Page 83 of Blood and Magic
The guy holding me dropped me to the ground in the middle of the group, and I landed hard on my ass, nearly spraining my wrists as I tried to right myself. The horde laughed and hissed, staring down at me with dead, lifeless eyes and sharp, intimidating fangs. I took slow breaths to slow my thudding pulse, but it echoed in my head. I shivered, clenching my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering.
“Show no fear,” my fox urged, bucking at the confines of my mind. She wanted to take over. She wanted to go rabid and tear as many of them apart as she could. “Fight as hard as you can.”
I found my brother in the fray and peered at him with pleading eyes. When he glanced away, I figured he must have found a new family. I was nothing more than a name to him, and that betrayal cut the deepest.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Marx shouted, raising his arms high above his head in a grandstanding gesture of performance. “Esteemed children. Behold! My new bride!”
Shock consumed me, filling my chest and gut with dread. Shouts of joy echoed around me, more terrifying than waking up in a cold dungeon.
“She’s not the one I was promised,” Marx continued, grabbing Percy’s shoulder. “We have our newest pledge to thank for that, but she’ll have to do.”
I scrambled for a plan. They hadn’t bound my wrists (fucking idiots), and I hadn’t been gagged, so I could scream if I needed to. I didn’t know what to do about my feet, which were still tied together at the ankles. Even if I fought, I wouldn’t be able to run. And whatever they’d dosed me with had made me sluggish and woozy, almost like I was drunk without the thrill. The room spun, and my eyes struggled to focus.
“Get her up,” Marx said, and one of his cronies pulled me to my feet. The vile leader walked toward me, stopping inches from my face. His breath was rank, like cigarettes and old compost, and I nearly recoiled away from it, but the vampire behind me held me in place. “What do you think, little shifter bitch? You wanna be my wife for the rest of eternity?”
“I’d rather die,” I said, grimacing and turning my head away.
He gripped my chin, forcing my face back to his. “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll make sure that happens. It’s all part of the process.”
The group laughed, some even shouting their enjoyment.
“Kill her! Kill her,” they chanted.
“Tear her throat out,” said the one behind me.
Marx turned back to me with his slimy grin. “And once we’re done with you, we’ll set in on the cub.”
Ginny.
I pictured these fiends sinking their fangs into her body and tearing her apart. Rage simmered through my veins, and I couldn’t contain it. It flowed through me, so overpowering and all-consuming. I didn’t think; I just reacted.
“No!” I struggled against the vampire’s hold, throwing an elbow behind me so it hit him in the solar plexus. He let out a loud “Oomph” and wilted, letting me go. I curled my hand into a fist and pummeled Marx in the throat as four more of his goons descended on me, grabbing my arms, yanking my head back to expose my neck. I wasn’t as strong as I used to be, and I tried again to focus.
“You fucking cunt,” Marx wheezed, raising a hand to bring it down on my face again. I whipped my head to the side, pain ricocheting down that side of my body. But this time, he didn’t stop. He hit me again and again, hard enough that my vision darkened into shimmering stars, my ears rang, my jaw crunched. A hard knock to the stomach pushed all the air out of my body, and I keened forward, gasping for oxygen, coughing, and struggling against the force.
“Is that enough?” Marx taunted. “Or do I need to bring in your friend?”
“No,” I managed to mutter. “Don’t hurt her.”
“I bet she tastes like sin. I bet she tastes like little virgin alpha slut.”
I widened my eyes at the realization. They knew who she was. They knew Kodiak was her father, and they’d taken her anyway.
“Her daddy’s gonna be pissed when he finds out what we’re gonna do to her.”
My head hung limp on my shoulders, blood seeping out of my nose and mouth, dribbling on the floor. A sharp tug on my hair had me looking up again, staring down the vampire president with an unfocused gaze.
He stuck his tongue out and licked up the center of my face, scooping crimson into his mouth with a soft, masculine groan.
“My, you are delicious.” He tsked through his teeth and shook his head before leaning in to lick more blood from my chin, swallowing it down with a look of pure rapture. “Are you gonna scream for me?”
Knowing he liked his victims to struggle made me more resolute to keep calm. I wouldn’t give him what he wanted. I wouldn’t?—
He yanked me to the side and bared his fangs, striking as quick as a viper. His pointed teeth sank into my throat, right where Vermillion had bitten me twice, and the pain reverberated through my entire body. It stung like poison, like venom coating my veins, and I jerked against the fuckers holding me, thrashing, trying to break free.
Tears bubbled in the corners of my eyes, spilling down my cheeks, and all I could do was wilt against him while he sucked and gulped and slurped it down.
Mill had often compared himself to these beasts. He was terrified he had become one. But I knew differently. He’d never be so cruel to me, so heartless and callous. He still had his soul, and this piece of shit had none.
