by L. C. Davis
“He'll kill him,” I screamed, kicking and clawing at the guard everywhere I could.
“Stop it, please,” the guard muttered. “Sir, can you help?”
“Give him to me,” said Ulric.
“No!!”
The sound of Sebastian beating his brother behind the closed door was too much to bear. If he hit him one more time. With no other recourse, I brought my head down and sank my teeth into the guard's shoulder – shirt and all – with surprising ease.
Fresh blood gushed into my mouth but it was nothing like Victor's. Thirst was no longer my motivation. My attack succeeded at least in surprising the guard enough that he dropped me with a cry of, “What the fuck!” The fall from his arms seemed unnaturally long, but I paradoxically had no time to right myself before my head connected with the concrete floor.
My body landed in such a mangled way that I couldn't feel where anything was. My vision was alternating between blurriness and static like a fifty-year-old television set, but it was tuned in to the door of Victor's cell. A pool of blood was visible through the door as well as Victor's limp, outstretched arm.
The guard and one other pair of feet I didn't recognize ran into the room to separate them. Ulric knelt in front of me and watched in a mixture of concern and astonishment.
“Remus?” One hand rested on my shoulder while the other stroked my hair. He rose out of my view and bellowed, “Get Clara and Brendan, now!!”
That was all I could hear before everything went black.
23
“If you keep getting head injuries like this, I'm going to have to prescribe a helmet.” Clara's soothing voice was unmistakable even over the ringing in my ears.
I tried to sit up as I regained consciousness, but I was strapped down. I wasn't in the dungeon, though. This was Clara's infirmary. I recognized the soothing blue wallpaper and the elegant rose trim. There were plants everywhere, and a few neatly made cots. It had the same bright, feminine feel as her garden and stood in stark contrast to the rest of the Lodge.
It took a moment for me to recall why I was there, but once I remembered, I tore at the straps.
“Easy there. I don't want to have to give you another sedative,” Clara said, reaching for a clear syringe on a tray by the table I was strapped to.
“Victor-”
“Is fine,” she interrupted. “Well, maybe not fine, but he will be. We heal quickly. I'm afraid Sebastian did do a number on his jaw, though.”
“Where is he?”
“I'm not supposed to tell you that.”
My nails dug into my palms as I strained to get free. When that didn't work, I locked pleading, tear-filled eyes on her and switched to begging. “Please.”
She watched me for a moment, her cool blue eyes searching. She finally sighed and tucked a strand of raven hair behind her ear. It looked almost like ink. “He's in the dungeon, but I've seen to it that his cell was converted into a proper recovery room. Not like there's a shortage of medical equipment down there.” She rolled her eyes.
“I had to sedate him even after all that, so I don't think Sebastian did any permanent damage. I'm more worried about you.”
“I'm fine.”
“You fell pretty far. Alphonse isn't a small guy.”
“Alphonse?”
“The guard you bit.”
I winced. “Is he alright?”
“A few stitches and some antibiotic ointment and he was on his way to the bar.”
“Who else knows about the scene in the basement?”
“Everyone who came to the dungeon, I suppose. Ulric asked them to keep quiet, but news travels around here.”
“I can't believe I did that,” I moaned. It wasn't just the guard. It was the fact that Victor had torn his own wrist open and rather than call for help, I had drank from it.
“I can. Victor is what some would call a mentalist. Sebastian and Ulric underestimate his abilities severely, because the psychic arts are not where they're inclined, but I'd imagine he's capable of getting someone to do just about anything.”
The implication was hard to ignore. “He didn't hurt me. And he didn't do this.”
“Just because someone is capable of something doesn't mean it's within their nature,” she said. “But humans don't just go around ripping into people's flesh unless they're either insane or-”
“Then I'm crazy.”
She sighed. “Well, I suppose there is one more option. You could be a vampire.” She smirked.
“That's the last thing I need,” I muttered. “It's probably that serum you guys have been giving me.”
“That's impossible,” she said uneasily.
“Why? What's in it?”
She folded her elegant hands in front of her and remained silent.
“Let me guess. One of my unappointed guardians told you not to?”
She gave an apologetic smile.
“At least tell me who?”
She hesitated. “Ulric.” That much I had expected. “And Victor.”
“What?”
“He's the one who... provided the past few batches,” she said carefully. “I'm sorry, I really can't go into it anymore than that.”
I wanted to press the issue, but I didn't want to get someone in trouble who had done nothing but show me kindness. She relaxed visibly when she saw that I had turned my attention to staring out a window that overlooked the garden.
“It's really beautiful. You must spend a lot of time out there.”
“Thank you. It's my favorite place in the entire world,” she said with pride. “I've been tending to it ever since I was a girl.” Her voice hitched on the last word.
“You've been here that long?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. Ulric is my uncle. I was here even before Victor and Sebastian. Of course, the Lodge was far more segmented from the dungeon back then.”
I listened as she spoke with wide-eyed amazement. “You all grew up together?”
She smiled nostalgically. “It must seem strange, but this place has always been a refuge for wolves who didn't fit into society's mold even more than the rest. Ulric inherited the dungeon from the last Alpha. It's a business, nothing less and nothing more. The house has always been open to strays.”
“And Sebastian and Victor were strays?” I asked sadly.
“Very much so. Their father and mother were both killed by vampires in one of the most brutal interspecies attacks this century. The boys were separated and lived in foster care for awhile,” she said, getting a distant look in her eyes.
She pulled up a stool suddenly and sat down in front of the bed. “I shouldn't be telling you this, but if I don't, you'll never hear it from them and it affects everything. Understand?”
I nodded.
“Good. I know it's hard to believe, but Sebastian was a weak, sickly child. Victor was his protector, defender, and often his only companion. No one but Sebastian and Victor really know what went on in that house, but the rescue workers found Victor covered in blood, holding Sebastian and covering his brother's eyes. “
“When they were separated, Sebastian did alright, but Victor acted out violently. His foster parents would report strange things happening. Doors locked and wouldn't open, things went missing and turned up in strange, impossible places. They would have nightmares the likes of which they'd never experienced. One woman even tried to take her own life before he was sent away.”
“He was just a child,” I began. “You can't think any of that-”
“No, of course not,” she said earnestly. “I'm just telling you this so you understand what Victor is capable of. He's brilliant, more than anyone gives him credit for. He finally succeeded in running away, and after surviving as a nine-year-old for the two months it took him to get from Detroit to Oregon, he found his brother and the two of them run away.”
“Long story short, Victor wound up getting on the wrong side of the right people and a wolf in Portland sent him to Ulric. He wasn't ready to take in kids, especially
since he'd already received me as an unexpected inheritance,” she said with a fond smile. “But once he saw those two boys, he couldn't say no. They've been here ever since. As you can see, Sebastian overcame his childhood illness.”
I listened, absorbing her words. My heart ached for my mate and for the man who had somehow become my closest friend when I wasn't looking. “Sebastian doesn't remember any of this, does he?”
Clara shook her head sadly. “He arrived on our doorstep in good spirits, if a bit famished. His biggest concern back then was finding a way to get dessert before dinner. He still has a burning hatred for vampires, as I'm sure you've noticed, but it's like the weight of it all-”
“Fell completely on his brother's shoulders,” I murmured. The ache I felt for Victor had turned into a searing burn.
“Exactly,” she sighed.
I watched her closely. “You think Victor took it from him? The pain, the trauma, the memories.”
“I think that he redirected it in a way he thought Sebastian could handle, yes. But there was no way to prove it then and certainly not one now.”
“But if Sebastian had any idea what his brother did for him,” I protested.
“Dear, you're fighting a losing battle there. Spilling a secret like that might reframe the past, but it won't change it. There's a lot of history between the two of them. I'm not telling you so you'll try to fix it, I'm warning you so you don't get swallowed up in it.”
“I just hate this.” My eyes burned with tears I tried to hold back to no avail. “Victor is always there to rescue everyone else, but who's going to save him?”
She gave a ghost of a smile. “I had hoped it might be you, before the mark. I've never seen Victor light up the way he did when he saw you walk into the Lodge that night.”
“What?” I frowned. “But I didn't see him until the contest.”
“Maybe not, but he sure saw you. He was reading in the lounge, as usual, when you walked in. When I greeted you and Arthur at the desk, it was hard to miss the way he looked at you. Like you were the only person in the world there ever had been or ever would be. He waited until you were gone to ask me who you were.
“I showed him your name in the guest book. I told him you were Arthur's friend. I asked him if he knew you somehow.”
I tried to swallow but my throat was too dry. “What did he say?” I asked hoarsely.
She looked away. “He said he'd been waiting for you for a very long time. That you were the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with.”
Her words knocked the wind out of me. The tears that had been pooling in my eyes streamed down my face.
“When I saw Sebastian's seal on your hand,” she continued, “I knew it would be the start of a war between them.” Her delicate brow furrowed in a mixture of sadness and something else I didn't recognize. “I remember thinking, to have someone look at you that way.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pushed her glasses further up on her nose. “But that's not all there is, is there? Not like in your cheesy American high school movies. In real life, the jock does get the cheerleader.”
I frowned. “That's not how it is. Sebastian is a really great guy, and I'm definitely not a cheerleader.”
“Oh, I don't mean it as an insult. Sebastian's a good man. I love that boy as well as if he were my own brother. I love them both.” She dabbed at her eye with a tissue. “I'm sorry. It's been a long day.”
She stood and turned away from me. I struggled to process the fact that cool, collected Clara was having a mild meltdown in front of me.
“Sebastian should be finished with his rounds in another minute. I don't suppose you'd be opposed to waiting here if I unstrapped you? There's a guest at the door, I have to buzz him in.”
“No problem,” I said, trying not to seem too eager as she undid my restraints.
“There. You're obviously not a threat anymore. Victor's little trick seems to have worn off.”
“Let's hope so,” I joked mildly to humor her.
She smiled, but it didn't meet her eyes. “In case he gets back before me, good evening. Come see me if Victor's-” She caught herself. “If the serum stops working.”
“I will,” I called, waiting to make sure she was gone before I went to peer behind her desk. The closed circuit screens monitored the main hallway leading into the dungeon, the lounge area, and the perimeter of the Lodge. I could see her letting a guest inside, ushering him over to the front desk.
I knew I had at least a few minutes before she was back, but Sebastian could return any minute. I rushed over to the tray beside my bed and snatched the filled syringe of sedative, slipping it into my pocket. I walked over to the small freezer unit and searched for any signs of my serum.
No luck.
I tried the refrigerator underneath and saw a row of small vials hanging on a rack. I recognized the strange crimson hue and even in the refrigerator, I could get a faint whiff of the alluring aroma. It was a struggle to stay focused, but I recognized the vaguely trance-like state and fought it off in time. Like everything else, the serum was labeled in perfectly printed handwriting.
“Type: A neg. Specimen: Victor”
There was no second guessing that. I felt ashamed that it had taken a literal label to show me what now seemed so obvious. They were injecting me with Victor's blood. That's why his scent was inside of me. It also explained why the intoxicating scent from my medication was the same that had undone me in that basement room. Granted, it had been flowing straight from the source in hot streams rather than frozen and suspended in other chemicals, but it was one in the same.
I grabbed all the vials I could carry and shoved them into my pocket with the syringe. I put everything else back the way it had been and rushed to check the monitor.
Sebastian was coming.
I darted over to the cot and curled up, pretending to be asleep. His footsteps were hesitant as he approached me. Everyone knew he hated vampires, but was he afraid of me now, too? The thought seemed unbearable, and my own hypocrisy was not lost on me.
“Baby,” he whispered. His voice was gentle once again as he stroked my hair tenderly. “Wake up, it's time to go upstairs.”
I steeled myself to see him again since the last time he was beating Victor into the ground. I finally pretended to stir and sat up slowly. “Whoa,” I murmured. “What time is it?”
“Almost eight,” he said, taking my face in his gargantuan hands. “Have you been asleep this entire time?”
“No,” I yawned. “Clara said I woke up a few times. Everything is still kind of blurry,” I lied, half to see what he'd say.
“Good,” he muttered.
“I remember a little,” I said, testing the waters. “Clara says it was Victor's mind control.”
“It was,” he snapped. “There's no other reason you'd do something like that.”
“I guess not. I just don't understand why.”
His eyes grew dark. “I do. He did it to get to me. Take the person I love most and use him to imitate the thing I hate most. He's sick.”
I looked at the floor. “Maybe.”
“Glad you're finally starting to come around,” he muttered, lifting me off the table. I flinched, worried he'd notice the sound of the vials.
He looked at me appraisingly for what seems like forever. “Looks like Clara cleaned you up.”
I looked down at the hospital scrubs and fresh terry cloth robe I was wearing. I ventured a guess that the one Ulric gave me was now covered in blood.
“Yeah. She was really sweet.” I left out the part about the breakdown.
“Come on. Let's get out of here. We'll go upstairs, give you your shot, and watch a movie or something. You've been through a lot.”
“About the shot,” I began. “Clara gave me a huge supply since she's busy for the next few days. Do you have a cooler or something I could use to keep it cool?”
“Yeah, I think so. I'll find it after dinner.”
Well, that was one crisis averted.
“And um, I know it's been a long day, but do you think we could to something a little more hands on to relax?”
He arched an eyebrow. “What'd you have in mind?”
24
I learned that night that Victor and Sebastian were very different types of doms. While Victor was all about mind games and slowly building tension, Sebastian's torture took a much more straightforward approach.
After assuring him that I was more than up for the experience after my ordeal, he took me into his room on the second floor. There was no contract to sign and his spiel was a much shorter one. “If you need me to stop, just yell 'heel'. If you want me to slow down, say 'yield.' Got it?”
“Got it.”
After that, it was into a barely-there harness and briefs that weren't destined to stay on long. He instructed me to stand in one place, so I did. First, he put a blindfold around me that made it impossible to see anything. Then, he tied my arms behind my back with impressive ease.
The thrill of the experience was marred somewhat when he placed an affectionate kiss on my cheek, pulling me out of the scenario.
If Victor's enjoyment was in exploring my mind, Sebastian's was in exploring my body. His hands roved hungrily, grabbing and caressing every inch of me. I started to enjoy the experience of never knowing where he was going to touch me next. By the time he wrapped his hand around my length, it was already hard.
To my surprise, he slipped what felt like a thick elastic ring around me and pushed it up to the base. I gasped and heard his laughter right next to my ear.
“That's just to make sure you don't get carried away without me.”
He pushed me down onto my knees and put a pillow underneath my head. I would have preferred the coolness of the concrete floor, but I didn't dare protest. Victor had already trained me out of that. At least in the dungeon.
I was left to wonder what would come next. It was a welcome distraction from the terrible deed I was about to commit.
He returned and the sound of metal scraping against the floor made me shiver. I struggled to make sense of the sensations around me as cold metal locked my ankles in place and kept my knees spread far apart.