Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (44 page)

He turned his head to the side and nodded. “Take
her to the preparation chamber,” he said.

I followed his gaze toward the entrance to the
dungeons. Six rows of cells stood between me and the stairway out of
this hell, and guarding those stairs were six vampires dressed in
black cloaks, their faces hidden behind black masks. Only their red
eyes showed through the masks.

I backed toward the bars of the closed cell, but
there was no escape. Four of the guards marched in my direction.

Frantic, I looked around for any way to escape. In
the cell diagonal to me, another young girl stood just a stone’s
throw from the bars. She was not locked in chains like mine, but from
the looks of it, she had been here much longer.

Her eyes were ringed with bruises, as if she
hadn’t slept in weeks. Her body was nothing more than skin and
bones, and I wondered if they’d even been feeding her.

“Move a muscle and I'll torture every young
witch in here,” Fallon said. “Starting with her and
moving on to the younger one next door. I'll make you watch as they
scream.”

This girl looked to be no more than fourteen or
fifteen years old and she had sandy blonde hair that fell all the way
down her back. It was matted in places and greasy, but I could tell
that it had once been beautiful. She had been beautiful.

Marks on her neck and arms showed that she had
been feasted on by vampires. More than one by the looks of it.

I thought about what Fallon had said. How they
punished witches by draining them over and over.

I couldn't stand to watch them hurt her or
Annabelle. Not for something I had done.

As the guards approached, I locked eyes with the
girl, memorizing her face and her features and swearing that if I
ever made it out of here, I was taking her with me.

Two of the guards grabbed my arms as Fallon
wrenched the keys out of my hand.

“I’ll take those,” he said,
straightening his clothes and lifting his chin. “Take her to
the preparation chamber. The maidens have their work cut out for them
today.”

I didn’t struggle. With so many of them, I
knew it was a waste of energy. I needed to save whatever I had left
in reserve for a time when I might have a real chance for escape. I
would keep my wits about me and look for any opportunity to run or
hide.

As the guards guided me past the cells, I looked
inside each one, searching for my friends from Venom.

I saw other witches who looked abused and weak,
but there was no sign of Lyla and the others. Had Fallon been lying
just to rile me up? God, I hoped so. I could face my own death if I
had to, but I wasn't sure my heart could handle watching them die.

I peered into the final cell and saw a young
mother lying on the floor, a child no more than two clutched in her
arms. Their eyes were closed, the mother's body curled around the
infant.

Don’t ever wake up
, I whispered to
them in my head.
There is nothing here but nightmares.

The preparation room was through a large wooden
door at the end of the hallway, opposite from the stairs.

As soon as the door opened, a rush of steam
escaped from the room. My skin moistened with heat and I turned my
head away, finding it difficult to breathe.

It was like walking into a steam-bath.

The guards pulled me deeper into the room, and I
saw the source of the heat and steam.

A huge tiled tub took up an entire corner of the
large room. Three steps led up to it and a woman dressed in a
pristine white gown with flowing white hair sat on the top step with
her hand dipped into the water. She turned as we entered, and I
gasped.

Where her eyes should be, she had black holes,
completely empty of life.

I yanked my arms from the guards’ grasp and
backed away, but they had already closed the door behind us. One of
the four guards looped a thick chain through the lock and secured it
by melting the metal together with his bare hands.

My chest tightened. There was no getting out of
this place.

A second woman in white appeared through the
gathering steam. She took my hand and led me to the center of the
room. Her skin was ice cold, and I shivered, wondering what kind of
creature she was.

With a single nod from her, the four guards who
had brought me here shifted to smoke and disappeared through a small
crack at the bottom of the door. I was glad to see them go, but I had
no doubt they were now stationed outside the door, waiting.

And I wasn’t exactly happy about my present
company.

When I looked up, two more women in white had
joined the group. They began pulling on my clothes, tugging my pants
down and lifting my shirt over my head.

“Get your hands off me,” I said. I
tried to step back, but that wasn’t easy considering my pants
were now down around my ankles.

I pushed at their hands and tried to pull my pants
back on, but there was only one of me versus four of them.

They didn’t say a word or show any
expression. They stripped me naked in seconds. I lifted my hands to
cover my breasts, but they grabbed my arms and pulled me toward the
steaming water.

From the amount of heat coming off that bath, I
did not want to go anywhere near it.

“Stop,” I said, fear filling my heart.
I pushed my heels against the stone floor and struggled against their
hold on me, but they were abnormally strong.

I managed to yank my arm away from one of them,
but when I did, she turned her hollow eyes on me and I froze.

I couldn’t move at all and when I tried to
speak, my lips would not part. I reached up to touch my mouth,
screaming on the inside. I couldn't pry my lips open. Something she
had done to me had completely sealed them shut.

I shook my head violently as they continued to
lead me to the bath. They forced me up the steps. I bent over,
pulling back with every bit of strength I had, but it was no use.

The maidens arranged my feet on two orange stones
embedded into the tile and backed away. I struggled to lift my feet,
but they were locked on the stones. I couldn't move.

The four women in white moved to spots at each of
the four corners of the square-shaped pool.

They moved in perfect unison, lifting their hands
into the air. My body straightened, as if I were a puppet on a
string. I lost all ability to control my own movements.

I wanted to be strong, but my heart pounded
against my ribs in terror. What were they going to do to me?

The maidens reached down and each one grabbed a
small vial of clear liquid from the steps of the pool. One by one,
they poured the contents of their vials into the water.

The first vial made the water begin to move and
swirl violently, as if a current ran through it.

The second vial calmed the thrashing, turning the
water to a crystal clear blue.

The contents of the third vial spread through the
water like a dark disease, making it thick and muddy.

As the fourth maiden poured her vial into the
pool, the entire surface of the water burst into flames.

Air. Water. Earth. Fire.

They had called the four elements, drawing power
from the world around us.

Moving in unison once again, the four women pushed
their palms down, sending my body forward into the water.

I cried out as the flames licked my flesh. I
passed through fire into mud, sinking deep down into the thick muck.

I couldn't draw a breath. I was completely
submerged, my lungs burning with the need for air.

Just when I felt like I couldn't take it anymore,
a hand grabbed the top of my hair and pulled my head from the mud.

The flames were gone and I gasped for air. I
clawed at the mud, desperate to find my way out.

But the hand that held me pushed me back under.
The mud turned to clear, cool water that cleansed my skin and took
the sting of pain from my burns.

Soon, the pain in my lungs returned, and I
struggled to find my way above the surface of the water. My hand
reached up and grabbed the maiden's wrist, but I was losing strength
rapidly.

My body went limp as I blacked out. I regained
consciousness when the woman lifted me back up, allowing only the top
of my head to rest above the water.

I opened my eyes and gasped for breath, not
knowing how long I had before she pushed me back under again. I held
on to her wrist as my legs kicked wildly beneath me. From the edge of
the pool, she stared with unseeing eyes.

As I kicked, the water swirled and moved, waves
lapping the sides of the pool. The maiden released me and the
undertow pulled me under.

I tumbled head over feet, losing all sense of
direction. Black shadows oozed from my skin, turning the water around
me black as night. I kicked and swam and begged for it all to end. I
held my breath for as long as I could before the pain grew too great.

My lungs screamed for air and I couldn't deny them
any longer.

I finally gave in, sucking in with one final
desperate wish for life.

Air, not water, entered my lungs and I sat up,
startled.

All four of the women in white stood around me.
They placed their cold hands on my bare shoulders and pushed me back
down. Black vines grew from the stone, wrapping around my arms and
legs to bind me to this spot. One final vine slithered around my
neck.

I stared up at the ceiling, focusing on anything
other than the empty sockets of the maidens' eyes. I took in the
circular chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. Instead of modern
light-bulbs, they held dozens of lit red candles.

I closed my eyes against their light. I’d
been burned enough for one day, thank you very much.

A soft hand touched my leg and my eyes flew open
again. I struggled to sit up, but could barely lift my head to see
what she was doing to me. The vine choked me, and I fell back against
the stone, not wanting to deny myself air.

A woman in white hovered over me, studying my
body. She leaned over and I heard a sloshing sound, but couldn’t
tell for sure what she was doing. When she came back up, she had a
cloth in her hand, covered in a white paste that dripped thick blobs
back onto the floor.

She spread the white paste along my entire body,
having no sensitivity to my privacy or shame. She covered me and when
every inch was painted white, the four maidens lay their hands on me.
Their mouths did not move, but I could hear a faint chanting in my
head.

The spark of power that still burned deeply in my
core flashed warm, my body somehow reacting to whatever they'd put on
my skin. My body heated, growing feverish. I alternated between cold
chills and flashes of intense heat as the fire of my power spread
through me, rising from the core of my body to the surface of my
skin. I screamed as the heat consumed me.

Rage tore through my heart and dark visions
appeared before me. I saw the world's evil flash before my eyes.
Children tortured. Women drained of their blood and discarded like
trash.

Shadows swirled around the room, racing across my
skin, turning the white paste a dark, oily black.

The darkness in my soul grew, but I stubbornly
clung to the light.

I understood now what these preparations were
meant to do. They were meant to bring Solomon's darkness to the
surface of my soul. They were drawing the black heart of him out so
that the part of me that had come from him would be fresh and strong
for the ritual.

With each horrible image, I forced thoughts of
love into my heart. I thought of Katie. The way the sun felt on my
face on the first day of spring. I thought of Lyla's friendship and
her willingness to risk her own life for mine.

I thought of Mary Anne. A crow witch who had
defied her family to save a friend.

I thought of my real mother. Somehow, despite how
hard they had tried to keep her from me, she had found me. She had
risked everything to lead me to the one person whose strength might
keep me safe from evil.

And finally, when the darkness threatened to eat
me alive, I thought of Rend. Tears of love and loss flooded my eyes,
keeping the horror at bay. Fallon had said we all must be true to our
nature, but Rend had spent years fighting the darker side of his
nature in order to bring hope to those who had none left. He had
found a way to hold back the monster inside so that he could make
love to me.

As I felt the darker side of my own nature
struggle for control, I knew it would never win. Not as long as there
was love in my heart. Love and hope.

And trust that somewhere, Rend was out there
trying to find his way back to me.

I woke from the fever dream with passion burning
in my heart.

I would not give up. They had tortured me for
hours, but I knew they could never break my spirit. I had too much to
live for.

All they had done was teach me that my strength
knew no limits. My capacity for love could not be destroyed.

I would fight until there was no fight left.

My body ached all over and my skin was raw and
sensitive. The maidens had removed the black paste while I slept, but
the vines still bound me to the slab of stone.

The ritual grew closer now. I could feel it.

I took deep, calming breaths, the darkness inside
never far from the surface. Its dark fingers scratched at my heart,
begging for entry. But I would not let it in.

After what seemed an eternity, the four women in
white appeared again. With a wave of their hands, the vines drew
back. The maidens lifted me from the stone, lowering my feet to the
floor. They spread a sweet smelling oil across my skin and dressed me
in a simple black gown that flowed to the floor. They brushed my hair
and took care with each aspect of my appearance, readying me for
death.