Dying to Date(22)

Caged in, she thought.

Abandoning the obvious exits, she raced up the stairs to the second floor. She searched through all the guest bedrooms but no window was free of bars, though thankfully it seemed only her room was rigged with twenty-four hour monitoring. On top of that dilemma was the added problem that no room held weapons of any sort. All she was able to find was a silver letter opener in what looked like one of the necromancer’s private rooms.

“Damn,” she breathed, looking down at the metal that would severely burn her. She’d have to wrap it in something.

Fangs lengthened in her mouth as she walked to the long gray curtains. Grabbing the material, she tore a strip off the bottom with her teeth.

It wasn’t terribly thick, but it would do the job. Carefully she draped the cloth over the letter opener. Though her hand tingled uncomfortably, her palm didn’t blister when she picked up the blade.

Melissa raced back to her room, thankful not to cross paths with one of the guards. Her black dress didn’t leave many places to hide a weapon. Upon entering her room, she was careful to block the camera’s view of her treasure until she was able to safely store it under her pillow.

Her brief spurt of victory was short lived, however, when the reality of her situation crashed back to her. One weapon that she could barely hold wouldn’t get her out of a compound this well locked down.

She needed a plan and fast. Because everything she’d seen so far made it impossible to imagine a successful escape on her own.

And she was, without a doubt, alone.

…

Rage churned within Tarian as he pasted a smile on his face and ate his dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Was Melissa always your target?” he asked, choking down his food.

“We had a short list of candidates,” Dominic replied. “But she made the most sense. When Eilin called about your date, we had our chance. She’d be away from the office with its advanced security, and the odds of her taking guards on a date were slim.”

“What did you do to her driver?”

Dominic waved his hand. “A casualty of war, I’m afraid.”

“I trust Lucian won’t find the body anytime soon.”

“Burned up in the dawn,” Dominic said. “But you know what was interesting? The vampire had a rield on her wrist.”

Tarian kept his face carefully blank. “Really? How is that possible?”

There was no denying the sharp intelligence in his grandfather’s eyes. “She said her father gave it to her.”

Relief spiraled through him, though he had little doubt Melissa’s instincts to protect him had ended the moment he’d walked into this room “It’s possible,” he mused. “We should look into how he acquired one. Was it a lucky purchase, or does he have a necromancer captive who made it?”

“A good point,” Dominic said. “But any necromancer strong enough to make a rield would be very hard to capture.”

“True.”

“Still, it is in our best interest to discover the rield’s origins just in case.”

“It must have been difficult to capture her without using necromancer magic,” Tarian said.

“I always plan ahead,” Dominic replied. “We had some deadman’s thistle ready, but the leech still put up a fight. Jamie has a set of claw marks across his chest that can attest to the battle.”

Good girl, Tarian thought, giving in to a moment of bloodlust. He’d known Melissa was strong. “He’ll recover I trust,” he said, keeping up his facade.

“Yes, but it’s fortunate you are here. We could use an extra set of hands to replace him while he heals.”

“Whatever you require, Grandfather. I’m here to help.”

Dominic smiled as his plate was cleared away. “We’ll be on a nocturnal schedule for the duration of the vampire’s confinement. To ensure she is always watched, of course. We’ll drug her through the daylight hours.”

“She’s barely a century old,” Tarian replied. “I doubt she’s able to keep her eyes open during the day.”

“Even so. Better safe than sorry.”

“As you wish.” Tarian paused, weighing his options. He mustn’t look too eager to interact with Melissa or suspicion would be raised. Still, an opportunity was an opportunity. “Do you drug her by drink or injection?”

“Drink,” Dominic replied. “With only a small glass of blood for dinner, she’ll be hungry by the early hours of the morning. We might not even have to force her to drink.”

“Allow me,” Tarian said. “It would give me a certain satisfaction to bend the vampire to my wishes.”