Page 92 of Love Lives
If we could get our hands on it...
A feeling of relief washed over me, mingling with the panic still flooding my guts. It was too early to be relieved yet.
"Vlad will know if we die," Aldrich said, though I got the feeling he only talked to distract the Keepers.
I closed my eyes, focused on the handcuffs on my little brother's wrists, willing them to spring open with my mind. There was more resistance there than I was used to. This wasn't a regular lock, it wasn't like the doors I'd experimented on, not even a little bit.
Keep trying,a voice inside my head said.
Because really, what else could I do?
Brows furrowing, I concentrated harder, focusing all my magic on one spot. Thanks to Puck, at least now I knew what my magic felt like. I could manipulate it, guide it. To that spot on Luke's wrists.
Something snapped.
My eyes flew open. No one else seemed to have heard the sound, though. No one had noticed that I'd been doing anything at all.
No one except for Luke. The cuffs slid off his hands. Slowly, he moved toward me, then behind me, acting as if his hands were still bound. Briefly, he rested his head on my shoulder to make it look as if he were coming to me for comfort, but the moment the Keepers looked away, he reached for the phone.
I held my breath, watching him, but he got it.
He had Vlad's number saved too.
He half-hid the phone between the two of us as he navigated it with one hand, thumbing out a message to the ancient vampire we'd been battling.
We're at the old house.
That was all he wrote. I hoped that it was going to be enough, and I hoped to hell I hadn't just doomed us all.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Aldrich watchedas Luke's cuffs came off. He'd known Remy could do it. Now Remy only had to do it for the rest of them. As soon as Vlad drew near and the commotion started. Best case scenario, the Keepers and the old vampire would kill each other, solving all their problems for them.
In reality, it probably wasn't going to work out that way, because things never went that smoothly, but a vampire could hope.
He also had to make other plans, though, in case that didn't happen. Silently, he pondered which of the Keepers would be easiest to take out. The man with the feathers was obviously a swannie. One of those freaks who could shift into a black swan. There weren't a ton of them in the city, so Aldrich didn't know too much about them. Better not to touch that one. The other dude was a dragon, though, which was even worse.
The woman... maybe he could take her. She was a fox, and obviously a thief. She'd play dirty, but Aldrich was fine with that. He would too.
Time ticked by slowly. A minute, then another. The Keepers were studying the crystals that had absorbed Elena's powers. Aldrich wondered how much of a charge even remained in them, after all of Remy's futile attempts at summoning his long-dead ancestor.
Next to him, Talon's cuffs unlocked, and then Crimson's.
Aldrich nudged Remy again, whose own hands were already free too. He was starting to look a little exhausted.
"I'm getting to you," Remy said.
But the woman approached them now, with the crystals in her hands. "What are these? Did you use them for killing?"
Everyone kept their hands in their laps, pretending as if the cuffs hadn't been unlocked, hoping she wouldn't look too closely. Remy was so tense he was barely even breathing.
"They're not killing devices," Aldrich said to draw all attention on himself. "But if you made earrings out of them, I'm sure they would look pretty on you."
"Oh? Do you think flattery is going to stop me from killing you?"
Aldrich shrugged. "I'm only saying what I'm thinking." She wouldn't be the first kitsune he'd gotten into bed. They weren't usually his first choice of partner, though. They liked to claw at things a little too much.
The lights flashed. Once, then again.
