Page 61 of Bitten By Desire

The Daphne changeling already had him.

If I’d had Julian’s strength, I would’ve crushed the phone in my grip. My head thrummed with the sound of my own pulse as I hurried to the elevator.

When the doors opened on my lab—or what was left of it after the battle-born tremors in the building the other day, I stepped out cautiously, sweeping the room for danger. I spun in place and watched the elevator fade from view. Behind it, Julian knelt on the ground, one hand stretched high above him and handcuffed in silver to a cage that normally held equipment. His head hung to the side, eyes closed on a chalk white face. His shirt lay in tatters, shredded, along with his chest and stomach, blood oozing far too slowly from the wounds and dripping into a puddle at his knees.

Before I could run to him, Daphne, or rather the thing that looked like Daphne, stepped out from behind the cage to stand beside him. She leaned down and fisted his hair, tugging his head up to face me, which elicited a moan from deep in his throat.

She spread her fingers in front of me, and enormous sharp claws elongated from the tips she poised over his throat.

“Stop,” I said, desperation in the word even as I moved toward her.

“My queen gifted me with a charm to stop you from mind bending me,” she said in Daphne’s soft voice. “Your command isn’t the reason I’m not ripping his head from his body right now.”

I shifted my weight and bit down on the inside of my cheek, debating whether I could send something flying at her fast enough.

“No psychic tricks,” she said. “See, our dear friend confided in me about his dilemma. Poor thing, tortured by the traces of silver still lining his organs. It seems he’s been in excruciating pain for some time now.”

I winced, still trying to focus on finding a way out of this.

“Desperate to save him?” she asked, calling my attention away from Julian and to her exaggerated pout. “He’s only continued to feed because of your wishes. If it were up to him, he’d be dead now. I’d be doing him a favor.” She swung her claw and tore through the skin of his neck, chin, and shoulder.

“No!” My scream rattled the glass objects still on the shelves of the storage cage behind them.

She continued holding his head aloft, and I stared in horror at the jagged edges of torn skin and sinew fallen like wrapping paper ripped hurriedly from a gift. They were barely coated in blood. He was almost empty.

“Don’t look so worried,” Daphne said. “I didn’t take his head off. You can keep him alive and continue torturing him if you want. All you have to do is come with me back to the queen.”

“And if I don’t?” I asked.

“Then I decapitate our friend and hopefully don’t kill you before taking you by force.”

Swallowing, I stared at Julian’s torn face. The realization that she was the one who’d done this to my mother sat heavy in my gut. She’d taken Em—a child—to the queen because she was a psychic.

“She’ll kill you as soon as she has me,” I said. Frankly, I didn’t care one bit if someone killed this bitch. But she should, and that might just be my bargaining chip.

“I don’t see her sending anyone else after Lorraine,” Daphne said, but she licked her lips, like she wasn’t so sure.

“The queen doesn’t care to waste her energy looking. But if Lorraine were to come into hand’s reach, she’d kill her in a second,” I said, ideas forming in my mind. “The second you show up with me, that’s it for you.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said, shaking Julian’s head like a mop.

“Let’s test it then.” I folded my arms, calling her bluff. The truth was, I had no idea if the queen would care one way or the other if she or Lorraine suffered.

“Good idea,” she said. “Text Lorraine. Tell her to portal straight here. We’ll send her to the queen and see what happens.”

I did as asked, thinking I may be able to get Julian out while she was distracted with Lorraine. I’d at least be able to notify Sam and the others.

“Put these on,” Evil Daphne said when I’d finished texting. I glanced up in time to catch the handcuffs she’d tossed to me. “One hand then come here.” She indicated the other side of the cage Julian was cuffed to with her opposite hand, keeping claws poised by his throat.

My heart hammered as I followed her instructions, effectively chaining myself to the other side of the cage. Changeling Daphne smiled at me as a portal opened and Changeling Lorraine stepped through, glancing between the three of us in a way that made me dizzy.

“Give me some suggestion elixir so I can dose her and finish this,” Daphne demanded, holding out her non-claw hand.

“What’s going on here?” Zoe asked, stepping through her own portal. She must have seen us on the other side.

The last thing I wanted was my sister in danger. But the portal closed behind her as she took in Julian’s condition with a cry.

“She’s the changeling,” I said, unnecessarily.

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