Salvation's Kiss (Tales Of Mython Book 1) by Kathryn Jayne (old books to read .TXT) 📗

up from her device. “I just checked Ashley’s historical location data. Given everything you told us, it seems obvious, but I wanted to make sure, she’s never been near a Taphouse. So why would Will say she had?”

“He had to know more than he let on. We should get him here. Maybe he knows who this Liam guy is. After all, he has been cosying up to the vamps lately.”

Chapter 11

Darkness enveloped Ashley, her eyelids refusing her demands to open despite the rising dread that surged through her. Her mouth felt dry, lacking the saliva needed to ease the unpleasant taste in the back of her throat. Mind racing, she tried to reconstruct her last few hours. She had been on her bike, that much she remembered, but everything else was a little hazy. She probed her memories for answers, wondering if she’s been in an accident, but then, when she heard the voice, a cold dread sped through her and everything came flooding back in a nauseating realisation.

“Assign her designation FAB-EB98V.” The voice seemed to echo in her ears, the sound bringing some awareness to her body. She could feel a cold breeze upon her and her finger finally twitched in response to her attempts to move. She tried again, relieved when this time her finger obeyed with only minimal delay.

“What’s her poison?” asked someone to her left. A strange heat swelled within her. The room, even through closed eyes, felt as if it were in motion. Moving her head to the side she vomited, flinching as a cool cloth wiped the mouthful of bile from her skin.

“With a purity like that, none. We’ll get her listed on the Black Card Menu tonight. When Devon told the master he had something special, I never expected this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen figures this high. It must have something to do with the Elder blood.”

On hearing this, panic consumed her and her arm jerked, hoping to connect with her kidnapper, except, for all her effort, it didn’t move far. The movement caused pressure around her midriff to increase, returning the waves of nausea. She jerked again, still gaining no leverage, this time feeling the sharp bite of tight leather around her wrists and elbow, pinning her arms to her side. “Looks like she’s coming round. I thought you said she’d be out for hours,” scolded the voice.

“She should have been.”

“Not to worry, she’s not going anywhere. Those bindings have held shifters far larger than her.” Ashley heard herself whimper as a firm hand grasped her face, turning her head from side to side as if studying her. “The Elites will be fighting over themselves for this one. We’ll exhaust her tonight, that’s for sure. I don’t think she’ll cause us much trouble after that.”

“What do you think he’ll want to do with her?”

“Could go either way. If we treat this one right, we could keep her on tap for years before we see any degradation of quality. We’d have to cycle the houses, of course. But there’s always the chance he’ll sell her on. Depends on how tonight goes.”

The voices began to fade, as if whoever was in the room with her was leaving. She tried to pry open her eyes, once more finding them unresponsive.

“You think there’s something worth bidding on, aside from the purity?” At his words, she felt herself stiffen, knowing, for the moment at least, they had not uncovered all her secrets. She had to make sure that remained true. She needed a plan, an escape. But first, she needed to regain something more than just the sporadic control of her arms.

“I can’t tell. But that charm she’s wearing nearly turned my hand to cinders, and the only reason someone would wear something like that is if they needed to hide.”

Finally finding her voice, Ashley screamed, crying out for help, hoping someone, somewhere would hear her. It was a short-lived sound, countered by the paralysing charge that ripped through her body and plunged her back into the dark abyss.

Will pounded on Ashley’s front door, each strike seeming more urgent than the last. When he had received the emergency notification from Tess asking him to come to Ashley’s house immediately, he knew something was wrong. After being let inside, Tess filled him in on her disappearance and all of a sudden the room felt suffocating.

“What do you mean, Ash was abducted?” Will paced, pushing his hand through his honey-coloured hair in distress. This was his fault, it had to be. Or maybe someone had been watching her, waiting for an opportunity to strike. But if that had been the case, then he would have noticed. After all, he had spent many a night lurking in her garden, waiting for his visit.

“They only found her bike, her chip has been disabled. The Blue Coats say it matches the MO of the other abductions.” Tess’s voice was filled with panic, and the way she sat huddled close to Jack, his arm around her, showed the extent of her distress. “They even had the sense to remove the watch I gave her.” She sniffed, barely holding herself together.

“What can I do?” Will sat for a second before rising once more and pacing. “Shit, this is all my fault.” His hand passed through his hair again.

“What do you mean, your fault?” Conrad demanded. Turning towards him, Will was overcome by the intense glare being levelled at him. Tugging his collar, he turned away before removing his light jacket. It was really getting hot, and he was certain he wasn’t the only one to notice.

“I had to take out a loan for protection for my gran. I was struggling to make the payments so I started going to the Taphouse more often,” he began, knowing there was nothing for this situation but the truth, no matter how shameful. It could be their only chance of finding Ashley. “I was working my way back through the park. I