by Alicia Rades
“You shouldn’t have been so quick to show your hand,” I said with a shrug. “Considering I don’t have any secrets.”
Valkas leaned closer to me, running a chilling finger down the side of my face. “Oh, but you do, darling.”
“Funny,” I deadpanned. “I don’t seem to recall any.”
Valkas sat beside me, and the mattress dipped under his weight. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “I want to know what matters to you. Who matters to you.”
I kept a stone-cold expression on my face as I looked him in the eye. “That’s not a secret. You already know I care about my sister. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
Valkas took another sip of his drink, then clicked his tongue. “But two years, darling. That’s a long time to be alone. I should know. I spent more than a century on this island. Didn’t you meet anyone?”
“I met a handful of vampires,” I said coolly. “But I never really got the chance to chat with them.”
Valkas’s lips turned up at the corners. “None of mine, I hope.”
“None of your current followers, unfortunately.”
Silence followed for a beat, then Valkas spoke. “So, what’s your weakness, darling? A boy, perhaps?”
Venn! My body went rigid. I realized too late and hoped it didn’t give me away.
“I have no one,” I lied. The fact was, if I’d come here months ago, that would’ve been true.
“Darling,” Valkas pouted, like he thought I might actually feel sympathy. “I was honest with you. It’s only fair that you’re honest in return.”
“Fair?” I asked in disbelief. “You murdered my parents and kidnapped my sister. You want to talk about fair?”
I snapped my mouth shut. I didn’t mean to snap at him, and it was probably a huge mistake. Soon, Valkas would get annoyed with my big fat mouth and shut it for me.
“You’re right,” Valkas said with a wave of his hand. He stood and set his empty glass on the nightstand. “There’s no point in trying to be fair with you.”
Valkas gestured to Rogers. Rogers reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial with a clear liquid inside. He took a step forward and popped the top off.
“Whoa!” I cried, scurrying back across the bed. “Don’t tell me you intend to give me that… whatever it is.”
“Oh, I absolutely do,” Valkas said with an evil smile.
Rogers reached out for me, but I pulled my arm away.
“But you didn’t tell me what’s in it,” I protested.
Valkas raised an eyebrow. “I’m not obligated to. You’ll take the potion, or I’ll force you to watch as I carve your sister’s skin off.”
For a moment, I had forgotten how cruel Valkas was. He was playing nice with me, which made him almost seem… human. But he was only doing it to manipulate me, and when he realized that wasn’t working, he was right back to his devilish antics.
“What is it?” I asked.
Big mistake. Valkas was so done with my shit at this point. He jumped on the bed and slammed his hand into my chest. I fell back onto the mattress, and he climbed on top of me, holding me down. I squirmed beneath him, trying to break free. What if it was some sort of poison that would kill me? Or a potion that would prevent my soul from reincarnating?
I threw my hands up to his face, but he grabbed on to my wrists and squeezed tightly, holding them above my head. I fought against him, but I was so weak from the loss of blood that it didn’t do anything.
“Now!” Valkas roared.
Rogers reached out for my face. I snapped at his hand with my teeth and tasted blood. Valkas readjusted his hands to squeeze the corners of my jaw and force my mouth open. Rogers tipped back the vial, and a tasteless liquid entered my mouth. I planned to spit it out, but Valkas forced my jaw closed, and Rogers pinched my nose shut. My lungs felt like they were going to implode. Basic instinct took over, and I swallowed the liquid against my will.
My body went still. It wasn’t like when Rogers tried to go all puppet master on my ass. Nor was it like the calmness that overcame me when Valkas fed on me. This was more or less like I’d given up fighting. Which was so unlike me. Whatever they’d given me acted quickly. Rogers returned to his post at the door, and Valkas sat beside me on the bed.
He spoke slowly. “I’m only going to ask one more time. Besides your sister, what other weaknesses do you have?”
“My family,” I admitted. I had no idea where the words came from, but I felt them slip out of my mouth, heard them come in my own voice.
Truth potion! The bastard.
“Ah,” Valkas said in interest. “Tell me more.”
I found myself spilling every last detail about Venn, Fiona, and the rest of them. I told Valkas about how I’d met them, what their powers were, and how I felt about each and every one of them.
Truth be told, I couldn’t remember much of what I said beyond that. I wasn’t sure if I was still feeling woozy from the blood loss or if it was part of the potion that made my head fuzzy. Either way, secrets tumbled out of my mouth that I never would’ve told Valkas otherwise. Eventually, he took my hand and guided me up off the bed. My knees shook, and the room spun around me. I felt drunk, only without the urge to vomit. Which was weird, because Valkas constantly made me nauseous.
He led me toward the door, but before he let me go, he leaned over to whisper in my ear. “In case it wasn’t clear, darling, that’s how I expect you to act every time I ask you a question. I’m done giving you second chances. I expect nothing but respect from now on.” Valkas straightened and turned to Rogers. “Deal with her.”
Valkas let me go, and it was enough to send me falling to my knees without the support. A pair of hands reached out and caught me, then I felt my body being tossed upward. It took me a second to realize I was slumped over someone’s shoulder and already headed down the hall.
“Where are you taking me?” I thought I asked the question, but I didn’t hear the words come out.
“Shh…” It was hard to pinpoint the voice, but I thought it was Rogers. “You mustn’t worry.”
He was dead wrong about that. Worry was all I did these days.
It certainly wasn’t going to end now.
10
It was dark when I blinked my eyes open. I shot to a sitting position, but the top of my head slammed against something hard. I rubbed the goose egg on my head and cursed.
“Rachel,” a familiar voice called out from the darkness.
“Jenna?”
My eyes adjusted to the darkness to see that I was in one of the log cabins the blood slaves stayed in. Light from an oil lamp cast shadows across the room. I was lying on a lower bunk, and Jenna was eyeing me from the bunk opposite mine. Two other girls who looked a few years older than me gazed down with sad eyes from the bunk above Jenna.
Everything that had happened since I arrived at Gregor Island came rushing back. My skin crawled at the memory of what had happened in the privacy of Valkas's room. All I wanted to do was take a shower. My stomach rumbled, and I realized I was starving. My arms shook as I pushed myself up to sit on the edge of the bed.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said.
Jenna forced a smile. “For now. As long as they think they can use me to manipulate you.”
Of course. That’s why Valkas hadn’t let her die in the ring.
“What happened?” I asked.
Jenna cleared her throat. “Rogers dumped you at our door, said you were our new roommate. This is Andi and Bri, by the way.”
I looked up to the girls on the top bunk. One had long blond hair and a small nose, and the other had dark skin and tight curls. Judging by the way they were sitting, they looked close, like being on this island had brought them together.
“Hey,” the blonde waved.
“Hi.” I gave a non-committal smile.
“Are you okay?” Jenna asked, eyeing me with concern, a look I'd seen so many times throughout the years.
“Just hungry,”
I lied.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
I dodged around the question. I’d rather talk to her in private. “Is there anything to eat around here? Or anywhere to shower?” I added.
Jenna stood. “Follow me.”
“Hey,” the dark-haired girl said softly, stopping her. “You want us to come with?”
“We’ll be fine, Andi,” Jenna answered. “But thanks for the offer.”
Jenna and I stepped out of the cabin into cool night air.
I turned to her. “So, you've still got some of that softness in you?”
Jenna frowned. “A lot has changed since we last saw each other, but I'm not a monster.”
“Huh. Could've fooled me,” I said, recalling her fist flying toward me in the ring.
Her shoulders dropped. “Come on, Rachel. Don't be like that. I didn’t mean what I said. I was shocked and overwhelmed. I wasn’t sure I actually believed it was you.”
I was just about to shoot back some snarky comment, but then I looked her in the eyes. All my snark vanished as tears rose to my eyes. Out here alone under the moonlight, it felt like I was seeing her for the first time since the night she was taken. And I lost it.
Without ceremony, I threw my arms around her neck and dragged her close. She still smelled like I remembered… subtle tones of fresh linen mixed with a light strawberry scent. Memories of us as kids rushed through my mind—playing in our treehouse pretending we were pirates, talking about boys at our late-night slumber parties, baking cookies with Mom at Christmas, and grilling out with Dad in the summertime. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Once they started, I couldn't turn them off. Jenna hugged me back, and for the first time since I'd lost her, I felt that hole inside my chest shrink ever so slightly.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I’m sorry I didn’t come for you sooner.”
Jenna drew away from me and wiped at her eyes. The tough exterior she’d put up earlier in the night had completely crumbled. “Where were you, Rachel? I waited for you. I thought they’d killed you that night. I kept telling myself they didn’t, that you were alive and coming for me. But I-I—”
I sniffled. “I tried, but I didn’t know where to start. I was hopeless. Once I had enough money, I turned to a witch and tried to track you down, but the spell didn’t work. I didn’t know what else to do, so I gave up. I’m a horrible sister. I didn’t think I had a chance of finding you until I saw this vampire with the mark of the Soulless on his wrist. That changed everything. I finally found out where you were, but then… shit hit the fan.”
Jenna took my arm and led me toward a large building at the end of the rows of cabins. A few people passed by, but the cabins were mostly quiet. “Why don’t you tell me about it inside? Let’s get you cleaned up.”
We stepped inside a dark building with rooms going off in all different directions. It was stylized in the same way as the cabins, with smooth wood floor and thick wooden walls. Jenna led me into one of the first rooms. I could hardly see anything until she turned to a table next to the door and lit a match. She placed it to the wick of an oil lamp, and the room became cast in a soft glow. I looked around to see three separate tubs, the kind on claw feet, with hand-pump faucets over each of them.
“No running water?” I asked.
Jenna walked over to the nearest tub and set the lamp down on an end table next to it. “Unfortunately, no. The island is completely cut off from the mainland. Valkas has a few generators here and there, but he saves them for himself. Get in. I’ll pump your water for you.”
I stood at the head of the tub and hesitated.
“Come on,” Jenna encouraged. “We’re sisters. We used to take baths together as kids. It’s nothing I’ve never seen before.”
True. I stripped down and climbed into the tub while Jenna worked on the pump. Icy cold water rushed over my toes, and I screamed, almost jumping out of the tub.
Jenna laughed. “No electricity, either. Remind me again what a warm shower feels like.”
“A lot more pleasant than this.” I settled back down into the tub, trying to ignore the coolness surrounding me.
When Jenna looked at me with her soft blue eyes, I could see the sister I used to know. She spoke quietly. “Do you want to tell me about it now?”
Yes! I wanted to tell her everything.
I took a calming breath, then dove into everything that happened after I found out about Gregor Island. I told her all about being the Ravenite, about Clarita’s warning, about our journey to the caves and my encounter with Matias. I told her about the dagger, my past lives, Synchrony, Venn—all of it. By the time I’d finished, I was clean and had been soaking in the tub for what felt like an hour.
“Wow,” Jenna said, dragging out the word. She sat on the lip of the next tub, her elbows rested on her knees. “That’s… a lot to take in.”
I bit my lip. “I know. I think I know what Clarita’s warning meant now.”
She tilted her head in question.
“Her warning was all about the dagger. If I hadn’t gone down into the cave, I’d never would’ve faced Matias. I never would’ve gotten the dagger that could kill Valkas. But now…” I dropped my head. “I messed up, Jenna Bean.”
She sighed, like she didn’t know what to say. She had no words of comfort to offer me.
“You’re a big help, sis,” I stated flatly.
Her shoulders fell. “What do you want me to say, Rachel? That you can’t give up? That you’ll make it off this island alive? I’ve been here a long time, and I’ve never seen anyone escape. This is our reality now.”
My stomach felt hollow. This couldn’t be it, could it?
But Jenna had a point. We didn’t have a way off this island. My one chance had already come and gone, and I didn’t know what to think about that. Hopeless was the best way to put it.
To take my mind off it, I asked Jenna, “So, what’s up with this island anyway? How’d a chateau end up out here? I mean, if this place was hidden for over a century…”
“As far as I’ve heard, the mansion was here before Valkas was imprisoned. The cabins and stuff only came after he escaped. His cronies run off to the mainland all the time to bring supplies back.”
“So, the Soulless… are they all here, then?” I’d honestly expected there to be more of them.
“God, no,” Jenna answered. “The Soulless are everywhere, stationed at different places around the world. This is just their headquarters, where Valkas keeps the strongest of them and the ones he trusts most.”
“Oh, okay.” It made sense.
“Anyway, about the mansion… rumor has it one of the witches who trapped him here—Gregor, obviously…” She shot me a knowing look, since I’d told her all about my past lives. “Lily Gregor owned the island and lived here on and off. She offered it up as the place of his sentence. As the legend goes, the mansion was symbolic to his imprisonment. It was supposed to make him reflect on what he’d done, to look at all the empty rooms and think of the people he’d killed.”
I laughed lightly.
“What?” she asked curiously.
I shrugged. “That sounds like something I’d come up with, even if it was in a past life.”
“I still can’t believe you’re all those people.” She spoke so softly I barely heard her. “It’s crazy that my sister is such an important part to all of this.”
“It’s not like I chose it,” I said.
“I know, but…” Jenna left the sentence hanging. The following beat of silence made me a little uncomfortable.
“I still can’t believe you’re a raccoon,” I subbed in, laughing.
Jenna smirked. “What did you expect? A dragon?”
I smiled. “I guess I always knew you’d be a shifter. I mean, since it’s genetic and all of that. But I just couldn’t ever picture you as an animal, you know? I mean, you’re Jenna.”
“Jenna the Fierce Raccoon,” she teased. “And don’t you forget it.”
“And you’re a raven?” She rose her eyebrows, like she was impressed. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I think it suits you.”
“Does it?” I asked. I didn’t know what that meant, but I supposed it did, in a way.
Another beat passed, but I spoke to break the silence. I was dying for more details. “What happened to you these last two years?” After a pause, I added, “Only if you want to talk about it…”
Jenna shrugged, like she didn’t mind sharing. It was weird. I looked at her, and she was my sister, but there was definitely something tougher about her than I’d ever seen before. I guess that was what being a blood slave did to you.
She laced her fingers together in front of her. “What’s there to tell? I was kidnapped, fed on, and forced to fight other shifters for the vampires’ sick entertainment.”
My stomach dropped like a bag of rocks. I hated that she’d gone through all of that. “That’s how you got so good at fighting?”
“I had to,” she answered coolly. She barely sounded like my sister when she talked about it. “They care about shifter blood around here—for feeding—but they care about watching a good show, too. Some of those fights end in death, Rachel.”
I knew they had to, but hearing it from her mouth made me shudder.
“I’ve done what I had to do to survive,” she said, not meeting my gaze. “I didn’t always want to, but…”
“But what?” I regretted asking the question as soon as it left my lips. I didn’t want to make Jenna say any more than she was comfortable with. I understood how hard this kind of thing was to talk about.
“But I wanted to survive. To see you again.”
Tears rose to my eyes again. She endured all that for me?
“I love you, Jenna,” I whispered.
“I love you, too, Rach. Now finish up.” She stood and turned away from me, but I heard her sniffle as she paced across the room. It was like she didn’t want me to see her cry. Wow, how she’d changed.
I scrubbed down a second time to give her a moment of privacy. She handed me a towel when I got out, but didn’t say anything. I dried off, enjoying the warmth that came with it, then wrapped the towel around my body and secured the corner under the pit of my arm. I gathered my clothes and folded them into a neat pile, then took a bar of soap. Jenna eyed me curiously.