Page 6 of Blood Bought

Chapter Three:

The cell they threwme in was exactly as shitty as I feared it would be. I was frozen, wet for reasons I didn’t want to contemplate, and exhausted. Sleeping was nearly impossible since the sounds of the castle never really faded at night — vampires only slept when they felt like it or when they were weak, so the nights were louder than the days.

For the first forty-eight hours, I saw no one. I wasn’t given food or water or allowed out for any reason, and the only comfort I found was that someone had bewitched the fucking chamber pot to empty once every hour. In one particularly embarrassing fit of desperation, I’d tried to climb in the thing when it was time for it to empty to see if I’d be teleported out somewhere — but nothing at all happened and I was stuck with my hunger and fear.

Probably just how they like us. Hungry and afraid, desperate enough for food that we’ll do whatever they want,I thought bitterly, but quickly reminded myself that someone was probably listening to my inner monologue. I had to be careful if I had any chance of making it out.

On the morning of the third day, just when I was starting to suspect Alaris forgot about me and they’d find my bones here in a thousand years, the door opened. I sat up so quickly it made me dizzy, and the smell of meat coming off that plate was making me salivate liquid I didn’t have.

“Oh, thank you,” I whispered, reaching my shaking hands through the bars to take the food from my very-human visitor. The old, faded dress she was wearing showed signs of abuse to say the least, and I didn’t have to have the ability to read minds to know she was a servant in her own way. “I’m Adalind,” I said quietly, then chugged the entire goblet of water she’d brought me. “What’s your name?”

Silence.

“Okay. How long have you been here?”

Silence.

“Not the talking type, huh?” I picked the slab of steak up with my bare hands and ripped a bite off, then chewed with a low moan as I watched her face for any sign of wanting to communicate at all.

“Blink twice if you’re in danger.”

She didn’t.

“Vampire got your tongue, then? Got it. I’ll shut up.”

I devoured the food and huffed happily when that goblet magically refilled itself, and drank some more. My visitor stayed only long enough to take the empty plate back with her then left me alone again... but not for long.

The second time the doors opened, two men walked in. Both were obscenely handsome with tattoos peeking out of their shirts up their necks and down their arms to their fingertips, but both were wearing sunglasses. The ambient power in the castle was so strong on a regular basis that having them close wasn’t enough to tell me if they were true-born Obsidians or the human-turned-vampire Fauxs, but I’d never seen humans look that good, so I knew they were vampires.

They had to be.

“It’s considered rude where I’m from to read minds without introducing yourself first,” I said cheekily. “Adalind Silk, captive extraordinaire. And you are?”

The shorter, broader-shouldered one with colorful tattoos and an immediately evident bad-boy attitude scoffed. “We’re your guards. You can call me Ren, and that’s... Sonny.”

Fuck me, even their voices are hot. No wonder so many humans let themselves be prey.“Guarding me from what, exactly? It’s not like I can go anywhere.”

The other one stepped forward, his head lifting slightly in a way that made it obvious he was sniffing me... smelling my blood for fear, and what he found seemed to disappoint him. “Maybe we’re guarding you from others. You should be appreciative, Adalind Sour.”

“Silk,” I corrected with a slightly fearful eye roll. “And if you were so worried about that, why am I even here? I was perfectly safe back at home.”

“That’s what I said,” he said plainly. “I also said ‘maybe.’ Do you always ask vampires a lot of questions?”

“Poor Addy just talks a lot when she’s nervous. Don’t you hear her heart,Sonny?”

The way they glanced at each other told me Sonny answered him, I just wasn’t privy to their next conversation.

Bastards. The awkward rhythm beating away in my chest made things weird for a moment, so I cleared my throat. “Yes, I ask a lot of questions, but that’s because so far, Alpha Brander has been the only one able to answer any of them. And some of them have been rhetorical.”

“I wonder how loud she screams,” Sonny said out loud, seemingly finishing whatever the hell conversation they were silently having and completely ignoring the one with me.

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