Page 61 of The Incubus Curse

I knew that in my heart.

And Daemon had said it best. There was no use in running, not from this. It was going to catch up to me sooner or later.

So, as my legs sprung through the door and down the spiraling staircase, I didn’t listen to the screams of Dustin as he chased me down. I didn’t listen to Oliver shouting at me from the room, out of breath. All I heard was my heart, which pounded thunderously against my chest, barreling me toward the vampire hive that I knew rested around the corner from the bottom of the stairwell.

As I rounded the corner, I saw the piles of vampires nested in tables. Their red eyes were the first thing I saw, and it wasn’t just a few. No, I watched as everyone in the room had piercing bloody eyes looking at me hungrily. At least fifty pairs were ogling at me like I was some prey. Perhapsthey could hear my heart or smell my adrenaline, but it was evident that they saw me coming even before I turned the corner.

None of them seemed to approach me, but their eyes were hungry enough that I almost feared they might. Looking back, I couldn’t see Dustin or Oliver, and the vampires that I had passed seemed to surround me. Their red orbs pierced my back as they blocked the only exit I knew I had.

Going forward was all I could do now.

I continued walking through the horde. A few drunk in my appearance, looking at my head to my toes. A few snarled as I passed like they were dogs on a leash. It wasn’t until I reached the middle of the room that it parted, revealing Edward, who sat on his throne-like chair with Tina’s neck carefully clutched in his hand as if he could snap her neck with a flick of the wrist.

Her eyes were saddened when they set on me, but she didn’t speak. It didn’t look like she even could as tears welled in her eyes, and a grunt echoed off her throat.

“So, you foolishly came. How quaint.” Edward grinned, blood dripping off his lip, but I could tell that it wasn’t from Tina’s neck. I couldn’t see any red stains along her collarbone or nape from this angle.

“Don’t youfuckingtouch her!” I heard Dustin yell from behind. I could hear him struggling to push past people, the sound of tumbling and punching.

“I will put every dark thought into your heads if you even fucking think of touching me or her.” He yelled once more as screams of vampires chirped in my ear from behind me.

“You really think bringing me back will gain you good faith with the ancients? Is that why you are doing this?” I snarled forward, refusing to look back at Dustin. “You’re a coward!Why not just come getme? Why take Tina?”

“Oh, is that her name? Didn’t care to get it the first time around.” He snarly said, a smile curling on his stained lips. “And so you don’t even deny that you were here under false pretenses? Or deny that the ancients have risen and want you?”

“I’ll admit that when you admit you’re acoward.” I was playing with fires I knew I shouldn’t, but if what Daemon had said last night was true. They were all given two options. Make sure I was returned to New York alive, or die if I die. So, what was the worst that could happen to me?

A girl slid from behind the throne, her red curly hair bouncing as her heels clacking filled the sudden silence that trickled over the room. I remembered her from New York, the girl Sasha had pulled away. The vampire that had made Dustin uncomfortable.

It was unmistakably Fiona.

Her dewy skin glistened in the dim lighting as she approached me.

“I knew there was something about you.” She teased, poking at my forehead, the tip of her nail slashing into my skin. “A reason for Dustin’s infatuation. Why else would Dustin choose a human overme?”

“So this was the girl you told me about?” Edward sneered, squeezing Tina back, who almost looked like she wanted to lunge toward Fiona for touching me. “The one you said the ancients were after?”

“Yes.” That was all she said.

Whispers soon followed, and I could pinpoint where Dustin was now as his voice carried over the room of vampires like a sonogram. I tried to look back finally, but Fiona’s long nailsclasped my chin and jerked me forward.

“You must think you aresospecial.” She hissed, her pointed nails digging into my skin once more. “But you’re just food at the end of the day. And you’re lucky I’m not allowed to kill you.” She pushed me back and walked behind me as I collapsed onto the ground.

I slowly peered back over my shoulder to see Oliver and Dustin standing before Fiona, who was almost blocking me from them. The other vampires had seemingly parted ways, but behind the boys, I could see a few vampires clenching their heads as if Dustin had done what he promised, forcing dark thoughts into their brains like a virus.

“You? You did this?” Dustin had never looked so terrifying. A look of deranged anger flooded his face, his eyes a shade of blue I had never seen before. Almost dark enough to be black.

“Fiona, bring her to me.” Edward tossed Tina down the few stairs of his throne. I watched as she coughed, holding her throat.

The exchange had happened so fast that I couldn’t even comprehend it.

One minute, I was watching Tina fall, clutching her neck for dear life; the next, I was right where she had fallen. Right next to Edward. They were so fast that I blinked, and it was done.

“Edward, you don’t understand.” Dustin was still enraged, but his plea sounded lighter like he knew how careful he needed to be. Edward was faster than him. I knew this now. It was one of the things vampires had that Succubi didn’t.

“Please. Hear me out.” Dustin begged again, searching for his eyes, but Edward was smart enough not to look directly at him.

“Hear what? That you endangered my people by bringing her here? That you brought this creature here, reveled in her abilities, and didn’t even offer her up to me? What kind of hospitality do you thinkyoudeserve?” Edward spoke in such a mono-toned voice that it felt hard to distinguish how upset he really was.

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