The passageway widened enough to allow Jacques to resume his true form. He immediately did so, hoping to alleviate Shea’s distress. He also sought a comfortable topic for conversation. “What do you think of Raven?”
“I thought we had to be quiet.” Shea was looking in every direction for bats.
“The bats know we are here, Shea, but there is no need to fear them. I will keep them away from you.” He spoke calmly as if it was an everyday occurrence to control the movements of bats. His fingers curled around the nape of her neck as much in reassurance as to prevent her from fleeing. His thumb caressed her satin skin, found her pounding pulse, and stroked gently, soothingly.
“Raven seems very nice, even if she’s married to another wild man like you.” She probably has lousy taste, just like me. She tacked the thought on deliberately.
“What does that mean?” He tried to sound indignant, to keep her talking, to help her sustain her sense of humor. Jacques appreciated her courage and her unfailing determination to keep up her end, no matter how difficult it was on her.
“It means she can’t have much sense. That man is dangerous, Jacques, even if he is your brother. And the healer is positively scary.”
“Did you think so?”
“Didn’t you? He smiled and talked so gently and calmly, but did you ever look into his eyes? It’s evident he feels no emotion whatsoever.”
“He is one of the ancient ones. Gregori is the most feared of all Carpathians.”
“Why is that?” Because Gregori was far too powerful, his voice alone able to make strong men, Carpathian males, do his bidding?
“He is the most knowledgeable in all the ancient and modern arts. He is the most lethal and the most relentless. He is the hunter of all vampires.”
“And he’s ancient enough and solitary enough to turn at any moment, right? Makes me feel really secure. And you forced me to drink his blood. That is going to take a long time to forgive.” She stumbled, not realizing how tired she was.
A scream echoed up through the very soil, through the earth’s crust. More felt than actually heard, it struck terror, a frozen, helpless grasp on nerve endings. The sound vibrated through their bodies, through their minds, and passed back into the earth itself. The rocks picked up the scream and echoed it back and forth.
Jacques went very still, only his icy black eyes moving restlessly. Shea clutched at him, horrified. That sound was of a creature in terrible need, in tremendous pain and suffering. Without conscious thought she sought outside herself, feeling for the source, trying to fix on the location.
“The betrayer,” Jacques said in a venomous voice, a low sound of hatred and promised retaliation. “He has another victim in his hands.”
“How? You are all so powerful, how can he trap any of your kind?” Shea tugged at his arm to bring his attention back to her. He seemed a stranger in that moment, a predator every bit as lethal as the wolf, as the vampire.
Jacques blinked rapidly, searched his mind for the answer. He had been trapped by a betrayer, hadn’t he? How that had happened was locked somewhere in his damaged mind. Until he could find and repair the fragments, all of his kind were in danger.
Shea rubbed her hand down his arm. “This is not your fault. You didn’t cause this to happen, Jacques.”
“Did you recognize the voice?” His tone was completely devoid of expression.
“It sounded like an animal to me.”
“It was Byron.”
Shea felt as if he had knocked the breath from her body. “You can’t be certain.”
“It was Byron.” He said it with absolute conviction. “He came to me to ask for friendship, and I refused him. Now the betrayer will turn him over to the human assassins.”
“Why doesn’t the vampire keep him for himself?” She was struggling to understand, her mind already formulating plans. She could not leave Byron or anyone else in the hands of butchers, murderers. She had lost a brother she never knew to these madmen. She had nearly lost Jacques. “If he hates all of you enough to want you tortured and killed, why doesn’t he just do it himself?”