Closing my eyes, I focused on accessing the same magic I’d felt in the Watchman’s fortress — the power I’d accessed to unlock Caladwyn’s drawer.
The magic responded more readily this time, traveling down my arms all the way to the tips of my fingers. I closed my eyes and tried to picture the unlocking rune from Mankara’s text.
Immediately, I heard a dull click as the first manacle released. A quiver of excitement shot through me, and I hurriedly unlocked the second.
Imogen let out a relieved exhale as she slid her arms out, rubbing her wrists where the metal had dug in.
Along the wall, the vampires began to stir more restlessly, dragging their chains across the floor. I opened my mouth to threaten them with a readjustment of the stakes lodged in their chests, but then I heard the familiar rasp of someone clearing their throat behind me.
“Well, well . . . What do we have here?”
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Iwheeled around to face Silas, hands groping for my daggers. A single bare lightbulb flickered on above me, illuminating the filthy basement.
Dried blood was caked in the mortar between the bricks, and the concrete was stained with more blood and who knew what else. In the corner was a bucket for Imogen — the source of the putrid stench. I’d stopped breathing through my nose the moment I’d entered the basement, which was why I hadn’t detected Silas’s scent.
Then I heard footsteps on the stairs, and dread seeped into my gut.
He wasn’t alone.
My spine went stiff as Vince and Bruno appeared behind him, their eyes dancing with hatred and anticipation. Silas had known I’d come for Imogen when I thought the other hunters were out. He must have been keeping them close these past few nights, waiting for the moment I dismantled his wards to summon them back to the house.
“Catch one witch, catch another,” he drawled, thatfamiliar voice crawling over my skin and eliciting a shudder. “I knew you two were thick as thieves. Knew you’d eventually come for her.”
I narrowed my eyes at his choice of words.Witch.
It confirmed Kaden’s theory that Silas had known what I was all along — that he’d let me believe I was weaker than the others, some pitiful half-mortal whom no one else would protect.
“You’ll have to show me how you unraveled my wards,” he said lazily, drawing the long knife he wore at his belt and turning it so the blade flashed in the light. “I would ask the bitch who wove them in the first place, but I already sold her.”
There was a rumble of chuckles from the men as they fanned out around the basement.
It wasn’t just Vince and Bruno he’d summoned. Alessio and Kyle were here too.
My breathing became shallow, and my heart thudded wildly. I’d only planned on fighting Silas, and even then I’d been counting on the element of surprise.
I was no match for five hunters — certainly not in a confined space like this.
There was only one way out of this basement — the door that they were blocking. I’d wear myself out trying to fight them all, and then they’d take their time killing me.
I needed to level the playing field.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle flanking me. I threw out a dagger, which landed in his upper arm — a diversion.
Kyle hissed in pain, and for a split second, every set of eyes followed the path my dagger had taken. I immediately threw another — this one lodging in Bruno’s throat.
There was a nasty gurgle, and Bruno’s eyes bugged out as blood poured from his throat. I sank another dagger into his exposed abdomen, and Bruno fell to his knees.
His whole body quivered as his face swelled in terror and agony. He couldn’t remove the daggers without causing more damage, so he just knelt there, frozen.
No one tried to help him.
Silas rolled his eyes at how easily his hunter had fallen, but I didn’t feel smug or victorious. I just felt sick.
There was no camaraderie amongst hunters. No love. No loyalty.
