Chains of Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

his muscled lean body. The man was short, but he’d forged a powerful place in their society as a linchpin for the underworld. No one touched Rumy.
    Even Daniel generally left The Erotic Passage alone.
    When a tremor ran through Lucian and he grimaced, Rumy left his place by the desk, passed by Lucian, then held his hand gesturing into the hallway beyond. “I’ve got a room set up for you both. You can be private, talk a little, get to know each other. I already had your clothes brought in from Uruguay.” Lucian had a home there, one Rumy had access to for exactly this reason. Rumy was one of the few vampires on the planet he trusted with his life.
    “Much appreciated.”
    Lucian had been through blood-madness recovery more than once, so he knew what to expect. But it always surprised him how long it took to get rid of the initial debilitating and dangerous symptoms—which could hit at all the wrong moments.
    As Rumy headed down one of the restricted hallways in his club complex, Lucian followed him. “So how did Claire come to be here?”
    “Daniel held her prisoner in Florida, using her to watch after a boy he’d been holding captive there. That’s what she’s been doing for the past two years, taking care of him.”
    “He wanted her as a nanny?” This didn’t make sense.
    “Daniel never does anything for just one reason. You know about Adrien, right?”
    “Not exactly. I saw him a couple of times with the woman who took him out of the Himalayan prison.”
    “That’s Lily. They’re together now. She bound him, the way Claire bound you. Josh was her son, the boy Claire took care of. You starting see how this wheel turns?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Daniel chose Lily — plucked her from the human world, just as he did Claire. Both women have strong vampire markers, real potential in our world. Wouldn’t you say that’s true about Claire? I mean, think about the disguise she made.”
    “You’re right. Even Daniel couldn’t see through it.”
    “Lily had other abilities, but mostly she could track things.”
    It all began making sense. “So Daniel’s original intention had been to use these women to bind us and create tracking pairs.”
    “Yes. But he’s lost control of the process, thanks to Lily and now Claire.”
    “And he’s after the weapon.”
    “More than the sharp points of his fangs, Daniel wants that extinction weapon. He knows that if he can get hold of it, he can rule forever.”
    “Over my dead body.”
    “I’ve sent out rumors that Claire escaped from her captors by herself but the truth is I helped get her out along with the chains you’re now wearing.”
    “Then Daniel had the chains ready to go, which means he had this planned all along.”
    “He’s a patient bastard. But now you and Claire are here. I’m sure he didn’t count on Claire having the ability to create that kind of disguise—and he sure as hell didn’t plan on me rescuing her.”
    Rumy kept them both moving, making turns left and right in what was a real maze of a cavern system. “You’ve been a good friend, Rumy. I didn’t expect to make it out alive.”
    Rumy inclined his head to the woman in his arms. “You owe your life to her. I only helped get her to Daniel’s Dark Cave system, but she did the heavy lifting.”
    Lucian nodded. “So what do we know about this extinction weapon?”
    “Apparently there’s more than one. Adrien destroyed the first one, and it looks like Daniel’s hot after whatever he can find that remains.”
    “Is there a finite number? Two? Ten?”
    “We’re not sure.”
    Rumy led him through several winding back tunnels near his office, a section of the club complex that only a select few on his security staff had access to. Finally he stopped before a door, then pushed it open. “Here you are.”
    The room had a basic setup, nothing special, in part because of its medical use. There were even wrist and ankle restraints on one half of the queen-sized bed. The bathroom was