He appeared in the doorway without a word, flanked by Seraphina and Alaric.
A rush of emotion overcame me to see him there. He met my eyes, and I silently tried to communicate that Bennigan’s power hadn’t worked on me—that I was ready to help.
Bennigan, Jezabel, and Leah were all standing in an instant. I saw Bennigan reaching behind his back for a pistol. Before I could think logically and remember it didn’t pose the same threat to Lucian that it would to a human, I lunged toward him.
I stuck the syringe in his neck and pushed most of the fluid into him before he swung his arm behind himself and sent me colliding with the wall like I’d just been hit by a bus.
I gasped, watching the close-quarters brawl that ensued through double and triple vision.
I tried to blink through the pain, but it felt like several somethings inside me were broken.
Lucian was grappling with Bennigan, trying to wrestle control of the gun from him while Seraphina and Alaric sparred with the two women.
I lost consciousness for a few moments, and when I was aware again, Bennigan was on his knees, clutching at his face. I saw blood but couldn’t make out what was happening before Lucian scooped me up and carried me over his shoulder. Jezabel and Leah were lying on the ground, apparently unconscious.
“What happened?” I mumbled.
“Whatever you put in him made him dry out,” Lucian said. “The women will be incapacitated long enough for us to wall them in.”
“What will stop them from breaking out?”
“This,” Alaric said. He pulled out a small container that looked thick and heavy with metal. He carefully opened it, then rolled out a single, small onion into the room.
“An onion?” I asked.
“The garlic thing is bogus,” Alaric explained. “But fucking onions… They weaken us. It’s how my love managed to keep us trapped in the wall at the Mercer house for so long.”
“Wait. Jezabel and Leah were charmed by him. They shouldn’t be punished.”
“There’s no way to know his power will fade if he’s detained here,” Lucian said.
“Then let’s take his head,” Alaric suggested.
I gritted my teeth. I knew he had done terrible things, but it felt so final. So wrong. I realized Lucian was waiting for my approval. I shook my head. “We should at least see if his powers fade before we do anything we can’t un-do. And we’ll know where he is down here.”
Lucian nodded. “It’s settled then. Grab the women and let’s go.”
“You can put me down,” I said, patting Lucian’s shoulder. “I’m feeling better already.”
He set me down while Alaric and Seraphina went into the room, treating the onion like it was a live snake and circling wide around it.
I tested my feet on the ground, somewhat surprised to find they were working like I hadn’t just been hurled into a wall hard enough to break concrete.
Bennigan reached toward Alaric’s leg, but Alaric kicked him away as he carried Jezabel out of the room. “Fuck off,” he muttered.
“Wait,” Bennigan croaked.
I could see now that his skin was cracked like a dried-out piece of clay. Some small part of me felt guilty to do that to him, especially since I didn’t know what the long-term effects would be. I hadn’t had time to study that. I suspected he’d recover in time, but likely not fast enough to stop Lucian from trapping him in the room. With the onion.
“You deserve this,” I said to him.
He glowered.
Lucian started gathering loose stones, which were all over the abandoned subway. “Go get me some supplies to make this permanent,” he said to Alaric.
Alaric nodded, then zipped off with his supernatural speed.
It was only a few minutes before he returned with the things Lucian needed to seal the bricks and create a permanent wall.
“Did you pay for these?” Lucian asked.
“Left my wallet at home,” Alaric said, shrugging.
With a sigh, Lucian began working while Alaric helped him. Seraphina kept watch over the unconscious women.
In a surprisingly short time, the men had cobbled together a complete wall to close Bennigan into the small space.
“You’re sure that’ll hold him?” I asked.
“Unless someone comes along and breaks it by mistake a few hundred years from now.” Lucian gave me a little wink, then pulled me in for a hug. “And that is the last time you get to make the plan. I nearly lost you.”
“But it worked,” I said into his chest, hugging him back.
“I may be immortal, but I will die of a heart attack if you get yourself kidnapped again. So, yes. It worked, but a man can only survive having the woman he loves taken so many times.”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to take me yourself,” I said, biting my lip.
“Barf,” Seraphina said dryly. She was hoisting both unconscious women on her shoulders. “When you’re done playing footsie with each other, can we decide where to take these women and how to make sure they aren’t going to try to claw our eyes out when they recover?”