I wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t known I would be okay. After the way I took down all those vampires during Mason’s rescue, I knew I would make it back alive.
But try telling that to the Society.
Lana’s parents treated me as if I was of no value to them. Well, that was true. Me, the soul, the one with feelings, emotions, and dreams was nothing to them. All they wanted was my body, the perfect host for the huntress.
I made my way across the short platform, took a deep breath, released it slowly, and knocked on the door.
The door swung open with a force of its own, revealing the freakish, old, pale woman sitting in the middle of a black misty circle on the ground, head tilted back, staring through the hole in the roof.
Gray clouds swirled above, further inciting the dark energy stirring inside of me.
“Come, child. Sit,” she said, her face still pointed toward the sky.
Trying to squash the nerves rolling through me, telling myself I was silly and Orphelia was there for my protection, I made my way across the room and sat in front of her, just outside of the circle.
Her head slowly tipped forward, her gaze landing on me as the circle spread, enclosing me within its dark, misty walls.
An electrical current spread through my body, further lighting up the fire burning within me; the very fire that erupted whenever there was danger nearby.
I hated myself for feeling that way in her presence because it just proved I wasn’t ready to take the demon world on my own if I feared the one who vowed to protect me—to protect the people I cared about.
My fangs elongated, having a mind of their own and ratting me out in the process. The last thing I needed was for Orphelia to see first-hand the effects of my deception to the Society.
Her gaze darted to the tips of my fangs pressed against my lips. “You have betrayed the Society of the Shadow Realms by attempting to save the life of an insignificant human, risking the fate of this world even after you were ordered not to.”
Rage coursed through me, her words like daggers being driven into my soul. “That insignificant human is my father,” I said, no longer fearing the wrath of her scorn. “I had no choice—”
“There’s always a choice.”
“If Peter and Gina had agreed to send someone to collect him, I wouldn’t have had to do it myself.”
“Defiance is an unfavorable trait, one that could not only have gotten you killed but also damned the world to a fate worse than death.” She lifted her balled hand, fingers up, holding it between us. She slowly opened her hand, revealing a murky cloud encompassed within.
“What is that?” I barely got my question out before the murky darkness shot toward me with unfathomable speed, slithering its way into my half open mouth.
My eyes widened as the dark energy spread through my body, attaching itself to my soul. I gasped for air as my vision started to sway, blurred until there was nothing left but the deep, endless darkness that enveloped me, dragging me under.
I tried to resist it, but the stronger I fought, the faster it moved, succumbing me to the depths of unconsciousness.
16
As I groggily fought to open my eyes, a haze of bright lights assaulted my senses. Groaning, I rolled onto my stomach and covered my head with my arms, blocking out the iridescent light shining down on me.
My body ached, and my skin was covered with a thin layer of goose bumps. Hunger like I’d never experienced took hold of my soul as I shook with a feverish chill. A thick, wet film covered the right side of my face and crusted over my lips.
I licked my lips and almost gagged at the taste of dried up bile mixed with something else I couldn’t pinpoint.
My vision swayed as I opened my eyes again, trying to focus on something, anything. But all I could see was the bright light shining down on me, making me want to shrink back into the depths of oblivion.
Fighting the pull, I lifted my hand to my eyes but ended up hitting myself in the nose, pain ricocheting into my head, making my eyes water.
I lifted my hands a little higher and rubbed them over my eyes with the dexterity of a newborn. Eventually, my gaze began to focus, and it became painfully clear what they’d done.
Rising to my knees, I stared at the all-too-familiar surroundings of the cage.
Anger coursed within me, wanting to find the one responsible, but I could barely move and I wasn’t sure I had any vampire blood still in me. The thick, black-marbled blood covering the floor next to where I lay confirmed my fears.
In a rush, it all came back to me as to how I got here.
“Orphelia.” Her name was like poison on my tongue. I could feel the sting of her deception and the betrayal from the Society.
With shaky hands, I pressed my palms against the floor, trying to steady myself as I scanned the empty darkness beyond the cage, hoping to find a smiling face, or at least someone who could tell me what the hell was going on.
But the seconds ticked by, and although I couldn’t see anyone, I knew I wasn’t alone. There was a force hiding in the shadows, watching me.
Something wasn’t right, and it wasn’t me being locked in a cage. There was something else at play, and it grated my nerves.
Minutes turned into hours as I sat on the cold, hard floor of the cell, trapped with my own thoughts, waiting for someone to show their face. My patience level was at zero, and I wanted nothing more than a chance to come face to face with Orphelia and squeeze the ever-loving life out of her.
Standing, I was relieved to find I was able to put one foot in front of the other without falling on my ass. I reached the glass barrier and spread my hands against it, wishing I had the strength to bust my way out.
I could still feel an energy within me, only it wasn’t as strong as it was before. Whatever Orphelia had done to me made sure I was no longer a threat to the Order.
Hanging my head, I wondered how Mason, my father, and Ashley were. I hated myself for hurting them. Regret ate away at my insides like acid. It was my fault they were in the hospital. It would be my fault if they didn’t walk away.
I shook my head as the image of my mother standing on the road burned in my mind. She hadn’t been there. I shouldn’t have grabbed the wheel. But I had. And their current state—whatever that was—was my fault.
Letting out a harsh breath, I wished Finn had called before I’d gone to see Orphelia. But he was just as stubborn as I was, and he didn’t think I deserved to get off so easily.
Well, he’d be pleased if he saw me right now. Stuck in the very cage I’d been put in when I first came to this place, unable to place myself in harms way any longer.
The sound of the door opening snapped me out of my thoughts. I slowly lifted my head and watched through hooded eyes as Lana strode toward me, pulling at the sleeve of her shirt—something she would never normally do.
In her hands was a green smoothie and a ziplock bag filled with what appeared to be zucchini chips. “You must be hungry.” She gestured to the food she’d brought.
Starving actually. But not for the crap she brought me. “What am I doing here? And where’s Finn?”
“Finn’s fine.”
“I didn’t ask if he was fine. I asked where he is.”
“He’s still at the hospital.” She quickly added, “Your family and friend are all going to be okay.”
I nodded, unsure if I should believe her. After all, she was an Osmond, and it was because of them I was put in this cage. “Why am I here?”
Lana walked over to the door of the cage and released a latch that opened up a small slot at the bottom, only large enough to fit the smoothie through when tipped on an angle then placed it on the floor. “Take this.”
I glared at her. “Why? So you can poison me again?”
She raised a brow. “I didn’t poison you. Orphelia did what the Society deemed was best. You only have yourself to blame.”
I breathed out my frustration, knowing I needed to keep my cool if I wanted to conv
ince Lana to get me out of there. “I only did what I had to do. I asked—pleaded—for your parents to send a group of hunters to bring in my father, but no one thought it was necessary. No one thought his life mattered.”
“The only life that matters here is yours.”
“Yeah, so I can hand it over to be possessed by some demon huntress that we hope will save the world, when in reality she could be the very thing that destroys us all. I mean, how well do you know the stories of the huntress? She could just be another lie the demons have manipulated us into believing.”
The corner of her lips tipped up, and she shook her head. “The stories are true no matter how much you want to believe they’re not. I get that you’re afraid, but you running off isn’t going to help anyone.”
“And you think locking me in a cage is the right move?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. I follow the orders—”
“Even if they’re wrong? Putting me in this cage doesn’t make sense. Making me go without vampire blood doesn’t make sense. Drugging me with some evil spell doesn’t make sense.”
“You’re attempting to understand something completely foreign to you. You’re bound to question. It’s only natural.”
I stared at her, unable to understand how she could so blatantly put her faith in the Society without questioning anything. The truth was simple. Lana was one of them, and I didn’t trust her one single bit.
The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense. Why put me in a cage? Why cut me off from the world? Why deprive me of the very thing I craved if it was not to keep me oppressed?
Orphelia scared me the very first time I met her, but I had attributed it to her freakish looks. Now, I had a gut feeling it was so much more.
Why didn’t the hunters go after every vampire they came across? Sure, Lana had said that it would only entice the vampires to make more. But was that really true?
I couldn’t trust anything they said.
“I need to speak with Finn,” I said.
She smiled sadly. “Sorry. I can’t let you do that.”
I narrowed my eyes at her as she further incited my hatred for the Society. “You can’t keep me a prisoner.”
“You’re not a prisoner,” she said. “You’re under protection.”
“In a cage where I can’t make any contact with the outside world? Do you even hear how that sounds? I don’t even have a bed or any other basic human necessities.”
Her face softened. “I know this may seem excessive and a little inhumane, but you went against the Order.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “We can’t let our friendship get in the way of protecting the human race.”
It was pointless talking anymore.
Turning away from her, I strode to the back of the cage and sat with my knees bent, done with the conversation. Done with Lana.
She was a legacy, and her allegiance would always be to the Society. She didn’t understand what it was like to have lived in the outside world, to have people we cared about who weren’t within the confines of these walls.
As much as I liked Lana for being the only one to give me a chance at becoming a hunter, it didn’t change the now. Things were different, and they could never go back.
“I’ll come back and see you later.” She gave me a pitiful smile before leaving me alone in the cage with the vegie chips and that smoothie of hers.
Time seemed to drag on in an endless loop. Without any TV, phone, or even a damn window, I had no idea what time it was or even how much time had passed. I was in an endless loop of solitude, and my thoughts were playing havoc with my mind.
I kept seeing my mother’s transparent body, warning me, trying to reach me before being sucked away into the Shadow Realms where the demons waited.
My heart ripped a little bit more with every deluded vision I had of her until I was practically going out of my mind. She was haunting me from the grave. Maybe ghosts were real. After all, vampires and demons were. It wasn’t so much of a stretch to think ghosts could be, too.
And if that were true, then what was she trying to warn me about? Probably the very circumstances I found myself in. She’d stood on that road, blocking our way. Well, not really. She was only a ghost. She couldn’t block anything.
Lifting my head, I stared directly into the camera pointed at my cage, willing for whoever was on the other end to come down here so I could rip their damn head off.
Maybe I was selfish for not wanting to hand over my life to save the human race, but there was a part of me that stirred with a fierce protectiveness for my soul every time I thought about it.
I had to be the most selfish person on earth.
Snorting internally, I couldn’t believe I was prepared to become a vampire to save Mason yet I wasn’t prepared to disappear into a void to save the world. Not that I knew if it were a void I was destined to be sent to. And no one could tell me differently. There was no handbook when it came to me. Only a bunch of vampire hunters who thought it was their right to dictate the war between humans and demons. I was supposed to be the demon hunter, the one who would eradicate the demons from this world, and in doing so destroy the vampires as well, yet I didn’t have a say in one single aspect of my life.
The door opened, breaking me from my thoughts, and Max entered the room, holding another damn shake. He strode up to the glass, his usual pissed-off gleam in his eyes. His gaze swept over me as I sat at the back of the cage, in the same position I’d been in since Lana walked out however many hours before. “You need to control yourself in there. Letting your desires get the better of you will only hurt you and those you care about. You need to let go. You need to have faith.”
Anger coursed through me as he made his way over to the door. I’d thought he believed in me, and now he was telling me I was wrong. The fierce, disgusted look in his eyes wrenched at my heart. No matter how much I knew he and I would never be, it didn’t change how much I wanted him or the fact that I wouldn’t be alive to see it through. Even if there was a chance I could change his mind about me, it wouldn’t be fair to start something that would only end in heartache.
Max lifted the little door, maneuvered the smoothie through, and placed it next to the one Lana had brought me and the uneaten zucchini chips.
My pupils dilated the moment he placed it on the ground, bringing a fierce desire to devour every last drop. His words replayed in my mind, taking on a whole new meaning as I fought my very makeup.
Blood.
There was vampire blood in the smoothie.
Max’s steely gaze landed on me again as he righted himself. “Remember what I said. Keep faith. We are looking out for your best interest.”
It took everything in me not to race over to the cup as soon as he was gone. The aroma of the blood was all-consuming, eating away at my insides like an addict desperate for their next hit. But I couldn’t let whoever was on the other side of the cameras see my desire. I had to play it cool. Max was risking everything for me, and I could barely understand why he was going against the Society. Him of all people.
Every nerve in my body felt as if it were on fire as I waited for the appropriate time to pass. But what was that? Five minutes? One hour?
I had no idea.
For all I knew, it had only been a few seconds since Max had left, not the twenty minutes it felt. But I couldn’t hold out any longer.
Plastering a scowl on my face, I stood, strode over to the smoothie, and snatched it off the floor, making sure I didn’t look too eager.
I made my way back to my spot and sat, knees bent, leaning my back against the wall.
Avoiding eye contact with the camera, I dipped my head and brought the stainless-steel straw to my lips, thankful that Lana was all about the environment and reducing waste, giving the perfect cover for the blood.
My mouth salivated as my fangs elongated, ready to devour a beast. Except there were no vampires around. Only the blood of one who wasn’t like the others. I could
smell his essence entwined with the blood I’d drained from him.
Closing my lips over the straw, I steadied myself as I took my first sip. Blood spilled into my mouth, a tingling sensation spreading through my body as it made its way down my throat, entwining the vampire’s essence with mine. I snapped my eyes closed, trying to hide the euphoria I’d slipped into, unable to drag myself out. Plus, I had to hide my eyes from the camera now that they were changing color.
Next came the hit of green goop that was the Lana approved meal. As much as I wanted to throw the rest of the smoothie down the toilet, I continued to drink the vomit-inducing crap, getting rid of any visible evidence left in the straw.
For the first time since I’d woken up in the cage, I had hope.
But that hope dwindled with every hour that passed, the vampire blood all too quickly depleting from within as if magic were still at play. I was tempted to try to break out of the cage, but I needed more. What Max had given me wasn’t enough to allow me to escape. For all I knew, no amount of blood would help me break out of this cage.
My eyes drifted closed as exhaustion took over. I didn’t know how long I’d been awake, and I was desperate for sleep.
Even a super-charged vampire hunter needed sleep.
Cursing every single person in this compound for not at least giving me a pillow, I lay against the concrete floor, cold and uncomfortable, knowing I would wake up aching if the blood had completely passed through me.
17
The click of the door opening startled me awake. I was up on my feet before the person had entered the room, and I realized I shouldn’t be that quick. I needed to slow down, pretend I was the weak girl they wanted me to remain.
Mason walked in holding another smoothie. He looked a little worse for wear with a portion of the side of his head shaved and three stitches covering an angry slice from where I presumed he’d hit his head in the accident.
Circle of Embers (Shadow Realms Series Book 2): A vampire hunter novel Page 10
