The Trader called, "Whoa," bringing the team, wagon, and Quinn to a lurching stop.
One of the vamps climbed off his horse and leaped into the wagon, vampire-fast, sending Quinn's heart squeezing into her throat and her hand itching to grab for her gun.
Arturo, this would be a good time to make an appearance.
The vamp reached forward and grabbed Zack's hair, wrenching her brother's head back, as if baring his neck for the strike.
Quinn, furious, clenched her hands into fists to keep from staking him. A tingling heat flared in her palms and began to crawl up her arms, beneath her skin.
Shit. Her eyes. She squeezed them closed, praying she'd done it in time. If she hadn't, she'd surely have heard the vampire's exclamation. Unfortunately, keeping her eyes closed did nothing to calm the growing need to protect her brother. Which only made the power beneath her skin burn hotter.
Beside her, she could hear Zack struggling against the vampire's hold. Zack sounded mad. At the first sound of his pain, she was pulling her gun, her secrets be damned.
The vampire called to his friends. "This one's got some height to him, but little muscle mass. Still, he could be of use."
"Take him," one of his companions replied.
"These two are already sold," the deep-voiced Trader said calmly. "I'm just delivering them."
The female vamp laughed. "Looks like you're going to have to pay back the money then. Finders, keepers," she added in a singsong voice.
Quinn fought to calm herself, to douse the power now burning in her veins. Beside her, Zack grunted, and she felt him moving, or being pulled, away from her. The soft thud of Zack's ropes hitting the wooden floor of the wagon sent a bolt of cold fear shooting up her spine. The creepy tingling beneath her skin grew worse.
The closest vamp began to chuckle. "You were about to lose this one anyway."
He thought Zack had worked himself free. Of course he would.
Without warning, she felt the hard press of cold hands on her jaw and gasped, her heart leaping until it thundered in her ears. Only by sheer force of will did she manage to keep her eyes closed and her hands behind her back.
"This one's plain as mud, but serviceable. Open your eyes, chippy." He squeezed her jaw hard, until her eyes began to water. "I said, open!"
But there was no way in hell she could do that, not unless she wanted to give up the game. Because she knew her eyes must be glowing by now. She could feel the energy surging through her veins, wild and uncontrolled, and a new thought had her head pounding. If her power flew free, the vampires might be tossed away from her. But Zack could get caught in it, too, and hurt.
Her hands began to shake with the force of her struggle to hold a lid on the power. The best thing she could do was calm down, but that wasn't happening, not with a vampire threatening to break her jaw.
Her whole body began to shake like a volcano ready to blow. Beneath her, even the wagon started to vibrate.
"What the hell are you doing, chippy?" the vampire growled.
The vampires circling the wagon shouted. "Sunbeams!"
"It's nighttime, you moron. There's no sun in either world at night."
The hair on Quinn's arms lifted, and she knew the worlds had opened nearby. Suddenly, she could hear the dull roar of traffic and that constant buzz of electricity that most were never aware of until it was absent. A car alarm bleated in the distance.
It was all she could do not to open her eyes, to see the world she'd left behind. The power crawled through her veins, cutting even as it burned, seeking a way out. If something didn't give soon . . .
We are coming, cara mia. Arturo's voice rang in her head. Remain calm.
Right. Calm. She had a vampire ready to claw her eyes open, and she was shaking so badly from trying to hold back the power that, for a minute, she'd thought she'd caused the earthquake that had opened the break between the worlds.
"Ho, there!" Arturo called, the sound of hoofbeats carrying to her beneath the sounds of her world. "By order of Cristoff Gonzaga, I demand to know who and what you take from his lands."
The Trader with the deep voice replied. "Slaves, Arturo Mazza. Just slaves who came in through a sunbeam."
"Mazza?" The vamp holding her released her suddenly. "Bollocks."
"A sunbeam on Gonzaga lands," Arturo continued smoothly, "which makes them Cristoff's property. You know what happens to those who steal from Cristoff, Trader."
"Just searching for one of my escaped freshies," the vamp who'd been accosting her said, moving away. "This one isn't her."
Ha. No shit, Sherlock.
And just like that it was over. A moment later, over the loud rumble of a truck, she heard what sounded like horses galloping off into the night. Was it Arturo who'd scared them off, or the threat of what Cristoff would do to them?
She didn't know and, at the moment, didn't much care.
"They are gone, cara," Arturo said, his voice drawing near. "But keep your eyes closed. The glow will be seen far in the distance." She felt his hand cup her knee "You are shaking like a leaf."
"I'm not in control." She pulled her hands from the ropes, stretching them in front of her. "Get Zack away from me. Get everyone away from me."
"I have a better idea."
She felt Arturo's arms slide beneath her knees and behind her back. "What are you doing?"
"Moving you away. If your power flies, it may spook the horses."
She couldn't argue his logic. He lifted her into his arms, and she curved her arm around his neck and held on tight as he began to run. Being in his arms felt so natural, so right, so . . . safe. It was a mistake to feel that way, she knew it. And yet on some gut-deep level, she trusted him. She always had, which was why his betrayals had cut so deep.
The wind raked at her face and hair, but strong arms held her tight. And as quickly as the ride began, it ended.
"Where did you take me?" Quinn asked breathlessly, struggling not to open her eyes.
"A quarter of a mile from the others, no more." He set her on her feet. "Release your power, bella. It is safe here."
"That's easier said than done." If she knew how to release it, she'd have fired her energy at the Traders in her apartment instead of her gun.
"Lift your hands and blast me, Quinn."
She tried, willing the power to fly, but nothing happened. And she was still shaking.
He gripped her jaw as the other vampire had, though not enough to hurt her. "Think of all the times I lied to you," he said harshly. "Remember how I delivered you to my master knowing he would hurt you. I stood there and watched him hurt you, Quinn, and did nothing to help."
His voice ached with regret, but the memory was too fresh, too raw, and he was right. She wanted to hurt him for it, dammit. She needed to make him pay for what he'd done.
The fury rose slowly, melding with the power fighting to escape. She slammed her hands against Arturo's chest, pouring her anger into him. And suddenly, he was gone, the power tearing through her fingertips. And then she was flying back, too, slamming into the hard ground, burning alive on a backdraft that tore through her body, making her cry out from the agony.
"Quinn!"
As she lay in the dirt, gasping for air, cool, gentle fingers stroked her head. "You're hurt."
The wind knocked out of her, she gasped for air, but the power was already draining away. "Are my eyes . . . ?" She blinked them open and closed again.
"The glow is gone."
She opened her eyes to find him bent over her, his face tight with concern.
"I'm fine, Vampire." She sat up, stifling a groan, and reached behind her. "My gun." It must have flown free when she landed. As she pushed to her feet, Arturo picked up something off the ground, her gun, and handed it to her.
Shoving it in her waistband, she looked at him with surprise. "You really trust me with this?"
"I ask you to trust me, cara. The least I can do is trust you in return."
"I've made no promises not to hurt you."
"You have not." His expression was serious, but gentle. "You have honor in abundance, and I do not believe you'll try to kill me unless I deserve it."
She considered that. "There are times already when I've thought you deserved it."
"I know. I am sorry, tesoro."
And she believed he meant it. "How far did I send you flying just now?"
"A good twenty feet. That was quite a blast."
She snorted. "Too bad I didn't get to see you land."
His mouth kicked up, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "You'd have enjoyed that, would you?"
"I would."
His expression sobered. "The power caught you, too. You could have been hurt."
"My power doesn't like me." As they started back toward the others, she glanced at him. "Vampire, do you think it's possible that I caused the worlds to open this time?"
Silence. "Why do you ask?"
"I started shaking from the force of the power. The next thing I knew, the wagon started shaking, then the ground. It wasn't until then that the hair rose on my arms, and I started to hear my world. Usually, the shaking comes last, not first."
Her looked at her with fathomless eyes and shrugged.
Quinn lifted her brows. "It would seem that not only might I have the power to save your world. I might also be able to hasten its destruction."
They returned to the wagon, and she and Zack resumed their captive pose. As the wagon bounced over the rutted terrain, questions bombarded her mind. Had she caused that last break in the worlds? It made a certain kind of logical sense that a sorceress's power could affect the magic of a sorcerer-created world.