Chapter 16
Danni
I wake up to an empty room that isn’t my own. Instead of the cream and soft blue color scheme I’ve grown accustomed to, I find myself surrounded by all black everything. Curtains, bedsheets, rugs, furniture, but it isn’t cold or gloomy. It has more of a luxurious feel to it.
The room is smaller than mine. The lit fire sits in an identical spot, making it feel cozy. Books stacked neatly on floor-to-ceiling shelves line the walls. I wrap myself deeper within the sheets. I can’t help but bunch the silk in my fists and take a deep inhale.
The entire room smells like Knox. Intoxicating. He smells like an old oak tree mixed with exotic spices that I would never be able to identify. Otherworldly, just like him.
I savor the moment of stillness before the memories of the first training come flooding back. My chest tightens and I become acutely aware of how badly my body aches.
Was any of it real?
Soft footsteps from my left spur my heart into a gallop. I whip around, pulling the sheets closer to cover more of me.
“It’s okay. It’s just me.”
My eyes widen as I take Knox in. Although I don’t know him that well, I can tell he isn’t himself.
His hair is messy, like he’s continuously run his hands through it the last few hours.
He’s still wearing yesterday’s clothes, but his jacket and pants are now wrinkled.
My eyes linger on the narrow slice of pale, exposed skin beneath the unbuttoned black shirt and the silver chain hanging around his neck.
Why does he look like he hasn’t slept?
The corner of a couch peeks out from beside him. My heart squeezes at the thought of him sleeping there.
“What happened? How long have I been out?” My eyes collide with his crimson ones, the bags beneath them visible even in the dim light from the flickering fire.
He smirks, catching me off guard.
“You passed your first training session with flying colors. How long did it take you to figure out they were your own nightmares?” He takes a seat at the foot of the bed; the bond between us springs to life, and thoughts of everything we could be doing in these silk sheets ignite a fire underneath my skin.
“When I was on fire.”
The smell of my burning skin. The unrelenting heat. A silver branch with spiky thorns wrapping itself around the podium beneath me. It all rushes back.
“Your performance was very impressive, even if the crops didn’t want you to succeed.”
“Crops?” I frown as he casually brushes a hand over his jacket. Please don’t tell me that term is used for what I think it is…
“Apologies, I meant to say humans. Simple creatures who love a bit of blood and gore.” His smile doesn’t reach his eyes.
“That’s disgusting.” A chilling reminder that vampires don’t have humanity and we’re all here only to fulfill the wishes and wants of these creatures.
Knox shrugs. “It is what it is. Why do you think the Romans were such fantastic conquerors? They gave the people what they wanted. Nothing has changed.” His eyes turn glassy as if he’s seeing another time in front of him instead of me.
How old is this guy?
“By the way, even though you impressed everyone, it brought some unwanted attention. The Five have decided to arrive early to catch another glimpse of you. Dinner starts soon. You need to dress appropriately.”
Great, another dinner where I’m the only one who eats.
“Do I have to? Can’t you tell them my skin is burnt to a crisp or something?”
Knox narrows his eyes at my bratty tone. “No.”
I narrow my eyes right back. “Well, you can’t make me go.” I fold my arms across my chest and raise my chin. His face twists with feral delight at the sound of my defiance.
“I think you’ll find I can. You will go to this dinner. You’re not my Familiar yet; you don’t get privileges. It’s imperative they don’t discover who you are to me.” His deep red eyes harden. “You need to be perfect. Keep your head down, act humble, and answer questions truthfully when asked.”
Is he really so afraid The Five will do something to me if they find out I’m his mate?
“I won’t let them find out.” My voice comes out in a whisper. I fight the urge to reach out and touch him.
“Good. Now get dressed.” Without another word, he leaves the room, a million questions still burning on my lips.
How did I end up here? And why did he put me in his room instead of my own?
Barely a moment later, the door opens again, revealing a very irritating blonde vampire.
Shit, where is my stake?
I scramble out of the warm, comforting sheets and press my back against the window on the left side of the room.
“You won’t be able to escape us unless they want you to. You’re bound to serve him now, you must—”
I hold up a hand to silence her. “I am bound to no one, and I will find a way out of here, Blondie.” My aching muscles complain as I cross my arms. I narrow my eyes at her, refusing to appear weak.
She raises one perfectly-shaped eyebrow at me and side glances out of the window. “Look outside. Endless desert. You’re not going anywhere.” She purses her lips and cocks her head to the side in a challenge.
“Why is there nothing but sand outside?” I ask, even though I’m not sure I want to know the answer.
“To keep the crops in. And to stop others from finding us. This hellscape is the gateway to our realm. Since the sixteen-hundreds, our city has been the best kept secret for a very good reason.” She sighs and looks longingly out of the window.
That expression is enough to tell me that Blondie is not happy here.
I would feel bad for her if she didn’t have glowing red eyes, sharp fangs, and a bitchy attitude.
She’s a monster and deserves to be hidden from the human world, but that doesn’t stop my journalist mind from realizing I’ve hit the jackpot.
People who don’t close off their emotions to strangers are always the easiest to exploit.
“You’re unhappy.”
Her eyes snap to mine. “I am damned to an eternity of darkness, wouldn’t you be?”
Darkness?
Then it hits me. I step over to the window to scour the skies.
Despite the suffocating heat I experienced while inside the inbetween, there is no sun.
I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed before.
Facts and myths endlessly spill into the forefront of my mind.
Vampires can’t go out into the sunlight.
Of course! The inbetween is an illusion, just like the circus.
But the desert has to be a reflection of the vampire’s greatest fear, not ours.
My mind reels at the possibility of this being true.
But if that is the case, then why did Knox drive through it to save me from the Rabbids? Did the mate bond override his greatest fear?
They are all trapped here, just like me. Surrounded by their worst nightmares.
I turn back to Blondie, and for the first time since arriving here, I see right through her sharp features. I look at her now and I don’t see a monster; I see a hint of the person she might’ve once been. A beautiful young woman with her whole life ahead of her in the sunshine.
And I see myself.
“Don’t pity me.” She bares her teeth as she speaks. “I chose this life. Just as you will choose it at the end of the year.”
Realization dawns on me that not only might I be able to exploit her, I might also be able to gain an ally.
“You were like me once, weren’t you? You were a Familiar.
” I search her face for that trace of human emotion again, but instead she dons her signature stoic mask of extraordinary beauty.
I sink down onto the sofa, the cushions still holding the imprint of Knox’s sleeping body, waiting for her answer.
Her mask never slips. “You should get dressed.”
I don’t argue. I know I won’t get anything else out of her today. Standing back up, I make my way over to the door that leads to the adjoined sitting room.
“I’m not going to kill you,” she says as my hand rests on the handle. I turn and raise an eyebrow at her.
“Yet.” She smirks.
Her playful threat gives me a small window of opportunity to keep digging, and a journalist never backs down.
This could be my only opportunity to gain more information before whatever the hell comes next.
I have a million questions lined up in my head, but I wasn’t expecting the first one that blurts from my lips.
“What’s he like?”
Blondie’s eyes glaze over as she looks straight ahead. She takes a big inhale before answering me.
“If I were a former Familiar, I’d tell you that Knox is nothing but trouble.
He’s spoiled and arrogant. I’d also tell you not to give him your heart.
Because if you do, he’ll crush it into a thousand tiny pieces without blinking.
” She turns that blank stare on me, her pain barely visible beneath her mask.
“But as one of his most trusted advisors, I can tell you that our Master is a most benevolent leader.”
My heart breaks, for myself and for the woman standing in front of me.
I have so many more questions, more boundaries I want to push, but I sense that now isn’t the right time.
Blondie will tell me her truth when she’s ready.
Of course, this could all just be one big mindfuck to get me to feel sorry for her before she drinks my blood.
Still, I offer her an olive branch. “If you were a former Familiar, I’d tell you that you deserve better.”
Her lips twitch as she glances down at me. A tiny flicker of hope spreads through my chest and as I turn away, I don’t feel afraid for the first time since coming here.
***
The wardrobe doors sway on their hinges as I enter my room as if moved by some invisible hand. Creepy. I rifle through the clothes before taking a step back to look at the intricacies carved deep into the light-colored wood.
Before my eyes, the clothes disappear, replaced with row after row of priceless jewelry unlike any I’ve ever seen. Gold, silver, and intricately cut precious stones glint and sparkle, and I take a moment to marvel at the different pieces.