Page 76 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

Within seconds, she’s in front of me, her grip on my arm like a vice. Before I can react, she hurls me toward the other female, just as a shadow portal opens in front of her. I try to stop myself from going through it, but it doesn’t work, and my body slides through the dark mass with ease. My entire world turns black as I find myself falling forward.

Within seconds, my body crashes against a hard floor, and I wince from the force. I lift my head slightly, noticing the stone floor beneath me, but that is not what causes me to gasp. I find a man next to me, his eyes wide with fear, and blood leaking from his neck. He’s dead. On instinct, I slide myself away from him,and my back hits something solid. I spin and find a woman, her eyes open in the same way. All life has gone from them.

I scream out, scrambling to my feet as I look around. There are so many of them, at least ten dead bodies, all still and frozen in the position they died and scattered across the floor. I shake my head, but the clearing of a throat makes me snap my gaze upward. That’s when I spot a familiar figure. He looks thinner than he did the last time we met, and his olive-colored skin is now a pale white. Despite his clear deterioration, his features are still the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I gasp.

The prince. He’s not dead.

Impossible.Athriel whispers the exact thing I’m thinking just as the prince cocks his head and smiles.

“Hello, Adina. You and I have so much to discuss.”

Imove backwards, only stopping when my ankles brush against something. I don’t dare look, knowing that it will just be another body. A body this monster likely killed.

Beside him stands a timid girl with stark white hair and eyes as blue as I imagine the sea to be. In her hands is a book with a weathered brown cover. She grips it so tightly her knuckles whiten. An apologetic look passes her face, and her cheeks color red beneath the many freckles that cover them. She pushes a pair of black-rimmed glasses up her nose before her eyes fall back on the book.

My stomach tightens at the scene. Is she another human that he intends to add to the mass of bodies? Did he punish them to teach me a lesson? My head pounds at the thought of more lives being taken because of me.

Are you there?

A moment passes before Athriel answers.

I’m here, but I’m out of ideas.

My heart races at the sound of defeat in his voice. I’m going to die here.

“I’m going to ask a simple question and wish to receive a simple response.” The prince’s words grab my attention, and despite my fear, a scowl fills my face. Since the day I met him, he has slaughtered humans as though they mean nothing. If he wishes to kill me, then he can, but there will be nothing simple about anything I do for him. “What are you?”

His question catches me off guard—it’s not at all what I was expecting.

“Human.”

He tips his head back and laughs, but not a drop of humor fills his eyes. He moves closer to me, the tick in his jaw clear from this distance. I desperately want to step back and put some distance between us, but showing a vampire your fear has never been wise—and I won’t start now. Especially not to one I tried to kill.

“A human cannot do with their blood what you can, little witch. So, I want to know how that kind of power runs through your veins?”

Witch? That’s an old term that was used centuries ago, according to some books I once read. A term used to denote a woman with magic running through her veins. I’m no witch, but I’m not about to correct him or tell him about Athriel. Especially since it seems that he still wants information from me.

“Or perhaps you do not know as much about my kind as you think you do.”

His face twists in anger, and his eyes darken.

“I have been too kind to you because you fascinated me, but make no mistake, I will not hesitate to rip your heart out where you stand if you speak to me like that again.”

His words send a chill down my spine, and I know that he means every last one of them. I tried to kill him, and he wants revenge, but for whatever reason, he cannot yet take it. I hear footsteps behind me, but I dare not turn away from him. I keep my eyes firmly on him in a silent challenge. I’m too tired to keep playing this game of the unknown. I no longer wish for fate to be in the hands of the vampires. If I’m going to die, then I’ll do it on my own terms. I will take death over returning to that dungeon any day.

Gritting my teeth, I sneer at him. “Then kill me.”

I’m sorry, Willow.I close my eyes, awaiting the final blow, and pray that there may be little peace where I go next, but nothing happens. I open my eyes and find the prince watching me intently. A scowl twists his features, and I can tell that every fiber of him hates me. At least we have one thing in common.

“You might as well because if you don’t, I won’t hesitate to try to take you out again.”

He cocks his head to the side, watching me curiously.

“Are you sure about this?” his words are thrown over his shoulder to the girl with the white hair. She nods her head.

“Yes. There is no other logical explanation.”

He offers a curt nod, and before I can even process what’s happening, he wraps a hand around my wrist, pulls me close, and sinks his fangs deep into my neck. I cry out and try to push him away, but it does nothing. Even if I wasn’t in my weakened state, I’m no match for him.