Valerie smiled, "I’m sorry I ripped out your intestines."
Daisy pulled away her hand with a grim smile, and said, "The night is almost over. Either I return now with proof of your death, or she hunts us all down tomorrow evening."
"No, she will never come out of her hiding place. She relies on her sanctuary for protection. I do have an idea, though I must know something first." Valerie leaned in close, and Daisy sat up, away from her slightly. "How did you kill Jillian?"
Daisy scowled. "Your precious lover?"
Valerie hissed at her. "What happened was not of my choosing. If I had been in control of myself, I never would have harmed you, and that foul … Jill wasn’t my lover. She mocked me at every turn, like the one who sired me." There was a sickened look in Valerie's eyes before she turned away. "Just tell me how you did it."
"I don't know. Somehow, I did what Nikola does," Daisy said, quietly.
The false queen nodded. "Good. That's what I was hoping you'd say. Did you feed from Jill as well?"
This time Daisy stood up and moved away from them both, wringing her hands. Jared nodded to Valerie who continued.
"No token of my death will be enough for her, unless you take Jared with you. If he can attest to it and bring a piece of me back, then perhaps she will believe you."
Daisy turned. "Is that the kind of risk you're willing to take with Jared's life?" She looked to Jared as well, accusing them both, since he didn’t speak up for himself. When neither answered, she said, "I'm not entirely convinced why I shouldn't kill you as well as her. Then Atlanta will be without any rulers, leaving the rest of us to lead our lives without getting caught up in your intrigues."
Dear Lord, did I say that? Oh Henry! What atrocities your wife has committed!
Jared stiffened, and though he kept his attention focused on Daisy's actions, glanced swiftly to see Valerie's response.
Valerie shrugged. "It's up to you, but what she made me do—what she had Jill do to me—that isn't who I am. I may not be as human as you, Daisy, but I am not her."
"I need a moment," Daisy said, and stepped away from them both to consider. Whatever choice, she needed to make it fast, already the smell of dawn came on the heels of the night. In another two hours, their lives would be forfeit.
Valerie called Jared over and subvocalized to him. He shouted, "No!" Jared backed away in horror. "I can't do that to you." The queen whispered more.
"Well?" Valerie demanded of Daisy.
Her shoulders grew slack. "Live then."
The pair retired to a room while Daisy waited; Jared stopped in the kitchen for a knife before following his Queen. Daisy considered possible ways she might use the stolen talents to her advantage, but wasn't sure how to get past Camilla's voice and allure long enough to think clearly and utilize them.
From down the hall came a quick chopping sound and a whimper. Jared returned a few moments later with a box in his hands, his dark skin turned ashen with shock. Valerie didn’t return to see them off, as Daisy and Jared left the house in silence. She didn’t wish to ask what happened or what pound of flesh had been removed to give proof of a death that never occurred.
Daisy and Jared drove Jill's car back in silence, a small, ornate box on the seat between them. It surprised Daisy to see how easily Jared knew his way through the unlit tunnel and the abandoned house hiding an underground palace.
Her trepidation rose, thinking perhaps even Jared was tainted by Camilla's control. She needed to know one way or another. As they pulled into the driveway, she asked, "You know your way here well."
Jared gave her a sidelong glance. For a moment he said nothing. "If you wish to know where my loyalties lie, be direct. Don't insult me with insinuations."
Daisy opened and shut her mouth. "Which Queen's rules do you play by?"
"I think it should be obvious," he said, as he lifted the box containing Valerie's still-living flesh. "Of course, once we set foot before Camilla, there are no rules. There is only her." Jared made eye contact this time. "I will resist her as much as I can—as much as anyone can—but she has been Queen of this city for over a century for a reason. No one has yet been able to bring themselves to challenge her. Neither of us will be who we were before entering."
He opened his door and exited the sedan; Daisy followed suit. They made their way around the house to the hidden elevator, but before he slid the iron gate open, he said, "Try not hold it against me, and I'll offer you the same courtesy." With a flourish, he gestured to the elevator. "Ladies first."
They sank into the floors of the underground keep, and entered the hall leading to the Queen's throne room. Daisy didn’t want to think about losing her resolve, or her self-control, but she had to take this risk if she ever wanted to save Perdy. How else can I do this?
Nikola greeted them in the hall and held up his hand, palm out. Jared stiffened and stopped moving, but Daisy kept moving forward. "Stop," Nikola said in consternation. She ceased walking. "What is he doing here? Where is Jill?"
"Jill is dead. I have brought Jared here as her replacement," Daisy said.
The Basque's forehead creased into a frown. "You killed her?" The question held a note of incredulity. He released Jared so he might answer.
"Yes, I ambushed her. I was following Valerie's orders." Jared watched the other man warily.
Nikola seemed impressed for a moment, but waved this aside. "How did you manage to capture this one then?"
Daisy focused on Jared, and hoped the trick would work again. Hold still, she thought. Sure enough, Jared found himself unable to move or speak; that, or he realized what she meant to do and was following along. Although, Daisy decided, it felt as though she had control of his blood, as she had Jill’s.
She released the man at her side, who shot her a dangerous look. I did manage it. Remember, we are not ourselves here.
Nikola appeared satisfied with this display, having expected something of the kind. "Her Majesty awaits word of Valerie's death. I pray you bring good news, yes?"
Jared looked to Daisy who nodded. "Yes," she said, taking the box from Jared. "This should serve." She handed it to the vampire before her.
He led them into the throne room where Camilla lay curled and asleep in her grand chair. She reclined, a porcelain doll or an angelic child, with her knees drawn up to her chin as she hugged her legs. I thought vampires didn’t sleep unless injured.
Daisy startled as she saw the milky eyes of the girl shoot open, stretched a leg up high into the air before crossing it over her and setting her foot down on the floor. Daisy realized the appearance of sleep was a ruse. Not only had she been awake the whole time, but she likely heard what they said in the hall just beyond her door.
With a series of impossible movements, Camilla twisted herself into an upright position, ignoring the bones and joints in her own body, as they sought to repair themselves. "Oh," she said, and the wave of gossamer dreams descended upon all those in the room. "Good," she said, and the threads wove themselves around Daisy in a soothing blanket of sound. "You brought me presents?"
Nikola moved fluidly to his Queen's side, as she brought his hand up to her face, rubbing her cheek across his palm in languid circles. He lifted the box slightly until she sensed it before her, and took it from him. "What is this?"
The tension in Daisy's body washed away with each syllable that fell from Camilla's white lips. She wanted to struggle, but forgot why she should. The Queen opened the box's lid to sense what lay inside, and for a brief moment, Daisy wondered if she might see, too.
With a clatter the box dropped to the floor, and a flesh-rending screech broke the enchantment.
"Is this a sick joke?" Even Nikola seemed awoken from a daze. Camilla's eyes widened in rage and rolled as she gestured from one person to the next. "Get it out!"
The sound of Camilla's voice made Daisy want to scratch the skin off her own cheeks, to pull out her hair and bash her head against the floor. Jared fell to his knees, just as desperate, and s
crambled for the box and the bit of flesh that had fallen out and onto the floor. He gathered it up, stuffing it back inside the box. The lid lay broken along the hinge and would no longer close. Daisy finally caught sight of it before Jared had hidden it away again:
Valerie's penis.
If the sound of the voice didn’t rip at her insides like carving knives, she might have laughed.
She did laugh. The laughter rang out over the screeching, and silenced the Queen. Camilla stood rock still and watched as the white-haired woman fell to her knees in hysterics.
Something inside Daisy was breaking, and she couldn’t stop it.
The Chamber
"Remove them," came the charmed sound, though it still cut as sharp as razors, and no longer held whatever magic first bewitched Daisy.
Nikola dragged Jared out, who continued to clutch the box like a sacred relic, and returned for Daisy, who had curled up in a ball, unable to stop laughing. He carried her by the back of her neck, and tossed her into a dark cell down a back hall from the throne room. The collision of the wall against her head stopped her laughter. After several moments of ear-ringing dizziness, Daisy sat up feeling clear of mind. She had made it passed Camilla and come out herself again.
Thank you, dear Lord, for returning my senses to me, she prayed. Thank you, Valerie for being His instrument.
Her moment of hysterics on the floor ended any chance of Camilla getting ahold of her mind again soon. Her penis! Daisy chuckled and then laughed, and this time, regained control of her choices and will.
Daisy slid to a sitting position, hugging her knees. Now that she could be sure of her mind's clarity, she needed to think of a way out. She hadn’t intended to become imprisoned, but she decided it was better to be in control of her wits in a cell, than unable to make decisions, imprisoned by the Queen's voice.
She leaned her head against the wall next to her, and tried to think. What do I know about escaping prisons? Absolutely nothing.
As she sat there, studying the shape of the door, the emptiness of the cell, she thought she heard a sound. It came from the cell next to hers, though the cold, concrete walls seemed thick. A tiny fluttering sound came to her, its rhythm familiar.
The contradictory desires rose in her to feed and to comfort. Beyond the wall lay a sleeping child whose heartbeat carried to her ears. Daisy straightened and pressed her hand to the concrete. She inhaled deeply, but could identify only her own scent and the lingering perfume of rose, oatmeal, lavender, and cloves on her clothes.
The cell smelled sterile. The fragrant undercurrent of a cleanser used judiciously many times.
What happens in these cells?
She wanted to call out to Perdita, but waking the child would only alarm her. Daisy stood and examined the door. They assume this will keep a vampire in, she reasoned to herself, so it probably will not budge no matter how great the impact.
Pooling her strength, she walked to the other end of the room, and ran shoulder-first toward the door.
After collapsing from the jarring pain in her shoulder, she decided her first assumption had been right. Another scan of the cell proved to her there were no vents to allow her passage out. The door's small plastic window only offered enough space by which to see in and out. No one stood in the hall. It took minutes for her shoulder to heal, but hours before someone came to release her.
Nikola held fast to Daisy, seemingly unaccustomed to having to touch anyone to keep them under control. More than once, Daisy tensed to test his hold on her, but realized even without his power to paralyze her, he was still older and stronger.
As they walked down a corridor from the cells, they rounded a corner and moved toward a chamber. The air soured and grew hotter at their approach. Daisy felt a surge of revulsion at whatever lay beyond the door, even though she couldn’t name the scent seeping out from the room.
A thick steel door opened to invite the pair in, and Daisy struggled instinctively as she saw the wretched creature they had made of Jared. Only her expectation and some recognition of his eyes told her who lay beneath the eviscerated flesh and parted muscle. Pieces of his body lay in a corner, neatly severed and preserved for some unspeakable use.
Nikola wouldn’t allow her to look away from Valerie's loyalist. "See this," he commanded, and she shook her head. With force, he turned her until she couldn’t look away, his thumbs opening her eyes in order for her to see. She glanced sideways toward a masked figure whose scent she didn’t recognize.
He remained anonymous next to his work, a set of bloodied surgeon's tools lay on a chrome tray.
The unknown man licked idly at his gloved fingers beneath the mask, and said to Nikola, "No good. He does not respond to pain." His head turned to address the Basque fully. "Not in the way we want, at least."
Daisy couldn’t adequately comprehend what she saw at first. It took several moments of staring into the opened torso, innards displayed on hooks stretching the intestines, his organs hung as decorations around the room. Limbless, but quite aware, Jared turned his eyes away in shame from Daisy. She wanted to scream, could feel it rising in her throat, but nothing came from her but a push of strangled air. She whispered, "Why?"
The anonymous butcher snorted, as if it should be obvious. "Information," he said. "Truth." Lifting a serrated instrument with a scythe-like hook from his tray, he turned toward her and stepped forward. "Enlightenment," he added, coming closer. Gray eyes studied Daisy through his blood-spattered leather mask, before turning toward Nikola. "Shall I bother with the skin?"
Nikola tilted his head to examine his captive, who shook at the proximity of the torturer. With alacrity, he swung her around, until she pressed into the wall near the door. He frowned as their eyes met, not liking that his blood flowed in her, not appreciating having to dirty his hands.
Perhaps, she realized, if he could use his gifts upon me, he would not need to chain me. The manacles secured her to the wall, and were designed to tighten if she tried to pull away or struggle.
Once more he hesitated, lingering before her as they exchanged a shared discomfiture at the other's presence. Nikola’s brow knit into seeming concern, he opened his mouth as if to say something to her, then looked away. He said to the other man, "Continue your work. You know her orders."
"That I do," he agreed. The steel door shut behind the Basque as he left the chamber. Daisy trembled, sending the slender chains into a tinkling susurration along her back. "Oh quiet. We have hardly begun," said the masked man. "The skin. Such a large and sensitive organ. Your friend here does not realize it, but the chill he feels now is nothing compared to what I could do."
Daisy worked to hold herself still. After passing through Camilla's voice and remaining herself, she would not allow the steel-wielding maniac a chance to undo her. Thoughts of Valerie's hand in her abdomen must be nothing to what Jared felt. She had to be strong, to find what she could and not lose herself to the horror she was made to witness, and what she might endure.
The man lifted a fine blade to Jared's shoulder, or what was left of it, and pressed the blade, ready to slice. Daisy's voice cracked as she spoke, "What information do you seek?"
A smile twitched beneath the steel. "Whether Valerie yet lives or not."
Daisy realized that Jared, through all he suffered, had not given either of them away. "Valerie's flesh should be proof enough of that."
Another snort, as he lifted his scalpel away from Jared and pointed to the dismembered limbs on a white cloth in the corner. "A pound of flesh is no proof at all," he said, and used Jared to prove his point.
"Why should it matter? The Queen's reign is unchallenged and her power undeniable. Valerie was nothing but a puppet," Daisy argued, trying not to let the panic take hold of her. Jared's eyes, worn and pained, tried to focus on her as she stumbled over her words.
The unnamed man ignored her for his tools, but replied, "Her Majesty insists upon it, therefore it matters."
"She insists upon torture?" Daisy asked.<
br />
Wrong move, she realized, as he swiveled his head toward her. "Is this what you call 'unchallenged?'" He placed his blade against Jared's shoulder again, and with a move faster than she could track, he sliced a thin, translucent sheet of skin from Jared's body. A gurgle of a groan came from the throat of the man who attempted to protect his Queen.
"Stop!" Daisy shut her eyes, and the trembling began again. What will they do to me if they can’t get information from Jared? What will they do to Perdy?
She found it difficult to think through the fear coming to claim her. Keeping her mouth firmly shut, she prevented herself from saying anything to incriminate either of them, but she didn’t know how long she could remain silent.
Despite the seeming enjoyment of his work, the man had stopped momentarily and waited. When Daisy opened her eyes again, she found him watching without movement, and remembered what the blood she had drunk offered her. Struggling to summon up the borrowed gifts of her enemies, she forced the masked man to drop the scalpel. It clattered to the floor and the sound bounced off the walls and rattled her.
With painstaking effort, she forced the man to walk forward, though he resisted her. His eyes spun with surprise and fright behind his mask; likely he had felt Nikola's powers before and didn’t want to experience them again. He preferred to have the control.
As he came closer to her, Daisy hoped she could find it as easy to use Jill's powers of persuasion as she did Nikola's blood control. The man's mask posed a problem for her, as she knew she needed skin contact to make it work. Willing him to remove the mask took far longer than she liked. When will Nikola return?
Every one of his movements required strength and concentration from her. Daisy pushed away her worries, focusing entirely on the torturer before her. The mask came free revealing a young, flawless face. Whoever this monster was, he wore the beatific features of a young man in his prime. Her surprise was palpable, and she faltered. His hand came up to stop her, but she caught him in time, and once more took possession of his movements.
Daisy After Life (Book 1): Perdition Page 19
