A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)(88)

"So you're going to drop us at the Kennedy Center?"

"Yes." His expression grew very serious. "You should not travel far from D.C. until the magic is renewed, cara. Most importantly, do not let your brother. The magic is unpredictable in this state and may have laid claim to one or both of you. You could sicken if you go too far though not in a way that any doctor could cure."

"How will I know the magic has been renewed?" But she would know, wouldn't she? When she ceased to see the worlds colliding. "Never mind."

She shook her head, a question bothering her. "You said you can't leave Vamp City, now."

"That is true."

"And humans can't leave on their own."

"Also true."

"Then how are you going to free us?"

He stiffened ever so slightly, as if he hadn't given this escape plan enough thought. She probably wouldn't have noticed if their knees hadn't been a handsbreadth apart.

She looked at him sharply.

But when he met her gaze, his eyes were calm and sure. "I can push you through even if I cannot follow."

"You're sure?"

His eyes crinkled at the corners. "I am."

She wondered how he could be so certain when everyone kept saying the vampires never let humans go once they were caught. But the last thing she wanted to do was talk him out of trying. Besides, what might be true of other humans often didn't apply to her. She might succeed even where most would fail.

"Can you push other vampires through?" she asked. "Could you get Bram out of here?"

"No. The magic holds us. It has bound us to it."

"Ax," Kassius said, his voice low and urgent. "Four o'clock. Ivan and his troop."

"Merda." Arturo suddenly grabbed the reins of her horse. "Fight me, cara. Ivan has seen you up close. There will be no deceiving him."

Quinn swung at him, understanding that they had to put on an act, to pretend he'd caught her and wasn't helping her escape. But, oh my God. Did this mean the escape was a bust? Was he going to hand them back over to these men? To Cristoff?

Her gut twisted, her neck burning, her feet tingling.

Fear, cold as steel, sliced her heart in two.

Chapter Twenty

"So this is it?" Quinn cried, struggling, as Arturo hauled her off her horse and onto his own, setting her in front of him, his arm clamping around her, pinning her own arms to her sides. "Are you going to give me to them?" Cristoff would torture her, fill her with dragon fire again. Maybe even carry out his threat and cut off her feet! "Kill me here, Vampire. Don't send me back. Please."

"Your fear is good, cara. Be afraid, as any escaped slave should. They will taste it."

No problem. Ice was forming in her veins so quickly, she might soon be sparkling with frost.

She glanced at Zack, who sat silently on his horse, staring at nothing. As if he'd already given up. Had he been paying attention to anything? Was the brother she knew and loved even in there anymore? Then again, if he'd kicked his horse into gear and taken off, Kassius would have gone after him and quickly taken him down in one of those vampire faster-than-the-speed-of-light moves. This way, he could potentially be passed off as a slave accompanying Arturo rather than one involved with her. The last thing, the last thing, she wanted was for Cristoff to figure out he was her brother.

She hazarded a glance at the approaching vampire guards, recognizing the bald Ivan. He certainly appeared to be the leader of the bunch.

Oh, this is not good.

Arturo turned his horse around and started back the way they'd come, riding straight for Ivan and company, leading her empty horse behind him as Kassius and Zack followed.

Quinn's pulse thrummed with fear, her head pounding with frustration. They'd been so close!

That weird, unnatural heat began to crawl beneath her skin again, and she wondered if her eyes were starting to glow. She swept her lashes down, hiding her eyes, at once hating her power and desperately wishing she could find a way to harness it.

"Arturo." Ivan nodded as the two parties converged. Quinn felt his gaze on her, heard him grunt as if noticing the change in her hair. "I see you've . . . found . . . her."

They hadn't fooled him about her identity, as they'd known they wouldn't. But his questioning tone made her doubt they'd fooled him about anything.

"I have found her. Just this moment," Arturo said smoothly, that hypnotic quality in his voice she'd heard a couple of times before. "You saw me capture her."

The suspicion slipped out of Ivan's expression. "I saw you capture her," he repeated almost mechanically. Holy cow. Did Arturo actually have the power to affect a vampire's mind?

But a moment later, the suspicion rushed back into Ivan's eyes as he cocked his head. "I wonder, though, why you were riding toward the Boundary Circle, a friendly little foursome."

Quinn felt Arturo tense. "You are mistaken, amico mio. We had only just ridden upon the escaping slave."

But Ivan was no diplomat. And whatever mind games Arturo had attempted had clearly failed. "I know what I saw. And I saw you and Kassius riding toward the Boundary Circle with the sorceress and another slave, thick as thieves. Cristoff will be very interested in my story, I've no doubt."