Tooth And Nailed Part 19

"I have to go check in with the FBI and the local police, get the details on the arrests. They should have Job in custody by now and I'd like to be present for the interrogation. It'll probably take most of the rest of the day."

Rowan checked the display on her cell phone, which he'd given back to her once they'd landed. "It's already after four, so I'd say that's a pretty good bet. Do you know where my dad is?"

He nodded. "He's back at the house, or should be by now."

"I'm going to get cleaned up, grab a quick bite and go see my dad." A flash of unease lit Jack's features for a moment and she sighed. "Jack, it'll be fine. Stop worrying."

He shrugged, sheepish. "I can't help it. Something isn't feeling quite right. Which is why you've got a couple of sentries posted, just in case."

She swung around, scanning the front of the house. "What? Where are they?"

"They wouldn't be any good if you could see them. Trust me, they're there."

"Regular human guards or special vampire ones?"

"Regular human ones," he said. "There aren't too many of us special vampire ones. In any case, they'll be checking in with me every hour and I'll have one of them drive you to your dad's house and back."

She patted his cheek. "You're so cute when you worry. Like a little mama hen, fussing over all her little baby chicks."

He glowered as she'd meant him to. "I am not a mama hen and for the record, you're my only little baby chick."

"I better be," she warned, and kissed his cheek when he chuckled. "Come back over when you're done with the cops, okay?"

"It might be really late," he warned, and she laughed as she tugged the overnight bag from the backseat.

"I've been keeping vampire hours for weeks now. Anyway, by then maybe my delicate human body will have healed sufficiently for you to have your way with me again."

He grinned. "It's a date."

Rowan leaned over for one last kiss then got out and walked up the steps to the front door. She opened the door, giving a little wave over her shoulder as he drove off.

"Home," she sighed.

She realized Marvin must have been in regularly while she was gone. There wasn't a speck of dust and all her plants looked healthy and watered. In fact, they looked healthier than when she took care of them. "Maybe he talks to them the way he talks to his pasta sauce," she muttered.

She picked up the phone on her way through the house, dialing Marvin's number. His machine picked up and she frowned. He was usually home by now but maybe he had another hot date. At the beep, she said, "Hi, Marvy, it's me. Just wanted to let you know I'm home, safe and sound, and yes, I will give you the details. And I'd also like a few from you, Mr. I'll Pack An Overnight Bag For The Kidnappers. I'm going to head to my dad's in a little while, but if it's not too late when I get back I'll pop over. Bye."

She clicked off and laid the handset on the edge of the bathroom sink. She turned the water on in the tub, flipping the switch to plug the drain. She dumped in a handful of foaming bath salts and shed her clothes, dropping them where she stood. After pinning her hair up, not wanting to deal with drying it, she stepped into the tub.

"Oh that's the stuff," she sighed, sinking chin deep into the fragrant water. She used her feet to turn off the taps, hit the b.u.t.ton for the jets and just lay back while the water swirled around her.

She eventually roused enough to grab a loofah and a bottle of body wash and lazily soaped her limbs. Her mind was as relaxed as her body, the relief of not worrying about her father's safetya"or her own, for that mattera"finally sinking in. And now that those worries were gone, an entire fresh set had moved in to take their place.

"Namely, how do I have a relationship with a vampire?" she wondered out loud. She soaped her arm thoughtfully. She didn't imagine it was much different than having a relationship with a human, except for the obvious quirks. "Probably won't be able to take him sailing," she mused, "unless it's at night. But who cares?"

She set the loofah down and lay back in the tub. There would be some changes to make, that much was obvious. She'd probably have to adjust her schedule a bit but that didn't pose too big of a problem. She taught during the day and that wouldn't change. She could hardly convince the school board to change cla.s.sroom hours from eight to three to three to ten, but that was okay. It just meant that when she was coming home from work, he'd be waking up. It wasn't the most convenient arrangement, but they'd figure out a way around it.

"And now I'm getting mired down in the details," she decided, and toed the switch to open the drain. She stood, dragging a towel off the hook and briskly rubbing her skin dry before stepping out of the tub. She tossed the towel aside, wrapped herself in a robe and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

"I will not overthink this," she vowed to herself. "What happens, happens, and we'll deal with things as they come." Including, she thought, the possibility of her becoming a vampire as well.

She wondered if he'd thought of it. "He must have," she mused as she slathered on skin cream. At least, she hoped he had. It had occurred to her somewhere between New York and L.A. that he was going to seriously outlive her if he didn't turn her, an idea she didn't like at all. Still, it was a big decision, deciding to be practically immortal and drinking blood for the rest of her life, and she wasn't quite ready to talk to him about it yet.

There was also the terrifying possibility he hadn't thought of it. Which would mean he wasn't thinking Long Term Relationship, or LTR as Marvin always called them. It had been a while since her last onea"five years? Six? In any case, it had been a long time since she'd been with anyone who made her think of the future in terms of years rather than months or weeks.

"Years, h.e.l.l," she muttered as she wiped her hands dry of cream. "I'm thinking decades. Maybe he put some kind of vampire mojo on me."

If he did, she'd somehow managed to put the same mojo on him because he was gone over her. She smiled at her reflection. Regardless of whether he'd thought over the possibility of turning her, she knew he was in love with her. He'd told her, but even more telling, he'd shown her.

Like when he'd freaked out about going back home because he was afraid of losing her. He'd been so cute, she thought, worrying she'd start giving him the cold shoulder again when they were back in the real world.

"Silly man," she said softly, her smile turning dreamy as she capped the jar of body cream. "I couldn't even if I wanted to."

Suddenly full of energya"the bath had been both soothing and rejuvenatinga"she decided to forage for something to eat. Anything she'd had in her refrigerator before her kidnapping was way beyond its expiration date by now but she had peanut b.u.t.ter and bread and was hungry enough to settle for a simple sandwich. Or maybe Marvin's home by now and I can bribe him into feeding me with stories of my abduction by vampires. Picturing his face when she told him that, she was laughing as she opened the bathroom door.

The laugh froze in her throat when she saw the figure sitting on her bed. "h.e.l.lo, Rowan," he said, and before she could scream, something hit her on the back of the head and after a sharp burst of white-hot pain, everything went black.

Chapter Thirteen.

"Ms. Evans, are you with us?"

Rowan frowned. The voice was unfamiliar and sounded far away. And her head hurta"why did her head hurt?

"Ms. Evans?"

This time the voice was closer and really shrill. She turned her head away with a whimper. G.o.d, her head was splitting in two.

"I think Ms. Evans needs a bit of incentive to join our little party, gentlemen. Isaac, please encourage her."

The cold water hit her face like a closed fist, stealing her breath as her eyes flew open with shock. She began coughing reflexively.

"There, there," the voice said, a hand patting her shoulder gently and she turned to look. And recoiled in horror.

The man standing next to her was tall, over six feet and pudgy. His face was round and ruddy, his dirty blond hair in a sad little comba"one that barely covered his scalp. He was dressed like a banker, in a dark suit and tie over a shirt so white it was almost blinding. He was smiling, a deceptively gentle curve of the lips, but when she looked in his eyes, it was like looking into a bottomless pit.

"Stephen Job," she breathed, and the smile widened.

"I'm so pleased to know you've heard of me," he crooned, lifting his hand to stroke her hair. Not wanting him to touch her, she tried to move away and couldn't.

"What the h.e.l.l?" She swiveled her head around, biting back a moan at the pain that shot through her skull at the motion. She stared at the ropes holding her hands and feet down, realizing in horror that she was staked out on the floor, arms and legs spread-eagle, still wearing her bathrobe.

She looked back at Job and struggled to hide her fear. "What's going on?"

"Well, dear, as you may be aware, I'm having a bit of a philosophical difference with your father." He sighed and shrugged as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. "It distresses me it's come to this but I see no other way of getting his attention."

"You should try email," she suggested in a voice that barely shook at all. "He's real good at answering his messages."

The smile turned cold. "I'm afraid that's just not going to work."

"Why not? I promise, he's right on top of his email. Checks it even when he's traveling."

"No, I think for the point I'm trying to make, a more graphic message is in order." She saw him gesture to someone out of her line of sight and suddenly she was flanked by two men. They were both dressed in black with simple wooden crosses hanging on strings around their necks. Her breath strangled in her throat and she struggled not to whimper in fear as the one on her left bent down.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, and her eyes flew to Job's as he chuckled.

"We just need to set the stage, my dear." He patted her head while the man in black rolled the sleeve of her robe up. She watched with rising panic as he held up a syringe.

"Now don't be alarmed," Job said in a soothing voice that made her skin crawl. "He's just giving you something to help you rest. You have a very big evening ahead of you, after all."

That didn't sound good at all. She cringed away but she felt the needle slide under her skin. It burned and within moments she could feel her limbs grow heavy.

"What are you going to do?" she asked again, appalled at the way her words slurred and ran together. She fought to keep her eyelids open, blinking hard. His face was looming in her vision, the image splitting in two and merging again as her vision doubled.

"We have to get you ready," he explained, as the room faded to black, "for the sacrifice you're about to become."

Jack was on his way to meet with his security team when his cell phone rang. He reached for it absently, his mind on tying up the loose ends with the FBI so he could get back to Rowan.

"h.e.l.lo."

"Jack."

He smiled at the breathless quality of Rowan's voice. "Hi, baby. Miss me already?"

"Jack, pleasea"

He frowned, panic blooming as he heard the distress in her voice. "Rowan? What's wrong?"

There was a rustle and his panic increased as her voice faded away. "Rowan! Are you there?"

Suddenly the connection was crystal clear, a low chuckle sounding in his ear and his blood froze. "I'm sorry, Mr. Donnelly. She's a little indisposed at the moment."

"Job," he growled.

"I'm flattered, Mr. Donnellya"or may I call you Jack?"

"If you've hurt her, you son of a b.i.t.c.h, I'll kill you."

"Well, I'd say death threats put us on a first name basis. As I was saying, Jack, I'm flattered you know who I am. I must admit, I had feared we hadn't made any impression on you or your employer at all. You've certainly done a good job of ignoring our demands."

Jack had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming out in rage. "Your demands don't concern us."

Job chuckled again, the sound sc.r.a.ping along Jack's nerves like steel wool. "Well, they certainly concern you now. Ms. Evans is a very lovely girl."

Jack's heart seemed to leap in his throat. "What do you want?"

"Such delicate skin she has, like a blushing peach." Jack tensed even further, his foot nearly pushing the gas pedal through the floorboards as he heard a whimpering moan from the background.

"What. Do. You. Want?" he ground out, and a heavy sigh came through the phone.

"Young man, I suggest you watch your tone. We're playing by my rules now. As I was saying, your little wh.o.r.e here really is lovely."

Jack bit back an angry retort, literally seeing red at the insult and took the exit to Simon's house at ninety miles an hour. "Yes, she is," he agreed, whipping the car up through the turn and gunning the engine up the road.

"That's better," Job said approvingly. "Yes, I think she'll do quite nicely."

He paused, expectant, and Jack obediently said, "Nicely for what?"

"Why as bait, of course."

"Bait?" Jack asked, bringing the Mercedes to a screaming halt at the top of the drive. He was out the door and running toward the house before the car stopped rocking on its wheels. "Bait for what?"

"For her father."

Jack was through the front door now, running silently down the corridor to the back of the house. "You're using Rowan as bait to lure her father. So you can do what exactly?"

"Kill him. At least, that was the plan. But now, after seeing the delicious and engaging Ms. Evans, we may have to adjust our plan slightly. Are you at the house yet, Jack?"

He silently cursed, wondering how in the h.e.l.l Job could know where he was. He decided lying would be useless. "Yes."

"Good. Please let Mr. Evans know we have his daughter and he should follow the directions on the email coming through now on his personal account or we'll slice her up into cat food. Oh and Jacka"please don't be tedious. You've enough of a hero complex to try some sort of rescue scenario. Believe me when I say it won't do you any good. She'd be dead before you got through the front door."

Jack cursed when the connection ended, flipping the phone shut as he burst through the study doors. "Simon!" he bellowed then skidded to a halt as he saw his friend sitting in front of his computer.

The look of pure horror on Simon's face had Jack's own stomach clutching in fear. "Simon?"

"They took her, Jack." The words emerged in a strained whisper, barely audible in the tomblike quiet of the room as he looked up from the computer screen. "They took my baby girl."

Jack came around the desk to look over Simon's shoulder. The email was already open and he read aloud. "Come to the Army of G.o.d House of Worship in Hollywood by eight o'clock and be prepared to answer for your sins. Or she will."

"There's a picture," Simon said, his voice hollow with shock, and Jack noticed the attachment. He clicked the icon to open it and after a second's delay the picture filled the screen.

"Son of a f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h!" he snarled, his heart filled with rage at the image. Rowan was stripped naked, her hair still wet from her bath, and the look of confused pain on her face had his hands clenching into fists. She was on the floor, arms and legs tied down with rope, her limbs spread wide to expose her to the camera's lens.

"I have to go."

Jack jerked his head around. Simon was standing, pulling his suit jacket from the back of the desk chair and shrugging into it. He was moving with stilted, detached movements, as if his mind and body were strangely disconnected. He turned to pick up his keys from the desk and Jack saw his eyes, dilated wide with shock. He laid a hand on Simon's arm.

"Simon," he said quietly. "Simon, you can't go."

He looked up at Jack blankly. "I have to. They're hurting her. I have to go, I have to stop it!" His voice became agitated, his breath coming fast and harsh as the fear broke through the shock. "Look at what they're doing to her, Jack, because of me. Because of me! I have to go. If I go, if I give them what they want, they'll leave her alone."