Thirteen

“What the hell are you?”

Over the course of an hour, I had learned almost everything about the pitiful woman. I’d learned Julianna Thayer’s name. I had learned she was was a neurologist, and I learned where she had worked. I learned her relationship with Jack Daniels, I learned where she lived, I learned where he lived, and I learned other, more personal details about her life.

It’s quite magnificent, the things you can draw from conducting simple torture.

“You’re a fool,” I hissed at her, tightening my grip on the lock I had on her arms. She winced in pain and threw her head back. Her neck and face were drenched in cold sweat, her eyes tired. “When the blond one summoned you to safety, you shouldn’t have disobeyed.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that now.”

“Silence!”

The woman seethed as I twisted her bones, painfully. I would not kill her, not yet. She would be useful. But a hassle to carry.

Oh, yes. I had heard the mutt coming. I had heard him leaping at my throat to save his master. The only reason why I hadn’t killed the beast was without the animal, Jack Daniels would die. And not by my hand. I couldn’t have that. As Jack was not useful without his bond. Perhaps I could slay two for the price of one...It was perfect. Thus, with him alive, I could find the other Protectors.

And, with her alive, I could do just as much, too.

Yes, darling Julianna had not the slightest idea of the whereabouts, let alone ANYTHING, to do with the Protectors.

But she did know one thing, without knowing it.

She knew one of them.