apprehensive and tried to get to their feet, but failed, due to the shackles on their ankles.
“Your names,” Tariq bit out. He was very aware of the position of the sun. He had to time everything just right.
The blond spoke first. “Ryan Jenkins.”
The dark-haired man went next. “Andrew Wilson.”
“Tell me why I should keep you alive.” Tariq laid it on the line. He would kill them if there was the slightest hint that they had come to spy or harm his family in any way. “Make it fast—I have a child to rescue.”
“You can’t get into that warehouse without Fridrick bringing down the safeguards. It’s a trap. They’re expecting you to follow. They’ve got a hidden army there,” Ryan said hastily. “You can’t just walk in and get her.”
Tariq was very aware of that fact. He simply shrugged. “So far I’m just getting impatient. Why were you working with Vadim?”
“Fridrick approached us. We had done some psychic testing at the Morrison Center here in the city. He told us he had a job for us using our particular skills,” Ryan answered for both of them. “He took us to Vadim. The man was too smooth and I didn’t like the whole setup, especially when he started messing with our minds. I have a kind of shield that stops most attacks, but he got through and he forced us to drink blood. Not his. Another man’s blood, a prisoner’s. Then he put something in us. Something that works on us day and night to do his bidding.”
Tariq kept his face blank. More splinters. Vadim had no idea that he was diminishing his power by inserting the pieces of himself into others.
“He’s recruited at least fifteen psychics, all male. Two work in your club. He said you couldn’t detect them because they have Carpathian blood covering whatever it is he put into us. There was no way to go against him, not even when he let those monsters he created hurt that child.” There was genuine disgust and repugnance in his voice. “It made me sick to stand there and watch that shit, knowing if I made one move to stop them, those monsters would kill me and I wouldn’t have a chance to save her.”
Andrew took over. “While Vadim sleeps, we can try to fight him, but he’s too powerful when he’s awake. That thing inside of us won’t let up. It’s hard to fight the compulsions.”
Tariq nodded. “You knew they were after Emeline.”
Both men nodded. “We made up our minds that when they struck here, we’d fight them and maybe have a chance to prevent them from taking the women. They wanted us to bring four back to them.”
Four. Emeline. Charlotte. Genevieve. And that had to mean Amelia. She was only fourteen, but Vadim and his army of vampires wouldn’t care about her age. They would have taken her as well.
“If we couldn’t get the women, we were to take any of the children. Fridrick said they would bargain for the women, that he knew once they had the kids the women would do anything to get them back,” Ryan continued. “You can’t let them trade themselves for that child. They’re going to kill her anyway. There’s no saving her.” There was genuine regret in his voice.
Andrew shook his head. “Those things, that giant of a man Vadim created—they’re so strong you can’t fight them. Killing them is next to impossible. He gave them his blood and the Carpathian prisoner’s blood. Vadim likes to experiment, and these hybrids, as he refers to them, are killing machines. They don’t seem to have any feelings at all for caring. They’re especially cruel. Vadim’s got at least six or seven of them guarding that warehouse along with I don’t know how many of those monsters. He feeds them women. Slaves he buys off the cartels or prostitutes they pick up in the streets. He promises them he’ll give them immortality. That’s why most of the other psychics haven’t fought him. They want his power.”
“They’ll never get it,” Tariq said. “They won’t live long. Puppets die fast, but while they’re alive, they wreak havoc everywhere they go.”
“Can you get whatever he put in us out?” Ryan asked. He shook his head. “I just went for a job interview and ended up their prisoner. You have no idea the things they’ve done. The experiments. The women they’ve hurt and killed.” He lifted his shackled hands to his eyes and pressed his fingertips to his temples.