Unbound (The Captive Series, Book 7) (17 page)

“Yes, we must,” she agreed. She was willing to sacrifice anything to ensure her loved ones, and those who followed her, had some peace in their lives again. She looked to Xavier. “How do we lure one of them away?”

Xavier turned to look at the vampires guarding the house again. “It won’t be one of them. They’ve been trained to protect her, and they won’t leave there one at a time. We have to lure one away from somewhere else.”

“Let’s go then,” Aria said. She slid her hand away from Max’s cheek. He kept hold of it for a minute more before releasing her to follow them through the woods.

***

Aria

They settled in to watch the stables at the edge of town as a handful of vampires exited and entered. It only took an hour to determine that the small, redheaded vampire who remained standing in the doorway of the stables was the one in charge. The only time he left the doorway was when someone brought in a horse.

“What if he doesn’t know anything?” Aria asked as she studied the stocky man with a bulbous nose and eyes that looked about to pop out of his head.

“If he provides care to the horses, then he probably knows more than most in this town,” Xavier said. “There tends to be talk in a stable.”

She’d spent a fair amount of time in the stables in the palace to know that was true. “What if he’s new to her group?”

“He’s not new. So far, he’s known every vampire who has walked into the stable. He’s been with this group for a while.”

Aria’s eyes narrowed on the ugly vampire. What had he seen and done during his time with these vampires? She recalled the parade of humans being dragged around with them and the way that vamp had broken the poor woman’s neck.

Keep remembering that later when you have him,
she told herself. She hated them all and wanted them all dead, but there was a big difference between murdering someone and torturing them.

“We’ll need somewhere discreet,” Xavier said.

“There are caves about five miles from here we can take him to,” Max replied.

“That will work.”

They waited until the vampire was alone, standing in the doorway and chewing on a piece of straw before Max took a knife and drew the blade across his palm. Aria noticed Xavier staring at the scars once again visible on Max’s wrist before he turned away. A muscle twitched in the corner of his eye. Xavier could be ruthless and cruel when necessary, but he would never allow another to be hurt for pleasure as Max had been.

The stable vampire’s head turned, and his nostrils flared as he scented Max’s blood on the air. Max walked into the woods with Aria and Xavier flanking him about thirty feet out on each side while Max lured the vampire deeper and deeper into the forest.

When the vamp went to leap on Max, Xavier pounced and brought him down beneath his weight. He shoved a piece of cloth into the vampire’s mouth and jerked his arms behind his back with one hand to pin his wrists there. He balled his other hand and drove his fist into the vampire’s temple. The man’s eyes rolled up in his head, and he went limp.

Xavier lifted him and tossed him over his shoulder. “Lead the way.”

Aria broke into a brisk jog through the woods with Max by her side. She kept alert for any hint of danger within the forest as they ran over the rough terrain. After three miles, they had to stop so Xavier could knock the man out again and Max could take a break to drink some water, but they made it to the cave in less than an hour.

The vamp was starting to regain consciousness again when they entered into the cool rock walls of the cave system. Max lifted a stick from the ground and ripped off a piece of the vampire’s shirt. He wrapped the cloth around the stick before following them into the caves. The vamp kicked his feet in the air as his hands beat against Xavier’s hold, but Xavier didn’t ease his grip on him.

They were almost to the center of the cave when she heard the strike of a match and light burst forth as Max set the piece of vampire’s shirt on fire. Aria stopped at the entrance to a small cavern. These were not caves that they had once resided in. There were no booby traps and no gates, but she’d hidden here before and knew they were well out of sight and no one would hear them down here.

They may not be as protected here as they were in some of the other caves, but it was sheltered. Searching the rocks above them, she saw no bats that would be scared by their presence and possibly alert others to their location if they decided to take flight. Xavier walked over to a large rock in the middle of the cavern and dumped the vampire unceremoniously on the ground.

Stepping away from the vamp, Xavier grabbed the ends of his shirt and pulled it over his head. He tossed it to Max. “For the torch,” he said. “And for other things,” he added ominously and Aria shuddered.

Max caught hold of the shirt and tucked it into his waistband for later use. The vamp’s brown eyes nervously took them all in before settling on Aria. His mouth parted as his eyebrows shot into his hairline.

“I think he recognizes you,” Max said.

“Can’t say the same,” she murmured.

His already buggy eyes bugged out more when Xavier took the torch from Max and walked over to stand before the vamp.

“Aria, go back into the cave and wait for us there,” Xavier said.

“No.”

Xavier’s face was merciless when he turned to face her. “There is no reason for you to see this.”

“I suggested going after her. I agreed to this. I am condoning it. I will not walk away and let you bear this on your own. Whatever happens here is mine to bear also, and I will stay here until it’s over.” She turned to Max and rested her hand briefly against his arm. “I understand if you don’t wish to see this.”

“I’m not leaving,” he replied.

“Max—”

“I intend to help with this. I’m not leaving.”

“There are some things that can never be unseen,” Xavier said to her.

“I would hate myself more if I walked away to leave you both to this. I’m not going anywhere.”

Xavier turned away from her. The firelight danced over his brown skin and the tattoos covering his chest and back. It was the first time Aria had seen all of the markings etched onto his chiseled muscles. The smaller vamp at his feet made a strangled sound and tried to squirm away, but Xavier rested his foot against the man’s shoulder and pinned him in place.

“I’m going to pull out that gag and you’re going to answer my questions,” Xavier said to him. “Otherwise, I’m going to make your insides your outsides.”

Sing like a canary
, Aria silently pleaded as Xavier pulled the gag from the man’s mouth.

Aria

“I
cannot
believe you took off like that!”

“Not now, William,” Aria replied as she stepped off the bottom step, through the doorway, and into the safe house. The walls pressing against her made her almost turn around and flee back outside.

“You should have waited. You shouldn’t have gone at all!”

Aria spun on him. “I said
not now!
”

Her brother gave her a ‘huh?’
look, and took a step back as Max and Xavier stepped off the stairs behind her. Max held himself rigidly, his jaw clenched as he stared at William. Blood still splattered the bottom of Xavier’s and Max’s pants, but there had been no help for it as they’d kept them on throughout…

Aria abruptly cut off the memory of what had occurred.

“What happened?” William inquired, his tone much softer than it had been.

“We can discuss it later,” Aria replied and forced one foot in front of the other down the hall.

She froze at the entrance to the main room. At least a hundred and fifty faces turned in her direction. All of them looked tired and frightened, but she also saw the hope blooming in their eyes as smiles curved their mouths. A few of the children released delighted cries and clapped their hands together.

“They’ve returned!” a young boy, no older than five, said as he bounced on his mother’s lap.

“There’s so many,” she whispered.

“They’ve brought word that our troop numbers have grown rapidly. We’re over twenty-five hundred now,” William replied.

Tears burned Aria’s eyes. The memory of what she’d witnessed today, what she’d condoned would forever be burned into her mind, but staring at everyone gathered within, she knew they’d done the right thing.

After a few hours, they’d finally gotten the vampire to spill what he knew; they had answers to many of the questions they’d sought, and one
big
possible weakness. They’d done something terrible to get those answers, but they were better prepared to defend those surrounding them now.

She would do what she’d done today again if it meant protecting these innocents. This time, when the first one took a step toward her, she welcomed it as each of their touches was a reminder of why she stood here and of who would really suffer if they lost this battle to Sabine.

She’d be dead, her misery over with if Sabine won, but the vampires wouldn’t kill off their human food supply. No, what they would do to the humans would be far worse.

***

Max

Max kept his hands clasped before him as he stared at the numerous scars marking them. His neck had started to ache an hour ago from his forward, hunched over position, but he didn’t dare move. What had happened in that cave had triggered memories he’d been trying to bury since he’d escaped his vampire captor, Katrina.

But now the memories were there again, teasing at his mind. Screams echoed in his head, but they weren’t the screams of the vamp from today. They were his own. The fangs sinking into his flesh over and over again, burying deep into the same places until his skin was so raw he felt as if it had been flayed from his body. Katrina’s cruel laughter echoed in his ears as she ran her fingers over his bare flesh while he remained tied up and helpless to resist anything she did to him.

Breathe.

Sometimes, when the memories came to him, he forgot to breathe. He would find himself gasping for the air he’d unconsciously denied his lungs while waves of loathing for the vampires and himself swamped him. What had been done to him hadn’t been his fault, he’d always known that, but knowing it didn’t always make it any better. He’d physically responded to Katrina, his body reacting on its own even as he cursed himself and she laughed.

She’d always laughed too. Every time, she had laughed while destroying him one more small piece at a time. Plans of escaping her had been all that kept him going. Of escaping, rescuing Aria, and taking her far away. She’d always been Daniel’s kid sister to him, but he’d started to look at her differently before their capture.

Aria had grown to become a very pretty woman, but she’d been a scrawny teen. However, she had more spirit than anyone he knew, and he admired the strength of her love for her family and her rebellious nature. When she’d sacrificed herself to save John from the vampires, he hadn’t been able to let her go to the palace alone. He’d been convinced he could free her.

How incredibly wrong he’d been. If it hadn’t been for Jack rescuing them, he would be dead by now. Sometimes he wondered if he would have been better off never being saved as parts of him already felt dead.

Once they’d been set free and were no longer at the palace, he’d seen Aria as someone who could understand what he’d endured. He’d clung to the hope that her understanding would somehow be his salvation. No matter how often she’d told him her time as a blood slave hadn’t been the same as his, he didn’t believe her. He’d believed she couldn’t admit what had been done to her while she was imprisoned, that she’d been warped to have feelings for the vampire who had claimed her as his, but he’d been wrong.

He’d been livid with her afterward; she’d betrayed him and all of her loved ones for a monster. A monster who had loved her more than Max had ever seen anyone love another, a monster who had fought alongside all of them to bring freedom to humans. Somewhere along the way, Max had stopped seeing Braith as a monster and Aria as a traitor. He’d started seeing the good and bad in vampires as well as the good and bad in humans. He’d started to heal.

And now that healing was falling apart around him. Braith, the monster who had become his friend, was dead. Aria was barely holding herself together. The freedom they’d attained was fracturing around them, and his memories had been set free by a vampire who had deserved everything he’d gotten today, probably more.

He kept that thought firmly in mind as he finally lifted his head to look at those surrounding him. Most of the humans had retreated to bed hours ago, leaving only him and his friends behind. The flame from a lantern behind William’s shoulder caused his hair to shine like blood. Max turned his head away as images of his own blood streaming down from his wrists, tied above his head, filled his mind.

Closing his eyes against the memory, he rubbed at his wrists before rising to his feet and walking over to the jugs of wine stashed on another table.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Daniel asked in a low voice as Max poured himself a large glass of wine.

“Yes, I do,” he said as he drank all the dark liquid he’d just poured before refilling the glass. The wine was bitter on his tongue, but it warmed him all the way down. He looked to Aria and tipped the glass in a questioning gesture.

She nibbled at her lip. “No, I can’t.”

Lifting her glasses, she briefly revealed her blood-colored eyes as she rubbed at them before settling the glasses back into place. William glanced questioningly between Max and Aria before turning to watch while Xavier paced the room. Tempest sat in his lap, her gaze also focused on Xavier as he turned and walked back to the other side of the room.

“What happened out there?” William inquired.

“We found where they are right now,” Aria replied.

“Did you learn anything?” Timber asked.

“Yes,” Aria said.

Max drank down the rest of his wine and scowled at his wrist when his sleeve fell back to reveal his scars; the ever-present reminder of Katrina. She was dead, but he would forever bear her marks. Whatever Hell she was in now, he knew she was laughing over that knowledge. He poured himself another glass despite Daniel’s disapproving look. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to get sloshed, but he really couldn’t think of a more appropriate one.

Daniel, Timber, and William exchanged looks but no one prodded him further. Aria’s nails dug into her thighs as she gazed at him. Xavier stopped pacing to stare at Daniel for a minute before resuming his stalking movements.

Lord help Daniel tonight,
Max thought and couldn’t stop himself from chuckling as he drank the wine and poured himself another glass. At least the wine made Katrina’s laughter in his head die down some.

“Is it helpful information?” Daniel prodded.

“It’s helpful,” Max replied.

“Well…?” William inquired.

“It is Sabine,” Aria confirmed, drawing all of their attention to her. “Whether she did die and rose again or not, we don’t know, but that
is
the woman’s name. I’m sure there have been many Sabine’s over the years, but judging by her vast amount of power and her looks, she
has
to be Atticus’s mother.”

“You’re sure that’s her name?” William inquired.

In his head, Max could hear them repeatedly asking the vamp for the woman’s name. In the beginning, the vamp had claimed not to know it. Then he’d claimed he’d never reveal it. In the end, he had sobbed Sabine’s name repeatedly. Never once had they suggested the name to him before he confessed it on his own.

“We’re sure,” Max replied when Aria remained silent, probably recalling the man’s cries too. “She has about ten to fifteen thousand troops.” The vamp had told them twelve thousand. They’d agreed he was most likely exaggerating, but it was better to be safe than sorry. “Right now, they’re divided into three different towns until they’re ready to go after the palace. She has some of her followers traveling in smaller groups, circulating through areas and acting as scouts who report back to her. She moves often, sometimes in extremely large groups, sometimes in smaller groups as she always deviates her patterns. We were lucky she was in a smaller group the night they discovered us.”

“There’s easily ten thousand within the palace walls right now. If Melinda was able to evacuate the border towns before Sabine got to them, there will be more,” Daniel said.

“Including those we are gathering, our numbers are about equal with hers,” Xavier said. “Our source could have been lying about their numbers, most likely was, but it will be close.”

“You have a source?” Tempest asked.

“We did,” Aria confirmed. “He no longer lives.”

Max drank another glass.

“She’ll be ready for the palace soon,” Daniel said.

“She’s moving on the palace within the week,” Aria replied.

“Your source told you this?” William asked.

“No, he said they wouldn’t be moving until next week. We believe he lied.”

“Won’t she seek out more followers first?” Tempest asked.

“Arrogance is one of her biggest weaknesses,” Aria murmured. “I think she believes she can turn some of those within the palace to her side.”

“She may be able to,” Xavier said as he stopped his pacing. “Fear is a powerful motivator.”

“Are we going to warn them?” William asked.

“We’ll figure out a way to do so,” Aria said.

“Should we bring our troops in sooner than planned?” Timber inquired.

“No,” Aria replied. “The palace is going to have to defend itself for a few days if she moves before we’re ready. The Council will be able to keep it together for a few days, especially if they have the better position and the walls to defend from. It will also take time to bring Jack here.”

Blood spilled from Aria’s palms as her fingers tore into her flesh with those words. It dripped onto her pants, but she didn’t notice it and no one commented.

“I don’t think we can get Jack here before she marches on the palace. There simply isn’t enough time,” Aria continued. “When he does get here, we’ll send the runners to the safe houses to start gathering our troops.”

“We will return for Jack tomorrow,” Daniel said. “If all goes well, it will only take us a day to get there.”

“Yes,” Aria said.

“Did you learn anything else?” William inquired.

“Goran may be her other big weakness,” Max said. Their informant had let that one spill in order to keep his other eye. “They’re rarely apart.”

“Is that it?” Timber asked.

“It’s more than we had before,” Aria said defensively as more blood fell onto her pants. “And we also learned that Goran is her son.”

A pin dropping would have been heard from a mile away. The chair Timber had been leaning back in hit the floor to finally break the silence. “You’re kidding!” Timber blurted.

“No,” Aria said. “I’m not sure when he was born, it must have been while she was in hiding, but he is her son.”

“Judging by the power I sensed in him, I would say he is younger than Braith and Jack, but not by much,” Xavier said.

“Holy…” Timber’s words trailed off. “This just gets more and more messed up.”

“Yes,” Xavier said. “She has also been in this country for at least five hundred years, possibly longer.”

“How do you know that?” Daniel inquired, his face paler than normal.

“Our informant told us she
is
Croatoan,” Xavier answered.

“What the hell is Croatoan?” William demanded.

“Croatoan was once associated with a colony of humans who came to settle this land in the fifteen hundreds. They disappeared, but left the word croatoan behind. Many believed the settlers were trying to say that they’d gone to live with the Native American tribe in the area, also of the same name, but they were never sure. Our informant told us Sabine was responsible for those settler’s disappearances and deaths. Why the settlers called her this, I don’t know, perhaps they believed she was one of the Native Americans. Sabine has been responsible for many mass disappearances over the years that have gone unsolved.”