Unchained (Men in Chains 3)

Which meant Daniel had to be nearby.

She wished she could help, but she was so disoriented.

She had no idea where he’d taken her. She lay on some kind of rocky surface and could smell that this cave had a lot of damp. She tried to shift position, but the rocks made it hard to move without more pain.

Some kind of whirring sound reached her ears, but it was like listening through thick cotton balls. At the same time, she felt really sick to her stomach again, no doubt as a result of the flight. Of course it didn’t help that images of the Dark Cave system still poured through her mind, especially the last location where Daniel had killed all those women in an attempt to subvert his son.

She breathed through another heavy wave of nausea.

Her hearing began to clear up and she realized that some kind of battle was taking place. She lifted up just enough to shift her head the other direction and then she wished she hadn’t. Some kind of brawl was going on with thirty or forty huge men. Blood was everywhere as well as knives and chains used as weapons. A vampire nearby had died not ten feet from her, a chain around his neck, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, eyes bulging, the tips of his fangs showing.

That’s when she started dry-heaving. She’d already been sick earlier and there was nothing left, but she heaved anyway.

Suddenly Marius’s voice was in her head. Shayna, look out. Daniel’s behind you and I’m caught. If you can move, try to get away, hide behind one of the bigger dripstones.

Fear now started moving like lightning through Shayna, and she forced herself to rise to a sitting position.

Her head was killing her.

Then she saw the one that had to be Daniel, standing in front of her maybe ten feet away. He stood like an untouchable god in the middle of the battle, wearing a dark-blue suit and looking pristine against all the blood and gore.

He smiled, a terrible smile full of a desire to cause pain, probably to cause her pain.

He was extremely handsome with unusual teal eyes, his dark hair plastered against his head, his goatee tight to his face.

Daniel.

The evil in this world.

The monster who had hurt his own sons, who enslaved tens of thousands of women, who wanted to rule his world.

Crossing her arms over her stomach, she could do little more than watch as he started moving toward her.

She clutched the blood-chain in her hand harder and siphoned as much of Marius’s power as she could. She grew dizzy with pain and something more, something that made the smile on Daniel’s face grow dim. Even Daniel grew dim, as though fading away, but not quite.

She felt herself moving backward, though not moving. She felt suspended in time and space. But where had she gone? What was she doing?

She knew three important things: First, that whatever she’d just done had bought her some time; second, that Daniel could no longer see her; and third, that this thing was damn temporary. She searched the blood-chains for knowledge and found that she had exactly thirty seconds; then she’d leave this bizarre safe space.

Marius, can you see me?

Marius, struggling with something on his arm, shifted in what should have been her direction, but his eyes went wide. No, where are you?

I’m not sure, but in twenty seconds, I’ll return, then Daniel will have me. You’ve got to help, got to figure this out.

Daniel advanced on her position. “Where are you, Shayna, and what kind of power do you possess that you can disappear yet I’m able to feel you nearby?”

Nine, eight, seven …

Shayna felt the momentary power surge begin to fade. Marius, he’s right there. He’s standing in front of me and I’m about to become visible.

Daniel searched her previous location. “Where are you, pretty Shayna? Ah, I can see you now. How clever.”

He reached for her and she felt his hands graze her arms; then he arched and grimaced, shouting his pain.

Marius had freed himself and stuck him with a blade.

Daniel suddenly just disappeared.