Page 70 of Bewitched By a Vampire

It had to be.

The guard struck him again, the metal bar doing its job this time, cracking Night’s ribs and weakening him further, driving Lilian from his mind and hardening his heart once more. Pain came in the wake of the blow as his body desperately tried to heal.

This was what they wanted.

This guard had never been here to question him.

He had been sent to deal enough damage that Night’s body would be constantly forced to heal, devouring what little strength he had and making him ravenous for blood.

Foolish witches.

It wouldn’t make him comply with their demands or give them whatever information they wanted. It would only hasten their deaths.

Bloodlust gnawed at the edges of his sanity, coaxing him into surrendering to it, and he wasn’t sure why he was still holding it back. He stared at the floor, wheezing with each breath as his ribs burned, and contemplated embracing it, despite the danger of him not coming back from transforming into little more than a beast.

The guard turned away from him.

The iron door opened to let him through and closed with a bang behind him, and the cuffs holding Night upright opened. He slumped unceremoniously to the flagstones and keeled over, clutching his broken ribs. Gods, he was so hungry. He fingered his ribs, gently feeling them to figure out how badly they were broken, and grimaced as white-hot fire blazed across his chest.

Night held them and sank onto his backside, grunting as even that action caused pain to rush through him and his vision to blur. He focused on breathing, drawing down slow, shallow breaths that didn’t hurt his ribs, and tried to calm his turbulent mind to fend off the bloodlust.

He had been tortured before.

He knew what came next.

They would try to make him talk by offering the one thing he needed.

Blood.

The door opened again and he smiled coldly, saliva pooling in his mouth at the thought of blood.

He opened that mouth to say they had moved to the next step quicker than he had thought they would as he lifted his head.

Those words died on his lips as he stared at the person standing in the doorway. His stomach dropped and hunger roared up on him to swamp his mind with crimson and shattered his hold on his bloodlust. The momentary spike in fear he felt was swift to fade, the thirst and craving that consumed him obliterating it.

He cursed the witches.

They knew what he really needed, because he was staring right at her.

Lilian.

Chapter 18

Lilian stood on the threshold of Night’s cell, unable to believe her eyes as she stared at him. She didn’t recognise the vampire before her. As he stared right back at her, his crimson gaze held a feral light that made him look wild. His bare chest rose and fell with his rapid breaths and his fingers constantly twitched, his claws darkened with blood and dirt. His handsome face, now beaten and bloodstained, had a sharpness to it.

Hunger.

The guard—her coven—had beaten him black and blue, raising his thirst by forcing his body to heal grievous wounds, and she wanted to look away from him but forced herself to keep her eyes locked on him.

She had done this.

She was responsible for his condition as much as the guard who had tortured him and the elders who had ordered it.

The desire to tell him that she was sorry was strong, but awareness of the two female witches behind her had her holding her tongue. They were watching her. Scrutinising her. This was another test. How she reacted here would likely determine what happened to her and her punishment would be severe if she showed kindness towards Night.

But the sight of him tore at her strength and had her fighting the urge to go to him and help him.

The man she had passed on her way to this cell had been covered in splatters of blood and she had feared they didn’t belong to him, and now that she could see Night, her worst fears had been confirmed. She couldn’t believe her coven had done this to him, and at the same time she could. In their eyes, Night was an enemy, and potentially responsible for the massacre that had happened.

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