Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) (18 page)

Chapter 13

Trust everybody, but cut the cards. - Finley Peter Dunne

The blackness gradually faded and Irina groggily fought to open her eyes. She felt terrible. Her eyes seemed crusted together, her mouth felt as though she’d swallowed a desert, and her stomach was churning. To top it all off, she couldn’t move. Trying to lift her hand, she discovered it was tied to something. Her chin rested against her chest, and it took all her strength to lift her head.

Movement in front of her drew her attention, but she couldn’t seem to bring whatever it was into focus. Her head felt as though it was filled with cotton.

“Irina Gorbacheva,” a woman’s voice said in Russian.

“Huh?” Irina’s voice came out as a rough croak.

“Give her some water,” the woman said.

Someone pulled her head up by grabbing her hair. The spout of a bottle was forced between her lips and water flooded her mouth. It tasted so good, but then she choked, coughing the liquid over the front of her dress.

“Idiot. Don’t drown her. Just a little water. Let her swallow it. Fool,” the woman said.

When Irina finished coughing, the bottle was pressed against her lips again, but only a trickle of water poured into her mouth. She greedily swallowed it.

“Irina Gorbacheva,” the woman said again. “I need you to say hello to your grandfather.”

Irina managed to bring the woman speaking into focus. Very tall and thin, large breasted with auburn hair, she could have been someone they had passed on the street, but Irina didn’t recognize her.

“My name is Larisa Orlova,” Irina managed to whisper. “I don’t know who this Irina person is.”

The woman shot a glance at someone outside of Irina’s line of sight. After a moment, she returned her attention to Irina.

“We know who you are. And if you are not Irina Gorbacheva, succubus and granddaughter of Sergei Gorbachev, then we have no reason to keep you alive. Do you understand?”

Irina attempted to touch the place in her mind where her Neural Disruption Gift was triggered. To her dismay, the drugs prevented her from touching any of her Gifts. Drawing a ragged breath, she tried to think, to concentrate on her situation. Her mind was so foggy. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep.

A small microphone was shoved in her face. Looking up, she saw a man aiming a camera at her.

“Say hello to your grandfather,” the woman said.

“I’m going to kill you,” Irina said.

“Is that really what you want to say to him?” the woman chuckled. “I think your threats are rather empty. We are in control here, not you.”

“I’m going to kill you, too,” Irina mumbled.

The expression on the woman’s face changed from amusement to dismay. “Your message for your grandfather is that you’re going to kill him?”

Irina shook her head. “Don’t want to talk to him at all. Why would I warn him?”

Although Irina couldn’t trigger her Gifts, Empathy didn’t need a trigger. The emotional feel of the room changed. The woman’s body language changed from arrogant to nervous and unsure. Irina tried to organize her thoughts, but she was so tired. She tried to start detoxifying the drugs in her system, but she couldn’t concentrate.

The basic telepathic Gifts--Telepathy, Empathy and Charisma--don’t have triggers. They are simply part of who the telepath is. But all telepathic efforts require energy, and that energy is drawn from the person’s personal life energy.

Frustrated by her own lethargy, Irina began draining the life energy of the people in the room. As she strengthened, she began to feel people outside the room and pulled energy from them as well. As her focus sharpened, she began detoxifying the drugs. She was able to identify four drugs. Testing each of them, she found the one that was blocking her telepathic abilities and concentrated on it.

Next, she cleared the drugs that caused the lethargy and sleepiness. Soon, her mind began to work again and she was able to assess her situation. At the same time, three of the men in the room had moved to sit on tables or chairs. The woman facing her leaned against the wall, weariness showing in her face.

The first thing that surfaced in Irina’s thoughts was the fact that her kidnappers had not broken down her shields and captured her mind. The only reason not to have done so was that they couldn’t. None of her captors had a Dominance Gift, and even combining their strength, they weren’t strong enough to breach her defenses. Her confidence soared.

And then, as her mind cleared, she felt Rhiannon.

*
Irina? Are you there?*

*Rhi! Goddess, am I glad to hear you!*

*
Are you all right?*
Rhiannon asked Irina.

*
Yeah, I think so. I’m really hungry and I’m tied to a chair, but I’ve cleared most of the drugs out of my system.*

*Where are you?*

*In a room without windows, tied to a chair. I realize that’s not terribly helpful.*

*What about the people holding you?*

*Everyone’s asleep,*
Irina replied.
*They’ll be out for a couple of days. But I don’t know if anyone else will come here.*

Rhiannon got out of the bathtub and began drying off. She sent a spear thread to Andrei. *
I’ve contacted her. She’s all right!*
Then what Irina had said hit her.

*They’re
all
asleep? How many are there?*

*Six in this room, another dozen in other rooms.*

*You shagged them all?*

Irina sent the mental equivalent of a giggle.
*No, silly. I told you, I’m tied up. But I don’t have to touch someone to drain them.

Rhiannon took a few moments to process everything Irina had told her.

*
If they’re all asleep, can you read any of their minds to find out where you are?*
she finally asked.

*
No, they’re all shielded,*
Irina answered.

*
Yes, I understand that. But can you break through their shields?*

*I don’t know,*
Irina sent. She was silent for a few moments. *
I’m not sure how to do that. I’ve never done it.*

Biting back her initial response, Rhiannon knew that she’d let some of her frustration seep through the link when Irina sent, *
I never had to do it, and no one ever taught me. It’s rude, you know.*

*And you don’t think someone kidnapping you is rude?
* Rhiannon chuckled. *
Can you let me into your mind? I can show you how to do it.*

Irina opened her mind and Rhiannon slipped in. She directed Irina to test the shields of the sleeping people around her. The woman’s mind was locked and solid. Rhiannon might have been able to break through if she’d been there in person, but at a distance she was limited to what Irina had the power to accomplish.

Irina tested the men, and as she brushed the mind of the third one, Rhiannon detected thoughts leaking through his shield. She pointed it out to Irina, then coached her to follow the faint random thoughts back to their source. Inside the man’s mind, it didn’t take long to identify Irina’s location. Her kidnappers hadn’t taken her far. She was a five-minute walk from where they had captured her.

Rhiannon sent the information to Andrei and Vladimir while she dressed, then turned her attention back to Irina and the man’s mind. As they burrowed down through the layers of his mind, Rhiannon picked up additional information about the organization and motives of the kidnappers. By the time she and the Protectors reached the building, Irina had breached all of the man’s shields and controlled his mind. Unfortunately, his energy levels were so low that she couldn’t wake him to untie her or let her friends into the building.

Walking down the street with the Protectors, Rhiannon looked around at the people sharing the street with them. The buildings originally had been townhouses of minor nobility or rich merchants, but now they were apartment houses, most with businesses on the first floor. A cafe was on the first floor of the building on one side of their target address and a photo shop was on the other.

*
Irina, we’re here,*
she sent.
*Are you sure everyone in the building is asleep?*

*Yes, I’m sure.*

*You’re in an apartment house. What about the buildings on both sides?*

*There are people there, but they’re all norms.*

Rhiannon stopped, closing her eyes and getting her emotions under control. *
Do you suppose any of them know where they are?*

*I’m sure they do,*
Irina replied. *
Why?*

*Do you suppose you could have picked your address out of their minds?*

Irina was silent, then sent,
*I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that.*

It wasn’t Irina’s fault. Rhiannon could feel that the succubus’s mind was still foggy from the drugs. But Rhiannon blamed herself for not asking more questions earlier. Irina had drugs as an excuse for not thinking clearly. Rhiannon didn’t have an excuse.

She keyed in the code for the security system and walked through the metal door. She found herself in a foyer with stairs in front of her, a door to her right, and a long hallway leading away to her left. Protectors flowed up the stairs and down the hallway. A projected air shield blew down the door to the right, revealing a room that obviously served as an armory.

Searching through the building, they found Irina on the fourth floor. They untied her and Rhiannon handed her half a roasted chicken, some potato salad and a bottle of wine. Irina’s rescuers waited until she finished eating, and it didn’t take long.

“Thank you,” Irina said with a smile. “God, it feels as though I haven’t eaten in a week.”

“What do you remember eating last?” Andrei asked.

“Spaghetti, the night they snatched me.”

“That was more than six days ago,” Rhiannon told her.

Andrei pointed to the redheaded woman peacefully sleeping on the floor near the door. “That’s Galina Romanova,” he said.

“She’s definitely the one in charge,” Irina said. She pointed to the video camera on the table. “She wanted to send a greeting from me to my grandfather. That’s why they woke me up. I think they wanted to prove I was alive. I got the feeling they thought he and I are on good terms.”

“Bargaining chip,” Rhiannon said. “We’ll have to get into her mind to find out what her intentions are.”

In addition to Rhiannon, Vladimir and Andrei also had the Dominance Gift. The three of them systematically broke through the shields of all the telepaths in the building, then turned them over to other Protectors to interrogate.

Galina was definitely the most difficult. The woman’s shields were rock solid. When Rhiannon finally broke through, she understood why.

*
Donald, Jerome, would you please join me?*
she sent to Vladimir and Andrei. They joined with her mind and then entered Galina’s.

Alexander Romanov’s daughter had twelve Gifts, including Distance Communication, which strengthened her other Gifts. She didn’t have any of the Rare Gifts, or the Irish Gifts of Dominance and Strong Shielding, and she wasn’t a succubus or a carrier. But she was an exceptionally strong telepath, and she’d never met one stronger. She was in for a very rude awakening.

“Andrei, your information isn’t entirely correct. She has the Krasevec Gift,” Rhiannon said.

He was bending over one of the men, but he snapped upright at her pronouncement. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Rhiannon checked again in Galina’s mind. The trigger for Distance Communication was there on her fifth level. “Yeah, I’m sure.” Searching further in Romanova’s mind, she said, “She hides it. Only a few close confidants know. On the other Gifts, your intel is correct. But if you’re correct about Gifts in the Russian Clans, she’s formidable.”

“I know that guy,” Irina said. Everyone’s attention shifted to her, then followed her eyes to the man at Andrei’s feet.

Rhiannon shifted her attention back to Irina. Sitting in a chair, the young succubus was hanging on to the table and weaving like a drunk. Obviously, she still hadn’t shaken off the effects of the drugs.

“Where do you know him from?” Rhiannon asked.

Irina slowly looked up at her, and took a few moments to focus. “He was the guy I shagged in London last spring. Don’t you remember? I took him upstairs in that hotel, and in the middle of things, his friends came out of the bathroom and tried to capture me.”

*
Andrei?*
Rhiannon sent.

Andrei was quiet for a few moments, then he said, “This is the link. He’s a member of Gorbachev, and he did try to kidnap her in London. He’s also on Galina’s payroll. He saw you outside the bookstore on Nevsky Prospekt and reported you to Galina.”

“Does he know why Sergei wants her?” Rhiannon asked.

“No. He has several speculations.”

“Spill.”

“He has two main theories. One is that Sergei wants his granddaughter because he doesn’t have an heir he believes in. He wonders if Sergei is hoping that Irina is strong enough to hold the Clan together after he’s gone. The second, and the one he thinks is more plausible, is that he wants to breed his own succubi, because the price von Ebersberg’s charging is too expensive. That theory is bolstered by Sergei’s fetish for very young girls.” Andrei shot a look at Irina, then sent a spear thought to Rhiannon.
*He was around when Sergei had Irina’s mother. Are you aware that he’s not only her grandfather, but also her father?*