Vixen (Dark Protectors #11.5) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,36

her back, letting the cool droplets plaster her face and along her body. She couldn’t move her hands or feet. The hum of her vehicle, still running, competed with the rustling wind and strengthening rain.

Good. The stronger the storm, the better.

The drugs from the darts coursed through her body, rendering her limbs useless and her mind fuzzy. Darkness swam in from the edges of her brain, and she fought hard to remain semi-conscious.

Her temples pounded like she’d been punched as her body tried to diffuse the drugs.

Where was Evan? She could only hear the BMW and the rain storm. Finally, she could wriggle her fingers. Then her toes. Preparing for the pain, she blinked open her eyes.

Even though the day was cloudy, the light pierced right to her brain in sharp agony. She moaned and rolled to her side, gagging several times but keeping the coffee down. How long had she lain there? Slowly, painfully, she pushed to sit, accidentally knocking her head against the passenger side door. “Evan?” she called.

Only the rain and the engine echoed back. She pulled the darts out to drop on the ground.

Heaving, her stomach rolling, she curled her hands over the tire and pulled herself to stand. She staggered around the front of the car, balancing herself by holding on to the hood. She reached the other side and found rainy cement. No Evan.

She shook her head, trying to focus. It took three times for her to be able to open the driver’s door, and she flopped into the seat, twisting the ignition off.

A note was stuck to the steering wheel. Taking a deep breath, she slowly unfolded it, her hands shaking. As she read, she forced bile back down her throat. Tears filled her eyes—either from pain or fear, she wasn’t sure. The note was short and to the point.

The Popovs had Evan, and they’d cut off his head within sixty minutes if she didn’t bring the prototype to them. She looked at the clock.

The note had been left more than an hour ago.

Chapter 14

Evan awoke face down on a dirt floor. He turned his head and coughed out dust before sitting up.

“Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” came a low voice.

Evan shook his head, trying to remember where he was. Back in Afghanistan? He couldn’t concentrate. His stomach lurched, and he rolled to the side, coming up to his knees and then his feet. He swayed but remained standing in a perfectly square metal cell—the box kind that’s moveable. He wiped dirt out of his eyes and focused to see Lance Popov on the other side. “Where’s Tabitha?”

“We took you and not her,” Lance replied.

So he was bait. Good to know. “Why the dirt in this metal cell?” he muttered, his teeth crunching dirt he must’ve inhaled.

Lance sat on a folded chair in what appeared to be a vacant warehouse. “It has molecules of planekite in it, just in case. I didn’t think you were a witch, but it never hurts to be sure.”

“Planekite?” he asked before his brain kicked back in. Crap. He probably should know what that was. Grunting, he pulled out the darts to flick toward the shifter.

Lance rolled his eyes. “I know there are several names for the mineral, but we call it planekite. You know what I’m talking about.” He cocked his head. “Or don’t you? I guess if you’re Fae, you have probably been off world for a long time? Until recently, anyway.”

What the hell did ‘off world’ mean? Evan moved to the bars of the cell. “Right. Off world. So—planekite?” He couldn’t quite manage full sentences yet.

“It’s a mineral that weakens and ultimately kills witches,” Lance said. “Guess you’re not a witch.”

“Guess not.” However, hadn’t somebody said that enhanced humans were related to the witches? Nobody had sounded sure. He was feeling weak and his blood was flowing sluggishly, but he’d also been darted pretty heavily. “What was in those darts?” They’d pierced his skin easily enough.

Lance chuckled, the sound echoing around the empty room. There were two large doors and bays, so this was probably storage for vehicles or maybe boats? “Those darts held enough sedative to take down a cadre of vampires. You should still be out and in lala land. I guess you crazy fairies have some gifts I hadn’t heard about.”

“Guess so.” Hopefully enhanced human males had even more gifts. Evan planted his hands on the bars to test their strength. Solid. Pretty solid. “What’s your play here?”

Lance tugged a knife with a jagged