by K Loraine
“I have not.”
“You’d protect her to the death?”
“Kill me if you must, but know this, the hunters have her. There’s no telling what they’ll do with her, but none of it will be good for us.”
He laughed, face still obscured by that damn hood. “Death would be too easy. I intend to make you suffer for your crimes.” He turned his attention from me and focused on the rest of the council. “Take him to the dungeon where he will await the council’s decision and sentencing. We are not done with you yet, Cashel.”
“No!” I screamed the word, fighting for all I was worth as one of the hooded figures came for me. But I was weak. I hadn’t fed in too long and with the damage the silver had done to my body, I was in no shape to stop them. Hands closed around my arms, jerking me toward the forbidding structure that loomed ahead. Before we went inside, they covered my head once more and I was forced to blindly let them lead me.
“Stop struggling, Cashel, you’ll only make this worse,” a female vampire hissed in my ear. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as a chill ran down my spine. Her voice was familiar. A soft melody on the air. It was a voice I never thought I’d hear again in all my years.
“Eliana?” I whispered.
Her hand stiffened on my arm, a warning. “Don’t speak to me as though you know me, traitor.”
It was her. I’d never forget the sound of her because my guilty heart wouldn’t let me. “You—”
“Are nothing to you. As you are nothing to me.”
Conflicting emotions hit me in a rush. How could she be here? I’d seen her dead and buried. I’d caused her suicide. Hadn’t I? But with every step toward my imprisonment, I grew more certain I wasn’t wrong. The vampire escorting me to my cell was the very woman I lost so long ago. The woman I thought I loved until Olivia came into my life.
“You were never nothing.”
She didn’t respond. Her fingers dug into my arms with savage ferocity instead. For the rest of the long walk down to the dungeon, I remained silent, closing off my mind with every ounce of strength I had. When we reached the cell I knew would be mine, I remained calm, walking inside without a fight. I would escape this place with my life. I had to. Olivia needed me, and I would do anything for her. I had done everything for her.
“You did all the things you should have done for me, Cashel. You loved her. It seems only fitting you should be the one locked in a cage now.” Then slender hands reached up and pushed the hood away from my head. Eliana stared back at me, as beautiful as ever, but haunted. Her large, dark eyes burned with hurt. “What is it about her?”
“I can’t… I can’t explain.”
“Does your heart still beat?” Her voice wobbled as she spoke. “Mine doesn’t. Mine sits silent in my chest. A reminder of what you drove me to.”
I wanted to apologize, but truly didn’t know any words that would be fitting. Her death had weighed heavy on my conscience, coloring every decision I’d made since. “Eliana—”
“Don’t cheapen this with your guilt.”
“How did this happen? You were beyond saving.”
“There was obviously a spark of life left inside me. Enough to turn me. I woke up here.”
“Who?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know who sired me. My first night as a vampire I called for you until my throat was raw. I begged them to let me go to you. I went mad.”
“And now you’re on the council?”
“I have no allegiance. I am loyal to my kind, not my sire. As are all council members.”
I sat on the hard bed, my limbs heavy from injury and hunger combined. “If I’d known—”
She slammed the bars closed and turned the key in the lock. “You’d have left me for her. Or, more likely, you’d have killed me for trying to kill her, because that’s what I’ll do if I find her. She’s ruined you.”
Rage clawed its way up my chest and I rushed the bars. “You’ll keep your hands off her. She is mine. No one will touch her.”
Eliana grinned, a wicked and cruel twist of her lips unlike any I’d seen from her. “I’m sure she is, but you’re in here. She’s got no one to protect her from us. When I find her, I’m going to make you watch as I drain her dry. I’ll take her blood until there’s no chance she could be turned. Then I’ll give her to you.”
I grabbed the bars and instantly regretted the action. Fire raced through my palms as what looked like iron began to burn its way into my skin.
Eliana tutted. “Silver, my love. Always silver. Can’t have you escaping.” She began to walk away, her long dark hair so reminiscent of Olivia’s it hurt.
“What happened to you, Eliana?”
She turned her gaze over her shoulder. “You happened, Cashel.”
Olivia
Cashel hadn’t come for me. I’d been gone for the last three days, and he hadn’t come. Everything in me screamed that this had to be wrong, that the hunters at this camp were keeping my scent masked, that something had to be keeping us apart. But I knew my vampire could find me if he wanted. He’d had my blood time and time again. He had more of a link to me than anyone. And while three days seemed short in the grand scheme of forever, for Cashel and everything we’d been through, it was an impossible length of time.
“Olivia, are you awake?” Logan’s voice was low and gentle. He treated me with kid gloves, like I might fall to pieces if he spoke any louder.
I was on my side, resting on the thin bedroll in the tent I’d been given. I wasn’t sure where we were in relation to Blackthorne Manor, or the cabin Cashel had taken me to—the place I’d thought was the beginning of our life together—but we were clearly in the mountains. I hadn’t allowed myself to explore since we’d arrived. I didn’t want to face these humans who so desperately wanted to kill the man I loved.
“Come on. You have to eat. A hunger strike isn’t going to get you anywhere,” he pressed.
“Take me back.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Did you kill him? Is that why he hasn’t come?”
He took my hands and tugged me to standing. “No. I promise.” His warm, brown gaze locked on mine, and all I saw was truth. “Maybe he got what he needed from you. It’s not worth coming after you anymore.”
That stung. It was a slap in the face I couldn’t escape because I already had doubts. I took the cup of water he’d placed on the small table next to my cot and drank it in one long gulp. My stomach twisted and lurched, but I kept the liquid down.
“Where are we?”
“Our camp. In the Cascades for now. We’ll move on after a few more days. Can’t risk them catching your scent.”
“You still think they’ll come for me?” I couldn’t disguise the hope in my voice.
“Yes. But this time, they won’t be trying to protect you. This time, they’ll kill you for what you did.”
“He won’t let them.”
“You give him too much credit. Cashel is the worst of them all, and you’re suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. It’s not your fault.”
“I’m not. You don’t know him like I do.” Even to my own ears, I sounded pathetic. I could defend Cashel until I was blue in the face, but my words would fall flat.
“Have it your way. You’ll see. One day, he’ll show his true colors.”
I needed to get away from Logan before I punched him. He didn’t understand. The man was simply trying to save me from a threat that up until recently, I thought was real as well. Cashel and I had something intense and destined. It burned in both of us without rhyme or reason, and I couldn’t deny it even if I tried. But the seed of doubt was there, and if I let him, Logan would cultivate that until it took hold.
Shoving the canvas tent flap aside, I stepped out into the world.
The air was colder here, thinner, and while the estate had been surrounded by thick trees, our encampment was in the middle of a dense forest. At least twenty tents were interspersed between tree trunks, and in t
he center was a large fire pit, complete with an iron spit with pots suspended over the flames. I half expected to find a skinned rabbit hanging on the nearest tree. Instead, I found groups of men and women alike participating in target practice with silver blades. They lined up and flung their knives one by one at a tree about the width of a man, each one embedding deep into the bark with heavy thunks that sent shivers down my spine.
“Is this what you all do?”
Logan was right behind me, I felt his presence, his warmth. “We train. Every day. And at night, we hunt them.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to hunt them during the day?”
He laughed and rested a gentle hand on my elbow. “No. Most of them have humans in their thralls, protecting their homes, putting on facades of normal lives. We won’t hurt other humans if we can help it.”
I cross my arms over my chest, my thoughts drifting to the confrontation at Blackthorne Manor. “Your people were going to kill me. Cashel took the bullet meant for me.”
“You were defending them even after watching them slaughter us. In that moment, Pan thought you were beyond saving.”
“So you think it’s fine? You would have let him kill me?” Anger bubbled to the surface. For all his talk of helping me, of saving me from vampires, he would’ve let it go.
“No. If things had been different, I would have stepped in front of that bullet instead of that monster. I would have saved you. You’re special, Olivia. In so many ways.” He turned to me, eyes holding nothing but sincerity. “But you deserve more than someone who might kill you if he has a bad day.”
My gut twisted. “Isn’t that always the case? Violence against women isn’t something isolated to vampires. Plenty of human men kill. That’s why Brenna is dead. It’s why my mother is dead.”
He gripped my hand and brought it close to his chest before pressing it to his heart. “Feel this? This is real. This is human. This is what you should want. A living, breathing man. Your mother isn’t dead because of me. Can you say the same for Cashel? Do you really know?”
A flash of her on the floor of her bedroom, blood drenching the rug and the front of her nightdress, the ragged tear at her throat, hit me, and I had to close my eyes against the memory. “It wasn’t him.”
“How do you know?”
“It…it just wasn’t. He wouldn’t lie.”
Logan laughed, low and bitter. “I thought you were smarter than this. I thought you were going to bring them all down and that’s why you went back to him.”
“I was. I killed Elias. What more do you want from me?”
“I want to know you’ll do what it takes to rid the world of vampires. You belong here with us.”
“I won’t help you hurt Cashel. If you can’t see that not all vampires are evil, you’re looking through too narrow of a lens.”
He tugged me forward, not responding to my statement. “Come on. There’s something you need to see. Maybe it will help clear this all up for you.”
We walked through the bramble, the tree branches catching on my clothes with every step until we reached an isolated tent at the top of a hill. From this vantage point, I could see the entire camp: laundry lines hung between trees, couples sharing coffee and breakfast at their individual fires. It was all so…human. I’d forgotten what that felt like. I’d spent so much time as the pet of the Blackthornes, I’d forgotten how sharing conversation over breakfast used to begin my day.
The dirty cream canvas parted, and a tall man with thick, dark hair peppered with gray stepped out. His worn leather jacket and heavy boots made me think he’d been a biker in another life. He had a kind face though. Soft but with rough edges.
“Olivia, this is Hector Legunas, our leader.”
Hector looked me over, his gaze heavy but he didn’t regard at me like I was a piece of meat, a prize, or even something he could play with. Hector looked at me like I was a person. He smiled, holding out a hand and making me feel like I was safe and where I belonged all in one gesture.
“We’re so glad you’re here, Olivia.”
I took his offer of a handshake, his large, warm palm engulfing my smaller one completely. “It wasn’t much of a choice. Logan threatened someone I care about.”
“Logan threatened a vampire who was holding you hostage.”
“He wasn’t holding me hostage…anymore.”
Hector shook his head and sighed. “I think it’s time for you to see the truth of Cashel Blackthorne’s betrayal, Olivia.”
“What are you talking about?”
He cocked his head toward the tent. “Come inside so I can tell you everything.”
I hesitated, not trusting anyone anymore. “I’m not an idiot. You could do anything in there.”
“I promise, I won’t hurt you.”
A laugh left my mouth before I could stop it. “I’ve heard that one before.”
He turned to the flaps of the tent and rolled each one up until the interior was completely visible from outside. “You’re free to leave whenever you want. I’m not going to force you to do anything. But if you give me a chance, I’ll show you the truth Cashel has been hiding from you.”
“How?”
“If I’m right, you’re so clouded under the power of his compulsion, you don’t have any clue how much he influenced your thoughts. I’m going to break that influence and raise the curtain so you can see the truth. Then you can make your decision with a clear mind.”
My memories drifted to the conversation Logan and I had in the cabin. “It should hurt every time…” I whispered.
“See, part of you already knows. Come on. Let me show you. Don’t make your choice until you have all the information.”
Taking a heavy breath, I nodded and stepped inside the large tent, ready to find the truth.
2
Olivia
My hands shook as soon as I crossed into the tent. Hector’s hulking form had me backing away out of instinctive distrust. I’d been hurt by a leader before, I didn’t want it to happen again.
“It’s okay, Olivia. I swear I’m not going to harm you. Have a seat and I’ll explain how we’re going to do this.” His words were slow and calm, reminding me of a teacher I’d once had.
“The last time I was alone with a man who said that, he stole my blood without my permission and invaded my mind. Forgive me if I’m a little hesitant.”
He straightened his shoulders and shoved both hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “I get it. I really do. They took so much from everyone here, you know? Every single person in this camp has been a victim of the Blackthornes.”
Shock rolled through me. “What?”
“Ask anyone in the camp, they’ll share their reason for taking up their weapons. Each of us has lost someone. Spouses, siblings, children. Logan lost his sister. My wife… I lost her one night without warning.”
“And you’re sure it was all done by the Blackthornes?”
“They rule this area, so by extension, any vampire here is a Blackthorne.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but now wasn’t the time to argue. “If you knew Cashel, or Lucas or Callie, even Sorcha, you might think differently. Elias was a twisted son of a bitch, but the rest of them… I think there’s more to them.”
“Sit down, Olivia.”
I did as he asked, if only to get this over with. Maybe if I showed him some trust, he’d do the same with me and what I was saying about the Blackthornes. “Fine. How do we do this? Are you going to hypnotize me?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No. In order to break through the compulsion they’ve put on you, we have to force your mind to do something to defend itself.”
That made me nervous, but I also understood. When Cashel helped rid me of his father’s unwanted control, he’d had to break into my mind and pull the compulsion out.
A sharp prick in my arm had me letting out a yelp of protest and surprise. Cool liquid surged through my veins, making my heart race and my blood feel like it was filled
with cold fire. My breaths came in sharp gasps, and I worked to calm my heart. I hadn’t had a panic attack in a long time, but this was different. This was more intense, bone deep, painful.
“What…what did you do to me?” I fought for every breath.
“Lie back, Olivia. Let the adrenaline take charge. Your brain will go into fight or flight mode, and the anxiety attack will reverse the compulsions.”
I couldn’t stay upright and keep breathing. My chest ached, my vision grew fuzzy, I needed to close my eyes and give in to what my body needed. Hide. Protect. Survive.
Lying back on the cot, my limbs shuddered, teeth chattering with threatening shock. I closed my eyes and willed myself to relax. Instead, I saw Cashel. I felt him kissing me, felt his cock driving inside me, but most of all, I felt the tremendous pain of his teeth sinking into my skin and the violation of his feeding. Over and over, time after time, I saw the truth of what he did. I saw him taking my blood, taking the pain, and then I lived the pain. I screamed. My throat was raw and aching, skin slick with sweat, fingers white from clutching the blanket. Then I saw the moment he told me he’d never control my mind. The lie in that promise nearly broke me.
Cashel stole my memories, stole my understanding of the truth, stole me from the world. He betrayed me.
“What the fuck are you doing to her?” Logan’s voice boomed in the tent, but I didn’t open my eyes. Tears leaked from the corners of my closed lids and spilled down my temples and into my hair. My heart was breaking piece by piece with the revelation of each of Cashel’s lies.
“She needs to understand.” Hector’s words were strong and confident. “If she’s going to get out of his thrall, she has to realize what he’s done.”
“Not like this. She’s hurting.”
“She’ll be fine. Olivia is strong, you and I both know that.”
I used to think so, but now I wasn’t so sure. I felt like a broken puppet, used and tossed aside. Logan wasn’t wrong when he said Cashel was done with me. I’d served his purpose. That was why he hadn’t come for me. He didn’t want me anymore.