But when we landed, I registered the pain for one brief, bright second. And then I knew no more.
CHAPTER SIX
When I woke up, everything was excruciating pain. My arms hurt. My legs hurt. My back hurt. I screamed.
I shifted immediately. I had to.
In wolf form, I was healed, and I pushed to my feet. We were in a dark room somewhere underground. There were small lights far away on the concrete walls, and the floor beneath was concrete too. It was a basement of some kind. The musty smell invaded my wolf senses.
Landon was next to me, and Viggo was on the other side. They both seemed all right, neither wounded.
We weren’t alone down here, however. I could smell all kinds of other beings—the musty, coppery smell of vampires, the bright scent of humans, the frightening smell of bloodhounds, and the comforting smell of wolves.
And then, out of nowhere, I felt my alpha bond flare, and I knew that Sinead and Ewan were here. I wanted to go right to them, but when I started to move, someone stepped into my path.
“Alpha,” he growled. “Shift back and submit. I am in charge of the wolves here.”
I looked up at the man who towered over me. He had broad shoulders and a grizzled, bearded face. It was hard to make out his features in the darkness.
“Shift,” he insisted.
I shifted.
“Adam!” he yelled.
Another man stepped forward and tossed me an oversized shirt.
I shrugged into it. I was covered but cold. I got to my feet.
“Submit,” said the first man.
“I’m not submitting to anyone,” I said. “Two members of my pack are here. I can feel them. I want them. We also want a vampire named Desta and a human named Aston. Once we have those people, we’ll be on our way.”
The man laughed. “If we could leave, alpha, we would have. No one’s going anywhere. Now submit.”
“Forget it,” said Viggo, who was suddenly in front of me, baring his teeth at the man. “There’s no submitting going on.”
“Then we’ll have to kill you,” said the man.
“Try it,” said Viggo, arching an eyebrow.
“Come on, Slater,” said another voice. A woman appeared out of the darkness, her face dirty, and her fangs prominent. She was a vampire. “Let’s just divide them up and get this done. You know how skittish new ones are.”
“Submission is an important step,” said Slater. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re not a werewolf. Now, the wolf will come with me. The vampire will go with Winslet here.” He gestured at the vampire. “And Monty will take the bloodhound.”
“We’re not splitting up,” said Viggo.
“You see?” said Slater. “They’re trouble. I say we kill them now.”
“You mind telling us where the hell we are?” spoke up Landon.
“We’d tell you if we knew,” said Winslet. “Our story’s probably a lot like yours. Wandering in the woods, minding our own business, suddenly jumped by that crazy witch—”
“Actually, no,” said Viggo. “We came looking for that witch.”
“We’re here to rescue our friends,” I said.
Slater, Winslet, and Monty all exchanged a look. Then they started laughing.
“Well,” said Winslet. “This is some rescue.”
“We may have hit a snag,” said Viggo. “But if we all work together, surely we can get free.”
“Look, we’ve tried everything,” said Slater. “There’s no way out, and it’s best if we stay together with our own species. Cuts down on the infighting. Keeps order. It’s bad enough down here without worrying about being killed by fellow prisoners. If you’re going to cause trouble, we’ll kill you before you start.”
“You can’t kill me,” said Viggo. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Wait a second,” said Winslet, suddenly, coming closer to Viggo. “It can’t be… King Viggo?”
“What?” said Slater. “No!”
Viggo gave them a little bow.
“But right before I was captured,” said Monty, “the capital was taken. You were overthrown.”
“Wait, that really happened?” said Slater. “I thought you were making that up.”
“Bring us the people we are looking for,” Viggo demanded. “We want Desta Fordham. And…” He turned to me. “Who else?”
“Sinead and Ewan Fursteeth. Aston Waterfield,” I said.
“Look, it doesn’t matter that he’s the king,” said Monty. “He’s here with the rest of us. And anyway, he’s not the king anymore.”
“He’s strong,” said Winslet. “You have no idea how old he is.”
“Well, that’s all the more reason to put them in line,” said Slater. “Because we can’t have that happening. We need to keep order.”
Winslet looked back and forth between Slater and Viggo.
Slater grabbed her by the arm. “Can I have a word?” He nodded at Monty. “Take them to the center of the room.”
Slater and Winslet walked off into the darkness.
Monty grabbed us and escorted us into the middle of the room, where there was a pole and big drain. What got washed down that drain? We had to get out of this place.
Several moments later, Winslet reappeared, and she had Desta with her.
“Desta!” I cried out, reaching for her.
Winslet tossed Desta to Monty. “Not so fast,” she snarled.
Monty grinned at Viggo. “Oh, I got this one.”
“Here’s the deal,” said Slater, emerging from the shadows. “You all go with your species quietly, or I’ll have Monty tear her head off.”
Viggo’s eyes glowed faintly. “Let go of her,” he whispered.
“That’s not how this works, Your Majesticness,” said Slater.
And Viggo moved, streaking through the darkness.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Viggo pulled Desta out of Monty’s arms and handed her to me.
I wrapped my arms around my sister.
Viggo was back at Monty before the bloodhound could blink. He grabbed the bloodhound on either side of his head and twisted.
Monty’s head came right off.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
I cowered, cringing.
Slater ran for Viggo, but Winslet pulled him back. “Don’t. He’ll kill us both.”
Viggo bared his teeth at Slater. “Bring us Ewan, Sinead, and Aston. Now.”
Slater didn’t like it.
“Just do as he says,” said Winslet.
“Look, I don’t fear the vampire king,” said Slater. “I’ll shift and—”
“He’ll kill you,” said Winslet. “How do you think he became the vampire king in the first place?”
Slater’s nostrils flared. But then he disappeared again, and when he returned, he had Ewan and Sinead.
I was still holding onto Desta, but I reached out my hand to Sinead.
She wrapped her fingers around mine.
I wanted to talk to her, find out if she was all right, but Viggo was talking to Slater, stepping over Monty’s broken body, and his voice brooked no interruption. I had to listen to him. “There is also a human.”
“What happens if I bite you, King Viggo?” said Slater in a tight voice. “Oh, excuse me. Ex-king Viggo.”
Viggo smiled at him. “Try it, wolf boy. You’ll find that I’m not nearly as susceptible to wolf bites as other vampires.”
“Why? Because you’re so old?”
Viggo just laughed. “Like I said. Try it. But know that if you bite me, I will kill you.”
Slater’s jaw twitched.
“That’s what I thought,” said Viggo. “Now. Our human. Aston Waterfield. Bring him forward. Where is the human faction?”
“There is no human faction,” said Winslet. “We vampires keep the humans for sustenance.”
“Ah,” said Viggo. “Then you bring him forth. Why are you being so difficult?”
“I can bring that one to you if you wish,” she said, �
�or you can have have your pick of the choicest blood slaves—”
“Bring out Aston,” Viggo thundered.
“As you command, my king.” Winslet bowed her head. Then she was gone and back in just a moment.
Aston blinked hard when he saw us. “Oh! You guys. Look, I don’t want to leave Nelly. I love Nell. We have a very pure connection, even in all this darkness—”
“Shut up,” said Viggo, pulling Aston close and looking into his eyes. “Stop,” he breathed.
Aston shook himself. “Okay, hell. That was insane. I know that humans got bonded to you bloodsucking freaks, but I never thought it would feel like that.”
“Shut up,” Viggo said again.
Aston nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“He is fairly chatty, isn’t he?” said Winslet. “Well, you’re welcome to him.”
“Oh, thank you,” said Viggo. “Very kind of you. Now both of you, listen to me.” He pointed at Winslet and Slater. “We will not join any of your little factions. We will be our own faction. You will leave us alone, or we will kill anyone who strikes against us. That clear?”
Winslet and Slater both nodded.
“Good,” said Viggo. “Very good.”
* * *
Viggo tore Desta out of my arms to look her over. “What have they done to you?” he was saying. “Are you all right?”
I tried to snatch Desta back, but Sinead was hugging me. “You came, you came,” she said. “I knew you would come.”
“What took so long?” said Ewan. “You knew where we were, didn’t you? Through the bond?”
“No,” I said. “I couldn’t sense you at all. Why? Could you sense me?”
“It doesn’t always work that way for us,” said Ewan. “Sometimes we can sense you, but only if you want it. No, we thought you were being kept away for some reason.”
“Who is the woman who took you?” I said. “What does she want? Why are we down here?”
“We don’t know any of that,” said Sinead. “We were floated into the woods and knocked unconscious and we woke up down here.”
“It’s bad,” said Ewan. “The vampires have humans to feed on, and they aren’t supposed to feed on wolves, but they’ll snatch a wolf while we sleep sometimes. The bloodhounds get antsy sometimes. One will go crazy and start killing everything in sight. It takes the rest of the bloods to take him down. People die here every day.”
“We put the bodies in the center of the room and someone lowers down a gurney on ropes. Then we have to load the bodies onto the gurney, two or three at a time. The bodies are hauled out, and the gurney is lowered again for more bodies,” said Sinead. “We can never see who’s lowering it. We never see anything.”
“After all the bodies are taken up, food is lowered down,” said Ewan. “There’s never enough for everyone. There are always fights. The bloodhounds end up with more food than anyone.”
“And it’s not good food,” said Sinead. “Just dry bread, mostly. Sometimes cans of beans or tuna, too, but not always. Enough to keep us alive. Barely.”
“This is awful,” I said. “We’re going to get out of here.”
“You don’t think we’ve tried?” said Sinead. “Everyone tries. No one can get out. It’s not possible.”
“It has to be possible,” I said. “We’ll make it possible.”
Ewan shook his head. “You’ll have that fire for a few days, maybe a week. But it goes fast when you’re starved and exhausted and frightened.”
“No, we are going to get out,” I said. “We will. I swear. Believe in that. Let me check on Desta, now.” I needed to know she was okay, and she might also need rescuing from Viggo. I squeezed Sinead’s hands and I squeezed Ewan’s hands too.
Then I pulled Viggo’s hands off my sister. He had cupped her face and was gazing longingly into her eyes.
“Let go of Desta, Viggo,” I said, glaring at him.
He elbowed me out of the way. “Desta is perfectly capable of telling me to stop if she doesn’t like it.”
“She’s afraid of you,” I said. “She can’t tell you what she really thinks of you, because you hold her life in your hands.” Of course, he wasn’t the vampire king anymore, was he? He didn’t decide if she lived or died.
“What?” said Viggo. “What are you talking about?”
“Maybe it’s not true anymore,” I said. “Desta could never tell you that she hated you, because you would just decide that she should be killed then. You decreed that no new vampires be made.”
“You think so badly of me that you think I would have her killed simply because she didn’t like me?” said Viggo. “I am not a monster.”
“Aren’t you?” I said.
“Besides, Desta doesn’t hate me,” said Viggo, turning to my sister. “Do you, love?”
“Of course not,” said Desta.
I opened my mouth to say something and then closed it. There was no point in antagonizing Viggo when we were locked up down here. “Oh, fine. We don’t need to talk about this now. But Desta, you don’t have to stay close to him if you don’t want. Come over here with Sinead and Ewan and Landon and me, all right?”
“Certainly, she can do as she likes,” said Viggo. “I am not here to control her, or to influence her in any way. I never hung your life over your head, did I, Desta? You did not truly think that you must please me or that I would have you killed?”
“Of course not,” said Desta quickly.
“You did,” said Viggo, sounding horrified. “So, this is what you have thought of me all along? That I was a petty tyrant to be pacified? And yet, you were still so bold. You still told me exactly what you thought of me.”
“I pushed as hard as I thought was prudent, Your Majesty,” whispered Desta.
“Oh, don’t call me such things. I am Viggo. Only Viggo. I am not a king. I don’t want a kingdom. I don’t want anything except you.”
Desta blinked.
Viggo waved her away. “Go, then. Don’t feel as though you must stay near me. I brought your sister along because I knew you would need someone who could comfort you, someone you could trust.”
I put my arm around Desta.
She put her arm around my waist. With one more glance over her shoulder, she left Viggo behind and came over to where Sinead and Ewan were sitting.
“Should you be baiting him so much, Camber?” said Landon in a quiet voice. “He’s our best hope of getting out of here. We need him on our side.”
“He’ll get us out,” said Desta. “Don’t worry. He may be a bastard, but he’s honorable in his own way.”
“Who is?” chirped Aston. “I want in on the conversation.”
I pushed him at Viggo. “You converse with Viggo.”
“Viggo terrifies me!” said Aston, shuddering.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Landon. “It was stupid to push him. I’m just… I’m afraid. Where the hell are we? Why are we here? How are we going to get out?”
Later that day, a gurney was lowered down for the body of Monty. Viggo was there. He tried to reach up for whoever was lowering the body, but he was struck down by some kind of magical explosion that happened near the ceiling. He landed on his back, panting, eyes wide.
The food came down then.
The bloodhounds all ran for it, taking almost all of the food.
What was left was divided up between the wolves and the humans and us. I had to split a crust of bread with Landon. There was running water in one of the corners. It came on out of a spigot several times a day. When it did, everyone ran over to get a little of it, even if they had to drink it off the floor. The only bathroom was in the opposite corner, a foul-smelling hole in the floor.
It was a horrible place, and it was made worse by the fact that it was so puzzling. What was this place? Why keep people here in this way? Why do this to us?
None of it made any sense.
* * *
We broke up into pairs to guard our faction when everyone went to sleep. We weren’t sure if it
was night or day. Ewan and Sinead took one shift. Viggo volunteered to pair off with Desta, but I said I would pair with her, and then Viggo said he didn’t need a partner, which left Landon with Aston.
“Thank you very much,” Landon told me sarcastically.
We couldn’t trust the rest of the prisoners not to try to hurt us, so we needed the guard. We would make sure that nothing happened to our own.
Viggo woke Desta and me at the end of our shift, and my sister and I went to sit at the edge of the corner we had claimed as our own. We were behind the bloodhounds, because no one else was brave enough to go near them.
The bloods were sleeping in a pile together, like the wolves on the other side of the room. They were more animal than man now. The wolves probably would have liked to be in wolf form, but I supposed the vampires wouldn’t like that. And besides, without their alphas, they couldn’t shift at will.
Thinking about that made me think about the moon cycle. The full moon would be on us soon, wouldn’t it? What would that mean for us down here?
“You and Landon,” said Desta. “You did it, didn’t you?”
“You can tell?” I said.
“Something in the way you two seem aware of the other even when you’re not looking at each other or talking,” she said. “I can see the bond, sense it.”
“I couldn’t leave the pack without protection,” I said. “I had to have a strong bond for the spell.”
“So, you mated. You made the time before you came looking for me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know it’s not what you wanted.”
She sighed.
“I never meant to hurt you, Desta. I know it’s not the right thing to do, to steal your sister’s ex. I feel bad about it. I really do. I wish—”
“It’s all right,” she said.
“No, it isn’t.”
“It is,” she said. “I’ve gotten some perspective on things since I was locked up in here, and it’s not worth being so upset about. I might love Landon, but he was never going to feel for me what I felt for him. So, he would have found someone else eventually.”
“Yes, but it’s got to be hard, knowing it’s me.”
Canticle to the Midnight Moon Page 4