Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (38 page)

“I’m afraid not,” Corbin said shutting the book and straightening up. “Why
should she want to get Taylor to do things during the daylight when she could
do them herself?”

“But how—” Addison began and then stopped, turning pale. “Corbin,
please, don’t say it.”

“I’m sorry, darling, but I have to—Celeste is going to try and get
Taylor’s new powers for herself,” he said. “And the only way to do that will be
to drain her and take her blood.
All
of her blood.”

“But that would
kill
her,” Gwendolyn objected. “I mean, if she
was using a spell to take the life force as well.”

He nodded. “Undoubtedly. Exsanguination is fatal to young vampires. It
takes us at least fifty to sixty years to toughen up enough to withstand such
treatment and Taylor has only had a little over six.”

“Where is she?” I shot to my feet—I couldn’t sit there listening to
them speculate anymore. “We have to get to her before that bitch,
Celeste—before she…” I couldn’t make myself say it.

“Unless…unless she has already.” Gwendolyn looked sick. “Oh God, I
never should have broken that bond.
Never.”

“You can make it up to us now,” Corbin said practically. “Do you still
have anything of Taylor’s? Hair or blood—anything you can do a finding spell
with?”

“Of course!” She snapped her fingers and some color returned to her
cheeks. “I’ll get it.” She hurried out of the room.

Addison looked up at Corbin. “And you really think…you don’t think it
will be too late?” she whispered, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

He shook his head. “I believe the kind of power transfer ceremony
Celeste will have to use will require a full moon at its zenith.”

“That’s not long,” I growled. Even inside I could feel the moon’s
pull—she would be right overhead soon. If that was all Celeste was waiting for,
we didn’t have much time.

“We will simply have to hope she is close,” Corbin said.

At that moment, Gwendolyn hurried back in.

“Okay, this is a quickie,” she said. “But the blood I have from her is
fresh so it ought to be really accurate.”

“How accurate?” Addison asked.

“We ought to be able to pinpoint her exact location,” Gwendolyn said,
unrolling a black towel with various magical implements in it. “Anyway, there
are two different spots around Tampa I think Celeste would be likely to go for
this kind of spell. The first is an abandoned train yard not far from here—it
was placed on an old crossroads where criminals were hung hundreds of years
ago. The second is a hill just outside the Seminole land near the casino. It
was sacred to the Indians and it’s also where the local covens used to
practice.”

“Wait a minute—you mean Boneyard Hill?” Addison asked.

“Uh-huh.” Gwendolyn nodded. She was doing something with a compass, a
map and a small vial filled with what I assumed was Gwendolyn’s blood. “Why?”

“We investigated a homicide there last year,” she said faintly. “Well,
Homicide did—the VAB was called in because the murder was so brutal they
suspected vamp involvement.”

Corbin cleared his throat and frowned at her.

“There wasn’t though,” she went on. “It was just—a really awful crime
scene. One of the worst I’ve seen.”

“The hill is cursed,” Gwendolyn said. “It’s seen too much bloodshed and
violence and bad things keep happening there. That’s why the covens quit using
it as a meeting spot. It’s a place of power but the wrong
kind
of power
now.”

“And you think Celeste took Taylor there?” I asked impatiently. I was
itching to be away, to be looking for Taylor. What if the damn finding spell
took too long? What if we were too late to save her? Even though she’d divorced
me for all intents and purposes, I couldn’t stand to lose her. The thought of
her being hurt or killed nearly drove me out of my mind. I
had
to get to
her.

“I
know
she did.” Gwendolyn looked up at us. “Boneyard Hill is
your place. She’s there, all right, and according to this, she’s still alive.”
She held out the compass. “It won’t point to one who has passed over,” she
said. “Taylor is okay—at least for now.”

“Let’s go.” I was already heading for the door.

“We’re coming with you,” Addison was right behind me and Corbin behind
her.

“Damn it, then I’m coming too.” Gwendolyn grabbed some things and
followed us.

“You can stay here,” I snarled, still angry at her for breaking the
bond. “You’ve done enough damage, witch.”

“I know I did, which is why I’m offering to come help,” she snapped
back. “There’s some very dark magic involved here, Victor—you might need me.”

“All I need is someone to point me toward Celeste,” I growled and the
brand on my back burned. “So I can rip her fucking throat out.”

Chapter Twenty-six—Taylor

“Chain her tightly—I don’t want to risk her
getting away,” Celeste directed the two vampires handling me. They were new—not
more than a couple of days born to darkness I estimated—and obviously still
infatuated with her. One was blond with big blue eyes and the other was dark
with big green eyes. Either one of them could have been walking the catwalk
wearing the latest in male fashions. Celeste always did have an appetite for
pretty people.

“Yes, Mistress,” they chorused, giving her
adoring looks. One of them chained my wrists to the big old oak tree in the
center of the flat hill we were on and the other made certain my ankles were
secure.

From my vantage I could see the Hard Rock
casino, owned by the Seminole Indian tribe, as well as the vast parking garage,
which was almost as tall as the casino itself. The lights of the Hard Rock sign
blazed red neon like a distant star I could never reach. The hill we were on
was just through a back lot overgrown with underbrush at the back of the huge
building, but I might as well have been on the moon. No one would find me
here—no one would even think to come looking. I had never felt so lonely.

Celeste came to stand in front of me, a smirk
on her red lipsticked mouth. The sight of her pulled me out of my morbid
thoughts. The chains the other two vamps were using to secure me to the tree
were silver—they burned my skin and drained my strength. Still, I was more
concerned about the wicked looking dagger my old mistress had unsheathed.

She was making practice swipes and stabs with
it, the thin, silver knife glittering in the moonlight. It looked a lot like
the athame Gwendolyn had used the night before but the blade was longer and
sharper and much more lethal looking.

“Is it sharp enough, do you think, Taylor?”
she asked, catching me watching her. “The better to kill you with, my dear.”
She was wearing a long flowing white robe that she probably imagined made her
look more like a practitioner of ancient magic. Red and white roses were fixed
in her hair and an elaborate choker made of antique jet and onyx beads encircled
her slim white throat.

I had been forced to dress in a white gown
too—presumably to complement Celeste’s look. It was a long, flowing thing that
clung to me and whipped in the wind dramatically. It was also backless, which
meant I could feel every inch of the oak’s rough bark digging into my skin.

“The circle of protection is complete,”
Shadowlock said, coming up from the other side of the hill. In contrast to
Celeste’s theatrical outfit, he was wearing faded blue jeans, worn boots and a
plain dark blue button-down shirt. Though I had seen him numerous times, that
was as much of him as I could describe. I had thought the night before it was
just because he was sitting in the shadows but closer observation had convinced
me there was something about him—some spell maybe—that kept me from seeing his
face clearly. It was blurred—except for the white flash of his teeth when he
smiled occasionally. I found it strange and unsettling to stare right at him
and still not know what he looked like.

Clearly, Celeste wasn’t bothered by the
strange face-obscuring spell.

“Did you do as I instructed and make sure
Taylor’s
boyfriend
could get in?” she asked, smirking at me. “It’s going
to be
so
amusing to put on a little show with him before I make him
watch her die.”

You bitch,
I wanted to say but I was wearing the silver
gag and saying anything was impossible.

The warlock sighed. “Yeah, I’ve got it so that
weres can come in but not leave. But I have to tell you, Ma’am—I think it’s a
bad idea. A really, really
bad
idea.”

“Nonsense,” she snapped. “It
perfect.
That
they should both have to see each other suffer before they die. It’s very
Romeo
and Juliet—
don’t you think?”

“If I remember my English Lit correctly, Romeo
and Juliet kill
themselves
. And they don’t get tortured and drained by a
bitchy diva vampire before they die,” he rumbled.

Her eyes flashed.
“Enough.
Has it not
occurred to you that you may regret these snide remarks when I have absorbed
Taylor’s power and ascended to greatness?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “And has it
occurred to
you
that you might regret ignoring my professional advice
about letting a Goddamn werewolf into a circle of power on the night of the
full moon?”

“I have silver to bind him with and if he gets
out of hand I can always use the silver brands to mark him,” she said. “Carl
has them heating over the hot coals now.”

“Mmmph!” I struggled uselessly against the
silver chains that bound me to the tree. It was bad enough that she was
planning on making Victor watch me die but she couldn’t torture him too!

Celeste smirked at me. “Oh yes, Taylor
darling, we’re all set up. And let me tell you, I think I’ll use those brands
on your beloved
dog
whether I need to or not. It would be such a waste
of effort, otherwise.” She turned to the warlock. “It was a real
nuisance
bringing one of those portable barbeque grills all this distance and getting it
set up and hot enough to use.”

Shadowlock rolled his eyes. “Right. First
world psychopath problems,” he muttered. “You know, if you were smart, you’d
give up on this whole circus and just do the ceremony now. The moon is almost
directly overhead—all you have to do is say the words, slit her throat and
drink her blood. It’d be quicker, safer, and a whole hell of a lot more
humane.”

“Humane? Whoever said I wanted to be
humane?”
she sneered.

Shadowlock gave her a long, steady look. “I
guess you’d have to be human for that, wouldn’t you?” He shrugged. “Well, who
knows—maybe he won’t even show up. With a broken blood-bond, he might not even
be able to find her.”

I desperately hoped he was right. It was bad
enough that I’d walked into a trap and let Celeste capture me—I didn’t need to drag
Victor into this too.
Please let him stay away,
I prayed silently.
Please
don’t let him find me.

But Celeste’s next words dashed my hopes.

“He’ll find her, all right. He
loves
her.
Besides, if he doesn’t pick up the scent on his own, I have two little helpers
that are going to lure him into the snare.”

Just at that moment two large gray wolves came
loping up the side of the hill. When they reached Celeste, they both began to
writhe and change. Their bodies lengthened, their paws turned to hands and feet
and their muzzles shortened into faces. Last of all, their fur disappeared and
their eyes went from wolf gold to normal human colors. In less than a minute
the wolves were gone and two naked people were standing there instead.

I recognized them at once—one was LeeAnn,
looking smug, and the other was one of the men from the fight at the dance
club. The one with the silver knuckles whose throat I had bitten, I thought. Neither
one of them seemed the least discomforted to be completely nude.

“What the hell is this?” Shadowlock looked
irritated. “How many people do you expect me to protect, Celeste? My magic is
strong but it’s not infinite.”

“These are my wolves,” Celeste said loftily. “Tozer,
here, has been with me from the start. He planted the trap I had you make on
Victor’s land just where he would step in it. I needed a were to help mask my
scent, you know.” She smiled at the male were. “And then dear little LeeAnn
wanted in too when she found out Victor was
cheating
on her. She was the
one I gave the whip to—the one I had you treat with the special potion.”

Shadowlock frowned. “Weres don’t usually work
with vamps.”

“That’s what Daddy says,” LeeAnn said. “But
sometimes you have to break the rules to get things done…don’t you think, Mr.
Warlock? Maybe
we
should work together sometime.” She thrust her bare
breasts out and cocked her hip to one side—a clear come-on.

He looked her up and down and shook his head.

“Sorry, honey—I’m not sure if you’re up on
your rabies vaccines.”

“What’s
that
supposed to mean?” LeeAnn
snapped.

“It means you’re a little too slutty for your
own good, dear,” Celeste said, eyeing her critically. “At least leave
something
to the imagination—go put on some clothes.”