Our security crew is still here, guarding the property. They’ve been cleaning up. I told them to gather every single piece of the carousel horses and, wearing thick gloves so there was no chance of getting a splinter, put them in bags and bring them to the workroom. I will ensure all pieces are accounted for down to the smallest sliver. When I am certain, I’ll feed and then you will.”
She touched the tip of her tongue to her lips, looking a little apprehensive, but she didn’t protest. “Reach out to her again, Tariq. Let her know we’re both with her.”
“She knows, beloved.” He was as gentle as possible. “She’s holding herself together by a thread. We can’t snap that thread, nor do we want anyone to be aware we’re communicating with her. They have to think we won’t be on the move until sunset.”
“You reassured her all day,” she protested.
He nodded, gathering her into his arms and brushing his mouth gently over hers as he floated them to the surface and then closed the soil behind him. “We did. Val woke as well to aid me. But she asked for quiet to try to concentrate. She said she was afraid she’d betray the fact that I was with her. She was very close to falling apart so I told her I’d give her that, but would stay connected with her.”
Charlotte bit her lip and nodded her understanding. She didn’t like it, but Tariq knew she understood. It took every ounce of Liv’s courage to keep from wailing and screaming for them to come for her. She could see it in the child’s mind, just as he could. She could also see the small cage she was in as well as the horrifying puppets surrounding it. They were brutes with rotting flesh sloughing off. Jagged, serrated, bloodstained teeth. Fetid breath. No longer human, craving blood and flesh, they were monsters beyond anyone’s imagining, let alone a ten-year-old child’s.
“I need to get to her, Tariq. I need to. I can barely breathe.”
He felt the same way. He was cool and calm, able to push emotion aside, and yet, with Liv taken, his gut was twisted into hard knots and his lungs refused to cooperate. His child. He’d promised her she would be safe and they’d taken her a second time. He had no idea what that would do to her, but he was fairly certain she would be scarred for life, no matter how good they made things for her.
“We’ll get her,” he reassured, letting her see the truth of his statement, his firm conviction, because there could be no other outcome. They had to get their daughter and bring her home safe.
He clothed them as he took her through the house to the front door. “You’ll need to wear special sunglasses at all times, Charlotte. Don’t take them off until sunset.”
“What else?”
“You will follow my instructions to the letter no matter how much you want to go to Liv. If you trust me, Charlotte, and you’ll have to for us to pull this off, then you need to remember, no matter how bad it seems, that I’ll get Liv away from them.”
She looked him straight in the eye. “Absolutely, Tariq. I won’t let you down.”
“It could get bad. Bloody. Your impulse will be to do whatever Fridrick tells you. If things go bad, they’ll hurt her in front of you to make you compliant. You have to trust me then more than ever. Our job is distraction and getting the safeguards down. The others will take out the guards and engage the army. Val will get to Liv. Believe that. Val will get to Liv.”
“Whatever it takes. I can be strong for her.”
He searched her mind and saw only acceptance. She would stand with him. Do whatever it took to bring Liv home, even if it meant seeing her suffer.
“These men that came to aid us are our personal security. You’ll see them around the club when we go there, and they’ll be training here off and on. We need them to protect us during daylight hours. They are aware of what we are. I’ve taken their blood and know each of them and their hearts and souls. They’re good men, Charlotte, and today they risked their lives for us.” He wanted her comfortable with them. They would always need a security force to help in their protection during daylight hours.
She nodded. “What about the two men that helped Emeline?