Chapter Twenty-Five
My head is pounding as I slowly open my eyes. My vision is hazy, and I feel nauseous when I try to move. I blink rapidly, trying to clear my mind of the fog. What happened? Where am I?
I remember leaving the mansion to go for a walk in the garden and then... nothing. I must”ve been drugged or hit over the head because the next thing I remember is waking up here.
Wherever here is.
I look around, trying to get my bearings. It looks like some kind of warehouse. There are large boxes stacked up all around me with high ceilings and rows of shelves lining the walls, stacked with an array of medical supplies. Needles, syringes, and vials of red liquid line the shelves, and a stack of metal cots, each stained crimson, sits along the far wall. I”ve never seen anything like this before in my life. What is this place?
I”m sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. My hands and feet are tied together with rope, and I can feel that there”s duct tape over my mouth. I struggle against my bonds, trying to get loose, but it”s no use. The ropes are too tight, and I can”t break free. I try yelling through the tape covering my mouth, but my voice is muffled by the thick layer of plastic covering my lips.
Adrian steps into view, carrying a wooden crate. He sets it down on the floor in front of me before kneeling to remove the lid. Inside are dozens of glass vials filled with blood. He picks one up and holds it up to the light, inspecting the dark fluid inside.
”Beautiful, isn”t it?” he asks as he swirls the contents. ”So rich and red. It”s perfection.”
I mumble angrily at him through the tape over my mouth.
”Oh, you”re probably wondering what all this is about. Well, allow me to explain.” Adrian begins pacing around the room while he speaks, gesturing wildly as he does so. ”You see, I”ve been collecting blood from humans for years now, storing it in these little bottles. I sell them online to vampires who don”t have the stomach or time to go out and hunt themselves. It”s a very lucrative business, I must say. And I”ve built quite the following. But that was just the first phase of my plan. Now that I have you, I can move on to the second phase. Now that I”ve got the loyalty of so many vampires who are so willing to work with me, I”m going to remove the option of sipping blood through a straw. Once I have control of that ceremonial knife and drink that holy blood, they”ll have no choice but to follow my orders.
He stops in front of me again and points at me.
”I know what you”re thinking: ”How am I going to do that? How am I going to get Lola to give me her blood so I can get to Genevieve”s good stuff?” Well, here”s the thing. You”re not going to give it to me. You”re going to die, and I”m going to take that knife from you and use it myself.”
My eyes widen in shock, and I struggle harder against my restraints. I can”t believe what I”m hearing. This is insane!
”As it turns out,” he continues, ”there is a work-around to your little cooperation problem. Once I”ve sacrificed you under the full moon, the ownership of the blade will transfer to me.” He grins manically, then adds, ”And once I have control over the knife, I”ll just skip on over to grandma”s and use it to get the holy blood. You see how this works?”
I shake my head vigorously. No. No. NO.
”I thought you”d understand. You”re smarter than that. I was hoping you would”ve come around by now and realized that working together would be the best way forward. Then, I wouldn”t have to kill you at all. But you just couldn”t get on board, could you?”
He sighs, his shoulders slumping, as if he”s disappointed in me. ”Now, I have to do this the hard way. But it”s okay. I”ve got it all worked out.”
I shout at him through the tape over my mouth. He squats in front of me, leaning close so that I can see the evil glint in his eyes. He reaches out to stroke my cheek.
”Do you have something to say?” he asks, amused. He peels back the sticky edge of the tape and pulls it away from my lips, and I wince from the sting. ”Well, go ahead and speak. Let”s hear it.”
”You can”t do this,” I say. ”Adrian, please. Think about what you”re doing. Think about Drake. He trusts you. He believes in you. Is this how you repay him?”
”Drake is a fool,” he replies. ”He”s always been blind to the truth. I”ve been working my ass off all these years to build an empire, and he just sits on his ass, living off his family name. He never did anything to earn the respect he”s given. He doesn”t deserve it.”
”He”s your friend, Adrian. He cares about you,” I plead, hoping to appeal to whatever shred of humanity may still reside within him.
Adrian”s laugh is bitter and mocking. ”Friends? We were never friends. He just put up with me because my mother made him promise to look out for me. He”s always pitied me. It was written all over his face whenever he looked at me. I was just a charity case to him. I saw it in his eyes.”
”That”s not true,” I argue. ”Drake cares about you. You know that.”
”He only cares about himself. He never cared about anyone else, least of all me.” He leans in closer, his voice lowering to a threatening growl. ”You think you”re any different? He seduced you, Lola. He seduced you to use you to get what he wants. The minute you use that knife and hand him the vial with the blood he needs, he”ll toss you aside like garbage. You”re just a means to an end for him. Nothing more. He”s using you, Lola.”
His words are meant to hurt me. I know that. But they don”t. They actually make me feel sorry for him.
”You”re wrong, Adrian,” I tell him gently. ”Drake loves me. And he loves you too.”
Adrian straightens up, his face twisted in anger. ”Love? There”s no such thing. Vampires don”t love.”
”Yes, they do,” I insist. ”They”re capable of so much more than you think. You”re capable of so much more. You just have to let yourself feel it. You”re afraid, Adrian. I know you are. That”s why you hide behind all this anger and hatred. It”s easier to pretend you don”t care than admit that you do.”
He stands and begins pacing around the room again, fidgeting with his hands. His anger is growing by the second, but I can”t seem to stop myself from pushing him further.
”You want to believe you”re better than everyone else, that you”re above all this, but you”re not. You”re just like them, Adrian. You”re just as capable of feeling love as they are. You can choose to be the good guy instead of the bad one. It”s your choice.”
He stops and whirls around to face me. ”My choice?” he sneers. ”I didn”t get a choice in anything. I was forced into this life, born into it. I”m tired of hiding in the shadows, watching the humans run around like idiots while we”re stuck in the darkness. I”m tired of living like this, like a monster.”
”You don”t have to,” I say gently. ”You can choose a different path, Adrian. You can choose to be the man I know you are deep down. The man your mother knew you could be. The man Drake believes you can be.”
He stares at me, his expression hard and unreadable. I can see the wheels turning in his head, the conflict raging within him. He”s so close. So close to giving in and seeing the truth. If only I can push him just a little further...
”Adrian,” I whisper, my voice cracking as tears fill my eyes. ”Please don”t do this. Please.”
”I”m sorry, Lola. But I have to do this. Not just for me, but for all of vampire kind.”
My heart sinks in despair. He”s not going to change. He”s not going to listen to reason. He”s going to kill me. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, bracing myself for what”s to come. Maybe by some miracle, Drake will find me and save me. Or maybe I”m just going to die here in this warehouse. Either way, there”s nothing I can do to stop Adrian. All I can do is wait.
A man walks in, and his face sparks a memory somewhere in my mind, and it all comes reeling back. The way Adrian abducted me from Drake”s backyard, the way I managed to use magic to strike him down, but only for a moment. The man who just joined us was the driver, I realize. He was the one who helped Adrian take me, and he didn”t look thrilled at the idea, either.
”Help me,” I cry out to him. ”Please! Don”t let him do this!”
The driver approaches me with that same sad expression on his face. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a syringe. I try to struggle away, but he grabs my arm and holds it still. I can”t stop him as he plunges the needle into my skin, injecting me with whatever is inside. I cry out, my body convulsing in pain as the liquid spreads through my veins.
”What did you give me?” I gasp, my voice sounding distant and faint.
”Something to calm you down,” he answers. ”It won”t hurt you. It”s just to help you relax.”
I feel a sudden rush of warmth spreading through my limbs. My muscles go limp, and my vision starts to blur.
”There we go,” he says as he releases his grip on my arm. ”Just breathe. It”ll all be over soon.”
I slump forward in my chair, unable to hold myself up under the weight of the sedative. My eyelids grow heavy, and I can barely keep them open. Adrian stands over me, watching me with cold, calculating eyes.
”Now, where were we? Oh, right. The ceremony.”
He pulls out a large knife from the crate he had brought in and begins to cut away my clothes, slicing through the fabric and exposing my skin. I try to resist, but my body won”t listen to my commands. It”s as if my brain is disconnected from the rest of me. I try to scream, but no sound comes out. My body is completely paralyzed by the drug coursing through my veins, rendering me helpless as he continues to strip me bare.
”Don”t worry,” he whispers as he cuts away the last of my clothing, leaving me naked and exposed. ”I won”t touch you. I”m not that kind of monster.”
He steps back, admiring his handiwork. ”You”ll make a beautiful sacrifice. The most beautiful one I”ve ever seen.”
I try to scream again, but only a soft moan bubbles up my throat, and it”s lost there. Adrian keeps talking, but his voice sounds far away. I feel so tired, so weak. I know I should try to fight it, but I can”t. I”m just too tired.
The driver is standing nearby, watching us. His face is pale, and his eyes are wide with fear. He doesn”t like what”s happening here, but he”s too scared to do anything about it. I look at him pleadingly, hoping he”ll come to my rescue, but he just shakes his head and looks away.
”I”m sorry,” he whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear. ”I can”t help you.”