Page 62 of Cloak of the Vampire
Logan grunted something that sounded like a curse, before he said, “I need to tell my Lord about it.”
“Why?” Stefan sounded startled. “Despite hismanyfaults, it’s within Renaldi’s rights to interview a visiting noob as a prospective addition to his League.”
“You don’t understand,” Logan said, obviously pained at the discussion. “If it’sher, my Lord has to know before I bring her to you.”
“Fuck, fine,” Stefan groaned. “Tell your Lord, then.”
There was a short silence, before Logan suddenly asked, “Does Renaldi want to add her to his harem?”
“What do you think?” Stefan murmured.
Bile rose in my throat. They were talking about me as if I didn’t have thoughts of my own. As if I was Ragnor’s whore Renaldi wanted to fucking hire.
“Shit, man,” Logan almost growled. “Tell Renaldi to stay clear of her. He might be a piece of shit, but she’s far worse.”
I flinched.Ouch.
Stefan snorted. “I highly doubt someone like her is worse thanRenaldi, Logan.”
“You better believe it, Stefan,” Logan responded bitterly. “Aileen fucking Henderson might look like a man’s dream, but she’s a living fucking nightmare.”
I stepped back from the door. I couldn’t listen to any more of this. Any buzz I might’ve had was gone. Any lightness I might’ve felt turned into unbearable heaviness. Overhearing that conversation had sobered me right up.
I stumbled back, my back hitting the sink I’d just used. I could taste salt, and I realized I was crying. My breaths turned shallow. My knees could barely hold me up. I wanted to scrub myself until I could be clean, untainted by the past and by who I truly was.
I needed out.
Closing my eyes, I put a hand on my chest and forced myself to take a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Emptying my mind from all other thoughts, I focused on breathing, the heaving of my chest.
When I got my breathing under control, I opened my eyes, turned around, and looked in the mirror. Aisha’s makeup wasn’t entirely ruined. My hair was a tad wilder in its fishtail braid, but other than that it looked fine. My dress had some new wrinkles from Renaldi’s previous manhandling, but otherwise, I looked no worse for wear.
I walked to the door and listened. I heard nothing. Opening the door, I exited into the empty space, but instead of returning to the casino, I walked around the outskirts of the room, heading toward the exit as surreptitiously as I could.
Keeping an eye out, I saw my classmates were now playing roulette. Logan, Abe, Armel, and Stefan were having a drink at the bar. Renaldi was busy sipping a glass of wine while leering at my female classmates.
Ragnor was nowhere in sight.
Good.
Hurriedly, I rounded the room and reached the exit. No one was looking. I exited into the lobby and then moved through the corridor, taking off the short heels Jane had lent me.
Then I ran as if my ass was on fire.
Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the way back to the League’s main area. So when the corridor split into two, I had to go with my gut and chose the one on the left. I followed it until it curved and split into three different corridors.
I couldn’t afford to stop. I followed the one in the middle for no reason.
When the corridor suddenly sloped downward, I couldn’t stop in time. I fell down with a shriek caught in my throat, then slid down a curve and dropped unexpectedly into water.
Hitting the water with a loud, reverberatingsplash.
Tired but motivated, I swam up and gasped for air. Leaning my hands against the stone wall, I shuddered at how cold it was down here with the icy water swallowing me whole. I looked around.
I was in a small round cave with a stone wall so tall I couldn’t see its end. The corridor that spat me out was a drainpipe in the middle of the wall.
Well. My plan had just backfired. Now instead of being stuck in an underground compound, I was stuck in a cave where no one would ever find me.
“Think, Aileen,” I said aloud. My voice echoed ominously around the cave. “Try diving.”
