Rogue

by Karen Lynch

  I cleared my throat. “Where are you girls from? I’m from Maine.”

  “I’m from Scarsdale,” Grace replied.

  “Mount Vernon,” Anna said.

  I bit my lip. Both of those places were in New York. Did that mean we were in New York too? “Do you know how you got here, or were you drugged like me?”

  Anna answered first. “I-I think they drugged me. I don’t remember.”

  “Me too,” said Grace. “Sara, do you really think we’ll get out of here?”

  “Yes.” It was better to give them hope than to admit how dire our circumstances were. Hope could be the difference between life and death in this place.

  The sound of the door opening sent my heart pounding, and I stood in the middle of my cell to face whatever was coming. Instead of a vampire, a short humanoid demon with pale skin, a long furred face, and orange eyes appeared carrying a tray of food. Both girls made frightened sounds as the quellar demon slid a plate beneath the doors of their cells. I had met a lot scarier looking creatures, but he must have appeared so alien to Grace and Anna. All I saw was a quiet demon with scared eyes that flicked back and forth as if he expected someone to jump him.

  The demon stood outside my cell, and we stared at each other for a long moment. He was probably curious about the new addition, or the fact that I didn’t shrink from him like the others. The sound of Anna pulling her plate across the stone floor startled him, and he hurried away like a large frightened mouse.

  I looked down suspiciously at the sandwich and small bottle of water. Why would the vampires feed us if they planned to kill us? Maybe killing someone who was half-starved was no fun for them. I thought about not eating it, but all I’d had in the last twenty-four hours was some tuna and crackers. If I was going to get out of here, I had to keep up my strength.

  While we ate, I asked Grace and Anna questions about their families, their friends, and school – anything to take their minds off our situation. Grace was seventeen and Anna was fifteen, and they both had two siblings. Grace was in the band at school and Anna was a science geek. They’d had such normal, happy lives before they were ripped away from everything they knew. At least I had known what was out there before I was taken. Not that it helped me much now.

  After our meal, Anna said she was tired and I heard her lie down. Grace whispered that they got sleepy after they came back from upstairs. I asked her about the Master, and she said she had seen a red-haired female and a dark-haired male. She closed off when I tried to ask what had happened to her upstairs, and I didn’t push. Soon she went to sleep as well, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  All I could think about was Nikolas. Where was he? What were they doing to him? A thought came unbidden to my mind of Ava Bryant touching him, drinking from him, and my vision clouded as blood roared in my ears. My body trembled and I gripped the iron bars so hard they creaked. Solmi, my Mori growled.

  We’ll find him, I promised my agitated demon. And if that bitch lays a finger on him I’ll rip it off her. Ava Bryant was already going to die for what she’d done to Nate. If she hurt Nikolas in any way, I’d make sure her death was not a quick one.

  I lost track of time. I lay down on the hard slab that was supposed to be a bed, but I couldn’t sleep not knowing what was happening to Nikolas. I paced the small cell and thought about last night. No matter what the vampires did to us, they could never take that away. If I died tomorrow, I would die knowing what it was to love and be loved completely.

  When the door opened again, I fought to keep my breathing under control. This was it. I was finally going to meet the vampire who had terrorized my family for so long. I thought about my Dad and Nate. Be strong.

  The vampire who had brought Anna in earlier appeared. He flashed his fangs at me as he went to Grace’s cell and unlocked it.

  “No,” she whimpered when he pulled her from the cell.

  He dragged her past my cell, and I got a glimpse of a girl with short dark hair in jeans and a T-shirt. When he opened Anna’s door, she began sobbing. “Please.”

  The door closed behind them, and I clenched the bars of my cell as fear and rage and helplessness assailed me. A few minutes later, the unmistakable sound of a girl’s scream reached me. I clamped my hands over my ears and tears scorched my face as I dropped to my knees with the scream echoing in my head.

  Why was he torturing them when he finally had me? He’d gone through so much trouble to get his hands on me. What was he waiting for?

  The sound of my cell opening woke me from where I’d fallen asleep on the floor. I scurried backward as Ava Bryant appeared behind the quellar demon that had brought us our meal. My eyes went to the syringe in the demon’s furry hand, and I shook my head.

  The vampire smiled coldly. “Time for your medicine, little hunter, and Grigor has a special batch he cooked up just for you. Don’t you, Grigor?”

  The demon gave a jerky nod and held up the syringe that contained a murky yellowish liquid. He was trembling, and he fumbled, almost dropping the syringe.

  Ava snatched it away from him. “You clumsy idiot. Do you know how hard it is to make this stuff?” She threw back her head and laughed. “Of course, you do.”

  She looked at me as I got to my feet. “In case you didn’t know it, Grigor here is a quellar demon, and his kind are very talented at chemistry. With the right motivation they can be very inventive.” She rolled the syringe between her long fingers. “Did you know quellar demons are the only ones in existence that are immune to Fae magic? No? Neither did we until recently. It seems they figured out years ago how to block the effects of Fae magic, and they immunize their young from an early age. Quite brilliant, really. Unfortunately, their drug doesn’t work on other demon races yet, but I’m confident Grigor will work it out.”

  I swallowed dryly. “What does that have to do with me?”

  “We couldn’t exactly bring you to the Master with all that Fae magic shooting out of you, could we? We wondered what would happen if we shot you with the quellar drug since you are half demon and half Fae. The results were better than we expected. The darts they used in the woods had the original drug and we weren’t sure how fast your Mohiri system would burn it off. But Grigor’s been busy making a newer version of the drug that will last indefinitely.”

  “Why do you care how long it lasts? You’re going to kill me anyway.”

  Her smile made a pit open in my stomach. “My Master has plans for you. You won’t die anytime soon. You’ll just wish you were dead.”

  She moved before I could blink, and I felt the bite of a needle in my arm. She injected the whole syringe and let me go.

  At first I felt nothing. Then a burning sensation began to grow in my chest and spread through my body. Dizziness struck next, and I had to brace my hands against the wall to keep from falling.

  “That should do it. Sleep tight tonight, little hunter. Tomorrow is a big day.” Ava handed the empty syringe to Grigor and walked out of the cell with the demon trailing meekly behind her. She locked the cell and turned to go, but stopped to look back at me. “Oh, I thought you’d like to know I’ve been getting to know your warrior really well. He’s even more delicious than –”

  I hit the bars so fast pieces of mortar fell from the ceiling. “I’ll take you apart piece-by-piece if you touch him, you bloodsucking bitch.”

  She jumped back. “Temper, temper. You should know that those bars are reinforced to hold back a mature warrior. So don’t waste your strength. You’re going to need it.”

  I waited until they left before I sank to the floor and let the despair finally take me. I cried for Nikolas and the suffering he was going through because of me. I cried for the life we should have had together, and for waiting so long to tell him I loved him. I cried for the two young girls who would never see their families again and for all the people I was leaving behind. I cried until there were no tears left in me and I didn’t have the strength to get up off the floor.

  Sometime during the
night, I awoke to the sound of Anna being led back to her cell. I waited hours for them to bring Grace, but they never did.

  I was sitting on the stone platform waiting for them when they finally came for me. After I’d cried myself out last night, a strange calm had settled over me. It was not acceptance of my fate, but acknowledgement that there was nothing I could do to change it sitting in this cell. If there was one thing I’d learned from my life it was that nothing was certain, and you never knew how your circumstances could change from one minute to the next.

  Ava Bryant and the other vampire from yesterday approached me, and I didn’t say a word when the male unlocked my cell and ordered me to come out. As we passed Anna’s cell I saw a small shape curled into a ball in the far corner, and my heart hurt for her. Grace was gone, and I had a feeling Anna wouldn’t last much longer in this hell.

  We went through the door and down a hallway before we came to a set of stairs. Ava took my arm and the male vampire walked ahead of us as we ascended the stairs. When we came out into a large kitchen, I had to put a hand over my eyes to shield them from the brightness after my day in the dimly lit cell.

  Sara?

  I almost cried out when Nikolas’s voice spoke in my mind. It was faint, but real, and I turned automatically toward it. I’m here, Nikolas. I’m coming to you.

  No, you have to run, he said weakly as the vampires led me through the large house. I was so focused on him I barely noticed my surroundings. The Master... His voice faded away and I felt real fear for the first time since the vampires had come to get me.

  Nikolas?

  Silence.

  Nikolas!

  We approached a set of open French doors. Beyond them I could see a large room with a lot of windows. Cold spread through my chest. There were vampires in that room, a lot of them. And Nikolas was in there with them.

  I tore my arm away from Ava, and she let me go. I ran through the doorway and searched the room frantically. Vampires sat on chairs and couches or stood in small groups talking, all looking like they were assembled for a social gathering. When I entered the room, they stared at me with an air of excitement.

  “Nikolas!” I pushed past vampires to get to the man shackled and chained on his knees in the center of the room. His shirt was gone and his head hung forward so I couldn’t see his face. I fell to my knees in front of him and lifted his head. His eyelids flickered and he mumbled incoherently.

  “I’m here.” I kissed his lips and pulled him into my arms without a thought for the vampires surrounding us. I love you, Nikolas. Stay with me.

  “Sara,” he murmured weakly.

  I pulled away to look at his face. His eyes opened and a sob caught in my throat at the agony in them. Something sticky touched my hand, and I looked down in horror at the two weeping puncture wounds in his throat. What have they done to you?

  “How very touching,” drawled a male voice.

  I looked behind me at a vampire with black hair and a small goatee, sitting in a high backed chair that resembled a throne. His hair was tied back in a ponytail and he wore an expensive suit. In his hand was a crystal glass of deep red liquid, and I shuddered at the thought of what it was. His dark eyes moved over me appreciatively, making me feel like I’d never be clean again.

  I let go of Nikolas and stood to face the vampire who had caused me so much grief and pain. I met his cold gaze unflinchingly, and I was struck suddenly by how unremarkable he was. There was no air of power that I’d expect from a Master, and without his expensive clothes, he’d look like any other vampire in the room.

  “Sebastian, how many times have I asked you not to sit in my chair?”

  A hush fell over the room. The vampire stood and bowed his head in deference. I turned slowly, recognition and disbelief clawing at my chest. Chains rattled and Nikolas’s cold hand grasped mine as I came around to face my true nemesis.

  “We meet at last, Sara Grey,” said the voice of the girl I had comforted from my cell only hours ago. Anna?

  Straight blond hair framed a heart-shaped face, and the blue eyes that watched me were cold and alien, yet achingly familiar at the same time. She smiled, showing perfect white teeth and two dainty fangs.

  “Or maybe I should say, niece.”

  Chapter 25

  “Elena, please,” Nikolas pleaded hoarsely. I wrapped both of my hands around his, needing his strength as much as giving him mine.

  “Please what, Nikolas?” asked the vampire who used to be the girl he’d loved as a sister. She circled us to sit in the throne chair that dwarfed her delicate frame. “I’ve waited a long time to hear you beg, so make it good.”

  “This is between you and me. Let her go and I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “No!” I tightened my grip on his hand.

  Elena scoffed. “She’s such a loyal little thing, isn’t she? How loyal do you think she’ll be when she hears how you abandoned me and left me in the hands of a monster?”

  “He didn’t abandon you,” I shot back. “He and Tristan looked everywhere for you. They thought you died.”

  “They didn’t look hard enough!” she snarled, her blue eyes turning dark. “For weeks I prayed you would come for me, Nikolas, but you never did. Week after week, month after month, the Master used me, tortured me, and drank from me until I was almost dry. He was a sadistic animal, and for two years he kept me chained in his chambers, two years of living hell while my loving brother and friend lived their happy little lives.”

  I felt my face blanch at the images her words conjured. My stomach rolled and bile rose in my throat.

  “One day the Master got bored and decided I’d be a more fun plaything if I was a vampire. Only I already had a demon inside of me.” Elena’s hands gripped the arms of her chair, and I watched her nails turn into claws. “Do you know what it feels like to have two demons fighting to the death inside your body? Do you know how agonizing it is when your Mori dies, Nikolas?”

  “Elena...” Nikolas’s voice was raw with pain.

  She moved faster than anything I’d ever seen. Her small hands wrapped around Nikolas’s throat as she lifted him like he weighed nothing. “You talk when I say you can talk.”

  “Stop! You’re killing him.” My outburst earned me a numbing backhand to my cheek that sent me sprawling across the floor. Black spots swam before my eyes, and all I could do was lie there for precious seconds as she strangled the person I loved more than my own life.

  She released him, and he fell backward, coughing. I crawled over to him and pulled his head into my lap, wishing I could shield him from Elena’s wrath. Nikolas had always been the strong one, and seeing him so vulnerable was almost more than I could bear.

  Elena began walking around us in slow circles, her pale blue dress swirling around her knees. “The Master was so pleased with himself because he was able to change a Mohiri into a vampire. I was his favorite pet and his prized possession, and he showed me off every chance he got. He liked to dress me up in pretty clothes and pamper me. I was a life-sized doll he could take out and play with whenever he wanted. He loved how small and weak I was, and he told me every day that I belonged to him forever.”

  She stopped and crouched in front of us so she and I were at eye level. “But he was wrong. I was a lot stronger than I let him see, and I was biding my time, waiting years for the perfect moment. That arrogant bastard was so sure of his superiority that he got complacent. One night he didn’t bother to lock me up after he’d finished playing with me, and that was the opportunity I’d been waiting for. I killed him while he slept and drank him dry. Did you know that is the only way to become a Master? His children, his wealth, and power all became mine. After years of being a slave I was free and powerful, and it felt incredible. My old family had deserted me, so I began to create a new one.”

  She moved forward until she was close enough to pick up a lock of my hair and curl it around her finger. I recoiled inwardly but kept very still. Deep inside me, I felt my power react to bein
g in such close proximity to a Master vampire as it strained against the invisible barrier holding it back.

  “I spent months searching for the perfect human to become my first born. Eli was special.” She leaned in to speak softly in my ear. “You will pay for his death a thousand times over.”

  Her smile when she pulled away was almost angelic, but I was close enough to see the madness in her blue eyes. I hugged Nikolas closer to me and his hand came up to cover mine.

  Be brave, moy malen’kiy voin.

  She’s insane, Nikolas. I’m scared.

  No matter what happens, I’m here with you. A wave of calming energy flowed through our bond into me, and I could almost feel his strong arms around me. It gave me the strength to ask the questions I’d been seeking answers to my whole life.

  “Why did you send Eli to kill my father? He was nothing to you.”

  For a brief moment I saw fear in her eyes. “Your father was nothing to me, but he meant something to my dear niece, Madeline.”

  Anger burned through me, but I kept it in check. “You killed him to get to Madeline?”

  Elena stood and went back to her chair. “I killed him, not because she loved him, but because of the child she could have with him. It wasn’t until ten years later that I learned I had been too late and a child already existed.”

  “But why?” My need for answers outweighed my fear of her. “Why did you care so much if they had a child?” There was no way Elena could have known my parents would have a half Fae, half Mohiri child. My dad had been human, as had generations of his ancestors. And even the faeries had admitted they had no idea what kind of powers I would have.

  Elena studied her pink fingernails as if she was deciding whether or not to tell me. But I saw past her smooth veneer now, and I could see she was dying to share that little tidbit. That way she could gloat over the fact that she’d won.

  “I was having a party and Madeline was my guest of honor. You should have seen her face when she realized who I was. Priceless. Of course, I compelled her to forget me before I let her go.” She giggled. “I even made her think I was a male.”