by Maya Daniels
“Move.” Alexius shoves me ahead of him and my ankle twists again.
Flailing my arms, I manage to stay on my feet, but I do kick off the damn shoes, flipping them into the trimmed bushes and getting a grim sort of satisfaction for messing up their perfect shapes. Sharp rocks stab my bare feet, but I ignore the pain and keep my eyes on the set of stairs leading to a covered porch and double doors. I’m still on the second step when the doors swing open, a hunter holding them ajar for us. I should feel fear or something—anything really—from being in their midst. I don’t. Instead, I’m impatient to see Zoltan.
“Drake!” Roberti walks out of a room and closes the door behind him, a wide smile stretching his face. “I knew you’d see reason.”
I’ve either gone insane or there is something seriously wrong with him. I’ve known Roberti for most of my life. He’s always been an asshole with no time for anything that doesn’t interest him. Regardless of any of that, he’s always been a very good-looking male, true to his demigod genes. The male standing in front of me looks sick. He still has his broad shoulders and trim waist, but the skin on his face and hands looks like its graying. Dark circles form smudges under his eyes and his cheekbones jut out like bones sticking out of his face. The chocolate color of his eyes is pitch black, and it swallows his pupils to make them invisible.
It’s unnerving as fuck.
“Andrius.” Swallowing a lump the size of a fist in my throat, I search his face. There is no trace of the male I knew in Sienna there. “Nice place you have here.”
“She didn’t come for a visit,” Alex spits from behind me. “She thought she’d trick me with glamour and follow me here.” Roberti’s gaze snaps to Alex over my head. “We still don’t have the book.”
“She just needs the proper motivation to see what’s good for her.” An insane glint enters Roberti’s eyes, and it curdles my blood. “She’ll bring the book herself after that.”
“Well”—Clapping my hands like an excited child, I beam at Roberti—“it was great seeing you.” Angling my body so I can slink around Alex, I keep them both in my sights. “Now that I know you’re doing great; I’ll just be on my way. See you around.”
I bump into something and an ornate vase I don’t notice shatters into tiny pieces on the floor. For a moment I wonder why Roberti and Alex are not trying to stop me. Instead, they’re watching me like I’m an exhibit in a zoo. How odd. But when I feel the cold kiss of metal on my bare spine, I no longer wonder. I hate this stupid dress. The sharp tip of the blade presses harder on my skin but doesn’t break it. Alex smirks at me and murder burns in my chest. I’m going to wipe that look off his face if it’s the last thing I do.
“You want to walk yourself or should I help?” Alex gloats, pointing to the right of the open grand foyer.
“I’ll walk.” Lifting my chin, I clench my fists.
“You had fun I see.” Roberti chuckles at Alex as I walk between them in the direction the asshole wants me to move.
“Ah yes.” I can feel their eyes on me, the short hairs on my neck standing on end. “I’m looking forward to telling Zoltan all about it. You’ve been missing out all those years. She tastes delicious.”
They keep chuckling but I ignore them both. I know Alex is trying to provoke me, and I’m also aware it’ll work soon enough, but at least I’ll try and pretend I’m not bothered by it for now. Just play along until the rest get here, I tell myself. Neither Roberti nor Alex knew I would pop up in that gala like some jack in the box. No matter how much security they have in this place, our chances are still good.
I hope.
I stop in front of a plain door, all the colors and decorations of this place just a blur around me. My mind is too busy to pay attention to anything that doesn’t have a heartbeat. So far, only six are beating on this floor and that includes the two morons behind me and my own. Alex leans around, opening the door and brushing his chest against my arm. I don’t flinch, although I really want to. Stairs lead into darkness that’s gaping at me like the mouth of a hungry beast. Not giving myself time to freak out, I start going down.
They stand at the door until I’m almost covered in the darkness, then one of them flicks a switch and yellow light brings everything to life. I wish for the darkness again, but it doesn’t come. The room is not too large, just gray floors and stained walls. I don’t want to think about the cause of the dark patches on the yellowing paint. Iron bars separate one corner from the rest of the barren room to create a cage. In the middle of it, chains hang from the ceiling. The metal clasps that would normally hang at the end are clasped tightly over Zoltan’s wrists. His arms are stretched painfully above his head. His knees are bent where he hangs limply like a doll his chin pressed tightly to his chest. A pool of blood glitters in the yellow light, a dark mirror under his feet.
I can’t breathe.
A vise just like the ones around Zoltan’s wrist squeezes my chest. Even my heart is stuttering because it’s unable to thump properly. I stand frozen, too afraid to breathe in case I can’t hear his heartbeat. I can feel Alex and Roberti coming down and getting closer, but I can’t get my feet to move. Apart from their hearts and the stutter in my chest, I hear nothing else. Cold sweat drenches my body, the silk of the dress sticking to the skin between my breasts and on my belly.
I hear one slow thump.
“He is alive,” Roberti says casually, like he is talking about an object instead of a person.
I say nothing, forcing my feet to move closer to the iron bars, my nails digging in the skin of my palms to hide the shaking of my hands. He is alive, stop freaking out. He is alive, I chant in my head while standing across the bars from Zoltan. I don’t know what else to do.
“You expect me to say thank you for keeping him alive?” My voice sounds hollow to my own ears.
I can’t look away from Zoltan. His hair is dirty, clumped in places from dried blood. The shirt he is wearing is ripped to shreds, making all the cuts and bruises visible on his skin. For the wounds to still be open and trickling blood, he must be almost drained. He would’ve healed otherwise. I would do anything to see him lift his head right now and smirk at me. Or even say something arrogant to piss me off. Anything really. Seeing him like this kills something inside me. I can physically feel some integral part of who I am break apart and turn to dust.
It doesn’t even hurt.
“Should we wake him for the reunion?” Alex sounds too excited about the idea. He can’t wait to show the smudges of the lipstick still on his face, I bet.
I’ll take that. I’ll take Zoltan being angry and even hating me just to see him look at me. I need to see those blue eyes open, to know that he is really alive. A metal stick pokes between the bars and Alex jabs the end of it in Zoltan’s chest, sending sparks of electricity everywhere. I’ll break my teeth from grinding them so hard, but I stay still as I wait for Zoltan to lift his head. His body jerks violently. Look at me, I beg silently in my head. I’ll do anything for you to look at me.
The chains snap tight and Zoltan throws himself forward.
Red blazing eyes glare at my face with no recognition of who I am. Saliva drips from his fangs as he snaps his jaws at me. With veins bulging on his neck and arms, he strains against the chains to get to me. Not because he missed me, and not because he is angry at me. No, this is worse.
He is feral.
14
Roberti and Alex left a while ago, locking me here with Zoltan. They got tired of gloating and laughing at my face. I couldn’t do anything but stand staring at those red eyes while he snarled and growled at me.
His beautiful face is contoured in hatred and bloodlust even now.
Curled up with my knees hugged to my chest, I keep watching him. Even moving to the furthest corner doesn’t stop him from yanking on his chains, his hunger to see me dead stronger than anything else. I know it’s not him. It’s that poison they put in his blood, but it doesn’t make it easier to see. Tears trickle down my face and I poke
at my eyes to get the damn contact lenses out.
“This is all my fault.” Flinging the vile thing that was stuck to my eyeball, I let anger replace the hopelessness trying to drag me down. “I should just let you kill me and be done with it.”
It might be my imagination, but it looks like the sound of my voice is slowing him down. The moment I look into his eyes he snarls, almost pulling his arms out of their sockets with a vicious snap of his jaw. I cringe. Yup, just wishful thinking.
“Here I was, dying little by little inside just thinking of you finding your mate.” Blabbing out the first thing that comes to mind, I rub at what’s left from the sigils on my wrist. Better talk than think. “You can’t just turn feral after kissing me senseless and making all those promises, Zoltan.”
A lump chokes the rest of the words and more tears trickle down my cheeks. I can’t even think of facing Astara after she sees her brother like this. And she will see him. No way will I have the heart to kill him before they get here. I’ll let Zoltan rip out my throat first.
He calms down when I’m quiet, but those red eyes are glued to me like he is worried I’ll disappear if he blinks. It’s unnerving to say the least. My sniffles while I jerkily swipe the tears from my nose and chin is the only sound. The walls must be reinforced down here so no one can hear the screams. My gaze traces the stains on the walls, more to avoid looking at Zoltan than anything else. I feel numb. I talk a lot of shit to his face, but I can admit to myself that the moment he dies, I’ll die with him. Maybe not physically, but the numbness is taking root inside my soul and preparing me for the inevitable.
The most fucked-up thing about the whole situation is I don’t see how I could’ve done things differently for a better outcome. I give them all so much crap about losing one person for the good of many, yet I do the exact same thing.
Snorting, I rub a hand over my face, grimacing when I see all the black and red paint on it. There goes the makeup. Maybe Zoltan is snarling at me because I look like my face is melting or something. Avoiding his gaze, I tilt my head back on the wall and close my eyes. The sigh passing my lips sounds like it’s wrenched from the bottom of my soul. I still can’t stop crying, so the tears roll out of my closed lids and fill my ears.
“What a fucking mess.” My shuddering whisper fills the space between us.
I’m not sure how long I sit like this. My muscles are cramping from hugging my knees like someone will take my legs if I release them when I hear the door at the top of the stairs open. I roll my head to the side, waiting to see who will come to torment me first. I’m surprised they last this long before coming here to gloat. My heart punches painfully against my ribs when the feet of a hunter pad silently down the stairs. My body stiffens at the first sight of the white boots. When the dagger dripping with black sludge makes an appearance, I’m on my feet faster than I can blink. The hunter stops at the bottom of the stairs still watching Zoltan.
Fear claws at me with the idea of them turning me feral as well. With both me and Zoltan out of our minds, Roberti doesn’t need to fight the Daywalkers when they come. The two of us will do the work for him. He wants us to kill our own. The magic inside me rages at the thought and I pounce on the hunter.
Grabbing the wrist of the hand holding the dagger, I wrench it behind the hunter’s back at the same time as my elbow connects to his face. The hunter twists around, ducking to follow the arm I’m twisting and swiping my feet from under me. I drop on my back with an oomph, taking him down with me. No way I’m letting go of that damn dagger. Holding the arm with the blade as far away from me as I can, I scissor my legs, flipping my body over the hunter. Straddling his chest, I cock my arm to knock him out.
“Chicca, I told you I don’t swing this way.” Myst groans, jerking her head to the side just in time for my knuckles to shatter against the concrete.
Stars burst behind my eyes from the impact.
“I’m so glad that wasn’t my face.” She snickers like there is something funny here. “I’d be really unhappy if I needed to rearrange my features.”
“What the fuck is the matter with you?” Hissing at her, my upper lip curls over my fangs.
“You and the hunk are quite the couple right now.” She blinks innocently at me. “What, with all those fangs and snarls. Pretty hot, I promise.” I can see why Fenrir is downright rude around her.
The woman is insane.
“What are you doing here?” Pushing off her, I get to my feet, not offering her a hand up. “Are the others with you?”
“It’ll be a while before they get here.” Jumping up, she yanks the covering off her face. “It takes longer when you have to coordinate a lot of people.” One of her shoulders twitches in a shrug. “That’s why I work alone.”
“So, what’s the plan?” I notice she closes the door behind her, which tells me she snuck down here. Crazy or not, she’s very good at this.
“I came to check on you first.” She walks closer to Zoltan, who is going berserk from her nearness. I pretend not to notice. “This might be a bit of a problem.” Her head tilts this way and that, and she whistles low when he snaps his jaws at her.
“You think?” snapping, I take a deep breath to calm myself. Killing her will not help me get out of here. I must remember that.
“Just a blip in the plan, Chicca.” Waving my anger away, she keeps studying Zoltan, who is focused on me again. “I see.”
“Wanna share with me what it is that you see?” Grinding my teeth, I fight the urge to cry and rage at the same time. “Because from where I’m standing, we lose no matter what.”
“What is it with you people and always looking at the worst-case scenario?” Myst turns to me incredulously, like I’m the one sounding crazy here.
Leaning forward and getting in her face, I glare. “He is feral,” I tell her slowly, as if I’m talking to a dumb person, “if you didn’t notice. That’s what the red eyes and snapping jaw mean.”
“You don’t say.” If her words were any dryer, they would’ve crumbled off her lips. “I’m going to scout the house to see what numbers we are dealing with.” Like a switch, her attitude flips. “I’ll have the information for the others when they get here. You stay here until I come get you. We don’t want to have to rescue you from Roberti or Alex if we can help it. And do me a favor, would you?” When I just stare at her, she smiles. “Kill anything that comes down here unless it’s me.”
She is looking at something over my shoulder while she talks, and my head moves so I can see what has her attention. Myst grips my jaw and she jerks my face to her.
“Deal?” Her smile is as sweet as poison.
Do not kill the woman until you get out of here, Franky, I repeat many times in my head until I can trust myself to speak. “Deal.” I squeeze the words out.
“Brilliant.” She grins widely before dancing around me to head for the stairs. I breathe through my nose to calm myself. “And Chicca,” she calls from the top of the stairs in a whisper-yell, a crazed glint in her eyes. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”
I have no time to even form a coherent thought before she flicks a couple of switches on the wall and slinks out of the door, locking it behind her. The sound of metal grinding and chains dropping on the ground numbs my brain. My eyes are about to pop out of their sockets and that’s when I feel the hot breath ruffling the hair on the right side of my face.
“Fuck.” I breathe.
Zoltan is standing right behind me. My skin is pebbled with goosebumps from fear and from his nearness. The heat from his chest is like a furnace burning the skin on my back. I’m too afraid to even take a deep breath so I don’t trigger him. Sweat beads on my hairline and upper lip just knowing he is ready to drain every drop of blood from me. To make matters worse, my body is responding to him, the scent of my arousal mixing with the burning stench of my fear.
And he can smell it all.
Instinct kicks in and I jerk my head back, headbutting him. The crunch of bone when my sku
ll connects to his nose hurts me more than Zoltan, I’m sure. Spinning on my heel, I push him as far away from me as I can. He stumbles back but doesn’t fall. Now that I’m facing him, I can see Myst—the idiot that she is—has lowered the bars of the cage, releasing him to kill me. She isn’t here to help us. I’m stupid for thinking otherwise. Either way, I’m happy I’ll be dead before I have to listen to the Fae lecture me.
Zoltan lunges for me, his arms outstretched and fangs bared. I send him flying to the opposite wall with a round kick, ripping the bottom of my dress in the process. He hits the wall hard, dropping on all fours and shaking his head as if to clear it. I can feel my magic pushing to the surface to come to my aid and I give it free reign. Zoltan’s face snaps to mine, his gaze locking on mine just as my vision starts shifting to bring all the colors around me to life. The magic shrinks back, disappearing like it never existed. I blink stupidly at him until I realize he is using his mind control to force my powers to reside just like he forced Azgor to shift back at the Academy.
I see his shoulders stiffen, the muscles on his arms and neck bunching, and I know he is about to pounce. All my powers, everything I’ve hated but need this very moment, desert me as I stare at my death in the face of a male I want to kiss instead of kill. The face of a male I will let drain me of blood because I’m not strong enough to be the one to take his life. He comes at me full force, the impact of his chest hitting mine pushing all the air out of my lungs. My back hits the wall behind me and my vision dims when my skull cracks against it. I feel the warm blood wetting my hair and the flare of red in Zoltan’s eyes. My arm lifts to cup his cheek just as his fangs sink into the skin of my neck. My tears splatter the side of his face as he takes mouthful after mouthful, gulping it greedily.
Zoltan pressing me to the wall is the only thing holding me upright. My knees are weak, and if he moves, I’ll drop on the floor. Not that he has any intention to move. My heart is beating sluggishly in my chest, like a butterfly with broken wings attempting to fly. Out of nowhere, power surges through me and flings Zoltan to the other side of the room. I hit the ground at the same time as him. The cold concrete mushes my face as I stare unseeing, only a pinprick of light in front of me. Stupidly, I think I hear Zoltan calling my name, but I have no energy to even blink. My head is lifted off the ground and something warm trickles down my throat. I swallow on impulse and everything goes dark.
