“Impossible,” Domitian said softly and Sarita grinned at him in response. He smiled back and then said, “Tell me about Dressler’s labs.”
Sarita nodded. “I only saw the first room of the building closest to the gate. But there are several buildings. From the helicopter I counted six in the fenced-in area and one outside of it. They look like army barracks, long low, narrow metal structures with only one door each on the end facing the gatehouse. No windows that I saw,” Sarita added grimly and then said, “I think the one outside the fence is probably the barracks and mess hall for the security guys. A bunch of them would come up at meal times to collect the food, but they took it back to that building to eat and then returned the pans and stuff after.”
She paused, thought for a minute, and then shrugged. “That’s all I know.”
Domitian nodded on a sigh. It would have to be enough.
“But we can’t forget to mention the gilled man to your uncle,” Sarita added suddenly. “There might be more like him out there. In fact, now that I think about it, there most likely are. That is probably how your uncle and that Santo fellow as well as the others were dragged off the boats and disappeared without your sister and the other pilots seeing.”
“Si.” Domitian nodded slowly. That made perfect sense. They could easily have been shot with a dart and dragged over the side, pulled down into the depths and dragged away by one of the creatures he’d killed on their way here. They could have dragged the immortals all the way to the island without surfacing and not killed them. The nanos would simply have gone into a sort of stasis and then activated again to repair things once oxygenated blood was available again. He doubted that had happened, however. Some of them had been taken so far from the island that traveling back and forth would take too long. There must have been boats around, out of sight, waiting for them to bring their quarry.
“Warn them about winged hybrids watching from the air too,” Thorne said.
Domitian glanced to him sharply, but he wasn’t being sarcastic.
Raising an eyebrow, the man asked, “Did you think I was the only one?”
“Actually, I did,” Domitian admitted with a wry twist to his lips. “There are others, though?”
Thorne nodded. “They only fly at night. Probably because El Doctor doesn’t wish them to be seen, but sometimes they fly out quite a distance over the ocean.”
“Are there other hybrids I need to warn them about?” he asked.
“I’m sure there are many variations,” he said grimly. “However, since I do not go to the other side of the island . . .” He shrugged. “I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
“Of course,” Domitian said and nodded thoughtfully. He’d just have to warn them to keep their eyes open.
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m ready for bed,” Mrs. Dressler announced brightly.
“Me too.” Sarita’s grandmother stood, hesitated and then bent to kiss Sarita’s cheek shyly before saying, “You should sleep too, Chiquita. You have been up all night.”
“Yes, abuela,” Sarita said softly, her hand rising to touch her cheek where her grandmother had kissed her.
“I’ll walk up with you after I see Elizabeth to bed,” Maria Reyes added with a smile.
Domitian saw the way Sarita’s eyes softened and realized quite suddenly that she hadn’t had the softer influence and affection of a female in her life for a very long time, not since she was thirteen. This must all be a bit overwhelming for her in some respects.
“Goodnight, Sarita,” Mrs. Dressler said, reaching out to squeeze her hand affectionately. “Sleep well.”
“You too,” Sarita said and then stood to kiss her cheek, before straightening to hug her grandmother and kiss her cheek too.
Both women beamed at her for the affectionate display, and then Mrs. Dressler smiled at Domitian and said, “Thorne’s room is the first door on the left at the top of the stairs. You should run along to bed. You look ready to drop.”
Domitian nodded politely and stood as Sarita’s grandmother began to wheel the woman away. When the ladies disappeared into the room and Sarita turned back, he kissed her cheek gently. “I’ll leave you to your grandmother and go get some rest. Sleep well.”
“Goodnight,” Sarita whispered, and he saw her earlier concern flicker across her face. “Are you okay?”
“I am fine,” he assured her and then turned and slipped away before she could ask anything else that might force him to lie.
“Well, this is Elizabeth’s old room,” Sarita’s grandmother said, a little breathless from mounting the stairs. She gestured to the door on their right as they stepped into the upper hall.
“Oh.” Sarita glanced at it and then said, “I’ll just walk you to your door.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s only a couple feet. Go on in and go to bed. I know you must be tired.” She patted her shoulder, then turned her cheek up and Sarita bent to kiss her again, which made the woman beam once more. Turning away, she headed for the door at the end of the hall and said, “Goodnight, dear.”
“Goodnight,” Sarita murmured and watched her, but then she opened her door and slipped inside when her grandmother reached her own door and glanced back.
Sarita eased the door closed and then simply stood there listening until she heard her grandmother’s door open and close. Letting her breath out on a little sigh, she then eased her door open again and glanced out into the hall. Finding it empty, Sarita hesitated, her gaze sliding to the door across the hall where Domitian was. But finally, she slipped out and tiptoed across to his door.
She started to raise her hand to knock, but caught herself at the last moment and rolled her eyes. Someone would hear. She was definitely tired. Giving her head a shake, Sarita turned the doorknob slowly and carefully and then slipped inside.
Domitian was lying on top of the bed, fully clothed and wide awake. He sat up at once as she entered, but remained silent as she eased his door carefully closed. He didn’t say anything after that even, but simply watched silently as she approached the bed, Sarita noted as her gaze slid over him.
He was wearing jeans and a backless shirt. She’d noticed that when he’d walked away to go upstairs. But then she supposed she shouldn’t have expected anything else. Thorne wouldn’t have shirts with backs in them. Still it had startled her and she’d had to bite back a laugh.
She wasn’t laughing now. You couldn’t see that the shirt was different from the front and this was the first time she’d seen him in anything but boxers. He was sexy in boxers, but she found him just as irresistible in clothes. Domitian wasn’t as pretty as Thorne, she supposed, if you took him feature by feature, but there was just something about him that appealed to her.
“Sarita,” he growled in warning and rolled off the other side of the large bed as she started to sit on the edge of it beside him.
Straightening, she frowned and walked around to the bottom of the bed as he did.
“You should not be here,” Domitian whispered, catching her arms as if to hold her back. “We need to sleep.”
“Yes we do,” Sarita agreed. “But you need blood too.”
“Si,” he admitted grimly. “Unfortunately, there is none to be had just at the moment.”
“There is,” she said solemnly and shifted her long hair away from her neck. Pushing it over her shoulder to trail down her back, she bared her throat to him. Sarita didn’t say anything, simply tilted her head to the side, offering him her neck.
“So,” the word came out on a hissed breath, and then Domitian pressed a kiss to her throat and murmured, “the impossible has happened.”
“What?” she asked with confusion, shivering as his lips ran along her throat.
“Hell has frozen over,” he whispered, reminding her of her words on first meeting him. Hell would freeze over before she let him bite her, she’d claimed.
Before Sarita could respond, his teeth sank into her throat. She stiffened at the sharp pain it caused and then relaxed as that was suddenly gone and pleasure slid through her, a warm wet sensation that settled low in her belly.