Page 73 of Caretaker

“The master is here,” I told him.

Both he and Alejandro gaped at me.

“Amias?” Clayton asked. “He’s on the island?”

I nodded. “He’s the vampire who killed the checkpoint guards.”

“That evens the odds a little more,” Al said. “We’ll have a better shot with five of us.”

“Four,” I said. “There are only four of us.”

He looked uncomfortable. “I guess I was counting Angus.”

I smiled. “You’re right, then. There are five of us.”

Something in his return smile made me wonder who was hiding behind those sweet, calm eyes. Someone I hadn’t really seen yet, I was sure.

Madalyn’s scent reeled me through the night, growing stronger with each step I took until finally, I felt as though I could have closed my eyes and reached out to touch her.

Only…

“She’s inside the Byrdcage?” Clayton’s voice was a low rumble as he stared up at the wall surrounding the back of the prison.

I put my palm on the stone. “I don’t know if she’s inside the prison. I just know she’s somewhere behind this wall.”

“How do we get in?” Alejandro asked. “We can’t go to the front and ask politely.”

The sounds of revelry had grown from a muffled rumble to a more distinct roar; somewhere behind that wall, Angus was forced to fight for his captors’ entertainment.

“We get in the way Clayton got in.” I looked at Clayton. “Take us in.”

He didn’t want to, but he had no choice. Saving Angus meant that I might have to see him, and right or not, that was how it had to be.

Still, he hesitated.

“Clayton,” I snapped. “I know a lot about Angus. His fucking every female in the city is about as bad as he gets and still, here I am, trying to rescue him. I don’t care about saving his pride. I need to save his life. Now let’s go.”

He stared at me, his eyes shadowy and unreadable in the tall lights surrounding the prison. “It will hurt you, even if it doesn’t change how you see him.”

And at last, he turned abruptly and strode away, following the wall away from the Byrdcage. Resistance was in every stiff line of his body, but he would do what he had to do.

Alejandro stayed behind me, quiet and watchful, his gun in his hand.

I felt like I’d downed a dozen pots of coffee and was going to jump out of my skin and run screaming through the night at any second. My heart beat too fast, my lungs couldn’t drag in enough air, and my entire body trembled just slightly. Just enough to let me know I was close to losing control.

I needed to lose control. I needed to scream and fight and work off some of that nervous energy, not creep through the night, my breath held, as I waited for the prison to discover the dead bodies Amias had left behind.

Despite what I’d told Clayton, I was afraid to see Angus.

I didn’t want to see him beaten and bloody and fighting for his life. I didn’t want to see his violence and his desperation. I didn’t want to see him whipped into submission by the humans who held him.

But I would.

We entered a dark, recessed area in the wall, almost at the very back of the prison, and Clayton pointed.

I squinted into the darkness, finally seeing the crumbled brick and the small, gaping hole in the wall. “How did you find this?” I was amazed. If I hadn’t known it was there, I would never have seen it.

“Shit, man,” Al murmured. “He didn’t find it. He made it.”