Dani turned her head slowly to the building they were parked beside, her gaze sliding over an old Victorian house with a wide, white front porch. She then swiveled to peer at the outbuildings and fields of corn and felt her heart sink. She was sure this was not his house. She was also sure their "hosts" weren't willing ones, and she feared this was all going to get much worse before it got better.
Chapter Thirteen
"Come, I have a couple of surprises for you, and I know we're going to enjoy them mightily." Leonius took Dani's arm and half dragged her up the steps to the porch of the old farmhouse when she didn't move quickly enough for his liking. She winced at his bruising hold, but otherwise didn't react. She had no intention of saying or doing anything that might add to his enjoyment of this nightmare.
"Here we are." Leo leaned past her to push the front door open and then forced her inside.
Dani closed her eyes briefly as the bright, overhead light sent shafts of pain through her head. The smell of cinnamon and apples teased her nose and brought her eyes slowly open. They stood in an old country kitchen with white cupboards and a wide-planked, hardwood floor that was undoubtedly as old as the house itself. Her gaze slid over a rooster-shaped teapot on the table, cow figurine salt and pepper shakers, and finally to the source of the sweet smell; a pie, not long from the oven. It sat on a cooling rack on the far end of the old, long, butcher-block table before her.
"I was watching from the woods in front of the house when you and Decker went into the barn," Leo said beside her. "When you stayed there so long, I approached under cover of the rain. Once I saw what the two of you were up to, I knew I'd have time to search for a place close by, somewhere near enough to keep an eye out, and to bring you to after I captured you." He paused to explain, "I didn't expect you to go shopping or even to really leave the grounds. I expected I'd have to steal you from the house while the others were sleeping.
"Anyway," Leo continued, urging her to the opposite end of the table. "I was very pleased when I found this place. It's nice and cozy, with only the mister and missus to worry about... I was a little worried about it being right next door, but-" He brought them both to a halt in front of the pie and ran one finger lightly over the crust. As light as his touch appeared to be, some of the crust flaked away. It made him smile, and he continued, "When I came in the old woman was just taking the pie out of the oven. I decided to take that as a good omen and risk it."
Dani frowned at the mention of an old woman, wondering what had become of her, but then his words sank in and she realized how close they must be to the enforcer house. Right next door. If she could just get away-
"Your heart rate has picked up," Leo commented with amusement, and when she cast a startled glance his way, he explained, "I have very good hearing. We all do. And your heart is racing. What could you be thinking, I wonder?" He leaned close and whispered by her ear, "Could you be thinking of escaping? Running away to your Decker?"
He burst out laughing at the thought, then shook his head and said, "So amusing" as he turned and led her to an archway leading to the next room.
It was a living room. With no lights on it was dark enough that she had trouble making out much. Leo didn't seem to have the same problem, and she was reminded that Decker had said the nanos improved their night vision when he asked with distaste, "Very colonial, don't you think?"
She glanced to his face and thought he was wrinkling his nose, and then he confided, "I despised the colonials. A bunch of jumpy redneck idiots with guns who shot first and asked questions after. It was hard for a self-respecting no-fanger like me to get a meal without getting a chest full of buckshot in the process."
Yay, colonials, Dani thought grimly, although she hadn't a clue what a no-fanger was.
Leo was apparently reading her mind again because he turned on her and said, "Oh, see, now that's the kind of thing that's going to make me have to punish you again. If you don't learn a little self-control, this could be even more painful than I planned."
Dani remained silent. There was nothing else she could do.
Nodding with apparent satisfaction, Leo led her through the dark room to a door. He opened it, flipped a switch to turn on the lights, and then urged her down into a laundry room in the basement.
Dani glanced around at the concrete floor, cheerful pale yellow walls, and then to the washer and dryer against the wall as he led her the few steps to and through an archway into a much larger room. It was obviously the husband's workshop. The wall opposite them was covered with pegboard. Tools of every description hung from hooks slotted into its holes. The wall on the left was taken up with a long workbench. The wall on the right had shelves holding sanders and paint cans lined up on either side of a wide archway into what appeared to be a small, dark room taken up by a large boiler and the other workings of the house. But Dani barely gave all of this a glance. Her attention was on the three chairs set in the center of the room and the elderly couple, each one bound and gagged and tied to an end chair, leaving the one in the center empty.
"Come. Let me introduce you to our hosts."
Dani stumbled forward when he tugged her arm, her gaze shifting between the couple. They were older, perhaps in their late fifties to early sixties. The husband had skin darkened and leathery from years in the sun, and a grimly determined expression that refused to show fear. The wife had wide eyes full of tears, fear, and pleading as she gazed at Dani from above her gag.
"This is Mr. Dani's-Dinner and Mrs. Dani's-Midnight-Snack," Leo announced, bringing her startled glance to him as he explained, "They're my surprises. They're going to help you through the turn, my dear."
"Turn?" she asked sharply. "I thought you were going to trade me for your sons?"
"I am," he assured her in a soothing voice, and then grinned. "Actually my original plan was to kill you to punish Decker for staking my sons, but then I realized he was only following Lucian's orders and a lesser punishment would do... for him," he added darkly. "Lucian is another matter entirely. He's lorded it over the rest of the immortals for far too long. It's time he-" Leonius stopped suddenly, his anger falling away. Shrugging, he said, "But I digress. We were talking about you. Come sit."
He urged her toward the center chair, taking control of her and making her sit between the older couple when she resisted.
Dani sank onto the seat and turned to look first at the husband and then at the wife. The husband peered at her pityingly, the wife with despair. She turned back to Leonius and said the first thing that popped into her head, "But I don't want to be a vampire."
"I know," he murmured, smiling down at her in a way that suggested that didn't bother him at all. "So sad really. Don't you realize there are women all over the world who would pay good money to be one?"
"Well go turn them then," she said at once.
Leo burst out laughing. "You are so adorable. No. I fear it's you or no one."
"Why?" Dani asked with frustration.
"Because Decker has to be punished," he explained patiently.
That logic just bewildered her. "But I'm his life mate. He'd probably turn me himself if given the chance. He'll hardly think it a punishment for you to turn me."