Page 32 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 15

Orion

A trailof cold sweat slid down my neck and back as the vampire leader slid his stony hand along my cheek and I turned away. “You smell incredible. Like nothing else in this world.” He pronounced each word with a flash of fangs. “So much power. I will delight in taking it.”

This was why men could never be trusted. Nor monsters. For me, it had started with the one man in my life who should have cared for and protected me. My father. Bastard abandoned me and sold me to the butcher. How I got my start in hunting. Men had never been there for me.

Monsters and men wreaked havoc on the world. Started wars, kidnapped women, brought down damn cities like Troy for the selfish whims of a prince like Paris. Destroyed and ransacked treasures, wiping them from the map. Reznor had only confirmed that men were callous and cruel, caring nothing more than for their own selfish desires.

I spat at the feet of the vampire leader and kicked out, but the two beasts holding my arms restrained me. “You will die, monster!”

The rest of the monsters in his den hissed at me for the offense. They remained at a distance, sniffing me, fighting their hunger. Pupils dilated, they watched me like trapped prey, limbs taut and ready to pounce, fingers curled, as if they wanted to grip me and drink my blood as Reznor had done to me.

Their leader laughed in my face, a chilling sound that scratched at my belly. Sound so cold, it could turn blood to ice. I was nothing more than food to him. Sustenance to be claimed and consumed.

“Thank you for bringing her here, Reznor.” The leader turned to the traitor that brought me here, patting the side of his distant, stony, cheek. “You shall have your freedom once she is bled dry.” He spoke about me like I didn’t exist. Purely transactional. Food. Nothing more.

Fury sparked in my blood. Reznor, that bastard, had traded me in like I was an animal to be sold. An exchange for his own benefit. No better than every other man who’d hurt me. I glared at him for bringing me here. For signing my fate with blood. If I got out of this, he would die. Slowly. Painfully. Horrendously. Skinned like an animal prepared for a meal. Ending with a dagger through the heart, and I’d not miss this time, turning him to ash as Vice had instructed me if the vampire ever set upon me again.

“Prepare her for extraction on the blood moon,” the menacing leader snarled, and the group of vampires crowded closer in the mansion where they all gathered. “Then the transfer of power will be amplified.”

Blood moons held ancient power in rituals. Spells could be heightened. Hexes, disastrous. Would my starlight be more enriched and powerful?

“Yes, Vexlel.” The one holding me on my left tightened his grasp, his fangs lengthening, pin-pricked pupils targeted on me.

“Take her.” With a dismissive wave of his hand. “No one is to touch her. She is mine. Anyone who dares will lose their heads.”

The group fell back, licking their lips, scenting me. Sweat drenched my shirt. Escaping this place would be difficult with so many vampires inside it. Strong and inhumanly fast, I didn’t stand a chance with twenty of them crowding me, descending on me like I was their next meal. The odds were stacked against me. I’d never make it out alive without my starlight to produce my weapons to defend myself and break away. Damn Reznor for glamoring me, removing my ability to call upon my power.

“I will take her.” Reznor’s cunning, calculating voice broke the sweep of hisses that broke out at the leader’s order.

“She is mine now.” The leader came up to Reznor, standing a foot shorter but no less menacing or threatening. “You leave her to me.”

“She remains mine until you remove the mark.” Reznor stretched his sleeve to reveal a marking on his wrist. A tattoo of bared, red fangs.

Vice had set of devil horns on his wrist. Stormy a wolf’s paw. Apparently, every supernatural creature had identifying marks except me. Unless I included Stormy’s, and now Vice’s branding on my breasts.

“Patience.” The leader patted Reznor again. Condescending. Insincere. I knew that look. He planned on cheating Reznor out of their agreement. Seen one too many men clamber for notoriety, riches, and favor with the gods, stepping over anyone to get what they desired. This vampire might be dead, but he was no different. “You’ll get what you want when I do too. I already granted you freedom in front of the coven. Is that not enough?”

“No, it’s not, Vexlel.” Reznor pushed one of the vampires off me with ease, suggesting he had more strength, seniority, and superiority within the group. “I’ll take her just to be on the safe side.”

The leader snarled viciously at Reznor’s defiance. Vexlel’s face ticked and he glanced at the rest of the group as if humiliated. But my captor didn’t care, cracking the bone of the second vampire apprehending me, prompting him to release me.

Reznor held some sort of power here that persuaded the coven to fear and respect him, including the leader, despite clearly hating it. I vowed to find out more of the relationship dynamic so I could manipulate it and break out.

Blood-red walls mocked me as Reznor swept through the crowd, his grip tightening like the tension staining the air. Vases stood on wooden tables with dead flowers in them. Long rugs covered parts of the tiled floor. An iron mesh screen protected the fireplace. Everything inside the coven’s dwelling felt dark, cold, and sterile.

Reznor forced me down a set of stairs to a basement where a row of cells awaited. Chills skated along my flesh. The steel door swung open with a stiff groan, suggesting it hadn’t been used in a while. My captor shoved me in roughly and I stumbled, tripped and fell onto the small bed in the corner. I jolted as he shut the door and it slammed with a hard crack.

He slid a knife between the space of the bars. “I’ll be back soon. Use this if anyone enters the cell.”

“Why in Hades are you helping me when I could deploy the weapon on you?” My voice sounded as stiff as the steel door.

“Take it,” he commanded harshly, the urgency in his voice ratcheting up my heartbeat. “Protect yourself while I’m gone.”

His insistence made a part of me feel safe. Another part of me didn’t want to rely on him for protection. Relying on men only led to my heart being crushed. And this one wanted me dead, used me for his own gain, so his word meant nothing.

I stayed put. “So you can have your freedom?” My breath hung in my chest, suspended by my fear. “I’d rather die than give you what you want.”

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