He ran and came around the bend in the road and found Izzy standing there. Her feed wide apart, her gun aimed, and her body shaking with her breath.

  Markus stood a few feet away from her, laughing. “Looks like your backup finally arrived.”

  Ayden took a few quick steps to Izzy’s side. “Markus, you’re playing a dangerous game here.”

  “You can’t stop this, Ayden. I’m faster than this Hunter, stronger than her. She will be mine.”

  Izzy squeezed the trigger again, but the moment after the bullet left the gun, Markus appeared in front of her, grabbing her wrist and twisting it.

  Ayden tried not to cringe at the sound of snapping bone, and to his surprise, Izzy didn’t cry out. She reached to her side with her free hand, grabbing a blade, and brought it up to slice Markus. He jumped away before her blade met the skin.

  Ayden pulled his blade from his side as well. This wasn’t going to end well.

  “You can’t outright attack me, Ayden.” Markus laughed. “Or I’m within my rights to take you as well.”

  Izzy glanced at Ayden and he shook his head. “Pay attention—” but it was too late. Markus took her to the ground, pinning her wrists above her head.

  Ayden moved to attack when a werewolf launched itself into Ayden’s side. The creature snarled in his face, leaving a wet trail of slime on his cheek. He found himself under the werewolf, not daring to provoke him. Ayden had no wish to turn into a werewolf.

  James appeared two seconds later and laughed at Ayden. “Let him go, wolf. The Hunter though, she comes with us.”

  Izzy snarled, and Ayden glanced at her. “I’ll be back for you.”

  She glanced at him, and he saw the fear in her eyes. Markus took the opportunity and struck down on her neck. Izzy cried out and tried to fight against him, but ahuman was nothing against the strength of an Ancient vampire.

  “Ayden, if you step foot on my property again, I will see it as an act against the Circle, which you know I’m within my rights to punish you for.” James crossed his arms. “Leading Hunters to us, what are you thinking? Nuala would be so disappointed in her bound human.”

  The wolf leaned down further and growled. Ayden didn’t look at Izzy. The wolf kept him pinned until her cries and her struggles died down. The wolf moved and Markus looked at Ayden as he got up.

  “Please, give me a reason to kill you.” Markus laughed. “I would love that.” The vampire bent down and picked up Izzy. He hung her limp body over his shoulder like she was nothing.

  Ayden’s heart pounded as he tried to think of something he could do within the vampire laws.

  Markus chuckled as he walked up to James. “And here, like I promised you, a Hunter for your demonstration next week.”

  The two disappeared, and Ayden’s heart felt like it was shattering. He had to figure out how to get her out of there before the demonstration.

  Footsteps came from the forest and Ayden cursed. He picked up Izzy’s discarded gun and took aim at what might come through the trees.

  Crystal and Sam came limping out. “Where’s Isadora?” Crystal asked, pulling her gun.

  Ayden let out a sigh of relief and lowered his gun. “Markus got her. I got here just in time for them to disappear.” It wasn’t the truth, but he needed them to trust him and not think that he let Markus go with her.

  “Werewolves ambushed us.” Sam growled. “We’re lucky neither of us were bit.”

  Ayden snorted. “You still look like hell, though. Look, you need to go back to the Academy and tell the Elder Masters what you found here. Tell Joey to call me the moment you guys get back.”

  “Why Joey?”

  “Because he’ll want to come down here, and I want to make sure that I’m here with him.” Because if Joey could get Izzy out, Ayden wanted to be there to help. The Academy sucked at dealing with situations like this. They would patch Izzy up, tell her to buck up, and put her right back on the field.

  Except Joey would know the extent of any damage done to her mind by James, and that’s why Ayden wanted him there.

  Crystal shook her head. “We don’t leave our own behind.”

  “Do you want to waltz in there?” Sam asked, motioning back toward the mansion. “Because I certainly do not. We go home, we regroup, and then we come and get her.”

  Ayden nodded. “Within the week, if possible. I heard whispers of James holding a demonstration next week. We don’t want Izzy to be the target of that.”

  Crystal made a noise that Ayden could only assume was agreement. The two Hunters got in the SUV and drove out of sight. Ayden texted Harper again to pick him up on the road when she was ready to leave. He assumed she found something of interest in the party and hadn’t left. Though he could have used her backup against Markus.

  Fuck. He’d been so helpless. He hadn’t done anything because of the stupid laws. If Nuala had been awake, he could have called to her. She would have found some way to claim Isadora.

  Harper swung around in the car and squealed to a stop. “Come on, get in, let’s go.”

  He jumped in and she sped off almost before he shut the door. “What the hell?”

  “What the hell?” She nearly screamed at him. “I saw them bring that Hunter back in. That poor girl.” She growled. “Then, then…” she shook her head. “James stood up to talk about what was going on this week. They think they found the tomb of the Father and they know how to raise him.”

  Ayden’s heart sank. That meant they had to know that Tegan had the stone that kept the Father’s soul. “This is not good.”

  Izzy woke with a splitting headache. She put a hand to her head and tried to figure out where she was. The last thing she remembered was Markus taking a bite out of her and then learning that Ayden was a bound human.

  Her stomach lurched. He’d left her there under a vampire, refusing to come to help her. He could have shot Markus. Something. Anything.

  But Markus had said something about laws and rules. She tried to think of something that would pertain to that, but she knew very little about vampire laws. She took a deep breath and tried to focus. If she could figure out her surroundings, then maybe she could escape.

  Bars blocked her view of much beyond the square room she was in. Although room was too nice of a word for it. Damp stone walls surrounded her. Something that looked akin to a toilet was in one corner and a pallet for a bed was under her.

  She stood and cringed as the movement of her body hurt her wrist and made the rest of her ache. She’d been tossed around pretty good, and there was no doubt that Markus had broken her wrist with a twist. She walked to the bars, cradling her hand to her chest to keep it from moving too much. Her heart sank when she realized she was in a row of rooms like this and each one had one to two humans in them. Most of who looked worse for wear.

  Ayden had been right, the vampires were starting a human trade and now she in it. No way to reach out to the Hunters, no way of escape on her own at this point, and all she could do was hope Ayden would keep his word. That he would come back for her.

  Ayden sat in the room at Harper’s house, trying to figure out how to get through this mess. The Hunters should have made it back to the Academy by now, but Joey hadn’t called him.

  If he could get in there to rescue Izzy he would, but he couldn’t face the two ancients, and there was no way in hell that he could risk Nuala at this point. If only she was awake.

  He let out a long streak of curses in Gaelic as he tried to find his way around it. Every moment she was there, she would endure some sort of torture from the vampires.

  He couldn’t keep his mind off what he found when he’d stumbled upon the trading camp his sister had been in.

  His phone ringing broke his panic, and he snatched it up. “Hello?”

  “My Hunters came back without one of their own.” Joey’s voice snarled. “Where the hell is Isadora?”

  Ayden took a deep breath. “She’s still at the mansion, but Markus has taken her. He disappeared with her the moment I showed up to help.”

  Joey let out a long sigh. “He knew they were coming?”

  “Yes, they ran into him the night before with James. I tried to convince them to go home, but they all stuck to the Hunter’s creed and stayed to do the mission. Come out here and I can take you to where she is. I don’t know if you can get in or not, but I can’t. If a Master comes back and reports, then maybe the Society will do something about it.”

  Joey hesitated a little. “I can try, but I need to see it and confirm what the other two have told me. I won’t make them go back out there, but I will need someone at my back.”

  “Trusting me?” Ayden asked, trying to keep any emotion out of his voice.

  “What choice do I have? I can’t just leave my Hunter there, but I have to confirm the information. If I disappear, then the Society will know that it was you who betrayed me.”

  Ayden snorted. “Trust me, I don’t want anyone in the hands of Markus and James. Are you flying out? We’ve lost three days in this week. The whispers at the party said the event lasts the week. We need to get Izzy out.”

  “If we don’t by the end of the week?” Joey asked, his voice soft.

  “Then you can kiss your Hunter goodbye.” Ayden swallowed. “And the next time any of us see her is when she’s at the side of a vampire as a slave.”

  “I’ll take a red eye. I’ll text you the information. Pick me up and we go as soon as I get there.”

  The phone went dead in his hand. Ayden hung his head and hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

  There was a knock on the door and Harper walked in. “How are you hanging in there?”

  “Oh, you know, cursing that I have to follow vampire laws and that Isadora is in the hands of Markus. I want to march in there during daylight hours and get her.”

  “But Markus’ people will kill you, and then Nuala will not rise,” she reminded him.

  “They were talking about raising the Father.” Ayden shook his head. “We can’t let that happen.” He needed to call Lucius about that still, but his focus was on Isadora.

  Harper laughed. “Impossible. He’s been gone for over five-hundred years, Ayden.”

  “Six, and trust me, it’s possible.” He sighed. And it was Zaaren’s fault. “But the Originals are going to wake. They can stop it.”

  “Or the Hunters,” she pitched in.

  Maybe that’s why someone was taking the Hunters out. So they didn’t stand a chance of taking out the Father when he rose. Ayden shivered at his memories of the Father.

  His phone rang, and he saw Tegan’s number. He frowned and answered it. “What’s up, Tegan?”

  “It’s Lucius.”

  Ah, fuck. “It’s daylight, and why are you calling from Tegan’s phone?”

  “Because she’s currently curled up in a corner whimpering about Markus,” Lucius snarled. “I need you to come help my panther hunt something down.”

  Ayden rubbed his eyes. “I’m in the middle of the other issue right now. Markus caught a Hunter. We need to get her out of his trade.”

  Lucius was silent for a moment. “This is about the Father’s soul, Ayden. Which do you think is more important?”

  “You lost the stone?” Ayden snarled. “Do you have any idea what the fuck that means?”

  “More than you do, I’m sure. Tegan can’t tell me where she sent it, so I need your help to track it.”

  Ayden looked out the window. He needed to get Izzy out, but his duty as a Keeper also meant keeping the Father trapped away. “I’ll be out there in two nights. I’m meeting a Hunter here tonight. I can pass my current issue off to him.” And hope that Joey could convince the Masters to come after Isadora.

  “Good.” The line went dead, and Ayden sighed. This was a mess. He couldn’t have fucked it all up more if he tried.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Come along a little Hunter, it’s time.”

  Izzy looked up as the vampire approached her cage. That’s what she’d come to know it as since they threw her in it the night they captured her. They’d dropped food between the bars and let her be. Until now. She didn’t know how long she’d been there already, but the meal count told her at least three days.

  She’d expected it to be Markus or James that came to get her, but that wasn’t the case. This was a low-level vampire. Probably a flunky. The red in his eyes told her he was probably close to bloodlust as well.

  He unlocked the cage and then stepped up to block her escape. “We can do this the easy way, or I can drag you in there kicking and screaming.”

  Like hell she was going anywhere with this bloodsucker. She stood and rammed towards him, catching him by surprise. She actually knocked him over. She turned left in the direction he had come from and ran down the hall. She had almost made it to the door before the vampire appeared in front of her and grabbed her wrist.

  “We should have chained you when we had the chance.” He snarled in her face, showing his fangs.

  She rammed her knee into his stomach and broke his hold with a swift arch of her arm. She wrenched the door opened and came face to face with Markus.

  He took a few steps towards her, forcing her back into the hall. Dread filled her when he locked eyes with her. “Stand down, Isadora.”

  Power flowed through her, and she knew it was because he’d fed from her. He was using his influences on her. “Fuck you.”

  “Do you know what I can do to you?”

  His power moved through her, and she threw up the blocks in her mind to force some of it out. He tilted his head to the side. “Oh, you are a talented little Hunter.”

  A second later, he was in front of her with chains. He snapped the cuffs around her wrists and grabbed the middle of them. “You won’t escape here, Hunter. There are at least twenty vampires out there waiting to see you broken, and when James finishes with you. You’ll be coming home with me.”

  “I’d die before I’d willingly serve a bloodsucker.” The moment the words left her lips, she knew it. She’d escape or die trying.

  Markus dragged her out the door and into a ballroom. Her heart hammered as she looked over the crowd. He wasn’t kidding. There were over twenty vampires around the ballroom. Her heart fell. There would be no escaping this night. Markus forced her up a couple of steps and to a chair where James was waiting patiently.

  “Markus has willingly donated this human Hunter for my demonstration tonight. Once I break her mind, Markus will force his will and power on her, even if he hasn’t recently fed from her or bonded her. Any vampire can. Her mind will be completely open.”

  Izzy swallowed and made sure she had her mind blocked. There was no way in hell she was going to let this vampire ruin what she had worked so hard for. She jerked forward, trying to throw herself off the stage, but Markus caught her shirt.

  “As you can see, she’s a feisty one.” James laughed and put his hand on her shoulder. James grabbed her braid and yanked her head back. “I will break you, Hunter.”

  He struck down, his fangs piercing her neck. She cried out and thrashed against him, but then his power struck.

  She’d expected to feel at ease, but she felt that familiar push she felt when Joey tried to read her mind. She tried to seal the blocks in place, but they shattered, causing her to cry out.

  James pulled back, and she sat there panting, trying mentally to rebuild what he’d just broken.

  “What I just broke, and you’ll feel it if you try, was an unnatural shield. Humans have a natural shield as well, but it’s not as strong, and it’s what we push through when we feed so we can implant our influences. I can take it further than that, I can destroy it.”

  Oh god, no. She tried to stand again, but her body shook with her movement. James pulled her back with her hair and struck again. Izzy’s head exploded, and she suddenly felt every vampire mind that was trying to press against her. They flooded her mind, with each vampire entering it, testing her. She raised her hands to her head as they each tried to give her a command of some sort. She buckled from the chair to her knees.

  “That’s enough. You don’t want to drive her insane.” James pulled Izzy back up and handed her off to Markus.

  ‘You’re mine now, Hunter.’ His voice entered her head, and she cringed away from him. ‘Now be a good girl and follow me back to your cage.’ She had no choice at this moment. The vampires still seemed to whisper in her head as they walked out of the ballroom.

  Joey and Ayden found themselves standing outside the mansion that night. The moon shone over the property that lay quiet except for a few vampires entering at the door now and then. Some had humans attached, some didn’t. Joey frowned as he cocked his head to the side.

  “What is it?” Ayden whispered, not daring to take his eyes away from the doors.

  “I hear the whispers of humans, all of them begging for someone to take them away. They’re in pain, and they’re scared.”

  Ayden nodded. “The humans that are there for the trade.”

  “There’s too many in there for this simply to be an event location. I’m willing to bet this is one of their hubs.” Joey shook his head. “I can’t stay here much longer. The voices are projecting too…” He froze. “Izzy,” he whispered.

  Ayden looked at him. “What about her?”

  “Her mind is screaming. It’s overwhelmed. That shouldn’t be possible.” Joey swallowed. “Oh God, she’s so scared now. Her mind… no, they shouldn’t be able to do that to her.”

  “Joey, what’s happened?”

  Joey looked at Ayden. “They took out her natural shield, the ones humans use to fight against vampire powers, and they took out her unnatural ones. They’re both destroyed.”

  Ayden put a hand to his heart as he felt it break. They were too late. Izzy was now a victim of James, and it would only get worse from there.

  “Go back to the Society, convince them to raid this place,” Ayden begged. “Izzy… she’s strong, but James and Markus are ruthless.”

  “All I can do is hope that they’ll listen.” Joey nodded and started back to the road. Ayden took one last look at the mansion before following the other Hunter. He had to go help Lucius now and hope that the Hunters wouldn’t abandon their own.

 

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