The Chosen (21 page)

As Milo listed everything their sister made, he scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, let me shower, and I’ll be up.”

He got up and stretched, checking his phone for any missed calls.

He stared at the screen in confusion—not one call from Lana. He
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punched in her number, letting it ring until her machine picked up. He called three more times—all ending in the same result.

He set his phone on the nightstand and rubbed his chest again—

hating the fact that something just seemed off. Maybe she’d just gone out for a while and forgot to take her phone. Yeah, but to not even call him, something didn’t seem right. He didn’t want to overreact, but his basic instincts were firing wildly at how wrong all of this seemed. It was still daylight, and as much as he hated it, he had to sit and wait to go to her.

* * * *

Lana slowly woke to the sound of shuffling feet near her. She tried to keep her breathing even so she didn’t alert whoever was in her room that she was awake. Cracking open her eyes, she was thankful for the hair that fell over her face and obscured the fact that she was awake. A small figure moved briskly through the room, her movement quick and silent. Maybe this woman was a captive like she was.

“Hey.” She said the word on a breath, hoping the woman could hear her. The woman stopped and turned slowly around to face Lana.

She held a rag in her hand and a bottle with a blue solution that sloshed around in it.

She’s cleaning the room?

Lana pushed herself slowly up and motioned for the women to be quiet. It was clear that if the woman was cleaning the room she most likely was not a captive, but she still had hope that maybe the woman would have a little compassion and help her out. She smiled at the woman, or maybe she was a girl. She looked so young.

“What’s your name?”

The girl looked at the closed door and then back at Lana. It was clear she was scared of whatever repercussions might come about with speaking with her.

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“It’s okay. We can be really quiet and just talk.”

The girl fiddled with a piece of her dress before looking Lana in the eyes. She had the clearest and brightest green eyes Lana had ever seen. Her strawberry blond waves poured down her back with a small clip holding one side up. Her eyes were huge as she continued to look between Lana and the closed door, fear obvious in her face.

“Kasia.”

“Kasia. What a pretty name.”

“Thank you.”

“What do you do here, Kasia?” Lana edged closer to the girl and offered a small smile.

“I cook and clean and do…other things.”

Other things?

She didn’t even want to think of what they made this poor girl do.

“How old are you?”

Kasia played with the fabric of her dress in nervousness. It struck Lana as odd that they would have a maid wear something so elegant.

“Eighteen…I think.” Kasia looked embarrassed at the fact that she didn’t know exactly how old she was.

“Where are we?”

Kasia turned back around, her head shaking as she went back to cleaning the dresser.

“Kasia, please.”

“I’m not supposed to talk to anyone, especially not you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am not allowed to speak unless I am spoken to, and I was given orders not to speak with you.” She looked around the room and then turned toward Lana again. “If they find out I spoke with you, I will be punished severely.”

Lana’s heart broke for this small girl who was just as much a prisoner as she was.

“I can’t even tell you where you’re at because I don’t know.”

“Who took me? Do you know?”

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“They’re monsters, all of them. Their eyes are soulless and black as the night.” Kasia walked toward Lana and placed her hands in hers.

“I don’t know what they are. All I know is that they,” her eyes grew wide as her voice dropped to a small whisper, “drink blood. I don’t even want to know what they are going to do to you.” She dropped Lana’s hands and stared at the floor.

The only thing her frazzled brain could come up with was that they were the
things
—the monsters Aleksei told her were killing those women. What did he call them? She thought hard, finally remembering what Aleksei called them.

“
Bloodless
?” Lana looked at Kasia with dread growing inside of her. If those killers were the ones that kept her prisoner, then there was no telling what they would do.

“How did you know that? I have heard them talking and saying that name before. All I know is that they are real life monsters that have no compassion or heart. They’re evil.” Kasia suddenly grew quiet and still, her hand going up for Lana to be quiet. “Hurry, pretend you are sleeping. They’re coming back.”

Lana didn’t hesitate as she lay back on the bed. The door opened, and she willed her breathing to slow.

“Done?” The deep male voice boomed through the room and made Lana want to curl into herself with fear.

“Yes.” Kasia’s small voice seemed distant as Lana opened her eye and watched as an impossibly huge man walked up to her.

Lana kept her eyes from going wide as she took in his appearance.

He was so tall and so heavily muscled that she didn’t know how he fit through the door. His hair was black as night and cut close to his scalp. His eyes were the same color, as dark as Aleksei’s when he changed in front of her.

Lana’s hand involuntarily clenched as she saw his enormous fangs. He truly was the monster Kasia described. He walked up to Kasia and ran a finger over her cheek. She had her eyes cast down,
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but Lana didn’t miss the way the girl winced as if she had been burned.

The man seemed captivated by her as he stared at her bent head and continued to run his hand along her cheek and then her hair. She wanted to protect the young girl, but she might end up doing more damage. Lana vowed that when she escaped—and she would—she would take Kasia with her.

As more loud footsteps sounded from outside the door, the man straightened and pulled away from Kasia quickly. Two men walked through the room, one having the same onyx, bottomless eyes and huge frame, and the other…the other being the man who took her.

“Stefan, what are you still doing in here?” The one with the obsidian eyes spoke in a distorted voice as he bared his fangs.

Stefan, the one who had been stroking Kasia’s cheek, turned around and bared his own massive fangs. “Just wrapping up, and you would do best to watch your fucking mouth around me.”

Kasia backed up as if she knew there was going to be a fight. Lana could see the man who took her sniff the air and move his gaze on her. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed he didn’t know she was awake.

“Both of you shut the fuck up. It looks as if we have an audience.”

She heard footsteps come close to her as a light sweat broke out across her forehead and her heart beat wildly against her ribcage. Her eyes were shut so she couldn’t see anything, but she could feel someone right beside her.

“Rise and shine, princess.” The deep, distorted voice right by her ear had her bolting off the bed and throwing herself against the wall.

The one named Stefan smiled at her, showing off his very white, very long fangs.

“You’re scaring the shit out of her. Knock it off.”

Stefan turned and bared his fangs at the one who spoke. “Fuck off, Osip.” He inhaled and smiled again. “I love the smell of fear, don’t you?”

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Lana looked around the room in a panic and saw a small gap between the two men. She looked at Kasia, who also planted herself up against a wall and kept her head low. There was no way she could get to Kasia and make it out of the room before one of them caught her.

“It’s pointless to try and run. I can see the idea all over your head.

You wouldn’t get far and would just end up pissing a bunch of vampire’s off.” The man who took her, Osip, spoke as he stood against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Kasia, come on.” Stefan called out and looked at Kasia, who started to walk toward the door, head still bent and hands clasped together.

How was Lana supposed to get them both out of here? She would find a way even if it killed her, which most likely it would. Lana watched as the three left the room, leaving only her and Osip. He closed the door and leaned against it, his silver gaze trained on her.

“Bet you’re wondering what you’re doing here.”

She didn’t bother with replying, just gave her answer through her stare.

“Yeah, I bet you are. I took no pleasure in capturing you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, that’s what I do, capture and deliver, but I took no pleasure from taking a weak human female.”

Why in the hell was he explaining himself to her? She couldn’t care less the way of it all—the only thing she cared about was that he had done it and that she wanted to leave.

“He’ll come for me.”

“I know he will, but he won’t find you.” He walked away from the door, and Lana pressed herself more firmly against the wall. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.” He laughed, stopping and looking at the wall. “You see, he’ll try to find you, probably using his last dying breath to do so. The thing is, he’ll never find this place, ever.” He leaned against the bedpost, his attention going back to her. “You
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know, you really should eat. You’re not hurting anyone but yourself with your stubbornness.”

She pressed her lips in a small line and narrowed her eyes. She really hoped she hurt him bad when she kicked him. “Why are you keeping me here?”

He actually had the audacity to look offended at her question.

“
I’m
not keeping you anywhere. Actually, I think it’s rather heartless to hunt down and capture a female, a human to boot.” He shrugged his broad shoulders and pushed off the bedpost as he made his way toward the door. “Like I said, you should really eat. Nothing has tainted your food, so rest assured.” At that, he walked out the door and locked it from the other side.

She sagged against the wall and let gravity take her to the floor.

She was so confused and scared that she was having a hard time processing everything. She wondered what he meant when he said Aleksei wouldn’t be able to find where she was. Dread filled her at the thought of never being found, but she knew she needed to stay strong and have faith in Aleksei. It was then that she rested her head in her hands and finally let all of her pent-up tears flow out.

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Aleksei paced back and forth across the hard tiled floor, his heart a constant ache in his chest. A week passed since Lana had gone missing, and he felt it down to his very bones. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and he snapped at anyone who spoke to him.

He knew she wasn’t dead—could feel her life force pulse through his body. He had been going out at sunset and staying out until the sun was just starting peak over the horizon. There were many times when he had come home with burn marks across his face, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t even feel the pain. The only thing he felt was the agony that centered in his heart, in his very soul, at the thought that
they
had her.

Lana hadn’t called him, and he tried hundreds of times to reach her. When the sun finally set all those days ago, he was a crazed mess as he had Luca
mist
him to Lana’s house. Everything on the outside looked the same, nothing disturbed, but as soon as he opened the front door, which had been unlocked, he caught an unfamiliar smell. It was something he never smelled before, and mixed with that dark male scent lay something he was familiar with—the stench of the
Bloodless
.

It was faint, barley even noticeable, but there nonetheless. It was after he walked through the whole house that he noticed the back door open. His heart stopped as he caught the beautiful aroma of Lana’s sweet blood outside. He charged through the house, finally falling to his knees in the backyard, the bloodied rock lying in front of him. His emotions ran raw as he threw the rock across the yard and watched it embed itself in the thick trunk of a tree.

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So now, a week later, he still had no idea where she was. He came to a realization as he thought about why the rogues would want her.

She matched the physical description of the female the
Bloodless
were after—the
Prophesied Female
. He paced the floor as he checked his watch again…
almost sunset
…
almost sunset
. He chanted the words in his head over and over again as the seconds ticked by.

The Lykens offered their help, and since they could go out during the day, Aleksei used every last one of them. He had every available Breed male searching for her, all of them knowing by now the female they searched for was their King’s
Chosen
.

He was tempted to use other resources available to him, but the thought of what the
Seekers
would ask for payment was a price he wasn’t willing to pay. They would have found Lana for him, but they would have wanted her eternal soul…as payment. They were cruel and selfish bastards.

He scrubbed a hand along his face, feeling the stubble that grew in from the week. He knew his family, and everyone else for that matter, worried about him. He planted himself in the leather love seat by the window and dropped his head in his hands. His breath caught, and the tears he held in this whole week finally spilled forth. It felt as if his heart had been torn out of his chest, like the light Lana gave him no longer shined.

He knew she was still alive, could feel her life force run through his veins, but the very idea that those
beasts
had her, such a fragile and innocent being, made his blood run cold and his fangs shoot out of his mouth. He walked a thin line that was long overdue to snap, and he couldn’t wait until he found her because the ones who took her from him would pay with their lives.