by Lynsay Sands
Getting out of bed, Domitian headed out of the room, relieved to see that the door to Sarita's room was closed. Hoping that meant that she was still sleeping, he moved silently down the stairs.
"You're awake."
Domitian stepped off the stairs and glanced toward Thorne as the other man appeared in the kitchen doorway.
"I was afraid it would be Sarita and you'd have missed your chance," he said dryly.
"She is not up yet then?" Domitian asked with relief. She'd been in his dreams right up until he'd opened his eyes, but might have woken up at the same time and slipped down before him.
"No," Thorne said and then glanced toward the ceiling and said, "but I suspect it won't be long before she is."
"What makes you say that?" Domitian asked with a frown.
"Because she was moaning and groaning like crazy all day, but has finally gone silent. I suspect that means she'll be up and about soon too." He glanced back to Domitian and considered his expression briefly before saying, "You both were. It alarmed the ladies. Maria went up to check on Sarita several times and said she was thrashing around and hollering fit to die and the nightmares she was suffering must be horrible." He quirked an eyebrow. "She made me check on you too. Didn't look to me like you were having a nightmare."
"Why did you not wake me?" Domitian asked with irritation.
"You didn't ask me to," he said with a shrug.
Domitian scowled at him and then turned and headed up the hall next to the stairs, asking, "Did you take care of those cameras for me?"
"I said I would, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did," Domitian murmured. "Thank you."
Thorne gave a grunt of acknowledgment.
"Where are the ladies now?" Domitian asked as he reached the back door. He was turning the doorknob when Thorne answered.
"All that screaming unsettled them so much they decided to sit out in the garden."
Domitian froze, and then heaved a resigned sigh and pulled the door open. He stepped outside, wholly expecting the women to come at him with a barrage of concerned questions. Instead, a glance around revealed the garden was empty.
"I guess they must have gone around to the pool or out front," Thorne said with unconcern when Domitian glanced back to him.
"Right," Domitian said, heading for the trees that lined the garden. "Keep Sarita here if she wakes up before I get back. And if something happens to me, don't let Dressler get his hands on her."
They had reached the tree line by then. Domitian didn't wait for Thorne to agree, but set off into the woods at a run. He already knew the man would do his best to keep Sarita safe. He had no doubt that Thorne had been there for the reading of Sarita's letters every week too, and that, like the ladies, they had been the bright spot of his life in this gilded prison. Domitian suspected Thorne had been half in love with Sarita before she'd ever set foot on the island. Once he'd seen how vital, brave, and beautiful she was in real life though, Domitian had no doubt the man had lost the rest of his heart to her.
Fortunately, Domitian wasn't the jealous type, and the pinching he'd felt as he'd entered the kitchen and overheard Sarita in Mrs. Dressler's room, saying Thorne was magnificent . . . well that hadn't been jealousy. Nor had the tightness he'd suffered in his chest each time Sarita had smiled at the man while they'd had tea that morning. She'd smiled at all of them several times as they'd had their tea. There was nothing to be jealous of. But it did occur to him as he made his way through the woods that if anything happened to him, Sarita might be stuck on this island for a long time, hiding in the cottage with her grandmother, Mrs. Dressler, and Thorne her only comfort.
"Bastard," Domitian muttered, but it wasn't jealousy.
Fourteen
Sarita stepped out of her room and frowned when she noted the open door to Thorne's room, where Domitian was supposed to be sleeping. He'd obviously woken up before her, she realized, and she headed toward the stairs just as her grandmother's voice sounded, calling Thorne.
"Coming," she heard him say and the word was followed by his heavy footfalls. Sarita reached the top of the stairs in time to see the man slip outside and pull the front door closed. Frowning, she jogged down to the entry and peered out the window in the door to see that her grandmother, Mrs. Dressler, and Thorne were all out front, talking as they eyed Dressler's goon on the cliff.
Goons, Sarita corrected herself as she followed their gazes to the two men now on the cliff. Dressler had doubled the guard. Did that mean they'd found the gilled man Domitian had killed last night and now suspected they might have come this way? Probably. The gilled man had probably rolled right up on the beach, pushed there by the tide, she thought with a frown. They should have weighed him down or something. Although, they hadn't actually had anything to weigh him down with, she thought with a sigh and turned away from the door.
A glance into the living room didn't reveal Domitian. Neither did a look in the kitchen. Sarita even crossed the kitchen and took a peek into Mrs. Dressler's room, but no luck. The main floor bathroom was the last place he could be, and Sarita didn't even have to open the door to see he wasn't in it, the door was already open.
She started to turn back up the hall, but paused and eyed the back door. Stepping up to it, she tugged the curtain aside and peered out to see a path leading through first a small patch of grass and then a garden before it disappeared into the jungle. It must have rained at some point that day--the path was muddy, and she could clearly make out two sets of footprints heading away from the door. And one returning.
He'd left without her. Sarita knew it as surely as she knew her own name. Domitian had gone ahead without her.
Cursing under her breath, she pulled the door open and slipped outside. She was entering the jungle before it occurred to her to worry about the cameras.
Too late now, she told herself and burst into a run. Sarita was determined to catch up to Domitian. Actually, she had to. He didn't know the layout of the house and yard, the routine of the men patrolling the grounds, the path they took to approach the kitchen at dinnertime, or even which set of French doors led to Dressler's office. He needed her.
As desperate as she was to catch up to Domitian, Sarita soon found she had to slow down. While it had still been relatively light when she'd left the house, with the sun setting it quickly became much darker in the jungle. Afraid she'd trip over something and break a leg or that she might even wander off the path she was trying to follow, Sarita slowed down to a quick walk and cursed the need to. She knew without a doubt that Domitian wouldn't have to slow down. The man had great night vision thanks to those nanos of his. He had increased speed as well. Her only real hope of catching up to him was if she arrived at the edge of the woods before the men headed around to the kitchen to get their dinner. He would have to wait inside the woods for that to happen before making a run for the house. At least that was his best bet of success.
The trek through the jungle was longer than Sarita had expected. Long enough that she wasn't surprised to find it was full dark outside the jungle too by the time she reached the edge of the grounds. A quick scan of the area proved she'd missed Domitian.
As well as dinnertime, Sarita saw, stepping quickly behind the trunk of a palm tree as two men drew near, patrolling the edge of the property.
"I don't know why he wants the patrols doubled," one was complaining. "I've already done my shift. Hell if I want to be out here holding your hand while you do yours."
"Hey, I hear ye," the other one said. "And believe me I'd rather be doing this alone."
"Yeah?" the first man asked. "You're not afraid of those vampires?"
The second man gave a short laugh. "I'm not stupid. I know they're dangerous, but I've got El Doctor's special juice in my gun same as you. Hit him with one of these puppies and it's 'hasta la vista, baby,'" he said with satisfaction. After a moment, he added, "And frankly I'd rather let the bastard drain me dry than have to listen to you whine and cry about having to walk around a little
longer."
As the first man told the other one to do something anatomically impossible, Sarita eased away from the tree and crept along the tree line to get nearer the house. The path came out about two hundred feet in front of and to the side of the house. She wanted to get up about even with it. It would put her in a better position to help Domitian when he tried to leave the house.
He had to still be in there. Sarita had neither caught up to him, nor passed him on the trail. Unless she'd missed another trail that branched off from the main one, he was still in the house. Hopefully, that meant he was on the phone, giving as much information as he could to that uncle of his, and not that he'd been caught in the house and was now unconscious or wounded or just chained up somewhere.
Sarita had just about reached a spot that was even to the front of the house when she spotted movement at the far corner of the terrace. Stilling, she watched, her eyes straining. A moment later Sarita was assaulted by a combination of excitement and concern. She was happy because she was quite sure the head that kept poking around the corner of the house was Domitian. He hadn't been captured or injured. Her concern, though, was because he was obviously considering trying to run across the front yard, despite the two men on front-door duty who would surely see him.
Holding her breath, Sarita watched him change focus and stare at the two men by the front door. Much to her amazement, first one suddenly turned and faced the wall beside the door he was guarding, and then the other did. It was as smooth as clockwork . . . and rather shocking to see, Sarita acknowledged, letting her breath out. She was suddenly very glad the man couldn't read or control her.
Sure that Domitian was going to make a break for the jungle path now, Sarita glanced toward the yard, noting that every man she could see appeared to be looking away from where Domitian was. She glanced up the side of the house next and then sucked in a horrified breath. Two men were just coming around the corner from the back of the house, headed along the side wall toward the front.
Sarita wasn't sure how this mind control business worked, but suspected Domitian had to concentrate to do it. If he were unexpectedly tackled by the two men he couldn't see approaching, he would no doubt lose his focus, and then he would have every man in the yard converging on him. And apparently the men had some special "juice" in their guns. She was guessing a high tech bullet or something. Whatever it was, it would apparently be game over for Domitian.
Sarita considered the situation briefly, and then cursed under her breath and hurried along the edge of the trees until she was about halfway along the side of the house. Now even with the men Domitian couldn't see, she swerved out and charged them. While one of the men appeared deep in the middle of telling a tale about something that needed big hand movements, the other one did glance up and see her just before Sarita reached them. She saw him raise his gun to aim it at her, but it was too late, she was already in the middle of a flying kick. It hit him hard across the face, spinning him and sending him to the ground.
The second man couldn't help but notice her then. He immediately raised his own gun.
Grabbing the barrel of the rifle, Sarita moved her head to the side to avoid getting shot and rammed it back into the man's face as he tried to aim. When he looked dazed but didn't go down, she slammed it into his face again. This time the man's eyes rolled back and his body followed the motion so that he landed flat on his back in the grass.
The third man came out of nowhere. Sarita saw a large shadow out of the corner of her eye and then an iron band was around her throat, lifting her off the ground as the sound of large wings flapping told her it wasn't a human she was dealing with, but one of the hybrids. One who was winged like Thorne.
Gasping for air, Sarita struggled to free herself, clawing at the arm that was around her throat and choking off any access to oxygen. She was also kicking wildly, but dangling under the man as she was, her legs were kicking nothing but air. Desperate to be able to suck in a breath, she redoubled her efforts at clawing up his arm, but he seemed impervious to the deep trails she was gouging into his skin.
"Keep it up," her captor suggested lazily. "If I drop you now, you're dead."
Sarita glanced down then to see that they had gained height quickly and were already above the treetops.
Darkness was just beginning to crowd in at the corners of her eyes from lack of oxygen when she spotted Domitian below. He had reached the trees unhampered and was disappearing into the woods completely oblivious to the fact that she was flying high above him.
"Good girl," the man holding her said approvingly when she stopped struggling. The pressure around her neck eased as he shifted his hold. Sarita found herself suspended in the air with one of her captor's arms across her ribs under her breasts and the other now across her shoulders at the base of her throat rather than choking her.
Too aware that he could decide to drop her at any moment, she merely held on to his arm with both hands and stared out over the island.
"My father will be happy to see you," he announced, turning them toward the labs. "You and that vampire of yours rather ruined things leaving the island when you did. We were on the way to the island to put Father's plan in motion when MacNeil radioed us with the news that the pair of you had left the island, swimming south, and towing an air mattress behind you. He thought you'd headed for the mainland, and we spent many hours last night crisscrossing the water trying to find you."
Sarita didn't comment. That had been her idea. She'd suspected that a man who had so many cameras inside, probably had them outside as well and had suggested leaving by the beach in front of the house and swimming around it to the north after they'd first swum south for fifty feet or so away from the island. Apparently it had worked for a while.
"But when MacNeil radioed in that my brother's body had washed up on shore with his neck broken, we knew you'd come here, so we all headed home."
Yep, should have found some way to sink the gilled man's body, she thought, since that could be the only man he was speaking of. Even dragging it along with them would've been better, she thought grimly. Domitian could have tied the rope from the air mattress around the man's waist and pulled him along, and then they could have dragged his body on shore and into the jungle and left him there under some leaves. At least there was less likelihood he would have been found that way, Sarita thought and then frowned.
"He was your brother?" she asked as what he'd said sunk through her thoughts. Her voice was raspy, Sarita noted with a frown.
"One of many," the man answered indifferently, and then asked slyly, "Afraid I'll want revenge and drop you?"
Sarita stiffened in his arms.
"I could," he said with amusement. "Claim you were struggling and I lost my grip on you."
Sarita peered down at the trees below, wondering what crashing through them would do to a body.
"Fortunately for you, I didn't like my brother," the man added.
Sarita was silent for a minute and then asked, "How do you feel about Dressler?"
He chuckled. "Hoping I hate my father too and could be convinced to help you escape?"
"You might want to consider it. I'm sure the Rogue Hunters will go easier on you if they know you've helped me."
"The Rogue Hunters?" he said thoughtfully. "You don't mean those idiots on the mainland do you? They won't find us here."
"They will as soon as they look up which island Elizabeth Salter owns," Sarita said grimly.
"Problem is they'll never know to look up Elizabeth Salter," he said with amusement. "Is that what you were trying to do at the house? Call the mainland and tell them that? I suppose the vampire was there somewhere and you think he managed to make the call. He didn't," he said with a certainty that struck at her heart.
"The minute MacNeil radioed that my brother had washed up on the beach, Father told him to have the satellite phone removed from his office in the house and locked up in his office in the labs. There's no one coming for you, little Sarita. Your life is
here now."
Sarita's mind rebelled at the suggestion and she was about to tell him that her life sure as hell wasn't here now, but snapped her mouth shut when he suddenly swooped downward, dropping quickly toward land. For one moment she thought they were going to crash into the ground between the fence and the labs, but at the last moment he pulled up, swinging his body down and forcing hers with it as he flapped his wings against the wind to slow them. They landed rather abruptly, but on their feet, and then he took her arm in a steely grip and started walking toward the first building.
Sarita glanced around at the yard inside the fence. The towers were all manned with armed men as they had been the first time, but this time they had noticed their arrival at once and were watching them.
"They'll shoot if you make a break for it," the winged man said idly.
Sarita snorted at the suggestion. "I doubt it. Dressler wants me for something. Some kind of experiment."
"Yes, he does," he agreed easily as he marched her toward the first building, the one where the immortal had been cut in half and put back together. "But you don't have to be in good shape for what he wants. Just not dead. They can shoot you in the leg without angering him."
When Sarita glanced at him narrowly, trying to decide whether he was telling the truth or not, he added, "What do you think we were headed to the island for? It wasn't to bring you fresh linens."
Sarita faced forward again, her mind racing, and then asked, "What does he plan to do with me?"
He hesitated and then shook his head. "Father wouldn't like it if I ruined his surprise. You'll find out soon enough. But let me give you a little advice," he said as they approached the lab. "Don't fight him. You can't win and he'll just make things unpleasant for you. On this island my father is God."
They had reached the door and on the last word, he pulled it open and shoved her in ahead of him.