Page 120 of Taste of Forever
But something was holding him back. Maybe he had strict orders from whoever was above him, or the psychopath possibly had a tiny shred of a conscience after all.
He pulled the knife away and returned to his chair, dropping heavily into it.
“How long do vampires live?”
I shifted my weight in the chair. “No one knows exactly.” It wasn’t a total lie. “But much longer than you. I’ll still look the same as I do now when you reach the end of your life.”
“Give me an average. Your best estimate,” Soren groused.
“No idea. I’m not a math guy.”
“Is a year in Sanguine the same as a year in our world?”
“How should I know? I’ve never compared the two.”
Soren looked like he wanted to slap his forehead and drag the knife across my throat in equal measure.
“I know you’re not stupid, vampire. You know the information I want.”
“Never was the smart one.” I inched up my aching shoulders in a shrug. “I’m the funny one, as you probably figured out by now.”
“What you’re going to be is a lab rat,” he hissed. “Kept in a cage. Poked and prodded and experimented on for the rest of your miserable, long life. You’ll see generations of scientists come and go, advancing the human species with the secrets of your kind.”
“I’m flattered you think so highly of me.”
Soren jumped to his feet again and plunged the knife into my other thigh which, until then, had been left uninjured. I bit back my scream but couldn’t stop the agony from showing on my face.
“How about I make it so that you can’t walk?” Soren twisted the knife and the silver cutting roughly though my flesh and muscle burned with a sharp pain that left me breathless.
“You don’t need your legs. Hell, you don’t need any limbs to be a vampire guinea pig.” He jerked the knife out and plunged it into my shoulder.
When he twisted it there, I couldn’t stop from letting a scream escape. My whole body shook like I’d been electrocuted, overwhelmed with inescapable, blinding pain. The silver burned, but my skin felt ice cold. Blood filled my mouth. I knew I must have broken a few teeth. My system just couldn’t handle the onslaught of silver poisoning me with every touch.
“You’re actually pathetic.” Soren gave the knife one more twist before pulling it out, which gave me no relief. “You think Heather will want you without any arms or legs? She’ll be even more horrified by the freak you are.”
His words were noise, just a distant buzzing while I fought to stay conscious. My blood clotted quickly, but the stab wounds were deep. And with my healing abilities diminishing, I could very well bleed out. At that point, I was starting to prefer it. The drip-drip-drip sound of my blood hitting the concrete floor was becoming quite the lulling melody.
I should stay awake. I remember telling myself that. But…why? It hurts so much.
I had done my part already. Heather was gone and hopefully safe with the clan. They would find out what happened and make quick work of Soren and his crew, if not his whole fucking organization.
Soren had a short fuse. I could probably provoke him into accidentally killing me. There was no telling how much time had passed, but I couldn’t hold out much longer.
“Okay…” My voice was hoarse with exhaustion as I turned my head and spat out a mouthful of blood. “I’ll tell you…I gotta tell you something.”
I could barely see, but there was no missing his evil smile. “That’s what I like to hear. What would you like to say, vampire?”
“You got a recording device on, right?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head, coughing. “Come here. I gotta whisper. This is top secret. Only for you to know.”
He lifted an eyebrow, skeptical.
“Your government will want to hear this,” I said. “But they’re not ready. You gotta hold onto this until the time is right, Soren.”
His fucking ego couldn’t resist. He leaned in, hovering just above me with the knife in front of us as a warning. “Well?”
