Page 16 of Vampire Blood

“We need to be sure,” he said once the job seemed done.

I couldn’t move, although I tried. My fingers had the strength to twitch, useless against the cold stone floor, but the rest of me felt too heavy, too empty. They had taken too much.

I gritted my teeth and forced myself up, just enough to lean against the wall. My head spun, and black spots danced at the edges of my vision, but I didn’t let myself fall again.

Not yet.

The cell was silent now. The shifters were gone. So was he. The pale man with the hollow eyes. But his words still lingered, curling around me like smoke.

They needed to be sure that my blood was what they thought it was. That I was who they thought I was.

I looked down at my arms. The veins beneath my skin felt too close. They were visible, even in the dim light. I pressed mywrists together, like I could hide the evidence, like I could force the truth away. But I couldn’t, because it was true. It had to be.

Why else would they have taken me? Why else would they drain me until my vision blurred and my body shook? They didn’t even need all of it. They needed just enough to test.

I swallowed hard, but my throat was dry. It scraped like sandpaper.

And what if they were right? What if my blood really could wake him?

Aurelius.

The monster buried in shadow, bound by magic so old even the vampires feared it. A shudder ran through me, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t think about that. Not now. Then, it all went dark.

I had no idea how long I was out. Minutes, hours or days, they all blurred in the dark and the cold seemed to seep into my very bones.

At that moment, I heard it. A sound that brought me back from my nightmare to another nightmare, even worse. A soft scrape, the sound of metal against metal.

I jerked awake, my pulse spiking as the sound came again. I pushed myself up, vision swimming, and blinked toward the source. A figure loomed just outside the cell, half-hidden in shadows. It was hooded, silent.

A shifter.

The thought shot through me like ice. My pulse hammered, but I didn’t look away, didn’t even flinch at the sight of him.

“What do you want?”

The figure crouched, slipping something through the bars. It was a small bundle of bread and water.

I glared at it like it might lunge at me. “You think I’m stupid?” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. “I’m not eating that.”

The figure stilled, then leaned closer. “It’s not poisoned.”

The voice… there was something about it.

The hood shifted, and the figure looked back, scanning the camp. He was making sure we were alone. I tensed, ready for anything. Then, slowly, he reached up and pushed it back.

I gasped.

“Kael?”

He pressed a finger to his lips. “Keep your voice down.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. “What—how—”

“Later.” He pulled the hood back up, shadowing his face again. “We don’t have time for this.”

I stared at him, my mind racing. “You’re with them?” My voice dropped to a whisper, boiling with disbelief.

“I’m inside their ranks,” he said. “Just like I told Lucas I would be.”

---