Vampire Captives (From Blood to Ashes Book 1)

by Kestra Pingree

  I crouched down in front of him, tapped his shin, but he recoiled. I didn’t think he could form a tighter ball.

  “Not today,” he rasped. I barely heard him, and I almost didn’t understand him. “Tell them I won’t perform.”

  “What are you talking about?” I hissed and double-checked how the cameras were angled. “What’s going on?” This wasn’t like him at all. He wasn’t mouthing off, and he wouldn’t show me his smile.

  Something smelled rancid.

  He was planning something. Had to be. Maybe he decided I was useless and wanted to kill me with his own two hands.

  I grabbed his snow-white hair more roughly than I should have and yanked his head back so I could see his face. The left side was rubbed away raw. His cheekbone was stark-white in contrast to his torn flesh, dark and light reds puffy with yellowing infection. His blood was everywhere, but it was repulsive, a rotten version of its normal scent, and lacking nutrition.

  How was he conscious? Most warriors would have fainted from the pain. It must have been damn near excruciating.

  The air I tried to breathe in got trapped in my throat.

  “What happened to you?” I asked and immediately softened my touch. I released his hair and clasped his chin, where I didn’t see any damage. I carefully tilted his head to inspect him further.

  He wasn’t smiling.

  He winced, squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced. That action, moving the muscles in his face, made the pain more intense. His grimace deepened, and his flesh made the sound of a wet rag being torn in two. Tears beaded on his frosted eyelashes.

  “Why haven’t you healed?” I asked. “This wound is at least a day old.” Ednis and the queen would never allow this treatment, not when Adano was so valuable. He could die from this. It didn’t make sense. No matter how disobedient he was…

  I considered what I had read in Ednis’s encrypted report about Queen Maud, but the queen wouldn’t go this far, would she? She violated a twelve-year-old scamp. She would. To teach him some kind of lesson, to maintain her power, to command his fear. To defy Crimson Caves.

  Adano hid it well most of the time, but he was afraid. I had seen that truth the first time I met him.

  “Adano, drink my blood.” I pulled my long black hair over my right shoulder, exposing the left side of my neck. “Drink as much as you need.”

  The beaded tears trickled down his good cheek. They tried to trickle down his ruined cheek too, but I carefully wiped them away before the salt could aggravate the wound more. I’d never touched anything so lightly, as if it would break.

  Adano’s voice cracked. “No.”

  “You’ll feel better,” I insisted. “You’ll heal.”

  “It’ll be worse.” He refused to open his eyes, as if having them closed would save him, reveal all of this to be nothing but a terrible nightmare.

  I needed a new tactic, because I wasn’t getting through to him.

  I held out my wrist and bit down hard, drawing a good portion of blood. It was savory but spoiled to my tongue and nose. If he smelled it, however, instinct would take over, and he would bite. He’d drink what he needed.

  His nostrils flared, but he turned his face away from me.

  I scooted closer, on my knees so I was hovering over him. “Drink,” I commanded.

  Adano’s pale-blue eyes shot open, and he grabbed my wrist, but he didn’t bring it to his mouth as I wanted him to. He wanted me closer, but he was much too weak to force me. To placate him, I followed his lead. He pressed his lips to my ear and said, “She’s jealous of you, monster. Very jealous.”

  Queen Maud. Jealous of me.

  “How do I make it better?” I asked.

  “Don’t make me perform. Don’t let me drink your blood. Fail Ednis the Wise and accept a punishment of your own.” He let me go. “I don’t know.”

  I leaned back to study his face. More tears fled his eyes as he pressed his skull against the padded wall and stared listlessly at the ceiling.

  “Stop crying.” I wiped the brackish water from his left eye. “You’ll aggravate your wounds.”

  “I’m not crying. You’re delusional.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  Sighing, Adano dropped his legs. His robes fell open, the silver wreath knot already unraveled, as he tried to straighten his legs. Since I was in his way, he caged me in. More wounds revealed themselves. Abrasions, flesh ground down to bone, infections, bruising.

  If he didn’t drink my blood, would the queen let him die? If he did drink my blood, would she beat him back down to this?

  I didn’t know, but I made up my mind. “I’m getting you out of here, Adano. That’s a promise.”

  CHAPTER 31

  LISETTE

  “Don’t lie to me, monster.”

  “It’s not a lie. You don’t know how Ivy planned to get you out of here, do you?”

  Adano said nothing.

  I leaned forward, as close as I could be without touching him. I pressed my hands against the wall to hold my weight and said, “She made something. ESCAPE, a sequence that’ll disable the Silver Hollow system. It’s waiting to be activated.”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “Ivy died for you.”

  Another tear escaped his eye, but I caught it. “Don’t say her name, either.”

  “She left you a message. The DA brought it up after it scanned an article confirming her death. It must be for you. I can’t open it. The DA said I have to verify my identity. I tried your name, the MC’s username. They didn’t work. If I get it wrong again, the message will be deleted.”

  Adano laughed, a wet sound that turned into a hacking cough. “Finally using that creativity, huh?”

  “You know that leaving Silver Hollow might be worse than being in it.”

  “Nothing could be worse than this.”

  “You’ve never seen a vampire get torn apart by a werewolf. Where will you go once you’re free?”

  “East, to the ocean. Supposedly, there’s a sanctuary.”

  “That’s not much of a plan. What if it’s a myth?”

  “I don’t have a plan. I don’t expect to live long, not with vampires, werewolves, and humans out there who all want to use me or kill me. I just want to see the sun again. Maybe the stars. Feel the dirt under my feet.” His breath was lukewarm on my face. “I don’t want them to win.”

  “They won’t. You’ll win,” I said.

  He peered at me through slitted eyes. “What has gotten into you?”

  “I decided I’m getting you out of here and keeping you safe until you reach your destination—whatever that might be.”

  “No more slayers, huh?”

  “No more slayers.”

  “Why?”

  I swallowed. “They abandoned me.”

  “That’s too damn bad. I’m sorry. That sucks. Is that what you want me to say? You’re definitely shitting me, but I’ll play along since you’re trying so hard this time. Ivy used to call me Addy. A-D-D-Y.” Adano suppressed another cough. “Make up something good to tell me next time we meet, okay? You won’t get Ivy right, but try.”

  “I’ll relay her message word for word. I’m not lying,” I said and asked, “Who or what is Yavadoni Cenistiv, anyway? Why is that the MC’s username and why would the date of Ivy’s death be the password?”

  Adano’s eyelashes fluttered, and he mumbled something.

  “What was that?”

  He started convulsing. Gagging and gasping for air. He needed my blood now or he would die.

  I tore open my freshly healed wrist and shoved it against Adano’s mouth. The savory taste of it, the promise of healing, took over. He grabbed my forearm with weak fingers, sunk in his punishing fangs absent of venom, and drank as much as he could. For a short time. He stopped as soon as he regained his senses.

  The whites of his eyes shone bright, glistening like ice. The pussy infections shriveled up and his wounds closed. They didn’t seal up completely, but they scabbed ov
er. He’d be okay.

  Adano shoved my arm away. He shook his head. “No. No!” He grabbed his hair and started pulling out white strands.

  I captured his hands and trapped him gently but firmly against the padded wall. Then I pressed my forehead to his. “You’re not going to let them win, remember? You have to stay alive.”

  Adano laced his fingers through mine and squeezed. “I really hate you.”

  “I know.” I was okay with that. Adano didn’t bend, and I recognized myself in him. My convictions. I had been a slayer, but I had my own code. I always had. I wasn’t Ivy, but she sacrificed everything for Adano, and I recognized that too. I would have done the same for Fyefa not long ago.

  Perhaps I still would have.

  I mourned what I had lost, Fyefa most of all. I resented the hollow sound her final words left in my ears.

  To honor Ivy and Adano, these two vampires who had more integrity and loyalty than anyone I’d known, I’d get Adano out of here. I’d keep him safe, and I wouldn’t return to White Team.

  I’d leave Silver Hollow behind forever.

  The thought was… exhilarating.

  “Is that a smile I see on your face?” Adano said. “It’s awful. You look deranged.”

  “What now, wild?”

  “I’m serious. You need practice.”

  “I’m serious, too. What now?”

  “I guess we should give the Sadist Queen one more fuck-you since you’re fucking everything up.”

  His nickname for Queen Maud was fitting. “What do you mean?”

  “I think I’m in the mood to perform after all.”

  He was never “in the mood,” while my body was constantly on fire these days. Living in a perpetual state of arousal was not my preference, but it had to be better than what Adano was living through.

  The queen raped him who knew how many times. Tore through his flesh until his bones peeked through. My training and my life had been harsh, but I gave back what I got and more. I overcame any obstacle.

  I always overcame.

  “Bite me,” Adano said. “Wash my system with your venom and take me.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “I don’t care what you think. Do it.” The defiance was back. I saw it in his grin. His impressive fangs caught the light and glistened like icicles in the sun.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You don’t? But you’re hurting me right now. Your grip is too damn tight, monster.”

  I hadn’t realized I was squeezing his hands back, hard enough to bruise. I released him and sat on my knees, unpinning him from the wall.

  I licked my lips.

  Adano wasn’t bleeding, so his scent had shriveled up, but I knew if I bit him now, his blood would be sharp with that rummadies-reminiscent smell and sweet tangy taste. I wondered why his scent was so unique. Because of attraction, perhaps.

  Adano leaned forward and pressed his lips to my ear. “I’m going to bite you if you don’t bite me first.”

  My skin flushed with heat. I wanted him to bite me, but I knew I’d lose control if he did.

  He knew that, too.

  I stood and held out my hand to him. Adano accepted the gesture, and I pulled him onto his feet. He was unsteady and would’ve fallen over if I hadn’t been there to hold his weight. He pinched one of the loops in the wreath knot tying my silver sash and tugged it free. The air was cold, but my body burned hotter at the thought of his skin on mine. Of him hard and—

  I waited until Adano was ready rather than insult him further by helping him to the bed. He pushed away from me and stumbled there on his own. He dropped onto the bare mattress, rolled onto his back, and waited for me. His robes were spread, body inviting—though he was soft. I rolled on top of him, careful not to touch him as I hovered on my hands and knees, silvery robes and black hair draping.

  “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “Oh, I’m ready.” He said that, but I saw the cracked streaks of dried tears on his cheeks. I saw the scabs. I knew he didn’t want to do this, but he felt like this was the only power he had over the queen. Maybe she’d be angry enough to kill him this time, but I couldn’t deny him this right.

  Yessma, protect him until I get him out of here. He couldn’t die, not after all this. Not when he was so close.

  “Kiss me,” Adano said. Then he gathered my hair and held it at the nape of my neck, knotting his fingers in the dark strands.

  This was new.

  None of this required kissing. It wasn’t because he wanted to kiss me, either. Based on the harsh gleam in his eyes, this was another fuck-you to the queen. I didn’t have to know the significance of it to realize that. I didn’t know the first thing about kissing, but I pressed my lips to his.

  I’d do whatever he commanded. It wouldn’t change what I had done to him. I had hurt him, too. Badly. But I had meant it when I had said I didn’t want to hurt him, when I had said I didn’t enjoy this, when I had said I was sorry.

  Adano licked my lips, bit my lower lip and tore through. My core throbbed, too prominent to ignore. But I held strong.

  Adano’s kiss was a war. I let him make me bleed. I let him yank my hair so hard that strands ripped loose. When he was done, when he whispered the words, “Bite me,” I obliged.

  My body was already pulsing with need, and my inner thighs were wet. It didn’t take long for Adano to get hard. He slid along my slick skin and came, marking me with his liquid heat. After he’d finished his release, his chest bobbed up and down, sweat glinting off snow-like skin.

  His grin vanished then. It was only gone for a second or two, but I saw the tears building in his eyes. This time, he willed them not to fall. He brought back that cocky grin. Tried to. I saw through him and his wavering lips to dread and something darker.

  Despair.

  CHAPTER 32

  LISETTE

  I lay in bed with a pactputer propped up on my thighs. The ridiculous gown I wore was rolled up, obscene, but I didn’t give a damn. Hireh brought me the pactputer, and then she left because she had been summoned for something. I was blissfully alone until the time she would inevitably return to escort me to the cafeteria. I relished the quiet, though I still wore a pair of headphones in case someone barged in on me. My assigned room may not have had cameras, but it wasn’t exactly private.

  I logged in to the Silver Hollow system as the MC. A ping sounded immediately.

  DA: Welcome back, Yavadoni.

  Yavadoni: Show me Last Message.

  DA: Please confirm identity.

  Yavadoni: Addy.

  DA: Identity confirmed.

  The screen blinked to black. At first, I thought the pactputer had been shut down, but then a video started playing.

  It showed Ivy, sitting on a bed and hunched over. She was using a pactputer’s built-in camera to record. Her face was too close. She blinked at the screen, eyes a vivid violet. Sweat glistened on her dark skin.

  She wasn’t much of a scamp here. She would have been seventeen at the time of this recording. That meant she had almost made it to adulthood.

  Almost.

  “Okay,” Ivy said, “it’s recording.” She opened her mouth. Closed it again. Her thin lips quivered. “If you watch this, Addy, I didn’t get you out of Silver Hollow.” Her eyes shone with extra water, but she blinked back the tears. “I’m sorry.”

  She shifted and fabric rustled. “I think Ednis the Wise is onto me. She hasn’t given me much time around tech. Even my pactputer. I’ve tried to make ESCAPE as foolproof as I can, given the time constraints, but I can’t predict how living things will behave so maybe time has nothing to do with it. I’m no warrior. Neither are you. That’s our biggest hole, and I can’t do a damn thing about it. If we get caught, it’s over. I should start the sequence. But we get one shot. Just one shot.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Hang on, Addy. I can’t stand seeing you like this. I miss your smile, your laugh. I don’t know why I’m saying any of this. If I can�
��t get you out, you’ll never see this. This is pointless. I just… I want you to know I love you. More than anything, I love you, and I want to save you. I’m doing everything I can to save you. I wish I was with you instead of here. But it’s time. I’ll do this and make everything right. Somehow.”

  A distant bang caused Ivy to jerk. “Shit.”

  “Shoot to kill,” a voice said, barely audible in the background. I recognized the thin tone. It had to be Ednis.

  More firepower than necessary overloaded the pactputer’s small microphone and lit up the room with flashes of bright yellow. The video flipped upside down as the pactputer fell off Ivy’s bed. Then the screen went black. When I tried to replay the video, the screen showed bold letters: DELETED.

  I closed my eyes and committed each part of Ivy’s message to memory for Adano. He should have seen it, not me, but this would have to do.

  Had Ivy finished ESCAPE or was it incomplete?

  Yavadoni: Give me a detailed overview of ESCAPE.

  DA: ESCAPE sequence involves four main phases with timers set between each phase following the first. 1) Create high-alert enemies-sighted reports from the northwest. 2) Arm all bombs in the armory 30 minutes after the first phase. 3) Create damage reports from “enemy bombs” 10 minutes after the second phase, and then shut down Silver Hollow communications. 4) Unlock all locked doors 10 minutes after the third phase, and then commence total system failure.

  It was that easy. I should have worded my first request concerning ESCAPE differently.

  Ivy’s plan didn’t sound much different from what I’d “regurgitated” to Adano before. It was much more refined, but she recognized the powers out of her control, the ones beyond tech. War was messy and unpredictable. Plans were fine, but you had to be ready to drop them and improvise.

  I didn’t care how good the distraction was. The odds of all attention being diverted to one location were small.

  Tech might play by your rules, but the enemy never does.