“It sounds like a happy ending,” Harper said, smiling.
“It should have been,” Drina agreed, her own smile dying.
Harper stilled, concern entering his expression. “What happened?”
“I set them up, saw them settled, and then left to travel, promising to visit frequently. But it was almost two years before I returned.” She shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t mean to stay away so long, but time slipped away from me.”
“It tends to when you live as long as we do,” Harper said, as if trying to mitigate the guilt he could sense in her words. “What happened to your girls?”
“Nothing until just before I returned. According to Beth, they made friends in the area and were all happily enjoying their new home and retirement . . . but then another immortal happened upon the women. His name was Jamieson. I don’t know if that was his first or last name. Beth just called him Jimmy.” Her mouth tightened. “He was rogue.”
“Oh no,” Harper murmured, reaching for her hand again.
Drina turned her hand over under his and their fingers closed around each other’s, and then she said wearily, “I don’t know if he was just passing through the area and came across one of them, read her mind, and saw her history with me, or what, but something made him pick them for victims.”
When she paused again, Harper squeezed her fingers gently in sympathy. Drina shook her head, and said tightly, “He installed himself in the house and turned them all the same night in one horrible blood orgy. I guess it was horrendous; screaming old ladies watching each other being bled, and then having his blood forced on them, followed by the convulsions, the agony, the screaming.” She shook her head, trying hard not to think about how it must have been for those women she had come to care a great deal for. She continued grimly, “One of the women didn’t survive. Her heart couldn’t take it, and she died during the turn. But Beth, Mary, and the remaining five survived.”
“The one who died may have been the lucky one,” Harper muttered, though she saw a haunted look in his eyes and realized she’d inadvertently reminded him of his Jenny.
Trying to pull his attention back from the ghost of his previous life mate, Drina quickly continued, “They woke from the turn confused and terrified, and were informed that now that he’d made them young and beautiful again, he owned them and they would do his bidding.”
“He wanted them to prostitute for him?” Harper asked with a frown.
Drina shook her head. “They were to lure mortal men to the house with the promise of sex. But once there, these men would be robbed and fed on until dead.”
“Christ,” Harper muttered. “He couldn’t think to get away with that. Someone would notice the sudden increase in number of missing men in the area.”
“Yes, of course, but rogues are generally suicidal and want to be caught and put out of their misery anyway,” Drina muttered.
“How did the women react to all of this?” Harper asked with a frown. “Surely they didn’t go along with it?”
Drina cleared her throat. “Beth said that none of them wanted to. That Mary stood up to him when he told them his plans.”
“Mary the mouthy one,” Harper murmured, apparently recalling her earlier words.
“Mary the mouthy one who was too brave for her own good,” Drina said quietly. “She told him they wouldn’t do it. He could go to hell and they were going to find me and I’d stop him.”
“Bet he didn’t take that well,” Harper guessed, sounding pained.
“He ripped her head off on the spot,” Drina said grimly.
“Oh, Christ.” Harper sat back in his seat with disgust, but still held on to her hand. If anything, his grip on hers was tighter, as if he was trying to infuse her with his strength to deal with the memory.
“The others immediately agreed to whatever he wanted at that point,” Drina said quietly.
“I wonder why,” he muttered dryly.
“So he sent them out to find men and bring them back,” Drina continued. “The moment they were away from the house, Beth tried to talk the others into fleeing. They could find me, she said. I’d fix this.” She sighed, feeling the pinch of guilt that she hadn’t been able to fix anything in the end.
“Did they listen?” Harper asked quietly, sitting forward again.
Drina shook her head. “They were too afraid. They didn’t know where I was, and he might come after them. She should go by herself, they said. They’d do what he said and wait to be rescued.” Drina blew out her breath, and turned her wineglass on the tabletop with her free hand. “Beth fled, but she didn’t know where to go to search for me, and she needed blood. She ended up returning to the original brothel to hide. She knew I hadn’t yet sold it, and couldn’t think where else to go. She hid inside for two weeks, feeding on rats, birds, and any other animal who got close enough to the house.”