Coffin Girls (Elegantly Undead: Book 1 of the Coffin Girls Witch Vampire Series) (23 page)

Goddess,
we humbly ask of you

To
protect our circle that is white and true

Gates
of the North, South, East and West

Help
us with your powers best

That
none shall pass this circle’s wall

From
evil, protected in it will be all

All
evil that dare try enter will cease

We
vanquish it with white magick’s peace

Let
us do our task and see

So
we can true to our magick’s purpose be

As
we will, so mote it be

Following Conall’s signal, Anais opened the link to the
frantic knocking from the girl.

“Been waiting,” the girl’s message was barely audible.
Addressing her depleting energy, Anais took some of her own and sent it to her.

The picture she saw in her mind’s eye was clearer, the
sounds more audible but the atmosphere was still as grim.

The girl immediately began to broadcast her need for help at
such speed it was confusing. With all of their magic to aid in the connection,
the words being sent by the girl seemed to reverberate off the walls making
everyone wince.

“Hold on. I’m here to help you,” Anais interrupted, “but I
need you to try and stay calm. I need to get the facts from you and get them
right, okay?” She gave the girl a moment and then felt the mental nod. Anais
looked to Sophie for confirmation, who signaled that the girl’s anxiety was
lessening a bit. Anais started with the most obvious and easiest question, not
wanting to risk the verbal storm again, “What’s your name?”

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

Despite the despair carried in the girl’s voice, Anais noted
the scepticism on the faces within the circle. “What’s happened to you?”

“Vampires. We’re being held hostage by them. They’re
draining us.”

“Who’s us? Do you know the others?”

“No, we’re not allowed to communicate – they watch us. They
kidnap us one at a time and bring us here. We’re all women in this room but the
house has others although I haven’t seen them. I’ve heard men, screaming. I
think they’re captives too. The vampires drain us until we can’t remember
anything.”

Conall looked to Anais for confirmation of that last
statement. Anais nodded and sent him a quick message, “It’s part of the
glamour, when vampires feed, it releases toxins that act as a drug. Too much of
it can lead to memory loss.”

“Like when you lose too much blood?” Conall sent the
question back.

“No,” Anais replied mentally, “not always. The toxin is in
the bite, so they could’ve been bitten multiple times.”

She turned her attention back to the girl. “Are the rest of
the women witches too?”

“I heard the one vampire talking about gaining powers from
the blood, so I think so.”

Conall sent Anais a message, “Doesn’t mean they’re witches.
They could be fae or shifters but the chances that they’re witches are
greater.”

Anais nodded and then went back to the girl – unfortunately,
unless they saw the women turn furry, there was no way to know for sure. “How
many of you are there?”

“Not sure. Some died and new one’s come in all the time.”
The girls started weeping, the sound so distraught, it hit Anais right in the
chest. Looking around, she noticed the others were feeling it too. Conall
caught her eye and signed the next steps to her. Nodding in agreement, Anais
tried to reach the girl through the desolation. 

“I know this is hard for you but I need you to try and be
strong, okay? I need to find out more so that we can help you as fast as we
can. Can you do that? Can you stay strong for a little while longer until we
come get you?”

Another mental nod, so Anais continued, “I need you to look
around slowly and let me see as much as I can through your eyes.”

Anais felt herself being pulled into the girl’s mind. It was
still the same dark room as before. It looked derelict, damp and not fit to
keep anything in, let alone the fifteen women she counted. She couldn’t see the
girls with the vacant eyes that she’d spotted earlier. The possibility that
they’d probably died and had been moved away or discarded was emotionally
staggering. The girl turned slowly to look behind her and Anais noted that the
room was much larger; the girl was seated against a wall in the centre of it.
What she saw the other side made her gasp!

Sophie signaled that the girl’s panic had risen quickly and
astronomically. Anais took the calm Sophie sent her and channeled it towards
the girl. Despite the horror that she was witnessing, they needed her to remain
with them long enough to give them more information. Sophie signaled back that
the calm had worked – but very little. Anais didn’t know what else to do – she
couldn’t blame the girl for her reaction, so waited and watched, fighting the
urge to break the connection and not be able to see.

Conall reached over, placing a supportive hand over hers,
giving her the courage to watch. A huge brute of a vampire was sexually
molesting, taunting and drinking from a woman chained to a cot-bed at the other
end of the room. Anais could barely stomach the sight of the woman, nearly
dead, naked and covered in blood as the vampire began raping as he drank.

He seemed to sense the girl watching him and looked
over.  He motioned a friend forward, another vampire just as brutish,
who’d been voyeuristically enjoying the horrendous cruelty. The friend took
over the torment of the cot-bound woman as the other one made his way over to
the girl.

Anais forced herself to look at the vampire with the
detached concentration of a scientist looking through a microscope. The bastard
hadn’t even bothered to pull up his pants and the sight of his penis, covered
in his victim’s blood with more dripping from his mouth made her want to retch.

“Do you have a problem, witch?” He bent down and poked a
finger in the girl’s chest.

Looking through her eyes, Anais saw the room from left to
right as the girl moved her head in denial.

“Like what you see?” he taunted.

The girl didn’t respond and that angered the vampire.
“You’re not answering, so are you not saying that you don’t like what you see?”

The girl remained silent.

“Answer me, you bitch!” The vampire shouted, pummeling a
fist into the girl’s face.

Anais winced, her own eyes turning red with rage as the
girl’s head jerked with the force of the hit. Conall’s hand tightened on hers.
Anais looked at him. His jaw was locked, teeth were clenched and his eyes shone
with the same rage. The look they exchanged said that they would make that
bastard pay.

Anais was brought back into the room by an increase in the
girl’s panic. She saw through the girls eyes as she glanced down to her chest.
The vampire had progressed from hitting and poking at her to groping her
breasts. Panic rose in Anais as it did in the girl. She didn’t think the girl
was strong enough to withstand the torture this sadistic bastard seemed to
enjoy.

“No need to be jealous of her witch,” the vampire’s face was
so near to the girl’s she kept her face down, her eyes fixated on the hand that
was moving, pinching and pulling underneath her top. “There’s enough of me to
go around and your friend over there is finished, so I can pay you some special
attention.” Anais caught a glimpse of the cot-bound women on the bed being
untied and pulled over the shoulder of the vampire that had finished the job
the other had begun in slowly murdering her.

The vampire stroked the girl’s face as he leaned down and
bit into her neck. The girl’s emotions were so strong, filled with panic, that
Anais smelled the metallic scent of her magic-laced blood. Oh God, he’s going
to kill her! Anais watched in helpless horror as the vampire, still drinking,
picked the girl up and carried her over to the bed. She was going to die! The
bastard was going to rape and drain the girl just as he had the other one.
Anais pulled herself back into the library and looked at the thunderous faces
of her friends. She didn’t know what to say to the girl and she didn’t dare
break the connection. She racked her brain for the next steps, looking at the
others to see if they had any suggestions.

Conall and Niul were silent, concentrating on something.
Anais couldn’t get through to them and threw a wide-eyed look for help at
Sophie who shared the inner circle with Conall and her. Sophie shrugged,
clueless too.

Conall opened up the link he shared with Niul to let Anais
in. Niul was sending him magickal energy so he could link with the girl on the
level Anais did and teleport to the room. He badly wanted to hurt the fucking
vampire. Anais adding her magick to his through the link would make the
probability of success for the near impossible feat improve vastly. Anais must
have figured out what he was doing because he felt her pull away. When he
looked at her, the panic he saw in her eyes was there, not only for the girl,
but for him too. She shook her head wildly, her eyes pleading for him to not do
it. Conall cursed the lesson on teleportation and astral projection he’d given
them. He’d particularly stressed the dangers of projecting to an unknown
destination to curb Marie’s flights of superhero fancy not knowing he’d need to
do it now.

He felt the warmth of Anais’ magick flood him along with
that of the others who were pushing more into her and subsequently him. The
relief he felt was quickly squashed by Anais’ mental tirade and ultimatum to
take her with him. She was flashing her fangs to indicate that she was both a
witch and a vampire and could help. He didn’t have the luxury of time to enter
into an argument with her and prepared to cut her off. He’d risk it on his own,
with Niul’s magick feeding into her. He needed Sylvain to stay linked to her
and the rest to keep them safe. He’d rather risk his neck than hers, even if
she was a vampire and felt that gave her the right to play with her life.

Anais felt Conall’s link to her disappear and glowered at
him, the murder in her eyes piercing him. Conall waved it away, he’d rather see
her angry and know that she’ll live.

Suddenly, sounds from the other room, brought their
attention back to the girl. The vampire was abruptly pulled off her and she was
left alone. The girl was thankfully ignored as her eyes took in the scene
before her. A huge man, nearly seven feet in height, with golden Hollywood
looks, glowered at the vampire, who lay prostate at his feet.

“You fool. I told you not to feed on these witches. What
part of that simple order did you not understand?”

“I’m sorry Master Ayden. I was thirsty.”

“Then you should’ve fed on the humans. There are enough of
them! But no, you had to disobey.” Master Ayden roared at the vampire before
grabbing his head between his hands and obliterating it into a mess resembling
shredded red jello. He then turned towards the other vampires that had followed
him into the room and beckoned the other brute that had helped rape and kill
the woman on the cot. He came forward, kneeling in front of Master Ayden,
begging not to be killed. As little mercy was shown to him as he’d shown the
woman earlier as he met the same end his fellow co-conspirator did.

Master Ayden turned towards the other vampires once more.
“Do you see what drinking from a strong witch’s blood does to you? Did I not warn
you all of this? The blood is addictive and no warrior worthy of the name loses
control enough to disobey their general. I am your general – don’t forget!” His
tirade rang across the room as the muscled vampire men in front of him cowered.

“What’s happening here? What’s all this shouting about?”
Anais had to hold back a gasp of surprise as the owner of the voice entered the
room.

Master Ayden bowed to Akeldonna, “Apologies Mistress. I was
reprimanding our men.”

“Our men?” Akeldonna, out of place in the dingy room in the
designer clothing she’d worn to the club, challenged Ayden.

Anais, watching through the girl’s eyes from the bed,
refused to call the beast Master Ayden – he was no fucking master.

Ayden stuttered, “Y-y-your men, milady.” He was obviously
petrified of Akeldonna.

So, Anais thought, the bully is bullied.

The other men looked scared but seemed transfixed, looking
at Akeldonna’s hideous form as though she was the most beautiful creature
they’d ever beheld. She motioned to one who approached her and kneeled while
rubbing his face in her skirts like a cat does against a beloved owner. He
gasped in pleasure, not pain, as she grabbed his hair and turned his face
upwards.

Akeldonna addressed the vampire, unaffected by the look of
total adoration he sent her way. “Tell me my pet, what did Ayden do?”

A deep baritone voice, the lilt of Irish in it, responded,
“He stopped Rex from killing the witch, Mistress. Rex was raping the witches
and draining them. We caught Trevor with a body and he led us here. Trevor was
helping Rex and thought he’d save his own skin, Mistress. Master Ayden
confronted them and killed them.”

“Master Ayden?” Akeldonna raised a hideous brow, shooting
vengeful looks at Ayden.

“Apologies, mistress. I meant no disrespect. Ayden is not
our master – you are our liege.”

“Thank you, pet.” Akeldonna moved away and the vampire
remained kneeling, whimpering at the lost contact. 

“You did well, Ayden.” Anais could see relief flood Ayden’s
face. “Make sure the witch will live. No need for sparkling health, they just
need to live for another three days. I don’t want you to waste your energy. I
need you to help me harvest their blood for the new range on Tuesday. We
promised our customers premium brand and it can’t be premium without magick in
it!”

“Yes, Mistress.” Ayden responded meekly, a far cry from the
vicious killer a few moments ago. Anais couldn’t figure out if he was
enthralled of her like the others, scared or both.