chapter forty-nine
THE CREATURE
E very single long-lost method of torture flashed before my eyes. Taking fingers or severing his cock from his body would not be enough to satiate the rage I felt when I saw what he did to her.
My poor Alina was made to endure that beast . I physically recoiled at the memory of their scents mingling, filling that room and burning my nose and throat like chlorine.
I wanted to find a way to make him feel like he was dying many times over without relief—like Prometheus when a bird of prey ate his entrails every day of his miserable, eternal suffering that he called a life.
No matter how violently I imagined Luka’s death, it did not satisfy me. Nothing calmed me. I was seeing red, and it would not end until reality matched my rage-colored lenses.
“This is all quite romantic. Are you sure you aren’t flirting with me?” Luke teased as he stepped out into the garden from behind a neatly trimmed hedge.
My fist was already meeting the side of his face, and I heard a crack that could either be his jaw or my knuckle. I was too numb to differentiate. My limbs were moving on only instinct now.
I swung again, but he put his arms up for my fist to smack his forearms.
“Already hot and bothered.” Luka laughed.
“I am going to rip your limbs from your body and beat you with them,” I growled. “Do you hear me? I will ensure that you are only alive enough to feel everything I do to you.”
“Now you’re really getting me excited. This is more my pace.” He smirked. “What on earth could have you so bothered? It couldn’t be our new pet, could it?”
“She is no pet,” I hissed, grabbing him by his throat and backing him against the hedge. I could just yank his head and pull it off right here, watering the garden plenty with his blood.
“Uh-uh.” He clicked his tongue in disapproval. He gripped my wrists and squeezed. “You forget yourself, Silas.” He yanked my hands from his neck and shoved me roughly backward. “Why are you getting so worked up over a meal?”
“You wouldn’t have fucked her if you really thought of her as a simple meal,” I spat at him.
“You are right. I admittedly have grown attached to that odd little raven of ours, but I was not the one foolish enough to have mated with her,” he sneered. “What were you thinking? That you would live happily? She would make you breakfast in the morning and dinner when you came home?”
“Of course not, but she has the potential to be greater than the two of us combined. I know that you see it.” I circled him as he mirrored my movements. “Her blood is even more potent than anything Father kept hidden away here. Can you imagine what she would be if she turned?”
“Possibly, but for what purpose? It has been whispered for a long time that you planned to take your father’s Nest. Were you planning on starting with her?” he asked amusingly. “Would you build an army from scratch?”
“Don’t pretend you have any loyalty to my father. As long as the money comes, you will follow,” I sneered, lunging again, and my knuckle buried into his gut.
He grabbed me by the shoulders and fell backward. We wrestled along the neatly trimmed grass, kicking up the lawn and dirt as we fought.
“While that is true, I do not have a reason to have any loyalty to you either.” He grabbed my hair and bit my neck.
I hissed and bore my fangs at him, attempting to bite back, but he held me at arm’s length once his teeth let me go.
I scratched at him, but he bit my hand and kicked me again.
Biting, scratching, kicking, clawing—we were going to tear each other limb from limb.
None of it could come to any conclusion due to our equal match of strength and vigor.
By the end, we stood there, battered and bloodied.
The sun had disappeared by then. All we could do was glare at each other and observe the wounds we had traded.
We sat in silence on opposite sides of the garden, surrounded by foliage that trembled in the cool breeze, neither of us having the energy to continue this useless struggle.
“I will make sure you never know peace,” I promised.
“I have never known such a thing,” Luka replied.
I went to see her that morning, not that she was conscious enough to know.
I had never seen her so dejected, so detached.
Even at rest, she looked like she’d lost something.
Something was breaking inside of her. The maids said she was not eating, which looked to be true based on how pale she was getting.
The soft rosy pink of her lips and cheeks was pale and dull.
This place was poisoning her. I needed a way to get her out, but Luka was watching me—waiting for a reason to tear into me like I wanted so desperately to do to him.
I sat on the edge of her bed as the morning light crept into the window, slowly moving across the floor as the hours passed.
I just wanted to see her, to bear witness to her being alive and that she would not fade away, though she was certainly fading.
She could not take much more of being in a place like this. It was unnatural.
I ran my fingers through her hair, lying face-to-face with her. She would not wake, but she was breathing. Whatever Luka did to her drained her enough to send her into a deep sleep.
I cherished my moments with her, even this one. Someday perhaps we could look back on this time and be proud that we made it. Go somewhere far away, where no one would ever find us, and we could live out what time I had left with her in peace. Those would be my favorite years.
It would not be long before Luka realized my company was missing from the main floors. I had to return sooner rather than later.
“It will all end soon, I promise,” I whispered, cupping her face before kissing her forehead. “Just a little longer… They will all suffer.”
The bottom floors of the Nest were stuffy.
It was like an Easter gathering every day.
All wearing light and expensive clothing, giving the impression of purity and cleanliness despite the morbid reality of this congregation.
How frivolous must it be to have human meat stuck between your teeth while you wore your Sunday best?
There were flowers in every corner, elaborate displays on tables, vases along hallways and by the door—all to mask the metallic scent of blood.
It smelled more horrid than if they just kept the stench of bodily fluid. Besides, there was no need to keep up appearances for anyone out there. Pretending to be civil creatures was useless.
Servants bustled about preparing food, though most of it was not for the Vipera. Aside from Hosts, there were other imports prepared. Human meat was a booming trade for less developed tastes, but the Hosts were the staple. I suspected there were around twenty girls littered throughout the estate.
The house was bright, with lots of creams and light colors. It gave it an almost sterile feel.
This Nest held twenty families, including my own—though only my father remained within the walls.
As modern as he liked to pretend the Nests were, they operated like courts of the romantic period.
Maybe I would like the idea of a Nest more if it was not so callous.
They pretended that their treatment of Hosts was fair and progressive, but they turned a blind eye to my Father and his usual cruelties.
Cowards. Everyone was supposedly on the same side—except the only side they took was their own.
I entered the kitchen intending to make a cup of coffee, but a particular dark-haired feral was taking up the room.
“Silas! Did all that roughhouse last night build up an appetite?” Luka grinned, his bruised face bringing a brief moment of joy to the bitter moment.
“Yes, now move,” I mumbled, moving beside him to pour some of the coffee from the siphon brewer on the counter. I could still feel the scratches and bites he’d left on my shoulder when I moved my arm.
“How did she look this morning?” He smirked. “Did you see all those pretty marks I left on her? You should have seen her. She was magnificent.”
“Another word about her and I will be removing your tongue.”
“You want to put what in my mouth?” He raised his voice and caused a few eyes to glance our way.
“Be quiet,” I hissed, shoving him in the chest.
Some of the other Vipera looked our way, wary of us.
“Careful—you have no loyalists here. You are surrounded by some of the oldest Vipera you’ve ever known. Don’t give them a reason to get rid of you.” He raised his hands in surrender.
I backed down and returned to my cup of coffee, leaning against the counter as I sipped it. Focusing on the bitter taste was easier than trying to interrogate Luka with so many eyes on us. He was safe as long as the Nest was focused and intact.
“When is Father returning?”
“A fortnight, possibly.” Luka shrugged, leaning against the counter next to me. “Why? Nervous to see Pop?”
“No,” I said simply, becoming lost in thought.
“I am sure he will be delighted to hear that his son was sleeping with his Host and the Poisoner. It really should earn you some points with him,” he chimed sarcastically.
“He can’t possibly expect me to keep track of what things he thinks are his.”
“No, but it makes sense how you did not find her sooner.” Luka laughed. “Maybe he hid her away to protect her from you .”
“Nonsense.”
“He hid her in plain sight, right next to your fair sister.”
“Speak any more about either of them, and I will not hesitate to make a scene.” My eyes snapped to him. “Phoebe is off-limits. Father will have your head if you meddle with his favorite.”
“I am sure the Sire will understand. Maybe he will give her to me as a reward if I slay you now.”
“She does not enjoy the company of men,” I said plainly. “She is a bit of an invert, quite Bostonian. You will not find as much joy in the conquest as you may think.”
“Ah, here I thought you didn’t visit your youngest sibling, as you couldn’t see the gem by her side this whole time.”
“That is not true. I know my sister well, and I visit her often alone. She banned me from her parties because she did not like me ‘womanizing her guests,’ as she would say. Besides, it is easy to miss a shadow like Alina when she rarely decides to attend in the first place.”
“You thought your sister did not have friends?”
“I knew she had one friend.” I sighed. “She told me outright that she kept her hidden from me. How many men did Phoebe eat because they simply upset her friend? It took my sister years to quit the habit of meddling in her friend’s love life.
They are more alike than they care to admit.
I did not know that Alina was the friend until after. ”
“All I heard is that you and your sister have the same taste in women.”
I rolled my eyes at him and walked away. There was no point in allowing him to taunt me. He was only there to instigate, banking on some sort of conflict so he had an excuse to gut me. I had a new plan to get out of this mess, one that I could use Luka for.