His troops poured into the space so fast, Emma didn’t even have time to draw her Sig. Vaughn’s Glock had just cleared his holster, when both she and Vaughn were shoved face down into the dirt from behind. A warlock had a knee in her back as he disarmed her and several more kept Vaughn pinned. One held fingers sizzling with power to the back of his head.
Don’t move, Vaughn. The warlock has his killing energy lit up, his fingers poised behind your head.
I know. I can feel it. He started cursing aloud, calling Dagen all kinds of beautiful names. Dagen snorted and nodded to a nearby warlock, who in turn brought the butt of his rifle down hard on the back of Vaughn’s head. His whole body went limp.
Dagen drew close and kicked dirt in Emma’s face. “And you go in the cage, where you deserve to be.”
Two warlocks lifted her to her feet in grips so tight all she could do was kick at them with her legs. But two more men grabbed her lower half so that she was now horizontal in the air.
As Dagen worked the cell lock, Beth began to shriek all over again. She leaped once more from the side bars of the cell to the front then to the other side.
Dagen delivered his orders. “As soon as I open the door, throw her inside.”
When Beth was in the opposite corner, clinging to the bars with toes and fingers, Dagen flipped the door open. Before Beth could get near any of them, the men holding Emma threw her onto the floor.
She tumbled in the dirt, righting herself quickly, her gaze fixed on Beth. Using her peripheral vision, she could see that Dagen had ordered Vaughn to be removed from the central area of the labyrinth. It took all five warlocks to carry him out.
Dagen sneered. “I’m leaving the door unlocked in case you miraculously avoid your cellmate’s fangs. Part of me hopes you escape then I can hunt you down. But good luck.” He laughed as he disappeared down the pass
ageway following after his force and Vaughn.
She was on her own now as Beth jumped from one barred cell wall to the next, her gaze fixed on Emma, her eyes manic as she stared at Emma’s throat.
The triplets joined her in the cell, moving back and forth frenetically. We don’t know what to do or how to help.
Emma reached into the future focusing on Vaughn and the triplets. A series of quick snapshots emerged. Becca, find Vaughn. Be with him. He’ll need you in this. You must remind him that we’re a team. Tell him that. Tell him that he and I are a team.
Becca nodded and the ghosts vanished.
Now for the other problem.
Emma had to try something. She shouted telepathically, hoping she could make contact with the woman. Beth! I’m a friend of Vaughn’s! Can you hear me? Understand me?
But the minute or so of clear-mindedness that Beth had experienced earlier, when she’d first recognized her brother, had long since ended. The dementia from a steady diet of amethyst-tainted blood had taken over again.
Beth leaped from the cell bars once more, only this time she landed on the dirt floor. She hunched over as she moved, her arms dragging lower and lower, her hands in the shapes of claws. Her eyes were red-rimmed and blazed with hunger. They’d darkened as well and no longer looked gray, like Vaughn’s. Her fangs made a sudden frightening appearance.
Emma jumped to her feet, intent on bolting for the door. But Beth sprang, knocking Emma flat on her back. Before Emma could prevent the attack, Beth bit hard, tearing into Emma’s throat.
She cried out in pain and started to struggle, but the moment Beth began to suck down Emma’s blood, Emma fell into a deeply enthralled state. Her body grew completely lax and her mind fell into a sublime state of peace, the tearing of her skin and vein a distant agony.
Emma wondered if this was how she would die, with Vaughn’s sister, demented because of a second-hand addiction to amethyst flame and drinking her to death.
~ ~ ~
Vaughn awoke suddenly when a wave of cold water hit the back of his head. For a few long seconds, he couldn’t remember where he was or what had happened to him. But the memories rushed back swiftly. He and Emma had been knocked to the ground and something had smashed into his skull.
“Emma.” His voice was hoarse.
“Calling out for your girlfriend? She can’t help you now. She can’t even help herself.”
Dagen, again. “Fuck you.”
A boot kicked Vaughn hard in the ribs, the reinforced steel crunching a couple of his ribs. He grunted in pain as Dagen moved closer to his face. All Vaughn could see was a pair of dusty shitkickers. The low light and a view of diverging paths a few yards away, told Vaughn he was still in the labyrinth. His head hurt like hell. He forced himself to begin the healing process, but it would take forever at this rate.
“Where’s Emma? What did you do to her?” The broken ribs made it hard to breathe then to get the words out.
“She’s with Beth, of course. Your sister is no doubt feeding on Emma right now, drinking from her vein. Again, another piece of Five Bridges’s poetry. Unfortunately, Emma will be dead soon. Not your sister, of course. She’s Loghry’s pet, so she’ll live on and on. Did you know Loghry let’s Beth feed from his vein? Of course you do. It’s part of the charm of the whole picture.”