I scrambled to my feet as the doctor’s screams chased me and I turned and ran on, setting my gaze on the Medical unit at the far end of the corridor.
The meal wouldn’t distract the creature for long and I needed to get as far away from it as Faely possible.
I ran down the corridor with my pulse thundering in my ears and my limbs trembling with panic.
The doors to Medical were getting closer with each step… I was making progress, but as a savage roar shook the walls surrounding me, I knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough.
I shot down the stairs with the full power of my Order fuelling my limbs. If Twelve was hurt, I’d make sure Sixty Nine and One followed her into a swift grave. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on tonight, but I knew when there was foul play at hand. I could taste it in the air. And I’d sensed it around those two the second I’d walked into that closet.
I rounded into the corridor where the Psych Unit was and my heart stuttered at the sight before me. The Belorian was ripping and tearing at a mass of vines on the ground and an inmate within them crawled along, casting more and more as she tried to get past it in her tunnel. Twelve. The fact that she was using magic confirmed my suspicions about her having the cuff key. And though I wanted to be mad, fucking raging, all I felt was terror at the thought of her dying here.
“Has anyone got eyes on the bio-weapon?” Warden Pike’s voice sounded over the radio and the Belorian’s had twisted upright as it heard the noise.
I bared my fangs, preparing myself for a fight. I raised my hands, casting a pair of huge fireballs and sending them wheeling in two opposite walls. The flash fires sent the beast into a frenzy and it abandoned Twelve, crashing into one wall then the next as it chased the heat sources. The fire fizzled out and I sent two more balls toward the far end of the corridor in a blaze of red and gold.
My muscles coiled as the beast turned and raced after them and I sped forward, pulling Twelve out of the nest of vines.
“Go!” I shoved her towards the stairs as she stared up at me in surprise.
“You can’t stay here,” she said in alarm, looking like she actually gave a shit about me. Which would have been heart-warming if my heart was capable of feeling temperatures above zero.
“Don’t go soft on me, inmate.” I shoved her again and she snarled, her Wolf peering out from within her eyes. “Go.”
“No one tells me what to do,” she hissed. “What are you staying here for anyway?”
I growled, pointing at the beast’s collar while it scratched at the walls, my fire tumbling down around it. “The collar’s malfunctioning, I’ve gotta jumpstart it to get the signal reconnected.”
She nodded, her jaw set. “It’ll be quicker if we do it together.”
The Belorian shrieked, turning back towards us and I gave up fighting her as she turned to face it at my side.
“I’m gonna get behind it,” I told her, lifting a hand and sending a blinding wall of fire flaring in front of us. I shot through it on one side, making the fire bend around me as I passed through the blaze.
I raced around behind the Belorian and leapt up onto the monstrous creature, catching hold of its neck and smashing my fist against the collar. If brute force didn’t do it, then I was pretty much fucked. Because I was no technician. And even if I had been, I didn’t like my chances of playing with wires while the Belorian sat for me like a good dog.
My fist impacted with a solid air shield around it and I slammed to the ground, losing my footing and stumbling to my knees as pain spiked through my hand. What the fuck?
The beast sucked in a breath as it turned towards me and I rolled fast as it lunged for me with serrated teeth. My back hit the wall and I sent two huge flames tumbling away from me, but it didn’t go after them. In half a heartbeat, I realised my knuckles had split on the shield and blood coated my fingers, the scent calling it to me. Shit!
I fled with my Vampire speed, panting as I reached the far wall. I’d been using my gifts to toss inmates back into their cells for the past hour and I was growing tired. If I couldn’t fix that collar soon, we were fucked.
A shout of defiance caught my ear and I spotted Twelve swinging over the wall of flames on a vine. Her feet connected with the Belorian’s skull, sending it stumbling backwards as it let out a roar of pain. She hung for another second, landing another solid kick to the collar before crashing to the ground beside the beast. The light stayed red and I cursed under my breath. I didn’t know why the hell she wanted to help, but in that moment, I was sure as fuck grateful that she did.
The beast swung around, slashing at her with its spiny tail. One cut from those suckers and she was screwed.
I raced forward, throwing fireballs at its head to blind it, the impact making the creature back up, but its tail continued to whip about wildly. Twelve cast a spear of wood in her hand, lunging forward and ramming it into the Belorian’s belly. Ichor spewed and the monster crashed back into the far wall. She tossed the spear and cast a net of vines instead, wrapping them around every one of its limbs to immobilise it for a fraction of a second. I didn’t waste a single moment of the opportunity. I leapt over Twelve, using the extra strength of my gifts to propel myself higher than normal and throw another fist into the beast’s collar, but this time I surrounded my hand in white hot flames. My knuckles collided with the shield and I felt it snap beneath my blow so my fist impacted directly with the metal collar. I crashed to the floor, turning fast to see if I’d fixed it as heavy breaths fell from my lungs.
The light was no longer red but green and victory tore through my chest. I snatched my radio from my hip, bringing it to my mouth and calling the Warden. “The collar’s on, ma’am. I repeat, the collar is on. Take it home.”
The collar blinked and the Belorian wailed, snapping the vines holding it down as it shook its head from the signal channelling into its brain. Sometimes I pitied the poor bastard for the miserable life it led inside this prison. It was nothing but a weapon given flesh. But it felt pain too. And that was just fucked up.
The monster wheeled towards the wall of flames and I dispersed them as it ran, standing back as it rushed past us in the direction of the stairs. Relief made my shoulders drop as it headed in the direction of its quarters. This nightmare was finally fucking over.
“Mason,” Twelve gasped.
I turned to her, suddenly woozy and my throat tightened as I dropped my gaze to the sharp spine sticking out of my stomach. I yanked it free with a grunt of pain and blood gushed out of the wound.
In the haze of adrenaline, I hadn’t felt the pain. But now it slammed into me all at once. The poison flooded my limbs and my head spun as I dropped to the ground. The spine had sliced in deep. The poison was rushing into me faster than should have been possible. I felt it wrapping around my power like cold fingers, cutting me off from my magic. The Belorian’s poison was a brutal concoction of pain and destruction. It would eat away at my power then bite into my organs and rot them until I was nothing but blood and bones. With my life in the hands of an inmate who hated me, I was pretty sure I was a goner. But as Twelve dropped over me and her mouth sounded out my name, I figured there were worse ways to go.
The Belorian shrieked as it raced away from us and the sudden calm in the aftermath of its attack froze me.
The distant sound of alarms and screams came to me from the upper levels but right here, there was nothing but me and Cain.
A groan of pain left him as he clutched the wound on his stomach and he coughed as his eyes rolled back and he fell towards unconsciousness, blood spilling between his fingers.
“No,” I gasped, leaning over him where he lay on the floor. “Mason!”
His gaze slid in and out of focus as he looked up at me and he raised his bloody hand to cup my cheek. For once all the hardness and rage had left him entirely and as he looked at me, I felt like I was looking upon the real Mason Cain. The version of him which he kept guarded so tightly that I doubted he even knew it existed.
“You’re going to be okay,” I swore, a tear slipping down my cheek as I ripped the tattered remains of his shirt open and pressed my hands to the bloody wound which punctured his flesh.
He growled, clenching his teeth against the pain and I leaned down to press my forehead to his.
Healing magic slid from my hands and into his body, seeking out the damage and working to fix it.
I frowned in concentration as my power sped through his veins, hunting down the poison as fast as it could spread.
My Aunt Bianca had forced me to learn everything there was to know about healing magic and though I’d cursed her at the time for inflicting such difficult lessons on me, I had to admit how useful the knowledge was. When you lived my kind of life, injuries, assassination attempts and even poisoning were a regular occurrence, and you had to be able to deal with them at speed and under pressure.
Though I wasn’t sure if I’d ever been tested this deeply before.
Cain’s hand slid from my cheek into my hair as he drew me closer, his breath coming raggedly as I worked to heal his injuries and fought a battle against the poison in his flesh.
With a surge of triumph, I felt the moment that my magic consumed the last drops of poison and I released a shaky laugh as my magic reserves ran low. Another few minutes and I’d have been tapped out. And I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing to help him.
Cain’s breathing evened out as the worst of his injuries healed over and my heart thumped to a steady beat for the first time in what felt like hours.
I blew out a long breath as his grey eyes found mine and my fingertips roamed over the hard muscles of his stomach, seeking more wounds but finding none.
“You saved my life.” Cain frowned, his voice rough as he stared deep into my eyes, seeking out my soul as if he was searching for answers.
“Just paying you back,” I murmured. We both knew where I’d be right about now if he hadn’t shown up.
“Is everything an exchange with you?” he growled.
“Not everything,” I breathed.
His grip in my hair tightened as he dragged me closer, his mouth seeking mine as a soft moan escaped me.
My hands shifted over his body as he pressed his tongue between my lips and I drowned in the feeling of his kiss.
My gut twisted sharply at the thought of what had nearly happened to him and I shuddered as our passion deepened, his hands sliding down my body, tracing the curve of my ass before encircling my waist.
“Doesn’t it feel good to be on the same team for once?” I breathed between kisses, bathing in the heat of his desire as my body arched against his.
Cain growled, pulling back for a moment as he looked at me through narrowed eyes. “You talk about playing on teams like everything is just some big game to you.”
“Maybe it is,” I teased, leaning forward to kiss him again.
He growled as he kissed me harder, his fingers twisting in my hair as he tightened his grip.
I moaned against his mouth as his teeth caught my bottom lip and he bit down hard.
A gasp escaped me as my magic was immobilised and my limbs lost power beneath the effects of his venom.
Cain growled darkly as he sucked my lip harder, draining what little magic I had left as his hands slid to encompass my wrists.
With a flash of his Vampire speed, he locked my cuffs again, cutting off my access to my magic and I gasped as he flipped me beneath him, pinning me to the ground with his hips.
He sucked the last drop of magic from my blood before releasing my lip from his teeth and rearing up over me.
“Did you think you were the only one who can play your games?” he growled, a line of my blood running down his chin.
“Mason, I-”
“Don’t.”
He shot to his feet using his Vampire speed, dragging me up into his arms and flipping me around so that my back was pressed to his front.
He leaned close to me, his fangs dragging across my neck as he growled in warning. “I might want to fuck you, Twelve. But that doesn’t mean I’m stupid enough to get fucked by you.”
“I don’t understand what you-”
“Are you going to tell me what you were doing down here while every other fucker in the place was running as far from the Belorian as possible?”
My heart leapt at the accusation and I wriggled against the tight hold he kept on my wrists.
“Mason, I swear, I don’t know what-”
“Don’t lie to me!” he roared, whirling me around and throwing me back against the wall.
His eyes blazed with fury and my pulse spiked with real fear at the promise of violence simmering in them.
“Okay,” I breathed.
“Tell me why your cuffs were switched off and what you were doing down there!” He pointed at the corridor which led back to the Psych Unit and I shook my head.
“I won’t lie. But I can’t give you the truth,” I whispered.
Cain’s face contorted in rage and he sped forward, hoisting me off of my feet and throwing me over his shoulder. The world blurred as he raced downstairs and when it righted again, we were standing before the huge red door which led into the isolation unit.
My eyes widened as he made quick work of unlocking the door and within another moment we were inside and he was pulling one of the cell doors open.
“Mason, please,” I begged as he ripped me back off of his shoulder and threw me down on the hard bed inside the cell.
“Let’s see what your pretty words and filthy promises buy you in here, Princess,” he snarled.
I leapt forward, catching his hand in mine as I fell from the hard bed onto my knees before him. “Don’t do this,” I begged. Fucking begged, like a dog. But I didn’t care. The pain and rage in his eyes was tearing me apart and the idea of being locked up in this tiny cell was enough to make me break.
“Maybe a month in the hole will make you reconsider lying to my face,” he growled, everything in him completely void of emotion.
“Please,” I choked on a sob. I was breaking right in front of him, showing him the cracks in my mask. But I couldn’t be locked in the dark. Not again. Not after all these years. I’d broken free of that cage and worked tirelessly to break the chains my papà had placed on my soul too. I wouldn’t go back to that feeling. I couldn’t.
“You once warned me not to make an enemy of you, Rosalie Oscura,” Cain growled. “But you really shouldn’t have been so cocky. You’re not the one who holds the power here. I am. And you can bat your eyelashes, flick your hair, lay on the crocodile tears and even spread your thighs for me as many times as you like. But I’m not the kind of beast you can tame. And it’s time you learned your lesson.”
He ripped his hand out of my grip and shot from the room so fast that I fell forward, crashing onto my forearms as horror spilled through me.
My head snapped up at the sound of the heavy door slamming shut and I screamed as I launched myself at it.
“Cain!” I roared, throwing my weight against the thick metal as darkness engulfed me. “Cain!”
There was no reply, but I kept banging my fist against the door all the same, sure he could hear me.
“Please don’t do this to me!” A sob tore from my throat as tears rolled down my cheeks.
Silence was my only answer and eventually I backed up, wrapping my arms around myself as my back hit the cold wall at the rear of my tiny cell.
Pain, fear and the worst of my worst memories surfaced beneath my skin as my papà’s voice whispered to me in the dark.
Didn’t I tell you, Rosalie? You’re good for nothing and no one. You came into this world unwanted and you’ll go out of it that way too. You should stop trying to fight fate. Because the world doesn’t care that you exist any more than I do…
I pressed my palms down over my ears as I fought to block him out, but his poisonous words found me in the darkness like they always had.
All of my plans had gone to shit.
&nbs
p; All of the promises I’d made meant nothing.
I was trapped alone in the dark.
And maybe that was where I deserved to be.
________________________________________________________
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Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1) Page 50