Author: Kalayna Price

I ducked, but his fist snagged my coat, dragging me back.

Dammit!

I shrugged free of the coat and ran. Nathanial had escaped the net, too. I had to reach him. But a group of vamps circled Nathanial. One vamp, braver—or stupider—than the rest, broke the formation. He charged forward, his arm already cocked for a punch.

The blow never landed.

Nathanial was in front of the vamp one moment and behind him the next. The vamp had no time to turn.

Nathanial tilted, unleashing a strong and fast kick from the hip. The vamp flew forward, the sound of his spine snapping following in his wake. His body slammed into another vamp and they both crashed to the ground.

It happened fast, faster than two of my running strides.

Then Nathanial straightened. His eyes found me. I was almost to him. We’ll make it out of this.

Jomar was only a step behind me. I pressed my legs for more speed. If I was good at anything, I was good at running.

But Jomar caught up.

He dove into my path. I lashed out, and he caught my wrist. He twisted my arm, jerking it behind me as he kicked my knees out from under me. I went down, hard. Snow crunched under my bare knees. My shoulder screamed as Jomar jerked my arm higher.

“Stand down, Hermit, or I start breaking your companion’s bones,” he threatened.

Nathanial froze. He lifted his hands, palms up. Surrender.

“No,” I yelled, then yelped as Jomar jerked again. Pain tore at my shoulder and arm.

“Kita, be still,” Nathanial said, his eyes begging me to cooperate. I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t about to make that promise.

Near the gate, a delicate throat cleared. The china doll, Elizabeth, stood just inside the park, her little ballet slippers soaking up snow.

“Please join us in the car,” she said. Then she turned and disappeared beyond the gate.

Jomar hauled me to my feet and shoved me forward, almost sending me to my knees again. Only his grip on my arm kept me standing, and that came with the price of a new wave of pain rushing down my shoulder. But as I stumbled forward, a new pain surged through me, this one a stinging numbness originating in my finger. Avin’s ring. I’d left it with the coat, the spell must have triggered when I got too far away. I didn’t have time to worry about it right now.

Digging my heels into the frozen ground, I gritted my teeth against the pain in my arm and refused to be budged.

Jomar growled and the vamps surrounding Nathanial looked at him.

“We will go. Willingly.” Nathanial looked at me with the last word. “Bring her coat.”

Ronco, my coat still wrapped in his fist, stepped forward and tossed the coat haphazardly over the front of my shoulders. Nathanial nodded and placidly followed his captors.

Well, it looked like I didn’t have any choice but to go along with this. Without a word, I clung to my coat and let Jomar march me across the snow.

Nathanial slipped inside a dark limo as I rounded the gate.

Jomar pushed me in after him, intentionally knocking my head against the car as he shoved me though the door. He dumped me in the seat beside Nathanial, directly across from the Collector. Elizabeth sat beside the Collector, the conjoined twins catty-corner beside her. The Traveler was nowhere in sight.

As Jomar slid into the seat beside me, the Collector waved her hand in a shooing motion. “Thank you, Jomar. That will be all.”

Jomar’s grip on my arm tightened. “She’s a lively one, Mistress. Shouldn’t I—”

“I dismissed you.”

He bowed as well as he could while already crouched in a car. Then he dropped my arm. My shoulder ached with relief, and I pulled my arm around me, hugging it to my chest. Pain radiated down my hand as feeling rushed back. The skin on my ring finger was red and swollen around Avin’s silver ring. I ripped the ring off and dropped it in the coat pocket as the beefier guard leaned down, sticking his head in the open door. He didn’t ask anything, just looked at the Collector. She gave him a sharp nod, and he squeezed his bulk onto the seat beside me. Outside the car, Jomar’s squinty eyes glared.

Someone’s fallen out of favor.

Jomar slammed the door, and the car engine roared to life.

My already tense muscles locked in response. I hated cars.

Nathanial slid closer, his hand reaching for mine as the car jutted forward.

Seat belt, seat belt. Where is that damn—

I caught sight of the canvas strap sticking out from under the bulky guard beside me. I jerked at the belt, and the large vampire blinked at me in surprise. When I tugged harder, he shifted his legs until the belt slid free. The car took a turn and I yelped, every muscle in my body locking tighter, making my sore shoulder throb. My hands shook as I grabbed the metallic end of the belt, and I fumbled with the buckle until Nathanial took it away and snapped it for me.

“I apologize if my men were rough. They tend to get carried away,” the Collector said as the city blocks slid by the window. “But, no matter how little your companion was wearing, them stripping her was most uncalled for. I shall have words with them.”

My face burned at her double-edged apology. The coat had fallen to the floorboards as I fought with the seat belt, and I was showing a lot of thigh under the thin white under shirt—a whole lot of thigh. But it wasn’t like I was naked. Nathanial leaned down, scooping my coat from the floorboard. He handed it to me, and I hesitated a moment before draping it over my lap.

Hesitated because I was trying to decide if I should acknowledge the Collector’s jibe by covering myself. After all, what she hadn’t apologized for was pulling us off the street.

Which she sure as hell had no right to do. What do I care how about her opinion of how I’m dressed? In the end I relented only because I knew Nathanial was the one navigating these political waters, and I didn’t want to make things any harder on him.

As I smoothed the coat over my lap, Nathanial’s fingers slipped around mine. He squeezed lightly, which I interpreted as a silent ‘thank you’. I sank lower in my seat. Surely I wasn’t so difficult that such a little thing got a thanks. Was I?

“You have gone through a lot of trouble for this conversation,” Nathanial said, not acknowledging the lackluster quality of the Collector’s apology. “Tatius was informed you had already left Haven.”

“Clearly he was misinformed. Have you considered my offer?” Her eyes bled to black as she watched him. “Tell me your thoughts, Hermit,” she paused, “or Illusionist, as you should be called.”

“I am fine with my title.” Nathanial’s voice held no emotion, but his hand tightened around mine. “You should be informed that Kita, my companion, lost the ability to do the things the Traveler’s companion saw. Those abilities did not survive her turn. She can no longer shift.”

Glassy black eyes studied him, probably seeking a lie, and the ice queen demeanor the Collector had displayed in Tatius’s court surfaced in her features. Her hands folded in her lap, her fingers forming a steeple before her chest.

“Akane had a twin sister. I commanded one of my servants to turn her. The conditions were perfect, but she died during the turn in an agony I have never seen matched. These others,” she made a vague hand gesture to include me, “are perhaps resilient to turning. More so than humans. Still, abilities surviving or not, your companion interests me.”

Nathanial said nothing. The sound of the tires on the pavement and the low rumble of the engine filled the car in the absence of conversation. The car made a turn, picking up speed. Then it merged onto the freeway, the ride became smoother. Still, no one spoke.

The silence grated on me. My stomach lurched with every move of the vehicle, but the weight of the silence was worse than even my fear of being in the moving limo.

“What do you want?” I asked, unable to take the silence a moment longer.

The Collector regarded me with a look most people reserved for bothersome flies. That was as much of her attention she spared before her gaze returned to Nathanial.

He freed his hand from mine and slid his arm around my shoulders. It was a casual pose, but his fingers pressed against my skin, and I wasn’t sure if he was silencing me or if his nerves were showing.

“Tatius is unlikely to be pleased with our abduction.” He made the statement sound off-handed, unimportant.

It wasn’t.

“Abduction?” The Collector’s smile widened. “You and your companion are my honored guests. I intend only to show you what you will be gaining when you accept my offer. You have not left Tatius’s little tract of land in centuries; since a time when tribes of savages were your only meal choice. The world has grown and changed, and while Haven is an impressive city, it is hardly a culture capital. I think you will enjoy the finer arts my cities can offer.”

The Collector nodded at Elizabeth, and the small doll of a vampire reached under her seat. She pulled out a large, manila envelope and handed it to Nathanial.

He accepted it, opening the envelope slowly, as if cautious of what might be inside. Considering the last two packages vampires had received, I didn’t blame him. But I didn’t smell any blood, and when he reached inside, all he pulled out were colorful booklets. I frowned. Travel guides?

“My council members are each a master of a city. Please, pay attention to the earmarked attractions.” The Collector waved her hand to indicate the guides. “Surely there is somewhere you’ve always longed to travel.”

Nathanial shuffled through roughly a dozen books. How big is her council? Tatius had been afraid of any war or grudge she brought to his territory. I could understand why. With so many allies at the Collector’s call, the Haven vampires would be more than just outnumbered.

I recognized some of the city names, but one guide in particular caught my attention. A guide to the nightlife in Demur? I snatched the guide from Nathanial’s hand.

“You have connections in Demur?” I asked, flipping the guide over, looking for a map. There was probably more than one city in the country named Demur, but… The rogue I’d tagged had come from Demur. If I wanted to make sure there were no other men I’d accidentally tagged—or that Tyler had tagged during his deranged period as a shifter—Demur was where I needed to go.