Chapter 2
The first thing Raven noticed was the smell. Clean linen, traces of a citrussy cleaner. A room that was aired regularly.
It clashed with what he feared, with what he knew. What had become his entire reality. In the other room, in the room with the bed I couldn’t escape, nothing smelled like that. I stank. The two of them stank. What they did to me stank.
Deep sorrow overtook Raven when he realized what that had to mean. I feel fine. I don’t hurt. They killed me in that dark, dank room, and now I’m dead. Fuck me, but there is an afterlife. That’s funny, actually. If Mom could see me, she’d point and say, “Told you so.”
“Are you waking? I can see you smiling. It’s quite all right to wake up now. You’re safe here.”
Raven flinched, then squinted. His eyes were fine, his vision clear.
That was wrong, because he wore contacts that the vampire had taken out because he’d wanted to see Raven’s eyes.
Such pretty eyes, he’d said. Raven remembered the way he’d smiled when he’d said it—taunting, as if he were complimenting a condemned man for his pretty neck.
Sitting in a chair next to the bed Raven was lying in, there was a man right out of either an action movie or a romance.
He had long, pretty hair, blond and braided.
Even so, it almost fell to his waist. He had green eyes, bottle green and bright, and he wore something skintight, but in the way police armor for crowd control was skintight.
He was attractive in that undeniable way that had people of all genders happily agreeing, and Raven wondered whether his mother had been right about angels as well.
“There you are,” the green-eyed guy said. He smiled, and Raven tensed. “I won’t hurt you. Like I said, you’re safe here.” He gestured to the room. “This is my house. My name is Maxim Vallois, and I’m a hunter of the Forum. Do you know what that means?”
“Y-you k-k-k-kill them. Bad vampires.” Raven couldn’t seem to stop himself from trembling. It was like shivering in winter; an automatic reaction he couldn’t control.
Maxim Vallois, the hunter, nodded. “Yes, that’s right.
Bad vampires. Bad werewolves. It’s a rare fae that gets up to the things that would demand punishment, but I’d find myself responsible for them as well.
” He paused. The muscles in his jaw tensed, and he pressed his lips together tightly before he spoke again.
“Do you remember where you were before here?”
Raven wasn’t sure he could trust this man, this vampire.
Everything he knew about hunters said he should, but then…
He’d listened. He’d listened while they’d used him, while they’d forced him to watch what they’d done to his professor and her husband.
We’re powerful, and I am an old vampire, little Raven.
There’s little that can stop me or even slow me down.
The memory of the voice made Raven’s stomach clench. Disgust rolled through him. On instinct, he pulled the sheet he lay under tight to his chest. In the process, he noticed he was naked underneath. Tears clouded his vision.
They had told him, in between what they had done to him, that they were powerful.
That they had friends. Supporters. Free thinkers.
The vampire had liked that term. Free thinkers, he’d said, as if it were a positive thing, a good thing.
Perhaps we’ll take you to meet a friend or two, the vampire had said, his voice and expression calculating in a way that told Raven he should be afraid.
Is this it? Is this hunter one of them? Did he already—Raven pulled his knees up, using the blanket like a shield, knowing full well that it wasn’t.
The hunter uncrossed his legs. “You remember. You are currently naked because an associate of mine, a doctor, cleaned you as best as he could once he brought you here. Obviously, you can shower too.”
A doctor. A doctor was different. Raven’s mind was reeling.
He remembered too much, and at the same time, bits were missing: the events just before waking here, in this clean-smelling room.
He couldn’t remember being brought here.
They had compelled him before to take him places, but he remembered that, remembered the trips.
He couldn’t remember anything about getting here, didn’t even really know where here was.
And yet, a doctor. Perhaps…perhaps the cops found me?
Forum cops. They operate differently. And maybe he is a good hunter, like they’re supposed to be.
He doesn’t look bad. He doesn’t look like them.
He’s not trying to touch me or do anything, so maybe he’s good?
And if he called a doctor for me, then there’s going to be an investigation.
Raven had only a rough idea about what that would entail. It meant someone had saved him, maybe this hunter. Raven hadn’t really thought about that, but there had to be things that would need to happen after getting saved. A trial and—
“Th-th-the evidence…”
Maxim sighed, and there was that tensing of his facial muscles again. “I’m not taking you to get a rape kit done, Raven. There’s no need. I don’t require that kind of proof. I already know some of what happened to you—enough—and I will pass judgment accordingly. Do you understand?”
The tears were cold on Raven’s cheeks. He shook his head.
“Well. I see. I suppose this is backward. I’ll tell you what you missed. Is that okay?”
The question was asked softly, carefully, as if the hunter thought Raven could break. Raven wondered if he looked like that: breakable. Or broken. Perhaps there was no difference. He nodded.
“Okay. Your roommate tried to report you missing. You are of age, so that did not go well, as you might imagine. He came to the Forum, where he knew you’d gone to a lecture, and a friend of mine saw him there and asked what he was doing.
That friend got me involved. I was looking for you, but I found you while on a different case concerning one of your professors. ”
At that, Raven whimpered. Much like the trembling, it was involuntary. “Prof. L-L-LeRoux…”
The hunter nodded. “Yes. It doesn’t matter how, but we found the place where you were being held.
The vampire took your blood, repeatedly and all throughout your captivity, I think.
You were delirious, in need of medical attention.
” The hunter balled a fist, then relaxed it.
“I didn’t manage to save you. The vampire gave you some of his own blood, but not enough to fully push you through the turn, not for sure.
When that’s the case, what lies ahead is long hours of suffering and a slow death.
So after taking that vampire into custody, I gave you my own blood to make sure you’d turn fully. ”
“T-t-turn? What t-t-turn? What’re you saying?”
“You’re a vampire, Raven.”
Raven shook his head, then grabbed the sheet tighter, pulling his legs up farther.
Maxim leaned forward. “You are. You might remember some of it, bits and pieces of the turn. A hot and cold feeling, everything aching.”
“N-n-no…”
“Yes.” The hunter pointed at a side table. It had a small thermos on it. “There’s some blood here. You won’t need to have any for a while, but it’ll help with the jitters. That’s perfectly normal, by the way, and it will go away on its own.”
“B-b-blood? I c-c-can’t drink blood.”
The hunter’s shoulders sagged, and he sighed, then looked back at Raven again.
“Water is an option too. When you feel thirsty, that means you really should have blood though. It’ll taste good.
Whatever feeling of disgust you associate with it, it’s not going to be like that at all.
It’ll just taste a little sour because of what we do to make it stay liquid.
” Maxim reached for the thermos. It was the type that had a pressure mechanism at the top, and he opened it with a loud pop that made Raven flinch. “Take a whiff.”
He held the thermos out to Raven, sleek and silver, innocuous looking.
“If I drink, I’ll be a v-v-vampire?”
“You already are a vampire. You’ve turned. The pain is over, and you’re changed.”
Raven didn’t say anything. He had questions, a lot of them.
He wanted to know where Jason was, if Jason was okay after going to the Forum looking for him.
Raven wanted to ask what he was supposed to do now, and he wanted to ask where the vampire was.
Laurenzio. Then there was Daniel, who appeared kind and charming but wasn’t.
I need to know where he is too. He’ll hurt me. He’ll hurt me badly.
“Th-th-th-they…made me watch…in the park. There were w-w-werewolves, and someone they said was a v-vampire with blue hair. Is he okay?”
The hunter cocked his head. “You were at Seneca Park during the full moon?”
Raven nodded, then eyed the thermos. The hunter’s hand hadn’t wavered, and Raven was pretty sure he could smell what was inside. It smelled warm and comforting, salty and rich like a good soup or stew.
“You can have a sip, just to see if you like it.”
Raven’s gaze flicked to the hunter. “H-how did you get this?”
The blond man smiled. “We have donors here. They’re paid well. It’s a room and board with a salary kind of situation.”
Raven’s eyes were back on the thermos. He reached for it, his hand trembling.
Nothing happened when he took it. The hunter didn’t try to grab him, didn’t threaten him, didn’t yank it just out of reach.
Which is normal. You shouldn’t even expect him to do that.
Normal people don’t do that, and maybe he’s okay, even though he’s a vampire.
Raven brought the thermos closer. It did smell good, slightly warm too, and he realized that he was thirsty.
Not as thirsty as he’d been before with Laurenzio and Daniel.
They’d made him beg for a small bottle of water.
And then Laurenzio had compelled him not to drink it after all, not until he’d had his fun.
The hunter watched him calmly. He didn’t look threatening. But then, what do I know about what’s a threat and what’s not? This is all my fault, after all.
Raven sipped some of the liquid, then looked at the thermos with surprise. It tasted nothing at all like blood should. This was flavorful and rich; on the sour side, but still delicious.
He wanted to stop, fearing that this was what his two captors had hinted at—other people doing terrible things, yet more evil that just dressed up nicely to fool him and feed him poison. Yet, he’d finished half of it before he managed to pry his lips away.
The hunter smiled. “There. This will help settle you. The first one or two days are going to feel off. You won’t be able to sleep, and you’ll have lots of nervous energy to burn through.
That’s normal. You can go outside too. Being turned by old blood helps with the sensitivity to sunlight. I’d still recommend sunglasses though.”
“You…you said I could shower?”
If this was a trick, if they were going to hurt him again, at least there was this. At least he could get clean.
Maxim nodded and turned, indicated a door at the opposite end of the room. “Through there. You should find towels and soap, whatever you need.”
Raven nodded. Maxim stood. “There’s a sitting room through there. I’ll give you some privacy. If you need anything, speak up, please.”
Raven licked his lips. His grip on the thermos tightened. “You said you’re a hunter?”
“I am.”
“You protect p-people? That’s the deal?”
“Simply put, yes.”
Raven knew what he wanted to ask. If this hunter was in on it, he could lie. He could be lying now. Laurenzio and Daniel could be in the next room, though this was a far cry from the apartment they’d held him in, full of books and dust, creaking floorboards and the smell of blood.
This might be a lie. Or a dream. I don’t know, but at least he hasn’t hurt me.
Afraid but determined, Raven met the black-dressed vampire’s eyes. “Is he dead? That…vampire. Is he dead?”
But he could tell. He knew the answer from the way the hunter’s face went tense all over again. Strangely, it was that darkening disappointment around the blond man’s eyes that settled it in Raven’s mind that this man was genuine, that he was what he said and not one of Laurenzio’s free thinkers.
“Not yet, Raven.”