The Frenzy Series (Book 2): Frantic (25 page)

“Can you check on Maggie for me? Tell her I’ll come as soon as I can?” I begged Saul.

He nodded. “Anything for you.”

“Tell her I’m sorry.”

“None of this was your fault, Porschia.”

I shook my head. “Yes, but it was my mother. Just tell her. Please.”

Sobs wracked my body. He stepped toward me but I turned my head, clutching the towel tightly to my chest. “I need to dress and feed, and you can’t be around me until I do. The craving is too strong.” But it wasn’t; not really. I felt dead, not hungry. Not out of control. Numb. Still frozen.

“Feed from me.”

“No.” I stood up from the water, wrapping the sopping wet towel around me.

“Feed. From. Me.” Saul enunciated each word.

“NO!” Damn him. I didn’t want his blood. I didn’t want to hurt him, or to hurt anyone ever again. I just wanted to know how Maggie was doing.

“Why not? I’m here. Feed from me, Porschia.”

“No!” I didn’t want it. I didn’t want to feed. I didn’t want to feed from him. Or anyone. Or anything. I didn’t want it. “Just go see about Maggie!”

His lips formed a thin line. “Fine. But I’ll be right back.” I watched the muscles of his shoulders flex as he shrugged his coat on. He gave me another look to punctuate his words and then walked out the door.

Tage came in after Saul left. I was still standing outside the tub with water sluicing from every inch of me. Water from the towel dripped heavily onto the tile floor, pooling at my feet. Tage swallowed, guardedly watching me as he spoke. “I laid some clothes out for you. They’re on your bed. The fire’s stoked.”

“Thanks.”

“Julian is working downstairs. I’m sure you hear it.” I did, I just didn’t know what it was. Bang. Bang. Boom.

“What’s he doing?”

“Reinforcing the cell.”

“Why?”

“Roman wants you in it.”

I closed my eyes. He was going to keep me, even if it was against my will. I walked by Tage, squeezing past him and out the bathroom door. On my bed was a pair of black fleece pants and a cable-knit sweater in a soft baby blue. There were fuzzy socks and a robe laid out beside the clothes.

Tage startled me from behind. “I didn’t pick your under...things.”

I smiled. Under...things?

“I can handle that.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I’m supposed to escort you downstairs after you’re dressed.”

“Fine. Give me a few,” I said, slowly padding to the pile of soft, warm things.

The door clicked shut behind me.

Why was he helping Roman? Was he being compelled? Was I? I still felt numb. Maybe it was Roman’s doing.

I dressed slowly and opened my door once I was cloaked in fuzz. “Thank you for the warm clothes, Tage,” I said, looking up. But it wasn’t Tage staring back at me.

“I wish I could take credit for them, poppet.”

Tage was nowhere. I couldn’t hear him. I could feel his anger, but where was he and why wasn’t he the one escorting me down there? As I stepped into the cell, I noted that it was definitely better. Julian had used some fast drying cement-like stuff on the ceiling. I could break it, but I wouldn’t. He bent the bars back into place, too.

Now Julian stood guard outside, slouched in a chair that was too small for his large body. “Plan didn’t go as you hoped?” I teased with a grin. The small amount of light from the candle he brought down with him struggled to illuminate the large room.

“Not yet,” he countered with a shrug, a confident smirk on his face.

“I won’t kill him to help you.”

“I know.”

“He won’t let you kill him now that he knows you told me about Mercedes.”

Julian sighed. “I know, but have you ever heard the phrase, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them?”

“I haven’t. It’s a stupid phrase.”

“Maybe not,” he mused, staring at me through the bars. “But there’s still an inkling of hope for you to do it.”

“I can’t kill anyone from in here. Nice job on my cage, by the way.”

“Thank you. The job seemed to appease Roman for the time being. Of course, he’ll make me pay for a while, but I’ll act like a good boy. He’ll get comfortable again.”

“Then you’ll try to kill him?” I asked.

He sniffed. “Might not have to.”

“Where are the others?” The house was still.

“Evening rotation.”

I leaped toward the bars. “Are they hunting?”

“Not tonight. Too much snow, too fast.”

“How much?”

“Three feet and counting.”

Dara took the night watch, and surprisingly, she stared out the tiny window and left me alone for most of the night. The morning was a different story. I wasn’t able to sleep well, despite needing it desperately.

She ran up the stairs and brought back down a bag. “Time to get ready!”

“For what?”

“To see Saul. Oops, I mean morning rotation.”

I jumped from my bed, grasping the bars. “Stay away from him.”

“Funny thing—he said you told him you didn’t want to feed from him. I think you hurt his feelings. But I made it all better yesterday evening. And I’ll help again this morning.” Why was he confiding in her?

Jerking the bars, I realized I wasn’t as strong as I had been when I nearly ripped them down. “Now, now. I promise to tell him you said hi.” She brushed her long blonde hair into a silk curtain and applied red lipstick, pursing her lips and watching the movement in a small handheld mirror.

“Tage is coming to do…whatever you two do. I told Saul that Tage is
super
helpful in dealing with you.”

When Tage came down the steps, she snapped her compact closed and pranced away. Tage saw me straining against the cage bars and looked concerned. “What’s going on?”

“Her.”

“Ignore her. She’s just trying to get you mad.”

“She does a good job of it.”

Tage stuffed his hands in his pockets and slowly walked toward me. “Want to play a game?” He looked up and smiled.

“A game?” I released the bars and sat on my bed. Tage had disassembled the entire thing, brought it down here, and set it up before Julian locked me in it. How he did it so fast, I didn’t know, but it was better than the cot and blood-stained, moldy mattress. “Okay. How do I play?”

“Easy. You just answer questions.”

“Okay. Shoot.”

Tage smiled. “Pretend you’re Julian. How do you take Roman out of the equation?”

I sighed, flopping back onto the mattress. “Get someone else to do it for you.”

“I think he’s going to the Elders behind Roman’s back. I just need proof.”

“So get it.”

“It’s not that simple.” Guilt filled his eyes.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Just hanging out. Living the dream of mostly-eternal life.”

He snorted, crossed his arms over his chest, and sat in the chair across from my cell. “Dara’s been sneaking out, too. Maybe she’s helping him.”

“Maybe she’s seeing Saul.”

He shook his head. “I doubt that.”

“Why?”

“Saul doesn’t want her. He wants you.”

I lifted my head, rolling onto my side. “Doesn’t matter. She isn’t easily deterred.”

Tage’s smile fell. “I checked on Maggie for you.”

Sitting up, I looked at him. “You did?”

“Yeah. Saul did too, but I checked again this morning. She’s doing great. She’ll be back to normal in a few days, not that she was able to get around well before.”

“Did you tell her I was sorry?”

“She doesn’t blame you for the actions of your mother, Porschia. Maggie’s a great person. We had a long talk.”

I swallowed. “I want to see her.”

“I told her about your... current situation.”

“Permanent situation. Roman admitted everything to me. He was going to turn me himself, but I beat him to it. He said I reminded him of a girl he once loved, that he turned. She went into Frenzy and went crazy, so the Colony banished her. Unfortunately for her, she decided to leave without him.”

“What did he do?”

“He killed her – drained her. Then he told the Elders that he did it to protect the village from her, but he actually did it because she broke his heart. She was leaving him.”

“He said you remind him of her?”

“Yep.”

“That is a very bad thing.”

“For me, it is,” I whispered.

“I won’t let him hurt you.”

“He already has.” The cell bars seemed to lengthen. He couldn’t do much more to me. He could drain me and end me, but life would go on for everyone else. The world would keep turning and Roman would still be a cold, heartless bastard who loved control more than anything in the world. He’d find someone else who reminded him of her or of me and terrorize them, too. He’d play politics to make himself feel important. It would be a repetitive cycle. It was hard to tell how often it had repeated itself over the years he’d been a night-walker. He said the girl he drained was the first he loved, but I doubted that. Any word that came from his mouth was probably a lie.

“What are you thinking about?” Tage asked.

“Nothing.” My stomach growled.

“You’re hungry.”

I just nodded.

“I can’t get you anything right now. I’m sorry. Roman will be back any time. He said not to feed you.”

“He wants to keep me in here and I’m too weak to bust out this time.”

“Dara?”

“Yep.”

The front door opened and several sets of footsteps filed into the house. Roman came downstairs. “Your time’s up. I’ve got the day shift.”

I looked at Roman. “I can’t leave, Roman, and I don’t need a babysitter.”

He snorted. “Maybe I just want to spend time with you.”

Great. Just…great.
Tage left. I didn’t know what to think of him at all. Why was he listening to Roman all of the sudden? Taking orders? He hated Roman. He always fed me. Something was definitely off.