Not that I was giving up … As long as there was still breath in my body, I could and would never give up. As long as I knew Knight and Sam were still out there, I would fight my way back to them. But now wasn’t the time for impulsive decision-making. Now I had to formulate a new and improved plan—one that was foolproof.
Now, what I needed more than anything else, was the luxury of time.
###
If there was one thing to be grateful for in this whole crappy situation, it was the car that was waiting for Jax when we reached the road. If nothing else went my way, at least now we had shelter from the incessant rain. The storm was falling in raindrops so big, I wondered if it should have been categorized as a hurricane instead.
“You should rest,” Jax said as soon as I was seated in the passenger seat and he was behind the wheel. He cranked the heat up as high as it would go while turning on both of our seat heaters. I wasn’t sure what sort of vehicle we were in—just that it was black and an SUV of some type. Not that it really mattered.
“Rest?” I repeated with an acidic laugh. Glaring at him, I crossed my arms over my chest because when I looked down, it appeared that I’d become a contestant in a wet T-shirt contest. “You abducted me, I’m soaking wet, I don’t know if my friends are safe, and I have no idea where we’re going, or what I’m going to find when we get there. And you expect me to rest?”
“You won’t come to any harm,” he answered, like I was becoming overly dramatic.
“Again, I have a problem putting much stock into your word.” I took a deep breath as I faced the window. I couldn’t make out much of the scenery. The headlights managed to light the trees a bit, but the incessant rain relegated them to nothing more than drippy blobs of green and brown.
“Suit yourself. We’ve got a few hours until we reach the portal that will take us to my boss. Then, I imagine, you’ll find yourself very busy.”
“The portal?” I asked, my nerves suddenly jumping to full attention.
I actually wasn’t sure what startled me more—the fact that we were about to travel portal style or that I would supposedly be very busy once we arrived at our destination.
“Yes, the portal.”
“What portal?” I asked, deciding this was the more important topic to focus on for the immediate present. “Are we traveling to the Netherworld?”
Jax chuckled and shook his head as he faced me. I noticed that look of amusement had returned to his eyes. “Which question would you like me to answer first, Ms. O’Neil?”
“Where are we going?”
“I already told you, I can’t elaborate on that.”
“Elaborate?” I scoffed. “You won’t even answer it at all!”
“We are traveling out of state, but that’s all I can say about it.”
“To the Netherworld?” I repeated, although I was hoping and praying the answer was no. The Netherworld was about as far away from Splendor Headquarters as possible, and right now, there was no other place that I wanted to be than Splendor, if only to make sure that Sam and everyone else there were okay.
“No, we’re not going to the Netherworld,” Jax answered in a very matter-of-fact tone.
“That’s a relief.”
“Glad I could improve your mood,” he jested with a wink.
“And we’re driving to the location of the portal?” I asked, ignoring his wink.
“No, there’s a horse and wagon waiting for us just around this bend,” he answered. His eyebrows rose as we took said curve in the road.
“Funny, Jax,” I grumbled. Terrible thoughts of what might be happening at Splendor Headquarters suddenly overwhelmed me. “What’s going on in Splendor?” I demanded. I immediately regretted asking the question, however, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear his answer. If I didn’t like Jax’s answer, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” I repeated, frowning. Of course, I was more than convinced that he wasn’t telling me something. “Come on, Jax, do you really think I’m going to do anything with that information?” I asked, shaking my head. “What could I possibly do when I’m basically your prisoner?”
“I don’t know of anything you could do with that information; and yes, I agree, you are my prisoner. But that’s beside the point, because I’m telling you the truth.”
“Whatever,” I griped and then brought my attention to the window again because looking at Jax did nothing except piss me off.
“You exasperate me,” he said. “You must realize by now that not everything I say is a lie?”
“I don’t know that at all!” I railed back at him. “And as far as me exasperating you, you have no idea how utterly frustrating you are!”
“Regardless of who outdoes who on the scales of exasperation and frustration,” he continued in a bored tone, “I had orders to remove you from Headquarters. That’s what I did. As for what’s going on there now, your guess is as good as mine.”
“Fine,” I said, while crossing my arms over my chest and slouching down in my seat.
He glanced over at me, maybe to decide whether or not I believed him. “Did you happen to see a cell phone on me?”
“No.”
“Right,” he said with a nod. “That means I’ve had no contact with my boss or Crossbones since I was taken to Splendor. And since you and I escaped, I’ve had no way of knowing about anything except right here and right now.”
“So why haven’t you used that handy little Loki trick you exhibited during my telepathic conversation with Knight earlier?” I demanded, spearing him with a cross expression. “That would be the perfect way to keep in touch with your boss.”
“Clearly, you do not understand how that ability of ours works,” he started. “It’s not just a matter of reaching out and mentally phoning random people. It’s no E.T. Phone Whoever.”
“Clever,” I said with a grimace. “Then how does it work?”
“You either have to be within a few miles of someone or, in your man’s case with you, there has to exist an extremely strong connection between you both.” He was quiet for a couple of seconds. “Let me guess, he’s selected you, hasn’t he?”
I figured he meant the whole Knight’s eyes lighting up bit. Not that I was going to divulge any of that information to Jax. “I have no interest in discussing my relationship with you.”
“I’ll take that to mean ‘yes,’” he announced, but when I didn’t respond, he continued. “Regardless, the point is I have no way of getting in touch with anyone, so I know as much as you do regarding what’s happening at Splendor Headquarters.”
“How very coincidental,” I responded testily. I couldn’t help it though. I hated not knowing what was going on, or whether I should be worried or not. All the unanswered questions hovering in the air consumed me, making me feel like I would lose my mind if I couldn’t find the answers soon.
“I give you my word that nothing bad will happen to you.”
I faced him with narrowed eyes. “How can you be so sure of that? You already admitted you have absolutely no idea what your boss even wants to discuss with me?”
He shrugged. “Because he told me that your safety was my number one priority.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” I grumbled, facing forward and slouching deeper into my seat. The seat heater was suddenly overwhelmingly hot. Or maybe that was just my temper flaring up inside me and overheating my entire body. “If he intends to ransom me, I have to be healthy. Otherwise, I’m not worth much to anyone.”
“He’s not going to hold you for ransom.”
I faced him again and studied him for a few seconds. I was trying to grasp any clues from his body language, but he didn’t give anything away. As far as I could tell, it appeared he was telling the truth. He seemed confident and calculating in his responses. Of course, that could also suggest he was simply well versed in the art of deception. “How do you know?”
He chuckled an
d shook his head. “You don’t believe a word that comes out of my mouth, do you?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “In general, I’m not one for trusting criminals.”
“This mission was not about kidnapping you to hold you for ransom,” he said as he stepped on the brakes and the SUV began skidding on the wet road.
“What are you doing?” I yelled while bracing myself for whatever was coming. Luckily, the vehicle came to a complete stop and we ended up in the middle of the road, rather than becoming up close and personal with the nearest tree trunk. “Was that really necessary?” I asked.
Jax’s expression was full of determination. “My mission was to remove you from Headquarters, in order to keep you safe, and that’s what I did. Those were my boss’s exact words.”
“And you don’t think that maybe your boss was just pulling one over on you?” I asked as I scrutinized him.
“Pulling one over on me?”
I shrugged. The answer seemed obvious to me. “Maybe his plan all along was to ransom me, but he figured if he appealed to your great sense of chivalry, he could make you do his bidding without questioning his orders?”
“My great sense of chivalry?” he repeated before laughing and shaking his head as if to say he had none. “And what great sense of chivalry would that be?”
“I don’t know,” I grumbled as I wondered what in the hell I’d been thinking. Chivalry? “That fall I took must have really messed up my head.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because any man who body checks a woman half his size isn’t exactly chivalrous.”
“And any woman who thinks she can outrun her Loki captor deserves to be body slammed,” he retorted with no trace of an apology. “If you want to call a spade a spade.”
“I’m starting to rethink that nap,” I mumbled. Rolling over, I faced the window, trying to, at least mentally, emancipate myself from my companion.
TEN
I wasn’t sure how long we were on the road because, amazingly enough, I did manage to fall asleep. Maybe because I was that exhausted.
Actually, there was much more to it than just my exhaustion, and the more to it had everything to do with Jax. I wasn’t sure why, but something about him began to put me more at ease. Even though he was supposed to be a hardened criminal, he didn’t now and never really had come off that way. At least, not to me. It was more fitting to say he seemed like nothing more threatening than an oversexed, high school jock. Well, an oversexed, high school jock with one mean tackle.
Moreover, I did believe him when he said his mission was to keep me safe. That wasn’t to say his boss didn’t plan to ransom me (which I was still convinced was the truth); but I also trusted that Jax thought otherwise.
Bless his misinformed heart.
“We’ve crossed over,” Jax said in an even tone as I started to wake up. I stifled a sleep-heavy yawn as I opened my eyes, only to discover we were no longer being pummeled by the rain. Night still ruled the sky, but the enormous pine trees that had practically consumed us previously were nowhere to be seen. As far as I could tell, there weren’t any trees at all.
“We traveled through the portal?” I asked, sitting up straighter. My heart started to palpitate when I glanced outside my window and tried to get a read on the terrain. I hoped to get a better idea of where we were, but all I learned was that we were on a very narrow road and we were still ascending.
“Yes, we just passed through the portal,” Jax answered without bothering to look at me. Instead, he watched the road ahead of us, which was a good thing, given how precarious the drive had become. “We should arrive at our destination shortly.”
“And let me guess, you’ve had a miraculous change of heart and now plan on telling me anything and everything about where we are?” I asked with renewed optimism.
“We’re in the mountains,” came his reply, and his self-impressed smile bordered on downright cocky.
“Thanks for nothing,” I grumbled. Staring out my window again, I noticed myriad lights far off in the distance. They glittered from a valley ensconced between the mountains and appeared to be dishearteningly far below us. Regardless, though, lights meant there was a town nearby. And a town meant there would be people. I only hoped there would be people who would or could help me. Well, that is, if I managed to escape my current predicament …
Jax stopped the car. I was about to inquire when I found we were parked in front of an enormous iron gate. He rolled the window down and studied the black box which would contact whoever happened to be inside the house. A few seconds later, Jax entered a passcode on the number pad before the gate began slowly swinging open.
“Guess we’re here?” I asked, not able to hide the trepidation from my voice. I couldn’t deny that I was nervous, because I had no idea what lay beyond those gates, which were now completely open. A well-lit driveway appeared, flanked by large trees that I assumed were some type of willow. Their long, hairlike leaves and drooping branches served as a canopy over the driveway and looked like they belonged on an old, Southern plantation.
“Don’t worry; you’ll be safe,” Jax promised me again with a reassuring smile.
“Safe can be a very arbitrary word.”
“Your physical wellbeing won’t be compromised,” he corrected himself. “How’s that?”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” I answered. I took another deep breath before we started the incline of yet another steep precipice. At the top of the hill was what I imagined had to be a breathtaking view in the daytime. But for now, the only thing I could see were the voluminous stars, twinkling in the sky.
“Come,” Jax said, offering his arm.
I took one glance at it and then at him before shaking my head. “I can walk by myself. It’s not like I’m not a revered guest here, so let’s not pretend otherwise.”
“Have it your way, but the cobblestones are uneven, and you did just injure your knee.”
“Which, as you may recall, is now healed and, thus, no longer an issue.”
“Just trying to help,” he finished with a shrug before starting toward the house.
Well, “house” wasn’t exactly the right noun to describe the monstrosity before us. It looked like the centerfold from one of those fancy home magazines. At three stories high, it had ornately intricate, iron balconies featured outside each arched window. On either side of the floor-to-ceiling windows were black shutters, a perfect contrast to the brilliant white of the mansion. The front of the house had no less than eighteen Corinthian columns, six on each level. The gingerbread cutouts that adorned the roofline imbued the building with Victorian splendor, although it was more fitting to say it looked like it belonged in the deep South. It reminded me of something I’d seen on Gone with the Wind.
Large oak trees hugged both sides of the walkway that led to the house, Spanish moss hanging decoratively from their great boughs. Below them were alternating bushes of red and white roses, all manicured perfectly, and probably the source of the sweet scented air.
Despite it being nighttime, I could see the landscaping before me almost as easily as if it were daytime. That was because of the endless streetlamps illuminating the walkway, along with the lights on the footpath, which were even more plentiful. The streetlamps, at approximately six feet tall, appeared to be constructed of black iron, and their glass lampshades featured etched angels blowing trumpets.
The angel motif was repeated in the fountain, which occupied the middle of a huge courtyard. This angel was very oversized, probably larger than sixteen feet. Her wings were fully extended behind her as if in midflight. In her hands, she held a bucket of water, which bubbled up and over the edge before running down her billowing robes and splashing into the pool at her feet.
“Someone must have a thing for angels,” I commented, more to myself than to Jax.
“Yes, ironic, isn’t it?” Jax agreed as he shook his head and raised his eyebrows, apparently seeing the irony.
 
; “Funny, is it not, how a life spent in darkness results in the craving of all forms of light?”
The man’s voice came from behind me, and in response, I instantly wheeled around, my body already poised in fight or flight mode. I stood with my feet shoulder-width apart, the best stance to ensure a firm equilibrium. My heart climbed up into my throat and every nerve in my body was alive and fully at attention as I searched for the stranger. But he was nowhere to be seen.
Seconds later, I spied the form of a tall man when he stepped out from the darkness of the trees and revealed himself in the light.
My breath caught. He was every bit as suave and handsome as I remembered him.
“Bram!” I said, my voice revealing my surprise. “You son of a bitch!” I roared as soon as the shock wore off and I was left with nothing but anger as I realized that everything I’d just gone through in the last twenty-four hours was Bram’s fault.
“Sweet,” he said, in a breathy, deep voice. “You are just as lovely as I remember.”
“Don’t Sweet me!” I yelled at him, even as I closed the space between us until no more than a few inches separated us. Then I did what any irate and justified woman would do; I unleashed the flat of my palm against his icy cheek.
If it were possible for a three-hundred-year-old vampire to look surprised, that’s exactly how Bram appeared. He didn’t even try to cover his injured cheek; but thankfully, it didn’t seem like he intended to return the favor either. Instead, his long arms hung at his sides as if I hadn’t ever slapped him at all. But this was no surprise. On the contrary, that was Bram to a tee. Eternally calm and cool, he was never one to lose his composure. And he was always dressed to impress. Tonight was no different. Wearing black trousers and a dark gray, long-sleeved dress shirt, he looked like he’d just returned home from the office, or was heading out to a nice dinner.
Of course, I knew better. Bram was a vampire and, thus, didn’t eat food. And as far as any offices went, as the kingpin of the largest illegal potions organization, it wasn’t like he was clocking in at a nine-to-five.
“I am rather disappointed, Sweet. I envisioned our reunion as a much more joyous occasion,” he said in his signature, aristocratic, British accent.