Page 30 of Craving Darkness
“I told you—you pissed off certain people bad enough that they decided to figure out what or who you were on the run from.” He cocked his head to the side, the simple movement enough to set off a slight swinging of his loose skin. If I had to be any closer to him without the safety of solid iron bars between us, I would likely faint. “What do you think your rich senator father would have to say about the company you’ve been keeping?”
I swallowed hard and turned my head away to stare at the cold gray cinderblock a couple of feet to my side. At this close, I could see the imperfections in the concrete, the pits and pores that seemed to be steeped in icy cold. My father. It wasn’t so much him that I was frightened of as it was my mother and her mental illness. I didn’t know what her condition was exactly. I just knew that no sane person would go to the extremes that she did when she felt I was being evil.
What would my mother do if she knew that not only was I the mate to a demon hundreds or even thousands of years old, but that I was also literally part demon? That thought had a snort bursting out of me unbidden. For most of my life, she accused me of being possessed by a demon. Little did she know that I was the demon. Can’t exorcise my entire body, Mother.
“Well,” the vampire Master who sat in front of my cell murmured thoughtfully. “I have to say, that wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. Care to share what is so humorous about the situation?”
I finally glanced back in his direction, bracing to keep myself from reacting to his appearance. “My mate is going to rip your fangs out of your face before he rips your heart from your chest.”
His deep belly laugh had shivers skittering down my back as if hundreds of little spiders had scattered. He grinned at the reaction I couldn’t hide from him. “Oh, lovely little girl. I want nothing more than to have your demon mate show up here. I have been hoping and planning on it for over two hundred years. He’s been a little elusive. Then you show up and make all my dreams come true.”
He shifted in his big cushioned chair, making the wooden frame creak from his bulk. “Tell me, Kallista, darlin’, how well do you know the demon called Valen?”
My brows creased together in confusion. “I don’t know? We were just getting to know each other.” It seemed safe to admit. As well as this man already knew details about my life; it would be stupid to tell him otherwise.
“Ah. This is going to be fun then. Sit back, make yourself comfortable, and I will tell you all about the demon.”
I glared up at him, pissed at his displaced humor. He damn well knew I was cold and miserable. To top off being cold and scared, I was fucking hungry. Valen had left to get us food probably hours ago now. Though there was no way to tell what time it was, my stomach told me that it was starved. Plus, these were vampires. I knew very little about how vampires lived, but I couldn’t help but believe that they were nocturnal to the point they likely slept during the day. Which made me wonder, who the fuck attacked the warehouse loft?
“Did you know Valen has the ability to cause illness?”
I shook my head slowly. I didn’t know what his power was other than to kill. I saw what he had done to the other vampire that had been holding me against my will the night we had met. The way the man’s face had melted… Oh, shit. This vampire in front of me. The sagging skin. The way it appeared as if his face was melting…
“You’ve heard of the bubonic plague?”
I nodded hesitantly, horror starting to make my face go numb.
“They estimate 25 to 50 million people died.” He smiled widely. “Small pox? More than 300 million people. Influenza? More than 50 million in 1918 alone. Imagine how many more have died before and after that tragic year?”
I was going to be sick. Literally. I scrambled over to the bucket a few feet away and ripped the lid off. I had the briefest of seconds to be thankful the bucket seemed to be brand new before what meager contents I held in my stomach were expelled viciously. I continued to dry heave as my stomach twisted as hard as my heart did in my chest.
“Ah, I see I don’t have to explain that your precious mate is the one responsible for all those deaths. He is illness. He is a walking plague. Unfortunately, the demon can’t die. I’ve done my research on him, too. There are stories about the man in black walking through dying villages. He would touch a person, and the next day, they would die. He has been hunted down, tortured, hung, and burned at the stake. I even found an accounting of him being drawn and quartered.” Again, he cocked his head at me and studied me with his gleaming, scheming eyes. “You do know what being drawn and quartered means, yes?”
I was going to be sick again. I put my head back over the bucket, but when nothing but air came out of my body, I groaned weakly and placed the lid back on the bucket before scooting back to my spot against the wall. I wrapped my aching arms around my legs, hugging them tight to my chest. My entire body was trembling uncontrollably now.
“So, yes. I have plans for your mate. He won’t be able to harm another innocent soul again.”
Chapter 20
Kallista
“What do you plan on doing to him?” My teeth were chattering so hard that I was having difficulty getting the words out without stuttering. My heart was breaking into a million pieces in my chest, and I gripped my wrist tightly, the brand under my palm feeling like it was throbbing. I couldn’t tell if it was my imagination or actually happening.
He chuckled darkly. I laid my cheek on my knees and stared at the wall again, refusing to look back up at the vampire who wanted to destroy my whole world. “Besides use you as bait?” I squeezed my eyes shut tightly against the wave of pain that washed over me. “I have had a long time to think about this. Ever since he did this to me,” he paused before raising his voice. “Look at me!”
Slowly, I dragged my head off my knees and looked up at the man who was leaning forward in his chair, glaring down at me with hatred in his eyes. “I see you,” I whispered hoarsely, my throat raw from the vomiting. “And it’s disgusting.”
For a moment, he looked as if he wanted to yank the door of my cell off its hinges and rip the arms from my body. I held my breath, waiting to see what he would do. Finally, he chuckled and sat back in his chair.
“I see what you are trying to do, little girl. Do you think I am going to throw away my revenge in a fit of rage? You think if you no longer live, that your mate will simply move on without giving me my chance to destroy him the way he did me?”
“Well,” I mumbled into my knees. “You look dumb enough to fall for it.” I shrugged one trembling shoulder as nonchalantly as I could manage.
It appeared as if he were trying to tighten his mouth in an angry line the way my father would when he was displeased, but the fleshy lumps did little more than wobble. I couldn’t help a snort from escaping.
“You know, I am going to enjoy draining your body dry after he’s entombed. It will add to his suffering, don’t you think? To know his lovely little mate was killed while he was unable to do a fucking thing about it?” He glared at me with a triumphant smile. “You should hate him after all the innocent lives he took. He has murdered more people in a thousand years than any other human in history.”
A tear tracked down my frozen cheek as I thought of all those lives. “You don’t know Valen.”
