Page 46 of Night Fury
Her information was invaluable. Johanna explained that Zachariah was a pseudo-leader, nothing more than a puppet. The real leader was a woman who went by the name of Constance. Johanna didn’t believe she was a vampire, although she did seem to have some vampiric abilities. Instead, her real talent was the magic to possess someone. That was the magic Johanna had been under for six months.
Johanna was kidnapped by Zachariah after visiting her grandmother in the hospital. He moved her to another location and forced her to drink a bowl of Constance’s blood, which contained trace levels of magic. After that, she was no longer herself. Everything she said and did was under Constance’s command. Constance and Zachariah planned to use her to gain information on Greg and the inner workings of The Novak Firm and their circle.
Because Johanna’s abilities dealt with the mind, she was able to block part of herself away. Whenever Constance or Zachariah asked her to report back to them, Johanna told them she wasn’t high enough in the company to learn anything. During that time she had tried to get help, and for that they killed her grandmother. They would have killed her too, but in her rage Johanna came out of her possession and used her abilities on Zachariah. That was how he found out she could control another’s mind, and after he and his allies subdued her, he began to feed on her and use her as his aid.
She also told them that she knew Erik. In fact, he had been her friend and had helped to keep her sane while she was stuck in that hellhole. Then she delivered the final blow: If they had gone fifty feet further down the same passage in the caves where they’d found the women, they would have found him too.
That broke Mya, but Johanna quickly assured them that he was still alive. Erik was the reason Constance and Zachariah had enhanced healing abilities. Constance needed him as she routinely siphoned his blood to try to enhance the strength of the rest of the vampires that served her. As far as Johanna knew, her attempts had failed, but Constance could have succeeded in the time Johanna had been with Luke.
The information Johanna had given was beyond beneficial but had also left everyone drained. Everyone but her. The moment Dani, Greg, and Mya left, Johanna set to work. She grabbed the paperwork containing her coordinates and tore them apart. Luke tried to get her to rest, but she explained that she knew of a few more locations and she wanted to make sure she noted them down. She believed that while Zachariah may have abandoned some of the places they’d raided, these were his acting home bases and he wouldn’t leave them willingly.
Luke sighed and agreed with her, but he’d noticed a pattern. Every time he came to check on her, she did a double take when she saw him, as if she expected someone else. If he stood in the doorway and called her name, she almost jumped out of her skin. Each time she told him she was fine, and each time he suggested she rest and come back to her work tomorrow, she shook her head and ignored him.
Finally, Luke had had enough. He approached her, saying her name as softly as he could, but it had the same effect. He couldn’t take it anymore.
“Sunflower, you’ve done enough now. Why don’t you—”
“No,” she said, not looking up from the papers strewn around her. “I’m not done yet.”
“Baby, you’ve been at this for hours.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Just let me finish.”
“Johanna—”
She whirled around to face him. “No!”
Luke took a step toward her, his arms held out to take her in his embrace, but she flinched.
He froze entirely. Slowly her face changed from one of fear to horror. His throat felt like sandpaper as the realization fell from his lips. “Are you scared of me? Do you seehimwhen you look at me?”
“No!”
Luke took a step back.
“No! No,please,” Johanna said again.She reached for him, her fingers grasping onto his shirt. The warmth of her body seeped into his, but he didn’t know how to react, how to move, or if moving at all would frighten her more.
“Luke, I swear I don’t see him. I don’t see him when I look at you.”
She was manic now, shaking her head, and when he finally closed his arms around her, he felt the visceral shudder through her system. Then she began to tremble.
“I’m not scared of you,” she said, her eyes swimming in tears. “I’m scaredforyou.”
“Sunflower,” he began, but the single tear that rolled down her cheek made him pause. Hesitantly, he cupped her face, and she choked back a sob as he wiped the tear away.
“He threatened you every day,” she whispered. “Every single day. Every time I thought about running away, every time I thought about trying to get help. I even…” She paused, biting her lip hard, as if that pain was better than the one pouring out of her and into him. “I threatened to kill myself if he went after you.”
Luke gasped. He could never imagine a world without her in it, and that she was willing to kill herself forhim… He shook his head, speechless.
“He told me that if I did that, he’d kill you. I don’t doubt you, Luke. I swear I don’t. But…” She looked away from him for a moment so he rubbed her cheeks, bringing her gaze back to his. “I know what he did to me. I know everything he did to me. I don’t want, no, I can’tstandthe idea of him ever doing that to you. I need to find him.”
Johanna reached back, extracting herself from his arms to gather the papers in her hands. She shook as she held them, presenting them to him as if they were the secret key she had spent her life searching for. “If I can find him, if I can kill him, he can’t hurt you. I just need to figure this out.”
She slammed the papers back on the table and stormed back to him. He met her halfway, pulling her into his arms with an angry sigh.
“I can do this,” Johanna said as she rested her head over his chest. “I have to do this for you, for Mya and Erik, for whoever else he’s holding captive right now. I can do this. Ihaveto do this.”
Luke held her as he tried to steady the rage building within him. Johanna didn’t need his rage. She needed his empathy, and he would give her all that he was.
