“Which is?”
He smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Anyway, that’s in the past now, and we’re moving on.”
“Then why were you hunting me? And why am I being held as a prisoner? Let me go,” I demanded.
“You must still be punished,” he remarked as if it were obvious. “My people will see it as a sign of weakness if I just let you go.”
“Are you going to kill me?” I looked up at him, struck again by his navy-blue eyes; so rare, you could get lost in them.
“Not yet.” He smiled, though it was without cheer. “We still have much to do together, Mackenzie.”
Isaac finished his meal in silence and I didn’t probe for any more answers. At this point in our game, I knew he wouldn’t divulge his secrets. After he finished eating and drank his wine glass of blood, he dragged me out of the room again by the hair. I felt the pounding tendrils of a migraine coming. He hauled me downstairs, under the church. My back ached from being tossed down the steps, and I was pretty sure bruises blossomed all over my body.
It was a maze underneath the cathedral, and after a dozen turns down the twisting corridors, I lost track of how to get back. I had the sneaking suspicion he was making random turns on purpose so I would get lost.
When we finally reached the room he wanted, he plucked a key on a hoop keychain from his pocket and unlocked the door. Inside was a cage. But it wasn’t just any cage. I swallowed the bile that rose up my throat and the fear crawling over my skin.
It was a silver cage.
“Home sweet home,” Isaac taunted as he pushed me inside.
“No, no, no, no,” I murmured, crawling backward, already feeling the effects of the silver.
Isaac grabbed me by the neck, his nails digging into my skin and hauling me forward. “Yes, little wolf. This is where you’ll be sleeping from now on.” He swung open the cage door and tossed me inside as if I weighed nothing. He shut the door behind me with a resounding clang of metal on metal and locked it.
It wasn’t like I had the strength to fight him. I was already weakening from the silver. My lids were growing heavy and my limbs were tingling and numb. I could barely hold myself up.
“I’m going to kill you,” I muttered, not really hearing myself. Everything sounded so far away, even to my ears.
“I have no doubt you’ll try,” he agreed amiably as he leaned against the cage bars, smiling at his new catch.
I didn’t have the strength to keep myself upright so I collapsed to the ground, slamming my cheek against the concrete floor and jarring my teeth together from the impact. Though my eyes were barely open, I could still see him standing there watching me intently as I took shallow breaths. My breathing was ragged and I couldn’t seem to gather enough air to fill my lungs. I worried that being trapped in the silver cage for a prolonged period of time would kill me, but I didn’t have to worry long. The corners of my vision started to darken and my vision dimmed. Soon, everything went black.
I awoke to water being tossed on my face. I gasped as if I were coming up for air and sat up, startled. My body felt heavy, and my mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. I rubbed my eyes and saw Damon standing by the cage with two water bottles in hand, one empty and one full.
His dreadlocks bounced as he shook his head, a sad smile on his face. “Sorry to have to wake you up like that, but I’ve been calling you a couple of minutes now and couldn’t get you up,” he offered apologetically, tossing me the full water bottle. “I don’t have much time. Your friends sent me.”
“Thank you,” I croaked, chugging the water as if I were stuck in the dessert. “How long have I been out?”
“A whole day,” he winced. “Last night they celebrated your capture. It was a big feast.”
“I can’t stay in this cage,” I groaned, barely able to hold myself up. “I don’t have any strength.”
“That’s the purpose,” Damon explained. “They don’t want you to be strong. Everything around here is laced with silver. You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
I rolled the empty bottle back to him, not having the strength to toss it.
“Listen, I have to go.” Damon started to make his way to the door. “Stay strong. The torture begins today.”
I nodded, lacking the ability to say anything in response. I scooted over to the wall, as far away from the silver bars as possible. Not that it made much of a difference, but any distance would be a blessing. Now, it was a waiting game.
I sat there for what felt like hours, my energy zapping away from me, before the door to the room opened. Stella walked in on bright red stilettos that clicked on the concrete floor when she walked. Even more stunning than the last time we met, she wore her auburn hair in loose curls, a stark contrast to her porcelain skin and ruby red lips. Stella wrapped crimson-tipped fingers around the bars and leaned between them to look at me.
“Well, look what we have here,” she tutted. “A bird with her wings cut off. Pity.”
My head lolled to the side as I tried to keep it up. “Funny seeing you here,” I muttered. “I thought you were the smart one. Guess not.”
She smirked. “Your childish taunts won’t work on me, darling.” She popped a hip to the side. “I know all about you, Mackenzie Grey. You’re almost an urban legend. It’s almost funny to see you now, completely at our mercy. What Isaac has in store for you is … well, it will be rather painful. Unless you tell us what we want to know.”
I half chuckled, half coughed. “I know what you want, and you’ll never get it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, we’ll get it.” Her heels clicked as she walked to the door and banged on it two times with the side of her fist. She stepped aside as the door swung open and two vampires entered. They went straight to my cage and unlocked it. I readied myself as they came toward me and hauled me to my feet.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked as they grabbed me under my arms and dragged me forward.
“We’re going to play a game,” Stella answered from behind me.
A moment later, a hood was placed over my head and everything went black. I had to rely on my enhanced senses of smell and hearing from here on out. My sneakers splashed through puddles of water and dampness clung to my skin from the humidity in the air. We turned down several more corridors, and my sense of direction was hopelessly lost within the depths of the catacombs beneath the cathedral. I heard soft murmurs up ahead, accompanied by the sound of clinking metal.
We walked closer toward the sounds, and as they got louder, I could count how many people were in the area. I determined there were at least three distinct voices, one of them being Isaac’s. We were upon them now, and the two vamps who were escorting me situated me where they wanted, while another set of hands stretched my arms up and to the side so they could clasp chains onto my wrists. When they were finished, they chained my ankles.
The hood was finally lifted from my head and my hair fluttered around me. I squinted my eyes, adjusting to the flickering light that beamed overhead in the dungeon-like room, and looked around at the crowd before me. The sizable room was filled with a vast array of torture devices that reminded me of the Spanish Inquisition.
The remaining Elders – Isaac, Stella, Francisco, and Abdul – and the two vampires who escorted me occupied the room. Francisco and Abdul appeared much older in age than Isaac and Stella, proof that they had been turned in their sixties or seventies.
I looked up at my hands, not surprised to see the chains were silver. Of course. But at least the effects wouldn’t be as bad as being enclosed in a cage. Here, I could at least think straight, although the unyielding metal on my skin burned.
“Kinky,” I muttered as I swiveled my head around, searching for whatever advantage I could find. But there was nothing. I only saw one exit, and they were blocking it.
Isaac stepped forward with that all-knowing smirk on his face and caressed my cheek. “You have such beautiful eyes, Mackenzie. One of a kind, really
.”
“Not really,” I countered. “There’s tons of people with gray eyes. Just walk around Time Square.”
“Not many who are Lycan,” he corrected. “It would be such a prize to collect yours.”
I swallowed loudly. I feared many things, truth be told, but when I was in Scotland and was blind for a split second—it was the scariest thing in the world at the time. I couldn’t imagine being permanently blind. I would no longer have the prestige of being one of the Sisters of the Sight like my biological mother who was an Oracle, because he would literally take my eyeballs.
“Don’t be such a creeper, Isaac,” I scoffed. “Only serial killers collect trophies.”
His upper lip twitched, and I knew I’d irritated him. I had that effect on people.
“Where’s the cure?” He skipped all formalities and went straight for the jugular.
I grinned. “At the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. You better bust out your swimming gear.”
“Do you think you’re cute?” Stella called out from behind him.
I chuckled. “Actually, I do. I’m quite adorable, really.” I turned to look Isaac straight in his navy-blues. “They say it’s my eyes.”
He grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pulled me toward him. The chains bit into my skin and I winced. He brought his mouth to my ear and whispered, “I’m going to enjoy every bit of this, Mackenzie Grey.”
I steeled myself and tensed. I refused to cower and show them fear—it wasn’t in my nature. “Bring it on.”
When he backed away, I could tell I rattled him. This wasn’t the response he expected from me. I didn’t think he expected me to be sniveling at his feet, but maybe he didn’t fully believe the rumors. The joke was on him.
“Shift,” Isaac demanded.
I looked at him like he was crazy. “In chains? I’ll dislocate my joints. No.” With the way I was stretched out, there was no way I could shift. If I tried, I could possibly kill myself in the process. And even if I did manage to shift safely, I could kill them. And while that was my ultimate goal, the possibility of that happening here and now was almost nonexistent.
With a sharp nod to one of the vampires that escorted me in, Isaac smiled as the vamp walked behind me. “I said, shift.”
“And I told you no. So, fuck off.”
“Shift!” he shouted, his voice echoing in the room. The sound bounced off the cement walls, making my ears hurt.
I was just about to yell back when there was a crack, followed by sharp pain on my back that pushed me forward. I couldn’t stop the scream that poured out of my throat. My eyes watered, my hands fisted in their silver cuffs, and my toes curled from the pain. The sting on my skin was vibrating, sending shockwaves throughout my body. That bastard had just whipped me.
“Shift,” Isaac repeated, and I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.
“No,” I growled.
The whip cracked again, but this time I was prepared. I gritted my teeth and pushed forward, arching my back.
My wolf awoke, and she wasn’t pleased. I shoved her down as hard as I could, not wanting to give them what they wanted. Not even a half shift. They deserved nothing.
On and on it went. I refused to shift, and they whipped me every time I said no. I’d lost count by now, but I felt the angry welts rising on my back and the blood dripping down my skin. My shirt was in tatters, barely hanging on. I was sweating profusely and could no longer hold myself up. Dangling by the chains on my wrists, the silver cut so deeply into my skin, blood rolled in rivulets down my arm.
Isaac came to stand in front of me. He pushed the hair away from my face and softly commanded, “Shift.”
“No,” I mumbled, hardly audible. The whip cracked behind me, but I barely felt it anymore. It was silly, but in the back of my mind all I could think about was my skin. How if I didn’t shift, I’d carry these scars forever. How ironic was that?
“Cut her down,” Isaac ordered.
I heard the rattle of chains a split second before I fell to the ground. It all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to catch myself. I hit the ground so hard, my head bounced on the grimy concrete. Still dazed, the next assault came in the form of cold water being poured on the raw skin of my back. I screamed so loud, I was sure they heard me in the next borough. My elongated nails scraped on the ground and Isaac flicked his head in my direction. I didn’t realize my claws had slid out until it was too late.
One of the vampires grabbed the chain attached to one of my wrists and lifted it up to Isaac, who stood beside him. I was in so much pain, I didn’t understand what was happening.
With my hand firmly gripped in one hand, and a pair of pliers in his other hand, Isaac clipped them to one of my claws and ripped it out. The pain blinded me for a moment and I screamed again, my voice becoming raw. The pain made my claws retract, but the damage had been done.
As soon as Isaac released my hand, I clutched it to my chest and tried to fight the tears that fell down my cheeks. Luckily, I was sweating so much it all blended together. I curled in on myself on the ground, not knowing what else to do.
“That’s what you get for not doing as you’re told,” Isaac sniffed as he picked up my claw from the ground like a war trophy and tucked it away in his pocket. “Clean her up.”
The custodial vampires hauled me up from the floor as the Elders exited the room. I was released from my ankle chains, the hood was placed over my head, and my senses went dim.
10
I sat in the bath tub shivering. The water had long ago turned cold, and the water was crimson from the blood that continued to seep from my wounds. I stared straight ahead at the dingy wall and the gaping holes that revealed exposed pipes behind the studs, and held my knees against my chest with shaky arms.
The vampires who escorted me never left my side, continuing to watch my every move. Apparently, they were my babysitters. I didn’t care. I was zoned out. I was held in that room with the Elders while they watched me being tortured for what seemed like hours; the only relief I could find was by retreating inside my mind for a time.
There was a knock at the door, but I didn’t turn to see who it was. I heard hushed whispers, and through my peripheral vision I saw my babysitters walking away. I couldn’t move or look, but I didn’t want to, either. I was stuck looking straight ahead at the pipes in the wall.
“Mackenzie,” Lucian whispered as he brushed my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “Pet, are you okay?”
I couldn’t find my voice to answer. I knew this would be hard. I was under no false illusions that this would be a walk in the park. I’d kept a brave face for everyone else so they wouldn’t worry about me, but I had my own fears. Now that I was here, I could hardly think straight, which meant my head wasn’t in the game.
“Bleeding hell, Pet,” Lucian cursed. “Look at me.” He turned my cheek to face him.
My head fell to the side and I knew I was looking at him with empty eyes. Detached, I noticed Lucian was squatted down by the bath tub, but my two babysitters were gone.
“Talk to me, Pet, please,” he pleaded, worry etched all over his face. “I could hear your screams from upstairs. I need to know you’re okay, up here,” he said, tapping my head lightly.
“They whipped me,” I croaked, “and then they ripped out one of my claws. I need to heal.”
He winced. “Your claw will grow back in time. But if you shift and heal, they’ll know.”
A big, fat tear rolled down my face. “I’ll be scarred for life.”
“I know,” Lucian nodded. “Let me call Alexander—”
“He’ll start a war,” I cut him off.
“Then let him!” Lucian all but shouted.
I shook my head. He didn’t understand. No one did. If I let Alexander start a war against the vampires over me, it would be yet another series of troubles and misfortunes that I’d be bringing into his life.
“He cannot know I’m here, Luce,” I said. “Promise me.”
His jaw clenched and his eyes hardened. “I didn’t know about the silver cage,” he offered, avoiding my request. “Had I known, I would have told you. With you in a weakened state, it puts us at a disadvantage. We need to find a way to up your strength.”
I nodded. “The Elders might trust you now, but they’re still watching you. So, get a message to Damon. Have him send a message to Bobby through Amy about what’s happening, and see what he can do about it.”
I didn’t trust the warlock, but he needed me alive –that much I knew –so if I asked for this, he would make it happen.
“I’ll make sure he gets the message out tonight,” he promised. “Hang in there, Pet. You’re stronger than you know.”
“I don’t feel so strong right now, Luce,” I whispered, feeling defeated.
He placed a hand on my knee and sighed. “Mackenzie, you are the definition of bravery and fortitude. No one can stand in your way. In that aspect, you’re just like your mother. She would be so proud of you.”
I looked into Lucian’s dark eyes, and for the first time since I’d known him, they watered. He really did love Adaline. If only someone would actually tell me about her someday.
“Thank you, Lucian.” I placed my hand over his and squeezed. “How did you get in?”
“Money talks,” he grinned. “And it also buys silence.”
I wanted to laugh, but didn’t have the energy. “Go before you get in trouble.”
He placed a kiss on my forehead and stood, walked back to the door where the two vampires were waiting, and left.
I was strong. I refused to give up now.
After my bath, I was back in the silver cage, feeling high as a kite, sluggish and hungry as hell. A wolf’s appetite was no joke, and I hadn’t eaten in over a day now. My stomach grumbled and I curved in on myself, feeling as if my insides were eating themselves.
“Hungry?” Isaac sauntered in and I smelled the turkey leg he carried.
My mouth watered. I didn’t care too much for turkey, but when you were hungry, you didn’t really care.
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