Gilded Cages (Vamp Tales Book 6)

by Melony Paradise

  Shoving an arm between them, Edgar pushed Michael away as he tried to clamp his teeth around Edgar’s neck. They struggled against each other. Edgar used all his might to hold Michael off while Michael snarled in his face.

  In a burst of energy, Edgar rolled them over, landing on a momentarily confused Michael, grabbed an arm and snapped it just below the elbow. Michael howled in rage, shoving Edgar across the room. He jumped to his feet and charged with his arms out in front of him.

  With his first step, the broken arm hung at a cringe-worthy angle, but by the third step, that arm had popped back in place and straightened out so he could clench his fist as if nothing had happened.

  My heart broke and I cried out as Michael launched himself up and landed on Edgar’s prone body. Edgar grunted as his head bashed into the floor, only to be cut off by Michael’s jaw clamping down on his throat. Try as he might, Edgar could not break the hold Michael had on his upper arms, locking the weaker vampire in place.

  A mixture of sounds came over the speaker that sickened me. Sucking, slurping noises came from Michael as Edgar’s hands and feet flailed against the unyielding metal floor. My entire body seized with emotional agony, and I turned away, unable to watch another senseless death.

  Kat yelped, gripping the bars, her face pressed against them. “No!” she screeched. Red welts formed where her skin touched the metal. “No, no, no…” Her lips trembled as she begged.

  Reluctantly, I turned back. As Michael drained Edgar of the little blood flowing in his veins, a ghostly, blue-white essence formed around Edgar’s prone form. It glowed like when Edgar pulled a lifeforce from someone.

  The essence swirled, gathering towards Michael’s hands. Edgar’s struggles weakened, his body limp as Michael lifted him like a ragdoll. He held Edgar a little away from his own body, unclamping his jaw. Edgar’s head flopped to the side, mangled, and the essence that had been around his head stayed in place. The eerie sight made me gag.

  In one sucking breath, Michael leaned in and inhaled the essence of Edgar’s head while the rest flowed into his hands still grasping Edgar’s arms. I couldn’t breathe or think or move, just stare in disgusted awe.

  “Well,” Rowena muttered, “isn’t that intriguing?”

  Goosebumps covered my body and my teeth chattered. An invisible rope closed around my throat, choking me with fear. My tenuous tether to my grandsire pulled taut at my center, threads snapping with each of my racing heartbeats. I felt Edgar die as I watched Michael drain him of his life essence until he was nothing but a withered husk.

  My bond with Edgar vanished, leaving a painful void in my soul. His absence, once felt as only a faint background noise, now left a thundering silence in my head.

  When my body remembered to breathe, sound came rushing back at me. The noise hit me like static at first, turning into a jumble of loud voices, until finally separating into two distinct people. Kat screamed in bursts, keening in between while rocking in her cage, her hands still gripping the bars and turning angry shades of red. Rowena cackled like a crazed witch, clapping her hands gleefully then pressing them together against her grinning mouth.

  Hot tears ran down my cheeks. Kat’s cries echoed in my ears and through our bond. My head swam, my vision flashing red with black dots. I choked on Kat’s emotions and my own, barely able to suck in shallow breaths.

  Oh no! “Oh no!” Oh no! “Oh no!” Oh no! What the hell are we going to do? She’s going to kill us all! I can’t believe that just happened. What are we going to do!

  I flinched as Kat suddenly went silent. The only sound other than my pounding heartbeat came from Rowena. She hummed happily into her fingers she still held to her mouth. Twisting around until my entire scrunched body faced Kat, I pushed my hand through the tight bars, trying to reach out, but her cage was still inches away from my fingers.

  “Kat,” I whispered in a watery voice. “Stay with me. Please.”

  Tear streaks lined her face, but Kat sat unmoving, unseeing. Our connection felt numb, silent, almost empty, but thankfully, still there.

  Stay with me, Kat. Please, I need you. I didn’t know if she could hear me, but I hoped. Hope was all I had left now.

  Chapter 5

  Seven days. Seven more excruciating days of misery. Kat had gone catatonic. She hadn’t even moved to drink the meager cup of blood a lab tech had given us. I worried she would never come out of it.

  Another thing that worried me—Rowena had left the two of us alone since the death match. Her and her doctors played with the weres. When she pulled the claws from a werepanther two days in, I turned my back on the whole scene and blocked everything out except Kat. Her I gave my undivided attention, listening to her slow breathing, searching our bond for any sense of her, and watching her as she lay curled up in the middle of her cage.

  As each day passed, another niggling worry sat in the back of my mind. Rowena was saving me for her worst tests. She’d learned enough about vampires from Edgar and Michael, and spent countless hours tearing apart were-creatures. Her doctors had more samples of Kin biology than they had time to examine it all.

  As far as I could tell, none of the supernatural creatures around me appeared as powerful as me. Not that I’m trying to stoke my ego or anything, but I felt healthier than everyone else looked. I didn’t feel great, by no means. I’d been viewing Rowena’s world through a red haze for a while now and my powers barely sputtered when I dared try using them.

  Kat was skin and bones, minutes away from looking like a mummy, which is what the only other remaining vampire prisoner now appeared to be. The shifters reminded me of those starved puppies rescued from breeding farms they show on TV to guilt you into donating money every month. The only sounds from our side of the lab were the occasional whimper or sigh.

  “…the day, doctor.” Rowena’s voice filtered through the door opening at the back of the lab. I opened one eye to see her and her favorite doctor strolling in, heading our way. “I imagine the show will be phenomenal!” She waved her hands through the air above her like a circus director revealing wondrous delights to the masses. I couldn’t hold in my weak snort of derision.

  I tuned out the rest of their conversation, closing my eyes as I leaned against the back of my cage. My thin shirt protected my skin, but the back of my head ached from my scalp touching the bars. Just one more ache on top of the many I already had buried under the gnawing hunger eating away at my body.

  Someone cleared their throat in front of my cage, so I lifted a heavy eyelid and sighed. Rowena practically bounced in place, her excitement nearly a visible aura. Her bright white smile glimmered in the dim light. The overhead fluorescents flickered on, illuminating everything in stark contrast, and I shut my eye against the painful flare.

  “Ahem.” Rowena sounded impatient, so I turned my body away, leaning my side against the back bars and burying my face in my shoulder. “Well.” Undeterred. Double sigh. “We are going to have some fun today, Mercy.”

  Ugh. Leave me alone, bitch. Too tired to speak, and nearly too tired to even think, at this point.

  “Today,” she said in a high, singing tone, “is your day.”

  Fuck.

  Soft thuds of booted footsteps sounded.

  “You can come voluntarily,” she said, her voice dropping an octave, “or not…”

  The ominous note sent a shiver down my spine. I squished myself down even more, wrapping my hands around the bars. Please, go away. Please, please, please, leave me alone. If I could summon the tears, I would cry. This was the day I was dreading.

  "Don't make me punish you. Haven't you learned by now that I will get what I want?"

  I flopped my head around to glare daggers at her. "I'm fucking done with your tests, bitch. You've taken bits and pieces of every part of me. No more!" My rage gave me a boost of energy to lift my head and lean forward on my hands to snarl through the bars.

  "I will have more, Mercy, so much more…" Rowena took a step back, lifting her damnable rem
ote control of torture. “Step back, boys.”

  The two hunters did as ordered. I snapped my teeth at them in a fit of spite, only to yelp as my cage electrified, causing me to jump and bash my skull on the top bars. The plexiglass wall lowered with a quiet swoosh, followed by the hissing of gas filling our space. Too exhausted to fight anymore, I welcomed the void of unconsciousness.

  Chapter 6

  I woke with a start, jumping to my feet and circling in place to scan my surroundings. The white walls hurt my eyes, making me wince and squint. The urge to shield them was strong, but I kept my hands out and ready to fend off any attack.

  Taking stock of myself, I realized I was no longer weak or hungry. The red haze had gone from my vision. The walls of Rowena’s fighting pit stared back at me and I could see with extra clarity the details of the seams and the paint covering every surface, tiny chips and dents marring here and there. Two curved panels stood out, though. In front of me a mirror reflected my unkempt appearance. I sneered, remembering Edgar’s death as we watched from the other side of that window.

  High above, another reflective window sat in the wall just below the ceiling. I let out a growling howl at that window, knowing the queen bitch was watching from on high. There’s no way she wouldn’t want a box seat to whatever she had planned for me.

  A soft sound behind me drew my attention, and I spun around. The far door opened to an inky black hole. A man burst out of the darkness, running full speed at me, getting twenty feet in before falling to the floor with a dog-like whine.

  Upon closer—but not too close—inspection, I noticed the man appeared to be a partially shifted werewolf with random patches of fur, especially around his extremely erect manhood, a mouth full of sharp fangs, and his fingers elongated with bloody claws where his nails should be. He writhed on the floor, clawing at a collar around his neck with a little red light shining under his chin. My hand shot up to my own neck and I slumped with relief. No collar.

  “What is wrong with you?” I murmured, eyeing foamy saliva dripping from his mouth.

  Glittering black eyes locked onto my face, sending me stumbling two steps away.

  “Listen, dude,” I said with all the calm I could muster, holding my hands up to ward off his eerie stare. “How about you just go back into your black hole of hell, and we can call it a day? What do you say, huh? No need to use those slathering fangs on me. I swear, I taste awful.”

  I glanced around, searching for any means of escape. “Fuck!” I said under my breath. “How the hell do I get out of this without one of us getting dead?”

  “You don’t,” Rowena’s voice rang out, startling me. “And, don’t bother trying to reason with him. He can’t understand anything you say.”

  “What did you do to him?”

  "Experimental drugs. I must know how far each species can be pushed before breaking. I need as much data as possible before I approach the military with my new product."

  "What the hell? I thought you just wanted eternal youth!"

  Rowena’s high-pitched laugh grated on my nerves. "Oh no, Mercy. My world has expanded. The possibilities are endless. With so many supernatural specimens, I have so many wonderful ideas. My R&D department will be so busy, I’ll have to quadruple the staff. Maybe even open a whole new research facility."

  An annoying buzz sounded and the light on the werewolf’s collar switched to green. In the blink of an eye, he sprang to his feet and crossed the hundred or so feet between us. I squeaked in surprise and turned to run away, but he was on me before I could even think to defend myself.

  My hands shot up as he lunged for my neck, grabbing his muscular shoulders. Sweat and drool dripped from his face to mine. Gross! The scent of strong body odor filled my nose, making me gag. Double gross! That’s the last straw!

  Summoning up my rusty powers, I blasted the man up off me, sending him flying. He slammed against the far wall, dropping into a crouch as he fell to the floor. Beginning a fast crawl on hands and feet, he rose up, claws out, and barreled into me again.

  Somewhat ready this time, I threw up a shield in front of me, but the force of him still sent me sprawling backward. My head bounced off the wall under the lower window, bringing stars and tears to my eyes. With a frustrated roar, I thrust my hands forward, lifting the werewolf fifty feet in the air, then tossing him into the wall, leaving behind a body-sized dent.

  When the man landed, his body began shifting as he slowly brought his wolf form to the surface. Either I had damaged him, or Rowena’s drugs had done something to him, but his shift seemed excruciatingly slow for a werewolf. I’d witnessed many werewolves that changed form in just seconds, but this…this was painful to watch.

  The crunch of bones remaking themselves jolted me out of my shock. Don’t just stand here, Mercy. Do something!

  With a deep breath and a throaty growl, I shot myself up in the air, stopping level with the upper window. I’d kept my gaze on the wolf to be sure he didn’t try to jump and grab me. Holding my hands out at my sides, palms to the front, I spun around to give my unseen audience my full attention. The mirrored window faded until I could see through to the other side. The speaker switched on to delicate applause coming from Rowena. She beamed at me as three lab coats frantically scribbled on their clipboards.

  A thought ran through my mind, and my frown morphed into a wicked grin. Rowena’s smile faltered. Bringing my elbows up and back, I rammed my hands toward the window, sending the hardest, pointiest spike of air directly at her.

  The spike hit with a resounding crack, fracturing the thick glass like a rock hitting a windshield, sending Rowena stumbling into a table behind her. The doctors all jumped back several steps, gaping at the window and at me. The force of the air expelling from my hands had sent me flying, bouncing off the wall behind me.

  I zoomed through the air, stopping three feet from the broken window and gave the doctors a sweet smile and a wink that made them shrink in their lab coats. Rowena’s mouth started moving, giving the doctors orders I couldn’t hear, but their retreat from the observation room left her standing stiff with fury.

  Delighted by the turn of events, I sent spear after spear at that crack in the glass, using my telekinetic power to pry at the stubborn shards. The source of my misery stood only feet away and I had my full power to make her pay. My determination and need for vengeance fueled my power as I put everything into tearing apart that window.

  A howl below me distracted me briefly. I glanced down to see the werewolf pacing the edge of the circular room, snarling up at me. I turned back to the window to see Rowena standing beside it, her mask of fear gone. She gave me an evil smirk, lifted her finger, and jabbed at something I on the wall beside the window.

  The familiar sound of gas hissing made me look down. The wolf lay on its side, unconscious. With an angry roar, I doubled my efforts on the window. My mind warred with itself about whether I should use my energy power, but the possibility of the energy bouncing back at me and killing me was very real. Does it even fucking matter at this point? She’s just going to kill us all anyway. Might as well go down fighting!

  Centering all my power at my core, I sent an orb of roiling energy, bigger than my whole body, at the spiderweb of cracks. I used tendrils of air to continue prying at the glass edges. The giant energy sphere swept forward like a fireball, glowing blue, yellow, and orange, colliding with the window, sounding like two cars smashing into each other. The glass and polymer material of the window began to melt as my boiling energy spread and flowed across the surface.

  My eyes sought Rowena, locking with hers, as we both smiled with similar looks of satisfaction. The gas floated up, enveloping me. My smile faltered as the edges of the room began to darken. The clinging glow of my energy ball faded along with my concentration.

  The walls of the fighting pit closed in on me. I fought to keep myself aloft, but the sedation took hold. My body drifted downward and my view of Rowena and the damaged window dimmed. Darkness flowed into my min
d, plunging me in a sea of black, knocking me out before I even touched the floor.

  Chapter 7

  Flashes of reality mixed with nightmares as I went in and out of consciousness. I couldn’t tell which was which, since Rowena featured in it all. One moment she hovered over me, cackling with her face etched in stark outlines, and the next she was barking orders over my body.

  I struggled against restraints holding me against a hard metal surface until a prick in my arm sent me back into the void with that wretched voice echoing in the distance.

  A booming whirring sound startled me awake. I tried to lift my head, squinting through blurry vision, but a leather strap held it in place. It thought I was back in the fighting pit, but the white cylindrical wall around me was only inches from my body.

  “Wh-where am I?” My voice ricocheted around the tube I lay in.

  “MRI,” Rowena’s tinny voice said through a speaker near my head. “Stay still. We need you conscious for a couple minutes while we scan your brain.”

  “What?” I yelled, wincing at the loudness. “Let me go!”

  “Quiet!” Her voice pierced my brain, sending waves of nausea through me. “Stay still, almost done.”

  I loathed to obey her command, but the throbbing pain that came with the slightest movements kept me immobile. When the hissing of gas came again, I nearly thanked Rowena.

  The next time I awoke, I found myself strapped tightly to a bed in one of the larger cells opposite the cages and Kat. Thankfully, my head hadn’t been restrained this time. Rowena stood with her arms crossed on the other side of the bars. Her pet doctor puttered with medical tools on a table beside me.

  With narrowed eyes, I watched him, suspicious and worried of what horror would be inflicted upon me yet again. A blanket of sorrow engulfed me as I glanced at the next cell over. The werewolf I had battled lay on a metal table, unmoving, with his mouth slack and clouded eyes. Not a single breath moved his furry chest.