Bound by Flames (Night Prince 3)

“Did you just threaten me?” Vlad asked, his voice flinty.

Cat leaned forward, her gray gaze concerned. “I said I’d always be there for you. Unless you take that as a threat—”

“Shh,” he interrupted, slowly glancing around the cabin. Then my heart felt like it kick-started when he whispered, “Leila?” in a disbelieving voice.

Yes, I’m here! my thoughts screamed before I could even finish processing that he’d heard me at last. Tears spilled from my eyes as I went on. I’m here and I love you and I’m underneath the abandoned Sukhumi train station in Abkhazia. Don’t attack until dusk. I need to be awake to defend myself.

Cat looked around the cabin, her brows drawing together in confusion. “Vlad, what are—?”

He leapt up, clapping his hand over her mouth. Her eyes bugged and she began to struggle until he snapped, “Quiet. I can’t hear her now, but I think Leila was trying to reach me.”

He couldn’t hear me anymore? I began repeating “Under the Sukhumi train station in Abkhazia!” but a sudden, bone-numbing lethargy meant the first rays of the sun were breaking. I struggled against the undertow while trying to turn the volume up on a single word, hoping it made the difference.

Abkhazia, Abkhazia, Abkhazia!

Then the undertow dragged me down into the darkness.

My eyes snapped open with a suddenness that made me surprised to find that I was alone in my cell. I tried not to let the fact that I was still in my cell depress me. After all, what had I expected, to wake up in Vlad’s arms because he’d heard me and already rescued my while I slept? Nothing had ever come that easily for me.

What had woken me, then? I strained my ears, but didn’t hear anything unusual. Just the guards going about whatever tasks Szilagyi had assigned them to, which, I knew, consisted mostly of making sure that no one got near the former Soviet train station and that I didn’t get out. Same old, same old . . .

A scream escaped me as a transparent head suddenly appeared next to my own—through the rock behind me! The filmy face frowned and a single ethereal finger appeared over the thing’s lips while it—he?—shook his head as if warning me to keep it down. By the time one of the guards ran in to check on me, the head had already disappeared back into the rock.

“What?” the guard demanded in English.

“I, ah, thought I saw a rat,” I stammered.

What was I going to say? I’d seen a ghost who had longer facial sideburns than Marty, but who seemed to be missing the rest of his body? I’d call myself crazy if I said it out loud.

The guard, a brunet vampire who looked to be the same age Szilagyi had been when he was changed, gave me another suspicious glare, but then left. As soon as he did, the ghost’s head popped back out of the rock again.

“Get ready,” he whispered directly into my ear before disappearing.

I didn’t feel any breath, but the words, though soft, had been clear. Then, faster than a lightning bolt, rage and ice-cold determination flashed through my emotions before they, too, were gone. Gooseflesh broke out over my skin that wasn’t a result of the cell’s perpetual chilliness.

Those hadn’t been my emotions. That meant . . .

I let thoughts of Vlad explode into my mind. Just as quickly, my stone cell faded.

He stood next to Cat, but I wouldn’t have recognized either of them if I’d passed them on the street. Both had on incredibly lifelike, full-face masks beneath their wigs, which were a bland shade of brown. They were dressed in equally nondescript clothing, their ragged, long-sleeved T-shirts slouching over jeans that had also seen much better days.

They blended in perfectly with the few other loiterers who wandered in and out of the abandoned buildings that lined the old train tracks. In fact, the only thing that stood out was the ghost who zoomed up to Cat, although no one but she and Vlad seemed to notice him. As soon as he came to a stop, I realized he was the same one who’d just haunted my cell.

“She’s in the southeast corner of the bunker,” the ghost stated. “There are thirteen guards and ten humans below, with seven or eight more guards in and around the station above, and that doesn’t count the security cameras.”

I didn’t know what shocked me more: that Vlad was really here, or that he’d sent a ghost to do reconnaissance—not to mention how efficiently the ghost had done it.

“You told her to prepare?” Vlad asked.

That transparent head bobbed out a nod. Vlad and Cat exchanged a look, but I didn’t wait to see what they did next.

I dropped the link while wild bursts of excitement and fear coursed through me. Even with Vlad’s incredible power, if I wasn’t free by the time he attacked, the guards would kill me just as Szilagyi had ordered them to. Vlad hadn’t brought Mencheres with him, so the telekinetic vampire couldn’t freeze everyone in place as he had during a prior ambush with Vlad. I didn’t have time to wonder at Vlad’s choice of Cat as backup instead. I stretched my arms, using the restraints as a brace. Then, with a deep breath for courage, I threw myself forward with all of the inhuman strength in me.

It took two more times with me biting through my lip to keep from screaming, but I finally felt my bones crush enough to where I could yank my pulpy arms out of the triple restraints. Then I felt something I hadn’t felt in weeks; my upper body sagging forward, freed from the clamps.

I waited, clenching my jaw to keep from verbalizing my agony as my pulverized bones began to grow back into their proper shape. At the same time, I listened hard, but the guards didn’t seem aware that anything was going on. I glanced at the clamps that fastened around my legs and urgency replaced my former excitement. I didn’t have much time. o;Did you just threaten me?” Vlad asked, his voice flinty.

Cat leaned forward, her gray gaze concerned. “I said I’d always be there for you. Unless you take that as a threat—”

“Shh,” he interrupted, slowly glancing around the cabin. Then my heart felt like it kick-started when he whispered, “Leila?” in a disbelieving voice.

Yes, I’m here! my thoughts screamed before I could even finish processing that he’d heard me at last. Tears spilled from my eyes as I went on. I’m here and I love you and I’m underneath the abandoned Sukhumi train station in Abkhazia. Don’t attack until dusk. I need to be awake to defend myself.

Cat looked around the cabin, her brows drawing together in confusion. “Vlad, what are—?”

He leapt up, clapping his hand over her mouth. Her eyes bugged and she began to struggle until he snapped, “Quiet. I can’t hear her now, but I think Leila was trying to reach me.”

He couldn’t hear me anymore? I began repeating “Under the Sukhumi train station in Abkhazia!” but a sudden, bone-numbing lethargy meant the first rays of the sun were breaking. I struggled against the undertow while trying to turn the volume up on a single word, hoping it made the difference.

Abkhazia, Abkhazia, Abkhazia!

Then the undertow dragged me down into the darkness.

My eyes snapped open with a suddenness that made me surprised to find that I was alone in my cell. I tried not to let the fact that I was still in my cell depress me. After all, what had I expected, to wake up in Vlad’s arms because he’d heard me and already rescued my while I slept? Nothing had ever come that easily for me.

What had woken me, then? I strained my ears, but didn’t hear anything unusual. Just the guards going about whatever tasks Szilagyi had assigned them to, which, I knew, consisted mostly of making sure that no one got near the former Soviet train station and that I didn’t get out. Same old, same old . . .

A scream escaped me as a transparent head suddenly appeared next to my own—through the rock behind me! The filmy face frowned and a single ethereal finger appeared over the thing’s lips while it—he?—shook his head as if warning me to keep it down. By the time one of the guards ran in to check on me, the head had already disappeared back into the rock.

“What?” the guard demanded in English.

“I, ah, thought I saw a rat,” I stammered.

What was I going to say? I’d seen a ghost who had longer facial sideburns than Marty, but who seemed to be missing the rest of his body? I’d call myself crazy if I said it out loud.

The guard, a brunet vampire who looked to be the same age Szilagyi had been when he was changed, gave me another suspicious glare, but then left. As soon as he did, the ghost’s head popped back out of the rock again.

“Get ready,” he whispered directly into my ear before disappearing.

I didn’t feel any breath, but the words, though soft, had been clear. Then, faster than a lightning bolt, rage and ice-cold determination flashed through my emotions before they, too, were gone. Gooseflesh broke out over my skin that wasn’t a result of the cell’s perpetual chilliness.

Those hadn’t been my emotions. That meant . . .

I let thoughts of Vlad explode into my mind. Just as quickly, my stone cell faded.

He stood next to Cat, but I wouldn’t have recognized either of them if I’d passed them on the street. Both had on incredibly lifelike, full-face masks beneath their wigs, which were a bland shade of brown. They were dressed in equally nondescript clothing, their ragged, long-sleeved T-shirts slouching over jeans that had also seen much better days.

They blended in perfectly with the few other loiterers who wandered in and out of the abandoned buildings that lined the old train tracks. In fact, the only thing that stood out was the ghost who zoomed up to Cat, although no one but she and Vlad seemed to notice him. As soon as he came to a stop, I realized he was the same one who’d just haunted my cell.

“She’s in the southeast corner of the bunker,” the ghost stated. “There are thirteen guards and ten humans below, with seven or eight more guards in and around the station above, and that doesn’t count the security cameras.”

I didn’t know what shocked me more: that Vlad was really here, or that he’d sent a ghost to do reconnaissance—not to mention how efficiently the ghost had done it.

“You told her to prepare?” Vlad asked.

That transparent head bobbed out a nod. Vlad and Cat exchanged a look, but I didn’t wait to see what they did next.

I dropped the link while wild bursts of excitement and fear coursed through me. Even with Vlad’s incredible power, if I wasn’t free by the time he attacked, the guards would kill me just as Szilagyi had ordered them to. Vlad hadn’t brought Mencheres with him, so the telekinetic vampire couldn’t freeze everyone in place as he had during a prior ambush with Vlad. I didn’t have time to wonder at Vlad’s choice of Cat as backup instead. I stretched my arms, using the restraints as a brace. Then, with a deep breath for courage, I threw myself forward with all of the inhuman strength in me.

It took two more times with me biting through my lip to keep from screaming, but I finally felt my bones crush enough to where I could yank my pulpy arms out of the triple restraints. Then I felt something I hadn’t felt in weeks; my upper body sagging forward, freed from the clamps.

I waited, clenching my jaw to keep from verbalizing my agony as my pulverized bones began to grow back into their proper shape. At the same time, I listened hard, but the guards didn’t seem aware that anything was going on. I glanced at the clamps that fastened around my legs and urgency replaced my former excitement. I didn’t have much time.