Samson’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, his eyes wide. “God help us.”

29

Eddie pulled into the garage and heard the garage door lower behind him. He turned the key in the ignition, switching off the engine and closing his eyes for a moment. He’d been paired up with Cain for patrol, and while he liked Cain, he’d missed working with Thomas. Cain had been called off early to attend to the cleanup of a murder scene, and therefore Eddie had had to terminate his patrol early. The edict that nobody was to patrol on his own was still in place.

Nina had called him on his cell just before he’d headed out for his patrol, wanting to clarify more what kind of apartment he was looking for so she could narrow down the search. He hadn’t had the courage to tell her that he wasn’t at all sure anymore whether he still wanted to move out of Thomas’s place. He wasn’t sure about anything right now.

Eddie dismounted from the bike and took off his helmet, placing it on the bench next to the stairs, then hung up his jacket next to it. He set his foot on the first step when a sound coming from the other direction reached his ears. He froze, his ears perking up. Holding his breath, he listened intently. Was there an intruder in the house?

A sound akin to a groan came from the room that was built into the hillside. The cave, as Thomas called it. When Eddie had first moved into the house, Thomas had told him that this was the only place that was off-limits to him. Eddie had respected Thomas’s wishes, but had always been curious about what lay hidden in that room.

Quietly, he approached the door and pressed his ear to it. Odd noises he couldn’t identify drifted to him. He inhaled deeply and took in two very distinct scents: the smell of a human, and the scent of vampire blood. Thomas’s blood! Somebody was hurting Thomas.

Eddie ripped the door open and charged into the room, his eyes quickly assessing the situation, his body readying itself to fight the intruder who had somehow overpowered Thomas.

His eyes found Thomas bent over a rack near the wall, his wrists bound to a pole above him, his body naked, his legs spread wide. His lower back and ass were covered with streaks of blood, which undoubtedly had been delivered by the human, who cracked a leather whip with several lashes.

Eddie rushed toward the man, snatching his hand and preventing him from delivering another painful lash to Thomas’s back. The man whirled his head to him, shocked at being caught.

“What the fuck!” Eddie hissed and hit the man across the face, slamming him to the ground.

“Eddie!”

He jerked his head in Thomas’s direction, noticing how he’d turned his head.

“Don’t hurt him!” Thomas ordered.

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “He’s beating you!” He pointed at the man who was now trying to get up. “He deserves everything he’s getting!”

“No, Eddie! Leave!”

“Leave? Are you crazy? He’s tied you up, and you want me to leave?” What was happening to Thomas? Was he under some sort of spell? Had somebody overpowered him with mind control? “What the fuck are you saying?”

“He asked for it,” the human ground out, collecting the whip that had fallen from his hand.

“What?” He looked from Thomas to the human, then back, now realizing that the straps around Thomas’s wrists were made of leather, not silver. Thomas could free himself at any moment if he wanted to. However, it appeared he didn’t want to.

Then his eyes took in more of his surroundings. All kinds of flogging instruments hung on the walls around the cave, which was furnished with racks and benches, a chaise longue and several cabinets. What else was hidden behind the doors of those cabinets? More torture toys?

Realization dawned on Eddie. Was Thomas doing this to get turned on? Furious, he glared at the human. “Get out! Get out now!”

He flashed his fangs at the man, causing him to fall backwards in horror. “Out!” he screamed once more, and pointed to the door. Before the man turned, Eddie concentrated his mind on him, wiping his memory of the event.

Only when he heard the door to the garage close again and knew the man had left the house, did he turn back to Thomas.

He ran his eyes over his mentor’s back. The wounds seemed superficial. Several cuts on his lower back bled, as well as one on his ass.

Thomas glared at him. “I told you never to come in here.”

Eddie ignored Thomas’s reprimand and approached, slowly putting one foot in front of the other, his entire body tense. As he came closer, the scent of Thomas’s blood intensified.

“Why would you do such a thing? Why let yourself be beaten by a human? What’s gotten into you?” As he spoke, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Thomas’s naked body. He’d never seen such a muscled ass, such shapely thighs, on anybody. His skin glistened invitingly.