30. Zan
Chapter 30
Zan
R owan was living on borrowed time. I was going to fucking kill him. Torture him in ways that would have him screaming for death. In the last ten days, I had ample time to think about what I was going to do to him. Watching Kali get fed hawthorn and sedatives to the point of being trapped in her own body was worse than any pain they’d inflicted on me.
They were going to regret every single fucking thing they did to her.
I sucked in a pained breath as I shifted on my knees, keeping my gaze on Kali. My body was so weak. It was taking me so much longer to heal, and my heart was still throbbing with pain from the knife that Keeva had stabbed me with. It didn’t help that they were still slathering me with hawthorn lotion to keep my wounds open. The blood they’d given me was just enough to keep me awake, and it wasn’t for my benefit. Rowan took pleasure in making sure I watched Kali suffer.
While I was relieved she was awake, I had a feeling whatever they had planned next wouldn’t be good for her. I frowned, watching as she stared ahead of her with silent questions swirling in her brown eyes. She hadn’t spoken to me since Rowan and Keeva had walked out of the room a minute ago. There were still about twenty soldiers surrounding us, but I didn’t pay them any attention.
“Kali. Don’t listen to them.” I kept my words below a whisper to make sure no one else could hear. “Her words are bullshit.”
Her eyes snapped to me. “Are they? They’re the same words in my mother’s note.”
“Quiet,” a soldier ordered sharply. “No talking.”
“She also wrote that you get to choose between light and dark,” I hissed, hating that her fucking twin was messing with her head. “I know your soul, Kali. And it’s not dark.”
I saw the butt of the rifle a second before it was smashed against my temple. My vision went black for a few seconds, and as waves of pain rolled through my head, I managed to stay silent when the PARA member slammed the gun into my skull again.
“She’s choosing wrong because of her feelings for you.”
I whipped my head up to see Keeva striding back in the room. Rowan was nowhere in sight, but there were two new faces following her. Their scent wasn’t human, and I studied them. Vampire or Shadow. Seeing as it was next to impossible for a vampire to be following Keeva, I was guessing they were Shadows. Unless she held the same power to entrance vampires like Kali did.
“You’re the reason she is siding with vampires,” she said, her lip curling in disgust as she met my eyes. “Her bond with you is keeping her in the dark.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I snarled. Kali’s emotions were fragile right now. She’d just gotten used to the fact that she was a Shadow. She finally admitted her feelings for me, and now Keeva was trying to fucking wreck that.
Kali’s eyes were darting between me and her twin, her body going rigid when she glanced at the two people who were following Keeva.
“Those Shadows weren’t with me,” Kali said slowly, confusion in her voice.
“No, they’re with us.” Rowan appeared in the large doorway.
Shock swept through me at his words. What the hell did that mean? Rowan sauntered closer, and I saw two soldiers behind him with someone between them. My heart skipped when I recognized Norman. I’d guessed the humans would have killed him when they found out he was a vampire, but he looked worse off than I did. Since I turned him recently, he was a new vampire and those wounds covering his body would take weeks to heal.
“It was interesting to find out how slow the transition is,” Rowan said, looking at me. “Something we didn’t know. Obviously we knew it was true with Shadows, but knowing vampires take just as long to change is important information.”
I remained silent, wondering what he was planning. Norman’s arms were bound behind his back, and he stumbled forward when they shoved him to the floor.
“PARA has Shadows?” Kali hissed.
Rowan cocked his head. “You thought we killed them all? No. We kept who we could. Twenty-five years is a long time to wait, but now that Keeva has transitioned, it was all worth it.”
Ice chilled my veins. My father wasn’t aware of this. How many Shadows have they kept? They were doing the same thing. Trying to build an army to win the war. He must have as much knowledge about Kali and Keeva as Amaros did. But his words also proved something else. Him admitting this made it clear they were planning on killing me.
The two Shadows were staring at Kali with frowns on their faces as they caught her scent. Just like the Shadows on my father’s property, they were realizing who she was. Would they obey her or only Keeva?
“Jacob,” Keeva said softly, catching the eye of one of the Shadows. “I want you to feed. From her.”
Silence blanketed the room. Everything I thought I’d known breaking down when she pointed at Kali. I knew nothing. The fact that they’d been taking her blood nonstop for days made it obvious that her blood was important. But I had no idea why.
“From her?” Jacob asked nervously, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes. “She’s like you. I don’t want to hurt her.”
“You won’t,” Keeva promised. “This is what we were born for.”
Kali struggled against the restraints. “What the hell are you doing?”
Rowan plucked the needle from her arm, pulling it out for the first time since I saw her in the chair. “We’re testing. If you don’t stay calm, I’ll pump hawthorn in you until you’re begging me to stop.”
I bit my tongue, his threat making me see red. The unease that had been slowly creeping through me only expanded. I’d known the second I’d woken up in the cell that getting taken by PARA was far different from when the Clovers took me. They had resources to make sure I couldn’t escape. To keep Kali. I had no idea what was going on outside this room. Where my brothers were. If they were even alive.
“Go ahead.” Keeva pushed Jacob toward Kali. “Feed from her wrist.”
Jacob crept forward, indecision on his face. Kali lifted her chin as she met his eyes.
“Don’t,” she ordered, her voice commanding. “Don’t touch me.”
The Shadow froze, making Keeva scowl. My heart thundered as Rowan fisted her hair, wrenching her head back.
“Comply,” he seethed. “Or I’ll make you watch as I torture that Kane you love so much until you don’t recognize him.”
“Get fucked,” I growled. “Do whatever the hell you want to me. Don’t give him what he wants, Kali. He won’t kill me.”
When Rowan let go of her hair, she met my gaze, fear glistening in her eyes. Fear for me. My stomach twisted, seeing her make the decision without her saying a word.
“Go ahead,” she said, looking at the Shadow. “Feed from me.”
“No—”
I let out a curse when the soldier behind me hit me in the back of my head with his rifle again. Jacob moved forward, baring his fangs as he crouched next to Kali. I strained against the cuffs, pain engulfing my wrists from the spikes.
Kali sucked in a breath when he bit into her arm right above the restraint. He sucked lightly, his nose crinkling in distaste. He didn’t react to the hawthorn that they’d been pumping Kali full of. Was her body absorbing it? Keeva and Rowan were watching closely, not saying a word when the Shadow ripped away and stumbled back. Kali watched with wide eyes as he fell to his knees, grabbing his head and letting out a pained yell.
“The process is faster than I imagined,” Rowan muttered as if talking to himself. “Fascinating.”
The Shadow rolled to the floor, his body writhing in agony. Guilt splashed across Kali’s face, and she jerked in the bonds.
“What’s happening?” she shrieked. “I’m killing him.”
“He’s not dying,” Rowan murmured, excitement in his voice. “He’s changing.”
Changing into what? After a few minutes, the Shadow fell still, his chest heaving as he laid on the floor.
Rowan nodded, and two men strode forward and lifted him up, holding his arms to keep the Shadow standing. His head sagged, and he didn’t move a muscle when Rowan stepped in front of him, a small blade in his hand. He grabbed Jacob’s arm and made a long slice from his elbow to wrist. The Shadow let out a scream in pain, fighting against the soldiers’ hold.
“Not fucking possible,” I breathed out in disbelief as I watched blood seep from the wound.
Bright red blood.
The blood of a human or vampire. Not of a Shadow.
“He’s not healing.” Rowan folded the knife, putting it back in his pocket. “He’s human.”
Kali’s lips parted in shock. “My blood does that?”
No one answered her question, and Keeva moved next to Rowan as she bit down on her own wrist, tearing her skin before shoving it against Jacob’s mouth.
“Drink,” she ordered in a voice that made it obvious she was entrancing him.
Jacob obeyed, swallowing thickly until she pulled away. Kali let out a gasp when Keeva grabbed the sides of his head and twisted, snapping his neck in one move.
“Now we wait,” Rowan said as Jacob’s body fell to the floor when the two men released him.
“Wait for what?” Kali snapped.
“Now we know.” Keeva smiled. “Your blood turns Shadows back to human. Mine should do the opposite. I can create Shadows. But the process is similar to the creation of vampires. He needs to die with my blood in his system. A balance, Kali. We are the balance of dark and light. Of good and evil.”
Hearing her voice what just happened didn’t make it any more believable. Kali and Keeva had power that could change this world. Amaros knew. That was why he wanted them both so badly.
“Now the question is, does it also extend to vampires.” Rowan grabbed the back of Norman’s neck and dragged him to Kali. “Drink from her.”
“Please,” Norman begged in a ragged voice. “Just kill me.”
“Now why would I do that when I can possibly fix you?”
Pulling out his knife again, he cut Kali’s arm before pushing Norman’s face down, forcing his mouth over the small wound.
“Drink,” he ordered sharply. “Or the torture I already did to you will seem like child’s play for what I’ll do next.”
Norman sputtered and choked as he drank Kali’s blood. She stared at him in silence as he fell back, landing on his ass. Just like the Shadow, he let out a groan as he jerked in pain. It wasn’t as bad as when Jacob changed, but clearly her blood was doing something to him.
“I want you to entrance him.” Rowan looked at me. “I want to see if he’s human.”
“Fuck you,” I spat out.
“Try again.” Two soldiers dragged Norman toward me as Rowan followed. “You don’t do what I say, then I take you from this room. And who knows when you’ll see her again.”
“I’m not strong enough,” I bit out. “I haven’t had blood in days.”
“Don’t fucking bullshit me,” Rowan bellowed, backhanding me across the face. “You do what I order, or I swear to everything, you won’t lay eyes on her again.”
My jaw clenched as I glared at him. Bending to this asshole was the last thing I wanted. But after these last ten days, I knew he wasn’t bluffing. I didn’t care that I was chained to the floor. If I didn’t have eyes on Kali, I would go fucking insane.
They forced Norman to his knees, and Rowan gripped his hair, tilting his head back. “Look at him.”
Norman’s body shook as he met my eyes, and I forced myself to focus. I hadn’t been fully lying when I said I was too weak. While I could still entrance, it would use energy I didn’t have. My head swam in pain as I locked gazes with Norman.
“How many Shadows does PARA have?”
Rowan scowled. “Ask a different fucking question?—”
“Hundreds—”
Norman’s answer was cut off when Rowan shoved him away, anger sprawled on his face as he looked at me.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, forcing himself to calm down. “You won’t be leaving here.”
“Look what you can do, Kali,” Keeva said, clapping her hands together. “You can change the war. Ruin the vampires. And I can build the Shadows. The world is ours.”
Kali wasn’t paying attention to her. Her eyes cut between Norman and the Shadow who Keeva had killed after feeding him her blood.
“Give her hawthorn and more sedative,” Rowan commanded. “I don’t care how much it takes. I want her out of it so we can move her.”