You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
NINETEEN<br />
I HATE BEING POWERLESS. AND I hate going down without a fight. What had taken place<br />
outside in the alley hadn't been a real fight. If it had—if I'd been beaten into submission …<br />
well, yeah. Maybe I could accept that. Maybe. But I hadn't been beaten. I'd barely gotten my<br />
hands dirty. Instead, I'd gone quietly.<br />
Once they had us sitting on the floor of the van, they'd bound each of our hands behind our<br />
back with flex-cuffs— strips of plastic that cinched together and held just as well as anything<br />
made of metal.<br />
After that, we rode in near silence. The men occasionally murmured something to each other,<br />
speaking too softly for any of us to hear. Christian or Mia might have been able to understand<br />
the words, but they were in no position to communicate anything to the rest of us. Mia looked<br />
as terrified as she had out on the street, and while Christian's fear had rapidly given way to his<br />
typical haughty anger, even he didn't dare act out with guards nearby.<br />
I was glad for Christian's self-control. I didn't doubt any of these men would smack him if he<br />
got out of line, and neither I nor the other novices were in a position to stop them. That was<br />
what really drove me crazy. The instinct to protect Moroi was so deeply ingrained in me that I<br />
couldn't even pause to worry about myself. Christian and Mia were the focus. They were the<br />
ones I had to get out of this mess.<br />
And how had this mess started? Who were these guys? That was a mystery. They were human,<br />
but I didn't believe for an instant that a group of dhampirs and Moroi had been random<br />
kidnapping victims. We'd been targeted for a reason.<br />
Our captors made no attempts to blindfold us or conceal our route, which I didn't take as a good<br />
sign. Did they think we didn't know the city well enough to retrace our steps? Or did they figure<br />
it didn't matter since we wouldn't be leaving wherever they were taking us? All I sensed was<br />
that we were driving away from downtown, off toward a more suburban area. Spokane was as
Change language