Page 76 of Fanged Desire
“Addison?!” My sister’s voice cracked with disbelief.
My sister.
Penelope was alive, and I’d found her.
“It’s me,” I managed to choke out, pressing my forehead against the door, tears threatening to spill over. “I’m here. I – I found you.”
“You’re real?” Her whispered response threatened to buckle my knees. “Oh my God, Addy, is it really you?”
“It’s real, I’m here.” My fingers were already fumbling with the bolt. “Hold on. I’m getting you out. Just – just hold on.”
“What are you – how are you here?!” My sister’s voice was trembling, tinged with something like hysteria as she jostled the door. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe!”
“I don’t care.I’m getting you out,” I hissed through my teeth, jaw set as I battled with the bolted door.
The lock was older than I expected, the mechanism rusted with misuse, and for a brief, excruciating moment, it refused to budge.
“Comeon,” I muttered, blinking rapidly to clear my vision. I couldn’t let the tears fall, not yet. Not until I was sure she was safe.
After a few tense seconds the bolt finally gave with a groan. I pushed the door open to reveal a small group of bedraggled humans, huddled together in the dark. They looked pale and gaunt, their eyes wide and watery.
I counted ten of them. Ten terrified strangers… and Penelope.
I ripped the mask off my face and for a moment, I couldn’t move. Penelope stood a few steps away, thinner than I remembered, her eyes haunted in a way they had never been before. But they were the same wide eyes I had seen a thousand times in my memories. Despite the horrors she’d been subjected to, they were still bright, still hers.
I crossed the threshold in two strides, and then she was in my arms. I held her tightly, burying my face in her shoulder as a sob escaped me. Her arms wrapped around me, just as desperate, and for a moment, all urgency dissipated. I had my sister back. We were still in the belly of the beast, but we were there together.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered into her hair, my apology rough and unpracticed. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to find you. I’m so sorry foreverything. I–”
“Addison, stop,” she interrupted, her grip tightening. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”
We stood like that, clinging to each other as if letting go would mean losing each other again. My guilt clawed at me, the months of searching, of failure, weighing heavier than ever.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I rasped, my tears soaking into her hair.
“You didn’t.” Penelope pulled back just enough to look at me, her own eyes wet and glassy. “You found me. But Cathy… Cathy’s people – God Addy, they grabbed me outside the club one night. I don’t even know how long ago that was. I don’t know how long I’ve been gone.”
Her voice faltered and she clung to me, the words spilling out in a rush. “They brought me to her lab. They ran tests – so many tests. They wanted to make sure I had some unique gene, and when they confirmed it, they tested everything else. My blood, my heart, my lungs… They wanted to make sure I was perfect.”
Over her shoulder, I could see the other captives slowly climbing to their feet, eyeing me warily as Penelope babbled, her tears flowing freely now. “When I tried to escape the first time I overheard them talking about… about a feast.”
My breath caught and I met her bleary eyes. “A feast?”
Her lips quivered, and she nodded. “My cellmate… they said she was ‘ready.’ I didn’t understand at first, but then–” Her voice broke. “They’re eating people, Addy. Humans like me. Like us. That’s what they’re doing.”
My stomach turned, bile rising in my throat.
“I got caught,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “I panicked when I heard them talking about it, and they heard me. They dragged me back to my cell and… and gave me something. Drugged me with something to keep me calm, keep me quiet.”
She was scared, I could see it. That flicker of fear rippling her features, the way her voice shook at Cathy’s name, her unsteadylegs buckling at every shaky breath – it was enough to snap me out of my grief. We weren’t out of the woods yet.
I sucked in a breath, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“We need to go.” I untangled her arms from my neck, forcing myself to think clearly.
Her body trembled against mine, but she nodded, pulling back to gesture to the others. “We have to get them out too.”
I glanced at the other captives. They stared back at me with empty eyes. My heart ached at the sight of them – bruised and terrified. I couldn’t leave them behind.
