Stronger than the handcuffs used for humans, these weren’t built to restrain a purebred. He could break them, but by the time he did that, the Savages would be on top of him. His head was shoved down, and they pushed him into the backseat of a car.
The front doors opened and closed before the other back door opened. A scuffle sounded, and then the car sagged as more weight entered the car. The rank stench of body odor filled his nostrils, but beneath it, he detected a crisp, eucalyptus scent. Even before her skin touched his, Killean knew Simone sat beside him. When another weight settled into the car, she was pushed more firmly against him, and a door slammed closed.
“Hold still, bitch,” a man grumbled.
Killean’s wrists flexed against the cuffs as the car started. “Where are we going?” he inquired.
“You’ll see,” Joseph replied from the passenger seat. “It will be a bloody treat for all of us.”
Despite his determination not to give in to the Savage nature he’d awakened, Killean’s fangs lengthened, and saliva rushed into his mouth at the prospect of witnessing whatever Joseph had planned. Closing his eyes, he inhaled a tremulous breath as he strove to suppress the demon seeking to control him.
It would be so easy to give in, let Simone go through this tonight, and remain a Savage with her. Maybe, if he gave in completely, he wouldn’t care about her hunter heritage anymore, and they could feast on blood and humans and…
And what? Stay with Joseph and work to destroy Ronan?
No!
His eyes flew open, but all he saw was the back of the blindfold. Ronan had given him a purpose for living when there’d been none, and in doing so, he saved Killean’s life. Killean betrayed him by becoming thisthinghe was now, but he would not betray him further.
After at least an hour of driving, the car turned. Judging by the ruts and the change from the tires humming across asphalt to the ping of sand and rocks dinging off the undercarriage, they’d driven onto a dirt road. Killean sat up a little straighter and leaned instinctively closer to Simone as they neared their destination.
She’d remained unmoving throughout most of the journey, but now she sniffed at the air and whimpered as her chains rattled. “Quiet,” the man on the other side of her commanded, and Killean recognized his voice.
“She knows it’s almost playtime, Andre,” Joseph replied.
“If she had a shower, I wouldn’t mind playing with her,” Andre replied, and the others in the car chuckled.
Killean’s head turned toward his old friend Andre as he marked the Savage for death. Then the car came to a stop, and the distant thump of dance music floated to him. Doors opened and closed before the one beside him flung open. A hand clasped his arm and pulled him from the seat. They turned him so his chest pressed into the hood of the car while the cuffs were unlocked. When the metal fell free, Killean drew his arms forward and rubbed his wrists together as they tugged the hood free.
“You can take off the blindfold,” Joseph said.
Killean removed it, and his eyes went to the building behind Joseph. In the black velvet of the night surrounding the structure, the lights inside and outside the building were a bright homing beacon. The sign over the door marked the place as Trowbridge Hall. Small white lights were twined around the banisters of the wheelchair ramp as it wound toward the door.
Six windows faced the lot, and from within, light shone against the billowy, white curtains covering the glass. The silhouettes of the people inside moved across the curtains, and laughter resonated from within. A cold pit opened in his stomach when he thought of the oblivious humans who had no idea death lurked outside their door, watching them.
Two floodlights were on each corner of the single-story building and lit up the first fifty feet of the parking lot, but the last fifty were cast entirely in shadow, and that was where Joseph had parked. As Killean watched, ten more vehicles, with their headlights off, pulled into the lot and parked behind Joseph’s car.
Nestled beneath a cluster of red maples, the hall was situated off a dirt road. He didn’t see any homes along the street, only woods. Glancing behind him, Killean saw more forest. He tried to find something familiar in his surroundings, but the pines, oaks, and maples could be in any town along the east coast. However, the woods were thick enough that if he got the chance to break away with Simone, he might be able to lose himself in them.
It was the only chance they had.
“What are we doing here?” Killean asked as Andre and Simone exited the other side of the car. Killean tracked their every step around the vehicle.
“We’re here to crash a wedding,” Joseph said and rubbed his hands together. “It’s the happiest of occasions, for those who are invited and those who aren’t.”
He waved his hand at the Savages gathering around them with their chained hunters. About half of the Savages held yellow poles with two prongs on the end that looked like giant cattle prods; the others carried dart guns. These must be their other ways of controlling the hunters that Joseph mentioned.
Looking away from the Savages, Killean inspected the fifty or more vehicles in the lot that didn’t belong to the Savages. There could easily be a hundred or more people inside.
“You plan to slaughter an entire wedding celebration?” he asked.
“Yes,” Joseph said. “Or at least I plan for the hunters to slaughter them. We may get a taste, but this istheirplayground, Killean, and don’t forget it. Everyone here knows not to sample the treats unless I say it’s okay. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” Killean replied. “But there are too many people here. How will you explain all the bodies? I doubt the hunters will make clean kills.”
“Part of the fun is how brutal a starved vampire is.” Joseph sighed and licked his lips. “It’s almost as pleasurable to watch them kill as it istokill. A tragic fire will explain the massacre. The arsonist blocked all the doors before setting the place ablaze. The police will have to come up with their own suspects and reasons for why no one escaped out the windows.”
Andre stopped beside Joseph and yanked Simone to a halt when she attempted to keep walking. She jerked briefly against the chains before bowing her head. Her fingers picked at her hands in a nervous, jittery movement. Then she lifted her head, and he heard her sniffing at the air from behind the hood. Killean extended his hand for the chain; Andre smirked at him.
