“Get out of my head, you little maggot. How the fuck are you doing that?”
“You’re not that strong,” Lucas mumbled to himself.
“Strong enough to hobble you,” the lady said, not understanding that he really was just talking to himself. It helped him separate someone else’s feelings from his own.
Lucas rolled his eyes when he heard her chanting. He blocked himself from whatever spell she was about to do. He kept digging into her mind.
“You have a lot of knowledge, though.” She was smart. He’d give her that. Even if she only had a tiny bit of witch’s blood in her, she made the most out of what she did have.
A door opened and closed, and Lucas moved back when a vampire dragged Sage down the hall. Sage had marks all over his face and one of his eyes had already started to bruise and puff up. The snake shifter looked anywhere but at him as the vampire opened his cell door and threw Sage through it.
“Fucking snakes taste like shit,” the vampire said as he walked out of the small room.
The lady in the cell next to them laughed manically.
“What are you doing here, Sage?” Lucas took Sage’s elbow and tried to guide him to the straw in the corner.
Sage shook his head. “I can’t sit down.” His chin started to wobble as his back hit the wall.
Lucas rubbed his arm, trying to comfort him. He wanted to cry for Sage. No one deserved to be violated. Raping someone was like fucking with their mind, not just their body. Lucas could see it on Sage’s face. “Those fuckers will pay for touching you.”
“Why do you care? I thought you hated me,” Sage said.
“Naw, just got a little protective of Bennett. It’s a mate thing.” Lucas gave him a small smile. “I would like to know why you’re here and not in Saint Lakes.” Lucas knew what he promised Bennett, not to fix anyone, but Sage was in a lot of pain and it would be easy to take his pain away.
I have to fix Sage.
No, baby.
It won’t take a lot from me. I have to, Bennett. He’s bleeding from his…butt. It’s horrible. He doesn’t even know. The blood is all over the back of his pants.Lucas pulled up a ball of light and put it to Sage’s hip. Better to just do it instead of arguing with Bennett.
Fuck.
Sage widened his eyes. The marks on his face healed and Sage touched his cheek. Then his fingers came down to his jeans. He felt the wetness and his hands started to shake. Instead of commenting on it, he answered Lucas’ question. It was probably easier than asking the silent one about the blood on his pants. “Umm, last night I had to close the diner, so I got to Estelle’s late. When I pulled up into the driveway, I saw someone I didn’t recognize enter the house through the front door, so I followed him. Didn’t see the guy behindme.”
“I’m sorry you got caught up in all this.” Lucas leaned against the wall next to Sage.
“My timing has always sucked.” Sage tried to give him a half smile but couldn’t quite pull it off.
I’m fine. I fixed him and it didn’t take a lot of energy. I can’t fix Sage’s mental wounds, though.
Tell Sage to shift and see if he can find a key.
“Bennett wants to know if you can shift and look for a key.”
“They take them with,” Shawn croaked.
Lucas thought about it for a moment. He needed more information. He needed to know why he was here in the first place. Lucas pulled away from the wall and focused on Shawn for a second.
Shawn had willingly given himself to the vampires for money. In exchange the vampires would feed from him. Something had happened, though. “The coven leader is ill,” he mumbled to himself.
“Nicolono,” the lady said as if she was in his ear. “You should destroy him. Make him pay for kidnapping you. He plans to use you until there’s nothing left.”
Lucas didn’t respond. Instead, he probed her mind.
“Get out of my head,” she yelled and chanted something that he couldn’t stop in time.
All of a sudden, Sage fell to the floor, crying out in pain as he did. His leg looked like it was broken at the femur.
