Page 73 of Fire in My Blood

I bite back a frustrated sigh. “I’ve promised to do what you tell me as long as you don’t hurt my family. I know what’s at stake.”

I silently curse at my own behavior. Instead of showing my irritation, I should be working to gain his trust. It might in time provide me with the opportunity to escape. And if it does, I’ll take David and his family with me somewhere safe. Because I don’t trust Gerard not to hurt them, even if I somehow manage to be and do whatever he wants.

He drags me through the front door of the house. It’s pitch-black inside, and I groan when my hip slams into something hard. “If you want me to be able to walk later, you might want to slow down. I can’t see in the dark like you.”

I’m surprised when he actually does what I tell him and slows down. Perhaps it would ruin the ceremony if I broke a leg? I’m not fool enough to believe he actually cares about my well-being. Then again, I won’t be able to serve him like he wants me to if I’m injured.

“Stairs,” he grunts and stops. “There’s a handrail to your right.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I use my hand to search along what feels like a stone wall until I find the handrail.

He descends slowly down the steps, and I follow him without incident. The stairs are narrow and seem to spiral downward, which is probably the reason he doesn’t just pick me up and carry me.

After what feels like minutes, I suddenly notice that I can make out the wall and the steps below me. Less than a minute later, we arrive at the end of a long corridor.

I turn to look at him. “Are you going to tell me about the ceremony? I’d like to know what’s going to happen so I can perform according to your expectations.”

Gerard’s head whips around, and he stares at me like I’ve just grown horns or something.

I shrug and meet his gaze with a blank stare. “This is important to you, isn’t it?”

He narrows his eyes like he’s wondering what I’m up to. Without answering, he starts down the corridor with me in tow.

I don’t ask any more questions as I hurry to keep up with his long strides. I’m not surprised he’s suspicious of my behavior. But it would have been nice to know what’s going to happen.

We walk for about a minute before he suddenly stops and turns to me with an evil grin. “You will drink my blood and then you’ll be mine. That’s all you need to know.”

∞∞∞

Lucas

I rake my hand through my hair while I pace in Erica’s living room. With no idea where Erica or David is, we came back here to evaluate our options and come up with a plan.

“So, Ron hasn’t found any more pictures or information about the vampire who’s taken Erica.” Lyn is stating what we already know.

I shake my head. “No. And he’s still working on it, but so far he hasn’t found anything to indicate where Erica or David is either.”

Stopping in the middle of the floor, I clamp down on my urge to destroy everything around me. I don’t usually lose my temper and doing it here in Erica’s apartment is unacceptable.

But I feel so fucking helpless, more than I ever have before. The thought of her with her attacker is tearing me apart inside, but thankfully, I haven’t felt any severe pain from her, mostly just varying levels of fear.

“Maybe you should try to pinpoint her location using your connection to her.” Markus is looking at me with a pensive expression on his face. He’s standing by the doorway to the kitchen with his arms crossed. “It’s a rare ability, but then so is the ability to pick up someone’s emotions from far away like you’re doing. The bond between an elemental and his mate is mostly uncharted territory, so who knows what’s possible.”

Raking my hand through my hair again, I frown. “And how do I do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe just focus on her and her emotions and try to pull information from that connection somehow? It’s worth a try. Or, you can call Aidan. I believe a couple of the people he worked with in Scotland can do something like that. Both a powerful witch and a hybrid shifter as far as I remember.”

Nodding, I pull out my phone. He’s right. Aidan gave us a recount of what happened in Scotland a couple of weeks ago when they caught and destroyed an extremely powerful and dangerous witch.

The earth elemental answers on the second ring. “Aidan.”

“It’s Lucas. I need to know how Gawen was able to locate his mate after Amber took her. Or, how Sabrina can find people.”

“I think Gawen just focused on her. Sabrina does something similar to locate people she has already met. Why do you ask?” I can practically hear Aidan’s frown in his voice.

“My mate is gone, and I need to find her before something happens to her.”

“What?” His loud voice in my ear makes me wince, and it’s followed by a sharp crack, like the back of a chair hitting the floor. “What the fuck do you mean mate?”