Chapter 9 #2
A long moment of silence descends over the frozen initiates.
“And roughly three quarters of you will be eliminated from consideration before the evening is over.”
Jesus.
A sharp tremble ripples through my body. I glance over at Gabby, whose teeth are gnawing at her bottom lip.
“You will now be met by your Adepts. Go with them and do whatever they ask. Refusal to comply will result in immediate removal from the initiation.”
He tilts his head back, looking up at the glass ceiling high above.
“Per silentium. Per sanguinem.”
Through silence. Through blood.
Suddenly, a heavy door swings open behind us. We all turn, and my heart starts pounding harder when a number of people emerge, all in black and wearing black Bauta masks adorned with venom-green filigree.
A tall guy a few yards away from Gabriella and me is the first to find his Adept.
“Let’s go,” the equally tall but much more muscular man in the black and green Bauta mask growls. Gabby and I glance at each other nervously before we turn back and see the Adept leading the initiate out of the room.
A red-haired girl is next, whose terror is visible even through her mask when her Adept, a tall, athletic brunette woman, steps in front of her and wordlessly crooks a finger for the initiate to follow.
My pulse races as I watch initiate after initiate getting pulled from the room.
Gabby gasps audibly next to me, making my head snap to the side. I gawk at the huge, broad-shouldered figure looming over her, staring menacingly down into her stunned face.
Didn’t she say her Adept was a girl?
Just as I think that, Gabby’s big green eyes get even bigger behind her mask, her mouth falling open.
“Wait, I—”
“Change of plans,” the man’s dark, deep, slightly amused voice purrs from behind his black and venom-green Bauta mask.
Gabriella’s face goes pale. “But—”
“You either come with me right now,” the man growls in a low, dangerous tone, “or else there’s the fucking door.”
The man leans closer and whispers in her ear. Even from here, I see the fear ripple violently through her body.
Her throat bobs. Then, slowly, she nods.
The man towering over her chuckles darkly behind his mask. He turns, gestures with his hand, and a now terrified-looking Gabriella briefly glances at me with sheer panic in her eyes before she follows him through the side door.
What the heck just happened?
I don’t have time to dwell on the question. One by one, the initiates leave with their Adepts.
…Until quite suddenly, I realize I’m alone in the room.
My heart skips in my chest, my clammy hands shaking at my sides. I rub my thumbs against my index and middle fingers as a tight knot forms in my stomach.
I turn, looking around the utterly empty room, wondering if maybe Vaughn decided that I could go screw myself concerning this whole thing. There’s no guards. No man in red with the staff. No other initiates or Adepts.
Nobody.
“You made a grave mistake coming here tonight, Evelina.”
The gasp curdles and dies in my throat as I whirl to face him.
Vaughn has appeared on the dais, staring right at me.
He’s wearing a black Bauta mask adorned with venom-green filigree, like the others.
But I still know it’s him. I can sense his eyes on me even though they’re lost in the shadows of the mask from this far away.
The knot in my stomach pulls tighter as he slowly steps from the dais and walks over until he’s right in front of me. I can see those icy blues now, stabbing into me and flaying my soul open.
“I…” I swallow heavily. “The invitation—”
“I thought you’d be smart enough to ignore it,” he growls. His head slowly tips to the side. “Apparently I was mistaken.”
I shiver. “Vaughn—“
“No.”
He interrupts me, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Don’t say my name,” he hisses. “I’m not your little friend’s brother here. You don’t know a fucking thing about me here. But you’re about to find out.”
I tremble, gasping quietly as he lifts his hand and wraps his fingers around my throat again, like that’s where they belong. My entire body twitches and tingles with nervous, terrified energy.
“Your safe word is midnight.”
Fear twists sharply inside me.
“My…” A tremble trickles down my spine. “Safe word?”
“Do you know what’s going to happen here tonight, Evelina?”
I’m freaking shaking, an uncontrollable tremor wracking my body. My throat bobs against his fingers and palm as I swallow, trying to slow my racing heart.
“My…my worst fears,” I croak. “You’re going to make me face them.”
Vaughn’s masked face is utterly devoid of any emotion as it cants to the side.
“And what is that?”
I go silent, and a low, dark chuckle rumbles from behind his mask.
“Follow me.”
He brushes past me and calmly walks toward another door at the back of the big banquet room. I'm rooted to the ground.
“I won’t be repeating myself tonight, Evelina.”
I jolt, quickly moving to catch up to him.
Vaughn leads me through the door and down a dark hallway to another door. When he opens it, cool air teases over me before we step out into the night, lit only by the silver moon hanging low in the inky, cloud-dotted sky.
A ripple finger-walks up my spine as I glance around at the gnarled, bare branches of a twisted tree, looming over a collection of statues, gargoyles, crosses, and a few small stone houses.
I go still.
No, not statues and houses.
Graves and mausoleums.
We’re standing in a crumbling, walled graveyard.
I startle as the door shuts behind me with a heavy thud. My eyes dart up to Vaughn’s masked face as he stands over me, looking down into my very soul.
“I’m going to give you one. Last. Chance.”
I shiver. “I…I thought attendance constituted—”
“Shut the fuck up and listen, Evelina,” he murmurs. “This is your very last chance. None of this should be taken lightly. Should you survive, admittance to the Syndicate is for life. This is not a holiday. It’s not a fun social club for when you’re bored.”
He leans down slightly, eyes glinting like wicked blue-tinged diamonds in the shadowy eyeholes of his mask. I shiver as his slight spicy, earthy, masculine scent teases over me.
“Are you sure you’re willing to sacrifice your own blood to help a shit-stain of a man who’d sell you out for a bottle of cheap vodka.”
My mouth twists. “He… He’s my father.”
“Fathers are highly overrated,” he snaps back.
For the first time, I realize he’s also dressed in comfortable clothes—a black hoodie that fits snugly across his broad shoulders, black track pants, black sneakers.
Why does it feel like we’re about to go for a jog?
“This is your last warning. Don’t do this for someone else. Do it for you, or don't do it at all.”
The silence hangs heavily between us as I take a shaky breath.
“I’m ready,” I say softly.
“I disagree,” he growls. “Regardless: remember your safe word. Midnight, and this all stops.”
A tremor slips up my spine.
What all stops?
“But if it stops, it all stops. You go home, and you are done with the Syndicate. Needless to say, we’re done with you, too.”
The implication is clear: if I tap out, I’m done, and I can kiss any chance of the Syndicate helping my father goodbye.
I can also be sure that Diego Torvallés will make good on his threat.
There’s only one way forward.
“I understand,” I whisper hoarsely.
Vaughn doesn’t reply. Another long few seconds tick by, then I jolt sharply at the jarring, angry caw of a crow somewhere in the night.
“Tonight, Evelina,” Vaughn says evenly, rolling his neck and cracking his knuckles, “you’re going to face your greatest fear.”
My brows knit. “I…I don’t think I know what that—”
“Sex.”
The word hits me like a slap across the face. Reality twists at the edges, and a siren starts to whine in the back of my head.
“What you fear is sex,” he continues in an even, emotionless voice.
“N-no, I—”
“So tonight, I’m going to fuck you.”
The moonlight dims. All sound fades until all I can hear is the high-pitched whine in my ears. All I can feel is the cold, damp air settling over my skin.
All I can see is the sharp, venomous, glint in his brutal blue eyes.
“I will be rough. I will not be gentle.”
The ground turns to ice under my shoes, freezing me in place as pure dread creeps up my body.
“I will hurt you, Evelina.”
Holy hell.
Holy freaking HELL.
My pulse roars. My legs shake. My lip trembles as I look up wide-eyed into his uncaring, masked face.
“Midnight,” he says quietly. “Use it, or I will ruin you.”
The darkness itself seems to throb around him like a black aura. I don’t realize I’m backing away from him until I feel a twig crack like a dry bone under my foot.
“Now, if I were you, I would run.”
I go still, staring at him with pure adrenaline flooding my system.
“Run, Evelina. And run fast. Because when I catch you, I’m going to fuck you until you break.”