Rogue (Relentless Book 3) (42 page)

She got up from her seat and stood over me. I didn’t see the syringe in her hand until she plunged it into my arm. “Oh, you’re done. Nighty night.”

*     *     *

I opened my eyes slowly and blinked several times until the dirty wooden beams above me came into focus. My head pounded, and my stomach churned. I rolled over onto my side and fell off the small stone platform I was lying on. My knees smacked against the stone floor, and I moaned as pain shot through them. I pulled my body up onto my hands and knees, fighting the urge to retch as I took in the damp stone walls and the iron bars that made up one wall of the small cell.

Panic washed over me in waves and I struggled to stand, fighting off the effects of whatever drug the vampire had given me. I didn’t need to look around the cell to know I was alone.

“Nikolas?” I grasped the bars and strained to see past the circle of light provided by the single bare light bulb outside my cell. “Nikolas!”

“He’s not here,” said a small voice on the other side of the cell wall.

“Who are you?” I demanded hoarsely as I rubbed my arms. My coat and boots were gone, and I shivered in the cold dank air. “Do you know where he is?”

A slender arm waved, and I moved to the end of the bars. “I’m Grace,” the girl replied tearfully. “They didn’t bring a man, just you.”

Oh God, Nikolas.
Pain stabbed me in the chest. I stood very still, feeling for him, and I stifled a sob when I sensed him faintly. He was here somewhere and still alive.
Nikolas, can you hear me?
I called to him.

Silence.

“I’m Sara.” I stuck my hand through the bars until my fingers touched her cold ones. “Grace, do you know how long I was out?”

“A few hours. Anna and I were afraid you wouldn’t wake up.”

I drew my hand back and closed my eyes against the throbbing pain in my head. “Who is Anna?”

Grace sniffled. “She’s the other girl down here with us. There was a girl named Jen, but she never came back when they took her yesterday.”

Neither of us spoke for a long moment because we both knew why Jen had not returned. I fought the mounting terror.
Be strong. Losing it is not going to help you.
I needed to stay calm and clearheaded if I had any hope of getting us out of this alive.

“Where is Anna now?” I asked with a calmness that belied the fear churning inside me.

“One of those things took her right after they brought you in. What if she doesn’t –?”

Grace fell silent as a door at the end of the hallway opened and footsteps came toward us. I could hear a girl weeping as the door of the cell on the other side of me opened and slammed shut.

“Sleep tight, beautiful,” taunted a male voice. The vampire sauntered over to leer at me and Grace. “Don’t worry ladies; you’ll get your turn soon enough.” He snickered and left, and I heard a key turning in a lock.

“Anna, is that you?” Grace called softly.

The crying paused. “Y-yes.”

God, she sounded so young. She couldn’t be more than fifteen or sixteen. Grace didn’t sound much older than that. I rubbed my temples. I’d thought I only had to worry about getting Nikolas and me out of here, but I couldn’t leave these girls behind in this hellhole.

I hung my head helplessly. I had no weapons and my power was still blocked from me. Without my special radar I couldn’t tell if there was one or a hundred vampires in this place. How was I going to protect myself, let alone two teenage girls?

“Anna, this is Sara. She’s the girl they brought in today.”

“Hi,” Anna said weakly.

“Hi, Anna,” I called back. “How long have you girls been here?”

Grace let out a shuddering breath. “I think I’ve been here for three days.”

“Me too,” Anna said. Then she started crying softly again. “I want to go home.”

I walked to the other end of the bars to be closer to her. “We’re going to get out of here. Just hang in there.”

“No, we’re not.” Her voice rose then fell off again. “They’re monsters. They did... things to me. They hurt me.”

I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t stop imagining the vile things this girl had suffered. I could hear Grace crying softly, and it was all I could do to keep myself together.

I cleared my throat. “Where are you girls from? I’m from Maine.”

“I’m from Scarsdale,” Grace replied.

“Mount Vernon,” Anna said.

I bit my lip. Both of those places were in New York. Did that mean we were in New York too? “Do you know how you got here, or were you drugged like me?”

Anna answered first. “I-I think they drugged me. I don’t remember.”

“Me too,” said Grace. “Sara, do you really think we’ll get out of here?”

“Yes.” It was better to give them hope than to admit how dire our circumstances were. Hope could be the difference between life and death in this place.

The sound of the door opening sent my heart pounding, and I stood in the middle of my cell to face whatever was coming. Instead of a vampire, a short humanoid demon with pale skin, a long furred face, and orange eyes appeared carrying a tray of food. Both girls made frightened sounds as the quellar demon slid a plate beneath the doors of their cells. I had met a lot scarier looking creatures, but he must have appeared so alien to Grace and Anna. All I saw was a quiet demon with scared eyes that flicked back and forth as if he expected someone to jump him.

The demon stood outside my cell, and we stared at each other for a long moment. He was probably curious about the new addition, or the fact that I didn’t shrink from him like the others. The sound of Anna pulling her plate across the stone floor startled him, and he hurried away like a large frightened mouse.

I looked down suspiciously at the sandwich and small bottle of water. Why would the vampires feed us if they planned to kill us? Maybe killing someone who was half-starved was no fun for them. I thought about not eating it, but all I’d had in the last twenty-four hours was some tuna and crackers. If I was going to get out of here, I had to keep up my strength.

While we ate, I asked Grace and Anna questions about their families, their friends, and school – anything to take their minds off our situation. Grace was seventeen and Anna was fifteen, and they both had two siblings. Grace was in the band at school and Anna was a science geek. They’d had such normal, happy lives before they were ripped away from everything they knew. At least I had known what was out there before I was taken. Not that it helped me much now.

After our meal, Anna said she was tired and I heard her lie down. Grace whispered that they got sleepy after they came back from upstairs. I asked her about the Master, and she said she had seen a red-haired female and a dark-haired male. She closed off when I tried to ask what had happened to her upstairs, and I didn’t push. Soon she went to sleep as well, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

All I could think about was Nikolas. Where was he? What were they doing to him? A thought came unbidden to my mind of Ava Bryant touching him, drinking from him, and my vision clouded as blood roared in my ears. My body trembled and I gripped the iron bars so hard they creaked.
Solmi
, my Mori growled.

We’ll find him
, I promised my agitated demon.
And if that bitch lays a finger on him I’ll rip it off her.
Ava Bryant was already going to die for what she’d done to Nate. If she hurt Nikolas in any way, I’d make sure her death was not a quick one.

I lost track of time. I lay down on the hard slab that was supposed to be a bed, but I couldn’t sleep not knowing what was happening to Nikolas. I paced the small cell and thought about last night. No matter what the vampires did to us, they could never take that away. If I died tomorrow, I would die knowing what it was to love and be loved completely.

When the door opened again, I fought to keep my breathing under control. This was it. I was finally going to meet the vampire who had terrorized my family for so long. I thought about my Dad and Nate.
Be strong.

The vampire who had brought Anna in earlier appeared. He flashed his fangs at me as he went to Grace’s cell and unlocked it.

“No,” she whimpered when he pulled her from the cell.

He dragged her past my cell, and I got a glimpse of a girl with short dark hair in jeans and a T-shirt. When he opened Anna’s door, she began sobbing.  “Please.”

The door closed behind them, and I clenched the bars of my cell as fear and rage and helplessness assailed me. A few minutes later, the unmistakable sound of a girl’s scream reached me. I clamped my hands over my ears and tears scorched my face as I dropped to my knees with the scream echoing in my head.

Why was he torturing them when he finally had me? He’d gone through so much trouble to get his hands on me. What was he waiting for?

The sound of my cell opening woke me from where I’d fallen asleep on the floor. I scurried backward as Ava Bryant appeared behind the quellar demon that had brought us our meal. My eyes went to the syringe in the demon’s furry hand, and I shook my head.

The vampire smiled coldly. “Time for your medicine, little hunter, and Grigor has a special batch he cooked up just for you. Don’t you, Grigor?”

The demon gave a jerky nod and held up the syringe that contained a murky yellowish liquid. He was trembling, and he fumbled, almost dropping the syringe.

Ava snatched it away from him. “You clumsy idiot. Do you know how hard it is to make this stuff?” She threw back her head and laughed. “Of course, you do.”

She looked at me as I got to my feet. “In case you didn’t know it, Grigor here is a quellar demon, and his kind are very talented at chemistry. With the right motivation they can be very inventive.” She rolled the syringe between her long fingers. “Did you know quellar demons are the only ones in existence that are immune to Fae magic? No? Neither did we until recently. It seems they figured out years ago how to block the effects of Fae magic, and they immunize their young from an early age. Quite brilliant, really. Unfortunately, their drug doesn’t work on other demon races yet, but I’m confident Grigor will work it out.”

I swallowed dryly. “What does that have to do with me?”

“We couldn’t exactly bring you to the Master with all that Fae magic shooting out of you, could we? We wondered what would happen if we shot you with the quellar drug since you are half demon and half Fae. The results were better than we expected. The darts they used in the woods had the original drug and we weren’t sure how fast your Mohiri system would burn it off.  But Grigor’s been busy making a newer version of the drug that will last indefinitely.”

“Why do you care how long it lasts? You’re going to kill me anyway.”

Her smile made a pit open in my stomach. “My Master has plans for you. You won’t die anytime soon. You’ll just wish you were dead.”

She moved before I could blink, and I felt the bite of a needle in my arm. She injected the whole syringe and let me go.

At first I felt nothing. Then a burning sensation began to grow in my chest and spread through my body. Dizziness struck next, and I had to brace my hands against the wall to keep from falling.

“That should do it. Sleep tight tonight, little hunter. Tomorrow is a big day.” Ava handed the empty syringe to Grigor and walked out of the cell with the demon trailing meekly behind her. She locked the cell and turned to go, but stopped to look back at me. “Oh, I thought you’d like to know I’ve been getting to know your warrior
really
well. He’s even more delicious than –”

I hit the bars so fast pieces of mortar fell from the ceiling. “I’ll take you apart piece-by-piece if you touch him, you bloodsucking bitch.”

She jumped back. “Temper, temper. You should know that those bars are reinforced to hold back a mature warrior. So don’t waste your strength. You’re going to need it.”

I waited until they left before I sank to the floor and let the despair finally take me. I cried for Nikolas and the suffering he was going through because of me. I cried for the life we should have had together, and for waiting so long to tell him I loved him. I cried for the two young girls who would never see their families again and for all the people I was leaving behind. I cried until there were no tears left in me and I didn’t have the strength to get up off the floor.

Sometime during the night, I awoke to the sound of Anna being led back to her cell. I waited hours for them to bring Grace, but they never did.

I was sitting on the stone platform waiting for them when they finally came for me. After I’d cried myself out last night, a strange calm had settled over me. It was not acceptance of my fate, but acknowledgement that there was nothing I could do to change it sitting in this cell. If there was one thing I’d learned from my life it was that nothing was certain, and you never knew how your circumstances could change from one minute to the next.

Ava Bryant and the other vampire from yesterday approached me, and I didn’t say a word when the male unlocked my cell and ordered me to come out. As we passed Anna’s cell I saw a small shape curled into a ball in the far corner, and my heart hurt for her. Grace was gone, and I had a feeling Anna wouldn’t last much longer in this hell.