The one on the right. A nervous guy about an inch shorter than Max, with his linger already itching to pull the trigger and send a bolt into Max's heart. He would be a problem. New guys.

The first one who'd entered unlocked Max's shackles. "Get on your feet."

He then marched him to the door, a little more roughly than necessary. Oh yeah, he was begging for death.

"I love you, baby," Max called over his shoulder. He got a last glimpse of Bella as they shoved him out of the room.

One of them stayed behind. That threw Max off a little. He didn't want some vampire alone with Bella, where he couldn't protect her.

"What are you doing?" he heard her ask.

He didn't like the reply. "You've got to get ready. The Oracle wants you presentable for the entertainment."

Great. Max had planned on busting free right there in the hallway, backtracking and and grabbing Bella on his way out. This was going to make things more difficult. He scrapped the plan. No way was he leaving without Bella, and he certainly wasn't going to set off a chain reaction of increased security when he had no clue where she was or how to get to her.

They marched him down a series of hallways and up a couple sets of stairs. They'd been in a cellar—a huge old one, with arches and support columns you didn't find in your everyday suburban home. When they reached the surface the air was prickly with daylight No direct contact, but that morning smell was in the air, and the feeling of wearing too-tight skin.

They took him to a large room in the center of the second floor, if he'd guessed his location right. The marble floor was cold under his bare feet. They must have taken his shoes when they'd chained him up. The dark wood of the walls stretched to a vast, domed ceiling swimming in ugly, fat angels. He had a feeling the cherubs and seraphim eternally paused in their harp playing to smile down on him weren't the decor choice of the current owner.

If they were, he'd enjoy killing her even more.

The windows were covered over with matching wooden shutters. They were huge, so there was no chance they'd be throwing those open soon, not if they weren't fond of barbecue. The covered oculus in the center of the ceiling troubled him, however. Especially with the rope that dangled from the shutter.

Another rope hung from the ceiling, this one passing through a pulley and ending in leather gauntlets. Cocky and Twitchy tied Max's wrists into the leather cuffs and jerked the rope, hauling him up to his tiptoes.

"I didn't peg you guys for the type who'd be into this sort of thing," he quipped through clenched teeth as his shoulders dislocated. They had him at a real disadvantage now.