Betrayed

Why had I been able to see him so much more easily before? How had I done it? I'd been thinking about Heath then, just like I had been now. I'd been thinking about ...

What had I been thinking about? Then I felt my cheeks get hot as I realized what had drawn me to him before. I hadn't been thinking about how cute a kid he'd been or how pretty he made me feel. I'd been thinking about drinking his blood ... feeding from him ... and the red-hot bloodlust that caused.

Okay, well then ...

I drew a deep breath and thought about Heath's blood. It tasted like liquid desire, hot and thick and electric. It made my body burst alive in places that had only begun to rouse before. And those places were starving. I wanted to drink Heath's sweet blood while he satisfied my yearning for his touch, his body, his taste—

The disjointed image I had of darkness cleared with an abrupt­ness that was shocking. It was still dark, but that was no problem for my night vision. At first I didn't understand what I was seeing. The room was weird. It was more like a little alcove in a cave or a tu

He was curled up on a stained mattress. His hands and ankles were duct taped together and he was bleeding from several slashes on his neck and arms.

"Heath!" My voice wasn't audible, but his head snapped up as if I'd just yelled at him.

"Zoey? Is that you?" And then his eyes widened and he sat straight up, looking wildly around. "Get out of here, Zoey! They're crazy. They'll kill you like they did Chris and Brad." And he started to struggle, trying desperately to break the tape, even though all that was happening was he was making his already raw wrists bleed.

"Heath, stop! It's okay—I'm okay. I'm not here, not really." He stopped struggling and squinted around him like he was trying to see me.

"But I can hear you."

"Inside your head. That's where you hear me, Heath. It's be­cause we've Imprinted and now we're linked."

Unexpectedly, Heath gri

I gave a mental eye roll. "Okay, Heath, focus. Where are you?"

"You won't believe this, Zo, but I'm under Tulsa."

"What does that mean, Heath?"

"Remember in Shaddox's History class? He told us about the tu

"Prohibition," I said.

"Yeah, that. I'm in one of them."

I didn't know what to say for a second. I vaguely remembered learning about the tu

As if he understood my hesitation he gri

After another mental eye roll I said, "Just tell me how to get there, Heath."

He shook his head and a way too familiar stubborn look set­tled over his face. "No way. They'll kill you. Go tell the cops and have them send a SWAT team or something."

That was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to get Detec­tive Marx's card out of my pocket, call him, and have him save the day.

Unfortunately, I was afraid I couldn't.

"Who is the 'they'?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"The people who took you? Who are they?"

"They're not people, and they're not vampyres even though they drink blood, but they're not like you, Zo. They're—" he broke off, shuddering. "They're something else. Something wrong."

"Have they been drinking your blood?" The thought made me furious with such an intensity that I was having a hard time con­trolling my emotions. I wanted to rage at someone and shriek, He belongs to me! I forced myself to take several deep breaths while he answered me.

"Yeah, they have." Heath grimaced. "But they complain a lot about it. They say my blood doesn't taste right. I think that's the main reason I'm still alive." Then he swallowed hard and his face got a shade paler. "It's not like when you drink my blood, Zo. That feels good. What they do is—is disgusting. They're disgusting."

"How many of them are there?" I said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not really sure. It's so dark down here and they always come in weird groups, all smushed together like they're scared of being alone. Well, except for three of them. One's named Elliott, one's called Venus—how weird is that—and the other one is called Stevie Rae."

My stomach knotted. "Does Stevie Rae have short, curly blond hair?"

"Yeah. She's the one that's in charge."

Heath had just substantiated my fears. I couldn't call in the police.

"Okay, Heath. I'm going to get you out of there. Tell me how to find your tu

"Are you going to get the cops?"

"Yes," I lied.

"Nope. You're lying."

"I am not!"

"Zo, I can tell you're lying. I can feel it. It's that link thing." He gri

"Heath. I can't get the police."

"Then I'm not telling you where I am."

Echoing from down one end of the tu

"Heath, we don't have time for this." He started to shake his head no. "Listen to me! I have special powers. Those—" I hesi­tated, not sure what to call the group of creatures that somehow included my dead best friend. "Those things aren't going to be able to hurt me."

Heath didn't say anything, but he didn't look convinced and the ratlike sounds were getting louder.

"You said you can tell I'm lying because of our link. It has to go both ways. You've got to be able to tell when what I say is the truth." He looked like he was waffling, so I added, "Think hard. You said you remembered some of that night you found me at Philbrook. I saved you that night, Heath. Not the cops. Not an adult vamp. I saved you, and I can do it again." I was glad I sounded a lot more certain than I felt. "Tell me where you are."

He thought for a while, and I was getting ready to yell at him (again) when he finally said, "You know where the old depot is downtown?"

"Yeah, you can see it from the Performing Arts Center where we went to see Phantom for my birthday last year, right?"

"Yeah. They took me to the basement of it. They got in through something that looks like a barred door. It's old and rusted, but it lifts right up. The tu

"Good, I'll—"

"Wait, that's not all. There are lots of tu

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Be careful, Zo."

"I will. You be safe."

"I'll try." Hissing was added to the scurrying noises. "But you should probably hurry up."