Sean shrugged. "They'll keep coming as long as their leader's alive, and you can't even find him."
Connor's jaw clenched. "We've located Casimir twice."
"And he always escapes." Sean enjoyed seeing the red flush of rage on Connor's face. "If anything happens to my daughter, I'll raze this place to the ground. I'll destroy you all."
Connor zoomed over to him in a blur of vampire speed and seized him by the shirt collar. His eyes blazed with anger. "Mind yer manners, Whelan. Ye need us."
Sean wrenched himself free. That damned Connor. Once he started killing the Vamps, he'd make sure Connor was second on the list, right after Shanna's damned husband.
Carlos blinked his eyes open. The place was dark, but his eyes adjusted quickly. The floor beneath him vibrated slightly, and he could hear the hum of engines.
"There you are," Caitlyn whispered. "Welcome back."
He planted a hand on the floor to push himself into a sitting position, and felt something tug at his wrist. He was in handcuffs with a foot of chain between his hands.
He sat up and felt another tug at his neck. "What the hell?" There was a collar around his neck, and a heavy chain extended from it to a metal bar. "We're in a cage?"
"Yes." Caitlyn sat beside him, leaning back against the bars. There were no handcuffs or chains on her, and she had a blanket draped around her shoulders. "They kept you drugged for hours. They're scared to death of you." The corner of her mouth tilted up. "I can hardly blame them. You can really kick ass."
He grasped the thick chain in his fist and tugged. With his added strength, he might be able to break it. "Where are we?"
"On a plane. In a cargo hold." She wrapped the blanket tighter around her. "We've been waiting for you to wake up."
"We?" He glanced around and spotted Rajiv, the were-tiger.
The young man was dressed in baggy pants. His long black hair hung over one shoulder in a braid, and there was a silver collar around his neck. His hands were also cuffed. He said something in his language.
"He's glad you're all right," Caitlyn translated.
"I didn't know he'd been captured," Carlos said.
"Well, you have a good excuse." She gave him a wry look. "You were knocked out and dying at the time."
"Better me than you." He thought back to their hike through the jungle. "I thought I heard a tiger."
She nodded. "He followed us, then tried to help us. Pat was delighted to capture a second cat shifter since you were dying at the time."
He arched a brow. "Do I detect a little anger?"
"I'm a bit peeved because you keep dying all the time. You don't have an unlimited amount of lives, you know."
Neither did she. Carlos's gaze drifted to the bite mark on her neck. It was true. He'd bitten her. His mind was so fuzzy with the aftereffects of tranquilizers that he'd hoped he had only imagined biting her.
"It'll be all right," she whispered.
He hung his head, closing his eyes.
"I was talking to Rajiv while you were sleeping," she changed the subject. "He's Raghu's younger brother. Only twenty years old. He hasn't fallen in love with any of the girls in his tribe, and his brother will be head of the tribe for life, so Rajiv decided to leave in search of adventure."
Carlos glanced at the young man who was watching them with his golden eyes. "How can he take tiger form during the day?"
"Oh, good question." Caitlyn asked Rajiv in his language, then translated the response. "He says he's on his second life. He was bitten by a cobra when he was eighteen. When he revived, he was able to shift whenever he wanted."
Carlos nodded. "If he wants adventure, he certainly found it."
Caitlyn smiled. "He says he was somehow drawn to me, that he knew I would help him."
"Like Coco and Raquel." Carlos's gaze drifted once again to the bite on her neck. She was the most amazing woman in the world, and she was going to die because of him.
"Do you want to know what happened while you were sleeping?" she asked.
"Yes." He glanced around the cargo hold. "How did we get here?"
"I woke up when Pat and his buddies were dragging us into a large room. Rajiv was already there. And three vampires, so it must have been after dark. The vampires spoke Thai to Pat but Chinese to each other. They didn't realize I can understand Chinese."
"So what were they saying?" Carlos asked.
"They were worried about the silver collars on you and Rajiv, worried that they wouldn't be able to teleport you. Pat gave you and Rajiv a sedative, then he removed the silver collars. And then the teleporting began. It took a while since the three vampires had to make multiple trips to take us and Pat and his buddies."
"Where did they take us?" Carlos asked.
"To a small airport. I think it was on an island 'cause I could see palm trees and sand, and I could hear waves breaking. The vampires talked about being afraid to teleport any farther east."
"Right." Carlos nodded. "They don't want to accidentally teleport into sunlight and get fried."
"So I figure the island was east of Thailand, somewhere in the Pacific. And I assume we're still traveling east. They offered us blankets, but Rajiv refused his and growled at them."
"Good man." Carlos gave Rajiv a thumbs-up.
She pointed to another caged area in the cargo hold, barely visible with the dim running lights. "See those coffins over there? A while back the vampires came down here and climbed inside them."
"We must be headed into sunlight." Carlos tugged on his chain. "If I can get into their cage, I could kill them."
"With what?" Caitlyn asked. "We have no weapons. They took our shoes and belts. My feet are frozen." She rubbed her bare feet together. "And these bars are really strong. Rajiv already tested them."
Carlos curled a fist around a bar and shook it. It didn't budge.
"We might as well wait it out," she said. "I don't think any of us know how to fly a plane."
"Good point. How long have we been in the air?"
"We're not sure. We don't have watches, but it seems like a long time."
"Flying east for hours," he murmured. "It's actually a good thing if this trip takes a long time. It'll give MacKay more time to figure out we're missing and track us down."
Caitlyn nodded. "My sister has a strong psychic link to me. I'm trying to send her images of us in a cage on an airplane."
"You're amazing." His gaze lingered on the soft golden color of her hair, the sweet line of her jaw, and the pink perfection of her lips. So beautiful.
"Don't look at me like that," she whispered. "Like you're trying to memorize every detail before I'm gone."
He swallowed hard. "I'll never forgive myself if - ""Don't say it." She pressed two cold fingers to his mouth. "I'm going to make it."
He took her cold hand in his. "Your chances are not good."
"I'm going to fight," she insisted. "I'm not going to leave you. You know how stubborn I can be."
He smiled sadly. "So you'll survive just to prove me wrong?"
"If I have to, yes. Just because I'm a lousy warrior doesn't mean I'm not strong."
"You're the strongest woman I know."
"Thank you." Her eyes glimmered with emotion. "So what will happen exactly? Will I sprout whiskers in a few days? Or have an insatiable desire for tuna?"
His chest tightened. He knew she had to be scared, but she was putting on a brave front. "The change will remain dormant inside you until it's triggered by the full moon. That's why the first time is so dramatic and painful. The abruptness of the transformation is more than some people can bear."
"So I have until the next full moon?"
"Yes. About two weeks from now."
She nodded, then leaned back against the bars. "Two weeks."
He rubbed her hand to warm up her fingers. Whenever, if ever, they got out of this mess alive, he wanted to make their marriage legal. Tears came to his eyes when he realized how short their marriage would likely last. "Catalina, will you marry me?"
She squeezed his hand. "I thought you'd never ask."
Chapter Twenty-eight
Caitlyn was hoping she'd recognize their location when they disembarked, but unfortunately they never left the plane. At one point during the flight, Pat and his armed thugs came down to the cargo hold to check on them. She begged to go to the restroom, so Pat allowed them to go one at a time with an armed escort. Carlos and Rajiv each required three armed escorts.
She hoped Pat would talk to his cohorts so she could glean more information, but they were silent now that they knew she understood Thai. She continued to send airplane images to her sister but had no idea if she was succeeding. After many hours, she finally felt the plane descend and heard the landing gear lower.
When they jostled and bounced a little with the landing, Rajiv stiffened. "What is that?"
"We just landed," she told him in his language. He was trying to be brave, but she could tell he was nervous. It was his first time to travel by air and his first time away from home.
"Do you know who's piloting the plane?" Carlos asked.
"No." She shook her head. "I never saw anyone in a uniform. I think one of their thugs must know how to fly."
The plane taxied for what seemed a long time.
"I counted about six mortals during our bathroom break," Carlos whispered.
She nodded. "The guy who escorted me is called Sawat."
"The huge lummox with the broken nose?" Carlos glanced at the coffins. "It would be better to defeat the mortals before the vampires wake up."
"You and Rajiv can't shift with those collars on. And we have no weapons. I think we should wait till we disembark, then try to find a way to escape."
Carlos's eyes narrowed as he considered.
"Whatever you do, please don't get yourself killed again," she muttered.
He frowned. "It's not like I enjoy it."
The plane stopped moving. Caitlyn tensed, afraid that Carlos and Rajiv would try something suicidal when Pat and his cohorts arrived.
They waited. And waited.
Rajiv curled up on the floor and fell asleep.
"Merda," Carlos muttered. "They're waiting for nightfall..."
"So the vampires can wake up," she finished his thought.
The time dragged by. She wrapped the blanket around herself and Carlos and lightly dozed.
A sudden creak woke her up. Carlos motioned with his head toward the coffins. She shivered at the sight of the lids slowly opening.
The vampires floated out of the coffins and landed on their feet. There were all Chinese, as far as she could tell, and dressed in red embroidered silk robes. Their long black hair was braided down their backs, and their fingernails were yellow and about six inches long.
They turned their heads toward her and hissed, showing sharp yellow fangs.
She shuddered and huddled closer to Carlos. She hoped she and her friends weren't breakfast.
"If one of them tries to bite you," Carlos whispered, "I'll snap his neck."
Pat and six men came down to the cargo hold. Sawat opened the vampire cage and bowed as they exited. Pat and the others bowed low. The vampires seized three men and sank their fangs into their necks.
Caitlyn flinched. The men didn't fight. They quietly submitted, then bowed low after the vampires released them.
"We have arrived in San Francisco?" the tallest vampire asked in Chinese.
"Yes, Master," Pat responded in the same language. "All is ready at the temple."
San Francisco? She immediately shot an image of the Golden Gate Bridge to her sister.
"Then it is time for us to go." The tallest vampire moved toward Caitlyn and her friends.
Pat and his six thugs ran up to the cage. Several pointed handguns at them, while the others grasped the chain connected to Carlos's silver collar. They yanked on it to pull Carlos toward them. He resisted, but the collar pressed into his throat, cutting off his air. He relented then and let them draw him back. Caitlyn winced when the back of his head hit the metal bars.
With Carlos pinned to the bars, Sawat tugged his T-shirt up in the back. Caitlyn gasped as Pat plunged a syringe into Carlos's back.
Pat glanced at her. "It's just a sedative. We need you all alive."
Sawat smirked. "For a little while."
Carlos's eyes flickered shut and he crumpled to the floor. Pat and his thugs did the same procedure to Rajiv, then opened the cage and removed the silver collars from both the cat shifters. The vampires sauntered inside the cage, and two of them grabbed Rajiv and Carlos and teleported away. Soon they were back and teleporting away the thugs and Pat.
The third vampire advanced toward Caitlyn. She stepped back, her heart thundering in her ears.
"When we celebrate the resurrection of Master Han, I will take this one," he said in Chinese. "I will drain her dry and burn her flesh for my incense."
She swallowed hard, and sent another frantic image of the Golden Gate Bridge to her sister. The vampire lurched toward her with incredible speed. She jumped back but his long fingernails had curled around her arm. He teleported, taking her with him, and everything went black.
She stumbled when they arrived and fell onto her knees as the vampire tossed her aside. She saw Carlos and Rajiv nearby, lying unconscious on the floor.