by E. M. Moore
Drip.
Drip, drip.
Do it, Ariana. Do it.
I focused all my attention on moving my pinky. I pictured the knuckle bending. I pictured it flexing. I pictured it attached to my hand and reaching out for Nicolai.
Finally, I awoke with a huge breath. I gasped, staring around me as if I’d just emerged from a nightmare. My eyes blinked, searching while the room came into focus, searching for anything familiar. It was musty, and dark. Shadows crept everywhere just out of reach.
Drip.
I turned to my right. There was a puddle on the floor. My gaze moved upward and found a broken pipe. It was leaking its contents out onto the cement.
There was barely any light, only a faint red glow from a piece of machinery in the corner and a lighter shade of black coming from what appeared to be a window. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t pull my hands apart. They were behind me. Every time I moved, a thin, tight line cut into my skin. I was tied up, laying on the floor in what looked like a basement.
I searched the room for Nicolai. He’d been with me. Was he here too? What was happening?
A door creaked above and a shaft of light illuminated one corner, revealing a set of steps. A foot stepped down. A woman, I noted, looking at the black classic ballet flats. Then another step and another until the woman stood at the bottom of the stairway. She held a wooden stake in her hands, tapping it off her palm. She stared at me without really seeing, reminding me of the look Christian would get when he was in deep thought. She wore a black, flowy dress. Though simple, it was floor-length and every bit as beautiful on her as Isabelle Ravanas was, except the woman in front of me wasn’t a vampire, she was a human. A guard, if I was thinking correctly.
She had the build of a warrior. Strong, wide shoulders, deep collarbone indents and the muscles in her arms flexed with each tapping of the wooden stake.
She stepped forward again and again, her elegant dress swishing across the damp floor as she made her way toward me. My heart popped up into my throat. The closer she got, the more her lips pulled back into a snarl. I pushed back with my legs, cursing when I realized they were tied together, too. All I could do was sit there and wait as she moved closer, stalking me like a lion.
Finally, she bent down, her head close to mine. Her one palm came to rest near my head. The other one tapped the stake right in front of my nose. “I should kill you right now.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I didn’t know how much time had passed while I lay in the musty room, but the side of my face that was planted on the damp cement ached. My captor sat on the bottom step of the staircase now, tapping the wooden stake against the railing next to her head. The sound reverberated around the room. Each thump another reminder she held a weapon that could easily destroy me, and I had no doubt from the looks of her she could use it. She hadn’t spoken since she told me she should kill me. Afterward, she’d backed off right away muttering about how it wasn’t part of the plan—yet.
What plan? Who was this woman? I racked my brain trying to search for her face in any of my memories, but I was coming up empty. I didn’t know this woman at all, yet she was planning out my demise. It didn’t make sense.
I was afraid to make a noise, but I was even more afraid to stay in the same position, jaw aching for who knew how long I’d be here. I tipped my chin down and used my forehead to try and push off the hard floor. If I could just push up enough to use my core to help me sit up, I could relieve the pressure on my face. With one huge push, I engaged my abs and righted myself. Before I could fall back into the same position, I swiveled my feet out in front of me and sat up.
My movement caught her attention. She glared at me. “You’re just like Zeke described.”
My eyes rounded. “Zeke? How do you know him?”
“He’s my son.”
Son of a— Really? What was this? The mother and son team from hell?
She leaned her forehead against the railing while still eyeing me. “He’s worried you’ll take his station at the Ravanas. He’s been pretty much guaranteed that spot since no one else could touch him, but with you at The Fort, now he’s not so sure.”
“And what? Now you’re helping him make sure that doesn’t happen?”
Confusion spread out over the woman’s face. Then, she burst out laughing. If it didn’t pitch so high with such pent up anger behind it, I might’ve even said she had a pretty laugh. Maybe she did when she wasn’t holding people captive. “No,” she said, still chuckling. “That’s not what this is about. Zeke can fight his own battles. And I certainly wouldn’t get myself mixed up in something as trivial as a guard station.” She blinked, sorrow deadening her eyes with each opening. It could’ve been my mind playing tricks on me, but if I wasn’t mistaken, tears glittered the corner of her eyes. “No, Ariana. This is about something much more important than that. This is about an eye-for-an-eye. A love for a love.”
I shook my head, not understanding what she meant. There were only four people in this world who cared about me, and to my knowledge, they hadn’t done anything to anybody. “I don’t understand,” I hedged. “Why am I here?”
She wiped at her eyes and then pressed her hands into her dress. “Let me tell you a story. When I was your age, I went through training just like you. I was at the top of my class, graduated number one.” She smiled briefly, then it hung there almost lonely. “I was stationed with a great family. Not as prestigious as the position available with the Ravanas, but it was the best one available at the time. They were the Michaelsons. Not royalty, but their father had a council seat. I was so happy. My parents were proud. Then, I met their son.” Her face twisted in agony as she said the next words. “Royce Michaelson.”
“He was an only child, his parents never wanting more than one. They’d waited and waited until they picked the perfect parent hosts. They wanted him to be perfect. He was.” She slid a shaking hand through her hair and rubbed under her eyes again absentmindedly. “We started out as really good friends. He didn’t have any before me, so we did a lot together. Back in those days, there wasn’t as much tension, things were more lax. I taught him how to fight and he would take me places. The mall, the movies, just everywhere he wanted a friend.”
My stomach hollowed out. I could almost guess where this was going. I kept my gaze on her, willing her to keep going with the story.
“Then one day, things kind of just changed between us. Looking back, it was a slow build. I wanted to be around him more than I wanted to perform my duties. We did more hanging out than training. I tried to push the thoughts away. Even had a relationship with another guard, which is where I got Zeke. But, it just wouldn’t work. Royce and I couldn’t deny our feelings for one another. Then, his parents decided to ‘move on’ from this world. It damn near broke him, but after that, we became so much more than just friends to one another. We fell in love.”
Yes, there were definite tears now. In the low light from the room, they were like shooting stars falling across her cheeks. Her story transfixed me. I didn’t want her to stop.
“We didn’t have to hide our relationship when we were at home. His parents were always a bit reclusive, which made it kind of perfect after they were gone. There was no one to hide from outside the house and definitely no one inside. We lived like true husband and wife for years. Years,” she said, her voice breaking. “It would’ve been fine except I got pregnant.”
I gasped. She didn’t hear me, her gaze traveling down to her midsection as she passed a loving hand over her stomach. She closed her eyes and looked toward the ceiling. The pure look of despair on her face twisted my stomach.
This was unreal. The guard who fell in love with her vampire was Zeke’s mom? Even I couldn’t push away the irony in that. Did he call his own mother a vamp whore?
“Don’t judge me,” she snapped.
“I’m not,” I said quickly. I was torn. I wanted to reach out and tell her I felt sorry for her. Tell her I felt the same things fo
r my princes, but she was a part of this world. No one could know what I felt. Even if she was going to kill me, my princes had to remain safe, and they wouldn’t be if the truth got out. “Does Zeke know?”
The woman shook her head. “He’s very much like his father, a strict rule-follower.”
That hadn’t been my experience. He must’ve been a self-righteous, make-the-rules-work-for-me kind of person. Calling in a vamp buddy to bloodlet a trainee wasn’t following the Vampire World Handbook, if such a thing existed.
“He would be furious if he found out.”
While she talked, I glanced around the room for some sort of weapon besides the obvious one in her hand. As trainees, we hadn’t been shown how to wield a stake yet. That was the last area of training. Vampires didn’t want just anyone to know how to kill them. You had to prove yourself worthy first.
The stair creaked and I peeked back at her. I let out a breath, relieved to see she’d just moved slightly and hadn’t stood to make her way toward me again. If I kept her talking, maybe she’d be distracted long enough for me to figure out something to do. No matter how sorry I felt for her, the words she said when I’d first met her still hung in the back of my head. Her ultimate goal was to kill me.
“Do you and Zeke get along?”
She gave an annoyed grunt. “Do you and your parents get along?”
“My mother’s dead,” I said matter-of-factly. “My father was never around.”
She turned to look at me again, her gaze searching mine, then swiveled away quickly. “He’s a cocky teenager. I was the same when I was his age so I guess I can’t really complain.”
As she spoke, I looked into every nook and cranny I could see. This had to be the cleanest basement I’d ever been in. The basements in all my foster homes were a mess compared to this. Whoever lived here couldn’t at least have an old screwdriver, or some other tool, hanging around? “Where are we anyway?” I asked, looking around the room for a third time. I gazed onto every surface, and into every corner to see what was available. Something sharp would be nice so I could get out of these ties.
She narrowed her gaze. “Nowhere.”
“Oh,” I said. “Is that in Pennsylvania?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but it fell painfully flat. The woman stood, and came forward to tower over me. “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t feel like laughing. I found Royce dead a few hours ago.”
My mouth fell open. He was dead? How? I thought vampires could only die of murder and only then in very specific ways. She’d made mention of Royce’s parents deciding to ‘move on’ and I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure what that meant, but I could guess. “Someone killed him?”
It all started to make sense now. She wanted to avenge Royce’s death. But with me? I certainly didn’t do it, and neither did the Ravanas. They were with me at the party all night.
She shook her head. Her hair, wet with tears, slapped against her cheeks. “He killed himself. He couldn’t take it that they were going to separate us, that we would lose our child. A child that is rightfully his. He laid with me. We didn’t take him or find host parents. This child,” she said, holding her stomach again, “is a part of Royce. Whatever they wanted to do with me, they still could’ve let him have the child.”
My head ached, my body ached, and now my heart. I’d always felt sorry for her ever since I read the article in the paper. Now, the person she loved, the person who she broke all the rules for, was dead by his own infliction. “How?” I asked, not even meaning to say the words, but my brain just popped them out.
She gazed at the stake in her hands wide-eyed. I noticed now that it was stained red. “He dug a hole in the ground. He put this in it, facing up. Then, he climbed the stairs to the third floor and jumped out our bedroom window. He landed exactly where he needed to.”
I closed my eyes, my mind imagining the whole scenario. I saw him walk up the stairs, jump out the window, and land on the stake that could take his life. Then, she came home and found him. Were they supposed to go to the party? Was that why she had the fancy dress on? “I’m sorry,” I said, my own eyes starting to sting. Sometimes, grief was contagious. I swallowed and stared up at her. “It’s tragic. I feel awful, but what does this have to do with me? Royce killed himself.”
She gave a short bark of a laugh. “That’s where you’re wrong. Royce didn’t kill himself. Gregor Ravana killed him. He killed him when he was the deciding vote that mandated I abort my baby and break off the relationship with Gregor, basically forcing me from this world and leaving not only Royce, but Zeke, too. Not to mention the loss of the life inside me. “Yes, Gregor has a lot to atone for.”
“No,” I said, not believing it. I’d met the princes’ father. He wouldn’t have voted that way. The princes themselves were appalled by the ruling. Even Natalie mentioned that she stood with the Ravanas. Why would anyone stand with someone who would do that? No, she was wrong. She must’ve had her information wrong.
She nodded. “It’s all true. If you do get the station at the Ravanas, just be forewarned about what kind of family you’ll be guarding. They place no value on life. No value on freedom. They make me sick.”
“Where’s Nicolai?” I asked finally. Her anger poured off her in waves. The kind of anger that made it easy to take a life, especially if she thought the Ravanas had something to do with Royce’s death. Was that just his blood on that stake, or someone else’s too? My lips trembled. “I was with him when you took me here. Where is he?” My body rebelled against the words. I could hardly get them out, but at the same time, I knew she was furious enough to do it. “Please,” I begged. “Where is he?”
She stepped back and returned to the stair. “Safe. Unfortunately. I hoped I’d find you with one of the others. From what I gathered from Zeke, I knew the oldest would put up the biggest fight. He did. No matter, though. I still got you.”
Relief swept through me. Thank God. Zeke was safe. No matter what, that was the most important—that the princes stay safe. Now I could just worry about me. What had Zeke just told me before I was taken? I was a survivor. I wasn’t going to go down like this. “Why am I even here then? What good will I do you?”
Zeke’s mom wiped her hand over her forehead. “It’s not you who we really wanted. It’s them. Since you were the one we got, I’m going to use you as bait.” She turned to me and smiled. “Vampires are hard to resist, aren’t they? No need to play coy. Zeke’s already told me his suspicions about you and judging by your tirade on wanting to know where Nicolai Ravana is, I’d say he was right.”
“Zeke’s wrong,” I blurted out. I usually wasn’t a good liar, but I had to try. “There’s nothing going on between Nicolai and I. I’m just a trainee. They’re not going to care that I’m here. And even if they do—”
“All I need is for them to want to save you. Once we get them all in one place, we’re going to kill them. That way Gregor knows what it feels like to lose everything.”
I shook my head, still trying with everything in me. “It’s not going to work. Gregor isn’t going to send his sons to help me. He doesn’t even know me.”
“Oh, I think he will. And even if he doesn’t, they’ll want to play hero by themselves, and then I’ve got them. I just need you to do your part and lure them in.”
There was no way that was happening. I’d die before I betrayed them.
Chapter Twenty-Five
A chiming sound wafted its way down from somewhere above us. The woman and I immediately looked up. It rang several more times. A doorbell, I realized. Before hope could even gather in my chest, a cruel smile curved her lips. “Don’t think about yelling. I know who’s here and he’s not a friend to you.”
Well, at least I was right about one thing. We were in a basement of a house. But whose house? That I didn’t know, only that they were impeccably clean owners.
The stake and Zeke’s mom walked upstairs. I pulled my feet back toward my butt so I could try to stand, but they kept getting caught
in the yards and yards of fabric around my legs. If I could just get to my feet, I could hop around the room and try to get out of these restraints. A rip broke the silence when I tried again. I stilled. The good news was, I was able to get my feet into the position I wanted. I heaved myself up and soon, I was on my feet. I wobbled for a second, trying to get my bearings. My feet were tied so tight around my ankles that there was no give, my only option was to hop.
My feet slapped the cold, wet floor. Since she’d left the basement door open, I had more light to see around the area with, but it didn’t do me any good because there was nothing to see. I pulled at my wrist restraints, but all I succeeded in doing was sending shooting pain up my arm. I passed by the blinking red light I’d noticed earlier and felt something slice into my forearm.
Yes! A sharp edge!
I hopped around until my back was toward the machine. Then, I put tension on my restraints as I squatted up and down, rubbing whatever held me together lengthwise down the jagged corner. Voices sounded from above and I stilled. They were just murmurs, nothing I could discern for now. They didn’t matter, I told myself. I needed to focus on getting my hands free.
Footsteps creaked the floorboards and I worked harder. There was a slip of release and my heart skipped a beat. The joy was short-lived. I could pull my wrists apart now, but the ties were still intact. Up above, the footsteps moved closer and closer to the open door separating me from them. I could hear the voices more clearly—Zeke’s mom and a man.
I hopped over to my spot in the basement and waited until I was sure they were coming down. Sure enough, her black ballet flat stepped onto the first stair I could see. I plopped myself down. Pain radiated up my behind. I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out. Maneuvering myself into the same position I was in before she went upstairs proved difficult, but finally, just before she hit the bottom step, I was able to prop myself up again.