Night Unbound(6)

Lisette listened as Tracy set her weapons down, opened the refrigerator door, and delved into the special compartment that contained bags of blood.
Zach had walked into her dream. She was sure of it. But, if he weren’t here, how had he accomplished it? And what had caused those wounds to open up on him like that? She had never seen that before, either in a dream or in reality.
Finding no answers, she followed Tracy into the kitchen and took the bag of blood she offered. “Thank you.”
Tracy yawned.
“Go back to bed,” Lisette told her. “I’m sorry I woke you.”
Nodding, her Second collected her weapons, then shuffled out of the kitchen and down the hallway.
Lisette let her fangs descend and sank them into the bag, siphoning the blood directly into her veins. Her skin ceased burning. Blisters swiftly healed. Pink faded.
Tossing the empty bag in the trash, she returned to her bed.
But she found no more sleep that day.
 

 

Zach struggled to hold on to the image of Lisette—racing to his side, swords drawn, ready to defend him from his attackers. He saw again her drop those swords and, face stricken, hold out her arms to catch him as he fell.
He could have felt those slender arms wrap around him, hold him close, then ease him down to the ground . . . as he had once done for her.
But the pain had finally gotten the better of him.
Too many blows to count had sealed his left eye shut. Sweat and blood stung his right eye as he cracked it open and peered around the dimly lit cavern. So cliché.
“Decided to join us again, have you?” a voice drawled.
“I told you he couldn’t block us forever,” another murmured.
If only . . . Zach thought bitterly.
“Resume,” the first voice commanded.
Agony sliced through Zach as another bone in his right wing snapped. Though he made no sound, he jerked involuntarily. The thick chains that cut into his wrists and dangled him from the cavern’s ceiling jingled as he swung slightly. Needles pricked every inch of his arms. Or at least, that was what it felt like. He had been hanging thusly for a very long time, his arms supporting all of his weight.
More feathers fluttered down from his broken wings, disappearing into the darkness that consumed the floor far beneath him. A whip opened his flesh again. And again. Blood seeped from wounds and trailed down his body in tiny tributaries that merged at his ankles before slithering down to cascade over his toes.
He had long since lost all track of time. Lisette had said she hadn’t seen him in four months. His confrontation with Seth had transpired shortly after Zach’s last encounter with her. Had he really been here that long? Or had those few seconds with Lisette merely been a fantasy?
“Where do you go when you do that?”
Zach ignored the question. Just as he had ignored all of those that had preceded it.
Another bone in his wing broke.
Bastards.
“He doesn’t go anywhere.”
“Are you so sure? He doesn’t respond. Doesn’t seem to feel pain. Mentally he seems to be elsewhere. Do you not think we should know where?”
Zach snorted before he could stop himself. They could do whatever they wished to him. He would never lead them to Lisette. He might be broken physically, but his mind remained sharp. His mental barriers held strong. And his fantasies . . .
Well, those enabled him to endure this.
Another bone broke.
Fuckers.
“Where do you go?” Lamech demanded.
“I’ve not left this cavern,” Zach responded just to irritate them, “as you well know, since you guard me twenty-four-seven.”
He supposed it should please him that they felt the need to.
They did, of course. Need to guard him, that was. Ever since Seth had first mentioned growing his powers a couple of years ago, Zach had been working to strengthen his own.
“He doesn’t go anywhere. He meditates, like that guy in Tribes,” Jared said.
Zach had always thought it odd that Jared was such a film and television hound. Zach and the rest of the Others paid little attention to the stories concocted by Hollywood. After all, what could possibly top what they had seen in the thousands of years they had lived? Mankind would freak if they knew some of the things that hadn’t made it into the history books.#p#分页标题#e#
“The better question,” Jared added, “is whom does he imagine he’s with?”
Zach wasn’t so sure he had imagined this last encounter with Lisette. Usually, when he fantasized about her, he controlled her every action, determined what she would say . . .
This time had been different. He hadn’t chosen where they had met, how they had met, or what they had said. Had it been real? Or as real as it could be with his physical body trapped in this damned cavern? Had he managed to tap into her dreams?