Gilded Cages (Vamp Tales Book 6)

by Melony Paradise

  That’s my fate. Rowena will get what she wants, then toss me aside like a broken doll. How utterly ironic. Kat forced immortality on me, and Rowena will steal it away just as I was starting to get used to the idea. Sigh.

  “What did you do to me?” I stared at the barred ceiling, not sure I even cared anymore.

  “We put you through a battery of tests and scans immediately following your magnificent display of abilities. I especially wanted to see what kind of brain activity you had, although I’m sure our readings were not quite accurate since we didn’t think to hook you up to a monitor before we put you in the pit. Maybe next time.”

  If there is a next time…

  “The most interesting thing we learned was your ability to resist sedation.” She rhythmically tapped her fingernails against her crossed arm. “We had to use quadruple the amount we normally use for one of you creatures. Nearly ten times the amount of sedative needed to take down an elephant. Fascinating, no?”

  “No,” I grumbled.

  Rowena flicked a hand at the waiting doctor and nodded. “We found that as your body settles back into it’s resting state, less sedation is required. Likely, the amount of adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine, and numerous other hormones aided in your resistance to the sedatives and chemicals in the gas we used to control you.”

  The doctor cut through my shirt and tucked down by my sides. I followed him with my eyes, trembling with stress. When he picked up a scalpel, my anxiety spiked.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” I begged. “Please don’t do this.”

  “The concentration of gas used in the fighting pit should have dropped you like a boulder,” Rowena continued as if we were chatting over coffee, “but instead you floated down like a feather. We had to inject you with a triple dose of sedative immediately after retrieving you from the pit as you started to struggle against the restraints within minutes. Your tolerance is remarkable."

  I watched in disbelief as the doctor sliced into my flesh just below my collarbone, drawing the blade down through my bellybutton and stopping at my abdomen. I screamed at the top of my lungs as a kneejerk reaction, stopping only when I realized I felt no pain. A peek at my arm revealed an IV stuck in my skin.

  “We can’t have you screaming or flailing through this whole procedure, Mercy.” Rowena chuckled. “I would put you under, but that might skew my test. I need to see how fast you heal fully awake.”

  I gaped at her, shocked at the cruelty of it all. When what she’d said registered, I looked down at my wound. The cut had almost completely healed, the last inch stitching together as I watched.

  “Again,” Rowena ordered.

  The doctor repeated the incision, and I watched in mute, morbid fascination. By the time he withdrew the blade from my flesh, the wound was half healed, closing with nearly the same speed as the doctor had used to make the cut.

  “More.” Rowena observed the procedure with a lusty greed I had never before seen in a human being. This was much worse than anything that witch, Cassandra, had ever done. At least she’d had the decency to outright kill people. None of this horrific torture business.

  Again, I watched the doctor slice into me. This time he moved faster, cutting my belly into two flaps that he quickly separated, exposing my internal organs. That’s just not right. My insides aren’t meant to be displayed like this.

  For a moment, I wondered if I’ve gone into shock. How else could I so calmly watch as this guy cuts me open? It must be shock.

  “Is it the same as the other one?” Rowena asks, leaning closer to the bars. “Is the skin pulling?”

  Before the doctor could answer, the flaps slip from his fingers, flopping back in place, and healing over in no time.

  “There’s your answer,” I mutter with an amused huff. Seriously. I think I’m losing it.

  As the last bit of flesh knit itself back together, stabbing pain crackled through the lines that had just healed over. I gasped, but neither of them noticed.

  “Take something out,” Rowena demanded. “Actually, take everything out. Let’s see how fast she can remake herself. Leave the heart, though. Wouldn’t want her to die too soon.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but the doctor shoved the scalpel in my gut and savagely ripped the blade up to my ribcage. Agony tore through me. My entire body flexed in reaction, straining against the straps holding me down.

  The movement sent even more lightning bolts through me. The doctor paused, his fingers grasping the edge of my sliced flesh. He looked at my face, I looked at him, and let loose the loudest scream I could. A weak blast of air and energy burst from my body hitting the doctor first, knocking him back, then smacking into Rowena and toppling her over some medical equipment.

  My body repaired itself, and I lay there panting through the throbbing misery. The doctor righted himself quickly as Rowena hollered from her prone position.

  “Sedate her. Now!”

  Scrambling to fill a syringe, the doctor trembled as I screamed and roared at him.

  “Don’t you touch me, you little bitch! Do not fucking touch me! You’re a spineless peon! I’m going to rip your heart out and squeeze every last drop of blood from your sniveling body. Don’t you dare—”

  Blackness consumed me as the quivering man emptied a large syringe of sedative into my IV.

  Chapter 8

  “Mercy?” Kat’s somber voice breezed through my bruised head. “Mercy, are you there? Please wake up.” She sounded so worried and lost. A single tear escaped my closed eye.

  As I rose to the surface of my mind, I sent a sense of reassurance to her and received a relieved one back. I took stock of my body a little at a time. Other than a dull ache in my midsection, only my head hurt. Too many drugs, I bet.

  Apparently, Rowena’s goons had shoved me into my cage without any thought of comfort. Assholes. Kat huffed a little laugh, and I peeked at her with one eye. She watched me with watery eyes and a pinched mouth. With a long-suffering sigh, I un-pretzeled myself and sat up, stretching my legs the little that I could in the cramped space.

  I sent a thank you up to whatever higher power was gracious enough to let me wake when the lab was empty and the lights were dim. Another glimpse of Kat’s anxious face reminded me that the last time I’d seen her she’d been practically comatose.

  “I’m glad you’ve come back to me.”

  She looked down, clasping her hands tightly. “Your pain forced me back into this detestable world.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, my heart weighing heavily. “You still have family, you know. You won’t be alone.”

  “It’s not the same,” she said with a quiver and a catch in her voice. “It’ll never be the same.” There’s a hole in my heart. I'm drifting aimlessly without my connection to Edgar."

  Determined to get her mind off her loss, I changed the subject. “Why do these etchings cause you pain? How can these tiny symbols of religion do so much damage to vampires?”

  Kat blinked at me, confusion clouding her eyes. She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t really know why. I just know that they do. I know that the older a vampire, the less affected they are by religious symbols and they are able to speak of Him.”

  “Are we evil? Did I have my best friend turned into something evil?”

  Kat shook her head, giving me a wan smile. “I don’t think of myself as evil, Mercy, but my life as a nun and the teachings of the church do make me question my existence. It’s a constant struggle for me. One I’m not sure I have the strength to fight anymore, now that Edgar is gone.”

  The pain in her voice and the misery leaking through our bond, hurt my heart, but I persisted, hoping her faith in life would overcome her sense of loss.

  "But, is it possible that the only reason these symbols repel us is because we believe they will?"

  "Do they repel you?" She peered at me with an arched brow and a tilted head.

  "Well, they hurt a little when I touch them, but I don't feel especially repelled.�
�� I leaned forward, examining the etchings on the bars of Kat’s cage. “I see mostly symbols for Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and even Satanism, but I don’t see any that represent Wicca, or the Heathens, or any of the mainstream Pagan sects.”

  “No, you’re right,” she replied, squinting at the etchings on my cage. “Maybe Rowena’s information is skewed by mainstream beliefs about vampirism. These newer religions have no effect on us.”

  “Paganism is older than Christianity, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that maybe she’s wrong. Maybe our faith at the time we’re turned affects how we react to these symbols. You were a Catholic nun when you were turned, so you believe that the cross will burn you and you can’t say His name or speak of certain things.”

  “I suppose that’s possible.”

  “I was a solitary eclectic pagan before you turned me,” I said pointedly, “and I guess I still am, but I was exposed to several Christian religions when I was a kid. So, my faith in Christianity is tempered by my other beliefs."

  "What does that mean, Mercy? My experience with paganism is limited to my Catholic upbringing and the little I’ve seen since Paganism reemerged in the last few decades."

  “I guess you could say my faith is more fluid. I believe in a female higher power, but also to a lesser extent, other deities that rule over things like the seasons, the Earth, the creatures that inhabit our planet. I believe in reincarnation. I take bits and pieces from different Pagan faiths as I feel fit my life and who I am. As I grow and change, so does my faith, but for me, I will always believe in Her.”

  “Is She like Him?”

  “Yes and no. I believe with Her we have more free will, more control over our destiny and path in life. It’s hard to explain, but I feel a connection to certain beliefs and that makes me happier than I ever was when I was a child trying to find a place in Christianity.”

  Kat frowned, gesturing at the bars. “So, how do you think all of this pertains to how you react to these bars?”

  “Well, no matter what, there’s always a bit of the things I was taught in church sitting in the back of my mind, whether I want to believe them or not. They contradict with some things I currently believe, but I stick to my guns and shove those voices of doubt into the darkest hole inside me. So, that little bit of lingering faith in Him, and the uncertainty of who I am now, let’s these symbols hurt me just a little.”

  “Do you think you can get past them and free yourself?” A flicker of hope flashed across Kat’s face, and my heart fluttered.

  “I don’t know, but I’ll try.” I gave her a lopsided grin. “Wouldn’t that be something? That woman believes only in herself yet relies on others faith to imprison them.”

  Kat shook her head and laughed. “Oh, the irony.” She curled up on the floor of her cage and watched me as I spent the rest of our night testing my faith against the etched bars. When the exhaustion of daytime hit me, I fell asleep with a warmth in my heart, my fingertips touching the bars, and a distinct lack of pain.

  Chapter 9

  “Psst. Mercy, wake up.” Kat’s urgent whispers nudged me awake.

  I unwrapped my hand from the cage bar, and heaved myself up onto my knees, rubbing my eyes. Something about last night had eased a bit of the stress bearing down on me, and I’d slept fairly well for the first time since our capture. I ran my fingers through my hair, working out the snags and tangles.

  “How long have you been awake?” I blinked at Kat with still bleary eyes.

  “Almost an hour.” Kat glanced around the lab. One of the lab techs cleaned equipment on the far side near the cells. “Your hand was on the bar when I woke up. I watched to see if it would wake you with pain, but you just kept sleeping and holding it like nothing was wrong. Thankfully, none of Rowena’s people have been over here yet, so they didn’t see.”

  “Just before we went to sleep,” I said, keeping my voice low so the human wouldn’t hear me, “I was able to touch the bars without any pain at all. I just had to overcome those ingrained beliefs and put all my faith in my Goddess—Oh! Hey, I can speak of Her without gagging or choking!”

  “Oh, wow,” Kat breathed. “That’s amazing.” She bit the side of her lip thoughtfully.

  “Hey, don’t be upset,” I murmured, pressing my face against the bars. “This doesn’t mean your higher power thinks you’re evil. It just means you subconsciously believe the symbols will hurt you because your faith has taught you to believe vampires are evil. If you can get past those ingrained instincts, you might be able to get past the symbols and restrictions too.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, looking around her cage at the bars that had held her all this time just because of something she was taught to believe in her human life. The idea that they had held me too, bothered me immensely. “Regardless, it’s not something I can overcome immediately. We need to escape now.”

  “Right.” I nodded sharply. “What do we do? We’re not alone, and it will take time to get everyone out of the cages. Plus, the ones in the cells are drugged. How do we get them out?”

  “I’m not sure. I think it’s the weekend, or else Rowena and her doctors would already be in here. So, if there’s only the one tech over there, we might be able to incapacitate her long enough to free everyone and wake up the others. The problem is, we have no idea what the security is like outside of this lab.”

  “No, they knock us out before taking us out of the lab. I don’t even know how far the pit is from here.”

  “Everyone here is weak and underfed, possibly drugged with whatever cocktail Rowena decided to use. I’m not sure we would be able to fight our way out, even with our numbers, but we have to at least try.”

  I locked eyes with Kat. “I will do whatever it takes to get us out. I still feel strong from my fight. Rowena must have pumped me full of blood to give me the energy it took to do what I did and still feel pretty good.”

  “I hate to do it, but the other vampire and I will need to feed on the tech.” Kat’s brows scrunched together, creasing in the middle. “You’ll have to keep us from killing her.”

  “No,” came a tired voice from a cage near the floor several rows over. “I will feed on a guard outside. You and your fledgling will be stronger if you are both fed and sharing strength.”

  I blinked in shock. This other remaining vampire had not spoken to us since we’d arrived. We’d barely seen him taken out of his cage, and I had not seen his face to know which clan he’d been in before the ranch invasion. For all I knew, he could be all that’s left of his clan.

  “Can you help Mercy to keep me from draining the human?”

  “I will do what is needed.”

  I glanced down the row of cages on our level and found all eyes watching us, some in their animal form and others in human form, all anxious, tired, and now, expectant. My mouth dried instantly, and I gulped, suddenly terrified I would get all these people killed.

  No! Don’t think like that. You’re going to save everyone because that’s the only option here. No Kin left behind. That’s my new motto. I huffed a laugh at myself and turned back to Kat.

  “When do we do this?”

  “When you’re ready,” Kat said, eyeing the tech who appeared to be wearing earbuds, humming quietly to pop music.

  “Do it now,” the other vampire urged.

  “Now?” I squeaked as my body froze. “Uh…um…okay.” Giving myself a good shake, I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, yeah. Now. Get ready everyone.”

  With no idea how I would do this, I nodded at Kat then nodded to myself, gathering courage and strength. You can do this. Another nod of affirmation and I wrapped my hands around the cold bars.

  Pulling on them, I tested to see if there was any give, but they held firm. The bars were about as thick as the width of a nickel, so I gently tugged at them to see how much force I would need to bend them apart. They protested with a little squeal as they began to bend, emitting soft popping sounds as
they separated from the base of the cage.

  I jerked my head up to see if the tech had heard the noises, but her head bopped along to the music she listened to.

  “Keep going,” Kat whispered a bit too loudly. “I’ll tell you if she looks this way.”

  Sucking a lungful of air and holding it, I used all my strength and control to pull those bars apart as quickly and as quietly as possible. They resisted for a second before bending until my hands bumped into the next set of bars. I strained more with the second set, not having as much leverage since this pair were farther apart from one another.

  Once I had those bars spread wide, nearly pulled out of the base, I stretched the first pair again until I had enough room to squeeze my body through. Kat jerked her chin at the tech when I looked over at her. I felt a sense of pride flow through our bond, giving me a boost of courage.

  I closed my eyes. Please don’t let me fuck this up. Before another ounce of doubt could flood my mind, I pushed myself out of the cage, rolled to the floor, jumped up, and zipped across the lab. With the heel of my hand, I bashed the humming woman on the side of her head.

  The force sent her reeling to the side, and I moved with vampire speed to catch her before she toppled over a tray of stainless steel instruments that would likely clatter to the floor loud enough to alert the guards. As it was, I prayed there weren’t any cameras, or at least if there were, we would have enough time to free everyone before the hunters came running.

  After settling the tech on the floor, I rushed over to a digital panel on the wall by the cages. A touch screen showed each cage as a square outline with a number inside. I pressed the button I hoped would release Kat first.

  A cage door clicked, and I looked over to see it hanging open. I bent down to peer through the legs of lab tables and saw Kat bent over the tech, cradling her in her arms, face buried in the woman’s neck. Panicked, I punched my finger on all the buttons, hearing the click of doors opening one by one.