Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  He ran a hand over his slicked-back brown hair and surveyed Two Hundred like he was a cut of meat.

  “Evening, Officer Cain,” he said, licking his lips as his eyes never strayed from Two Hundred. “What’s this one here for?”

  “He stole food from other inmates then lied about it,” I said smoothly.

  “I told you I did it,” Two Hundred begged. “There’s nothing to interrogate me over.”

  “Oh we’ll see about that. Every little creature in this world has secrets hiding beneath their flesh like ants. You just need the right tools to prise them out,” Dr Quentin purred and I shoved Two Hundred into the room with him. The fucker actually whimpered which made my day. No, it made my whole month worthwhile.

  As the door slammed shut, I moved to stand beside the wall, resting my back against it and waiting.

  Anticipation balled in my chest as I thought of Twelve being forced beneath that fucker’s body. When the first scream came, the knot loosened a little.

  Two Hundred and his slimy gang had officially made themselves my enemies. And my enemies didn’t last very long in this world. This was the first of many more screams to come.

  ***

  I watched Twelve like a hawk over the next week. I continued to bring her down to isolation to wash the floors, never letting her out of my sight for longer than I could help it. I’d taken extra shifts which meant I’d had the sum total of six hours sleep in the past three days. But I didn’t give a fuck. Because if any of The Watchers decided to lay a hand on her again, I needed to be ready.

  I knew I was being hypocritical by looking out for her. The girl wasn’t any friend of mine. But I had my morals. And they extended to her as much as they did to anyone else in this prison. And she was under my watch, so it was only right that I kept an eye on her. Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, asshole.

  I didn’t make it my business to care whether people lived or died in here. That was up to them. I just followed the rules and punished the inmates when necessary. I knew what it was like to get attached to someone only to have them ripped away before your eyes. Unbelievable as it probably was to one hundred percent of the population, I had once been capable of forming attachments to other Fae. Vampires were solitary by nature, but when we cared, we cared hard. But that meant when we grieved, we grieved forever.

  This job ensured I never allowed another soul under my skin. A solitary lifestyle was easy. I could shut down, switch off and check out without any effort. I knew I could live my life contentedly without receiving or offering love to another Fae for the rest of my days. It didn’t mean I was happy. But it didn’t mean I was broken either. So Darkmore suited me perfectly. Why would I care for any of these convicts? Half of them had committed crimes that made my skin crawl. And the rest were just leeches on society, thieves and lowlifes.

  The problem was, watching Twelve was starting to become more than a job. It was becoming an obsession. I was currently observing the way she sat with her pack in the Magic Compound. They stroked her hands and arms for a while before she shrugged them off and they moved to sit on the ground before her. She spent more time with the Lion, Sixty Nine, than she did with her own kin. It wasn’t normal Wolf behaviour even if she was screwing him. And my over analytical brain wouldn’t let it lie. There was something different about her. Something that drove her actions. But I just couldn’t figure out what it was.

  Without taking breaks from work, I’d had no time to indulge in the hunt recently and my magic reserves were starting to dwindle. It was a requirement for my job role that I kept my power fuelled, but I hadn’t had a chance to take blood from an inmate recently. Although I knew Hastings would likely offer it out no problem, I didn’t like my meals given to me. It wasn’t the way I operated. I needed the chase. I was addicted to it. And starving myself was only bringing on more and more of my primal urges. I’d have to feed soon or I was going to snap on some powerful inmate and get myself fired.

  I wet my lips, my gaze drawn to Twelve again across the Magic Compound as I stood beyond the fence, my hands clasped behind my back. She started casting a garden of flowers over the ground and her pack laid down on the lawn she made for them. Her eyes were unfocused as she cast, seeming distracted as wildflowers bloomed around her feet. Her Beta, Nineteen, was doing walking handstands back and forth like some show monkey and a little light returned to Twelve’s eyes as she watched.

  The girl was an enigma to me. But I could barely even focus to try and figure out for the hundredth time what it was that tormented her mind. I was too hungry. And the more I kept my eyes on her, the more desperate I became for her blood in particular. I hadn’t forgotten the scent of it, her neck under my nose was like the sweetest torture. And as I remembered how close she’d been, my throat started to ache. I didn’t want just any blood. I wanted hers.

  And I was going to get it.

  When their time came to an end in The Magic Compound, the inmates were let out and I made my way to the stairwell as I waited for her to appear. There were a couple more hours before dinner which we opened up for those who wanted to work longer hours. I was perfectly within my rights to take charge of her and demand she do overtime. But right then, it felt like a thrill because I was about to break the rules.

  She appeared leading her pack toward the stairs and I stepped into her way, letting her read nothing from my expression. Her brows arched and I snared her arm, tugging her away from the other Wolves, making her walk faster down the stairs.

  “Did you miss me, Officer?” she asked sweetly, but I ignored her, hurrying down the levels as the rest of the inmates were directed back to their cell blocks or to whatever work detail they were assigned to.

  I led Twelve down to isolation, but I didn’t lead her through the door as usual. There was a storage room for the cleaning supplies opposite it and I dragged her toward it, unlocking it with my magical signature on a scanner. The door clicked open and I pushed her inside, following her into the space where tall shelves were filled with all kinds of chemicals and cleaning sprays.

  I pulled the door shut behind us and Twelve walked ahead of me, looking around the large room. I stalked after her as she slipped between two shelves along a narrow aisle where a bunch of boxes were stacked up.

  “What’s in these?” she asked casually, motioning to the boxes as I followed her, my fangs extending as she moved.

  “Supplies,” I answered in a low growl and she glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes widening suddenly as she took in my expression.

  “There are no cameras in here,” she breathed, biting into her lower lip. “Are you going to hurt me, Officer?” Everything about her voice was teasing, like she wanted this. Like she was enjoying it. And that only set my pulse racing even harder.

  “You don’t act like a normal Werewolf, Twelve,” I commented, ignoring her question as she reached the end of the aisle and turned back down another one. I stalked after her, adrenaline surging into my blood as she increased her pace.

  “What does normal look like to you?” she asked, glancing back at me again. “I’ve never met anyone normal in my life. And if I did, I wouldn’t remember them because normal is just another word for boring.”

  “I think you’re up to something,” I said in a low voice, ignoring her again as she tried to lead me into a pointless conversation. “I just can’t figure out what it is yet.”

  “What in Solaria could I get up to in Darkmore Penitentiary?” she asked innocently.

  She turned another corner and I hurried after her.

  My heart lurched as I found the next aisle empty and I wheeled around as I hunted for her.

  “Come out,” I snarled, my heart hammering wildly with the thrill of the game.

  “That’s not how you play hide and seek, Officer,” her voice came from somewhere behind me and I twisted around sharply. “I hide and you seek.”

  I turned back into the aisle I’d come from, falling still and training my heightened hearing on the space arou
nd me. I shut my eyes to focus, excitement rushing through me at the fact that she was playing along with this. But did she know how dangerous it was to tempt a Vampire into the hunt?

  A fluttering breath caught my ear and I ran, using my full Vampire speed to rush around into the next aisle. She squealed in alarm, jumping up to climb the shelves behind her and I caught her leg, dragging her down to the floor with a grunt of excitement, pressing my chest to her back.

  I caged her in with my arms, winding a hand into her hair and yanking sideways so her neck was exposed to me. Her ass ground back into me and I groaned in surprise before digging my fangs into the silky skin of her throat. She gasped, the sound driving me on and making me achingly hard for her as her blood spilled onto my tongue.

  Fuck, she was a delight. She tasted like summer fruit bathed in starlight. I splayed my hand across her stomach to keep her in place and she reached behind her back, her palm sliding onto my bulging fly. I moaned as she caressed me, knowing this was fifty shades of wrong as I continued to feed on her and let her touch me like that. I was lost to the bloodlust, my inhibitions lowered as I gave in to this part of myself. I never fucked inmates, never wanted to, never even got close. This was breaking so many rules but it felt so fucking good, I never wanted it to stop.

  My radio crackled on my hip and Warden Pike’s voice sounded down the line. “Officer Cain, report to me in my office.”

  I jerked away from Twelve, my back hitting the opposite set of shelves as blood spilled over my lips. I quickly wiped it away as Twelve turned to me with a taunting grin. Oh shit.

  I lunged toward her, shoving her back against the shelf with a snarl. “You tell anyone about this and I’ll make sure you regret it.”

  Her lips pursed and she reached up to her mouth, licking her thumb and reaching out to wipe away whatever blood remained at the corner of my mouth. I swallowed thickly as she kept her eyes on mine, my heart beating an unknown rhythm that I liked the feel of. When was the last time I’d actually felt this awake? I’d been on autopilot for so long, I’d forgotten what it was like to really experience something.

  “I won’t tell,” she swore, reaching down to hook her pinky finger with mine.

  I snorted, trying to pull free of her, but she kept hold of it and shook.

  “Great, now I can trust you,” I said sarcastically and she nodded like I’d meant it.

  I reached out and healed the bite mark on her neck, making sure the blood was gone too. I unhooked the radio from my belt, my eyes still on hers as I answered Pike’s request.

  “On my way up.” I placed it back at my hip, taking a slow breath. “You need to go back to your block.” I took her arm, guiding her out of the supply room and marching up the stairs.

  She continually brushed her arm against mine and I growled in warning as she batted her lashes at me.

  “Keep your distance, inmate,” I said in a cold tone.

  “Sorry, sir.” She gave me the big eyes again and I bared my fangs at her. If she believed I’d fall for that innocent bullshit, she was more of an idiot than I thought.

  My heart drummed to a war beat when I finally put her back in her cell block and made my way to the Warden’s office. I knew she couldn’t know what I’d done inside that store room, but some part of me started to worry that that was why she was calling me up. Maybe someone had seen us on the CCTV and mentioned it to her. Maybe I was about to get my uniform stripped from me and be turfed out on my ass.

  I’d worked here since I was twenty one. I didn’t know any other life than this one. I lived and breathed this place. I knew everything there was to know about it. Every position where the cameras didn’t point, every chink in the armour of Darkmore. But I didn’t let it be known, I used it to my advantage to feed from the inmates. And if I lost this life, I didn’t know what I’d have beyond these walls. I had no family, no home. Pathetic as it was, this prison was the only home I knew. It was safer than the house I’d grown up in as a child, and that was saying something about my pitiful existence.

  I took the elevator to level one and headed down the corridor past the staff room to Pike’s office. I knocked on the door with my gut tightening and she called out for me to enter.

  I stepped into the room, clasping my hands behind my back and trying to present a respectful officer rather than the twisted fucker who’d just been biting Twelve and getting off on it too.

  “Take a seat, Mason,” she encouraged and I moved forward to do so, dropping into the wooden seat opposite her wingback. She steepled her fingers together as she gazed across her immaculate desk at me, even her lips drawn in a perfectly flat line. “I’d like you to take this inmate down to the Psychiatric Ward for analysis.”

  I’d never seen anyone come back from their so-called analysis. If you were sent to Psych, your fate was already set in stone. And I had more than one question about what went on down there.

  Pike lifted a file from the desk and held it out for me to take. I flipped it open, frowning at the picture of Sarah Lou, number Seventy Six. She’d been acting odd lately and she’d had to be sedated twice last week. It was especially strange as the girl had seemed totally normally up until lately. But it was rumoured that the Order blocking gas in this place could send a person crazy after a while. I couldn’t imagine what having that fundamental part of you suppressed would be like, but I imagined it fucking sucked. Though that was what these assholes got for being convicts. Anyone who worked here was given a daily antidote to stop the gas effecting us.

  “I’ll fetch her now, ma’am,” I agreed, but didn’t immediately stand up. The Psych Unit was off limits to Darkmore guards and whenever I handed an inmate over to them, I always felt like I was handing them to the wolves. “I could watch over her in Psych tonight, perhaps? Report on her progress?”

  I didn’t want to leave Twelve unattended but I’d been trying to get into Psych for years. It was the one part of the prison I wasn’t allowed access to and that just drove me insane.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Pike said, an edge to her tone.

  “Why aren’t the guards allowed in there, ma’am?” I asked, keeping my voice professional rather than the usual commanding tone I deferred to.

  “There are specially trained guards in Psych, Mason, you don’t need to go in there,” Pike said, waving a hand.

  “But-”

  “You’re dismissed,” Pike said lightly, arching her two manicured brows when I didn’t immediately get up.

  I inclined my head respectfully then headed out of the room with frustration filling my gut.

  I sighed as I headed back towards the elevators, knowing I had to drop this for now. But I wasn’t going to give up. I got the feeling that something was going on in Psych. And if that was the case, I was going to find out what it was. Because no one, not even the Warden of Darkmore Penitentiary, could stop me from succeeding in a hunt if I set my mind to it. And I’d just decided to hunt down the truth.

  I waited in my bed long after lights out with my heart thrumming an excited tune and adrenaline trickling into my veins. I’d been venturing out into the maintenance gap behind the walls all week after lights out and moving around the shafts as I figured out which cell block was where and how to get between them.

  It had been a frustratingly slow progress, but I needed to have a clear picture in my mind of the layout before I made my move to retrieve the murder weapon from Sin’s old cell. Luckily, each cell was marked with the block and number painted onto the wall in the shaft so it had been easy to locate my target.

  I’d already decided who I’d be setting up to take the fall for him and it hadn’t been hard at all. Two Hundred more than deserved what was coming for him and if his performance in the shower block was anything close to typical behaviour then I’d likely be protecting other Fae from his unwelcome advances too.

  Once I felt confident that the majority of prisoners were asleep, I made my move, slipping from my bed and quickly retrieving the cuff key from the wall of
my cell.

  I unleashed my magic from its confinement with a sigh of satisfaction and hurried back to the front of my cell to set up the silencing bubble and detection spells before I could head off.

  I’d already spent a bit of time dismantling the wall at the rear of cell one and all I had left to do was take down the outer bricks and then break through into the cell in question.

  The main problem I had left to face was that I didn’t know whose cell I’d be busting into. I could use a silencing bubble to cover up the noise I’d make by creating a hole in the wall, but once I was inside their cell, I just had to hope that I could get my hands on the murder weapon without them waking up. There wasn’t exactly any way that I’d be able to explain my sudden appearance in their cell without it being obvious I’d used magic, and I really didn’t want anyone else finding out that I had the cuff key. At the moment, the only people who knew were me and Roary and despite the continued checks and random searches the guards were springing on us, none of them had even come close to discovering us. Yet.

  I released a long breath to help slow my pulse as exhilaration flooded my body and I quickly dismantled the wall beneath my sink where my tunnel was concealed. I put the wall back together just in case the guards came to do a random search and I couldn’t get back in time for the count. I’d have to think up somewhere else to be ‘found’ if that happened, but it was better than them discovering the tunnel in my wall.

  As soon as that was done, I crawled through the short tunnel and dismantled the thin wall at the other end, letting myself into the maintenance passage on the far side.

  I created a Faelight to see by and started up a quick pace as I jogged towards the cell I needed to break into. I had to crouch in the low space and my head bumped against the pipes containing the Order Suppressant more than once, but I didn’t slow down. I wanted to do this as quickly as possible. The longer I was out of my cell, the more likely it was that someone might realise I was missing.