Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
“Stop,” I shouted at the vampire who had the werewolf by the throat and suspended in the air. “Release him.”
I did not expect the vampire to comply, but I made the demands just to make my presence known.
The stranger directed his red eyes at me, and a chill ran down my spine. Breathless, I halted a few feet away from the two supernaturals.
I didn’t have a plan, which was reckless, but I had no choice. I touched my bracelet, but it gave me no sign of activating, maybe because I couldn’t focus. I sighed.
“Why are you on our premises?” I asked and looked around for more vampires.
I was one of those humans who asked questions before swinging fists and using force. My approach went against what Dad had taught me. I risked my life and that of the werewolf warrior if this vampire decided not to talk but killed us instead.
The vampire Queen taught all her vampire warriors to kill first, no questions asked.
The vampire dropped the warrior to the ground. As soon as the werewolf landed on his feet, Dad’s man pounced on the vampire again. He wasn’t taking chances with our enemy, and I couldn’t blame him for his decision.
But I needed to find out why one vampire trespassed on our territory. Usually, the enemy attacked in groups of several vampires. Was his purpose to kidnap and torture our man? Or kill him in one go? But why?
“Princess, run,” the warrior said, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“Stand down,” I shouted again, and to my surprise, both men froze.
Had I mastered Dad’s authoritative tone?
The vampire shook his head slightly, but then he held his head with both hands as if in pain.
“What’s happening, Princess?” The warrior moved closer, shielding me from the vampire, but I sidestepped him.
“I think he’s fighting with himself,” I said.
The vampire seemed dazed and dizzy, reminding me of how Tammy had acted in the torture room of the vampire master. This man swayed, disoriented.
“Do you have a headache?” I asked him.
Dad’s warrior scoffed beside me, and I gave him a warning look. There was something off about finding a vampire with a headache in the werewolf kingdom territory. Why was he here all by himself? Had he stumbled into the werewolf guard by accident?
I needed the vampire alive and talking.
The vampire waved his hands and stepped back from us. “I don’t wish to hurt you. It is not my mission to do so. I only need to return.”
“Where to?” I asked.
“The vampire Queen’s castle.”
My eyes widened. So she had sent him here.
“Unfortunately, even if you have good intentions,”—I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth—“you trespassed, so we can’t let you go until we speak.”
If he didn’t hurt us, I didn’t wish for his demise, even if he was the enemy.
The werewolf warrior tensed next to me, clenching and unclenching his hands.
“Princess, if I shift, I’ll finish him off faster,” he said with so much menace in his voice that I believed him.
The warrior had been taught one thing only—to destroy the enemy. There was a truth to Dad’s and his predecessors’ teachings about killing vampires at the sight of them. Dad’s lessons and training kept us alive. That was one reason Torin, a partial vampire, couldn’t be fully accepted in the kingdom.
Would I be able to undo Dad’s teachings as the next Queen? Attempting to shake off things in the kingdom wouldn’t make me a popular Queen.
But the werewolf kingdom would have to change as species interbreed and mate bonds tied humans and supernaturals together. A change was coming, and we would be fools not to change with it.
The vampire took a defensive stance, hands in fists. “Then you leave me no choice but to fight.”
I studied him. He was so tall and slender that I couldn’t identify him as the usual vampire warrior. Not like the ones who followed the vampire General.
“Princess, step back,” Dad’s warrior said.
“Wait…” I paused. “Did another vampire order you to come here? You seem to be under someone’s orders. And you don’t look like a vampire guard. No offense is meant.”
I could only imagine one person who would send a vampire to sneak onto our territory.
The vampire Queen. She could order him to do whatever she wanted if she was his sire. The sire could demand anything from the subjects she created. It was similar to the compulsion the vampires cast on humans, but an order by the blood Queen was even harder to disobey or break free of.
The vampire’s red eyes fell on something behind me, fear passing over his face. He then turned and sprinted away.
Torin passed us, rushing after the intruder, while Hayden came to stand next to me.
“Sweetheart, you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
My mates must have followed me into the forest.
Hayden and the warrior, whose name I still didn’t know, exchanged looks. After a moment, Torin returned with the vampire, who now sported a cut lip and bruised face. But at least he was alive.
When Torin came to me, he pushed the stumbling vampire toward Hayden.
“Anna, I need to talk to you,” Torin said.
“Not now. Let’s take him to the dungeon to talk to him.”
“The north one.” Hayden urged the man to walk before him.
We started walking through the forest.
“Why the north one?” I asked.
“That’s the one reserved for vampires,” Hayden said, twisted his head to me, and winked.
Torin and I hadn't exited the north dungeon after discovering the secret tunnels. When we arrived at the north dungeons, it immediately became apparent why it was reserved for our number one enemy.
It was dark, dank, and filthy, as Dad had warned me. The air inside was thick and full of the scent of decaying flesh and spilled blood.
As I passed through a metal door, I halted and peeked at the small square opening.
Another torture chamber, but this one made a shiver slice down my spine.
My breathing hitched as my gaze landed upon a wooden contraption that stretched out its two ends to form a device to torture someone into submission. Silver chains dangled from the ceiling overhead like tendrils of nightmares, illuminated by a single light bulb.
Although I’d heard about this dungeon, I had never been allowed inside the torture room. The black soundproof panels on the walls made me think of the fake vampire club in London. Werewolves seemed just as adept at extracting information from their foes.
It was as if I’d stepped into another realm of doom, unimaginable to the human eye. I inhaled deeply, and the unbearable stench of death filled my lungs, making me gag.
I had heard tales of this monstrous place, but seeing it terrified me. Even the torture room where the master vampire held Alpha Mark didn’t have as many devices as this one.
I believed Torin when he told me Dad hadn’t allowed torture acts during his reign, but what about the werewolf generations before us?
And since Torin had lived the longest, although I wasn’t sure of his age, he must have witnessed the violence werewolves inflicted on our enemy.
Had Torin ever feared that he could have been next?
One small mistake could have sent him into the torture room.
The vampire’s black hair was slicked back with sweat, and his eyes were a deep crimson. He wasn’t shifting into his human form, staying on high alert.
Down the hall, on the opposite side of the torture chamber, two of Dad’s guards approached us as soon as they saw us.
They didn’t ask questions, and just as they had been trained, they grabbed the vampire by the shoulders and threw him into a cell behind a heavy metal door with a tiny square opening in the middle.
The men shut the door in my face before I could enter. They wouldn’t let me talk to him unless it was from behind the massive cell door. I let out a heavy sigh.
I faced Torin and Hayden. “I need to talk to the vampire. Would you go and let Dad know that I’ll meet him and the Alphas in just a moment?”
Torin pressed his lips together while Hayden smiled at me.
“As you wish, sweetheart,” he said, looking at Torin expectantly.
Torin stomped out of the dim dungeon, followed by Hayden and the warrior I had met in the forest. When the men disappeared, I asked the two guards to step outside the dungeon. They exchanged perplexed glances but followed my orders.
I hoped the vampire felt more at ease when werewolves didn’t surround him. I inched closer to the door opening and looked inside. The prisoner sat on the damp ground, leaning on the cold wall behind him. His eyes were closed.
If he didn’t want to talk to me, there wouldn’t be anything I could do as I wouldn’t ever torture him to extract information. I crossed my fingers for the best.
“Can you tell me what your mission was? You said earlier you were sent here,” I said.
He spoke without opening his eyes. “I’m a spy for the vampire Queen.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said. “Not surprising, but what do you want from us now? Or what does she want from us?”
The man was simply following the orders of the madwoman.
“It’s not my first time spying on the Alpha, Princess.” When he reopened his eyes, they were a dark-brown shade. “She sent me to follow Torin’s actions. She’s collecting information so she can catch him more easily.”
My chest tightened as if a rubber band around my torso held my heart a prisoner behind its cage.
“Why is your Queen so obsessed with him?”
If she wanted another play toy, she could just make another hybrid, but she kept chasing after Torin instead.
The man tilted his head to the side, studying the little he could see of my eyes and face. He seemed to be trying to figure me out.
“The next time my Queen catches Alpha Torin, she’ll make him her chosen mate since her fated mate ran away from her decades ago,” the man said, staring at me.
It felt like he looked into my soul even through the thick prison door. But I guessed it was only natural for him to do so since he was a spy, and it was his job to observe people.