by Lucinda Dark
Chapter 45
Torin
My teeth ground so tightly together that the action threatened to dislocate my jaw. Eloise's hands kept me from moving, her talons cutting into my skin. Inside, my vampire raged to be free. I could have thrown them off, tossed her aside. But then I would have to deal with what I had done.
I hadn't stopped my father as he went after her. The thought seeped through my brain, a slow acting poison that replayed the last several minutes over and over again in my head. A never ending loop. It had been too fast. He had been too fast. I knew my father was capable of truly horrific things. I knew he had not gotten to where he was, become who he was without this side of him. Yet still, I was held captive by overwhelming horror. I was stupefied.
Cruelty.
It was his power. The shadows followed him, searching him out, but cruelty was his true gift from the devil. Fragments of memories resurfaced as my gaze remained rooted to the scene before me. Barbie said something, her lips trembling with movement. I could hardly hear anything over the pounding inside my chest. Not whatever it was that she said and not what he responded with.
Eloise's hands left me then, and somehow—some way—I remained standing. Lines of blood dribbled down the side of Barbie's face—her eyes were glassy, echoing in agony and shock. Her limbs were tangled on the ground, her lower body positioned at an awkward angle that made the acid in my stomach curdle.
Mine! My vampire shredded my insides, wanting to get to her, demanding retribution for what had been done, but one look at my father as he slowly strode towards me kept the beast leashed.
Crimson irises stared down at me as he slowed to a halt at my side. "Perhaps this will teach you a lesson, son." He reached up at his elbow and began to unroll his dress shirt, rebuttoning the cuffs at his wrist as if he hadn't just broken a young girl beyond repair. As if he hadn't just ordered the death of an innocent woman. My woman. "Women are nothing but parasites. They are only useful for a time. Next time, I suggest you clean up your mess sooner rather than later. I'm sure your sister warned you of this."
Katalin. The reminder of my sister brought me back to life for a brief moment. "She's the one that told you." It wasn't a question but a statement. Yet, he answered none the less.
“Katalin is one of the few women I’ve decided to keep on my side. She is a good child. Loyal. Obedient. She knows her place.” His arm shot out, a hand clasping my throat as he lifted me into the air. "I suggest you follow her example," he said in that too-pleasant voice of his. "I do so dislike to have to repeat my lessons a second time." I flinched as his claws raked over my skin, drawing lines of blood across my throat. Just as suddenly as he had grasped me, though, he released me and I went tumbling to the ground. "But just to make sure this lesson sinks in..."
I didn't even see it coming until my body was pressed back against a wall and my lips were already parted on a scream. Jerking my head to the side, I gaped at the stake of pure steel now wedged through my left hand—pinning me to the stone. The sharpened tip had pierced my palm and sunk directly between the stones. After a beat, my other hand was yanked up and a second one was slammed through. I grunted on impact. A snarl ripped from my chest as I struggled to tear myself free. I hadn't even seen them coming. Had no clue where he'd been hiding them.
"There we are." He smiled at me even as his words were layered in coldness. Arrius stepped back and nodded before turning away and striding towards the exit. "Enjoy the show," he called back, lifting a hand over his shoulder. "I'm sure Eloise will make it a fine one."
The bone deep chill of a vampire's madness slid through me, icing the blood in my veins. My head snapped to the side when Barbie's cry echoed near. Eloise had lifted her up by her hair and slammed her already shattered body against the wall. The woman's fangs slipped out and she grinned as she leaned closer.
No. No! My mind revolted, tore through my logic and rational self like a raging beast. I yanked on my arms, attempting to pull my hands from the stakes. Fire raced down my limbs. I mangled my tendons trying to get free, felt my bones fracturing and blood vessels rupturing as I tried to free myself.
"Barbie!" I screamed her name. "Barbie!"
Her head turned as Eloise struck, biting down into her throat. It must have hurt, but Barbie didn't even whimper. She stared back at me, her blue eyes so crystal clear that my soul itched to dive in and drown in their depths. Wave after wave crashed into me and each time they hit, it crumbled away something inside my soul. A cliff that had been saving me, keeping me sane. Rationality had allowed this to happen, though. Had I let my vampire be in charge—had I set him free long ago—perhaps this would all have been avoided. My father—my sire—was a monster who had sought to destroy me and I had tried, in vain, to keep myself human.
What was humanity, though? If it resulted in this. What was sanity, if Barbie was going to die because of it? Now. Now, it was too late. I was being stolen away and I couldn't have been happier. Because as soon as those cliffs were ruined—as soon as it was all washed away—I would be set free and calamity would fall upon my enemies.
“Torin!”
Torin was no more. I felt rage bleed into my eyes, burn out as I snarled and fought against my holds. Blood rained down my wrists and forearms.
“Torin, hold still!”
I would not hold still. I would— A familiar face appeared before me, hands gripping the pikes that had been shoved through my palms and ripping them free. Maverick. I hadn't wanted him to come, but he had. He found the other pike and pulled it free as well. As soon as both had clattered to the ground, I was on Eloise.
I ripped her clean away from Barbie, baring my fangs when she rounded on me. Maverick darted around us, his arms reaching for my mate even as I faced off with Eloise. She snarled—Barbie's blood dripping from her fangs. Her tongue licked up first one and then the other before she smiled at me.
"I didn't realize you and Maverick had become such good friends again, Torin," she hissed. "Katalin left that bit out."
I didn't answer her. When she reached for me, I captured her hand, turning it in mine. Without thought, I snapped it back, breaking the thing and listening to the symphony of her outraged and pained howl. My hand slammed into her throat, knocking her back. I took her to the ground and hovered above her as she wiggled and fought for freedom. As Barbie had struggled for hers. My other hand gripped the long blonde hair at the top of her scalp, fisting it as I pulled. Her eyes widened and then popped as I pulled—harder and harder—until her neck strained against my grip. Her skin ripped, blood oozing out of her damaged throat. Bone cracked under the pressure as I squeezed impossibly tight—tighter than any human would ever have managed. Until I felt her spine crack and splinter in my grip.
I waded through the tissue and muscle of her neck, pulling as she gurgled and grew silent when her vocal cords were rent from her. Claws raked at my skin, but soon her struggles ended. I tore her head from her body and stared down at her, numbness taking me over as her porcelain white skin began to finally decay. Cracks raced through her dead flesh and she began to ash, disintegrating into a pile of dust beneath my frame.
“Tor!” Maverick’s terrified cry drew me back from the edge of my stupor. Pivoting back, I raced to his side as he clutched Barbie against his chest. Her head lolled over his arm. Her form was limp and yielding as I reached for her and took her into my arms. “She said she can’t feel her legs,” he said. “She doesn’t—fuck, Torin!—what do we do?”
There was only one thing left to do. I turned her head my way and met her eyes. “Kill him,” she whispered. “Please kill him for me.”
“You’ll kill him yourself,” I promised her. “And I swear to you, I will be there to ensure it.”
She tried to shake her head, but it was obvious she had very little control over her body now. “I-I can’t.” She coughed and blood spewed from her mouth, coating her beautiful lips in red.
“Fuck, no … Princess … God.” I heard Maverick’s breath sawing in
and out of his chest. His heart beat at triple the tempo it normally would. His sweat smelled like fear and desperation. I could relate. Everything he felt was an echo of my own emotions.
Hope was a dangerous thing, too often a lie people told themselves. I wasn’t going to give them hope. Just the truth. “Maverick.” My friend lifted his head as I spoke his name. “I’m going to kill her.”
He blinked. “You fucking what?”
Chapter 46
Barbie
There were three stages of life.
Birth
What the fuck?
Death
I never asked for the first, the second had me fucked, and I always knew the third one would come around to bite me in the ass.
Past the shock and pain of realizing I was dying, my body was starting to grow numb. In the face of stage three, I was growing … resigned. I just wanted to extract a promise from Torin. That was all. He would live a long life—he was a fucking dhampire after all. He would have the time and hopefully better durability than I had, but with that one fucking sentence, he blew that entire plan straight to hell and back.
I’m going to kill her. Nothing could have shocked me more. Not Arrius returning and deciding to kill us all, Maverick—who shouldn’t have even been there—included. Not my dead family coming back to life, popping out of the walls, and declaring the whole thing a hoax. There was literally not a damn thing in the whole world that could have surprised me more than those words falling from Torin’s mouth.
“D-don’t. You. Fucking. Dare,” I gasped out.
Strong fingers slid through the strands of my hair, directing my head onto Maverick’s lap. Torin didn’t meet my gaze as he spoke. “Hold her still.”
The desire to murder something—specifically him—grew. When I tried to move my arms and legs, I found that my lower body didn’t even budge an inch and my arms merely flopped uselessly. Fuck! Tears of frustration gathered in my eyes. “No,” I snapped. I looked up to Maverick. He was my only hope. “Don’t let him do this, Maverick,” I said. “I don’t want it. I’d rather die.”
“You’re going to turn her?” He looked up at Torin, ignoring my words.
My head turned, back one way and then the other. “No,” I rasped adamantly. “No.”
“I’m afraid I’m not giving you a choice, Sweetheart.” Torin’s voice was quiet, his eyes met mine—the brilliant burn of the red in them making my chest squeeze uncomfortably.
“I don’t want it,” I insisted. “If you do this, I’ll hate you.” I looked up at the man holding me in his lap. “Maverick, don’t let him, please. Don’t let him.”
“Barbie.” Maverick’s lips twisted. “You’re bleeding so much. Your legs…”
I was dying. I knew that. I didn’t care. I would rather die than accept what Torin was suggesting. I rejected it with every fiber of my being. Still, I was forced to watch as Torin raised his arm to his mouth—red eyes boring into mine as he tore into his flesh with the tips of his fangs. “Maverick?” Maverick jumped to attention, hands grasping at my head even as I tried to turn it away in a last-ditch effort to keep this horror from happening.
I pressed my lips together, glaring at him as Torin pressed his wound to my lips. Some of the red liquid spilled across my cheeks, smudging my chin and raining down into my sweat dampened hairline before Torin sighed and pinched my jaw with his free hand. He held down until agony raced up my face. Torin flicked a glance to Maverick and another hand—Mav’s—came up and pinched the bridge of my nose, cutting off my oxygen.
I winced but kept my mouth sealed until my body couldn’t take it anymore. Black and white dots flickered across my vision. My lips popped open on a gasp and rich, warm blood flooded my mouth, sliding over my tongue down the back of my throat. Maverick released my nose. I coughed, some of the blood coming back up. Torin’s fingers found my throat, massaging gently.
Fuck his gentleness! I closed my throat, but that didn’t seem to do much at all. More blood seeped inside, falling down and collecting in the pit of my stomach. The black and white dots continued to dance across my eyes. More joined in until the entire room blurred. Maverick’s face above mine grew dim. Torin’s fiery gaze wavered.
“Is … is this how you turn someone?” Maverick’s question broke the silence, his dark eyes meeting Torin’s over me. Torin responded, but my hearing was growing weak as well. It became harder and harder to keep my eyes open at all and finally, I let them shut.
Torin took his arm from mine, but soon enough it was returned. More fresh blood spilled into my open mouth. He’d reopened the wound, I realized. My limbs were sluggish, ineffective. As hard as I struggled, they refused to follow my commands. More of Torin’s blood ran over my tongue. I hated it. I hated him. But I couldn’t deny that it tasted amazing. It didn’t taste like blood at all, but like something rich and fine. Heady.
Oh, Barbie… Satrina’s voice came back to me in a barely there whisper. I’m sorry.
Cracking my eyelids open as if I could see her before me, I tried to reach back for her. It didn’t work. As soon as she was there, she was gone in the next instant. Leaving me wondering why she was sorry? What would this mean for her?
On the heels of Satrina’s apology came another. Torin bent over me, his mouth against my ear, lips impossibly close. A shiver threatened to overtake me, partially because of his nearness, but also because I was just so damn cold. Like ice had somehow managed to form beneath my flesh. “I’m sorry, Sweetheart. So sorry. But I can’t lose you,” he whispered.
I strained to hear him, but there was certainly no response I could offer. My voice had stopped working. My sight was nearly nonexistent. I was falling into darkness, into oblivion and I didn’t even want to think about what would happen when I woke again.
“What now?” Maverick’s voice intruded as Torin’s arm was finally removed from my lips and this time, it didn’t return.
“Now, we need a coffin,” Torin replied.
Man, I thought. I really am gonna die. That stupid fortune cookie I’d gotten all those months ago had been right. Life was a bitch and then you died.
Epilogue
Barbie
Two weeks later…
I’d been in the darkness for so long, I’d forgotten what light felt like. There was both freedom and fear to be found in the darkness. For the longest while after I’d woken up, I thought I’d lost my mind. I’d torn at my cage, tried to claw my way free to no avail. But now, it was all coming to an end. Finally.
I could scent them before the dark barrier that had held me captive for so long creaked open. One smelled like dark spices and the other like a warm hearth. It was a coffin lid, I realized as soft, dim light poured into the interior of my prison. Even as muted as the light was, it still burned my corneas. Despite that, it didn’t take long for me to adjust and once I had, an all new awareness assaulted my senses.
I could see everything.
Every particle in the air. The grains of stone in the room I was in. My blood sang in my veins. Tingles raced along my skin. The air felt different. There was a weightlessness about it. Slowly, reaching out and curling my fingers over the edges of the stone tomb where the coffin I had been in was laid to rest, I hefted myself into a sitting position. I glanced back. The inside of my coffin had been ripped apart. Long tears ripped through the sides and claw marks raked every inch of the interior of the lid, both the top and bottom portion.
“When going through the transition, new vampires tend to destroy their surroundings,” a familiar voice said, reminding me that I wasn’t alone. Well, that explained why it looked like someone had punched out the sides of the coffin and shredded the soft velvet lining. There were long rips on each side where I assumed my nails had scraped the inside. I didn’t even recall doing that, but it might have explained why my hands were crusted with dried blood around the beds of my nails.
Two familiar bodies stood over me. “Jesus fucking Christ…” The familiar hitch of Maverick’s voice reache
d me, layered by shock and a healthy dose of fear that permeated the room. He was fire. Burning red hot in my senses. I inhaled sharply, sensing a new being inside me. A small, grotesque voice shrieked with desire in the back of my mind, growing louder by the second.
“Barbie?” That voice was ice. Cold. Cool. Calm. Collected. Torin. His frost trembled along my nerves. I could hear the blood rushing in both their veins. It called to me. Made my mouth water. Something shifted in my gums and when I parted my lips, I felt the distinct prick of fangs as my canines descended.
I lifted a hand and reached for the edge to draw myself farther up and out. Old blood coated my fingertips. My nails, though, were new, fresh. My palms were smooth, cleared of any old scarring from training or childhood mistakes. It was as if these hands had never seen any work. As if they’d never been painted, chipped, or broken before. Probably because they hadn’t, I thought as I looked down at the blood and chips of nails that I’d apparently torn off in my attempt to escape.
Madness had consumed me. So why wasn’t I still mad?
“Because you’re through the transition,” Torin answered my unspoken question as if he’d plucked it from my mind. Could he read my mind now? I wondered. “No,” he answered. “You’re projecting your thoughts to me.” He reached forward and held out a hand for me to take. My fingers met his but instead of letting me clamber out myself, he wrapped his other arm around my waist and lifted me out, placing my bare feet down on the stone floor of what looked to be a Mausoleum. An old, crumbling one at that. One I didn’t remember.
There were cracks in the walls, broken jars littering the shelves whose contents had long ago been stolen or dried up and evaporated. Cobwebs strung up across the arched ceiling, spiders dangling from long, slender threads watching as I took my first hesitant step.