Page 44 of Blood and Magic (RBMC: Helena, MT #2)

Maeve

I woke up to the sound of clanking metal and the smell of old death.

My head pounded, and my eyes burned. I brought my hand up to touch the ache, and my fingers came away crusted with blood.

I remembered a vampire taking me down from behind, slamming my forehead on the ground.

Chains lined the space, hanging from the wall in an ominous display of gruesome intent.

They were attached to the ceiling with thick metal hooks, amping up my fear.

My hands were in cuffs, hooked to the wall behind me with a thick tether, and my ankles had been tied together with a zip tie.

That seemed like lazy work compared to the other options surrounding me.

Glancing around the dark space, I tried not to let the sinking dread consume me. My muscles burned, my veins coated in fire like I was having an allergic reaction to everything. They must have dosed me with pure agony.

I reached out through the weak bond to Mill, something that faded faster the longer I stayed down here.

“Help!” I called. “ Help me!”

“ We’ll find you,” he replied. “We’re coming for you.”

Terror seized my heart, shooting adrenaline through my body, but I reminded myself to stay calm. Getting panicked would only do the vampires a favor. I took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling through my nose, praying the pain would disappear.

A slumped body sat in the corner opposite me, its head leaning up against the wall. I recognized Ginny’s scent, but a heavy metallic smell permeating off her told me she’d lost a lot of blood. I had no idea how injured she was.

“Pssttt!” I hissed. “Ginny! Ginny, wake up.”

When she didn’t move, I banged my cuffs on the cement floor. I didn’t know where the vampires were or if they’d be able to hear us, so I didn’t want to make too much noise, but if there was any way to get out of this, I’d need her help. I wouldn’t leave without her.

“Ginny!” I called again. This time, she groaned and lifted her head, wincing as she looked around.

“Fucking hell,” she mumbled and touched the wound on her temple. She, likewise, had been knocked unconscious. “Where are we?”

“The vampire house of horrors,” I said. “We have to get out of here.”

She clenched her eyes shut and blinked a few times. “I think I have a concussion.”

I opened my mouth to ask her if she could get out of her cuffs, but a door on the far end of the room opened and several people entered. The disgusting scent of rotten eggs filled my nose, and I nearly heaved. Vampires were horrendous creatures. How could Mill ever think he was like them?

“Welcome back to reality,” said the big one in the front. When he stepped into the light, I recognized him as the leader, Marx. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, flashing a wicked grin that made my skin crawl. “You two wouldn’t have been plotting an escape, would you?”

I squared my jaw and glared at him.

“That wouldn’t be very well behaved for someone with your upbringing, would it?”

Percy moved to his left, and I shifted my focus to my brother.

I hadn’t seen him in months. Guin and Sol had led us to believe he’d moved away after his fall from grace, leaving his pregnant wife behind.

But now, I knew the truth. He’d been turned into a vampire by the piece of shit standing in front of me.

“How can you stand this?” I asked Percy. “How can you let him do this to me? To your family?”

Percy shifted and rubbed his neck, glancing at the ground.

“Fucking spineless?—”

A sharp slap twisted my head to the side, amplifying the headache blossoming behind my eyes, making the anguish in my muscles worse. Torment radiated down my cheek and into my jaw, and I spat blood on the floor in front of me, the result of biting my tongue.

“That’s enough,” Marx said. “Percy is a good little soldier, aren’t you?”

Again, Percy remained quiet.

“I was owed a Vanderbilt daughter,” Marx continued, holding up a hand to his goons. “I mean to take what’s mine.”

He waved his fingers, and they moved forward, three on either side of me.

One unbuckled my cuffs on either wrist while the other held my feet down, but as soon as my hands were free, I lunged.

Claws jutting out, I scraped a female on the cheek and tore into another’s throat, who gasped and clutched at the wound.

The sound of a cocked pistol halted my fury, and I looked at Ginny, who had a vampire standing in front of her, barrel aimed at her head.

“Come willingly or I’ll put a bullet in her brain,” Marx said.

“Don’t listen to them,” Ginny said.

But I didn’t have a choice. They would kill her if I didn’t do what they said, and I would rather die than watch her brains paint the wall.

“Okay,” I said, holding my hands to either side. “Okay.”

The vampire I’d scratched grabbed my upper arm and dragged me to my feet, whispering in my ear. “You’ll pay for that, you filthy fucking animal.”

I grinned a predatory response. My heart raced and my muscles trembled, but I wouldn’t show these walking corpses any of that.

If I went down, at least I could say I went down swinging.

The big guy next to Percy bent to lift me from the waist, slinging me over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold.

Marx told one of the vampires to stay and guard Ginny while the rest went with us.

I scrambled for what to do next. I was sure they planned to take me to some dark, dingy room to do dark, horrible things. Mill’s words ricocheted in my head.

They’ll spend days draining you…torturing you…using you. And that’s if you’re lucky. I shudder to think what he would have done with Sol if Orion hadn’t gotten to her when he did.

I swallowed down another wave of terror, knowing if I put up a fight, they would hurt Ginny in response.

Think, Maeve! Think!

We rounded a corner, and the sounds of shuffling feet made me perk my head up. Over thirty other vampires stood in a circle. The room reeked of death, and my terror started to take over.

“Calm,” urged my inner fox, but I didn’t know how to do that when the threat of being dinner became abundantly clear.

The guy holding me dropped me to the ground in the middle of the group, and I landed hard on my ass, nearly spraining my wrists as I tried to right myself.

The horde laughed and hissed, staring down at me with dead, lifeless eyes and sharp, intimidating fangs.

I took slow breaths to slow my thudding pulse, but it echoed in my head.

I shivered, clenching my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering.

“Show no fear,” my fox urged, bucking at the confines of my mind. She wanted to take over. She wanted to go rabid and tear as many of them apart as she could. “Fight as hard as you can.”

I found my brother in the fray and peered at him with pleading eyes. When he glanced away, I figured he must have found a new family. I was nothing more than a name to him, and that betrayal cut the deepest.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Marx shouted, raising his arms high above his head in a grandstanding gesture of performance. “Esteemed children. Behold! My new bride!”

Shock consumed me, filling my chest and gut with dread. Shouts of joy echoed around me, more terrifying than waking up in a cold dungeon.

“She’s not the one I was promised,” Marx continued, grabbing Percy’s shoulder. “We have our newest pledge to thank for that, but she’ll have to do.”

I scrambled for a plan. They hadn’t bound my wrists ( fucking idiots ), and I hadn’t been gagged, so I could scream if I needed to.

I didn’t know what to do about my feet, which were still tied together at the ankles.

Even if I fought, I wouldn’t be able to run.

And whatever they’d dosed me with had made me sluggish and woozy, almost like I was drunk without the thrill.

The room spun, and my eyes struggled to focus.

“Get her up,” Marx said, and one of his cronies pulled me to my feet.

The vile leader walked toward me, stopping inches from my face.

His breath was rank, like cigarettes and old compost, and I nearly recoiled away from it, but the vampire behind me held me in place.

“What do you think, little shifter bitch? You wanna be my wife for the rest of eternity?”

“I’d rather die,” I said, grimacing and turning my head away.

He gripped my chin, forcing my face back to his. “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll make sure that happens. It’s all part of the process.”

The group laughed, some even shouting their enjoyment.

“Kill her! Kill her,” they chanted.

“Tear her throat out,” said the one behind me.

Marx turned back to me with his slimy grin. “And once we’re done with you, we’ll set in on the cub.”

Ginny.

I pictured these fiends sinking their fangs into her body and tearing her apart. Rage simmered through my veins, and I couldn’t contain it. It flowed through me, so overpowering and all-consuming. I didn’t think; I just reacted.

“No!” I struggled against the vampire’s hold, throwing an elbow behind me so it hit him in the solar plexus.

He let out a loud “Oomph” and wilted, letting me go.

I curled my hand into a fist and pummeled Marx in the throat as four more of his goons descended on me, grabbing my arms, yanking my head back to expose my neck.

I wasn’t as strong as I used to be, and I tried again to focus.

“You fucking cunt,” Marx wheezed, raising a hand to bring it down on my face again.

I whipped my head to the side, pain ricocheting down that side of my body.

But this time, he didn’t stop. He hit me again and again, hard enough that my vision darkened into shimmering stars, my ears rang, my jaw crunched.

A hard knock to the stomach pushed all the air out of my body, and I keened forward, gasping for oxygen, coughing, and struggling against the force.

“Is that enough?” Marx taunted. “Or do I need to bring in your friend?”

“No,” I managed to mutter. “Don’t hurt her.”