Red-Headed Stepchild

Page 42

“They’re okay,” Darius said.
“We’ve got this, Sabina. Find Adam.” Vinca shouted as she unhooked an IV from a male mage’s arm, stopping the flow of blood from his body.
I went from bed to bed looking at the faces of the mages still attached to their machines, not finding Adam anywhere. At the end of the row was a blue hospital curtain. I pulled it back and saw a door. I went through it, which dumped me into a hallway. The walls were industrial cinder block and one side was lined with cabinets filled with small bottles. The heavy door thumped closed behind me, blocking out the sounds of the clinic. At the end of the hall was another door with a small barred window. I looked through the glass and saw a slumped figure huddled on the ground.
My heart spasmed. I ripped the door off its hinges, worried when Adam didn’t move despite the racket. Rushing forward, I grabbed him by the shoulders. His head fell back, revealing a bruised and bloody face.
“Adam!” I shook his shoulders. No response. I felt for a pulse and my own heart slowed to a gallop when I found it. I ran back down the hall, opened the door and yelled for Vinca. Then I ran back to Adam and continued to try to wake him. I ran my hands over him arms and legs, looking for breaks. All I found were brass manacles binding his wrists behind his back, which explained why he didn’t use magic to free himself. I broke the chain connecting them just as Vinca entered.
“Is he—” she swallowed.
I shook my head. “Either passed out from pain or drugged. Can you help him?”
She moved me out of the way and lifted his eyelid. “His pupils look normal.” She gently tapped his cheeks with her small hands. “Adam, wake up!” She smacked him this time. I had to hold myself back from attacking her, worried she was causing him more pain. “Sabina,” she said, all business. “Check and see if they have smelling salts.”
I didn’t want to leave the room, but forced my feet to move. A large cabinet sat just outside the door, full of small vials and pills. I quickly scanned the shelves, looking for something that looked like smelling salts. “I can’t find then,” I yelled.
“Look for something labeled ‘ammonia carbonate.’ ” Her voice was muffled.
I looked again, squinting at the small type. “Nothing!”
“Try ‘hartshorn,’ ” she called back.
I did another quick scan, and, sure enough, the damned bottle was right in front of me. I grabbed the brown vial and ran back to the room. She lifted the bottle to his nose and waved it back and forth.
“Come on, big guy,” she said. “Take a nice big breath.”
Adam’s nose scrunched up and he inhaled sharply. His head twisted to the side. He winced and his eyes flew open. He squinted as he tried to focus.
“Adam?” I said, crouching down next to Vinca. “Can you hear me?”
“Sabina? What—” He tried to move. I stilled him with my hand.
“Don’t. Let Vinca check you.” I said, swallowing against the relief choking my throat.
“Is anything broken?” Vinca asked.
Adam swallowed and shook his head. “Just knocked me around a bit.”
Vinca prodded his ribs with her fingers. He yelped and shied away. “Probably just bruised,” she said. “Do you think you can stand?”
He nodded slowly. I scooted closer and got an arm behind him while Vinca took his right arm and put it around her shoulder. “On three,” she said. We heaved Adam up, eliciting a low groan from deep in his chest.
“Can you do anything for his pain?” I asked Vinca as we half-carried him toward the door.
She met my eyes and nodded. “I’m sure there’s some pain meds around here somewhere.”
Adam’s feet grounded into the floor, causing Vinca and me to jerk to a stop. “No drugs.”
I looked up at him, exasperated by his typical male behavior. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“No,” he gasped.
I looked at Vinca, who nodded and pulled away. “You two go on, I’ll do a sweep of this area.”
“Okay, mancy, let’s get you out of here,” I said. Adam’s focus was on his feet as he shuffled forward, so he didn’t see Vinca head toward the medicine cabinet.
We reached the heavy door, and I managed to hold it open with my hip as I guided him through.
“Sabina,” Adam said. His voice sounded strange. “Clovis—”
I leaned in to hear what he was trying to say, but another voice spoke over him. “Did I hear someone say my name?”
My head jerked up. Clovis stood in the middle of the rows of beds. Behind him stood Frank and the other vampires. Behind them, the bodies of the male faeries lay prone on the ground.
“What the—” I said. That’s when I noticed the eerie silence. The breathing machines beeped no more. All the mages were dead.
29
Sabina, my dear, I’m afraid you’ve outlived your usefulness.” Clovis’s smile didn’t reach his dead eyes.
Adam stumbled back a step. I tightened my grip around him and stood my ground. Facing Clovis and his flunkies, I sent a silent prayer to Lilith that Vinca wouldn’t come out the door yet.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” I said to Clovis. “But I still feel quite useful.”
He chuckled and crossed his arms. “Afraid not, love. In fact, I’d be a fool to let you live.”
“You’re already a fool.” It was lame and I knew it, but I was too busy trying to figure out how to overpower Clovis and his five guards on my own. Adam was silent next to me, but I could practically feel the pain radiating off of him as he took in the bodies of his fallen kin.
“I’m the fool, Sabina? Hardly. A fool would have believed you when you said you didn’t work the Dominae anymore.”
I went still. “What?”
“Please. Did you really think anyone would buy that you suddenly had an urge to join your grandmother’s enemy so easily? But I guess that’s the irony of all this. You ended up betraying her anyway … with the help of my little anonymous tip about the mancy’s whereabouts, of course.”
If he thought he could hurt me with his words, he was wrong. Dead wrong. It wasn’t Clovis who convinced me to betray her. She’d done that herself.
“Let’s move this party to the warehouse, shall we?” Clovis said. He snapped his fingers and his guards came forward. Frank grabbed Adam from me, eliciting a groan from the mage. I struck out, trying in vain to protect him. Two other vamps, males that I’d thought were on my side a half hour earlier, grabbed my arms. I struggled against them. One grabbed my gun from my waistband, leaving me weaponless, except for the knife in my right boot. Fat lot of good that would do me with both arms pinned.
They dragged our motley crew—a wounded mage, two unconscious faeries, and a seriously pissed-off me—into the warehouse. They lined us up in front of a row of oak barrels. Clovis stood in front of us looking smug. I wanted to rip that smile from his face, but I had to keep my cool. If I could bide my time until the faeries regained full consciousness and Adam had time to heal, maybe Vinca, who was still M.I.A., would be able to create a diversion. I only hoped we’d all still be alive in time for that to happen.
“I don’t get it,” I said, trying to buy some time. “Why did you kill the mages? You could have let them live and still overthrown the Dominae’s power.”
Clovis started pacing in front of us. “I couldn’t take any chances. When I explain to the Hekate Council all the mages were dead when we arrived, they will have no choice but to support my bid to take over the control of the Lilim. With the Hekate Council on my side, the vampire community will withdraw their support of those bitches and follow me.”
I felt Adam stiffen beside me. My eyes scanned the area for potential weapons. A long-handled broom leaned against the wall ten feet away. A pitiful weapon, but a weapon nonetheless. I needed to keep him talking.
“But why get rid of me?” I asked. “After all, I’m on your side.”
Clovis came toward me. He stroked a finger down my cheek. It took every amount of willpower I possessed not to flinch away. “I’ll admit I considered making you my consort. With your mage blood and my demon blood combined with our Lilim powers, we’d be a formidable team. However, you can’t be trusted.” He leaned in, his lips a fraction away from my own. “After all, until I handed your boyfriend here over to Lavinia, you were still loyal to the Dominae.”
I lunged at him. “You bastard.” He laughed as he easily held me off.
“You didn’t think that when I vein-fucked you. If fact, you were practically begging for me to dominate you.”
My eyes cut to Adam. He stared Clovis down with murder in his eyes. Guilt and self-loathing warred for dominance inside me. Guilt because I’d believed Clovis’s story when he said the Dominae had taken Adam. I’d known something was off, but been too distracted to pursue it. Self-loathing because I’d let that demon feed from me. Even worse, he was right. I had wanted more.
“I’m growing bored. It’s time to say good-bye.” Clovis nodded at Frank.
Frank and the other vamps lined up in front of us. The one who’d taken my gun filled with apple-cider bullets now pointed it at me. My eyes met Frank’s and I filled that gaze with every ounce of hate I possessed.
“It’s nothing personal,” he said with a shrug. “On three,” he said to the other guards. Adam’s hand grasped mine and I squeezed it.
Frank winked at me and began counting down. “One, two—”
All hell broke loose as windows overhead shattered. Glass and vampires dressed in black rained down all around us. The Dominae’s force had arrived. I said a quick thanks to Lilith for the interruption even as I cursed the complication. I don’t know how they’d discovered our plan to go in early, but now we’d have to fight off two forces if we wanted to get out of here alive.
A blast shook the building, rocking the foundations. I pulled Adam with me behind the barrels, grabbing the broomstick with my free hand. Shouts and pounding footsteps echoed off the concrete floors and metal walls as Clovis’s men and the Dominae’s guards fought.