by Jenny Allen
A small spark of hope lit up his sky grey eyes. “We have to hurry. I’m surprised he hasn’t noticed anything yet. He must be really determined to sway Cohen.”
“Yeah well, let’s just hope he doesn’t succeed.” If he did, going back in there would almost be pointless.
Lilith nodded at her father and he nodded back with a singular purpose. It was time to take the monster down or go out fighting. She pulled the 9mm from her side pocket, made sure the safety was off and grabbed the door handle. She never considered herself religious but that didn’t stop her from closing her eyes for a brief second and making a silent prayer that Chance was still safe.
Just before she could turn the handle, the door swung open, yanking her forward, bringing her face to face with Ashcroft’s mess of scars and his beady, horrific eyes. “Coming to see me are you?” His thin lips stretched into a malicious grin, displaying all his crooked, rotting teeth. He smelled like death.
Bile rose in her throat, but she still managed to scream. “Dad! Run!”
The dry, leathery skin of his taloned hand closed around her throat as his lips curled into a snarl. He leaned in closer, taking in a deep breath, smelling her. His sick groan of pleasure itched across her cheek leaving a corrupt feeling behind. “He can run. You are what I want. Such a pretty little thing. I’ll enjoy drinking you dry…” His narrow eyes took in every curve of her body in a slow, languid look of desire that made her want to scream till she was out of breath. “…once I’ve finished playing with you.”
Chapter 24
Lilith tried to scream, but Ashcroft’s grip around her throat tightened, cutting off the scream. Without even thinking, she squeezed the trigger. She felt the gun recoil against his abdomen, the muffled shot ringing in the stairwell. There was a second of shock in his eyes and then it hardened into a look of pure and utter hatred. Before she could squeeze off another shot, Ashcroft tore the gun from her hand and threw it to the floor like a parent tossing away an inappropriate toy. It wasn’t far from the truth. A 9mm wouldn’t save her any more than a Nerf gun.
“Ashcroft! No!” Gregor’s voice boomed behind her and she just closed her eyes. If she was going to die, she at least wanted it to mean something. If Gregor and Chance got away, it would be slightly less tragic. Now she was going to die for nothing. “This is between us. Enough innocents have died at both our hands. Take me. Let it be enough.” There were tears in his trembling voice. His guilt weighed so heavy on the air she could actually taste it on the back of her tongue.
In a blur of motion that left her dizzy, Ashcroft spun her around, using her as a human shield. His long, hard nails bit into her skin. She felt the blood welling up around them just before the stinging started. It was all she could do to swallow down the panic and stay as still as possible.
Ashcroft’s laughter crackled through the air like thunder, full of dark foreboding. “Are you giving me an order, peasant? I could rip out the throats of every single person that has ever set eyes on you and it would not be enough! Do not beg mercy of me, coward. You are the one that sent her here to die!” She could feel his acrid breath against her neck as he leaned in closer. “You sent her right to me. I should thank you for my present.” She could hear the grin, the desire, in his voice and it made her stomach churn all over again. She had to battle a bought of nausea along with her screaming nerves, all the while trying to keep his vicious nails from puncturing an artery.
“I didn’t know.” It wasn’t meant for Ashcroft. Gregor looked right at her, tears streaming down his cheeks. She could see his heart shattering in his haunted grey eyes. The guilt weighed so heavily on him that it literally slumped his shoulders forward. Lilith couldn’t do anything. She was helpless. Wait. With an odd and desperate calm she focused everything she had on pulling Ashcroft’s power right out of him. Tapping into his deep well of dark and twisted power made her feel dirty. She wanted to pull away, but this was her only shot. She pulled and pulled as hard as she could.
“Oh you knew. Perhaps you didn’t want to admit my existence but you knew, even when I slit the throat of your pretty little wife in Central Park. These are the consequences of your own actions…” Ashcroft voice trailed off for a second. By now he had to know that something was wrong. A sharp growl in her ear scared her right out of her thoughts. She lost her metaphorical grip on Ashcroft’s power. “Creative little insect aren’t you? Not even Cohen’s blood will save you from me.” His slithering voice dripped with homicidal glee. It was enough to make Lilith’s stomach flip in a sudden wave of nausea.
Ashcroft returned his attention to Gregor for a moment. “I’ll be back for you.” His voice held a definite promise filled with dark loathing.
For a moment, everything was just a blur. She felt dizzy, disorientated, like she was falling in the dark. When it all stopped, Lilith doubled over in dry heaves, bile burning the back of her throat. The room was still spinning and she had to focus everything she had on just staying on her feet. She was finally starting to catch her breath when Ashcroft grabbed her by the throat again and slammed her into the concrete pillar hard enough to make her bones rattle. Fire ran up her spine and exploded at the back of her head.
She was back in the torture room. This was the concrete pillar she’d just freed Gregor from. That’s when the despair really sank in. Instead of increasing her allies, she’d swapped places with him. Now she was going to die. No, she wasn’t just going to die. He was going to stretch out her torment for hours, maybe even days like he had with Miriah. When he was done, she’d just be a pile of mangled flesh that didn’t even look human. Whitmore and Alvarez had gotten off easy, she definitely wouldn’t be as lucky. All that awaited her was torment and darkness.
She didn’t bother to fight when Ashcroft snatched her wrists. There was no point. He was stronger and faster and she had no weapons left. He tugged her hands up to a pair of manacles hanging from a pipe and she felt the finality of the metallic clink as they locked around her wrists. The pipe was lower than the ceiling, but she still had to stand on tip toe just to keep the metal from biting into her skin.
“I have been looking forward to this moment for six hundred years.” There was a glee in his voice that made her heart feel cold. He ran his bony fingers across her cheek, his black, beady eyes studying every line. “It’s almost a pity. You are quite a remarkable specimen. Drinking the demon’s blood has made subtle changes in you. Even your blood smells different.”
Lilith couldn’t bring herself to care about what he was saying. It didn’t matter, none of it mattered. The game was over and Ashcroft had won. He’d have Gregor soon, Coffee probably already had Chance, Alvarez and Whitmore were dead, Humphries would probably die from his wounds, and Cohen was…Her eyes glanced past Ashcroft, but Cohen wasn’t anywhere she could see him. Where the hell was he?
“I have a suggestion.” Cohen voice, right beside Ashcroft, made her jump. Maybe there was still some sort of hope, if he could help her or just get away. “The effects my blood has had on her are rare, incredibly rare. We should keep her, study the effects more thoroughly. Once we can safely and consistently replicate the results, then you could do what you please.”
Lilith’s jaw dropped in utter shock. “What the fuck, Cohen?” She glared holes into him, blind with rage. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re on his side now?”
“Survival instinct. That’s why my species isn’t on the brink of extinction like yours. If we can find a way to make our foothold in the world stronger, increase our means of survival, then it doesn’t matter who our allies are. It is the way of the world and always has been. Besides, my own family is going to come after me. They won’t stop until I’m dead now that you’ve failed. I should have seen that earlier. You aren’t an ally, you’re a charity case.”
Lilith spit right in his face, her own snarled in anger. “You spineless coward! You tell yourself whatever lies you want if it helps you sleep at night. I hope he turns on you and slits your throat just like your bigot pa
rtner!”
Cohen very calmly wiped the spit from his face and looked down at his hand for a long moment. Then his cool blue eyes looked up at her with a hardness she’d never seen from him before. It was like seeing him for the first time. This could not be happening! First Spencer and now Cohen. Could he be under Ashcroft’s control? Or maybe this was his agenda all along? Maybe Chance was right not to trust him. Cohen reeled back and slapped her across the face, completely knocking her out of her thoughts. The entire right side of her face felt like fire.
Ashcroft had been silently watching Cohen during the entire exchange with skeptical eyes, but when she looked at him now, he was grinning like a child with a new toy. “Your suggestions are intriguing, boy. I’m glad to see you’ve come to your senses. Morality is a human concept and we are above such things. However, the child must suffer the sins of the father. I cannot break such a covenant.”
Perhaps it was Cohen’s sudden betrayal or the brutal slap to the face, but she suddenly didn’t care what they did. She wanted to hurt them, hurt them both. It was just like that moment with Humphries in the hall, the blind rage taking everything over.
“Oh, little kitten is mad. Can you feel that?” Cohen’s lips stretched into a grin as he closed his eyes, leaned his head back and drank her anger in.
“Fuck you, Cohen.” She threw him a disgusted look before turning her anger on Ashcroft. “Are you kidding me? You just said that you are above morals and now you’re talking about Bible scripture and sins of the father? You’re just a convoluted asshole that happens to have power. You aren’t fighting some noble cause. What are you even fighting for? Your piece of shit son that liked to rape little girls, a wife that went behind your back to try and cover up your son’s dirty secrets and a bunch of relatives you probably didn’t even know? Sorry, the martyr card isn’t working for you.”
“They were my family!” Ashcroft screamed it right in her face, his acrid breath coating her skin. Before it would have terrified her, but she was going to die anyway. The only thing she could pray for was to piss him off enough to kill her quickly. “He still had no right!”
She leaned forward, straining against her manacles, getting as close to his scarred face as she could. “And neither do you! You’ve slaughtered his entire family. Duncan is beyond saving, so there is just me and Gregor left. Fuck. The both of you are like damn toddlers fighting over who had the toy first. You wanna kill me, fine, but don’t stand here and say it’s for a just cause you pretentious piece of shit!”
Ashcroft moved for the instrument tray, but he wasn’t moving in hyper speed. Perhaps he had to concentrate for the speed to work. Before he could grab the scalpel he was aiming for, Cohen lightly grabbed his hand. “Wait. She’s simply trying to goad you into killing her quick. Don’t let a mere vampire peasant get the best of you. You are above that.”
“Oh yes, give the monster a pep talk. I’d hate to think of a world where a serial killer doesn’t have a life coach to help him hone his craft.” Lilith bit her lip in anger and tried to stretch her legs. Standing on tiptoe like this was torture in its own right. Her already abused muscles were starting to spasm.
“No. I must teach the little bitch respect, nothing that will kill her. I’ll simply cut her tongue out of her mouth…slowly.” When Ashcroft’s face contorted into pure malice, it was horrifying. The scars, his thin nose, his evil eyes that looked like the pit of hell. She tried to keep her calm demeanor, but the epinephrine was flooding her body anyway, making her heart beat race, her skin flush, her breathing faster.
“If we keep her for testing, we will want her cooperation. If she can’t talk, it could hinder the research.”
“I’ll never cooperate with you anyway. Tongue or no tongue.” Lilith was striving for confident and pissed off, but her voice trembled as Ashcroft stepped toward her, scalpel in hand. She couldn’t even take her eyes off him long enough to stare daggers at Cohen. Her pulse was getting dangerously fast the closer he got. All the false bravado in the world wasn’t going to help her now. The room was starting to spin and for a moment she thought she was going to just pass out. That would be a mercy, if only a temporary one. There was no way she was going to stay unconscious through what he wanted to do to her.
Cohen stepped between them and for a moment she could breathe again. Maybe it was a ploy, trying to catch Ashcroft off guard. “I have a solution. You want her to suffer, I understand that, and I want her alive to study the effects our blood has on vampires. There is a way we can both get what we want.” Or maybe it wasn’t a ploy.
“Stop stalling! You are wearing my patience, demon.”
“My apologies, but you are too emotional. You will get carried away and kill her. She is more valuable than that. Let me be the one.” Cohen reached very slowly for the scalpel. Lilith couldn’t see Ashcroft’s face, but there were no sudden movements. She couldn’t decide if that was even a good sign or not. Torture by Ashcroft, torture by Cohen, it was still torture either way. “I can stay impartial. You get your revenge and we still get our specimen. My family will be very appreciative and we could utilize your services.”
Lilith just couldn’t wrap her head around what she was hearing. Not only had Cohen swapped sides, he was volunteering to torture her and welcoming this monster into his family? This had to be some kind of distraction. No way would Cohen actually bring this man into his family’s inner circle. Surviving the basement was one thing, actually teaming up with him for the long haul was a whole other thing. Or she could just be so desperate for hope that she’d tell herself anything. Chance was right. What did she even know about Cohen? So he saved her life. It hadn’t exactly been selfless. Maybe he jumped at the chance to see what the blood would do to her. Maybe he knew he needed her to find Ashcroft. The story about Duncan and his mystery book could have just been a cover. This all could have been his plan. Every fiber in her being desperately wished it wasn’t.
“You are right to some extent. The little bitch has a mouth on her. I can still enjoy her torment even if I’m not the one handling the scalpel. However, you will only continue until the questions of your loyalty are sated and I have regained my calm. I haven’t survived this long with a trusting nature. I will be watching you carefully. Every single move, every breath. If I see any indication that you are not sincere, I will string you up next to her and slice the lids from your eyes so you can watch every lurid thing I do to her.” There was the nausea again. Lilith squeezed her eyes closed and focused on her aching muscles. “There is a bucket against the wall with tubing in it and an embalmer’s needle on the instrument tray. Retrieve them while I get the blood supplies. We need to prepare her properly.”
She felt a slight breeze against her skin and when she opened her eyes, Ashcroft was gone. Somehow that worried her even more.
Cohen was still standing right in front of her, facing away. If he was toying with Ashcroft, she needed to know. She leaned as far as she could and forced her words into a harsh whisper. “What the fuck are you doing, Cohen? If you’re trying to buy time, I think you have to have some expectation for backup or it just prolongs the inevitable. I’d much rather die quickly than string this out.”
Cohen moved away without a single word and whatever hope she had died, crumbling into tiny pieces. She looked around the room in shock, tears burning in her eyes. Whitmore’s stocky body was still lying lifeless on the floor above a huge pool of blood. Alvarez was near him, his own blood adding to the congealing pool.
Duncan was straining and fighting against his chains, trying desperately to get closer. His eyes were large and red rimmed, his lips were tinged blue, snarled in an animalistic growl of pain. If he didn’t get blood soon he was going to die. The higher functions of his brain were already gone. Even if he did reach that congealing pool, she doubted it would truly help him. Cohen’s blood might not even restore his sanity.
Gregor was free, but he obviously wasn’t going to suicidally charge in and try to save her. Chance was probably still
recovering, if Coffee hadn’t found him already. It was hopeless. The rest of her existence would be right here in this basement. Even if she survived the torture that awaited her, she’d be as insane as Duncan, just a starving, traumatized animal in a human-shaped shell.
With a blur of motion that made her dizzy again, Ashcroft reappeared with several bags of blood and an IV stand. She’d been right about the puncture wounds in the crook of Miriah’s elbows. He’d been resupplying her with blood the entire time. The growing bubble of panicked despair only grew when Cohen returned with the bucketful of items.
“Attach the needle to the tubing and place the bucket under her left side.” Cohen very carefully followed Ashcroft’s direction like some mindless drone. Was he really under Ashcroft’s spell? Could it even work that way? That still didn’t explain Cohen’s ideas about keeping her as some kind of science project. That definitely hadn’t come from Ashcroft. No. He wasn’t under anyone’s spell. These were just his true colors.
With a surge of uncontrollable anger and betrayal, Lilith kicked out while Cohen was bent over, positioning the bucket. Her foot connected with the side of his face, knocking him to the ground. Her smug satisfaction didn’t last long. The lack of support pulled her wrists against the manacles, biting painfully into the skin and straining her shoulder joints. Lilith grunted in pain and fought to get back on her tip toes to relieve the pressure.
Ashcroft was suddenly in front of her again and she felt the cold pressure of a scalpel against her neck. “Demon, secure her legs.” His snarl wrinkled every scarred line of his face into a hideous mask of hatred. He turned those lifeless eyes on her and they looked like the windows into hell. “Kick again…”
To hell with this. “Or what? You’ll kill me? Go ahead. One last second that I have to look at your fucked up face. One last tyrannical speech just to hear the sound of your own shrill fucking voice.” Lilith kicked with everything she had at Ashcroft’s knee. She heard the pop of his knee dislocating seconds before Ashcroft’s screeching howl of pain. He stumbled backwards as she struggled to regain her balance.