“No, I work here because I want my family to survive,” she said.
“Survive what?”
She gave me a look. “I think the Great Outing was just the beginning. They’re planning a takeover, and personally, I’d rather be on the winning side.”
WTF.“Vampires? Taking over the world? But there are way more of us than them.”
“The biggest countries are controlled by a handful of people. Now swap those people out with vampires who are wealthy, hundreds of times stronger, and ruthless.”
The few rule the many.“But no one in their right mind would ever let that happen.”
“Then you tell me why we’ve had over twenty CEOs, fifty world leaders, and half of Congress here at the island over the past year?” She shook her head with dread. “They’re preparing, and that preparation has something to do with you.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Because it seemed like a lot of divulging for someone I’d just bamboozled into helping me escape.
“Just because I think they’ll win doesn’t mean I want them to. And if you’re as important as Mr. Stark treats you, then maybe you can stop them before they make you into one of them.”
“Even if I turned, I’d never help them,” I said.
“If you love your family, you might not have a choice.” She sighed. “So, are you ready to take me hostage?”
Hell no. But operation “stop the vampires” had to start somewhere.
STARK
“What do you mean Masie left the island?” From the comfort of my sleeping chamber, which was decorated in the traditional vampire fashion of Versailles with gold trim, a chandelier, and elaborate frescoes, I sat up in bed, feeling disoriented and groggy. From the ache of my unrested body, I knew it had to be the middle of the day.
“She took the island’s manager hostage, sir,” said the day-shift guard. “Miss Kicklighter was screaming and threatening to chew off her head. The helicopter pilot had no choice but to do as he was told.”
That buffoon!Even if Teri was excellent at math—for a woman—and at making towel swans, we could always find another human to do her job, but we could not get another Anna! I meant another-another Anna. Aka Masie.
The guard added, “We found empty bottles of moonshine in Miss Kicklighter’s suite, sir. I think she got her hands on a batch and drank it all.”
Oh hell. Who would daregive moonshine to my mate?This was a clear challenge to my power, one I would have to address immediately, which was beyond aggravating. I needed to be making allies, not enemies, if my plan was to work.
“Where is Masie now?” I yelled.
“The pilot is supposed to be en route to Seattle, though there’s no way of knowing for sure. We tried to contact him, but his satellite phone isn’t working.”
Unlikely. Masie probably chucked it out the window to ensure we could not speak with him, and because I took precautions to keep the location of my island a secret, our pilots did not have any tracking devices.
“Well, dammit,” I snarled, “contact the airport. Tell them to call the moment the pilot lands.”
“Then what?” the guard asked.
Christ.I did not know. It was the middle of the day, and any vampire allies would be sleeping. Even if that were not the case, we had no way of knowing if the helicopter would land at our private airfield. There were dozens of small airports along the coast.
Fury engulfed my mind. Masie could be heading anywhere right now.
No, not anywhere.If I knew her at all, she was heading back to Leiper’s Fork, and by now she’d gotten sober enough to learn the truth: she was not one of us. Not yet, anyway.
“Tell the daytime staff to get my plane ready,” I growled. “As soon as the sun sets, we fly to Seattlefor fuel and on to Tennessee.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I want to speak to Ms. Tennison once we locate her. I want to know how Masie got that moonshine.”Because I will have to kill them.I could not be seen as weak in front of my or any other coven. Especially now. The clock was ticking, and I was almost out of time.
Dammit, Masie. Why can’t you just do as I say? You will be the end of us all.
