Chapter Seven.

She didn't like interrogations. She didn't like prison cells. And she didn't like the hard, predatory stare that Julian was giving to the human.

Rose was afraid that Francis might wet himself at any moment.

"This is...some kind of really big mistake." Francis paced in the cell. "I don't know what I did wrong, but I swear...I won't do it again."

Rayce choked out a laugh. He was watching from a few feet away. Her gaze jerked to him and when his stare met hers, she felt heat lance her cheeks.

The d.a.m.n door was open! She knew the guy had heard every humiliating sound she'd made. Even if the door had been closed, though, he probably would have heard her. Stupid shifter hearing.

"Just let me go," Francis pleaded. Julian was in the cell with him. "I won't ever bother you again, man." He rushed toward Julian. "I swear, I-"

Julian's hand clamped around the guy's throat. Sighing, Julian lifted the kid up into the air, as if Francis weighed nothing. "I need to know about Simon."

Francis clawed at Julian's hand, but Julian didn't let him go. And it looked as if Francis's face was starting to turn purple.

Because he can't breathe.

"You're going to tell me everything you know about Simon. You're going to tell me about the Collector, and you're going to lead me to the missing paranormals."

Francis's mouth opened and closed-like a dying, desperate fish-but no sound emerged.

Rose surged forward and grabbed the bars on his cell. She didn't want to think too long or hard about why the Lord of the Dark had a prison installed on his island. A prison that you accessed through the guy's house. "He can't speak, Julian! You're killing him!"

Julian's head turned toward her. "There are two ways to do this."

"Stop killing him." That was way one for her.

He looked back at his prey. "The hard way...that's my way. A way that involves pain and loss of consciousness...at least a few times..."

"Julian..." Rose snapped.

He flashed a smile at her. "And then there's your way, love. The way you compel the truth from him, vamp style. If you're up to the challenge, come on in."

Step into my parlor...

But it wasn't a parlor. It was a cage. Something straight from her nightmares.

Julian dropped Francis. The human fell to the floor, gasping. "I...I don't...know...Simon!"

She saw Julian's claws emerge. He bent toward the fallen man. "Stop!" Rose yelled. Oh, d.a.m.n, she was going to do this. She yanked open the cell door and stumbled inside. "I'll try, okay? Just...stop."

Julian's head lifted. He quirked a brow at her, as if to say...Knew you'd come in. And he had, of course. He'd played her.

"For a vamp, she's not very bloodthirsty, is she?" Rayce called out.

No, she wasn't. Rose exhaled on a slow breath. She rubbed her damp palms over her jeans. When she'd woken, fresh clothes had been waiting at the bottom of the bed for her. Jeans, t-shirt, shoes, even underwear. Everything had fit her perfectly. She had no idea where Julian had gotten the items, and she hadn't been in the mood to look a gift horse in the mouth. She'd just been happy to say good-bye to her blood-stained clothing.

"Are you working on that whole lack of bloodthirstiness?" The werewolf wanted to know. "Cause it's generally survival of the fittest, not the nicest, in our world."

She tossed him a glare. "How do you think you're helping here?"

He laughed. "You're right. Please, do your thing. I'd love to watch." He sauntered toward the cell.

"Help me, lady." The desperate croak had her swinging her gaze back to Julian-and his prey. Francis's face was splotchy and red, and he looked terrified. "I don't know what's... happening...I just want to go home. Will you let me go home?"

She swallowed and knelt on the floor before him. Julian stood right behind Francis. "I am going to help you." She kept her voice low and easy. "I want you to just focus on me, okay? Look into my eyes."

Rayce snorted. "Jeez, that is just like one of those old black and white movies-"

"Shut the h.e.l.l up, wolf," Julian snarled.

Rayce shut up.

Good. Great. "Look into my eyes," she said again, but she didn't feel like some monster from an old school movie. She felt more like a cobra, drawing in prey. Francis blinked, owlishly, and then stared into her eyes. She pushed forth her power-power that was currently running at high capacity thanks to the boost that she'd gotten from Julian's blood. She could feel the strength in her veins, surging forth. Rose knew she could compel a human, but that didn't mean she liked to do it.

Taking away someone's free will didn't exactly sit well with her.

"I want you to trust me, okay?" Her voice was soothing. She lifted her hand and touched his cheek. Julian tensed. Uh, oh. Someone doesn't like me touching the human. Too bad, he could just deal with it. "I won't hurt you. I'm just going to ask you a few questions, and you're going to answer me."

Easy enough. Simple enough.

Francis nodded. His mouth had gone slack and his eyes were unblinking as he gazed back at her.

A cobra's prey. No...a vamp's prey.

"Who strapped you into that vest on the Pandora? The vest that was wired with explosives?"

A croak came from his mouth. Just a croak. As if he were trying to speak, but couldn't.

She didn't look away from him. Looking away would lessen her control over his mind.

"Francis." She pushed more power forth. "Francis, tell me why you told us...'Simon says'...right before you activated that bomb?"

Sweat trickled down his face. Francis's body shuddered. "G-game...playing a game..."

Their near-deaths had been a game? Not likely. "Who told you to play the game?"

His breath shuddered out.

"Tell me the name of the person who ordered you to play the game."

Behind her, she heard a groan. "I thought this would work better," Rayce grumbled. "That it was supposed to be all wham-bam, you're under my control, and he instantly tells you everything." He sighed. "Julian, you may need to pull out the claws again."

Her shoulders stiffened. "No, he doesn't." Her gaze never left Francis's. "Give me the name of the person who ordered you to play the game."

"S-Simon..."

Right. Simon. Good. This was- "S-Simon says..." A tear leaked from Francis's eye. "D-die..."

Not good. Not good at all.

Francis leapt to his feet. He ran past her, trying to get out of the cell, but Rayce was there and the werewolf just slammed the cell door shut before Francis could escape.

She thought Francis would stop once the door shut.

He didn't. He ran right into the closed door. He hit the bars hard enough to send his body shuddering back a few feet, and then, in the next blink, he was up and running for the bars again. He hit them with his head. Again and again. Blood covered his face.

"Stop!" Rose yelled, but he didn't stop. So she and Julian lunged for him. They grabbed Francis at the same time. Already, one of his eyes had swollen shut from the impact. His lip was busted, his nose seemingly broken, and blood poured from a wound on his forehead.

"H-have to d-die..." Francis whispered. "Simon says...Simon says d-die and I-I do." He strained in their hold, and she had no doubt that, if he had broken free then, he would have just kept banging his head against those bars. He would have banged and banged until he killed himself.

Not exactly an easy way to go. Not exactly a way most folks would choose.

"He's still under someone else's compulsion." She had thought he was clear when they'd pulled him out of the water, but she'd been wrong. She could see it now. "The compulsion is buried deep, and when I push him, it comes forward to stop me. He's supposed to die before revealing the truth."

Rayce whistled. "That's one strong compulsion."

Julian dragged the guy across the room. "Bring in rope. We're going to need to tie this guy down so he doesn't hurt himself."

Rayce's footsteps hurried away.

Rose just stared at Francis, her heart hurting for him. He was helpless, a puppet who had no choice at all. A man who would die for something he didn't understand.

Life wasn't fair.

Rayce was back moments later. He and Julian tied Francis securely onto a chair, locking him down so that the guy couldn't move at all. When they were done, Julian stayed behind Francis, frowning down at him, and Rayce paced to Rose's side. "Didn't think compulsions were supposed to work like that."

"It's a strong compulsion," Julian said. "The only way to make one that cuts that deep is through blood or through some very powerful magic." A muscle flexed along his jaw. He looked d.a.m.n unhappy as he added, "Just like the only way to break one that deep-"

"Is through blood," Rose finished. Or magic. And since she had no magic to speak of, her only hope was blood. She knew this. She might not like being a vamp but she'd tried to learn as much as she could about the undead life. The majority of that education had come from the Lord of the Dark himself. Right after her transformation, Luke had kept paying her pop-up visits. Until she'd told him to keep his a.s.s away from her unless he could change her back.

He'd stayed away.

"So, you take his blood and you break the compulsion?" Rayce asked.

"Not exactly." She lifted her wrist to her mouth. Her fangs extended and she bit down, not deep, just enough to draw forth a few drops of blood. Then she closed the distance between her and the human. He leaned away from her and the scent of his fear thickened in the cell. "Hold his head steady, Julian."

Julian grabbed Francis's head and immediately stopped the guy's retreat, but then Julian's eyes blazed as he gritted out, "I do not like this."

It wasn't like the scene was a picnic in the park for her, either. "My blood will link him to me," she said quietly, so that Rayce would understand what was happening. Based on Julian's glare, it was obvious he already knew the score. "It will enable me to give him a new compulsion, one that cuts deeper than the other that's in place." A suicide compulsion-or at least, that was sure what it looked like to her. Someone had buried an order deep inside of Francis's mind. One that switched on like a protective mechanism. Only the order wasn't about protecting Francis's life-it was about protecting the ident.i.ty of the person who'd originally compelled him.

She put her hand to his mouth. Her blood dripped past his lips. He tried to spit it back at her. "No, stop, that's gross-" Francis sputtered.

Julian shoved one hand over Francis's mouth, forcing the guy to keep the blood.

Rose leaned in close. "You will swallow that blood. You will take it."

Francis swallowed.

Her breath eased out. "Good. Now you will listen and you will obey me. You will not kill yourself. You want to live. You want to grow old and have a freaking fantastic life. The last thing you desire is to hurt yourself, in any way."

He wasn't blinking, just staring at her.

"Let him go, Julian," she said.

Julian backed away from the human.

"Who put you under the compulsion to ignite that bomb?" But she already knew. Dammit...

"Simon," he whispered. "Simon Lorne."

Her stomach twisted. "Tell me about when you met Simon."

"I...I was at a club. I'd had too much to drink...using my fake ID."

Jeez, he really wasn't even old enough to drink.

"I went out back. Was going to puke my guts out. When he-he just appeared." His words came fast, but they were low, a bit dazed sounding. "He grabbed me...asked if I wanted to play his game."

Only it wasn't really a game.

"What all did Simon tell you to do?" Rose asked him.

"He...he said to wait on the boat. He was bringing in a woman, someone he needed. Someone special. He needed me to have the boat ready to go for him."

Julian started to pace-no, more like prowl. A scary prowl because she was sure she'd just glimpsed the flash of his claws again.

"If he got to the boat with you, we were...we were going to meet the others. If he didn't come..." His words trailed away and he stared at her, his gaze still unblinking.

"What were you supposed to do if he didn't come?"

"I was supposed to destroy the boat. Destroy all ties to him. Because he has important work to finish."

Julian snarled. "I should have just killed that f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d when I had the chance!" He whirled and pointed at her. "See? This is what happens when you try to do the right thing."

"I didn't know Simon was a killer!" An a.s.shole, yes, she'd known that. But she hadn't realized he was the-the ring leader! Dammit. "I thought he was just some human following orders-someone like Francis!" She gestured to the bound man. "Simon smelled human. He acted human, and he sure was screaming like a terrified human when he was trapped in that SUV."

Julian frowned. "Yes, he was." Now he seemed puzzled. "I thought he was human, too."

Rayce cleared his throat. "Okay, so I'll point out the obvious. Julian, you're a shifter. That means you have the best sense of smell on the planet."