Page 11 of Wicked Thirst
“You’re hurting.”
Thick cuffs were wrapped around my wrists and leather binding curled my fingers into a tight fist. My fingers went numb, and my instincts screamed for me to fight against the pinching hold. I held as still as I could. The King’s Guard was not to be trifled with. I knew it, everyone knew it. Everyone but Marius it seemed. The guard yanked me back and shoved me toward two others. Each took one of my arms and lifted me up off the ground and carried me down the hall.
“I didn’t do anything.” Panic made my voice sound higher than it really was, and I hated it.
“You were found in the wake of Marius’ exit after he attacked the crown. You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.” His voice was deep and gruff as he moved to walk in front of us.
I wanted to scream that he was letting them get away, but the shock of everything unfolding made me fall silent. The night had been too much, and suddenly I found my body sagging into their hold. My bare feet dragged over the ground. They picked up speed. My toes warmed from the friction against the floor as they moved faster through the castle. We ran through a dark maze of tunnels and pushed through a door, and suddenly I was blinded by bright lights. I blinked against how bright it was and white dots swarmed my vision. The doors banged shut behind us, and the two guards dragged me in behind the bigger leader.
“Jester, is this one injured, sick, or something else?” An older-looking vampire moved closer to us. He peeked around the big military guy and stared at me.
He straightened his glasses and sucked in a deep breath as though exhausted. I couldn’t believe they had a made-vampire working in the castle like this. He was an older-looking vampire. His sire changed him when he’d hit what looked like his late fifties, and though the change made him strong and fit, he still held some maturity in his face and grey streaks in his dark hair. The wrinkles around his eyes were nearly smoothed out from the change.
I couldn’t help but stare at him. Jester, I was assuming that was the name of the leader, glanced back at me with a hard look on his face. “Something else.”
“There’s too much.” The doctor shook his head. “How could they . . . What I mean to say is the cruelty . . . the . . . the suffering they’ve caused.”
It was then that I took the time to look around. Chaos filled the lab, injured vampires lay strewn across tables. Science equipment was shoved off to the side. Lab technicians hurried about. Their pristine white coats were spattered with blood. Each of their faces held the same panic that deep down inside I felt. Groans of the injured filled the air, their cries of pain and shock would forever be burned into my memories. They were vampires and they would heal, but their injuries were so substantial. They needed more blood, more help, more medical attention. All because of Marius.
Blood coated the floor, and the smell permeated the air. Instead of it seeming appetizing, my stomach rolled. It was the opposite of what tonight was supposed to be. They were all dressed in their Christmas ball gowns. The glitter and glitz mixed with the gore and injuries made it that much more horrifying. They’d all come here to celebrate, be unified, and show their love to the crown. Now everything was destroyed between the Night Spawn and made-vampires. I’d always thought Marius was shady, but now I knew he was a downright insane bastard.
“Then away with her.” The doctor motioned to a door at the back of the lab. No! I didn’t want to go back there. To whatever death trap they had hidden back there. It was bad enough out here among the injured, but back there gave me the feeling like I’d never return. A small whimper escaped my lips as the soldiers dragged me toward it. I tried not to look, I tried to search out anyone or anything that could help me, but all I was faced with was more troubling sights.
We passed by cells. Looking through the glass, I saw they held vampires that’d been overcome by the sickness. One stood there exploding into water only to re-form moments later. Another stood in the corner of her cell sucking blood from her own arm. I could feel the sickness within them all. The terror of not knowing where it came from or how it came to be sat heavy in my stomach. Would I get it here? Would my fate be to remain trapped behind these walls forever? Before, I thought it couldn’t be explained. But now with the vampires infected with the sickness following Marius, I knew deep down that he was involved somehow.
They dragged me through the doors, and we were in a dark tunnel once again. “No, please, I’m telling you I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Jester glanced over his shoulder at me. “That’s what a liar would say.”
“I’m no liar.” I somehow managed to add a little venom to my words. I was a lot of different things, but a liar was not one of them. I prided myself on being honest.
They dragged me toward a dark cell, and the moment we reached the bars, they tossed me in like I weighed little more than a feather. I fell to the ground in a heap at Jester’s feet. He squatted down in front of me and placed his finger under my chin. He lifted my chin until our gazes met. “I’ve put down a lot of vampires in my day. You might be the loveliest. Shame.”
I yanked my chin back from his grasp. “I am innocent.”
He stepped out of the cell and the metal bars slid into place between us with a thunderous clang. “We shall see. Atlas Savage will be with you in a moment.”
A chill seeped into my skin, and I leaned back against the damp jagged wall. A shiver went down my spine. I didn’t know if it was the state of the cell or the thought of Atlas Savage, the right hand of the King, the deadliest hand of all. The rumors were that he’d kill his own family, if he had one, for The House of Shade. Rumors swirled about how deep his connections ran and how far he would go for them. But I did not want to find out. I curled myself into a small ball at the corner of the cell.
“Hey, pssst.” A low hissing voice traveled from across the way toward me.
I huddled in on myself. I didn’t want anything to do with this. This place, this cell, was a side of the castle I never expected to find myself. Nor did I want to. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. “Piss off. I’ve got nothing to say to you.”
“You are no one,” the voice hissed from the darkness.
“I am Sanchita, and I’ll have nothing to do with you. Thank you very much.”
A vampire slid into view in the cell across from me. He too was crouched on the floor but there was a madness in his eyes. His dark hair was all disheveled and greasy. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and his skin was sickly pale, nearly gray. His clothing was ripped to tatters. He leaned on the bars and let his boney hand hang over the bars. “He will rule us all someday.”
I glanced into the darkness down the corridor between the cells. “Who?”
The vampire slithered to his feet as if he were in a drunken stupor. He wobbled from side to side with a dark smirk on his face. “Join us, Night Spawn.”
“Who is us?” I didn’t know why I was engaging in this conversation. I had no intention of joining whatever the hell he was talking about. I wouldn’t join Marius or anyone else who stood against The House of Shade. They wanted better for all of us.
He chuckled and wagged his eyebrows. He wiggled his fingers and black smoke seeped from his hand onto the floor like a creeping fog. I hopped to my feet and pressed myself to the wall. Panic flooded my body, and a chill went down my spine. Made-vampires weren’t supposed to have powers like that. I didn’t want it to touch me. I had no idea what it would do to me. But in the world of vampires, witches, warlocks, and more, anything was possible. A wild laugh escaped his lips as he watched that black smoke slither toward me.
“Stop it! No!” I scrambled back, trying to get as far away as I could.
