10. Briar #2
Their silence taps the nail I felt pressed against my heart since seeing them outside my cell all the way in. It tells me that this is ordinary to them and acceptable–something they will stomach without lifting a hand to help me.
My words lash out at them. “I hope you know you’re just as complicit and at fault as him. You don’t need to hold the weapon. You’re already guilty, standing there and letting him do it.”
I drag in a ragged breath, then laugh, sharp and hollow as I silently dare them to meet my eyes. “I hope it makes you feel big and strong. Watching me strapped down while you do nothing. Real men, the both of you.”
Elias doesn’t so much as twitch, but I see Callum’s jaw tighten. The smallest flicker crosses his expression, fast as lightning, there and gone. A flinch he probably doesn’t even realize he let slip.
Their uncle steps back into my line of sight as I force my head forward again.
I’d rather stare at the predator in front of me that has never concealed the danger that he is than the two people who let me open up to them before setting me up to get stabbed in the back.
Or whatever it is their uncle plans to do.
He paces in front of me, his footsteps echoing against the sterile walls like the tick of a clock counting down.
The anticipation of it all heightens my anxiety, just like I’m sure he intended it, but I refuse to let it show.
His gaze drags over the metal at my wrists, the curve of my throat caught in the collar. Every detail like it’s his to admire.
“You’re not a prisoner, Briar,” he says as he comes to a stop in front of me, head tilting as his eyes sweep over me. “You’re an investment.”
The word turns my stomach.
“Most of your kind? Useless. Your blood burns with power within you, but once it’s spilled, it’s nothing but poison. I’ve tested dozens and they’ve all given me nothing in my pursuit of science.” His smile sharpens, eyes glinting as he leans in toward my face. “But yours…”
My heartrate triples, my pulse pounding against the collar.
“I sent a single vial to our researchers the night we captured you,” he muses, resuming his pacing in front of me. “They’ve worked relentlessly, forgoing sleep to ensure we could test its effects with multiple variants, in our quest to find a cure for human ailments.”
I can’t stop the pinch between my brows and the small inhale of breath.
He’s been capturing and using vampires for…this?
“While nine injections killed the cells in our animals, one variant didn’t.”
My stomach churns and I’m left suspended in uncertainty, hanging onto his words, as much as I hate it.
“It lived, but more than that, it thrived. It killed cancerous cells. Do you understand what that means, Briar?”
He doesn’t wait for my answer before his grin widens, teeth flashing in the harsh light. “It means a formula. A cure. Strength bottled and sold to the desperate. To the sick. To the greedy. The world will pay me anything I ask for, for this.”
I blink rapidly, trying to process that information.
On one hand I feel a tremendous sense of hope that somehow I can help people, but that tiny fleck of joy at this news is quickly swallowed whole.
Because I can’t give it freely, nor will it go to the people that need it without a price tag they likely can’t afford.
A cure like that would cause people to give up everything they have and more so, just for the chance to live and be healed.
The greed of humans is known throughout our realm, unchanging throughout history.
I’m going to be used as a blood bag to profit off of until I’m no longer needed.
“You’re a sick bastard,” I seethe through a clenched jaw.
His echoing footsteps carry him to my side.
“I will keep you alive as long as you keep making me rich,” he says simply. “And you will, have no doubt. My new chemical being tested on you for your capture provided the photo evidence I needed to sell it on the black market.”
My teeth grind as I try to shove down the tidal wave of anger and shame. They burned me, broke me, and then immortalized it in glossy prints.
Evidence, he calls it.
Well I have a different word for it: theft.
Of my dignity.
Of my body.
Captured in the moment it was weakest after their assault, paraded for strangers’ eyes without a shred of consent.
Heat stings behind my eyes, but I choke it back down, attempting to bury it beneath rage.
His smile shifts as his voice drops, thick with blooming obsession. “What are you, Briar? What bloodline makes you different from the rest?”
The mention of my bloodline has my own lips curling into the smile of a predator, letting my fangs extend to their full length. “My bloodline is one that won’t hesitate to wipe you and anyone associated with this place from existence. I can’t wait for you to meet them.”
I don’t know if I’ll be able to get myself out of this, or if my parents will find me in time, but I know one thing to the depths of my soul: There will be vengeance, be it by my hand, or my families.
His smile turns vicious, the civilized mask peeling away to reveal the true depths of him. “I welcome them to show up. I could always use more subjects to pull blood from, in case I accidentally go too far in our sessions.”
My chest tightens at the way he purrs the last word.
“You heal fast. Too fast for death to touch you if I’m careful.” My smile begins to slip as he continues his rant. “That makes you my perfect outlet. Every cut, every burn, every scream…you’ll recover. Which means I can start again. And again. And again.”
His hands thread together, settling in front of him and making him the picture of satisfaction. “Your blood makes me rich. Your pain makes me whole. And the best part?”
His grin slices wider. “One requires the other.”