Deadly Captive by Bianca Sommerland Page A

doorway, looking us all over. Several people crowded the hallway behind him.
    "Good evening, Lydia. Joe." Cyrus smiled at Mary and took a step toward the bed. Mary slid back and cringed when he reached out to her. "Mary, my sweet. Are you all right?"
    Mary nodded quickly. "Yes. I'm fine. I'm good. How are you?"
    Cyrus's smile never wavered. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and patted the space at his side. Mary shot a look at Joe, then at me. Dropping her eyes, she shifted forward, cheeks flushed and shoulders bowed as she sat next to Cyrus.
    Cyrus caught a slick braid between his finger and thumb, sliding his fingers down slowly. Mary stiffened.
    Joe stepped forward. "Leave her alone!" The way his fists clenched at his sides convinced me he was going to take a swing at the omnipotent man.
    Cyrus rolled his eyes and waved Joe back. "Sit down, Joe. I'm not going to hurt her."
    Chrissie, the woman who'd fed from Joe the first time I'd been exposed to these people, was suddenly standing behind him. Joe jumped at her touch, pivoted around, and then stepped back. His teeth ground together audibly as he bowed his shoulders like a wolf with his hackles raised.
    One of the men who had restrained me for Cyrus grabbed me when I moved toward Joe.
    Chrissie laughed. "If you don't want to sit, Joe, I'm sure I can think of other things for us to do. Somewhere more private."
    "That's an excellent idea, Chrissie. Perhaps we should all find our own privacy."
    Cyrus looked from me to Joe. "Unless you're willing to cooperate?"
    Joe sat. The man holding me released me and extended his arm toward the second chair. I went to it and sat as well. I hadn't missed Cyrus's cryptic warning. I knew Joe wasn't doing this for himself, any more than I was. There was little we could do to spare Mary any more suffering. But we'd do what we could to keep from adding isolation with Cyrus to the torment.
    "Lydia seems to have injured her hand, Bruno. Can you tend to it while I pour us all a drink?" Cyrus reached under the bed and pulled out a bottle of rum even as he spoke. He smirked at me as he brought it to the table. I wanted to laugh. Did he really think, after all that had happened, I would care that he'd force me to drink the one liquor I couldn't stand?
    The man Cyrus called Bruno pressed a damp cloth to the cuts on my palm and I winced. He closed my hand over the cloth, his dull brown eyes showing concern.
    "I've got some ointment—should help with the pain." He twisted the cap off a small tube with his teeth, then bared my palm to smear the ointment on it. The pain dwindled as he bandaged the wounds. "There you go."
    My eyes narrowed at his show of kindness. He smiled and straightened.
    "You're welcome," he said.
    Another man came in, setting down a glass for each of us on the table. The man hesitated, glancing from me to Cyrus. I held my breath, not sure what the look meant.
    Did Cyrus have something special in store for me?
    Cyrus waved the man away. "Not tonight, Duke." He gave me another smirk.
    This one was more effective. "Maybe next time."
    I took the glass Cyrus filled and handed to me, drained it quickly, not tasting the rum, and set it down, frowning at the floor when he laughed and refilled it. He left Joe, Chrissie, and Bruno to serve themselves and brought a glass to Mary.
    "Have you ever had rum my dear?" He waited for her to shake her head and then pressed the glass on her. "Try it. It has a rich, sweet taste. Warms one up on the coldest of days."
    Mary accepted the glass, but she made a face at it when she did, sniffing it once before tugging her lip between her teeth, and gazing up at Cyrus. "I don't like drinking.
    I got really sick the last time I did."
    The genuine sympathy in Cyrus's expression threw me off guard. "I understand, darling, but you must. What I'm going to do will have some rather unpleasant aftereffects if you don't."
    Mary took a sip, accepting his explanation, but too curious not to know more.
    "What are you