myself anyway. Could be rather exciting. A veritable family affair.”
He turned his attention back to Corey and leaned in close. “We’re going to find out if you carry the gene, as well. We’ve preyed on your delicious family for generations, but then…you probably figured that out.”
“What the—” Corey choked, struggled against the bindings when he saw the fangs.
Mackenzie groaned and lunged again, but Alfonso’s hands were twin vises on her arms.
With thick, drug-dealer-length nails, Pavlos stroked two fingers over the inside of Corey’s wrist, tapping the skin lightly to locate the vein. “Your sister has been keeping a little secret from you. Actually, it’s not quite a little secret. I’d consider it to be a big one. But I intend to inform you of the truth. All of it. At the moment, however, I’m a little thirsty. Talking does that to me.” He brought Corey’s hand up to his mouth and plunged his fangs into his wrist.
MACKENZIE WAS IN the same room as him. A coldness settled into Dom’s bones and gripped his heart just like it had when he’d discovered his parents. The thought of Pavlos even breathing the same air as her made him want to kill something. And here he was, so goddamn helpless, not knowing if he was getting closer or farther away from her.
He grabbed his phone and called the field office. “Cordell, run a search for abandoned buildings—it’d be a large facility—northeast of Seattle. An hour and fifteen minutes away during rush hour…narrow your search to a ten- to twenty-five-mile radius and see what you come up with. I’m on Highway 2, just past Monroe and I’m feeling Mackenzie’s presence a little stronger around here.”
His phone beeped. Call waiting.
“I gotta take this. Call me the moment you have something.” He pressed the touch screen. “Lily, anything?”
“No, haven’t heard anything else from my contact. But that last text was pretty garbled, he must have been typing quickly. Dom, it’s getting early. I’m in Kirkland right now, but I don’t think I can make it up to where you are before daybreak. I’m going to have to find a safe house for the day. Know of any decent ones nearby?”
One who wouldn’t mind housing a smart-ass vampire who talks like a truck driver? “Yeah, I know of a few.”
“Sorry, I can’t get there to help. At the end of the day, I’ll head back out. And, Dom, if you find the place before I get there, be careful. And remember, I’ve…ah…got a guy on the inside and—”
“Yeah, you told me that already.”
“Well, he means a lot to—”
The phone beeped again. Cordell.
“Gotta go, Lil.” And he clicked over to the other call.
“Dom, there’s an old prison,” Cordell said. “It was abandoned years ago after a severe flood washed out the road, damaging most of the lower levels. A newer, more modern facility was built in nearby Monroe. That might be the place you’re looking for.”
“Give me the coordinates and I’ll check it out.”
As he waited for the information to transfer to his navigation system, he slipped into a Daysuit. Made from UV-resistant material, it was designed to offer emergency protection from the sun, though the effects were so transient the suits couldn’t be relied on for everyday use. When the location came through, he did a double-take. He’d been down that road several times already. He remembered seeing a stand of cottonwoods near the road with a large sprawling pasture and forest behind it. Was that where the old prison was? Somewhere within the forest, cloaked by the Darkbloods?
Dom took the next exit and headed back to Trilby Road. Cordell had found a sketchy layout of the prison and a few photos online, all of which he forwarded to Dom’s phone.
Ten minutes later, Dom swerved onto an overgrown, no longer maintained road. When he passed a bullet-ridden sign announcing the correctional facility was a quarter mile ahead, he parked the SUV in the bushes and jumped out. The smell of sweetbloods was thick in the air. He muttered a silent prayer of thanks and stretched out his thoughts to Mackenzie. A faint heartbeat thrummed behind his eardrums.
Kenz, can you hear me? I’m here, baby. I’m coming to get you out.
Dom? It was just a whisper, but it was all the confirmation he needed.
With single-minded focus, he strapped on his weapons, grabbed a duffel bag full of other goodies, and when he sprinted down the road, he clicked the headset.