Anson smiled at me. "You have high hopes. It is unlikely that you would have been able to take them both on at the same time, no matter the size of your attack force. Conrad was a force to be reckoned with, but Raymond is ten times worse. And they were both smart. If you gave them a reason to work together, you would have been doomed from the start."
I let Anson work in silence for awhile, leaning my head back against the bloody chair as I wondered how on earth I went from being a happy bride on my wedding day to a mangled mess of tortured flesh. It couldn't have been more than twenty-four hours since I was kidnapped, but time had become something immaterial and unimportant. All that mattered was that I held out until Felipe could arrive. I could not break. I had to remain strong. I pictured his face and imagined the night he first kissed me. His lips had felt so wonderful on mine, so sweet, so strong.
"What're you smiling about?"
I blushed, having momentarily forgotten where I was. I know, I know. How could I forget that I was sitting in a torture chamber getting the blood cleaned off my destroyed limbs? But Felipe's lips are easy to get lost in, even if I was only imagining them at the time.
"Nothing, I was just thinking."
"About Felipe?"
I cleared my throat and looked at the floor. Anson took the hint quickly and finished cleaning me off in silence before offering me the last few sips of blood. When the bottle was empty, he took the pail of water and bottle back to wherever he retrieved it from, then went to stand in the corner once more.
"What does he want with me?" I asked after I grew bored of sitting in the deafening quiet.
My captor frowned. "To make you his queen. You are strong, much stronger than Victoria, or so he hopes. And you are talked about in all vampire circles. You have power over them."
"I do?" That stunned me. I didn't know anyone knew about me but those I was closest to.
He smiled at me very briefly. "Yes. Many of the younger and weaker vampires look up to you. You are young yourself, but have risen to a position of great admiration."
I chewed my lip, trying to comprehend that piece of information.
"So what happens now?"
Anson shrugged. "When Raymond comes back, he'll pick a new weapon and continue where he left off."
"Why did he bother to have you go through all that effort then if he's just going to beat me bloody again?"
The man in front of me bowed his head. "It may seem stupid now, but it is a tactic of his that is very powerful. It gives you a reprieve, a chance to hope. You start to feel normal once more and usually you'll be fully healed within a couple hours. You feel stronger and think to yourself 'I can do this. I can resist.' But then he comes back, and he comes back harder than he did before. You try to fight, but he beats you down quicker than he did the first time. You lose the hope you had built up in the intermission. And you start to crack. After each pause, you'll be less resistant to his abuse, until you finally give in or give up."
I bit my lip. "I can see how that would be more effective than a continuous beating. Thinking is a lot worse than feeling."
"Much worse. Thinking can get you in trouble." Anson glanced at the door and took a step closer. "Now, Jane, if you ever start feeling like--"
We heard footsteps outside and he snapped his mouth closed, scooting quickly back to the corner. The door once again slammed open and Raymond entered as if he were a lion returning back to his pride with a huge antelope for dinner. The man had a way of announcing his presence, I'd give him that.
"Jane, my darling," he cooed as he knelt beside me and stroked my hand. "You are so lovely when you are all cleaned up."
A manicured fingernail traced along my jaw and I pulled my head away as well as the clamp around my neck would allow. I felt saliva pool in the bottom of my mouth and I gathered it on my tongue. Before Raymond could pull away, I let it fly, forcing it out through pursed lips with the biggest puff of air I could master. The loogie landed squarely on his right eye and the surprise knocked him backward onto his bottom.
I tried to suppress a grin, I really did. But it was just so funny, I found myself almost bending over with laughter. Only the chair kept me upright. In the corner, Anson's eyes were wide and I could see his nostrils flaring. I knew if he could, he would berate me for doing something so stupid. Whoops.
Raymond rose, breathing heavily. His face was beet red and he was visibly trying to control himself. He raised one finger and pointed it at me. It shook like he was going to scold me and I smiled sweetly at him until he growled and stalked off to the corner. I heard him rummaging around in one of the cabinets for awhile and shot a grin at Anson. No matter how the man tried to hide it, he could not help but give me a 'you're insane' smirk.
Finally, Raymond returned. In one hand he held a long, pointed piece of metal and in the other was a pair of nasty-looking ginormous pliers.
"I will make you regret that, little girl" he said, leaning close to me as he tried to look as scary as possible. "I will hurt you, just a little at first, and in the end, you will be begging me for release. You will plead with me to stop. You will do anything I ask."
I nodded. "Oh, I'm sure you will make me regret it, but no matter what you do to me, no matter what you try, it won't be enough. You are weak and pathetic, just like your little minion, Conrad. He wasn't man enough to take over a little country like Italy. What makes you think you can handle a place as large and diverse as the United States? No, you may feel big when you have a woman tied to a chair in a tiny little room, buried far beneath the surface of the earth, but you don't have the balls to face her in an even match, do you? You have to abuse her, treat her like she's less than dirt, tear her down. But you're just a little boy, scared of not being good enough, scared to face the truth. I will always be better than you. I will always be smarter than you. I will always be stronger than you. You may abuse my body, but you can never break my mind."
The blow from the pliers almost took out my eye and sent the world spinning into darkness.
Chapter 7
"Do you enjoy antagonizing people into beating you into a pulp?"
Anson shook his head as he wiped blood from my drooping chin. The last round of abuse was definitely brutal and apparently Raymond took great offense at my spitting in his face more than once. If the neck band hadn't been firmly in place, I'm pretty sure I would've toppled to the ground. As it was, I couldn't hold my head up and my jaw was dislocated to the point where I couldn't pop it back by myself.
"Hold still." Anson took my head in one hand and my chin in the other. "On three. One... two..."
He snapped it on two. The pain was excruciating, somehow worse than anything I had endured to that point, but I could wiggle my jaw once more and it started to heal instantly.
"Who taught you to count?" I griped as he lifted my head to wipe at my neck.
"Your mom."
My jaw dropped and I stared at him for a second before bursting into a giggle. "Well played, good man. Well played."
He grinned before telling me to shush. The last thing we needed was Raymond bursting in to figure out why his punching bag was laughing when she should have been a babbling mess. I watched him work for awhile, studying his face. He was fairly pale, like most red-heads are, and he had light freckles on his cheeks. I had noticed that when he let his guard down, he had a slight accent.
"Where are you from, Anson?"
He stiffened slightly, but didn't stop wiping. "I lived in Ireland as a boy, but we moved to the States when I was twelve. I suppose you want to know how I became a vampire?"
I shrugged, a movement that I immediately regretted due to a huge gash in my right shoulder. "If you want. It's not like I have anything better to do."
He grinned at me and winked. "I love it when I have a captive audience."
"Ouch."
He stopped wiping, his face concerned. "Did I hurt you?"
"Yes, with that awful pun."
His glare could have stopped a raging bull, but
it just made me grin.
"Poor Felipe must have his hands full with you."
I nodded. "You have no idea. So, how did you become a vampire?"
"I was thirty-six at the time. Working at a quarry during the late shift. I have no idea why they insisted on having a late shift there. It was dangerous. More than triple the accidents of the day shift, but I guess they felt it was worth the expense. I was standing off by myself having a smoke when this guy came out of nowhere. Literally, nowhere. One minute I was alone, the next he was right next to me. Freaked me out. He told me he could give me a better job, offered me better pay. I was tired of struggling and pretty stupid. I said okay.
"He took me back to a sanctuary, taught me the ways of the vampire. I was an enforcer for a year or so before he procured my turning. He was killed shortly afterward in a raid on a cave full of goblins. I was kind of left by myself, even though I had all those other vampires around me. I never really felt like I fit in."
He kept his head down and focused on my shredded thighs.
"Is that how you ended up with Raymond?" I asked, almost in a whisper. Honestly, I was afraid of the answer, but Anson seemed like a good guy and I had to know what would make someone like him hook up with someone like Raymond.
"Sort of. Actually, I fell in love." He laughed at that. "Isn't that always the story, though? Love always seems to be involved in some way, whether it's true love or unrequited love."
I laughed, too. "Yeah, I guess so. Love is how I became a vampire."
He nodded. "I know. Anyway, I fell in love with this beautiful woman named Ava maybe ten or so years ago. I didn't know she was sick at first. She didn't tell me. I found out when she collapsed on the way to the car one day while I was taking her to the movies. She fell and couldn't get back up. I took her to the sanctuary, which was the first mistake, and the doctors told me that she had terminal cancer. Apparently, she had refused all treatment when she found out three years prior. They told me there was nothing they could do and that I needed to take her home. So I did, and then I turned her."
I gaped at him. "Without permission?"
"Yes. What else could I do, Jane? I couldn't lose her. I loved her more than I had ever loved anyone or anything in my entire life. She was my world."
I started to berate him for doing something so stupid until I thought of Stephen. He did the same, and I knew that if Felipe was human, I would, too. "What happened to her?"
I flinched as he worked vigorously on my broken foot. The bones were knitting themselves back together, but his rough hands were not helping the pain. "They found out, of course. And came after us. We hid for awhile, a few months, but they hunted us down. They took her while I was out finding blood. She was destroyed before I could find her and free her."
His head was near my hand and I patted him with my fingers. He looked up and gave me a faint smile.
"I went on the run alone, never staying in one place long. I did alright, but it was getting harder and harder. Eventually, I heard about Raymond and decided to seek him out. I was still livid at the Council, and it seemed like the smart choice at the time."
"Not so much, huh?"
Anson stuck his tongue out at me. "No, not so much. With all his rogues running around, I learned quickly why the Council makes such a big deal about them. They know nothing and he has no desire to teach them how to live in peace with the humans. He wants them to run amuck and do as much damage as possible, but I think his plan is faulty. He thinks he can control them, but having hordes of untrained vampires is a lot different than having a few covens poking at sanctuaries across America."
"So why do you stay, if you don't agree with him anymore?"
"Where would I go?" he asked. "I'm a rogue myself. I'm an outcast. I know it's of my own doing, but without this place, I have nothing. Here, I at least have some semblance of a home."
I nodded. "I can understand that. One more question, then I promise I'll stop interrogating you."
He raised his eyebrow at me. "I seriously doubt that, but go ahead."
It was my turn to stick my tongue out. Luckily, it had stitched itself back together from the time I almost bit it in two after Raymond smacked my face with the pliers. "Why are you being so nice to me? If this is your home, and if Raymond finds out that you're helping me and giving me advice behind his back, he'll turn on you. Why risk it?"
Anson sat back on his heels and cleared his throat. "Well, I guess it's time to come clean with you. I, um, well, I was kind of hoping that if I helped you, if I helped Felipe get you out, that you would put in a good word for me and maybe I could get back in with a sanctuary. I mean, if they would take me. I'm hoping they would. I've done some pretty awful things, but I regret every day that has gone by. If I could take it all back, I would. But I can't. All I can do is move forward."
He looked up at me, his eyes wide with tears. "Please help me, Jane. This is not the life I wanted when I signed on to be a vampire. This isn't what I was meant to do. I'm better than this."
His voice cracked and he bowed his head, placing his forehead on my knee. I tried to reach out to comfort him, but with my wrists being cuffed, I could only go so far. I frowned, knowing I would have to come up with something encouraging and witty to say.
"It's not all that bad. If you help us out of this, I would back you, and I know Felipe would, too. And if Father Bellini comes out of it, I'm sure he'd help."
Anson cleared his throat and wiped his eyes before looking at me. "I meant to update you about the priest. The doctor came. He said there was some internal bleeding and had to cut him open, but he got it stopped. He claims the priest will pull through, but, honestly, I'm not sure. He's said that before to appease Raymond and the guy didn't make it."
I blinked away the tears, determined not to cry until the tears were needed, and coughed until I could speak again. "Thank you. I'm sure the doctor will do everything in his power to keep him alive."
Anson gave me a wry smile. "If he wants to keep his head, he will. You heard Raymond's not-so-veiled threat. And I can tell you that when he makes a threat, he keeps it. If it is possible, the priest will survive. And I will make sure he remembers the threat whenever I see him."
I returned the smile, though deep inside I felt my heart constricting painfully.
Anson squeezed my knee encouragingly as he stood up. "Just hang in there a little longer, Jane. Soon." Then he was gone and I was alone.
I expected him back shortly, as with the last time, but the minutes passed without a footstep in the hall. I began to grow nervous. Had he been found out? Did Raymond discover his treachery and punish him for trying to help me? Had Felipe arrived? Crazy thoughts started spinning through my head, bashing into each other and making me dizzy and nauseated.
Then there were footsteps, moving at a normal pace, and I breathed a strange sigh of relief. Why, I don't know. It just meant I was going to be tortured again, but it also meant nothing crazy had happened and my friends weren't in danger. When the door opened, Anson proceeded through first, taking up his position in the corner. Raymond followed him, a dark and wickedly twisted look on his face. His eyes met mine and the corner of his mouth twitched up into a cruel smile.
He leaned outside, gripping something in his hand, and swung around. A lump of black cloth landed in front of me, banging into my shins. It was Father Bellini.
"No," I breathed as my heart sped up. Its incessant thumping nearly drowned out everything else as I stared at the motionless man at my feet.
Raymond cackled. "He's alive. Barely. You'll give me what I want, Jane, one way or another."
As the wooden mallet came down on my hand, all I could think was that he still hadn't told me what he wanted.
Chapter 8
Raymond alternated between beating me with the mallet and laying the random kick into Father Bellini's side. The priest would groan, giving me assurance that he was till alive, but moved little aside from attempting to curl around his wounded innards. The vampire wo
uld get a sick smile on his face as he watched the injured man on the floor and I longed to tear his throat out.
Scoffing, my captor picked up the wooden mallet again. He had already broken every finger on my right hand and smashed it to a pulp, and he was starting to work on the left. He advanced toward me, wiggling his eyes in an ironically seductive manner even as he raised the torture device to bring it crashing down.
I closed my eyes and flinched involuntarily as he swung it. My chair rattled and I squeaked despite myself, but no pain blossomed up my arm like before. Opening one eye into a slit, I looked at Raymond. He was standing there with the mallet just above my hand, looking at the door. I couldn't see his face, but the look on Anson's made my heart soar with hope.
"Anson, go find out what's happening out there." Raymond pointed the mallet toward the door before turning back to me. The sadistic smile on his face settled back into place as he put his hands on my arms and leaned forward. His face was a bare inch from mine and the stench of old blood was on his breath. "I think your knight in shining armor might be on his way, my darling Jane."
I coughed, spewing spittle across his cheek. "You know, even vampires should brush their teeth on occasion."
Snarling, he pulled back the mallet and made to crack me across the face.
"Stop!"
Raymond turned to look at the door. We both expected Felipe to be standing there, but he wasn't. Instead, Anson stood outlined by the lights in the hall. He held the gun steady with its nozzle pointed straight at Raymond.
The older vampire sneered at his minion. "What do you think you're doing? I told you to go."
Anson shook his head. "No. I won't let you hurt her anymore. You're done, Raymond. It's over. All of it."
A deep cackle filled the small room. "Over? Are you trying to tell me what to do? Oh no, I think not. You would be dead if not for me. You would have been slaughtered by the Council years ago. I gave you life, you ungrateful wretch. I gave you a hope. Without me, you would be nothing."
Til Death (Jane #5) Page 4