My mouth tastes of acid. Charles is deluded. I grew up believing every word this man taught me about the creatures of the night when the monster stood in front of me all along. “And what about me? Am I not worthy of living?”
“You’re simply a means to an end,” he says. He mutters something to one of the hollowers standing at the ready behind him.
“How are you supposed to have your little ceremony without him? You need shifter blood.”
“Creature blood,” he corrects sharply. “And I have something better.”
“What?”
“Your little friend paid me a visit.”
Elias. Thunder claps above us. George’s blood trail fades with the hammering rain, fragments of what was once a person browning into clumps of dirt. Charles waves his hand and someone emerges around the corner, a knot of dread coiling in me. But it isn’t Elias restrained by a combination of shifters and chains. Red eyes glare my way and a low growl reverberates from his chest. Eric.
Just like the first time we met, silver chains wrap around his body, the hairless patches of skin beneath searing red. His eyes are sharp but his body is completely limp as a hollower drags him across the ground and drops him at my feet. I struggle against the man holding me, my arm twisting painfully when he tightens his grip.
“Let her go.” Charles waves his hand. “There’s nowhere for her to run.”
I fall to my knees, hands frantically tugging at the chains wrapped around Eric. But they’ve been done differently than George’s; there’s a padlock to keep them in place. “What’d you do to him?”
Charles studies me. “How ironic that you’d fall into bed with the very creature you once tortured.”
“I didn’t do that.”
“You were a silent bystander.”
“Don’t you dare put me on the same level as you. You’re a murderer.”
To my surprise, Charles laughs. “You’re not so innocent, Milena.” The smile that settles on his face is anything but friendly. “I have someone who wants to talk to you.”
My stomach seizes as he moves aside and a woman steps forward. Her lips are tight, eyes burning with hatred. Cynthia. Darius’s mother. She never liked me. Especially when Darius started hanging around with me and Flo. Anytime she caught him following us around, she’d scowl at him and confiscate one of his favorite toys. But the look in her eyes now is different than it used to be—it burns so hot I almost feel my skin sizzle from its intensity.
She comes toward me, her sharp blue eyes strikingly similar to Darius’s. “Hello, Milena.”
“Cynthia . . .” Gray clouds thunder behind her, the sky accompanying her grief and rage. “I—I . . .”
“You.” She wraps a hand through my hair and forces me to look at her. “Are a monster.”
Pain prickles my scalp but I don’t move. I see Darius then, lying in the dirt. I killed him. I signed Nella’s death warrant.
I led Charles to those shifters. In some twisted way, I’ve killed many people. But Darius is different. My knife killed him and my hands were wrapped around it when it did. Blood is in the crevices of my hands, but Darius’s is the only blood that won’t ever wash away.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been afraid of monsters. At first, it was the creatures of the night, and then it became the hollowers. But now, as Cynthia stands over me with excruciating pain lurking behind her eyes, I wonder if I’ve become the very thing I’ve been so afraid of. “I didn’t mean to.
Darius was—”
She slaps me across the face—hard. A buzz fills my ear. I fall back from the force, stumbling over Eric and landing on his other side, my feet in the air. Cynthia storms over to me. “Get that name out of your filthy mouth or the next time I touch you it’ll be much worse than a slap.” I can’t speak. My body is numb as she stares at me with daggers in her eyes. “You’re disgusting,” she hisses. “A coldhearted killer.”
“No. No. You’re wrong.” I push to my feet. “I loved Darius, too, and I wish he wasn’t dead. But I’m not a monster. He tried to kill me!”
“You’re a murderer.” She spits in my face and shoves me backward. “You’re a monster, and I look forward to torturing you.
You’re a sick, twisted murderer, and you deserve to—”
“Cynthia, that’s enough.” Charles’s voice is cold and stern.
Her cheeks turn scarlet.
“Is that why you’re here then?” When I find my voice, it doesn’t sound like me. “To make me feel bad before you kill me?”
She comes closer, her bony finger scratching at my chin as she forces me to look at her. “You have no idea what you’re in for, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re not the only hollower village, Milena. It would be incredibly selfish of us to keep you to ourselves.”
“What are you saying?”
“We’re not going to kill you. What we’re going to do to you is much, much worse.”
And from the look in her eyes and her malicious smile, I believe her. “But you were going to kill me that day when I first went hunting. You were going to kill me right on the spot.”
“That was before we realized that you could be much more useful to us. We’ll kill the humans and the creatures, and keep using new ones, but there are many of them. We don’t need them alive.”
“You’re going to keep me alive?”
“You’ll barely be alive. We’ll drain you until you’re nearly dead, and then we’ll bring you back to health. And then we’ll drain you again, and again, and again. That way, all hollowers can live forever. Our children can drink from you when they’re born. There will be no limited supply.”
My stomach churns. “You’re going to use me as a blood bag.”
“We’re not going to kill you.” A sickening smile creeps across her face. “But I’ll be there every step of the way making you wish we would.”
She turns her back to me. I have to be smart. I can’t let myself be ruled by my emotions, no matter what Elias says.
It’s my weakness, and I can’t afford any weaknesses right now.
Something tells me if I choose now to retaliate, Cynthia will make sure I have no energy left to give.
“Is this what you want, Charles?” I call. He looks at me. “To torture me like that?”
“It’s for the good of the people. Cynthia, check her for weapons and then chain her to the creature. We need to make preparations before the others arrive.”
He steps around the boulder and disappears from view.
Cynthia isn’t gentle when she checks me. Her nails drag across my skin when she lifts my shirt and pats down my pants, but she comes up empty—the dagger from my boot was lost in the forest during our escape. Hopelessness stabs at my chest as she wraps chains around me, attaching me to Eric.
“You know,” she says as she tightens them around my arms,
“when I first brought the idea to the villagers, Charles was opposed to it.”
She pulls them so tight my arm throbs. “You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t care whether you believe it.”
“Then why tell me at all?”
“Because,” she says, rising to her feet, “I want to remind you that no matter how much someone cares about you, you’ll always be second. He’ll never choose you over them.” And then she steps back and follows Charles around the boulder.
Chains dig into my wrists, the cool metal rubbing my skin raw as I shift and try to pull my wrists free. “Stop squirming.”
Eric shifts beside me, a groan escaping his mouth. “You’re pressing the chains into my skin.”
“Eric! You’re okay!”
Cynthia didn’t do a great job of securing my legs, but she made sure that my wrists were tucked tightly beneath the chains wrapped around Eric’s chest.
“I said stop moving.” He has an oozing scratch on his forehead and his lips lift into a scowl. “Good to see you’re not dead yet.”
�
��They’re not planning on killing me anymore. Didn’t you hear?”
“I was sort of preoccupied with the excruciating pain of my skin literally burning.”
My fingers are so numb I can’t feel them. “They want to keep me alive so that they can keep using my blood, never letting me truly die.”
“That’s morbid.”
A chill creeps up my spine. “Only, it won’t work. Once they realize my blood doesn’t do anything, they’ll kill me.” The wind howls around us, carrying the low murmurs from around the corner. “How’d you get here, Eric?”
He looks away, glaring at the rock face. “There was no way I was letting them take you without a fight.”
“Cassia let you go?”
“No. She wanted us to find Elias. I was done letting her order me around.”
“You came after me.”
“I’m a man of my word, Milena,” he says. “Elias asked me to protect you. You’re not dying on my watch.”
I blink back tears, thinking of Cassia. I thought we were friends, and aside from Elias, I thought she was the only person I could trust. And after discovering the truth about Elias, the reason for his distance, the only thing that comforted me was the fact that I still had Cassia. But Eric, who doesn’t even like me, was more loyal than she was.
“She thought she was doing the right thing, you know.” Eric’s voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it; it’s as if he’s talking to a child. “I don’t agree with it, but she did what she thought was right.”
I let out a shaky breath, thinking of Charles. The way he’d looked at me while I was in that cell, when he said he was sorry; the fact that he’s the only one who wants to use my blood and let me die instead of keeping me alive. Cassia betrayed me for her family and Charles betrayed me for his. “They all think they’re doing the right thing.”
It won’t be long before the moon comes out and the shifters follow. But Charles doesn’t seem afraid of the dark anymore, not like he used to be. Or maybe it’s because the shifters are afraid of him now.
“Does Elias know?” I ask.
Eric’s eyes meet mine. They’re cold and hard. “Cassia went after him. If he doesn’t already, it won’t be long before he finds out.”
“What’re we going to do? They’re going to kill you.”
“When the moon comes out, I can try and shift. It won’t be pretty but it might give us a chance.”
“What if it doesn’t—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence. Cynthia slips around the boulder and stands in front of us. Her expression is startlingly still but her eyes are a maelstrom. “It’s time.”
I help Eric clamber to his feet. The smell of burning flesh fills my nostrils as the chains dig deeper into his skin and my knees buckle beneath his weight. But Cynthia’s disgust-filled glare makes me sure of one thing—I won’t fall in front of her.
She grabs me and tugs forward, Eric coming with me around the boulder she and Charles disappeared behind. The crevice between the two cliff faces is narrow, a winding path hemmed in by walls towering into the sky.
Eric groans beside me. And though the rain has cleared, the sky roars with an echoing thunder. Dozens of eyes watch me, stoic expressions and straight mouths. They stand as a barricade, blocking the rest of the path and any exit. I gaze around the clearing, each familiar face stinging. Charles stands in the middle of the group with a chalice resting on a wooden platform beside him. In his hand, a machete. But of all the eyes on me, Charles’s are the most piercing. “Let go of the creature, Milena.”
I grip Eric tighter, blood staining my skin from where the chains create rigid, bloody lines across him. Charles motions to Cynthia behind me, and she kicks Eric’s knees from behind.
He clatters to the ground with a groan, his body thumping against the earth, the mud splattering around him. I almost fall with him, but Cynthia’s fingers press into my skin and keep me standing.
My eyes remain on Charles as I struggle against Cynthia, but she doesn’t budge, her grip iron tight. “Charles, what are you doing?”
When he reaches me, he puts his hand on my arm. “This will hurt.”
“Stop!”
My elbow juts out toward Cynthia’s nose but more hands grip my shoulders to keep me in place. A sharp pain erupts from my arm. Thunder hammers the sky, but the sound is secondary to my scream as the cool metal of the machete slices into my wrist. All defense strategies fly from my mind; the pain is overwhelming. Charles finally drops the machete and pulls me forward, holding my arm over the chalice as blood trickles from my skin and drips into the cup. As soon as he releases me, I fall backward.
He takes another step forward and hoists Eric up from the ground. They won’t kill me. They want me. But they don’t need Eric alive. “Charles! Stop, please! Don’t hurt him.”
He looks up at me, his eyes lingering on the cut in my arm.
“I have no regrets about what happens to him; he’s a creature.”
Cynthia wraps her arms around me; I jab my elbow into her face and she stumbles backward. I start toward Charles and Eric but a man intercepts me and knocks me to the side, pinning me to the ground. I have no choice but to watch as Charles pulls Eric forward. The villagers crowd around, eyes trained on Eric as he’s brought to the center of the circle. Charles stands over him, a long, silver pole in his hand.
“Stop!” I scream.
But it’s too late; Charles thrusts the pole straight into Eric’s chest. An agonizing roar mutes the thunder. Eric’s body convulses, sharp teeth sprout from his mouth, and fur rises along the bare skin exposed on his arms. His fingers morph into claws and his bones crack. When Charles pulls the pole away, Eric col apses to the ground.
“Stop! Why the torture?” The person on top of me grips the back of my head and pounds it against the ground. Mud fills my mouth.
“He needs to be in his creature form!” Charles plunges the pole back into Eric’s chest.
Teeth. Eyes. Snout. Hair. With the darkening sky, Eric’s body breaks. A rancid stench fills the air as his bones crack and poke through skin. He’s half man half wolf, flesh morphed with fur.
The moment the body on top of me shifts, I roll to the side, scrambling across the ground until I lie in front of Eric and stare up at Charles, who pauses, pole inches away from crashing into me. “Please!” Strands of mud-coated hair hang in my eyes.
“Please, I’ll do anything! Just don’t kill him!”
His jaw clenches. “Get out of my way, Milena.”
“I can’t.”
“Then you leave me no choice.”
Hands grapple me from behind and pull me from Eric’s body as Charles lifts his pole. But a scream from behind him fills the air. He flashes around, the pole falling to his side as more screams join the group. Hope stirs in my chest. Charles stumbles backward when something flies toward him. His body is thrown across the ground and orange lights the tree beside me, chaos erupting as the clearing is engulfed in flames. The fingers slip away from me. And though fire burns toward me and my lungs heave, my chest alights with something else. Hope. Hope and dread. Elias is here.
“Milena!” Charles’s voice bounces through the fire, so distant I can’t tell what direction it comes from. I lower my body to the ground, scrambling toward Eric’s slumped body. Smoke assaults my lungs as it climbs the cliff walls. I tug the neckline of my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose and then tug at the chains around his fur. His eyes are open, red burning in the darkness, but the hole Charles created in his chest oozes red onto the ground. It isn’t healing.
I unwind the chains from around him, skin searing as the fire around us burns closer. Thankfully, in the excruciating shift, the padlock securing the chain shattered. “Go.” Eric’s voice fills my head, weak and dull. “Get out of here. Find Elias. Go.”
Putting my hand beneath his legs, I try to drag him across the ground. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“Milena—”
“You protected me, so I’ll
protect you. I’m not leaving without you.”
I tug him across the ground. My body aches in protest and my wrist stings, but I push on and drag Eric’s body as quickly as I can through patches of clear ground until we reach the edge of the forest. I drop him, coughing and spluttering as I fall to my hands and knees. Smoke spirals into the sky like a tornado, but that isn’t the biggest threat. A figure blocks our escape. Cynthia’s eyes bear into mine; two men stand by her side. I leap up and take an uncertain step backward, but the flames behind us keep me from going any farther.
“You,” she spits. “You lied. You’re nothing but some dumb human. I saw him. And I saw you. The fire wasn’t from you.”
Dread knots in my stomach. Cynthia nods at the men beside her. “Kill her and make it slow. I need to find Charles.”
She escapes before the fire can get closer, and the two burly men edge nearer. The first one wraps a hand around my arm.
I punch his throat and he stumbles backward. The other digs his nails into the cut on my arm and the pain paralyzes me.
Our eyes meet; he raises his dagger and presses it to my neck.
But before he can pierce my skin, his mouth falls open, a blade protruding through his chest instead. His body topples toward me and I duck to the side as he falls to the ground, relief and confusion flooding my mind.
Flo stands where he did, her eyes brimming with tears and shaky hands drenched in red. A second dagger is in her left hand, stretched toward me. “Flo?” I stagger forward as the second man pushes to his feet and moves toward Flo.
“I love you, Millie,” she says, her skin ghostly pale. “And I’m sorry for what I did.”
“Flo. Flo, no!” I’m too late—she buries her knife in the guard’s chest at the same time that his knife lodges in hers, and they both stumble to the ground. The world burns around me but Flo is the only thing that matters. I fall to my knees in front of her, hands shaking uncontrollably as I bury them in her shirt. Her warmth covers my hand in a sickly red. “Flo, please! Flo, come on, please, stay awake.”
Creatures of the Night Page 21
