"The minute MacNeil radioed that my brother had washed up on the beach, Father told him to have the satellite phone removed from his office in the house and locked up in his office in the labs. There's no one coming for you, little Sarita. Your life is here now."
Sarita's mind rebelled at the suggestion and she was about to tell him that her life sure as hell wasn't here now, but snapped her mouth shut when he suddenly swooped downward, dropping quickly toward land. For one moment she thought they were going to crash into the ground between the fence and the labs, but at the last moment he pulled up, swinging his body down and forcing hers with it as he flapped his wings against the wind to slow them. They landed rather abruptly, but on their feet, and then he took her arm in a steely grip and started walking toward the first building.
Sarita glanced around at the yard inside the fence. The towers were all manned with armed men as they had been the first time, but this time they had noticed their arrival at once and were watching them.
"They'll shoot if you make a break for it," the winged man said idly.
Sarita snorted at the suggestion. "I doubt it. Dressler wants me for something. Some kind of experiment."
"Yes, he does," he agreed easily as he marched her toward the first building, the one where the immortal had been cut in half and put back together. "But you don't have to be in good shape for what he wants. Just not dead. They can shoot you in the leg without angering him."
When Sarita glanced at him narrowly, trying to decide whether he was telling the truth or not, he added, "What do you think we were headed to the island for? It wasn't to bring you fresh linens."
Sarita faced forward again, her mind racing, and then asked, "What does he plan to do with me?"
He hesitated and then shook his head. "Father wouldn't like it if I ruined his surprise. You'll find out soon enough. But let me give you a little advice," he said as they approached the lab. "Don't fight him. You can't win and he'll just make things unpleasant for you. On this island my father is God."
They had reached the door and on the last word, he pulled it open and shoved her in ahead of him.
Sarita stumbled inside and glanced swiftly around the lab, relieved to see that the table was empty this time and there wasn't some poor tortured immortal on it cut in half or missing limbs. She was less happy to see Asherah sitting at the desk Dressler had used, writing something in a notebook. The woman glanced up with a start at their entrance.
"I have a gift for Father, Asherah," the winged man announced, pulling the door closed. "Where is he?"
"Sleeping," Asherah said, eyeing Sarita with an odd expression on her face.
"Well, wake him up. He'll want to know we have the girl."
Asherah shook her head and closed her book before standing. "He said not to wake him unless we had them both."
"But-"
"That's what he said, Caelestis," Asherah said firmly, coming around the desk.
"Don't call me that-you know I hate that name," the man holding Sarita snapped.
"Fine. That's what he said, Cael," she said impatiently and then arched an eyebrow. "Better?"
"Yeah, but-"
"No, buts," Asherah interrupted irritably. "You know how miserable he gets when he's woken up from sleep. We don't wake him up until the vampire's caught too."
Cael released a resigned breath. "Fine. What do we do with her, then?"
"Lock her in the cells until the vampire is found," Asherah said with a shrug, retrieving a large set of keys from her pocket.
"I thought the cells were full?" Cael commented and Sarita turned slightly, getting her first good look at him in the light. He was almost a dead ringer for Thorne. He had the same high cheekbones, the same full lips, the same pale gold eyes and the same coloring to his wings. He was also just as gorgeous as the other man. But he was on the wrong side.
"They are full. I'll have to put her in with Colton," Asherah said absently as she led them toward the refrigerator, sorting through the keys on her chain.
"Is he still alive?" Cael asked seeming surprised.
"Just," Asherah said and paused next to the refrigerator to unlock . . . a door, Sarita saw when Cael urged her closer. She hadn't noticed it the last time she was here because it was hidden by the protruding refrigerator. She should have expected it existed, though. This lab didn't take up a fifth of the building. There had to be a door to whatever lay behind this room, which, as it turned out, were cells from what these two had said.
Sarita glanced around curiously the moment Cael marched her through the door. All there was to see was a hallway with white walls and white tile on the floor like the lab they'd just left. There were also five white doors off it. Two on either side and one at the end. Asherah led them to the end door, unlocked it and stepped in, flicking on a light switch next to the door as she went.