Page 34 of How to Entice a Fiend

“Do you?”

“Of course I fucking know. Of course I…” He trails off.

“What do you think they’re going to do?” I ask, voice gentle in the hope he tells me something that I don’t know. Something I can use.

I hear a noise and he stills, but they don’t seem to be coming toward us. “Think,” I say. “We’re going to think about how to get out of here. Let’s start with what we know. Do you know who they are?”

“Fuck if I know,” he growls. It’s honestly not very helpful or even believable if he claims to know what they’re going to do. “Here’s the thing—if I tell youeverythingyou want to know, how much are you going to tell me?”

“I mean… a reasonable amount at the very least. I can tell you that this isn’t the first time I’ve been dangling from the ceiling, but it’s the first time someone’s doing it because they want to kill me.”

“I don’t want to hear about your sexcapades. Do you know who created the council?”

I think about it for a bit before telling him what I do know. “I know the council began in Europe before spreading to other locations. It was an attempt to keep unruly vampires in control. Wasn’t it started to deal with you and other vampires like you? It was built to unite vampires and control those who refused. Right?”

He grins at me. “There’s a reason you’re here. There’s a reason they wanted you.”

“If you are aware of it, I’d love to know.”

“This is what irritates me. You want me to work with you, you want me to listen to you, but everything you say is vague and lies.”

I watch him for a long moment. “I honestly was under the impression the council was created to deal with vampires like you. And I’m aware you were around at the time they created it to keep other vampires from ending up like you. That is not a lie. If it’s incorrect, you’re the only one present who can explain to me why it is.”

I hear footsteps before the door swings open and two men walk in. They’re not wearing masks, but I still don’t recognize either of them.

“Are you ready to talk?” the taller man asks.

“I’m sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’d shake your hand but as you can see, my hands are a bit preoccupied. Ha! I’m Mads Nielson. And you are?”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“You asked if I was ready to talk so I started talking. I’m actually quite good at talking. Ask my buddy over here. Ender saved my life, did you know that?”

The man I’m speaking to punches me in the stomach. “You know what I mean.”

“Ow, fuck, the hospitality in this place sucks. I’d like to speak to a manager?—”

He punches me again, this time hard enough to do some internal damage. I groan as I grit my teeth and curl in on myself. Of course I’ll heal from it, but lacking this much blood, it’ll take a while, and before I can heal, he punches me again.

“I-I’m sure we can talk this over, yeah?” I ask, positive he’s going to be a dick no matter what I say or do.

Apparently, we can’t talk it over as he punches me again, this time in the face. Blood coats my mouth and drips from my nose. I have my doubts he’s going to stop until he gets what he wants to hear.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Just… I don’t want him to hear, so come closer,” I say as I nod at Ender. The vampire glances at Ender before walking up close to me. “You sure you want to know?”

“Fucking spit it out.”

“Alright,” I say before I spit blood in his face.

I’m a bit proud of that one until he grabs me by the throat, squeezing hard enough I don’t think I can speak even if I wanted to.

“How the fuck do you think he’s going to answer now that you’ve crushed his throat?” the second guy asks.

“I… possibly didn’t think that through. Just seeing his face irritates me,” he grumbles as he wipes his face off.

“We’ll come back later; maybe he’ll think it through by then,” the second guy says. I decide that once I get free, he’ll die last since he’s a smidge more reasonable than the first guy.

I close my eyes and chase the pain away as I think about how to get my ass out of here.

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