Read Online Chains of Darkness by Caris Roane - Free Book Online Page A

give me some time to catch up.”
    He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Sorry, I have a short fuse.”
    “You’re allowed.”
    He glanced at her. Once more the woman had surprised him. “I’m allowed?”
    “Lucian, you’ve been in hell for over a year. If the least negative response you exhibit is a certain level of impatience, I’m impressed beyond words.”
    Rumy punched his arm and smiled. “She sees you like I do. You’ve never given yourself enough credit.”
    Lucian thought they’d both lost their minds. He knew what he was. He lived with Daniel’s genes always threatening to take him over and to destroy the good he tried to do in his world. In part, he blamed Daniel’s Ancestral genetics for making him the man he was. Daniel had taken all that power and turned it into something evil.
    If Lucian ever embraced his Ancestral calling—and he knew he had it within him—what would keep him from becoming just like his father? That much power would tempt anyone.
    “All right, fine, think of me as you will, but let’s get back to figuring out this damn tracking thing.”
    “Fair enough.”
    *   *   *
     
    Once more Lucian took her hands as Claire closed her eyes. She relaxed as much as she could, focusing on the extinction weapon. She had no visual representation for the weapon, so she kept her thoughts trained on what it could do, its potential for annihilation.
    As before, an image would arrive at the periphery of her consciousness, trying to break through, then fade away. She centered her mind more carefully on that image. She felt Lucian’s power flowing through her now, a sensation she was gradually getting used to. She tapped into that power.
    Finally, the image began to take shape, in bits and pieces, sitting in a rough-looking cavern, smallish in size. In the center was a large gray metallic box with vents on the side. Without opening her eyes, she relayed what she saw.
    She felt Lucian’s corresponding excitement through the vibration of her chain. “Hold that location. That’s all you need to do.”
    “Got it.” But the edges beyond the weapon were wavy, as though the rest of the space was hidden behind a disguise. “Wait. Something’s not right here. I think there’s a disguising shield in place.” She opened her eyes and met Lucian’s gaze. “Is it possible Daniel is behind this?”
    Lucian shrugged, frowning. “I don’t know.” He turned to Rumy. “Daniel could be here, couldn’t he, without your security system knowing it?”
    “In some of the more remote regions of the Como system, yes, of course. There are a lot of miles that I haven’t explored. Don’t really need to.”
    Lucian frowned. “So this could be some kind of trap.”
    Claire nodded. “It doesn’t feel right to me at all.”
    “We’ll go with your instincts, and cruise the area first to get a good look at the object and the cave. I think we’ll know more then.”
    Claire gulped. “You’re talking altered flight.”
    “I know, but I can take it slow. We won’t be exposed like we were earlier in the open air. Mostly we’ll be traveling through solid rock and not in a location where other vampires in flight could see us.”
    She supposed his words were reasonable, but her previous headache still lingered, though not nearly as severe as it had been when she’d first arrived. “Okay.”
    His lips curved. “You sound doubtful.”
    She rubbed her temple. “What else would you expect?”
    “Point taken.” He glanced first at his bare feet, then hers.
    Claire smiled. “I guess we’d better shoe up.”
    Lucian laughed. “Shoe up?”
    She shrugged. “It made you laugh, didn’t it?”
    His expression held for a moment. “Yeah, it did. I can’t remember doing that in a long time. All right, Claire, let’s shoe up.”
    Once she had her socks and jogging shoes on and he’d donned some serious steel-toed boots, he held his arm wide for her. As his arm tightened around her waist, she stepped