CHAPTERTWELVE
MERRY
I would never have believedit, but I made Marcus nervous. Maybe even as nervous as he made me.
Somehow, that was comforting.
The power dynamic between the two of us should have been skewed toward him. He was a vampire—inhumanly strong, fast, and he drank blood. I was a puny mortal who might be able to use supernatural-strength pepper spray or Taser on him, but that was it. I was food in his world.
But he didn't make me feel that way. Nor did Callum.
Instead, they spoke to me as an equal. There was no condescension, no arrogance, in their attitudes toward me.
Smiling to myself, I closed the bedroom door behind me and went to my bag. After last night's insanity, I'd packed my things. They were still in the bag since I'd spent the last few hours playing games with Callum.
Before I could even open the bag, my phone rang. I fished it out of my sweatshirt pocket and glanced at the caller ID. It was the number of the hotel. Shit. I hoped I hadn't forgotten anything.
I connected the call. "Hello?"
"Merriweather, we need to talk."
The voice was familiar but I couldn't quite place it...
Wait. It was Andre Dumont. I moved to disconnect the call, but his voice rang loud and clear through the speaker and I froze.
"Do not hang up."
I wanted to ignore him. I tried to ignore him but I couldn't move. My hand wouldn't lower the phone from my ear.
"Good. Now, listen carefully and don't speak."
Dammit, now I couldn't even yell for Marcus because I was helpless. Locked in silence by another vampire.
"I hate to do this to you," he said. "But it's necessary. I swear you won't be hurt as long as you cooperate."
The sad thing was that he sounded so very, very sincere. As though he truly did hate putting me through this. A tiny spark of rage flared deep in my chest, white hot.
"Go to the window, unlock it, and climb out," he commanded. "Then, head to your left toward the trees and keeping walking straight ahead. I'll tell you when and where to turn."
The heat of my wrath grew. I'd already been through this before. I knew there was no escaping. I didn't know how he was managing to control me via a phone conversation rather than face-to-face as other vampires did, but he was doing it.
Screams filled my head as my feet carried me toward the window, fighting as hard as I could with each movement. I watched as my fingers manipulated the latches on the window, flicking them open with ease. I had to lift the window with one hand and it was stuck at first. Maybe, just maybe, if he told me to put the phone down, I could break the connection between us.
Unfortunately, my hand pushed the window up another inch and it seemed to release, sliding up smoothly from there.
I pushed the screen out and ducked through the frame.
"Please stop screaming," he said.
I wasn't. I couldn't, even though I wanted to.
"I can hear your mind screaming," he answered. "It's unnecessary and not helpful to either of us."
There was the condescension I expected from Callum and Marcus. There was the self-righteousness. Right in his voice. He was stronger than I was and he intended to force me to do his bidding, regardless of my willingness. Ire built another notch inside me, heating my core and limbs against the cool air.
A quiet sigh came through the phone. "I swear you will understand once we speak again."
Since he seemed to be able to read my thoughts, I tried to broadcast them louder and clearer.
