23. Sol
CHAPTER 23
Sol
T hey kept us bound and gagged in a dark, dank part of the basement, attached to the stone wall with thick silver chains. I yanked on them as hard as I could, knowing shifters were stronger than humans, but this far out from the next moon it did no good. My skin burned and the toxicity from the metal seeped into my bloodstream, making me feel drowsy and incoherent. The Scorpions must have prepared for that, or perhaps they made a habit out of keeping shifters locked up down here. Judging by the deep claw marks on the walls, that might be true.
When I gave up, I slumped to the ground and stared at my sister a few feet away from me. They’d hit her several times in the fight, bruising starting to swell around her eyes and temple. It pissed me off even more, and as soon as we got the opportunity, I’d sink my canines into anyone who touched her.
Minutes passed like centuries while we were locked down there, both of us still gagged. I had no idea exactly how long we sat in silence until a door opened and heavy boots thundered outside the door, closely followed by the click-clack of heels.
Ten Scorpions filled in around me, their black eyes glowing in the small fluorescent light hanging overhead. Now that I had a better chance to look at them, I recognized the difference between the Bastards and the Scorpions right away. Where the Bastards were full of life and energy, radiating warmth to anyone that came close, the Scorpions were the exact opposite. Each of them had translucent skin, so paper thin I could see the purple veins underneath. They reeked of rotting bodies, like roadkill no one had bothered to clear away.
Marx, especially, was more of a monster than a man. How long had he been a vampire? And how exactly did one become a vampire? Orion had never explained the process, and the lore varied from region to region. Could I base my reality on what I’d seen in films and TV?
“Well, well, well,” Marx said, coming to stand in front of me. “If it isn’t my bride to be?”
I stared up at him, daring him to make a move. I didn’t have a death wish, far from it, but nor did I want to find out what happened when a vampire bit a shifter. Orion hadn’t made it sound like a pleasant way to go. But if it was death or being his blood-thrall, I’d take the early grave.
“Did you think it would be that easy to get out of a deal with me?” Marx said, squatting down so he was eye level. Up close, I could make out every scar on his face, a crisscross pattern of fine silver lines. Had he gotten them while he was still a human? Did they happen while he tried to feed from his victims?
I bit my gag harder, my canines extending on their own as he got closer. I winced and pulled away, trying to get closer to the wall so he didn’t touch me. But it was no use. He reached out and wrapped his cold, dead fingers into my hair, yanking my head back so I had to stare up at him.
“A deal with me is permanent,” he said, shaking his head and tsking to chide me. “It’s unto death for a reason.”
The vampires behind him laughed, and I saw my brother toward the back of the crowd, his eyes wide and shifty as he took in the scene. I’d never been close to Percy. There was an eight year age difference between us, and he’d been well on his way to college by the time I’d been old enough to form memories. But now, I seethed with hatred for him. I’d see him dead and buried before I left here, so help me whatever deities would listen.
Marx opened his mouth into an evil, maniacal grin that showed off his fangs. They weren’t like shifter canines, which were elongated versions of human teeth. No, vampire fangs were pointed across the top and the bottom, each tooth made for sinking into flesh.
“Those fucking Bastards are going to come for you, and when they do”—his disgusting smile sickened me—“I’m going to take great pleasure in killing you in front of them.”
Guin yanked at her chains, snarling around the gag as Marx’s hold on my hair twisted harder, making me whimper.
“Oh, does big sis have something to say?” Marx let out a demented laugh. “How about you, big bro? Why don’t you go shut her up?”
Percy glanced between me and Guin for a moment before stepping through the crowd, making his way to our sister. He reached his hand back, and I thought I saw regret flash behind his expression before he brought his fist down on Guin’s face hard enough to break her nose. A loud crack echoed through the basement before the metallic scent of blood filled the air. One of the other cronies came forward and stomped on Guin’s leg so hard it snapped with an audible crunch and she let out another howl of pain.
Percy brought his knuckles to his mouth and licked them clean, letting out a deep moan at the response.
“Holy shit, that’s good,” Percy said.
“That’s the shifter blood,” Marx explained. “It can be tempting to drain them dry, but you need to be careful. There’s a reason we’re natural enemies, after all.”
“Shifter blood can dilute the senses, even more than human blood,” one of Marx’s cronies explained. I read the nametag on his cut as Kol—Enforcer. “Drink too much, and you’ll be out for days.”
“What about their bites?” Percy asked. “Can a shifter bite harm a vampire?”
“Only if it’s the full moon and they’re in animal form,” Kol explained, laughing. “That’s why they’re so fucking weak. Vampires are lethal every damn day, and a shifter can only do damage one day of the month.”
I couldn’t help myself. They were so wrong, so ill-informed, I laughed. Maybe a shifter’s bite couldn’t hurt a vampire, but I had claws and canines and a surly attitude, not to mention the pack that was coming for me. This got Marx’s attention, and he looked back at me, narrowing his sinister gaze.
“Find that funny, do you?” He shook his head and hauled his arm back to bring it down on my face, the way my brother had done to Guin. Pain ricocheted through my body, erupting in my gut before sizzling back up my spine. He did it again, forcing my head to whip to the side, but I had expected it that time and braced myself to glance back up at him, blood pouring down my face from where he’d split open my cheek. I stared at him while he grabbed my chin so he could lick across my skin, capturing crimson on his tongue.
“Hmm, don’t you taste magnificent?” He chuckled. “I should let my vampires have you. I should sink my fangs into your jugular and rip out your windpipe.”
Instead, he punched me harder, sending me onto my side in the fetal position, where he kicked my stomach with his boots.
Hit him, the fox said. Bite him. Claw him. Do something to protect yourself.
I would. The second they took these manacles off my wrists, the minute I got away from the silver weighing me down, I’d fight tooth and nail. I had to. I sensed Orion’s fury and panic growing stronger. He must have felt the agony pouring off me. I ignored it and tried to block out the pain. I didn’t want Marx to win. I didn’t want him to think he had any leverage over me.
“I should let my nest have you,” he said, spitting on me like I was shit on the ground. “I should let Kol and his buddies fuck you until you learn some manners. Would you like that?”
Kol laughed, accompanied by a few of his other Scorpion bloodsuckers.
“Yeah, I bet you would,” Marx said. “That’s how you got in with the Bastards, isn’t it? You started fucking one of them like the Vanderbilt whore you are. Did they run through you like a train station? I bet they did. I bet you liked it.”
Guin rattled her chains again, almost like she was trying to get Marx’s attention, but he didn’t budge. No, he squatted down next to me, grabbing my hair to pull me back up again. I winced against the ache in my scalp, trying to focus on him through eyes that burned with blood and dirt and impact trauma.
“I bet a little vampire dick would do you some good, huh?” One side of his mouth curled into that despicable grin. “Tell you what. I’m not interested in sloppy seconds, especially when it’s a fucking Bastard that’s already laid a claim. But Kol? He doesn’t mind as much. And neither does half my nest.” Marx let me go and turned on his heel to head back toward the gathered crowd. “Kol, if you want ’em, you can have ’em.”
“What about the Bastards?” Percy cut in. “Don’t you want to keep them in one piece so you can make a statement?”
Was that Percy’s sad attempt at protecting us? I grimaced against the sheer torment rattling through my body, made even worse by the promise of rape and torture and whatever else that ghastly looking Kol might have in store for me and my sister.
Marx tilted his head at Percy and clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s the human still inside you. Don’t worry, the longer you stay with us, the more that will fade. One day, you’ll wake up and hardly remember that you used to feel anything at all.” Marx nodded to Kol and disappeared into the crowd, the sounds of his boots echoing down the hall.
“Now, which one of you can take a bigger cock, huh?” Kol rubbed his hands together as he looked between Guin and me. “I bet it’s you, little sister.”
He came closer as I tried to shrink away, but there was nowhere to go, and he wrapped his stony, ice-cold fingers around my bicep to haul me up. One of the other cronies unlocked the chains connecting me to the wall, but left the ones around my wrists before they both hauled me over to a desk in the far corner of the room.
I struggled against them, kicking my legs and swinging my arms as hard as I could, but it did no good. Vampires were nearly as strong as shifters, and I’d only known about my magical side for a week, hardly long enough to harness it when it wasn’t a full moon.
My canines extended over the gag, pulsing with the need to sink into vampire skin, and just as I was about to give up, they sunk through the fabric, slicing it in two. I spat it out and leaned down to bite Kol’s hand, rancid, tangy vamp blood filling my mouth in a disgusting rush that nearly made me retch. My claws extracted through the end of my fingertips, cutting into my own palms as I swiped out, tearing flesh and muscle.
“Fuck!” Kol winced and pulled back, but it was enough to give me a moment to react. I kicked out at the other vampire, surprised at my strength when I broke his knee and bent it back the wrong way.
“You fucking bitch!” the vampire screamed, but I’d gotten free enough to scramble toward my sister in a desperate attempt to break her out. Fueled by Orion’s magic and the strength he sent down the bond between us, I could get her out. And then we could?—
Strong arms wrapped around my waist, picking me up off the ground.
“You’re gonna pay for that, you feral little cunt.” Kol’s voice grated like sandpaper on my skin and his blood stank. My heart pounded and I struggled harder, kicking and snapping my teeth at whatever I could get. But another vampire stepped in to help him, wrapping a piece of fabric around my mouth, thicker and tighter than the one before it.
It took three of them to subdue me, Kol pinning my arms to my sides and two others to hold each leg. I squirmed against them as they carried me out the door, my panic blaring into terror as they separated me from Guin. She yanked at the restraints and tried to reach for me, but the silver weighed her down and my last glimpse was of her scrambling to try to get to me.
I struggled, twisting and turning, trying with everything in me to get away from them as we climbed four flights of stairs. Eventually, they took me into a long, dark hallway and turned into a room on the right, my muscles tensing when I saw all kinds of torture implements on the wall. Pincers and maces with thick, stabby points and needles the size of my arms. But the thing that terrified me the most was a syringe containing some kind of shimmering gray liquid—likely silver.
“I’ve got a surprise for you, shifter bitch,” Kol said, throwing me down in the center of the space. I tried to push to my feet so I could run, but one of the other vampires punched me hard across the cheek, and the torment shooting down my face and into my body made me wince. My vision darkened for a moment, only a heartbeat, but it was long enough for them to attach my cuffs to a chain hanging by the ceiling before yanking it taut. It forced me to my feet, my arms stretched up above me, my toes barely touching the ground.
And when Kol picked up the needle containing something that would most definitely burn, I screamed.