Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel(63)

“Rylee, can you tell where Pamela is at all?” Liam slung the crossbow’s strap over his shoulder.
I headed back up the stairs and stared into the dark night sky. “I don’t know. Across water.”
“Then how the hell are we going to find her?”
I gave him a half smile. “I’ve got an idea.”
 


Her idea was not what he’d expected, not at all. Liam stood in the center of the castle breathing deeply through his nose. He could smell Pamela, but not well, just faintly.
Alex, on the other hand, had his nose crammed to the ground and was working through the castle with an intensity and focus the submissive werewolf didn’t often show.
Rylee trailed Alex, a few feet behind, her eyes searching the castle as they went. When Eve had been slipping, he wasn’t sure if Rylee was going to pull through. There had been too much loss for her, too much pain and grief.
Yet, here she was, her shit together and on another hunt. There was a reason others let her lead. Though he’d had to cover for her for a bit, she’d gotten herself under control again.
“Liam, anything?” She called over her shoulder.
He took a deep breath, caught a faint whisper of Pamela and vampires. “Still there, Alex is doing well.”
Alex’s tail wagged twice with the praise, and he lifted a paw with a single thumbs up, and then he was back to scenting the trail.
They wove through the castle, pausing at intersections for several minutes to be sure they were on the right track. Liam was almost certain that the vampires were Berget’s. Hell, there were only two factions of vampires, and Rylee said that Faris wasn’t with Pamela … though that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to cause trouble.
Liam jogged to her side, and lowered his voice. No need to announce his thoughts to anyone who might be lurking in the castle. “Can you Track Faris, didn’t you say he was on this side of the veil?”
Her tri-colored eyes flicked up to his, her brows furrowing as she Tracked the vampire.
“Yes, he’s on this side of the veil, close too. Fuck, that is the last thing we need,” she muttered as she loosened up a sword from her back.
Liam stepped back and shifted the crossbow so that it was angled and ready to be used. He would only make a full shift to wolf if he had to.
Focusing on his sense of smell, he did his best to block the other scents and zeroed in on Faris. The vampire was nowhere close, and he hadn’t been this way. All Liam could pick up was Pamela and Berget’s scents.
“You know who took her,” he said softly, not wanting to hurt Rylee, but knowing that they had to discuss tactics. That was the only way they were going to get in and get out with them all in one piece.
Rylee’s back stiffened, but she didn’t turn around. “Yes.”
“Then we have to talk about this. She will use Pamela as a bargaining chip to get you to do what she wants.”
She exploded, spinning on her heel to face him, eyes bright with anger. “What the fuck, you think I don’t know that? There is nothing I can do about it right now. I will do what I have to do to get Pamela back.”
His body chilled, his blood running cold.
That was what he was afraid of.

The castle seemed endless and it didn’t take me long to wish we’d brought something to mark the stone with. Alex followed Pamela’s scent for close to half an hour before he froze at the head of an intersection. His whole body stiffened and a long low snarl rippled out of him; even the hair along his spine bristled up.
I yanked my second sword out. Whatever it was that Alex was picking up on was about to have a very bad day.
Liam moved up to my side, crossbow lifted and ready to shoot.
“Alex, what is it?” I kept my voice as low as possible.
Both of the boys answered at the same time.
“Faris.”
The vampire stepped out from around the corner of the intersection, as if he were waiting to be announced, his hands lifted to the air. “It seems that you did not get my message, since the messenger has been snatched.” His bright blue eyes were hooded, lazy, and I could feel him try to bespell me. Something he’d not done for some time.
I stared at the hollow of his throat and lifted my swords so they lined up with his neck. “I don’t have time for your games. So get the fuck out of my way.”
He gave us a mocking bow, sweeping his arm forward. “Be my guest, take on your precious little sister on your own. See how far it gets you. Wait, you’ve done that once already, haven’t you? Remind me again how that went?”
I clenched my swords and lifted my eyes to his, fury keeping me safe from the lure of his eyes. Now they were just eyes, nothing special.