Dark Secrets (Dark Heritage #1)

by Samantha Hoffman

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Veronica, wake up. Wake up, Darling.”

  My eyes felt so heavy that I couldn’t even force them open. All I could do was lie on the thin mattress beneath me that was probably full of lice or maggots or something equally disgusting, and listen to Andrew’s unsettling voice as he droned on and on and on. I wanted to cover my ears every time he said my name, but I couldn’t get my arm muscles to respond.

  “Veronica, I’m beginning to lose patience with you. I suggest you open your eyes and look at me when I’m talking to you.”

  It was a struggle, and it took every ounce of strength I possessed, but I finally managed to open my eyes. When I did, I wished I hadn’t. Andrew was seated in a chair right across from my cell, with his hands folded neatly in his lap, and an interested look on his face. From the looks of the newspaper at his feet and the coffee in his lap, he’d been sitting there for a while.

  I focused on the newspaper, searching for a date, and was surprised to find I’d been out for almost two whole days! Are there drugs out there that can knock someone out for two whole days? I thought they always wore off and had to be administered again. I would remember waking up and being drugged again, right? It’s not like I would have willingly taken them a second time.

  While Andrew sat there and watched me, waiting for me to do something, I searched my brain for memories of a second drugging. Either it hadn’t happened, or the drugs were keeping me from remembering, because I came up empty-handed. There were no feelings of terror or the feeling of being held down, and I couldn’t remember being tied down and injected with something.

  Another thought forced its way into my brain, and it just wouldn’t go away.

  What did he do to me while I was knocked out for almost two whole days? Ugh, what the hell do you think he did? My snide inner voice asked. What do men usually do to women after drugging them?

  Immediately I dropped my eyes to look at my legs. I was still wearing the same shorts I had been when I’d been abducted, and I couldn’t see any blood on my thighs, and there was no throbbing pain that I figured would happen after my first time. With a sigh, I looked back at Andrew.

  My stomach growled angrily, and Andrew smiled. I finally noticed a tray of food on a table near his chair, and I shuddered. It was no doubt drugged, and even if I was starving, I wouldn’t allow myself to eat it. There was no telling what might happen to me after passing out again. Maybe he just hadn’t found the time to hurt me. I couldn’t be sure, which meant I would go hungry until I either died, or found a way to escape.

  Andrew set the tray of food just on the other side of the bars, within my reach, and nodded. “Eat. It will help you feel better.”

  “It’s drugged,” I accused, staring him in the eyes. “What did you do to me? You slipped something into my tea, and I was knocked out for almost two whole days. What did you do to me? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, because I’m weak, and hungry, and tired, and sore, and I know that you did something to me!”

  “I figured you would need something to help calm you down after my revelation, and this way I had two days to prepare for you, and you had two extra days of rest. Now that you’re awake and feeling better, I can give you a tour of this place.”

  I snorted. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said incredulously, looking at him. “There’s no way.”

  He sighed. “You can either accompany me by choice, or you can be dragged around by force. I have a werewolf upstairs that owes you a broken foot. Remember that. I’m sure he’d be all too willing to drag you around. So, which would you prefer?”

  I forced myself to get to my feet. It felt like every muscle in my body had been stretched out, and the ones in my legs cramped the second I put weight on them. When my left leg buckled out from under me, I collapsed, gripping to the iron bars of my cell for support. I hung my head and gathered my breath before attempting to move again.

  It was then that I realized my pendant was gone. When I looked back up at Andrew, ready to accuse him of stealing it from me, I saw that he actually had it in his hand. He leaned closer to the bars, and he waved it back and forth in front of my eyes. “I bet Nancy didn’t explain to you all the things that could be done with a pendant like this.”

  “You know Nancy?”

  “Knew. Past tense,” he said with a smile. “I assure you, she’s long gone. Buried six feet under to be precise.”

  My hands began to tremble, and my mouth went paper dry. Nancy was dead. Had Andrew killed her just because of me? Would she still be alive right now if I hadn’t ever gone to see her? Was Nancy’s death my fault?

  I let my head rest against the coolness of the iron bars, and surprisingly Andrew didn’t taunt me or mock me in any way. He just stood there and let the news sink in and hit home. He’s probably enjoying watching my suffering. Why would he rush me?

  I felt a sudden rush of intense guilt at the thought of Nancy. She’d been planning on leaving town and starting over somewhere else, and she’d stayed behind, just to wait for me. It was a favor to my dead mother, and I’d been the one to make her wait. She was right when she told me that I should have visited years sooner. If I had…

  I shook my head, banishing those dark thoughts from my mind. It wasn’t my fault that Nancy was dead; it was Andrew’s fault. If he wasn’t such an evil, deranged man, Nancy would still be alive, and I would still be back at the compound with Tanya, Annie, and Finn. I could be continuing my training, and I would be in a safe place, where I wouldn’t be able to accidentally hurt anyone with something I raised.

  “Well, this pendant will do more for a necromancer than just tell you whenever another supernatural being is near. It’ll also enhance your power.” He took his free hand and slipped it into the front of his shirt, pulling out a black pendant on a golden chain. “I can use my pendant to transfer some of my power to you, increasing your already vast power. Raising the army I need should be no problem, especially since I’ll be right there to guide you.”

  I gathered all the moisture in my mouth that I could, and spit at his feet through the bars. He took a quick step back, but a glob of saliva clung to the tip of his expensive looking leather shoes. When his eyes found mine again, the look in them was purely murderous. It took Andrew almost a full minute to fully regain his composure, and as I watched his features go from pissed to serene, I realized just how truly crazy he was.

  “I think you need a little bit more time to realize the situation you’ve found yourself in. It would be in your best interest to appease me. When you’ve cooled down, I’ll return and give you a guided tour of this place. In the meantime, eat what I’ve graciously given you, and get some rest.”

  Andrew left me alone in my dungeon cell with nothing but a plate of probably drugged food and several questions that still hadn’t been answered. Only a sociopath of some kind could manipulate their emotions like that. I’ll have to be more careful about what I say or do if I plan to make it out of here alive…