Cruel Stakes: Vampires & Vices No. 2, page 11
Chapter 17
If there’s an award for the world’s most gullible idiot, engrave my name on it because I’ve officially proven myself worthy. I shouldn’t have trusted Adrian with this kind of information. My stupid plan to get deeper into the vampire organization and somehow save the world has completely backfired and soon my friends will be dead.
Not to mention, Adrian’s grieving Kelly’s death, so of course he’s not going to call off the coven meeting because I asked him to, not when this is the perfect opportunity for him to get revenge. He’s going to come out ahead on the war between hunters and vampires, and it’s very likely that my friends will get killed. And if not, well, they’ll for sure be turned into the VEC who will imprison them since hunting vampires is illegal. No matter what happens, it’s going to change everything. And it’s all my fault.
Adrian picks me up and takes me to his spare bedroom, tossing me onto the bed like a sack of potatoes. “Hand it over,” he demands.
I glare and jump up before sprinting to the door. He blocks me. “Give me your phone,” he seethes, “and your stake while you’re at it.”
I know better than to argue about having a stake, he knows I always carry one. I’m wearing long linen pants today that hang wide around my legs. The stake is strapped to my calf underneath. My phone is in my handbag, which happens to be in his kitchen. I’d forgotten all about it when I ran for the door. I know that seems improbable for someone of my generation since our phones are like a fifth limb, but try running from a vampire and then come talk to me.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” he growls.
I scream in frustration as he grabs onto my pants and rips them clean off my body, the seams splitting apart with ease. So now I’m standing here in my underwear and t-shirt.
Just great.
I’m fast, my own senses speeding up to try and match his. When he reaches for the stake, I block him. It’s like blocking a stone wall, and my forearm aches, but I hold strong.
“Do. Not. Touch. Me.”
He laughs bitterly. “I told you exactly what I was and warned you never to forget.”
And I didn’t. Or maybe I did a little because I trusted him. My mind fills with guilt, and he uses that moment to grab the stake. It’s wooden and it’s tipped in silver, but he’s careful to avoid the silver. “I’ll be disposing of this,” he says. “Now, where is your phone?”
“In the kitchen. It’s obviously not on me. What, do you want me to strip naked so you can make sure?”
He smirks. “Oh, Angel, don’t be surprised if you strip naked for me all on your own one day.”
“You’re vile,” I seethe between gritted teeth. “I would never.”
“And you’re staying here until I decide what to do with you.” He steps through the doorway and slams the door shut, the lock clicking into place.
Panic hits me. I don’t remember the lock being on the outside, but sure enough, when I pull on the handle it doesn’t budge. Could he have added it? This man is truly sick.
“How could you?” I pound on the door. “I came to warn you, to help you, not to let you kill my friends.”
But he doesn’t reply, and a few seconds later, I hear the door to the outside hallway close.
So that’s it?
No, that can’t be it.
I close my eyes, willing all of Hugo’s venom to surface, channeling it into me stronger than ever. I slam against the door, expecting it to break. It doesn’t. I do it again. And again. Each time hurting myself more. I’m going to have bruises. I may even fracture something. But I don’t care. I have to get out of here. I have to warn the hunters.
I do it again. This time I lose my balance and my head accidentally gets most of the impact. My vision narrows and then fades to black.
I don’t know how much time passes before I wake in a bundle of cold limbs on the floor. I pick myself up and wait and wait and wait. The only way to pass the time is to watch the world go by outside the tinted glass. At least there’s water in the bathroom but I have a pounding headache and my stomach starts to growl for dinner. I desperately want out of here, but that’s not going to happen, so instead, I stare at the city below. All those people out there, what would they do if they were me? Would they be able to think of a viable plan? I wish someone could see me, but I’m too high up, and the windows are too dark to see through, anyway. I’m stuck.
A prisoner.
And I’m at the mercy of the man I foolishly trusted. I have nobody to blame but myself. I knew what vampires were capable of, knew humans didn’t really matter to them beyond a source of food. And still, look at what I did.
As it always does, the world keeps turning, and time keeps marching on. The evening fades to night, and then the blackness takes over––an endless night. I lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling until I eventually fall asleep.
Morning comes and I expect Adrian will stop by with food and I’ll have an opportunity to beg him again or maybe a chance to escape.
But none of that happens.
The day stretches and my stomach turns hollow. At least I can drink from the sink so it’s not like I’m going to die up here like my friends will tonight.
For most of the day I think of their faces, imagining what they’re doing right now to prepare for the attack. I wonder what Felix thinks of me standing him up last night. Does he assume I didn’t show up because I got cold feet about sleeping with him? Or does he suspect something is wrong? Maybe he and Kenton and Seth are looking for me right now. Maybe they’ve already figured it out and are confessing to Tate.
There’s no way to know, and being helpless is destroying me.
Eventually, night descends, and I know this is it. Somewhere below me in the hotel, the coven is meeting. And somewhere outside, the hunters are gathering. Their directive is to storm the ballroom. They’ll work in teams, killing as many vampires as they can, with Adrian as their number one target.
It will never work.
I pace the room with a racing heart for what feels like hours. The night grows darker and darker. At one point I hear movement in the suite. I jump up and go to the door. “Adrian? Is that you?”
The movement stops and then starts again.
“Please,” I beg, banging on the door, “please don’t do this.”
“Eva?” The voice doesn’t belong to Adrian. No, it belongs to the man I hate almost as much as Adrian: Tate.
“Yes!” I scream, hopefully he’s here to save me. “Let me out!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that yet.” A door slams and then there’s nothing but silence. He left me here.
I lay on the bed and cry. What was he doing in here if not to help me? But he’s gone and I’m alone. When there are no tears left and the salt warms my mouth and my cheeks are streaked raw with the aftermath, my eyes finally begin to close on their own. I don’t like that. I refuse to go to sleep. How can I?
And yet . . . I do.
My dreams torment me. Nightmares that tumble, one into another, over and over. I see my friends dying. I see some of them being turned. I see blood. Anger. Fear. I hear it, smell it, feel it. It’s like I’m there, but I’m not there.
I’m not there.
Felix appears before me. His eyes are lovely brown, and then they’re murderous red. And then he’s kissing me. Fangs cut at my lips. I pull back and scream.
“Eva,” he says, his hands cupping my face, “I’m still me.”
“No,” I reply, but the word gets trapped in my throat.
“Wake up,” he snaps. No, not him. Someone else . . .
The hand is still on my face––a cold hand.
My eyes flutter open, and I’m looking up into Adrian’s glacial eyes. He’s so close. Too close.
“Get off!” I scream, pushing him away. My strength has gathered while I slept, the senses coming back all at once. He flies back against the wall and falls.
He’s quick to recover and brushes himself off, smiling. “It looks like you’re starting to get used to that venom,” he teases. “But you should be careful with that. If the wrong person finds out about it, you’ll either be turned or you’ll be dead.”
I can still be turned? Of course, I can still be turned. “I’d rather die.” I glare.
“Hmm, I thought you’d say that. Your little request to become my prodigy was a lie from the beginning.” He sighs. “Well, do you want to know about your friends or not?”
I jump out of the blankets, not caring that I’m hardly dressed. “What happened?” My voice comes out like sandpaper. “Are they dead? What did you do to them?”
“Nobody is dead,” he says, and I nearly burst into tears.
“Arrested?”
“Not that either.”
“So, what happened?”
He pauses for a second, considering. “They showed up, and we detained them. They’re being held downstairs.” He runs his thumb along his bottom lip for a moment. “Eva, I need you to do something for me, something important. And if you do, I’ll let them all go. It will be as if nothing ever happened.”
I don’t want to hear what this request is because I’m afraid I may already know, but I have to face it. “What do you want?”
“I want you to come to France with me.”
I blink at him; this was the last thing I expected him to say. “What’s in France?”
“Who’s in France,” he corrects. “Brisa. She wants to meet you. I need you to be on your best behavior.”
“That’s all?” My eyes narrow. I don’t believe him. I never will.
“You’re still my fledgling, in case you’ve forgotten. We’re being called to go to France where . . .” He stares at me, eyes softening, “where I’m going to turn you.”
I feel as if I’m sinking into the ground, as if I’m already being buried alive, as if I’m already dead. No. I can’t agree. I can’t go to France. I can’t meet the vampire queen. And I can’t become one of them.
But what other choice do I have? It’s me or it’s all of them.
“Do I have your word?” My voice is so much stronger than I feel, and I can’t imagine how I’m managing it when I feel like I’ve been shattered into a million razor-edged pieces. “You will do no harm to any of the hunters? You will set them all free?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll agree only if you promise to do that right now.”
“But––”
“No, Adrian. I mean it.” I fold my arms over my chest and give him a hard stare.
“Take the deal or leave it,” he replies stonily.
Anger seeps into my tone. “You’ll give me nothing?”
“I need leverage to make sure you behave in France.” He’s such a logical creature and I hate him for it.
“We have to come to a compromise.”
“Do we? Because I’m the one holding the aces.”
I throw my hands up. “I’m so tired of all your stupid gambling sayings.” We’re at an impasse and I don’t know what to do. I can’t trust him, he’s already proved that. There’s no telling that he won’t take me to France and turn me into his prodigy no matter what I agree to. He’s used to getting whatever he wants. “Please,” I whisper. I’m truly defeated this time. He’s won.
“Fine,” he spits out. “I’ll release them when we get on the jet, but I need you to go along with this in France. There’s so much more on the line than you realize and I can’t have your bad attitude getting in the way.”
I scoff. “I think giving you my life should be good enough.”
“This isn’t about your life,” he says, “it’s about so many others.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“I need to go where I’ve been called and I need to take you with me before someone kills me here.”
I raise a brow. “But you’ve got the hunters detained.”
“The princes are being killed across the continents. There are only three of us left.”
“I didn’t know…”
“Don’t you think your little friend Leslie Tate has something to do with that? He didn’t show up to the casino, by the way. He sent in all the humans, exactly as you said he would.”
I swallow. Should I tell him that Tate was in his suite? But I don’t want to give him a single thing extra, so I keep my secret and reach out my hand. “Give me your word, and I’ll give you mine. That’s going to have to be enough for you.”
“I rather preferred the blood vow.” He chuckles, but I don’t find it amusing. There’s no way I’m ever kissing this man again, especially not for a fake vow which he would’ve let me keep on believing was real if I hadn’t figured it out.
“Really? Because I’d rather prefer honesty.”
He shakes my hand.
Chapter 18
A couple hours later and it’s time to leave. “I don’t have a suitcase or my phone back or anything.” I give him a pointed look. “And what about my job? I have shifts, you know. I can’t leave them in a lurch and disappear. And my apartment? I have to pay rent soon.”
He responds by holding out his hand. “You need to leave your necklace here and forget about everything else. It doesn’t matter. You have a new life now.”
“Maybe it doesn’t matter to you but it does to me.” My voice wobbles. “Can I at least call my Mom?”
He winces but shakes his head. “The necklace, Eva.”
He didn’t use my pet name. Somehow it makes this all the more real. And maybe it’s stupid, but this little necklace is the only thing I have left.
“I’ll put it in my safe,” he offers. “It’ll be fine, but you can’t take a silver cross to meet Brisa. It’s offensive to vampires. You already know that.”
I unlatch it with a grumble of reluctance. He produces a glove from his back pocket so he can handle the silver. He takes it in his hands and studies it for a minute, his face unreadable. What does he think of the feathers on the back? I want to ask him what he knows of it, but keep my thoughts to myself.
He leaves and returns with a pile of clothes. “Those are some of my sweatpants and a t-shirt to keep you comfortable for the plane ride. You’ll have everything provided for you once we arrive at the palace.”
The palace.
I didn’t know the royal vampires lived in a palace, though I guess it makes sense. They’re pretty private about things when it comes to that––one big mystery that the world is equally fascinated with and horrified by.
I’m tired and broken, so I don’t ask any more questions.
We take a private jet with UV-proof windows. It looks like the ones in the movies with plush seating and decadent catered food. The pilots are humans, and when we climb aboard, Adrian compels them to keep us as safe as possible. Vampires have enemies the world over, what better way to take a prince down than by plane crash?
“Prove it,” I say when he comes back into the cabin. He doesn’t have to ask what I mean. He retrieves his phone and fiddles with it before handing it over. The screen shows what the cameras all over the casino are seeing right now. The hunters are walking out the front door, free and clear. Felix turns to look up at the camera almost like he knows I’m watching him.
And then he’s gone.
I hand the phone back to Adrian and buckle myself into my seat. I have nothing to say and I’m only half relieved. It’s not like I wanted to sacrifice myself.
The flight is boring and quiet. I devour the pre-catered food even though my stomach is in knots. When Adrian apologizes for forgetting to feed me, I throw a baguette at his head and tell him not to speak unless spoken to. He rolls his eyes but proceeds to work on his computer without acknowledging me again. I don’t even have a phone to play games or read an ebook or even a television to keep me company. I’m stuck staring out the tinted window at the expanse of white and blue sky between restless naps and finishing off the food.
When we finally fly over Paris, I’m practically glued to the window. It’s daytime––been light out for hours now, part of the wonders of transatlantic airline travel. I catch sight of the Eiffel Tower standing vigil over the winding river and smile to myself. The city is gorgeous, and I’d love to explore it one day. I have a feeling this won’t be the trip. But if the vampires succeed in turning me, I guess I’ll have an eternity to explore.
My smile falters as a tear slips down my cheek. I don’t want to explore the world in darkness. I’ve always loved the sun––the light, the warmth, the energy. My freedom means more to me than just about anything else and now it’s gone. I hope wherever my friends are, they’re safe and not trying to come after me. As much as I’d love to be rescued, I can’t have them in danger because of me and I don’t want all this to be for nothing.
We’re on the outskirts somewhere, and I’m not sure how we’re going to get from here to wherever we’re going in broad daylight. But the plane drives slowly along the tarmac and pulls into a massive building––a huge garage door closing behind us. We climb out and immediately get into a waiting car. It’s sleek and black, with no windows in the back.
“No windows?” I turn on Adrian.
“It’s bulletproof but there’s always a higher risk with windows,” Adrian says. “We’ll also be surrounded by a detail of human armed forces. Nothing will happen to us. We’ll be fine.”
“I hope you’re sure about that because this thing is obvious. Anyone wanting to hurt vampires will know one of you is in here. What cars don’t have windows?”
He doesn’t respond, probably because he knows I’m right. Expose a vamp to sunlight and that’s it. What a perfect way to do it. I try to imagine it happening to Adrian, but my mind won’t let me go there. He’s a pawn in all this too, isn’t he? A pawn I’ll never forgive, but a pawn no less. I’ve only seen Brisa once through a video call, but I’ll never forget her face. I wish I could kill her and have it all be over, but Sebastian made a lot of sense. If she dies the vampires will have too much freedom.
