question was where they had taken her. Sure, he could drive around town until he felt his belly catch on fire, but Asheville was huge, and by the time he located them, Sarah could be dead. That thought chilled him to the bone.

“Where is he?”

Kalin’s frantic voice echoed up the stairwell. Her small feet beat against the stone until she was in the doorway of the bedroom.

“Sweet Mother Mary, did they hurt you?” She rushed in and stood beside Taris, throwing her arms around him. Nick was on her heels close behind her.

“You okay, man?” he asked. The genuine concern in his voice was actually touching.

“By ‘okay’ do you mean they
didn’t
try to implode my skull with the playtime end of a hand cannon? ’Cause then no, I’m not okay.” Taris rubbed at the spot again. Rhiannon managed to heal the wound, but the pain lingered. “They have Sarah, Kalin. I know it was Bane and Morrigan.”

Kalin’s face paled.

“What is it, Kalin? You know something,” Achan tilted his head, glaring at her.

Kalin’s breath steamed out of her chest. Mumbling to herself, she absently started pacing alongside Taris, matching his stride step for step. After a few absent passes over the floor in tandem, Taris stopped in the center of the room and stared at her.

“Kalin, baby. What’s up?” Nick’s calming voice brought her out of the fog, but she still continued her pacing.

“Oh my sweet heaven, enough with the pacing already. Kalin! What is it with you two and freaking pacing?” Achan clapped his hands at her. She jerked her head in his direction, her amber eyes wide. Her face had gone completely white. “Tell us what you know, girl.”

“Banan,” she whispered. “Banan came to see me last night.”

“Excuse me?” Nick cocked an eyebrow. “Exactly when did this happen?”

“I was in the kitchen. He just showed up. I thought he was Taris, so I didn’t say anything, and then when I found out it was him, I was too scared. We talked. I didn’t want anyone to know. I didn’t think he was here to steal Sarah.”

“Did he tell you where he was going?” Achan walked over to her, standing so close that it pulled an instinctive low growl from Nick, who seemed completely and totally shocked.

“No, he didn’t tell me.” Kalin spaced out for a moment, her pulse running so fast that it echoed through the room. “I hugged him and told him I wanted to make sure he was safe.” She stared down at her hand and sobbed.

Taris immediately dropped down to the side of the bed, tugging on his boots.

Achan looked down at Kalin’s hand and saw the still-pink line where a cut used to be. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. “Kalin, you have to tell us where he is.”

A penetrating growl pulled their collective attention toward Nick.

“Get your hands off of my wife,” he hissed.

Achan sneered, baring his fangs at him. “I’ve got more hands-on time with her than you will ever have, pal. We have a history, so don’t tell me what to do. Firstborn in a few hundred years or not, you’d better back it off. I’m trying to save your bestie. Don’t make me show you how to use those things.”

Nick stepped closer, his eyes turning dark. “I’ve had a crash course in earning my owner’s badge for them, so unless you want me to show you how good an amateur can be, I suggest you get your hands. Off. My. Wife.”

Achan stepped back and let go. Instantly, Nick’s face softened, and he put his arms around Kalin.

“It’s okay, honey. But we have to find Sarah. So can you tell us where she is?”

Kalin nodded and muttered something into his chest, the wracking sobs shaking them both. Nick brushed the hair away from her face and placed a loving kiss on the top of her head.

“Strip bar downtown. Large metal building.”

Taris gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and slapped Nick on the shoulder before hauling out of the room and calling for the others. Achan shut down the video screen and started to walk out, but then stopped in the doorway.

“Sorry about the macho flare, Nick. Stress and an ancient temper do that sometimes.”

Nick nodded, turning both himself and Kalin to face Achan. He smiled and shook his head.

“No worries. You can make it up to me when this is all over by buying me a beer sometime. Just…” He paused and swallowed the unshed tears in his throat. “Just bring her back.”

Achan nodded and left the room, making a mad dash for his own.

The room was pitch black. Aside from the narrow strip of light that peeked in underneath the doorway, there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. She did her best to steady her breath, to try and remain calm, but there was no point. Her hands were wet behind her, the frayed rope used to lash her to the chair digging into her skin. There wasn’t a fleeting moment or a panicked minute when she wondered where she was or who brought her there. It was damned well apparent exactly who had stolen her from her bed. The question was how they’d managed to do it.

Shadows began to cast in the wake of feet just on the other side of the door, and she had to resist the urge to scream. She bit it back when the doorknob began to jiggle and the door slowly pushed open. The large figures stepped into the black space, flanking the smaller female form. With a quick flip, the overhead light flickered on, and she finally got a really good, full-on look.

Morrigan and her pinup hourglass figure all but leaned on the large man she’d seen before. Her dark hair was in long, framing waves around her face. Her eyes were a scary midnight blue. She had done a very good job of concealing the black rot inside with pretty wrapping.

There was another man with them this time, a large, scary, steel-colored bastard. The man she’d seen before—Bane—was to her left, only this time he had no makeup or hair gel to hide behind. He was shirtless, covered in blood-soaked bandages. The black roots were beginning to show underneath his shaggy, electric blue hair. Even his bare feet had bandages on them. On his muscled abdomen was a large black-and-gray tattoo of what looked like St. George battling the dragon. The muscles in his arms corded the exact same way as Taris’, and his narrow hips fit into his leather pants in a way that made Sarah catch her breath in complete shock.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Morrigan smiled and took a step forward, spinning around to look at Bane. “Without the shit this one puts on his face, they look so similar. The bone structure, their size.” She paused and turned to Sarah, staring her up and down with a wicked grin. “And I’m not just talking about their height, darling.”

Sarah’s feet twisted in complete anger and disgust. They were the only parts of her body she could move. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes as the
clicks
of Morrigan’s shoes on the floor signaled she was closing the gap between them. A wave of nausea hit her as she felt Morrigan directly behind her, leaning down.

“He even catches his breath the way Taris does when he comes.”

Morrigan’s lips touched the outside of Sarah’s ear, and she sucked in a hard breath, letting it out in a slow, erotic moan. It made her sick. How many times in the course of the past thirty-six hours had she heard that beautiful sound? Now it was polluted.

“I know you two are together now,” Morrigan said. Sarah could feel her long, manicured nails drumming on her shoulder. “I can smell him all over you.”

“Morrigan, that’s enough,” Bane spat at her. “Just ask if she’ll help or not.”

From behind her, Sarah felt Morrigan stiffen.

“Since when do you give the orders around here, bitch? Never. You’ve always done what I say!”

“And look where it’s brought me!” Bane exploded. “I’ve killed for you. I’ve ruined lives for you. Look at what I did to Zillah. I did that because you told me to, and it has signed my death warrant.”

Sarah saw the other large man shaking his head, the anger beginning to roll off him in waves.

“What kind of shit have you been into, man?” he whispered over to Bane.

“Torture,” Morrigan happily chimed in. “Beautiful, delicious torture. Bane, tell him about the time we tied Zillah up for three days and whipped her until she bled out and how her body scarred. Tell your little friend how truly evil you are. Better yet, tell him
what
you are.”

Bane cast a glance over to Stellan, and without any pretense or preface, he lifted the corner of his lip to reveal a long white fang.

Stellan said nothing, only shook his head again and turned toward the door. He stopped just outside the frame and turned to cast another glance at Bane and then at Sarah.

He shot a final stare at Morrigan. “It’s been a pleasure working for you, ma’am. I sincerely hope that someone cuts your fucking head off.” With that, he stormed down the hallway, the sound of his boots echoing as he took the stairs down to the main floor.

“Pity,” Morrigan squeezed Sarah’s shoulders. “I’m really going to miss him. Now back to business.” She spun Sarah around in her chair, crouching down to stare at her eye-to-eye. “You have something I want. Give it to me, and I’ll let you live. Refuse, and I’ll let Bane tear your throat out. Your choice.”

Sarah swallowed the acid that was building in her throat. “No,” she whispered.

“No? You don’t even want to think about it first?”

Sarah cleared her throat and mentally braced herself for what was about to happen. She whispered a silent prayer before opening her eyes and staring Morrigan dead in the face.

“I. Said. No.”

Morrigan glared over at Bane, and with a smile, she stepped out from behind the chair.

“You do it, or I’ll do it.”

And in that moment, Bane knew that if he was ever going to have a shot at redemption with Taris, it was now.

* * *

Screw this
.

Vampires? This was all too much to take. He wasn’t one of those narrow-minded idiots who used their limited knowledge of time and space to derail any and all possibilities of something different existing in the world. But hell if he was going to be a part of whatever that hellhound of a woman had in mind. And Bane? Damn. He knew the guy was capable of nasty stuff—no doubt. But ritualistic torture?

Stellan’s feet hit the sticky dance floor. Even in lockdown mode, there were still coked-out dancers on the stage. He shook his head and stalked toward the large, metal side door. If the security cameras were right, the cavalry had just pulled up, and he wasn’t about to try to keep them out.

“The boss said doors stay locked.” One of the hired guards glared at him from the bar.

“You wanna stay loyal to that devil, be my guest. Me? I tend to err on the side of self-preservation, and, buddy, if I read this sitch right, you might wanna defect and jump sides.”

Stellan flipped the dead bolts one by one, slid the large metal bar back from its home, and waited.

Taris’s feet hit the pavement before the van was put in park. The entire building was one giant metal piece of trash, jutting out amidst the picturesque setting. He ran around the back, checking all of the doors. Locked, and heavily fortified. They wouldn’t budge, even when he tested them at a dead run.

“Plan, killer?” Achan pulled his hair back to the nape of his neck and tied it with a black rubber tie. He walked down the narrow alleyway to meet Taris.