Heart in her throat, Dani watched as Lucian unlocked the door and swung it open, and then Decker pushed past him to charge into the room with the other three men following. She heard a woman's screaming first. It was followed by several muffled popping sounds that she thought must be gunshots filtered through the silencer, and couldn't stop herself from rushing up the hall.
"This one's alive," Mortimer said, and Decker glanced up from the older woman he'd been checking.
"So is this one," he admitted, and then straightened to frown at the couple on the bed; an older woman with salt and pepper hair, and a younger man with dark hair. The woman was probably the one taken from the airport garage, but Decker had no idea who the man was. Both of them were pale, unconscious, and had been cut several times.
His gaze slid to the blond Leonius's son had been feeding on when they'd entered, the woman he'd brought up in the elevator that morning. She'd been shrieking hysterically as they entered and struggling to escape the man sucking at the wound on her arm, but she was quiet and blank-faced now as Justin wrapped her cut to try to stop the bleeding.
"Neither of the women is Dani's sister," Lucian growled.
Decker didn't need his comment to realize that. A quick glance at everyone in the room as he'd entered had been enough for him to know the girl wasn't there.
"What do you think he did with her?" Justin asked.
Decker shook his head even as Lucian did and then glanced to the younger immortal to see he'd finished bandaging the blond, and was now scooping her up to carry her over and set her on the bed with the other two mortals.
"Dani's not going to take the news well," Justin said unhappily.
"No," Decker agreed quietly, and didn't know how he was going tell her. Rubbing the back of his neck wearily, he turned to take the few steps to the door out into the hall, thinking the sooner he got it over with the better. She was probably driving herself crazy with worry out there. He was rather amazed that she wasn't already banging on the door to be let in, and could only think she was afraid of what she might find.
As it happened, she had a right to be afraid, Decker thought grimly as he pulled the door open. His gaze slid to where he'd left her, and Decker paused with one foot still inside the room, surprise widening his eyes when he saw she was no longer there.
"What is it?" Justin asked, moving up behind him.
"She's gone," he said with disbelief and then started up the hall, eating up the distance with long, quick strides.
"This is weird, Decker," Justin said, hurrying along beside him. "Dani wouldn't leave."
"I know."
"She was too worried about her sister."
"I know," he repeated grimly.
"Someone must have taken her," Justin added, speaking Decker's fears aloud. "Do you think it's Leonius? He could have been following us again."
He didn't comment, but quickened his stride, trying to think how much time had passed since he'd left Dani in the hall, and how far she could have been taken. They turned the corner, and both came to an abrupt halt as they saw the bank of elevators ahead and that there was no one in front of them. Decker cursed and turned back.
"What are we going to do?" Justin asked quietly.
Decker thought and then said, "The men should be here by now. They're probably stationed at the exits. We'll have to start searching the hotel."
"I'll tell Mortimer to start calling the men and put them on the alert," Justin said.
When he nodded, the younger enforcer burst into a run and raced back up the hall to 1413. Decker continued at a quick clip, but didn't try to keep up. He was trying to coordinate things in his head, trying to think of every possibility and ensure they didn't miss something. Justin disappeared into the room where the other men waited just as Decker was passing the door to the room next to 1413. Moving fast, Decker almost missed the sound of something hitting the floor that was almost completely muffled by the carpet and door. But he did hear it, and instinctively stopped and moved closer to listen.
Dani couldn't move. Leonius held her completely immobile with one hand covering her mouth, the other at her throat, almost choking her, and his body pinning hers to the wall. He'd been holding her there like that ever since he'd reached out into the hall and yanked her into the room as she'd run past.
She had no idea why he wasn't just controlling her with his mind as she knew he could, but supposed it was because he took such great pleasure in the physical act of terrorizing her. However, she was grateful he wasn't, as she shifted her eyes sideways to try to see into the room.
Leonius looked in that direction too, she noticed, his mouth turning down with displeasure. He then dragged her away from the wall and forced her the few steps out of the hall and into the open bedroom area.
Dani spotted Stephanie at once. The pretty young girl was seated half bent over on the edge of the bed, swaying and trying to get to her feet, but she appeared too weak to manage it. What looked to have been a full glass of water now lay on the floor, and a clear liquid was soaking into the carpet in a wide puddle. Dani supposed its hitting the floor had been the thud she'd heard.
She looked over Stephanie quickly, relieved to see that there didn't appear to be any cuts or bruises on her, at least not on the parts she could see. Dani had feared that when they found her, Stephanie would be covered with them as the bodies in the ravine had been, but she was remarkably free of such injuries, her skin pale and perfect. However, Dani couldn't see her wrists or the insides of her arms the way she was clutching herself, and Stephanie definitely wasn't all right, Dani realized when Stephanie raised a sweating, too pale face to peer blearily at her.
"Dan-?" The name was cut off at once, and Dani knew Leonius had slipped into the girl's head to take control of her and shut her up. In the shape she was in, it apparently wasn't a pleasant experience for him, because his face contorted with pain. She didn't know what he did, but after a moment, Stephanie's head drooped and his expression began to ease. Sighing with what sounded like relief, he glanced to Dani.
"I had just given her my blood and was about to tie her down when I heard the shots from next door," he said in a hushed voice, and then commented, "Those silencers don't work nearly as well in reality as they appear to on television, do they?"