My eyes hit the floor as a tear trickled down my cheek. There was so much at stake beyond killing off the vampires. And once I returned, I’d need to make a decision. And more than likely between Nicholas and me, one of us would die and neither would get to say goodbye.
The girl took me into a breezeway and like a wrecking ball, not only did her fear hit me hard, but everyone else’s bloodlust and anguish practically knocked me onto the floor. I grabbed the wall for support and pulled my force field in tight, astonished my power returned.
I followed her into a side room and closed the door. Electric light illuminated the oversized bathroom, complete with tub, vanity, and dressing curtain. She motioned for me to sit on the chaise as she began to draw the water and add various scented oils. At first sight of the water, I ran over and shoved my mouth under the tap, sucking down the hot goodness.
“No, don’t do that. I’ve got water and food for you,” she pulled at my arm, “over here.” She gestured to a table in the corner.
I wiped off my mouth with my dirty sleeve and stumbled forward, engulfing two grapes, a cracker, a hunk of cheese and another gulp of water before sitting down. She removed my grimy shoes and socks, then inspected my chipped toenail polish with a tsk.
“What’s your name?” I asked with a mouthful, suddenly feeling self-conscious and wondering if she’d stay while I soaked in the tub.
She looked toward the door, her anxiety spiking. “Amanda.”
“How long have you been here?”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head ever so slightly while removing my polish. I took the cue and stopped talking while I continued to eat, though my stomach felt it would burst.
Dad came to mind. I lifted my glass.
“Could you take this to my dad, please?”
Her shoulders tensed and she didn’t respond. Guilt punched my gut for stuffing my face without a single thought for him and I stopped. Maybe I could smuggle some back with me.
She instructed me to take off all my clothes and get into the tub. I turned away from her and removed my pants, shirt and undergarments, uncomfortable about being naked. The heat of the water caressed my tired muscles as I sank down up to my neck, thankful the bubbles hid my body. She washed my hair and handed me a soapy washcloth. I wiped away the grime and thought it weird they’d want me so thoroughly clean when they planned on murdering me right away.
She pulled a white dress and an apron out of the closet and laid it on the chaise next to the vanity. Everything hit me—the delectable food, the hot running water, and electricity. A hotel under the ground. How did they manage all this? I bit my tongue, tempted to ask.
My eyelids shut in a futile attempt to wish everything away, to pretend I was back at the Beverly Hills Hilton and Nicholas was on the other side of the door. No vampires. No war. Amanda interrupted my daydream with a slight cough and held out a fluffy white towel.
She wrapped me up and led me to sit in front of the vanity while she combed out my hair. The silence began to wreak havoc on my sanity. I ached for conversation. For answers. Why couldn’t she talk? Who was listening? How long had she been down here and who else was here?
Her eyes told me everything, her loneliness and despair. She needed me. She needed a Seer.
She eventually blew my hair dry and applied makeup before she left the room. I quickly shrugged on the dress and found within the folds of the apron, a stake—small and handmade. I tucked it into my pocket and studied my reflection, faking a smile. Amanda risked her life to give me the stake on the promise from Scarlett that I’d grant freedom to her and the rest of the blood slaves. But could I really do it?
A story Dad once told me as a child came to mind about a rail bridge operator. He’d taken his eight-year-old son to work with him to show him his job. The boy poked around the office and asked dozens of questions—just like all little boys do.
The bridge stood over the great Mississippi River and whenever a ship came, he’d open the bridge to allow the ships to pass. However, on this day after he’d opened up the drawbridge, he realized his son wasn’t in the office. To his horror, he saw his son climbing around on the gears of the drawbridge. He hurried outside to rescue his son, when he heard a fast approaching passenger train, the Memphis Express, filled with 400 people. He’d yelled to his son, but the noise of the clearing ship and the oncoming train made it impossible for the boy to hear him. The man realized his horrible dilemma. If he took the time to rescue his son, the train would crash, killing all aboard, but if he closed the bridge, the boy would be crushed in the gears. After making the unfathomable decision, the father pulled the lever and closed the bridge.
Dad said, as the train went by, the man could see the faces of the passengers, some reading, some even waving, all of them oblivious to the sacrifice that had just been made for them.
I’d need to have as much courage as the operator in order to fulfill this horrific task. Sweat pooled under my fingertips as I grasped the stake. With a lift of my chin, I swiveled around and walked to the door. There was no turning back now.
Alora materialized next to me and took my arm. Amanda wasn’t anywhere in sight.
“Don’t you clean up nicely?” She pulled my leaded feet forward. Her happy grin revolted my stomach and I staved off a wave of nausea. Though puking might have stalled this deadly interaction, I eventually had to face Cain and my fate.
I wiped my mind clean of what I’d planned to do and kept my eyes forward. Katie’s face came to mind. Originally, all I ever wanted from Alora was the resurrection ritual so I could bring her back.
“You killed Katie?”
I yanked my head up in shock she didn’t know. “Accidentally…”
Alora shook her head and tsked. “Like Myhail would ever waste his blood to bring her sorry self back.”
“You need the maker’s blood?”
She sighed. “Yes… among other things.”
What else? Their dust? Their teeth? “Why did you bring Phil back anyway?”
She chuckled for a moment as if at a private joke. I watched her expression darken. There was another reason. The answer lay on the tip of my tongue. She’d wanted something from me this whole time. Something that only Phil or Nicholas could get me to give. But what?
“Oh, sweetie, you think too much.”
“Huh?”
She clamped her grip tighter on my shoulder. “I need to do something before you go inside. I can’t have you thinking about the plans we have for him.”
The icy tentacles returned, sucking with it our interaction about the sleeping serum at the storage shed. I yelped from the pinch as the thoughts dissolved from my mind.
I pulled away and studied her smug smile. “What were we talking about?”
“How you’re going to be a good girl and cooperate. We must hurry. You can’t keep Cain waiting.” She shoved me forward, into the arched doorway.
A heavy sadness settled over my heart as I remembered her earlier promise. If I failed to stake Cain, she’d wipe Nicholas’ mind clean of me. I could become a blood slave forever like Amanda, and Nicholas would never know what we meant to each other.
Upon entering the ballroom, I stepped into the impenetrable, emotionless bubble once again. All the humans had moved away from the table and were lined up against the wall, heads down. Vampires in various period dress stood in rows behind the chairs at the tables—girls in long, beautiful ball gowns and men in white shirts and coats. The royals, dressed in beautiful regalia as well, had all taken their seats on the dais.
Cain looked especially fetching in a black tailcoat and crisp white waistcoat with a matching neck cloth tied in a bow. In front of him stood a girl, grungy and bound in shackles.
“She killed Todd!” a guy yelled out from somewhere at the other end of the room.
The girl shuddered and turned toward me with a pitiful frown. Sam. I tripped forward, tempted to run and fall before Cain, begging for her life.
“Is this true?” he asked and watched her with fascination.
Sam kept her back stiff, her eyes down as more shouts came from the corner.
He tilted his head and waited. “Are you not going to beg for mercy?”
I probed to find out her feelings, blocked again. If she wasn’t going to do or say something, I would. But fear glued my lips shut. Where was Phil? Why wasn’t he begging for mercy? And surely Alora wouldn’t allow Sam to be exterminated for Phil’s sake.
Cain shrugged. “Then you’ll die.”
A small cheer erupted from Todd’s friends, but abruptly stopped when Cain plunged a stake into her heart without hesitation. Sam coughed in surprise, and then jolted backward, collapsing into the floor while peering down at the gaping hole left from the weapon. It had pierced right through her venom soaked T-shirt. The glint of metal on the stake’s hilt told me he’d procured the same stake I’d used on Rochelle, the one Alora took. She’d given it to him.
“NO!” I screamed, falling on my knees. “Dear God, no!”
Cain snapped his face in my direction, burning with anger.
“Don’t mention His name in my presence, ever!”
he snarled in my mind.
My body jerked involuntarily from a zap of pain, his voice slapping me across my psyche. A whimper slipped from my lips as Sam’s body burned and crumbled to the floor. Her shackles slipped through her wrists and hit the ground next to a matching empty pair. My heart dropped as I scanned the room for Phil again, finally finding his spot through the wall of vampires—empty. Where’d he go?
“All right then, what’s next?” Cain said brightly, as if he were picking out draperies.
I blinked and watched two vampires drag Nicholas to the front. The air pressed out of my lungs as my world swayed. They’d captured him. Alora’s smug smile turned into brief terror. She vanished and reappeared at Cain’s side.
“My Prince,” she said, bowing before him. “Before you punish this one, aren’t you thirsty? We’ve prepared your host just the way you like.”
She swept her hand over toward me. Someone yanked me to my feet. Eyes from all over the room met my tear-streaked face. Many revealed their fangs. I could imagine the bloodlust emanating from the crowd at my delectable scent.
Alora reappeared next to me. “Let’s go.”
I couldn’t move, let alone breathe. Somehow, I arrived at the dais, limp and numb, and I hated him with all my might. My arms fell limp to my sides.
“Here she is, My Prince.” Alora curtsied before pushing me forward.
“No!” Nicholas’ voice boomed through the hall.
I whipped my head around in time to see he’d shirked off both his handlers in one shake and charged the dais. My heart leapt as I imagined the impossible. Of Nicholas sweeping me off my feet and escaping out of here, of course with my Dad somehow.
Cain laughed and cast out his hand. Nicholas’ body flew the opposite direction through the air and landed at the far end of the hall with a loud crash.
“Wait, My Prince,” Alora exclaimed, staying his hand. “I’ll handle this for you.”
She emerged by Nicholas’ side after he’d picked himself up and shook himself off, ready to charge again.
“Nicholas.” She wiped his brow with her hand. “Stop this madness.”
He attempted to push her off, but did a double take. He froze, staring deeply into her eyes. His shoulders relaxed.
“I apologize, My Prince,” he stated robotically. “I don’t know what came over me.”
My mouth fell open as I watched Nicholas’ fire melt into a blank expression. Then I saw Luke sitting behind him, bound and gagged, next to Dad’s still body. Torment spread through his face, wrenching me with pain and helplessness. I cursed internally. Myhail’s vamps must have found them together outside and brought them in. Why did he leave the car?
A woman stumbled past me into the hall and fell prostrate onto a table, knocking over a row of blood filled glasses. She shrieked something intelligible and clutched at her throat. Within seconds, her hair and skin turned to ash and she disintegrated into a puff, falling to the floor in a ball of dust.
“Myhail! What is this?” Cain got to his feet.
Myhail stood from his throne at the right of Cain’s, face filled with panic, and rushed to the pile of smoldering ash on the floor. “I don’t know. She was working in the lab.”
The doctor motioned for some girls in blue dresses to come over. Together they cleaned up the remains of the vampire and procured clean linens.
“Do you not have control of your coven? It’s been one thing after another. All I want is to have a peaceful dinner!” Cain yelled.
The occupants of the room cringed and Myhail bowed. “Of course, My Prince. Let me handle this,” he said, before giving Alora a look and leaving the hall in a frenzy.
Alora materialized in front of me and grabbed my hand. She turned it wrist up, placing it before Cain’s mouth.
“Please, My Prince. Drink.”
The crazed look in his eyes stopped as he inhaled, brushing his lips over my wrist. His breath tickled my skin as he pressed his canines against me, his eyes rich with a wanting gleam. Mesmerized at how he looked at me, I held my breath and waited.
“What say you, Seer? Any last words?”
he spoke only to me.
My courage melted under the burning heat of his beautiful blue eyes. Though Luke and my father were inches from being enslaved and I would most likely die, the only thing stopping me from pulling out the stake and plunging it into his black heart was Nicholas. I had to trust Alora would save us someway, save her son so I didn’t have to do it.
An easy grin pressed into Cain’s lips. “
We all knew you’d be nothing more than a myth.”
A myth. His words crushed me. I’d die without a fight. Could I let the train fall into the river to everyone’s doom and do nothing? Let Alora win after all she’d done? Only God knew the depths of the carnage they’d inflict if I didn’t try to stop them.
I remained stiff, body trembling, hoping he’d bite me and get it over with when Alora appeared silently behind his chair with a hint of victory in her eye. I flicked my gaze to a syringe needle that briefly caught the light.