Avenge (13 page)

I continued to wiggle my fingers,
though I could no longer feel them. I just needed to keep them
moving. I stood up on the tips of my toes and used the little extra
room it allowed to rotate my shoulders slightly, rolling them back
and forth. I kept my mind active, constantly searching for a clue
to my whereabouts or thinking of a way to escape. Surrounded by
darkness for so long, my eyes adjusted and I could make out rats
crawling along the floor toward me. I flicked them away with my
toes, but they were undeterred. What started as one soon became
almost a dozen, all nibbling at my body wherever they could. I
thrashed and screamed, begging for help to no avail. Finally, I
closed my eyes and turned my mind off.

And prayed for death.

Sometime later (I had no idea if it
was a few days or weeks), the thick deadbolt locks clicked and the
door swung open slowly. The rats scattered back into the dark, and
I sighed in relief. Five people walked through, but I didn’t
recognize any of them. My body was too weak to move, and my throat
too dry to ask why they were there.

Four of them strode up next to me, two
on each side. I lifted my head when the fifth came to stand
directly in front of me and struggled to make words come out of my
parched lips. “Who are you?”

“
Oh dear, how rude of me. I
failed to introduce myself. My name is Alastair, and I’ll be your
host during your stay.”

“
Really? You must’ve missed
the Hosting 101 course: How to Treat Your Guest.” I needed a
distraction, to keep him talking.

“
We have several plans for
you, but for right now, your use is more…primal.”

I furrowed my brow, utterly confused
by his statement when he continued, “Okay children,
dinnertime!”

The people on either side of me each
took an extremity and bit down, gnawing on the flesh until a vein
was exposed. While the rats only nibbled, these monsters tore my
flesh, shredding it. They lapped at the blood that flowed out
before sucking in earnest. The pain was unimaginable, like someone
peeling back layers of your skin before hollowing you out. I was
helpless to stop it or even fight back. I squeezed my eyes shut and
blocked everything out until it was finally over.

“
Thank you so much for your
donation to our younglings, my dear Lucy. These are some of our
newest recruits, and your strong, Patronus blood will make them
virtually unstoppable.”

“
So that’s why you’re
keeping me here?” I croaked out. “To use me as a meal?” I shivered
in disgust at the idea that I was helping them, and by making them
stronger I could be hurting another Patronus. I couldn’t let that
happen, even if it meant ending things myself.

“
Oh no, dear. That’s simply
an added bonus. But I do want to make sure we have a large enough
supply for next time, so drink up.” He glided toward me in a very
inhuman way and shoved a bottle of water in my mouth. I choked and
shoved it out with my tongue, but Alastair held it in place. I
grimaced as the cool water slid down my throat, not wanting to do
anything to help these monsters succeed, but I couldn’t help admit
it felt wonderfully refreshing. I licked my lips when he took the
bottle away, eager to saver every drop and relieve my cracked, dry
lips.

When he took it away, I spat the last
few drops at him. “You can’t hide forever. My team will find you
and you will pay for what you’ve done.”

Alastair pulled out a cloth
handkerchief and wiped his face. “I’ve been around for over one
hundred years as a vampire, and no one has ever even come close to
me. So I hardly think your little threat is credible. Come,
children, you can have more later. For now, let’s leave her to rot
in here and think about why it’s never a good idea to piss off
beings smarter and stronger than her.”

Without another word, they left,
leaving me to the solitude of the rats once more.

A few days later—I lost count without
any frame of reference—I had been a snack over half a dozen times
to the newly made vampires. They always took just enough to leave
me weak and begging for death, and then left me alone to give my
Patronus body time to heal itself before they came back and
repeated the cycle.

I could stand the physical pain; it
was the emotional that took then largest toll. The vampire
impersonating my sister came into my cell after every feeding. She
sat in front of me, crying that her soul was being eaten away by
the evil inside her, blaming me for letting her slip through my
fingers after she died, and telling me she was ashamed of me for
not being strong enough. I knew it wasn’t her speaking, but the
vampire was voicing my own worst thoughts and fears. And worst of
all, the soul I’d longed to save for the last six months sat two
feet from me, but I was unable to do anything about it.

Could her soul be growing
darker? Was the evil inside her corroding her innocence like acid?
How long could she survive like that—would she even be strong
enough? It was a fear I’d been too afraid to voice for months, and
now had no choice but to face head on.

Chapter
Fifteen

Voices and the sounds of fighting came
from the hallway, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes. It was
either my mind or the vampires playing tricks on me. I’d learned
weeks ago that psychological torture was a favorite of
theirs.

“
Lucy! Please, if you can
hear me say something,” the muffled voice called. “I can feel you,
I know you’re close.” I opened my eyes this time and looked toward
the door. No light came through it, and though I could hear the
sound of scuffling feet and a few grunts, I didn’t reply. My
balloon of hope popped, and I had nothing left to fill it up. The
door squeaked, and a beam of light spread across the floor toward
me. I squinted, suddenly desperate to see who it was.

“
Lucy? Is that you?” I
looked up. Max was running toward me. “Oh thank Heaven.” He reached
me, and yanked at my wrist restraints to no avail. “If you can hear
me, I’ve got her!” he called into his bracelet. “Let’s get you down
from there.”

“
Max?” I moaned. “Is that
really you?” I didn’t need to ask the question, I could feel within
me that it was him. My soul practically buzzed with satisfaction of
having him near me once more.

“
Yes, it is. Relax. I’ve
got you now. I’m going to have to cut these restraints, so it may
hurt a bit.” He gently placed his fingers around my arm to hold it
steady. At his touch my skin sizzled, like static electricity and
we both audibly sighed. Nothing in the world could have made me
feel better after weeks of torture than his simple touch. I could
see it in his face too, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him
and hold him next to me. His other hand cupped my face, and I
leaned into it, drowning in the waves of emotions riding through my
body.

After a few seconds, he took his hand
away and attempted to conjure up a tool to cut the restraints, but
nothing came out. He tried again, but still nothing
worked.

“
They cut my bracelet, and
I think they’re using it to block the signal. I couldn’t get
through to you.” I was grateful to have him close to me once more,
but feared this was a dream, so I leaned in and let my cheek rub
against the rough surface of his shoulder as he worked on freeing
me from the restraints.

“
It’s okay, love. I’ll
figure out a way.” He wiped my sweat-soaked hair away from my face
and kissed my forehead. “The most important thing is getting you
out of here. Then we’ll worry about the rest.”

Tears of pain and relief fell down my
face. “I’m so sorry I ran off like that. It was so stupid of me.
This is all my fault.”

“
No, no. Shhh. It’ll be
okay. Just as soon as I get us out of here.” Again Max pulled on
the chains, but they were reinforced and even his extra strength
couldn’t budge them. “What the hell are these made out of?” he
wondered aloud.

“
It’s not the material,
it’s our powers. They are somehow blocking our ability to use our
bracelets or communicate with anyone. I think it’s affecting our
strength too. They’ve been taking my blood, and they took my
bracelet. That’s why I haven’t been able to contact any of
you.”

“
How is that possible? How
could they have learned how to remove the bracelet? It’s fused to
our skin!”

“
I’m pretty sure they’ve
had help,” I replied morosely.

“
The spy?” Max asked,
already knowing the answer. His fists balled and the corner of his
eye pulsed with seething anger. “Well, it doesn’t matter. James and
the others know that I went searching for you tonight. We’d split
up, but they know my location. If they don’t hear from me,
they’ll—”

Max was cut off when a sudden noise
caught our attention. Footsteps ran down the hallway. My breath
caught in my throat, and I was sure that any moment they would
burst in the door. Max tensed next to me, drawing the one weapon he
physically kept on him and he didn’t have to conjure: a pure silver
serrated hunting knife.

“
That was close. Too
close,” Max said, relaxing a bit. “I hid the bodies I’d already
knocked out, but they’ll be discovered soon enough. We need to get
you out of here. We may not be as lucky the next time
around.”

“
How are you going to free
me? We can’t break the restraints.”

“
Lucy, we’re going to have
to take a different approach, and I’m sorry about that. But with
our limited time, I don’t see another option. This is going to
hurt, baby.” He kissed me gently on the lips, allowing his hand to
move toward the restraint. I knew he was trying to distract me, and
I tensed at the fear of what was about to happen. “I’m so sorry.
I’m going to have to break your wrists. I wish there was another
way, but we need to get out of here, fast.”

Max pulled himself closer to me and I
rested my head on his chest, taking long, slow breaths in and out
and prepared for the worst. I clenched my eyes shut as Max’s hand
surrounded mine, knowing the pain was imminent.

“
Do you want me to count?
Would that make it better or worse?” he asked.

“
I think—AHHH! Son of a
bitch!!” Max immediately covered my mouth with his hand, so I
lowered my voice and spoke through his fingers. “I thought you were
going to wait for me to decide.” I clutched my now broken wrist to
my chest as my vision refocused after seeing white. The pain was
horrendous, but I knew it was necessary and that I would heal. I
dreaded having to go through it a second time, certain I would pass
out from the pain.

Max moved his mouth closer to my ear,
whispering, “I know, I had to do it that way though. It would be
worse if you anticipated it. It’s almost over; we’re almost home
free.”

“
I wouldn’t count on that
if I were you,” a voice broke in behind us.

Max whirled around, growling
threateningly while he backed into me and crouched in a protective
stance. His knife was already in his hand. “Leave now if you don’t
want to die.”

“
It’s not going to be me
who’s dying,” the man came closer, and I could see it was Alastair,
the vampire who’d been bringing the newborn vamps to feed on me for
the last few weeks. He was dressed now in a tailored tuxedo,
complete with top hat, tails, and a cane.

“
Max, please be careful,” I
whispered in his ear. “He’s really dangerous.”

“
Yes, Max. Listen to your
girlfriend there. You don’t want to make this situation worse than
it already is.” Alastair flicked on the lights, revealing dozens of
vampires who’d come out of secret doors and surrounded
us.

I whimpered, struggling with my last
restraint. I knew Max wouldn’t leave me, so I needed to get free so
we had a chance of escaping together. I’d happily break my own
wrist if it meant protecting him from the same fate I’d endured as
a prisoner here.

“
Let him go. You still have
me. You can kill me. It’s what you want, isn’t it?” I begged. I
knew it wasn’t true, but I needed to stall for as long as possible.
The longer we kept them at bay, the more hope we had of the others
coming to find Max.

“
No, deary. You were simply
an appetizer. Max here will make a delicious main course, being
that he’s been a Patronus for over two hundred years.” Alastair
sucked in a breath though his teeth. “Oh, I can almost imagine how
powerful that blood must be.”