We were captured by the vampires. I didn’t know how far they carted us, I didn’t know where this place was located or which Clan they came from. My mind told me they had to be either from Clan Shaye or Disaris because of our territories butting up against each other.
But I heard male voices. Wasn’t there a rumor that most Disaris members were women warriors?
I didn’t know anymore. My mind was in a haze of hunger and pain. I wondered how Vik was and if he was still alive or if they only kept me. What did they do to Angel? Or did they leave her behind to mourn the loss of her owner?
Vik.I was only trying to keep him from succumbing to the darkness. He didn’t need to be alone. If I hadn’t gone with him, would he be here right now in my place? What if I was the only one stupid enough to get captured?
Dammit. Maybe Vik was right all along. I wasn’t ready.
Light filtered into the room when the door to my prison slowly creaked open. A strange figure entered, shadowed by the light behind their back. My eyes took quite a while to focus from sitting in the darkness for so long. The only thing that stood out was the silhouette of goggles and mask. The voice sounded muffled but it was definitely female.
“Hello, human.”
If I didn’t assume she was a vampire before, this just solidified my theory.
“I have something for you. We let you live…for our pleasure.”
This bitch thinks they will torture me and I will give them our secrets? I would die first before I tell them anything about our home base.
I was ready to be tortured. Wasn’t it always going to come to this? Hanging for days on end only to be pushed to the brink of breaking all for whatever nefarious reasons they had. Too bad for them, I wouldn’t break—they wouldn’t break me.
Two more vampires entered behind her, both coming toward me. I struggled with what little energy I had left, rattling my chains until they grabbed both of my arms, unrestrained me and dragged me out of the room. My heels scraped across the concrete ground, no matter how I tried to bend my knees to stop their movements, I didn’t have enough energy to fight off two vampires pulling me. They followed the woman as she walked up the long damp hallway. It smelled of mold down here. We had to be underground somewhere. The smell of earth permeated the walls as well as the stench of old blood and death.
How many people had been kept and tortured here? Were places like this scattered around human territory and we just never knew it? I couldn’t let them know about Black Hallow. I couldn’t let them get to my sister and her children.
I began to wonder if they captured Vik and tortured him as well. Did they break him? Were they bringing me in to make sure what he was telling them was true? I couldn’t see him doing it. I couldn’t see a man like Vik selling us out like that.
Did that mean he was dead?
My mind wouldn’t stop spinning. They dragged me down the hall even though I tried to throw my weight down only for them to grab me and lift me again. When we finally reached the end of the hall, the woman behind the goggles pushed an old gray, steel door open with a creak.
Great, so they came to get me from one room just to throw me in another. Was this an upgrade or downgrade, I wonder?
The two vampires continued to drag me across the threshold. This particular room was large, dingy and grimy. I couldn’t compare it to the darkroom they kept me in, since I couldn’t see the dimensions or what else was in there. But I couldn’t help feeling that this was a downgrade nonetheless.
An old, dirty mattress on the floor sat in the corner of the room. They tossed me like a rag doll in the middle. My arms were still tingling with pinpricks from my blood trying to rush back through my limbs. It was beyond annoying. Pushing myself up onto my hands, I sat and surveyed the rest of the room. There was a table with tools on top of it. The floor around me was dirty and stained with dried blood.
A torture room.
I looked up and saw chains hanging through a pulley system that was suspended from one of the ceiling beams.
A shifting sound had me startled and I jumped, turning on my ass and looking behind me. There, on the ground, was a large familiar lump in a fetal position. Vik. He was lying on the floor, his body looked beyond beaten.
I choked as I tried to make my voice work. “Vik? Vik is that you? Vik, are you okay?”
Please be alive. Please be alive. I can’t do this without you. I can’t do this alone!
He coughed a few times before he answered. “I'm fine.”
He didn’t sound fine. He didn’t look fine. This was only the beginning, wasn’t it? And I was next. Whatever they did to poor Vik. I was next.
The woman chuckled softly. I had forgotten she was still there, standing quietly. She flicked her head and the two other vampires grabbed me again, tossing me onto the mattress. I fought with all my might as they pinned me down like an animal, wrapping my wrists with chains.
“No! Not again!” I couldn’t be restrained! My arms were only starting to feel part of my body again.
I inwardly sobbed as they maneuvered my body with their strength until both of my arms were tied to the wall the bed was up against.
“No! Vik! Help me, please!” I begged and pleaded. I screamed out so someone could hear me, if there were anyone else in this wretched place.
