Page 14 of Sophie's Ruin
Sophie wasn’t there when I came to with a sharp gasp. But Moreau was, glaring down at me, his fangs glistening in the yellow glow. Candlelight. Where was I? My gaze stretched past Moreau to the cavernous ceiling, then lowered to the rows of skulls sitting on the shelves carved into the stone wall. I had been in this place before—Stern’s lair. They must have brought me here while I had been unconscious.
I was lying on my back, my shredded shirt providing little barrier between me and the cool, rough ground. My nostrils flared as I smelled the other vampires in the room. The other clan leaders were all here. My captors. I will fucking kill them.
A menacing snarl escaped as my lips peeled back to expose my fangs. I prepared to kick up, the stiff muscles of my torso tensing, but before I could, Moreau slammed his booted foot into my chest, keeping me down.
“Not so fast,” he growled.
With an answering growl, I wrapped both hands around his foot, intending to throw him off, but I didn’t get a chance to follow through because someone kicked me in the ribs. Pain exploded as another kick came to the head. Everything in me screamed to fight back, but I was weak—weaker than I had expected. I had forgotten the beating my body had already been through. I needed blood to recover. My stomach twistedat the thought as hunger spiked. It seemed that once I had acknowledged my thirst, given life to it, it seized control, lashing at my insides.
A strangled sound left me as my body spasmed. My stomach cramped, and I wanted to curl into myself. Doing so would also help withstand the kicking better, but Moreau’s foot on my chest was pushing me down, driving me into the floor. The beating continued for a while until it eventually stopped when I’d become a bloody, battered mess on the floor. Moreau’s foot was no longer on my chest. He didn’t need to keep me down. I couldn’t get up even if I tried.
The clan leaders surrounded me, peering down at me. Blinding hatred blurred their features as I stared up at the perfect faces. Fucking monsters. I couldn’t stand looking at them, so I let my gaze slide to my left, to the small wooden table sitting there. Something metal lay atop it, I could smell it even past the metallic scent of my blood, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I solved that mystery a moment later when Moreau reached for the table and picked up a sharp sickle blade. My stomach twisted again but now for a different reason.
“This is going to be fun,” Moreau drawled, with a deranged expression on his rough-hewn face.
I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. This was going to be worse than I’d thought. They couldn’t kill me yet because I was bait for Sophie, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t make me suffer. When I opened my eyes again, Moreau’s features were mottled in a savage smile.
“Does anyone else want to join me?” he asked the others in the room.
My gaze darted to the other clan leaders. Beatrice Stern looked like she was on the verge of saying yes, her fathomlesseyes lighting up with wicked excitement. She was so much like her brother, a monster through and through.
“Maybe later,” she said. “I need to feed first.” She turned and left the room.
Lena and Yvonne also declined before leaving.
“You’re going to enjoy this, aren’t you?” Emeric asked Moreau, his face set in a strange expression. He looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be impressed or disturbed.
“I am,” Moreau drew the word out, his tone chilling my blood. “Very much so.”
Deciding on disturbed, Emeric just shook his head, his brows knitting before he strolled out.
Camilla was the only one left in the cavernous room besides Moreau and me. She eyed the Lord of the West as if she wasn’t sure she should be leaving him alone with me. A tiny spark of hope flared in my chest. Perhaps I would be spared from what Moreau was planning to do to me. Silence stretched for a few seconds as Camilla stood unmoving, staring at Moreau. He stared back, a challenge in his feverish brown eyes. My heart stuttered as I waited for my fate to be sealed, and stopped when Camilla turned to leave.
“Don’t kill him,” she threw over her shoulder before she walked out.
Moreau looked unhinged when he turned toward me, the sickle blade gleaming in his hand.
“You’re mine now,” he snarled, seconds before my screams filled the cave.
7
SOPHIE
Iwas in the dark place again, the eerie quiet chilling my skin. Frantically, I looked around, searching for Henry or my mother, but they weren’t here to guide me into the light. It was just me and the darkness.
“You’re mine now,” it whispered maliciously from the shadows.
A cold feeling invaded my chest, and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself.
“No,” I said into the pitch-black, but my voice came out weak and unsteady.
“There is no one here to save you,” another slithering whisper of smoke and shadows.
“I don’t need anyone to save me. I can save myself,” I said louder, but my voice still shook as trepidation curled down my spine.
“You couldn’t even savehim. The one who’d pulled you out before.”
“I will save him. I will do anything for him,” I declared, lowering my hands and squaring my shoulders.
