Thomas was out of time and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

Chapter 12

Zach wanted to scream. No, screaming wouldn’t have done anything to ease his rage. He wanted to rip the SUV apart with his bare hands and hurl each chunk into a lake. That might take the edge off.

Lexi was gone. Not gone and he’d find her later. She was gone gone. Really gone. Not a trace of her remained.

He’d marked her with a bloodmark—sort of a biological tracking device—that he should have been able to locate halfway across the planet, and he knew she hadn’t gotten that far. Even if she’d hopped a plane, he should have been able to at least sense the direction that she’d gone in.

He’d pulled the Tahoe over along the edge of a deserted Kansas highway as soon as he realized he couldn’t feel the subtle tug coming from her any longer. He could keep heading south, but that would only do him so much good. Once he hit ocean, he’d have to stop.

The night wind swept through the open window, bringing with it the sound of crickets. He hadn’t bothered to wash the blood off his arm, though he had tossed his shirt out the window a few hours back on another equally deserted stretch of road. There wasn’t much blood left to attract any snarlies, and even if they did come, he was itching for a fight. Hell, it might even help him burn off some of this anxious tension that was growing in him more by the second.

How had she slipped free so easily? It didn’t seem possible.

Zach dialed Nicholas, hoping to make some progress another way.

“Heya, Zach,” answered Nicholas, sounding just friendly enough to piss Zach off more.

“I need you to put out all you geeky little feelers on a waitress named Lexi.”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“Cut the shit, man. This is serious.”

“Your snarl is my command. Lexi who?”

“How should I know? All I got was the name on her name tag.”

“Ever think she might have borrowed the tag from another waitress?”

Zach was not going to admit to being that stupid. Not a chance. “Just help me out. Please.” Ouch, that near begging had hurt.

“Wow. You must be desperate to go pulling out the ‘p’ word.”

“Pussy,” grumbled Zach under his breath.

“Yep. That’s the Zach I know and love. Always the charmer. Okay, what else can you give me?”

“What else? I already gave you her name.”

“I’m good, but even I am going to need a little more than that.”

“She drove an old Honda Civic.”

“License plate?”

“I was a little too busy chasing it on foot to notice.”

“I would have paid money to see that race.”

“Don’t make me come back and hurt you, man.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re all big and tough and mean and I’m shaking in my boots. What color?”

“She’s a blonde. With these melted chocolate brown eyes and—”

“The car, shit-for-brains. What color was the car?”

“Oh. Uh. Rust orange. Primer gray. Maybe a little blue in there somewhere.”

“Blue. Check. Do you remember what state the plate was from?”

“Kansas.”

“That’ll help. Anything else you can give me? Any other names people called her? Maybe she just happened to write her phone number on a napkin and slip it to you.”

“Phone number!” Zach scrolled through his call log until he found the number Thomas had ripped off Helen’s cell phone for him. It was listed there in his outgoing call log about twenty times, so it wasn’t hard to spot. He read the number to Nicholas.

After a few clicking keystrokes, Nicholas said, “Prepaid. No name. Pays with cash. This isn’t going to help any. Sorry, man.”

“I’ve got to find her.”

“Why? Does she owe you money?” asked Nicholas.

“Funny.”

“I do try.”

Zach held on to his panic. Panicking would not do anyone any good. “Okay. Hypothetical question. If you place a bloodmark on someone and a few hours later they disappear, what does that mean?”

“You put a marker on her and she disappeared? That’s not even possible. Not even if she died.”

“I would have said the same thing a half hour ago.”

Nicholas gave a low whistle. “You need to call Logan in on this. Or Tynan. I’m good with the electronic tracers, but if you put a bloodmark on her and she slipped it, I have no clue how to help you.”

“Can you at least work your mojo to see if you can find her through her credit cards or something?”

“I can try. All we have is her car model, maybe the color, the state it was registered in, and a name she put on a name tag. None of that is solid, man, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Thanks.”

Zach ended the call and set the phone down before he shattered it on the inside of the windshield. He didn’t think Thomas would appreciate having his ride screwed up like that.

He rolled up the window and flipped on the air-conditioning. His choices were to keep following her not knowing which way to go, or help his buddies kick some ass.

Not a hard choice. Lexi was gone and he was in one heck of an ass-kicking mood.

When Drake said “nest” Helen pictured a big pile of sticks and leaves sitting on the ground somewhere. Like a giant gerbil’s nest or something.

She had not pictured the gaping black maw of a forgotten mine shaft out in the middle of nowhere. That meal replacement bar she’d eaten during the drive was considering its chances for escape so it wouldn’t have to go down there with her.

“You’re not claustrophobic, are you?” asked Drake.

“I am now,” she said, unable to imagine going down into that black hole.

Thomas turned off the van, leaving the keys in the ignition. For a fast getaway, no doubt. That did little to ease Helen’s growing anxiety.

Thomas eyed her with something bordering on disgust. “If she’s going to be a liability, she can damn well stay in the van.”

Being a liability sounded pretty darn good right now, even if it was the coward’s way out.

“You’ll do fine,” soothed Drake. He slid his hand over her hair—which she’d put back into braids to keep it out of her eyes. It felt good having his wide palm touch her. She was starting to get used to having him around, touching her like he had the right to. It was nice. Comforting. And right now she could use every scrap of comfort she could find.

“Tell me again what we’re going to do.” Maybe the plan would sound better the third time she heard it.

Thomas rolled his eyes and got out of the van, slamming the door shut behind him.

Helen felt like a foolish child. Drake had already told her what to expect. Twice. But if he was as frustrated by her anxiety as Thomas was, it didn’t show. Instead, he took her hands in his and stroked her palms with his thumbs. “I’ll go in first, you in the middle, and Thomas will bring up the rear. Most of the Synestryn will be out hunting for another hour or two, so we’ll have plenty of time to find Kevin’s sword. We’ll get it and sneak back out. No sweat.”

“And are you sure it’s here?”

“As sure as we can be.”

They’d used some electronic gadget that was a cross between a GPS gadget and a blood glucose monitor. Drake had taken a sample of black blood he’d brought with him in a little vial and put a drop of it into the machine. A map appeared on a small color display, showing the location of the mine. Less than an hour southwest of Olathe.

“How does that thing work, anyway?”

“I have no idea how it works. It’s something Nicholas and one of the Sanguinar came up with. Major magic is built into it as well as some killer electronics. But I can tell you what it does. We put a drop of Synestryn blood into it and it tracks down the monster that it came from.”

“You’re saying that you know there’s one of those monsters in that mine?”

“Afraid so.”

“Okay, I have to ask. How did you get the blood? I doubt the thing sat down and rolled up its sleeve.”

Drake’s face twisted in a grimace. “I’m not sure you want to know.”

“I’m sure that not knowing is only going to make my imagination go crazy, which will scare me more.”

Drake sighed and unzipped a duffel bag. He pulled out three clear plastic face shields, like the kind sometimes used in surgery. “The Theronai who was with Kevin when he was killed was poisoned. We’re still not sure if he’s going to live.” He said it like that was supposed to mean something to her.

“I still don’t get it. Was there blood on him or something?”

“He was poisoned with Synestryn blood. It was injected into his body through the monster’s fangs.”

She pictured a giant snake, and that image was now number three of her Most Disgusting Things Ever list.

Drake continued. “One of the Sanguinar managed to extract enough of the blood from Torr for us to hunt the thing down, but it will only be good for about twenty-four hours. We’re down to less than two of that now.”

Drake handed her one of the face shields. “Wear this. Some of them spit. And when I say spit, I mean acid.”

No, that was number three. “This is getting grosser by the minute.”

“If you don’t want to do this, just say the word. I won’t force you.”

Staying behind was a serious temptation. Helen was no hero. She’d only slow them down no matter how many rocks she could lift. “Would it be safe for me to stay here? I mean, I wouldn’t get swarmed by a bunch of those things running away from you big sword-wielding, manly men, would I?”

His mouth twitched with a grin, but it was gone a second later. “You’d be perfectly safe because I’d be right here with you. No way am I letting you hang here alone. Too many things could go wrong. Including getting overrun by a swarm of Synestryn.”

“But Thomas needs you to go help him.”

“Thomas knows the risks. You don’t. Besides, we both swore an oath to you and we meant it.”

“You mean that ‘my life for yours’ thing?”

“Exactly.”

“You actually meant that?”

“Every word.”

She stared at him for a long moment, hoping to see some hint that he was joking. He wasn’t. He was deadly serious. And he was waiting for her decision.

“I don’t want to go. I also know that if something happened to Thomas because you weren’t there to help him, I’d never forgive myself. So we go.”

Drake’s lips curled in a proud smile. “You’re one hell of a woman. I’m glad I found you first.”

He pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth, which drove all the nasty thoughts out of her head so fast it spun. She loved his mouth—smooth and firm and warm—even if it was only against hers for a brief second. That quick kiss still did more for her than an hour of sex from most of the other men she’d been with. She wasn’t sure whether that made her lucky or pitiful. But she did know that if getting through this mine alive was what she had to do to get more of his mouth on hers, then she’d find a way to become Super-woman. Whatever it took, she wanted more of Drake and his luscious kiss.