“What?” I gaped, accosted with the thought Cain would do much more to me than just drink my blood if I were offered to him. “How does she know?”
The shadows highlighted dimples tugging at his cheeks as he walked into the cell. “Not like that kind of virgin. A blood virgin. You’ve never been bitten before.”
He reached out and helped me to my feet. His warm hand felt like a life preserver, pulling me from the stormy sea. “And you didn’t have to doubt me. I did have a plan.”
I let him hold me for a minute as my heart subsided. He pushed aside my bangs and kissed me gently on the forehead.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Of course.”
With my aid, Phil slung my father carefully over his shoulder and then wrapped his arm around my waist.
“You ready?”
I relaxed into his shoulder and nodded. Together, we glided super-fast through the dark caves toward the exit, just like the old days.
“One good thing,” he whispered in my ear, “they’ve locked you away from the rest because you’re too mouthwatering, so it’s given us an easy exit.”
I wanted to laugh. For once my scent worked in our favor. Instead, I closed my eyes and leaned against his shoulder.
After Phil maneuvered us through two more gates, the stairs came into view. Phil ascended them rapidly as if we were on a floating escalator. The cave entrance came into view and outside a huge moon hung in the sky, casting blue shards of light to greet us. Could only a few hours have passed? Would Luke and Sam be outside, still waiting for us in the car?
“Almost there,” he said in victory.
Freedom. I could already feel the hot shower waiting for me at home. My eyes closed and I thanked God for answering my prayers when Phil stopped abruptly.
In a flash, someone separated me from his arms and restrained my hands. I threw open my eyes in the struggle to stare into a familiar face. One I’d seen on the wall in Dad’s office: Rachel Delagrecca.
She inclined her head. “Do you know me?”
My voice locked in my aching throat. How did she know I recognized her? I swung my gaze around to find Phil and Dad when I saw him. Cain.
“Going somewhere?” He smiled, flashing striking blue eyes, black slicked hair, a strong jaw line, and flawless skin, all packaged in a six-foot-two frame.
A delicious, masculine scent wafted off of him, pulling out of me conflicting feelings. His picture didn’t do him justice at all. My cheeks flushed in betrayal and I cursed internally at myself. How could I be this attracted to the enemy?
“I could say the same about you.” Cain perused me up and down. “Of course, only after you’ve cleaned up a bit. Who’s feeding you these lies about me?” he asked, his white teeth catching the moonlight.
I creased my brow before remembering Cain read minds like Scarlett did. Immediately, I went to hide in someone else’s aura to stop him and hit a wall. None of them emitted any emotion—or at least what I could read. Not even Phil or my dad. No wonder they snuck up on us undetected.
Off to the side Phil grunted, struggling against the male behemoth that held him. Dad lay draped over the shoulder of another woman with a familiar face.
“Please let him go,”
I thought, too frightened to speak.
“And ruin all my fun?”
Cain replied.
“So sorry. He’s a fugitive and must pay for his crimes against us. And—is that ash on your hand?”
I hid my fist in my pocket and turned away. Rochelle and Katie’s faces flipped through my mind anyway, revealing my past sins.
“Hmmm. Runs in the family, I see.”
My fight evaporated with the adrenaline that had hyped me up moments ago. Judgment day for all those who had wronged Cain finally came. How the heck did Scarlett even dream I’d be his nemesis?
“So you’re Scarlett’s little Seer.”
he chuckled lightly. “
Interesting
.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to wiggle out of Rachel’s grasp. “I wouldn’t do that. You’re in quite a lot of trouble and Our Prince can make things much more difficult on you.”
She glanced over to my dad and he twitched in pain. I froze instantly. “I’ll behave.”
Her grip lessened with her smile.
Cain’s face grew hard as stone and everyone lunged forward as if he’d ordered them telepathically to move. “It’s so disappointing my reputation no longer strikes fear in their hearts. That must be remedied.”
The others laughed evilly and I shivered under the hidden implication. As we descended, the moon slipped out of sight, ripping freedom from my grasp.
“You never had a chance,” Rachel said quietly to me.
Once Cain and his vampires reached the main floor underground and entered a torch-lit hallway, Cain hummed. A crash of metal against the floor drew my attention away. One of the other vamps yanked a small cage containing a black furry shape inside up off the ground. A cat moaned, one that sounded awful close to Scarlett’s meow.
“Scarlett? Is that you?”
“Hush, I’m fine.”
A ringing shrill exploded in my head and drowned out her voice. I pressed my hands to my ears. “Stop!”
“What are you doing to her?” Phil asked, then grabbed his head too and groaned.
“Please. I’ll do anything,”
I begged.
“Of course, you will,” Cain said. The ear shattering noise abruptly stopped. “No one talks to
her
, or you’ll all suffer for it.”
I nodded and bit my lip to keep from crying. Phil shot me a pained glance, all the spark I’d seen earlier had evaporated. He knew we weren’t ever leaving here alive.
We entered a room half the size of a football field carved out of the stone, supported with steal girders. Shiny white marble covered the entire floor and golden chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, holding hundreds of lit candles.
I gasped at the vast sight and locked onto a fountain that bubbled out with water in the middle of the room—a horrible tease. Maybe an illusion? I licked my parched lips, wishing for just one cup for Dad and me.
Before I could ask, the behemoth whisked Phil away and someone forced my shoulders down so I’d sit. Dad appeared next to me in a rumpled heap on the floor, his shallow breathing barely audible. Further down the wall, they shackled Phil with cuffs. He shrugged and forced a smile.
Myhail appeared from nowhere. I braced for the confrontation, the throwing of fists and massive vamp carnage. Instead, he walked up and greeted Cain with a kiss on each cheek.
“You’ve come, My Prince. Excellent,” he said in his thick Ukrainian accent.
What?
I tried to zero in on his feelings to see why, coming up blank. No fear, no worry, no apprehension—nothing. It was as if someone had put me in a bubble and shielded me from everyone.
“We ran into your fugitives on our way in.” Cain inclined his hand toward us.
Surprise momentarily dotted the doctor’s face, especially when he locked onto Phil’s shameless smile. “I see. Thank you.”
Alora entered in a black gown with a plunging neckline, setting off her fiery red hair. The bottom shushed along the floor as she sauntered towards Cain’s people.
“My Prince,” she said and took Cain’s hand.
The talisman dangled down, accentuating her assets, and shone brightly for all to see. I expected Cain to snatch it from her chest or at least notice, but he did nothing.
Her gaze fell on me quickly as her lips pursed. She dropped his hand. “Yes, they’ve been quite difficult to keep.”
Shock briefly crossed her face once she saw Phil.
Her head whipped back to Cain. “Are you hungry? I could have a meal prepared.”
He smiled at her. “Actually, I am.”
“Wonderful. Why don’t you, Rachel, and Helena freshen up first? Then you can address the coven from your seats over there.” She pointed to a set of thrones on a dais beyond the fountain. “Migdalia will take care of you.”
A girl no older than me with platinum white hair materialized before Cain. She bowed and took his hand, kissing it. “Come.”
Together, they disappeared into a room off to the side. Other escorts appeared to take the rest away. Alora watched them leave with a gleam in her eye before walking over to me. She leaned forward, hands fastened on her hips.
“You’ll come in handy after all.”
The talisman dangled in front of me within reaching distance. Something compelled me to snatch if off her neck when her claw-like hands fastened onto my shoulders, paralyzing me. Icy waves flowed from her fingers and probed into my mind. I closed my eyes and pulled away, unable to break the connection. Pictures of my life flashed on the backs of my eyelids as she riffled through me with what felt like a pointed rake.
“Stop,”
I begged.
“Shush and quit fighting me,”
she growled.
“There.”
She held up the memory where I’d first met Nicholas. He stood on the porch in all his rugged handsome glory and the green stone peeked out from under his shirt. I swooned, the vision so real I reached out to touch him.
Something pinched at my temple and when I opened my eyes, the vision dissipated like a fading dream. I recalled something having to do with Nicholas, something important, but what?
Revulsion crept across her features as she stayed connected and dug further, to when Nicholas had caught me when I fell off the cliff. My most treasured memory.
“How sweet.”
She began to twist again and I tried to resist. She couldn’t take this from me, not Nicholas. Then something stopped her and she gasped. She released her hand like I’d electrically shocked her. Her eyes pulled into angry slits.
I looked up at her, knowing something important happened, she’d tampered with my memories, but for some reason I couldn’t remember.
The slide of her lips pulled into a sick smile and she sauntered over to the doctor’s side, sweet and charming once again. She entwined her fingers with his. I wondered what Preston would think of her now, the cheating con artist. Was he going to rule by her side once she tired of Myhail?
Her snap echoed throughout the room, inciting blurs of vampires to buzz about. Tables appeared with linens, tapered candles, and fine china. A row of people assembled in a snaking line. I gasped, recognizing my classmates and, to my horror, Boba Fett and the others from Dad’s ET unit. One shot me a helpless glance, then looked away, dejected.
What’s going on?
“They’re preparing for the feast.”
“Scarlett?”
I scanned the room and found her cage tucked under a small table.
“Don’t look at me or they’ll know we’re talking. I’m fine.”
I faced forward, tension wracking my body.
“Where have you been? What happened to you? What are they going to do with them?”
“Listen to me carefully. You will be offered as a live sacrifice to Cain. I’ve solicited your handmaiden to sneak you a stake when you’re being prepared. I want you to try not to think about it. I’ll shield your thoughts the best I can. When he bites you, you’ll have a clean shot. Stake him in the heart.”
My pulse jolted into hyper drive.
“You want me to what!?”
“And don’t talk to me mentally. If Cain is within eyesight of either of us, he’ll hear what your saying to me and kill us both. Do you understand?”
“You can’t be serious!”
I formed my hands into fists.
“Yes I am. If you don’t, he’ll drink you to your death and all of this will have been in vain.”
“I can’t. He’ll stop me.”
“You can do this. I know you don’t want to kill us off, but we’re all dead anyway. Even though Myhail has given the sleeping serum to Alora to inject into Cain, Cain knows. He’s only playing along, participating in the dinner and allowing Myhail to be hospitable. Cain plans to kill every person in this room and leave with Myhail’s genetic research and weapons. With the knowledge, he’ll be able to make stronger, more impervious vampires that can’t be destroyed. You’re our only chance.”
I rested my hands on the floor to gain strength. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when I didn’t know where Nicholas was.
“Once you’ve staked him, you’ll be free to rescue your family and the other humans here. Your father doesn’t have much time.”
My breathing increased as I watched the wrists of the humans being sliced one by one to fill the glasses on the table.
“But what about Nicholas?”
“I haven’t caught word or seen him. Sorry.”
I clenched my jaw. He was probably outside, going crazy because he couldn’t find me or get inside the lair. Maybe he ran into Luke and Sam. I needed him to come save the day.
“I invite you in, Nicholas,” I whispered, unsure if I could even grant that permission.
“I’m here to take you,” a soft female voice said.
I startled and blinked up into the pale face of a girl my age with sad, sallow eyes. Dark hair fell over her plain blue dress. She held out her hand to me, revealing rows of scars that lined her forearms. A blood slave.
I nodded and took her hand, allowing her to pull me upwards. She clunked slowly ahead in shoes too big for her feet toward a doorway at the end of the hall, completely ignoring the fact vampires drained humans to our right. I tried to keep the same demeanor, head down and arms to my sides, to minimize attention, but their faces—I couldn’t keep from staring.
Each one looked so pale and weak. I assumed they all lived here underground, forced to serve Myhail’s coven. At least Alora treated her slaves as gifts and let them enjoy the process, not bled them and treated them like dirt.
Their eyes all screamed for help. For a savior. For someone to free them from this nightmare. Did Scarlett promise the girl freedom if she helped me? How did Scarlett ever manage to convince her? I’m sure, living in this hellhole would make you pretty desperate for freedom. But to sneak me a weapon? I’d believe it when I saw it.