Page 11 of Trapped for Her Blood
“It’s really 2019?”
I nod.
His head drops. “Then everyone.”
“I’m sorry.”
He inhales, his body inflating with air, and then he picks up a stick and jabs at the fire. The flames rise and sparks fly up toward the high top of the cave, and I trace their path, watching each one burn out before reaching the apex. The faint indirect light coming from high in the cave is warmer now, making me think it might be daytime.
“How long have you been down here?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Too long.”
“Whyare you down here?”
“Why areyou?” He turns toward me again, brushing back the hair from his face.
“I don’t know. I was with…a vampire. We were ambushed. Drugged, I think? And I woke up down here.”
He grunts, then turns back to the fire.
“I guess humans are unusual down here?”
“There arenohumans down here. Except for food.”
My back stiffens. Seems I should be even more frightened than I already am. “Humans are…eatendown here?”
“Wouldn’t put it past the wolves.”
Gathering the blanket more tightly, I glance down at the fur beneath me and at the one covering his lower body. Are theywolfpelts?
Being here with him, have I made myself even more of a target? My body is trembling.
“Just blood.” His voice is softer. “Humans are brought down to give blood to the vampires. Nothing fatal.”
Not fatal, but not exactly great for me either. I’m sure most of the vampires down here won’t ask permission like Ryker did before he bit me.
“Where…where are the humans kept?” Would I be safer with them? I shiver at the idea of existing as part of some kind of live blood bank.
“Humans aren’t kept down here.” Axel shifts his position, stretching out one of his thick legs from under the fur. “Just brought down for feedings.”
“When?” Maybe I can blend in with them and get out when they leave.
“New moon.” His eyes narrow and he shakes his head as if something about this timing annoys him.
“Are they brought into a specific place in the prison?” I ask. “This is aprison, right?”
He shrugs. “Dungeon. Prison. Potato, potawto.”
I nod and wait, hoping he’ll remember my other questions. But either he’s forgotten or doesn’t want to answer.
“When is the next new moon?”
“Tonight.”
I look up at the hint of light at the top of the cave and follow it down to see that it’s lighting a small circle on the water’s surface. “How do you know that, when we can’t see the sky?”
He shrugs. “I can feel it.”
