Page 115 of How to Entice a Fiend

The wait extends until I begin to get impatient. Of course I told Tomás I didn’t mind dropping the box off, but I’m also tired and prepared to have a drink and fall asleep.

The door opens, and when a group of men enters, I find myself rather confused.

The first man who greets me is a large man with a hand on his sword. Clearly… something is going on here. “I’m the guard of this village and we need to take you in to ask you a few questions. It’s nothing you’ve done. We’ve just had some issues in these parts.”

“If you’ve had issues, I can assure you I had no part in them.”

“Just come with us and we’ll speak about them.”

“I’d rather not. To my understanding, I am owed some money for my brother’s sale, and then I will leave.”

“Not so fast,” the guard says. “We don’t know you. You could have stolen the jewelry from the maker for all we know.”

“You think there are more than two Spaniards around? I assure you, my brother Tomás sent me here. If you have a problem with it, I will simply take it back with me.”

I stretch my hand toward the box, but the jeweler slides it away, and just as he does that, I hear something behind me. The guard’s sheathed sword slams into the side of my head, nearly knocking me off balance. I reach for my sword before realizing I’d left it on the damn horse since I never imagined I would get attacked.

“What in the hell was that for? I am a member of the army. My credentials are on my horse, and I will gladly have my higher-ups deal with this,” I snarl as blood drips from my head.

“You didn’t mention he was in the fucking army!” the guard grumbles.

“It doesn’t fucking matter. He’s never going to tell anyone,” another man says as I decide that whatever I’ve walked into isn’t good at all.

I slam my elbow into the man blocking the door and make a run for it when another tries hitting me with some kind of wooden weapon. I slide back, but the shop is small and with ten or so of them, I’m boxed in.

I knock one back before grabbing the box my brother had sent me with and slamming it into a man’s head, driving him down to his knees. Trying to make a break for the door, I see one of the guards draw a sword. I throw my arm up to block the hit as the weapon bites into me. The fight is fast, and though I manage to take down five of the men, more just fill their places. I’m left bleeding, and when someone cracks something against my skull, I hit the floor on my knees. Before I can recover, I’m dragged out of the building and into the street, past the villagers watching the show, and toward the area my horse stands. Is there some way I can reach him? Grab my sword and flee? He’s a very fast horse. If I could just get on his back, could I escape?

“Can we even hand him over like this? Should we just kill him? I bet his brother will come looking for him. We can hand that one over,” a man says.

I’m dropped to the ground as their words tear into my mind. How dare they think they could go for Tomás? I will protect my brother… I will…

They all grow quiet and back away from me.

“Y-You… will not… touch… my brother,” I snarl as I try to crawl toward my horse. If I could just get my sword…

“What happened here?” a man asks, and there’s something about his voice that tells me I need to get away. “This is what you offer up to me? A dying man? Do you think I’m worth so little?”

“We will get you a new one, I promise. He… he wouldn’t come willingly. He killed two of the guards and knocked down three others. But if he goes missing, his brother will come looking for him and we’ll take his brother.”

The newcomer reaches for me just as I lunge for the horse. I draw my sword free and drive it into his stomach before he can even react. He seems startled, but he doesn’t cry out or fall away as I’d hoped. He slowly looks down at the blade that I pull free before tearing it from my hand with impossible strength. The man knocks me down to the ground and presses a foot against my chest with so much pressure, I can feel the broken ribs shattering beneath the weight of him.

He casually looks down at his shirt and plucks it. “I really liked this shirt, and now it’s quite filthy.”

I realize the villagers are just standing there and watching like it’s a show put on for them.

Then the man grins. “I like this one.”

And with that, he grabs my foot and begins to drag me over to a carriage that waits nearby. I try to get free, but consciousness leaves me before I can.

CHAPTER THIRTY

MADS

Ender falls silent for a moment. “The village was used to supply Abel with humans. They did it for years. Hell. A hundred years? Who knows how long before I killed them. Not long before I attacked, Abel had said there was a vampire working with them. I assumed you were a participant, were you not? Did you truly not know what they were doing? I assumed you were in on it, which is why I taunted you. I assumed you were the vampire Abel spoke of… I mean, you sure wanted to protect those monsters. I’d seen you protect them from another vampire, so why would I ever think you weren’t the one he’d been talking about?”

I can’t see their expressions from inside the bag and find myself really wishing I could get out, but I guess there are windows someone could be watching us through. I just want to be out so I can comfort Ender if I need to.

“I didn’t know,” Marcus whispers. “I… I thought they were good people.”

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