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“H ow can you deny me this, my pet? I ask so little of you.” Adira stared at the teenager, forcing her expression to remain pleasant, innocent. Well, as innocent as she could manage. She would be the first to admit the ruse was quite a stretch for her.

“So little?” The young woman’s strangled voice broke on her words, her eyes flashing as she strained at the binding connecting her wrist to the bedpost. “You people broke into my home and dragged me here. You keep me locked in this room. Your goons hold me down while you stick needles in my fingers and you… you suck my blood, for God’s sake! You call that asking so little? You’re a freak of nature! A sick, demented freak!”

“It could be worse for you, you know. I could make it much, much worse. And frankly, I’m tired of trying to be nice about this. I want you to tell me what gifts of power your sister possesses and I want you to tell me now. No more games, Leah. I’m done with those.”

Adira’s patience with the blonde waif had come to an end. She reached out and pinched the sides of the girl’s chin between her thumb and forefinger, gradually increasing the pressure of her hold. “Tell me what I want to know or I’ll see to it that both you and your sister are very, very sorry.”

Her life would be ever so much easier if she could simply place the girl under a compulsion and direct her actions. But both Leah and her sister seemed immune to the power.

Not that she could have done it, even if it would have worked. She seemed to have lost that power since she’d been taking the girl’s blood. No great loss, really. Placing a Mortal under a compulsion had always required more of her than she was willing to give anyway. That’s what her minions were for.

Taking advantage of Adira’s momentary lapse in attention, Leah twisted her head and jerked her chin from Adira’s grasp. Two bright red marks stained her fair white skin.

“There’s nothing you can do to Destiny. You don’t know where she is and you’ll never find her. She’s too smart for you.” She pulled herself up to her full height, straightening her shoulders defiantly. “And there’s nothing you can do to me worse that what you’ve already done. I’d die before I tell you anything about my sister.”

Adira stepped away, turning her back only when she’d put distance between herself and the young woman. She’d made the mistake of turning her back too early once before and didn’t care to experience again the pain associated with having the little bitch pull her hair.

The memory brought with it a wash of anger.

“Oh really? Such a dramatic performance, foolish child. You should realize you’re too valuable to me for death. Where would I get my beauty treatments if I allowed something to happen to you? No, my dear, I’ll never allow you to die, not until you’re so old your soul deserts you of its own will, despite my best efforts. You’re mine. Now and forever.”

The girl had the audacity to spit at her in response!

“Temper, temper, my little pet,” Adira cautioned. “Your sister, on the other hand—I have no such attachments to her. No need to spare her life. Not unless you can give me some reason to keep her alive, that is.”

Leah’s head snapped up, her dark eyes large.

Wonderful! Now they were getting somewhere. Suddenly the girl was listening and not nearly so sure of herself anymore.

“But you don’t have Destiny.” Her words were slow, doubting.

“Don’t I?”

Adira reached into her pocket and pulled out the broken necklace she’d found carefully wrapped in a tissue at the bottom of Destiny’s purse. She was gambling on her guess that the woman wouldn’t use such care unless the jewelry was special to her.

And if it were special to her, surely her sister would recognize the piece.

She tossed the shiny black stones to the floor, where they scattered at Leah’s feet.

Recognition was instantaneous. The girl was on her knees, stretching, pulling at the strap that bound her one hand to the bed. She scrambled to scoop up all the stones and clutched them to her breast.

“How did you get this? What have you done with my sister?”

Adira wanted to laugh at the terror in the girl’s eyes, but she used restraint, allowing herself only a small satisfied smile. Leah’s reaction was all she could have hoped for and more.

“So you recognize it, then? Good. I’ll give you two hours to think things over. When I return, you’ll tell me all about your sister’s powers and try to convince me why I should keep her alive.”

She stepped out the door, locking it behind her. Satisfaction flooded her veins.

The young woman in that room had the power to heal. From ingesting her blood, Adira’s youth and vitality had sprung anew, to a degree she’d never experienced before. For that reason alone she would never let the girl go.

Never.

But recently, quite by accident, she’d discovered a strange new side effect of taking Leah’s blood.

If she concentrated on someone’s injury, lay her hands upon it, she, too, bore the power to heal, even though it manifested itself for only a short time after taking the blood.

Not that she wanted that particular gift. In fact, after her experience in touching the cut on Flynn’s arm, she’d made sure she kept her distance from everyone once she’d had her “beauty treatments.” At least until the healing ability had worn off.

There was no one whose pain she’d readily accept in order that they might be free of it. No one.

No one had ever shouldered her pain.

The experience had opened her eyes to a world of possibilities. Magic had returned to this world, in spite of the Earth Mother. There were powers out there for the taking. She had only to find those half-Fae bastard offspring. Gather them like a harvest and, along with them, all the power she had ever wanted.

They were, unfortunately, very difficult to identify. Finding Leah and her sister had been pure luck. They were all she had for now.

Or would have, once they snatched Destiny Noble from the Farmers’ Market tomorrow evening. Then she’d take both young women far away from here.

She might not yet know what gift flowed through Destiny’s blood, but it didn’t matter. Whatever it was, it would be hers.

Soon.