And he needed to be tied up in order to keep Shayna safe.
A few years back, in anticipation of his world going from bad to totally wrecked, he’d searched for the best hiding places he could find. Though he’d used other Ancestrals to create the layered shields, for this one, his most secure location, he’d had Gabriel create the heavy layer of disguise around the entire system.
No one could find him here, not even Daniel.
For the moment, they were safe.
He worked to get his boots and socks off. For what he had to go through, his wrists and ankles would have to be bound. If he thrashed and the boots connected with Shayna, he could kill her.
The process of blood-starvation recovery was never simple and was similar to an addict’s withdrawal process except in reverse. Instead of the body reacting to the absence of drugs, a vampire had a difficult time adding blood back into his diet once deprived.
His system was now in the process of beginning the second violent episode that would include sweating, shaking, and dementia. He probably wouldn’t even be aware of most of what he would go through.
But Shayna would.
When he’d escaped from Daniel just a few days ago, he’d gone through his first round, then Rumy had sent him to bring Shayna into their world. He had hoped by now to be back in one of Rumy’s apartments where several of his staff could tend to Marius, strap him down, and even donate blood during the process.
He had one option and contacted Rumy telepathically. Hey, Rumy. Your security team did a great job as usual.
They did. I’ve been listening to their reports. Seems a couple of them saw Shayna disappear right in front of Daniel. What’s up with that?
He paced the bedroom, an arm pressed against his stomach. She’s got so much latent ability, I’m constantly astonished. Daniel would have killed her if he could have caught her.
Instead, you stuck him.
At that, Marius smiled. Yeah, I did. But listen, I’ve got a problem.
I can hear it in your voice; you’re close to a second round, aren’t you?
Yes, and I’d really hoped I’d be back at The Erotic Passage.
You know we would have taken care of you.
I know. Except for his brothers and Gabriel, he had no better friend than Rumy.
So where are you?
I’m holed up in the one place no one knows about. He stopped to stare down at Shayna. I’m going to need help, but I’m reluctant to bring anyone here. This has been my primary hiding place all these years.
Rumy was silent for a moment, then said, You want me ready as backup in case Shayna can’t or won’t donate?
Yes. Even to his own ears he sounded relieved. He didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the secrecy of his home, so his current plan involved Shayna opening a vein. But if she wasn’t up for that, yeah, he needed an option.
I’ll have someone on call in case things don’t work out over there, okay?
Thanks. He was grateful to be understood so quickly.
Just give me a shout if you need me.
Will do.
He cut the communication and moved to sit down on the side of the bed as he’d done before in Chile. He gently pushed her hair away from her face. She’d be in pain for a while and there was nothing he could do about that except to encourage her to keep siphoning more of his power once she woke up. He glanced down at her right hand, clamped in a fist, the chain laced through her fingers. No matter what, she wouldn’t let it go.
Smart. Very smart.
Just as she began to stir on the bed, his stomach cramped. He leaned over, holding his breath, a hand to his forehead. Shit, this was bad.
Shayna moaned. He glanced at her and watched her eyes flutter open. “Where are we? Are we safe?”
When she met his gaze, she stared at him for a long moment. “You stabbed your father.”
“I did, but he still got away.”
“I know. Oh, my head hurts, but there’s something else. Marius, are you in some kind of pain? Because that’s what I’m getting and you’re kind of bent over. Were you wounded in the battle?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s nothing like that. I’ll tell you in a minute. I just want you to be free from your pain. Why don’t you try putting the chains together like you did on the flight from Chile.”
She struggled to sit up, then leaned close and pressed her chain against his. The power surge caused her to moan softly. “Oh, that is just so incredible, the way the healing power flows.”
After a moment she looked around, though keeping the chains touching. “I thought maybe we would have returned to the other cave. But this one … is amazing. My God.”
Marius glanced around as well. He’d been too caught up in both Shayna’s suffering and his own to recall just how much money he’d put into this home. He’d had all the work done in secret, which meant putting the craftsmen through enthrallment each time he brought them in and when he took them home.
He’d spent over five million dollars getting the cave livable and sealed from damp, all the bats relocated to other parts of the system, water rerouted from underground rivers to create the critical indoor plumbing as well as the aesthetic waterfalls in several of the rooms, not to mention dealing with all the solar-electrical issues.
Shayna’s gaze had become fixed on the angled waterfall some thirty feet away, which flowed from a space just beyond the tall ceiling line. This particular feature had lighting at the bottom that caused a glitter effect from the flecks of gold pyrite in the natural gray stone.
He breathed through another cramp.
“Is the fireplace functional like the one in Chile?”
He glanced back at Shayna, whose gaze had settled on the massive arched stone fireplace to the right, set at an angle in the direction of the bed. “It is.”
“Where does the smoke go?”
“It’s vented to the outside through an intricate piping system.”
“You must be a world of engineers.”
“We have many talented people and universities.”
In the space between, a shelf held a three-tiered silver candelabra. The stone was etched behind in an intricate pattern of lines.
“There’s that pattern again.”
“Oh, that’s right. I had the craftsman use that design in the Andes house.” When another cramp took hold of him, he knew he had to start addressing his issue and get things sorted. “So, how are you feeling?”
She pulled her hand away from his neck, disconnecting the chains. “The pain’s all gone.” She even smiled.
“Good. I’m glad to hear it and I’m really sorry you had to go through that again, twice.”
She nodded, frowning this time, her gaze fixed on him. “Wait a minute. You’re in some kind of pain yourself. What’s going on? Marius, this is serious, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is, and it’s getting worse. I might need your help, but if you can’t do it, I’ll contact Rumy. He can bring someone in.” Even his breathing had changed; this was coming on fast.
* * *
“What do you mean, if I can’t do it? What exactly do you need me to do?”
“I’ll need to be bound so I can’t move, or hurt you, and later you’d need to donate.”
She swallowed hard. “As in donating blood?” She touched her throat absently.
“Yes.” He told her about blood-starvation and the resulting madness that comes from the reintroduction of blood into a vampire’s depleted system.
Shayna stared at Marius, her eyes wide. “And this is what’s wrong with you now?”
He nodded. He leaned over and wrapped both arms around his stomach.
Images of a frying pan and a fire came to mind. She’d just left two different kinds of horror, first with the atrocities at the Dark Cave system and then the recent battle. But given how pale Marius had just turned, she was about to enter a third.
“Tell me, Shayna, whether you can do this. Otherwise Rumy will send someone in.?
??
“To feed you?”
He nodded. “And tend to me. Blood-madness recovery isn’t very pretty.”
Shayna grew very still. The oddest sensation went through her, a kind of possessive vibration that made her clamp her hand around Marius’s wrist. And before she’d actually formed the words in her head to analyze their merit, she stated in a voice she barely recognized, “The hell anyone else is feeding you. I’ll do it. You saved my life. My blood is yours.”
He shifted slightly to meet her gaze. “Thank you.” But his jaw looked stiff, and sweat had beaded up on his forehead. Because of the chains, she could feel how quickly his condition had turned for the worse.
He was breathing hard now, trying to hold himself together. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and quickly removed the chain from around her wrist and fingers. She wouldn’t be able to do anything very fast if she wore the chain, but she tucked it into the pocket of her jeans to keep it close. Even with a layer of fabric separating her from the metal links, she still siphoned his power.
“How do I tie you up? What do I use? Where do I do this?”
“We’ll have to do it here. Look under the bed. The chains are secured into the stone floor. Oh, God, Shayna, hurry. I’ll hurt you if I’m not tied down within the next minute.”
“I understand.” Shayna had already seen enough of Marius’s world, and of him, to believe him.
“Shit, this is coming on fast.”
“I know. I can feel it, too.”
She dove beneath the wood frame to see what the chain setup looked like. She found four sets of coils, with leather bands for the wrists and ankles.
Without being told what to do, she rose up, stripped the bedding off the bed except the bottom sheet, then pushed Marius to lie on his back. He’d started to shake all over.
She grabbed the strap and tied up his left wrist, then his left ankle.
“Good. Dammit, hurry, Shayna!”
She flew around the foot of the bed and grabbed the wrist strap from under the bed. She had to work to keep him steady enough to tighten the strap.
By the time she was working on his right ankle, he’d started thrashing and the sounds of the jangling chains scared her more than anything else. As a result, she lost control of his powerful leg twice. Capturing it a third time, she almost had the strap in place when he kicked out and threw her backward several feet.
She plowed into a chair and now she’d have a lovely bruise on her shoulder and back.
She stood up, knowing by his wild movements that she’d be in trouble if she didn’t get the leg secured.
Marius’s back started arching as though he was in terrible pain, his face twisted in agony. He started shouting incomprehensible things at the ceiling. His leg swung from side to side.
He’d kill her if she got too close. For just a handful of seconds he grew quiet, then the whole thing started again.
All she could do was stand back and watch him thrash though she still held the strap in her hand.
He arched and cried out repeatedly as though in great pain. But after a few minutes, she watched then timed those moments when everything slowed down and he looked as though he’d passed out.
She started practicing buckling the strap around the base of the chair leg. She did this over and over until she could do it at lightning speed.
When she felt ready, she siphoned Marius’s power and focused on the leg. The moment his limb settled down, she moved in, wrapped the leather around his ankle, and buckled.
She stood up, lifted both arms, and shouted in triumph because now he really was contained. She would have shouted again, but that’s when the horror really began.
Marius, now unable to move his legs, began straining with all his might against each of the bindings. He screamed and sometimes cried out, “Stop hurting me! Why are you hurting me?”
Shayna started moving backward until she hit the wall near the fireplace. Tears streamed from Marius’s eyes and suddenly she couldn’t take it anymore.
She sank to the floor and wept.
It was all too damn much.
She hadn’t asked for this, to be taken into some freakish world where vampires existed and bad men tried to kill her, where sadists enslaved, raped, tortured, and killed thousands of human females, and where her abductor lay strapped down on his bed shouting and cursing because he had to go through some kind of withdrawal that she didn’t understand.
She hugged her knees to her chest and covered her ears with her hands.
She sobbed. She was frightened and alone and didn’t know what to do.
She stayed like that for a long time, tears flowing down her cheeks, using her shirt to wipe her nose, feeling damn sorry for herself.
After probably a good half hour of meltdown, her tears finally dried up.
She had a strange view from the floor and could only see one arm flail and one leg. She watched his muscles tense up in what must have been painful cramps. He still wore leather pants, which must have been unbearably hot because he was sweating.
Thank God he’d gotten his boots off. They sat askew near a side table next to the bed.
She rose to her feet and saw that he rolled his head back and forth as he moaned. The flushed, deep-red color of his skin alarmed her. Maybe she didn’t understand what he was going through or why this was suddenly her fate, but she already knew that Marius was a good man, who worked hard on behalf of his world.
And right now, he needed her help.
A door on the other side of the bed led her into a bathroom. She had to make do with a large plastic container beneath the sink, something she would have used to soak her feet. She put it beneath the faucet and filled it with a couple of inches of water.
Hunting through the drawers, she found a stack of washcloths and a pair of scissors. The latter she’d use to cut his clothes off. This would be tricky, of course, because he moved so much, but she knew she had to cool him down.
Taking everything back to the room, she set the basin on the nightstand. She dipped a washcloth in the cold water, wrung it out a little, then—keeping her arms well away from his hands—she moved in close, trying to reach his forehead. But she couldn’t extend her arm without Marius hitting her or even grabbing hold of her. The chains had too much give. If he caught her, she knew she wouldn’t escape him.
She dropped the wet washcloth back in the basin.
She remembered seeing a sort of clamp near each set of chains. She lay on her stomach and examined the one near his ankle. She almost cried out with relief when she realized it was a ratchet setup that could tighten down each chain. If she could just make the noise of all that rattling stop, she’d be ahead of the game.
Using the levered handle, she tightened up the first one, and it worked. The sounds of the jangling chains had just about driven her crazy. Even though she knew it would distress him to limit his range of motion further, she decided to end that part of the nightmare right now and went to his other ankle, then both wrists, tightening each chain.
All the rattling stopped. She could breathe.
But now Marius pulled with all his might on each chain. She waited, just in case the whole thing flew apart. She held her breath, because if even one chain snapped, she’d be dead and she knew it.
However, the chains held and Marius finally laid back on the bed. Though his eyes were open, his mind was gone at least for the present. “Why, Father, why?”
Picking up the washcloth, she wrung it again, then laid it over his forehead.
He grew very still and a soft sigh left his lips.
She took a moment to wash his arms, each in turn, with the cold water. He had dried blood on him from the recent battle, which of course turned the water pink as she continued to cleanse the washcloth in the water. But she kept going and he made soft moaning sounds that told her she was giving him some relief. He even settled down, at least for now.
Next, she took the scissors and while he lay still, she cut off hi
s shirt. Sweat rose in a sheen on his body. She unzipped his pants carefully, then began at one side to cut them, all the way down. Every inch of his lower body was beet red.
He’d also gone commando, which distressed her because it seemed very wrong to be looking at him. Yet he was so big that for a moment, she grew very still. Her desire for him, never far away, returned inappropriately and now her body felt flushed and hot.
She took a moment to return to the bathroom to fetch a towel. She had to cover him up, for her sake and because at some point he’d come back to himself. The last thing he’d want was to be fully exposed while tied down.
Laying the towel across his hips, she returned to the basin.
The next washcloth she dipped in the water she used on herself. What came away from her was dirt from the cave and more blood, probably from what had been on Marius’s clothes. She groaned. She had to be filthy.
But she set all these thoughts aside and for the next half hour washed Marius repeatedly until his skin resumed a more normal hue. She scrubbed beneath him as well. The sheet was soaked, and if she could manage to change it she would.
A couple of times she heard him whisper, “Thank you.” She answered quietly each time, “You’re welcome.” But she was never quite sure he actually understood her.
She found a clean sheet in a cupboard in the bathroom and set about replacing the damp one beneath him, which became a project all in itself.
She only stopped when a round of thrashing ensued, then she went back to work.
At least two hours later, he finally seemed to be resting, though his breathing seemed labored. Seeing that he was the calmest he’d been, she hunted through a chest of drawers on the wall adjacent to the bed, found one of his clean T-shirts, and went into the bathroom and turned on several showerheads.
Stripping out of her clothes, but keeping the chain wrapped around her wrist, she stepped into the spray. Never had a shower felt more glorious than in this moment. She got all the dirt off her body and out of her hair, then let the hot water beat on her now very sore shoulder and back. Siphoning Marius’s power, she sent what healing she could into her muscles. Happily, it worked. Maybe she wouldn’t have a bruise the size of Puget Sound on her back after all.