“Her legs, Thorne! Try her legs!” Mrs. Dressler suggested.
Nodding, Thorne stepped to the side, and then moved down to grab Sarita’s feet as they flew up in the air. That was all Domitian saw before his head was smashed into the hardwood floor by Sarita’s upper body. But he soon realized this was not going to work either. With her legs in the air, Sarita’s mobility was restricted to a short up and down. Basically, her breasts were playing patty cake with his head on the floor.
“Oh, dear, no that isn’t going to work either, Thorne,” Elizabeth Dressler said with dismay. “Let go of her legs.”
Domitian bellowed when Thorne listened to his mother, released Sarita’s legs, and they promptly slammed down into his groin together.
“Out Devil! Out spawn of hell!” Maria Reyes roared in response.
Domitian closed his eyes in misery as he realized he wasn’t going to get out with even one testicle intact. He’d felt the second one pop this time. God help him, but he was grateful to be low on blood in that moment. The thought of his testicles healing only to be crushed again . . . Well, it was really more than any man should have to endure, he thought.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Domitian blinked his eyes open and stared at the man now towering in the doorway, and then Sarita’s breasts obscured his view. But when she rose up again, and the ringing in his ears ended, he opened his eyes and peered at his uncle once more. All he managed to get out was “She was dying,” before Sarita’s upper body slammed into his head again. Fortunately, it was a mere bounce this time, because Sarita was suddenly lifted off him.
Opening his eyes, Domitian saw that Lucian had grabbed her under the arms and was now holding her out in front of him as far as his reach would allow as if she were a child with a dirty diaper. Releasing a sigh of relief, Domitian scrambled to his feet, took one unsteady step, and then fell over as the world tipped.
He was quite sure he heard a sigh from his uncle and then the man began barking orders.
“Bricker, run back down to the boat and get the chain we brought! Jo, go with him and fetch the blood! Nephew, stay down!” he added when Domitian opened his eyes and tried to move. “The back of your head is hamburger. You need blood before you try to rise again. And, Basha, please control and remove these ladies so I can set Sarita down!”
“On it,” three voices said at once and Domitian watched as the room burst into activity. Justin Bricker and a pretty young woman who must be Jo rushed from the room to fetch chain and blood, and Basha stepped in front of Maria Reyes and Elizabeth Dressler for a moment as Thorne looked on with concern. She then turned to say something to Thorne that Domitian couldn’t hear over Sarita’s continued screeching and then stepped aside to allow Thorne to pick up his mother. Taking Sarita’s grandmother by the arm, she then led her from the room too.
Domitian stared after the woman, trying to focus, and then asked, “Is that—?”
“Yes. Your uncle Felix’s daughter, Basha.” Lucian nodded.
“I heard she was found,” he muttered, closing his eyes again to avoid having to watch the room spin. “Is she a hunter now?”
“Yes. As is her husband, Marcus.”
Domitian nodded and then winced when it caused him pain to move his head on the floor. He then pondered the fact that he could hear his uncle despite Sarita’s screaming. And then realized the man probably wasn’t talking at all, but transmitting his thoughts to him.
Justin Bricker was the first to return with his booty. The rattle of the chains brought Domitian’s eyes open again, and ignoring his uncle’s orders, he rolled onto his stomach and crawled to the bed as Lucian laid Sarita on it and began to chain her down with Justin’s help. Halfway through the process Sarita finally stopped screaming and went silent.
Concerned, Domitian managed to pull himself up to kneel at the side of the bed, and then flinched in surprise when a bag of blood was slapped to his mouth, which was open on a breathless pant.
Domitian raised a hand in thanks, the best he could do with a bag of blood in his mouth, then watched as Jo carried a cooler full of blood around to the other side of the bed and set it down.
“Dani’s sending someone with drugs to help with the turn,” Jo announced as she straightened. “They found Nicholas and the others. She said most of them are all right, but Santo is in a bad way. His hand was cut off and is partially sealed over and they can’t find the hand.”
“And Dressler?” Lucian asked.
“No sign yet,” Jo said grimly. “They’re still searching.”
Lucian finished chaining Sarita down, then straightened and considered her briefly, before asking, “Is she sending an IV?”
“Yes,” Jo said, grabbing another bag of blood and moving out of his vision.
“Then all we can do is wait,” Lucian said.
Domitian flinched as the now-empty bag was ripped from his mouth, but raised a hand to catch the next bag as Jo went to pop it on his fangs.
“How did you know where the island is?” he asked, and then popped the bag on himself as he waited to hear the answer.
“A little birdy told me,” Lucian said dryly, bringing a snort from Justin Bricker as he finished locking the last chain on his side of the bed and straightened.
“A big damned bird, man,” Justin said and then grinned. “Hey, get it? Birdman? Bird, man?”
“Please. Spare us,” Lucian said dryly.
“No sense of humor at all,” Bricker complained and then glanced to Domitian and grinned. “You should have seen Lucian jump when Thorne came swooping out of the air and perched on the rail of the balcony at the villa like a big damned vulture.”
“He is part eagle not vulture,” Lucian growled.
“Yeah. Whatever. You should have seen your face, though. That was the first time I’ve seen you surprised by anything.”
“It is the first time I have been surprised in many centuries,” Lucian admitted. “Are you saying you were not surprised?”
“Oh yeah, I was surprised all right,” Bricker admitted and then glanced to Domitian and told him. “Lucian damned near killed him before we knew he was a friend. Fortunately, Thorne blurted your name and then explained everything. He led us back to the island as soon as we could round everyone up and arm them. About three miles out he made us stop and wait, said he could see hybrids in the air ahead. I thought he was kidding, but Jo pulled out the binoculars and sure enough, there were a couple of them flying around. They were far enough apart Thorne was able to take care of them one at a time. He flew up really high in the sky so he could approach unnoticed,” Bricker said, raising a hand upward as far as he could reach. He then brought it swiftly down adding, “And then he swooped down and sucker punched the first one in the back of the head as he flew past.” He slammed a fist into his palm with a smack. “The guy was still falling through the air when he swung around and gained height again to go after the next one.”
Bricker shook his head. “When he flew out of sight around the island, we didn’t know what was happening. Turns out there was one patrol on each side of the island. Ten minutes later he flies back around with a bird hanging from each hand. Literally,” he added with a grin. “They were chicks. Both unconscious but alive. Lucian had them locked in the hold of the big boat, and then we picked up the two in the water. One had landed on his wings on his back and was unconscious, but still alive. One landed facedown, though, and drowned before we got to him.”
“After locking them in the hold with the other two, we continued forward for another mile, but then Thorne made us stop again, and warned us he could see gilled hybrids in the water about a mile out from the island. Again, I thought he was kidding, but—” He paused to wait as Jo ripped the second bag of blood from Domitian’s mouth and replaced it with a third. And then he continued, “Anyway, after some discussion, it was decided Thorne would take Basha up in the air with him. He held her around the waist and flew, and she picked off the gilled hybrids with one of our dart guns. We put them in the hold too, but aren’t sure how they’ll handle our darts. They’re strong enough to knock out rogues, so . . .” He shrugged grimly, not needing to say they might be deadly to the hybrids depending on how strong their constitution was.