Savage Wings: Book Three of The Whitechapel Chronicles

Chapter 9

I blanched at his words. "I'd belong to Caelan? Are you bloody serious?"

"I'm afraid so."

I shrugged. "So? Then what if she dies too?" I shot Josiah a malicious smile, which soon faded when I saw how his eyes lit up with wicked amusement.

"Ah," he chuckled. "See, now that's the beauty of it. The death of a seer will never sever the contract. Call it a protection clause if you like. Nope, if fate happens to befall the second seer, then you'll be forever bound to the place where they die, so if something was to happen to both me and Caelan, you'll never set foot outside of this building again. Think about that. An eternity within these walls. And if you tried to leave...well..." He snapped his fingers. "You'd be dead too. But then again, at least you'd be free? The only death that will bring an end to our deal is yours, Megan. Do you want out that badly? I doubt it. In fact, I reckon you were just starting to like it here."

"You are so deluded."

"Am I? Strange. I thought we were coming to an understanding right before pretty boy here woke up. You like it here more than you want to admit."

Harper snorted. "Megan's right, you're really fucking deluded. She's here because she has no choice, not because she enjoys your less-than scintillating company. I'm starting to think insanity runs in your family. Maybe you're as crazy as that pathetic loon of a sister of yours."

I was right. The storm had never really abated and now it was stronger than ever, ready to decimate everything in its path. Not that Josiah seemed flustered though. In fact, he seemed to revel in Harper's anger.

"Oh Cain, wake up, man. I don't think you know your girl as well as you think you do. But I know her. I know her very well. We have a connection, Megan and I. I know things she would never dream of telling you. She would never admit to you that she was starting to get comfortable here anymore than she'd tell you how she managed to escape from the compound."

An immobilising chill crept into the pit of my stomach. I felt the temperature drop all around me, encasing me in ice that threatened to freeze me to the spot. Josiah's grin widened when he saw my horrified stare.

"It doesn't matter how she escaped," Harper said tersely. "The important thing is that she did."

But I could see straight away that it did matter to him. His insistence back at the old Silvertown hideaway that he hadn't wanted to know what had happened between Brandon and me had never really rung true. Maybe he hadn't wanted to know, maybe he hadn't wanted to hear all the details, but of course that never meant that it didn't bother him and I'd been foolish to think it was a ghost he had laid to rest together with the others that haunted the Millennium Mills.

"Come on, Cain," taunted Josiah, his mocking laughter reverberating around the room. "You can't tell me that it hasn't crossed your mind how she managed to get out of there? I bet it has. In fact, I reckon you've thought about it quite a lot since she returned. She's a tough little thing, I'll give her that. Better than most even, but let's be honest here, how many vampires do you know who've managed to escape from a Varúlfur compound?"

"None." Harper's pursed his lips, his eyes unable to mask the doubt that he clearly harboured and my heart sank to see it.  

"None," Josiah repeated with click of his tongue. "No, me neither. But then again, how many vampires do you know whose husband happens to be the Varúlfur head honcho?"

I looked back and forth between them, trying to supress the panic that was ballooning like some tumorous mass and I felt my muscles tensing to the point of pain, waiting for the balloon to burst. Silently I begged him to stop talking. I begged him with everything I had but the seer was having way too much fun toying with Harper to stop.