Authors: Starla Silver
CHAPTER 13
Melinda tasted something rusty in her mouth. Her eyelids struggled to open and the back of her head throbbed. She tried to move her arms; they wouldn’t.
She felt a chill on her toes. Her feet were bare. An uneven surface underneath her.
It took a minute to get her eyelids to cooperate and open. It was dark and difficult to see. She tried to move her arms again.
She could not…
Because she’d been tied up.
It hit her quite suddenly, what had happened. She and Lucas had been caught by the Feyk. They’d gone traipsing off into the woods unprepared, searching for Riley. And gotten caught.
Her tank top and cutoff jeans, perfect for the hot summer day, were not enough to stave the incoming night chill. She shivered, although she was certain not all her shivering was from being cold.
Don’t panic. Deep breaths.
Her eyes slowly focused, but it was dark. Too dark to make out where she was being held. Her arms were bound behind her back, which was pressed up against something hard and tall. It went the length of her body. The bonds wrapped around her middle and down her thighs far enough that her legs had almost no mobility but to adjust her feet to a new position. God, what was she standing on? It was not flat or even, and very uncomfortable.
They had her tied up nice and tight. No way to get free. Her captors had clasped her palms together just like they had done with Riley, to keep him from using magic. She could try all she wanted to but any magic or spells she attempted would just get sucked up by the other hand, effectively canceling out the spell.
There were witches that could work spells without speaking them. Or using their hands to channel the magic; Melinda was not one of them. This was something that took many years of practice to master.
What it all came down to is that she was bound, and helpless.
There would be no easy escape.
Her captors were smart enough to know how to stop her.
Oh my God. I’m someone’s prisoner. I can’t move. I can’t defend myself.
Shit. Don’t.
Just… don’t…
Focus. You’re not going to get out of here unless you focus and don’t panic.
Lucas… where is Lucas?
Her concerns shifted to Lucas. Where was he? Maybe he was close by but still knocked out. She listened, hearing nothing but deafening silence mixed in with her own panicked breaths. She tried to control them but her lungs would not obey.
She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious but it was still dark, with a sliver of shadow from the moon overhead. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the dark. She made out a few distant shapes and silhouettes. Of what, she wasn’t entirely sure.
A cool breeze hit her bare legs and feet. She shivered and peered down.
Maybe I can somehow shimmy out of these knots.
If I could just see what I’m standing on. What I’m tied to.
There could be a weakness. Don’t stop looking. Don’t stop trying.
Melinda could practically hear her brother’s voices encouraging her to keep going.
Her breath caught in her throat. “Oh my God.”
Everything went numb for a few seconds. Her mind shut down almost to the point of passing out. Even in the outdoors with a light breeze whistling through, there was no air. Her lungs refused to suck in deep enough. Her eyes fluttered and she fought hard to keep them open and stay conscious.
Below her feet was a pile of wood stacked high off the ground.
She was bound to a stake, perched on a pyre.
“This isn’t happening.” She mumbled this breathlessly over and over.
She’d had the dream to stop this from happening.
All she’d done was place herself on the pyre instead of William.
The nightmare replayed in her mind. Riley’s heartless torture of William, the heat of the flames, the fire blistering her skin. Every terrified detail unraveling until vomit threatened to rise up her throat.
There had to be a way out.
She looked around desperately but there was nothing but darkness and distant shapes. No sounds. No movement.
She begged her mind to stay with her and not give in to the fear and dread about to drown her. No, she would not drown. She’d burn.
Think. Just think,
she ordered her brain.
I’m in the woods. Probably White Pines.
She focused hard on a tallish shape in the distance, but straight in front of her. It looked like another person.
Lucas?
She called out to him in a loud whisper, her voice echoing back at her, getting no response. Fearing he was injured, she squinted, trying to get a better look. The clouds lifted just then, a wider shadow cast silvery light down into the trees.
“Oh...” it came out riding a ragged exhale.
It was not Lucas. It wasn’t a person at all.
Before she could stop it, tears streamed down her face.
She was merely the bait to set the trap.
It was a second pyre.
And Melinda knew exactly who it was meant for.
If she hadn’t been bound to the stake she’d have fallen to the ground.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No…
this was the only word that clambered through her brain.
Melinda tried to scream but nothing came out.
She needed William to know it was a trap set for him. To warn him to stay away. Why hadn’t she just told him everything that had happened in her vision? If he found her like this, he’d never turn around and leave her. He would attempt rescue.
This is what they wanted. She felt it in her bones.
They’d bound her to the stake to make him attempt rescue.
She was the bait, so the trap had to be close.
She squirmed, barely able to move. She searched desperately, looking for the trap.
How would they immobilize him?
William was strong. It took a lot to take down a vampire.
Blood of a dead witch could do it. She had no idea if they had any; of course, they could just kill her and use her blood… but there was a much more effective way to paralyze a vampire.
Fangs of a dead werewolf, or werewolf’s blood could cripple William almost instantly. Melinda knew Eva had possession of the dead werewolf Charlie had killed (believing it was the alpha).
Melinda groaned despondently.
Why hadn’t she just told William the truth? At least warned him that Riley’s rage was all about killing him. When explaining her dream, she’d only said that Riley killed everyone but her and William. She’d left out the rest. Thinking she was sparing everyone’s feelings.
Is this how it all started? How her dream would come true?
And would it really end with her and William burning at the stake? Forcing him to change her into a vampire to save her life...
She didn’t see how that would be a possibility now, being there were two pyres instead of one. Did that mean something had changed? If so, it was not for the better.
She had not done enough to stop her nightmarish vision from coming true.
Her fear of having an awkward conversation or hurting someone’s feelings seemed stupid now.
No,
dumb
.
Really fucking dumb.
The most foolish, shortsighted, selfish mistake she’d ever made.
And now William,
her William
, would suffer the price.
As if on cue, the vampire appeared out of nowhere, his murderous gaze fixed firmly on Melinda and the pyre she was bound to.
“It’s a trap,” Melinda cried weakly upon seeing him. “You have to leave me.”
With a silent spring, he landed with a soft thud directly in front of her, his perfect face just inches in front of her own.
“They’re going to torture you,” she cried. “And then kill everyone else and burn us both. I didn’t tell you everything about the dream.” The words gushed out of her, each one stabbing at her throat.
William swept the tears off her cheeks, saying nothing.
His hands slipped down around her waist to release her bonds.
“We’re both dying… burning,” she continued flatly, “and you turn me into a vampire to save me.”
He cringed, pulling back. She thought because of her confession.
Numbness crept through William’s fingers, billowing up his arms.
“Werewolf’s blood,” he recognized too late. Melinda’s bonds were laced with it, her own blood from the injury on her head covering up the smell.
“Please, William. Go,” she pleaded frantically. “While you can.”
His dark eyes penetrated hers. She saw it happen, the realization that he
should
flee, flashing swiftly into, he’d never leave her no matter the cost.
Melinda felt it before she saw it.
She gasped, a cold, thick liquid sloshing over the top of her head, raining down over them both. It blinded her. Caught in her mouth as she shouted for William.
When it cleared, he was no longer in front of her.
He’d stumbled and fallen down the pyre.
Bursts of light popped to life, torches firing up in a large circle around them.
Figures of the Firebrand Feyks popped into visibility. One eerie satisfied grin after another. They had been hiding, and waiting. And the trap had been sprung.
Melinda spurted the cold liquid out of her mouth, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes. William. Where was he? What had happened to him?
Her focus landed on an iron cage about thirty feet away from her, sitting on the ground at the opposite side of the gully they were in; Lucas and Emily were inside. Both looked to be unconscious.
Why was Emily in the cage? How had she gotten here?
Melinda heard William groaning and cast her wide eyes downward.
He crawled across the ground toward her, his limbs not functioning properly. Globs of blood covered him from head to toe, soaking through his clothes, seeping into his skin.
Melinda assumed they’d used more werewolf blood, and in a second he’d be paralyzed and helpless. Just like her.
Behind William, an imposing figure approached out of the darkness.
Riley Deane.
Another silhouette emerged behind him.
Eva Jordan.
“You made it far too easy for us,” she directed at Melinda. “Came right to our doorstep.”
One of the Feyks joined her. “And here I thought we’d have to plan and scheme to capture a Howard.”
“I told you, Stricker,” gloated Eva. “They can’t turn away the chance to play hero. And lover boy over here knew just the right bait to catch our prey.”
The Feyk lowered his creepy oversized head into an impressed bow, motioning for Eva to continue with her plans.
Feyks lined the gully, watching, with no intent on stopping what was about to unfold. In fact, they looked sickeningly delighted.
Riley climbed up Melinda’s pyre, a bucket in hand.
Her eyes widened. What was in the bucket?
She held her breath as he lifted it over her head and dumped the contents over her. She gasped at the biting coldness of it.
Water, she realized. It was just water.
“Sorry,” said Riley, wiping her face with his hands. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you covered in all that blood.” He took her wet, matted hair and pulled it out of her face, placing it behind her shoulders. His gaze was devoid of normal emotions she always saw there. The drunken wildness had taken over his grin.
“Let me go,” her voice trembled, the tables turned.
She
now begging Riley to be released from her bonds. If she could get her hands free, she might be able to stop this. “Please,” she begged him.
She winced when on the ground below her pyre Eva kicked William viciously. Riley peered down, letting out an empty chuckle.
William fell flat on the ground, unable to lift himself back onto his knees.
Eva cared less that it took a huge expenditure of energy to do it. The pleasure that steeled into her veins watching the vampire suffer was worth the effort.
Riley turned back to Melinda. “You’re safer right here. You’ll be able to see just how
weak
your vampire really is. You won’t ever be free until I prove this to you.”
Tears fled her eyes. A chill crept into her bones. Her teeth chattered, a mixture of fear and cold.
“Please, Riley. Please don’t do this,” she sobbed.
“I have to do this,” he told her.
“I’ll leave with you. Right now. We can go anywhere you want to. Just the two of us.” She squished her eyes closed and opened them in a poor attempt at control and honesty. “Anywhere,” she repeated. “Just the two of us.”
He sighed. “That does sound nice. But he’ll just follow us. Try to steal you away from me.”
“No. No, he won’t. I promise you.”