Page 85 of Fighting for Her Heart
“Where are they located?” he asks.
“There’s a secret door in the floor of the altar,” Mom answers. “They’re in the cellar below.”
“Is there no other way down?” Zuben asks.
Mom shakes her head. “The cellar’s been there at least as long as the church, but its existence is concealed by the keepers of magic who use it.”
“Keepers of Light?” Zuben asks.
“Whoever they are, they’re searching for Ember. We can’t let them find her.”
“Go over your plan again,” Zuben says, and I suspect that this is for my benefit.
“I’ll create an illusion to cloak you,” she says. “You follow me down the stairs, and I’ll distract the others while you free Axe and Ryker.”
“What is trapping them?” Zuben asks her.
“Their inability to see or open the cellar door. They can’t see any escape route. But I’ll use a spell to hold open the door.”
Memories flood through me, given the similarity of the hidden cellar under the farmhouse—one that doesn’t even exist without magic.
“This plan has a great deal of uncontrollable variables and uncertainties,” Zuben says, and although I can’t see his face I know that he’s frowning, uncomfortable with the loose plan.
I’m uncomfortable too. And there’s no chance I’m going to let that hidden cellar door close once it’s opened. Even being trapped again myself is better than losing Mom and Zuben along with Axe and Ryker.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Axe
The silverthat’s encasing me is unbearable, but it’s nothing compared to the pain in my heart. I have no idea how or when I might see Ember again—my wife, my mate, my love for all eternity.
One of our captors is tending to Ryker at the moment, giving me a moment of relief. He shouts a long string of obscenities clearly demonstrating his pirating past.
I don’t get why these witches are holding us, never mind what they are doing to our bodies. And Ryker and I are not the only vampires here.
The third vampire held with us is so weakened, however, that he looks skeletal and hasn’t so much as opened his eyes, never mind spoken since Ryker and I were trapped down here. The witches took him away and locked him in a cell at the back of this hellhole.
I glance down toward my arms, but I’m barely able to see them. My head is strapped into a silver cage, tight around my head and throat, and my forehead burns from the effort of looking down.
Needles protrude from both my elbows, but they aren’t draining blood at the moment. I’ve lost track of time and have no concept of how long we’ve been down here, but we’ve been given short breaks to regenerate our blood and semen, before they drain us again. Over and over.
So far, we haven’t been fed—which explains the comatose state of our fellow captor. But I’ll refuse any vein offered to me. I’ll refuse as long as I can, without risking death, because I will not give up hope of returning to my mate, to Ember.
“Come!”
I hear a voice. Turning my eyes to the side, I see Nora and Zuben standing at the entrance to the dark, cave-like room Ryker and I are held captive in.
“Run!” I shout, but Zuben doesn’t seem to hear me.
“This one is now lambent as well,” Nora says to the three witches who’ve been tormenting us.
“Well done, Evanora,” says the one with the blond hair. “And what of the Illuminant herself?”
“We don’t need her,” Nora says. “With these three, we will have enough fluid to keep us young and beautiful for hundreds of years.”
“Axel!” Zuben grabs onto my arm and tugs. “Why are you betraying Ember? I thought your kind was particularly loyal.”
Silver burns my wrists as Zuben tries to tug my arm forward and away from where it’s trapped against the wall. Based on his expression, he doesn’t seem to understand that he’s hurting me. Is he under some kind of spell? This place is so full of magic, I’ve been choking on it since the moment we arrived.
