“Where the hell else would I go?”
“It’s not that easy,” I replied.
“Of course it is. You let me go and I come back. End of story.”
“When?” I asked.
“When I’m good and goddamn ready.”
“I don’t think so.” I put up a hand to quiet his protests. “And before you go off on another tangent, consider what we just talked about. You’re too unpredictable. We need one more day to see how things settle, see how this is going to work.”
He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “If you don’t let me go now, you will regret it. I can feel the bond between us, and it’s not like it was with her”—he nodded toward Naomi—“but I want to be free. I’m not going to compromise. You can’t keep me locked up here like an animal.” He strained against his chains, some of the links bending. “You want me to follow your program, but you’re not willing to give me a chance to prove I can. Looks like the shoe’s on the other foot and you’re the one who needs to trust me. It’s either that or we keep fighting.” His fangs snapped down and he hissed. “And I get out of here on my own and don’t come back.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Gods, Ray, why do you have to be so damn bullheaded? This would’ve been so much easier if Nelson were here instead,” I complained. Chris Nelson had been Ray’s partner when I’d been on the force. He was a mild-mannered cop who’d transferred willingly to traffic violations after two years with Ray.
“Nelson was a putz. He had no gumption,” Ray retorted. “Consider yourself lucky I’m strong and capable and not going to be some ninny vampire.”
“Why can’t you be like all the other fledglings?” I said. “I want a puppy, not a hound from hell. Is there any part of you that feels the need to obey me?” I pushed power into the last words and I watched Ray react as the echo of my voice bounced around the cave.
He’d tried to cover it, but he hadn’t been fast enough.
“Raymond Hart, if I let you go, will you come back here in a few hours?” I shoved as much emotion as I could into the words.
His eyes went full black. “I already told you I would. What else do you want?” He gritted his teeth as he fought against my question, his features shifting slowly, but I knew he was answering truthfully.
“If I let you go, you can’t go near humans.” I continued the onslaught of power, until he was cringing back into the cave wall. “You can’t get into any trouble and you can’t feed from anyone.”
“I’m not f**king hungry. I just ate,” he snarled.
This was working, but I needed him cooperative in the end, not hostile.
I glanced at Naomi and she shrugged. “I’m obviously getting through to him, but he’s still as pigheaded as ever,” I said. “I don’t think the Master shtick is going to work. If I continue to use it, we’ll be at each other’s throats when this is all over. Literally. We’re going to have to think of something else.”
“Oui,” she replied. “It is quite shocking.”
In the meantime, Rourke had leaned over and hauled Ray up by his dirty shirt. The chains cinched tightly around Ray’s middle, causing him to gasp. I guess that counted as something else. He brought Ray close to his face and snarled, “If we let you go, you return in two hours. Don’t go anywhere near humans. If you’re not back on time, we hunt you down and kill you. Understand, vamp?” He shook him hard. “And I will make it personal. You will hurt like you’ve never experienced, and I will start by removing your feet at the ankles and move my way up.” Rourke’s power pinged around the cave. Ray felt it too. But this may work, because it was pure strength and not a Master’s order. “This is your test. The only one you will get. You pass it and you’re free. You don’t, you die. This is it, so don’t f**k it up.”
“Fine,” Ray bit out. “I’ll be back in two hours.”
With his other hand, Rourke pulled the chains from the wall in one tug, demonstrating in a single instance what he could do that Ray could not.
The chains dropped to the cave floor, unraveling at once, and Ray shot out of the tunnel before I could take my next breath. He disappeared into the night without looking back, no doubt testing to see if we would go after him.
Naomi made a move to follow.
“No.” I held her arm. “He goes alone. Rourke’s right. This is his test. If he’s not back in a few hours, we’ll decide what to do then. I can’t be in a constant head battle with him. I’ll kill him myself before that happens. Let’s go back to the cabin and figure out the plans. We leave for New Orleans at dawn. You and Ray can meet up with us after nightfall tomorrow.”
Naomi cleared her throat. “It will not be necessary for us to wait. We will accompany you when you leave.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t you have to sleep during the day?”
“Not anymore,” she replied.
Everyone was gathered in the cabin except for Ray. “Run that last part by me again,” I said to Naomi. My h*ps were pressed against what was left of the counter, my arms folded. “I don’t quite understand what you’re telling me.”
“As vampires age, our abilities strengthen, like most supernaturals. One of those abilities is our tolerance of sunlight. We mainly feed on human blood, which is weak, but as our own body ages, we eventually strengthen ourselves: bones, skin, everything.”
“But sunlight is your ‘vice,’ right?”