Zane’s Redemption (33 page)

Twisting her neck once more, she looked at her restraints. Shit! Her father had handcuffed her with silver handcuffs. However, he had protected her wrists from the effect of the silver by wrapping bandages around them so the silver wouldn’t burn her skin. And what she’d thought was a bar, was actually a steel beam that appeared to have been used to retrofit the old house for earthquake safety.

Portia cursed. She couldn’t get out of the restraints. Even though the silver didn’t hurt her at present, she couldn’t break it, not even with her superior hybrid strength.

Frustrated, she let her head fall back onto the pillow and listened for any sound. On the floor beneath her, mumbled voices indicated the presence of others in the house. She was in a house, for sure, an old one, maybe Edwardian or Victorian, evidenced by the crown molding she saw between wall and ceiling. But where she was, she had no idea.

She’d been out cold after her father had beaten her senseless, and she’d welcomed the escape into darkness where she’d felt nothing. Now that she was awake, the memory of her father’s beating and Zane’s rejection came back full force, even though her physical injuries had healed.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t gotten to eat the pizza Zane had ordered for her. A sob escaped her at the thought of him, and she swallowed it down quickly, not wanting to fall apart once more. She needed to be strong now. She had to help herself; nobody else would come to rescue her.

Her father was the evil Dr. Franz Müller, a man so vile and heartless she couldn’t believe that he’d ever loved her or her mother. And he wanted to force her to blood-bond with a vampire he’d chosen for her, something she could never accept. If she couldn’t have Zane, she didn’t want anybody.

A sound from the other room made her snap her head toward it. A door opened, and footsteps entered the study. Two men from what she could tell.

“You should have told me immediately,” her father hissed, his voice low and dangerous.

“With all due respect, I was only looking out for Brandt. When he didn’t get back like he was supposed to, I followed his trail,” a second male voice answered.

“Respect? I’ll teach you respect! You should have warned me about Eisenberg!”

Eisenberg—that was Zane’s name.

“I didn’t see Eisenberg! The man who tinkered with Brandt’s locker didn’t look like the man you described. He wasn’t bald. I didn’t know who he was.”

“You should have still called me the minute Brandt’s locker exploded. We could have made sure to destroy any trail that led to us.”

Portia remembered that night only too well.

“Trust me, the locker was blown to bits. Brandt rigged it just like he was taught, so that in case somebody found it, all evidence would be destroyed. He didn’t compromise us.”

“He was a fool!”

“He simply wanted to prove himself,” the stranger contradicted. “When he found out that you were looking for a mate for your daughter, he wanted to—”

“Enough! Brandt wanted to avenge his father, that is all. I wish he had spoken to me before. Eisenberg can’t be underestimated. He’s grown too strong and too smart. Despite all our efforts, he’s found my most trusted supporters. He eradicated them.”

“That’s unfortunate, but now that we know who and where he is, we’ll send a contingent after him,” the man suggested.

“I’ll give the orders here. Nobody will do anything until after the ceremony,” her father barked.

Ceremony? Portia felt bile rise from her stomach.

“Once this is over, we’ll get him. And then this chapter will be closed forever. I can’t have a filthy Jew interfere with my plans any longer.”

Suddenly, heavy steps came toward the door. Portia quickly closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

“Leave me!”

She heard the other man scurry from the room and close the door behind him.

“Did you hear that, Portia? I’m going to kill your lover and make him regret he ever laid his dirty hands on you.”

The door swung open fully, and Portia opened her eyes, glaring at her father who stood in the doorframe. “You’re a monster, just like he said.”

Her father crossed the distance to the bed with several large strides. “Don’t confuse me with him. I’m a creator. I’m creating a new world here, a new race, a dynasty that will rule forever.”

Portia shook her head. “No.”

“Oh yes, and you’ll help me with it.” He sat down at the edge of the bed.

“I won’t do it.”

He slapped her hard with the back of his hand, but she didn’t flinch.

“You can’t force me to blood-bond with anybody.”

“Oh, I can.” He flashed is fangs at her, his eyes glaring red with fury.

“What are you gonna do? Hold me down while he fucks me and digs his fangs into me?” she yelled. “You can’t force me to take his blood. I’ll never do it.”

“You’ll sink your fangs into anything or anybody I wish once it’s time.”

“No!”

“You won’t have a choice. In two days you’ll be so starved for anything, human food or blood, that whatever food source comes within your reach, you’ll take it.” He let out a sinister laugh.

Shock coursed through her veins. “You can’t do that.”

“Watch me.” He rose.

“I’m your daughter. I thought you loved me.” A single tear threatened to dislodge from her eye, but she pushed it back, not wanting to show her weakness. She had looked up to him her entire life. How could he betray her like this?

“That’s why I’m giving you this opportunity. If I didn’t love you like I do, I would have chosen somebody else to become head of this new race. Don’t you see? You’ll be a queen.”

Portia pressed her lips together, trying to prevent them from trembling. To no avail. She didn’t want to be queen or princess or leader of anything. She wanted to be Zane’s woman, his mate.  Forever.

“No …. no,” she whispered and closed her eyes, trying to shut out the world.

“Rest. Two nights from now your mate will be here and you’ll see things differently.”

He stomped out of the room and shut the door behind him. When she heard his footsteps disappear down the hall, she allowed her tears to flow down her cheeks. She’d awakened to a nightmare, and it was only just beginning.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The well-oiled machine of Scanguards was once again in operation. Within two short hours, everything was organized. Every available vampire in Scanguards’ employ had been mobilized and was now sitting on the specially equipped jet. Even Haven, the ex-bounty hunter, was ready to join the fight.

Maya, Gabriel’s mate, had been left behind to guard Delilah and the baby, much to her chagrin. She would rather have been by her husband’s side, but Samson had learned from experience never again to leave his wife without protection.

Zane understood only too well now. He knew what it felt like to lose the one person that meant everything to him. He promised himself never to leave Portia unguarded after this, no matter whether she took him back or not. If she didn’t, he’d simply hire a bodyguard to protect her from afar, to always watch over her so no harm would come to her.

He’d had a long conversation with Samson while they’d waited for the plane to be readied. He’d told his boss about the men he’d chased down, the assassin he’d killed only recently, and his lifelong quest to bring the monsters of Buchenwald to justice. Samson had understood, and Zane was relieved to know he had his boss’ full support.

Zane put his seatbelt on when Oliver took the seat next to him.

“You owe me one, bro,” he said quietly.

Zane turned his head to face him. “Listen, Oliver, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” He swallowed hard. “But I’d do it again if I had to.”

Oliver glared at him. “You could at least have let me in on it. Damn it! I would have covered for you had I known!”

“You what?” Had he heard right? Oliver would have had his back?

His colleague leaned closer. “You know I looked up to you. Why didn’t you trust me? Between the two of us we could have made sure nobody knew what was happening. But no, you had to trick me with that stupid phone call.”

Oliver jabbed his index finger into Zane’s chest, disappointment shining in his eyes.

“I didn’t know …”

Oliver turned and faced forward. “Did you mean any of the things you told me?”

“What things?”

“What you said on the phone about being a vampire. That if I wanted it, you would help me.”

Zane ran his hand over his bald head and sighed. “God, I’m such an ass.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Then why would you possibly want to be like me? I lead a miserable life.” And it would only get worse.

Oliver spun his face toward him. “Miserable? Do you have any idea what you’re saying? You’ve been given a gift. Do you know how many people are out there who would give anything to get an extra few years of life? A chance at immortality? A life without illness?”

Zane shook his head. “It means nothing when you have to live that life alone.”

“What are you talking about? You have Portia. Quinn told me how she looks at you.”

Zane suddenly felt his old anger return. “Uh, yeah, Quinn. I still have to settle a score with him. He sold me out to Samson in the first place.”

Surprise flitted over Oliver’s features. “Quinn didn’t sell you out. On the contrary, he kept his mouth shut about you and Portia, even after Samson already knew.”

“But then who—?”

“I said nothing, not even that she was at your house that day,” Oliver said defensively.

Zane raised his hands. “Hey, I wasn’t accusing you. I just want to know.”

“I’m not one to rat—”

“Who?” Zane interrupted.

Oliver hesitated. “Samson asked Thomas, and apparently he’d noticed something.”

A curse rolled off his lips. Maybe bringing up Thomas’ attraction to Eddie hadn’t been a good move after all, particularly since everybody knew that Thomas would never act on it. He was Eddie’s mentor, and Eddie was straight. No wonder Thomas had felt the need to pay him back for that slap in the face. “I guess I deserved that.”

Oliver gave him a confused look.

“Don’t ask.” He owed Thomas an apology. Shit, he hadn’t apologized to anybody in decades, and now he was about to apologize twice in the space of an hour. His life was definitely changing.

“Ready for takeoff,” the pilot’s voice came through the intercom.

Zane fell silent until they were in the air. But the opportunity to talk to Thomas in private didn’t present itself because it was time to work out their action plan.

***

Samson’s connections assured that a safe house from which they could operate was available to them upon their arrival in Seattle.

Finding the location where Müller was holed up, wasn’t an easy task. Even though the partial phone number narrowed down the search to a specific neighborhood, there was still a large area to cover. While Thomas worked his magic on the computer to pinpoint Müller’s headquarters by way of elimination, Amaury used his expertise to dig into title records to search for evidence that Müller had purchased a property, rather than merely rented one. Zane made sure he scanned for all names, Müller or any of his known associates had used in the past.

During the day, the humans who had come onto the mission with him—Oliver, Nina, and two bodyguards—combed the area, but Nina raised a valid point: “We need a picture of Müller.”

“There was a picture in Portia’s wallet,” Zane remembered. “Shit, I didn’t think of that.” He hadn’t had a clear thought since the moment Portia had run off. Some bodyguard he was!

Gabriel’s hand came down on his shoulder, making him jerk his head. “Don’t worry, I know what Müller looks like. I’ll transfer my memories into Samson’s mind, and he can draw us a picture.”

Gabriel looked over his shoulder at his boss. “Isn’t that right?”

Samson nodded. “Not a problem.”

“I envy you for your gifts sometimes,” Zane admitted. Gabriel’s gift of being able to access anybody’s memories and transfer them to someone else was probably the coolest skill he’d ever seen in action. And the fact that Samson had a photographic memory and was an expert at painting and drawing, wasn’t too shabby either.

“You shouldn’t,” Amaury said from behind him. “Certain gifts can be a curse too.”

Zane nodded. Amaury’s gift of sensing everybody else’s emotions had been a literal headache until Nina had come along and healed him.

When nighttime traded with daylight once more, the humans ventured out and continued their search, checking out targets Thomas had picked for them. In the meantime, Zane was relegated to pacing. His feet carried him to the room where Thomas had set up his computers and was hacking into every system imaginable.

After a brief knock, Zane opened the door and entered.

“Hey,” Thomas greeted him.

“Hey.” Zane shifted his weight from one foot to the other while he shut the door behind him.

“What’s up?” Thomas asked without taking his eyes off the monitor.

“Can we talk?”

His colleague swiveled in his chair. “What about?”

“About what I said.”

“What did you say?” There was an uncharacteristic tightness in Thomas’ voice.

“About you and Eddie.”

Thomas stiffened and crossed his arms over his chest. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“There is. I want to apologize.”

Thomas’ mouth dropped open.

“You heard right. It’s none of my business, and it was inappropriate.”

Thomas nodded slowly. “I guess none of us can choose who we are drawn to.”

“No. That’s why I shouldn’t have said it. It must be hard enough for you as is.”

Thomas gave a bitter laugh. “I curse the day I met him … Yet, if I could go back in time, I would still offer to be his mentor. Screwed up, huh?”

Zane shook his head. “You’re a good man, Thomas. I wish for you to get what you want, because I know how much it hurts not to.” He took an awkward step forward, not sure whether to hug Thomas or simply turn to leave.

His friend gave him a tired smile. “You know that I was the one who told Samson, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter. You did what you had to do. If the shoe were on the other foot, I would have done the same. No hard feelings.”