Page 23 of Fated Blood

“You’ve been fucking with me this whole time? Using me? You little fucking succubus!”

“No!” I sob, tears pouring down my face.

“FaylaCadell…” he says my name as if it’s a curse on his lips, the worst he could think of. “Daughter of Zarius, spawn of my enemy…”

He squeezes my neck tighter, and Angelica roars with laughter as she walks away, leaving me there. I hear the cell door close, lock. She’s going to let him kill me.

“Not only is she his daughter, Bane,” Angelica purrs, backing up so she can see us both at once. “She’s the daughter of his Forever Bound, reincarnated. She’s the strongest vampire since Adam was born, and what’s better? She’s female. Think of all the babies she can spit out when she finds her Forever Bound, as they all have. You’ve seen how strong the women are, Sebastian Bane, what do you think the Forever Bound daughter of a fated match will be?”

“I’ll kill her before we ever find out!” Sebastian hisses.

“You may not have to, I mean, look at her? She’s starving to death. She chose not to feed off you, and now she’ll die of starvation. Now that you know there's no way she’ll be able to get close enough.”

“Karma…” Sebastian smirks, the cruel twist of his lips telling me he’ll enjoy every single minute of my painful death.

His hand loosens, and I drop to the stone floor and scream. I keep screaming, my heart shattering into a million pieces. Angelica has taken everything away from me, my mother and father, my life, and now the only man I’ve ever…

“I love you…” I whisper to Sebastian.

His lips twist as he looks away. “You can’t love anyone,” he spits, and I watch with pain sinking through my body like lead as he smiles as Angelica readies to leave. “Thank you, Angelica, for showing me the truth.”

“You’re welcome,” Angelica chirps. “Oh! I almost forgot! Fayla?”

I roll over, turning my back to Sebastian for the last time. I refuse to look at that hateful face and remember the love he showed before Angelica came down here. My eyes climb to her face, noting the hands of the monster she had holding me as they stand in front of her.

“No!” I scream, my eyes locking onto a face I know too well. I’m on my feet before I can stop myself, tripping over the uneven floor and throwing myself at the bars. My fingertips come so close to touching her, but still so far. “Mara!” I wail.

Mara was the monster holding me, the creature that smelled of fresh death. She stares past me with clouded eyes, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

Angelica’s laughing, her son is grinning evilly. “The last present you’ll ever get, little princess. I brought you your friend!” Angelica coos, throwing Mara toward me and slamming her into the bars. I wrap my arms around her waist, hugging her tight regardless of the fact that she’s trying to push her head through the bars and bite me.

“You killed her!” I wail. “Mara, Mara no!”

Laughter and Mara's hungry snarling are all I can hear.

Chapter8

Sebastian

“Sebastian, please!” Fayla wails, her voice thick with desperation.

I angle my back to her. “I understand now,” I sneer. “Understand why you spent days talking about your life and your precious mother and father. You were trying to soften them in my eyes, make me feel for them, but it was all a lie!”

“No! No, it’s the truth! That’s how they are! We aren’t monsters!”

I turn on her, snarling like an animal and shove my face as close to the hole as I dare—she’s a blood sucker, after all. “You drink the blood of living things, kill for pleasure! You listened to me telling you about my ancestors' slaughter and you saidnothing!”

Her whole body is trembling, her blue-gray eyes wet with so many tears shed. Something in my heart reaches for her, but I shut it down. I throw my defenses up, channel the cold-blooded vampire hunter I am. “I’m the leader of the Blood Knights, vampire. I raise men and women and teach them how to torture and slaughter your kind. You sat there, listening to me tell you my story with a straight face. Now I know why you throw up the food, now I know why you get so weak day after day. This is the first time I’ll get to watch a vampire starve to death, I’ll savor every moment.”

“You don’t mean that…” her voice is quiet, breathless.

I glare at her harder. “I can’t wait for you to die!” I roar.

Fayla shrinks back from the hole. I watch, searching myself internally for the glee that I’ve instilled fear in my enemy, but it’s not there. I watch her scramble away from me, sobbing, heart ripped to shreds, and I feelguilty.

“I can’t believe I fell for your lies…” I grumble, trying my best to stare daggers at her back. Trying to steel myself and harden my heart.

But there’s a crack in it and it’s leaking profusely.

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