Page 54 of Love Lives
I slapped his hand away. "I'm here." Even if I was feeling a little bit woozy. Puck had said to expect that. Also that I might fall asleep. I didn't feel sleepy, but reality did seem to lose its focus a little bit. Almost as if I were already dreaming.
"It's not working?" Elle asked.
"I don't know. It's..." I trailed off as a hazy darkness began to creep in along the edges of my vision.
"Focus on what you want to see," Puck said.
What did I want to see? Vlad. I focused my thoughts on him.Show me where he is,I thought.What he's doing right now.I stressed that last part to myself, because another vision of the future wasn't going to do me any good.
I felt myself fall forward, until I rested with my arms on top of the kitchen island, my forehead on the back of my hands. I didn't even try sitting up straight again, because the scenery I saw before my eyes was changing now. The mushrooms were working.
I found myself inside of a dark room, lit only by a few candles placed on various surfaces. In the flickering light, I saw... were those paddles on the walls? And whips? What was this? A BDSM-Dungeon? Judging by the smell of leather and the St. Andrews Cross in the corner, it might very well be.
I took in a sharp breath, glad that nobody could hear me.
Someone was hanging from the cross. My sister's boyfriend. He was naked, his skin torn open in various places. Some of the wounds looked like they'd been caused by knives, others made me think of the whips on the walls.
Vlad stood not far from him, though he did not have a weapon in his hand. "I don't mean you any harm," he said.
Caspar spit on the ground before him. Yeah, I sympathized. I wouldn't have believed his words either. Not in that state.
"I don't get off on needless torture," Vlad said. "But the survival of my race depends on you telling us what you know. "
"Your race doesn't deserve to survive."
Vlad turned away from Caspar with a regretful expression. "I'd hoped you would see reason."
"You're an idiot if you think I'm going to let you kill my friends." Caspar spit again.
Vlad walked away from him. My vision followed him. There were more vampires in the room. Two men and one women. They kneeled as Vlad approached.
"My lord," they all said in unison.
Vlad shook his head and gestured for them to rise. "None of that." He turned to the female vampire. "I hear you're skilled in memory extraction."
She gave a curt nod, then glared at Caspar. "Witches have defenses."
"Look at him," Vlad responded. "Do you truly believe he has any defenses now?"
My vision cut off on that. All I could see now were the backs of my hands. Slowly, I lifted my head, trying to shake off that mental fog that still clung to me.
I should have asked Puck if the flowers had any side-effects and how long they would last. Too late for that now.
Besides, I had more important issues to focus on. An image of Caspar rose on my mind, hanging from that cross. I shuddered.
Aldrich was beside me, one hand on my shoulder. "You back with us?"
"Yeah, I... they have Caspar."
"Where are they?" Elle demanded.
"No!" I whirled around to her so quickly it nearly made my head spin. "You can't go there. It's like... it's... There were BDSM toys." God, that sounded stupid. "Whips and stuff."
"The base on the south-side," Silas said. I hadn't even realized that he was in the room, but all eyes were on him now. "It's in the basement of a BDSM club," he explained. "I guess Vlad's running his operations from there."
"We gotta get Caspar back," Elle reminded us all. "Before they kill him!"
"They're searching his memories now. They want to know where we are." I paused, letting those words sink in. "I think they're going to find out."
