Page 10 of Death Comes for Her
“You must run, Sierra. You are the last of them. You’re the only one who can…”
∞∞∞
A warm sponge caressed my flesh and massaged my muscles. Clean sheets and fresh blankets draped my prone, helpless body. More broth passed between my lips. A young female voice crooned, grateful that I drank.
As the darkness returned, so did the nightmares.
∞∞∞
Awareness jolted through me like a blow to the back of my head. Eyes snapping open, they flicked around the dimly lit space, starved for information. A large four-poster bed with deep red velvet curtains drawn back surrounded me. The rich wood of the walls was near black in the lowlight. Soft crackling from a fire in the hearth across the room broke up the silence and cast a gentle glow on the dark furnishing.
It certainly wasn’t a farm.
I sucked in deep, erratic breaths and my heartbeat kicked up when memories slammed into the front of my mind.
Vampires had caught me and nearly drained me dry. I’d been delivered to two high-ranking generals of the Ambrose coven. One of them killed Eryx, and I threw up on the floor. Everything after that whirled like a jumbled mess inside my skull.
I threw every ounce of newfound energy into flinging myself off the bed. Weakened by an extended period without food, being drained, and pumped full of venom, and an undetermined amount of time laying down, my legs refused the call to action. Nausea rolled through my stomach and my limbs turned to jelly. I thumped bodily onto the rug.
A door flung open, followed by a sharp feminine gasp. I saw the hem of a black dress and a white apron round the wingback chairs in front of the fire before stopping in front of my face.
“Back in bed with you. The masters will have my head if you’re not fit.” Small hands hooked under my arms. The strength in those hands startled me as I was lifted off the floor and set back into the bed.
“No, please.” My plea scraped the inside of my throat from disuse. A groggy groan vented from my lips.
“Here.” The woman set me back on the bed. I blinked to focus my eyes as she pressed a cool glass into my hand. “Have some water.”
Despite the panic flaring under my skin, my dry tongue begged for a drink. I swallowed down every ounce of chilled water until the cold settled in my belly and my limbs shuddered. It was the best, cleanest water I’d had in years.
I almost asked for more.
Glancing up, my eyes rounded at the young woman standing with her hands clasped behind her back. She stood next to the bed with bright green eyes and a smile tugging at her lips.Memories of a gentle voice encouraging me to drink over the course of several days came crashing back down on me.
“You’re the one who fed me?” I cringed at the croak of my voice.
“I am.” She beamed, with a preternatural glint in her eyes. “My name is Imani. I work here in the manor.”
Humans were mostly considered a food source. A vampire, then?
“Should I be worried you’re going to bite me?” My hand rubbed over my neck, searching for puncture marks. The skin was unblemished, as if the trauma of my journey had never happened.
“Can’t.” She shrugged, then opened her mouth, showing off the gaps in her gums. “They took my fangs out a long time ago.”
“That’s monstrous!” I blurted, without thinking. It almost startled me more than the fact I was concerned about what happened to a bloody vampire. Needing a distraction, my gaze dropped to the silver band around her neck. “What are the collars for?”
Am I going to end up with a fucking collar around my neck?
Imani sighed. “They show we’re lesser vampires. Servants. Everyone who works in the manor wears one. You’re safe from us.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not so bad once you get used to it.”
“You don’t look old enough to have gotten used to such savagery.” I suppose I could have said the same for myself.
“Looks can be deceiving with vampires, though, can’t they?” Her head tipped to the side as she examined me. “Fairies too.”
“I suppose so.” The girl looked as if she were right on the cusp of womanhood. “How old are you?”
