“The thing is, everything would go a lot better for you if you just gave us something to work with here.”
Roman shrugged once again and glared at her. He didn’t know what she would do if he didn’t give her the answers she wanted, but he knew by that glint in her eyes, it wouldn’t be pleasant.
“Then how about something simpler for your thick skull to grasp? Tell me a few things about your friends in the Knights of Darkness. Anything at all, like where you meet, who the leader is. Just give me one teensy tidbit, and I promise we’ll let you go.”
“You aren’t nearly hot enough for me to converse with. So, why don’t you cut out this ‘we have ways of making you talk’ crap and let me out of this cell. Then we can tango, though I guarantee you won’t enjoy it.”
To Roman’s surprise, the woman only began laughing.
“I was hoping you would say something like that,” she snapped her fingers sharply.
The air holes at the top of his cell shut with a surprisingly soft “thump.” A hissing sound tickled Roman’s ears, and the air grew thick with a sickly-sweet scent. Roman gagged and instinctively clutched at his throat. A heaviness washed over his body, and his vision swam. He fought to stay conscious, but whatever the gas was, it was strong.
“Don’t expect to wake up quite as nicely this time,” the woman said. The sneer on her face was the last thing Roman saw before the gas knocked him out completely.
When consciousness came again, Roman woke up in even less comfortable circumstances. From what he could tell, he was strapped to a hard, X-shaped table, his wrists and legs restrained with a hard metal that pulsated with UV light that slightly stung against his skin. Well, Xavier might get a kick out of this, but I certainly don’t.
He looked up, and his captor, along with a few other humans, loomed over him. The way they looked down at him made Roman feel almost like he was the main course in some demented feast.
“You really should have been a little more forthcoming with us. Now we have to do things the unpleasant way.” The woman glowered.
Roman was about to retort when one of the humans pulled out a long, thin needle. Before Roman could even suck in a breath, the instrument was jammed violently underneath his fingernail. A sharp jolt went through his body, but he forced himself not to wince, even as they stuck even more needles underneath his nails. Even when they asked him questions, he kept his face stoic and mouth shut.
“I don’t think he needs those fingernails, do you?” someone said. One by one, they painfully jammed the needles harder and used them as leverage, ripping the nails entirely off. The skin stung as it was exposed to air. He gasped involuntarily.
“Let’s turn up the heat a bit.”
Roman could hear something like a dial being turned. The next thing he knew, the skin underneath his restraints was burning as the UV grew even brighter. The smell of his flesh bubbling churned his stomach, and he was certain the skin would melt down to the bone.
Despite himself, Roman screamed. More questions were thrown his way, but all Roman could focus on was the searing pain in his wrists.
“We don’t want him to strain against the restraints too badly. Let’s give the little leech a treat now, why don’t we,” one of the voices said.
A sharp prickling sensation tickled his arm, and before Roman knew it, ice was flooding his veins. But with it did not come relief. Instead, his limbs locked up rigidly and his stomach churned violently. Don’t throw up. Don’t you dare throw up in front of them! He forced the stomach acid creeping up his throat back down.
He would have let loose a string of curses in English and the old tongue of his home, but the words wouldn’t escape Roman’s lips. His tongue felt heavy and slow as if it had been entirely coated in Novocain.
A metallic glint caught his attention from the corner of his eye. One of the humans was waving a scalpel over him menacingly.
“I wanna watch you bleed, leech” he spat at Roman. The blade was dragged viciously from his elbow down to his wrist. Roman winced at the sting. For a brief moment, he almost laughed madly—why did they go from burning to cutting? Did they think that was going to do it? It didn’t take long for Roman to realize that the length of the cut on his arm must have nicked a vein. He felt the blood pool thick and sticky underneath him.
“Not too fast now. I want to enjoy this. And make sure you collect some of the blood,” a fading voice said.
Roman felt cold all over. Despite himself, he couldn’t stop himself from shivering, which his human captors seemed to take great delight in. Through the din in his ears, he could hear them cackle. Everything after that was a blur of nausea, dizziness, and flashes of pain as they continued to burn, shock, and cut. But the longer the torture continued, the more numb Roman became. He shivered from the shock and found his eyes failing to stay open.
The cruel irony of it all was not lost on Roman. After hundreds of years, he finally found a woman worthy of being his mate. But instead of spending a life together in complete and utter bliss, he had already lost her. Even if she did want to talk to him again, there was no point. There was no getting out of this. He was going to die here.
At least Jessica is safe. He didn’t think he could live with himself if it were her strapped to the table being bled like a pig for slaughter. He would rip everyone in this room’s throats out if they hurt her. If this was the end of the line for him, they would never have to find out about her. They’d never lay a finger on her. That was more than enough for him.
The blackness at the edge of his sight widened and soon, Roman was swallowed up by the darkness.
CHAPTER 12
To say that Jessica was overwhelmed was beyond an understatement. Finding out vampires were real was a big enough shock to last most people a lifetime. I still don’t know if I believe I’m in a room full of vampires. But then her grandmother drops the bomb on her that Jessica and Roman were a “mated pair” and “bonded for life”?
“This is so fucking insane,” Jessica said. For once, Maureen did not tell her off for swearing.
“I know, sweet pea. It’s a lot to take in.”
“I mean, how did that mating thing even happen? I didn’t do anything! At least I don’t think I did anything.”
“Your powers aren’t just healing things physically. It’s more like complete physical and emotional empathy. You know exactly what other people truly need. Because you two were bonded when you touched his blood, well, your powers must have gotten a jump start from the physical and emotional reaction.”
Maureen might as well have been talking advanced calculus for all Jessica understood. A tremor of regret fluttered in her chest. If she had only been open to learning more of this from her grandmother, maybe she wouldn’t have chased Roman off when he was only trying to explain himself. Perhaps he wouldn’t be missing right now if she had just known how to tune in to what he was feeling.
“We need to find Roman before he’s… before they—”
“I know. And I know how to help you find him.” Maureen took Jessica by the arm and dragged her further away from the cluster of vampires. Jessica didn’t pay attention to where she was getting dragged. All she knew was that Roman was missing.
“Look, your powers allow you to connect to people in a completely empathic way. It’s why you are so in tune with how they are feeling and know exactly what they need. But there’s more than one way your powers can be used,” Maureen said. She guided Jessica to sit down on the floor. She made Jessica take several deep breaths before continuing with her instructions.
“You need to take a deep look inside yourself. Find the core of your power in your heart. It’s there, and it’s awakening. All you have to do is call it forward, and it will answer for you.
Look inside my heart? She has to be joking. But at this point, Jessica didn’t have a choice. Roman needed her to find him.
