Page 60 of Blood Moon

What we became, brother, was unstoppable.

Article VI, Lost Letters from Aadan the First

I screamed and ran, but it was no use.

Every corner I turned, Abba was there, grinning at me. “Poor thing. It’s pathetic, really. Did Rena not tell you how fast Blood Lycans are?” she sneered, tongue brushing over fangs. “I’d kill you now, but it would be a waste of perfect blood.”

I bolted, wondering how she knew my mother, but this time, Aire and Sebastian entered the building. The three of them closed in on all sides, but it didn’t stop me from throwing artifacts while Abba shrieked for someone to seize me.

Sebastian lunged in my direction, arms out. The velocity sent me over, and before I knew it, his fangs were rooted in my collarbone. I screamed, blood spraying the white floor.

“Sebastian!” Abba yelled. “Away from her now! We mustn’t waste another drop! She’s off-limits !”

His sentence came slow, like cotton was in his mouth. “But she tastes so good.” He growled, about to bite again when Abba tackled him away.

I wiggled free, but then Aire was there, grabbing at me, lifting me to the air. My elbow struck into his jaw. He released me, and I kicked him below the belt, watched him crash to his knees with the sweetest satisfaction.

It didn’t last long. A sharp whistle sounded. In the next second, I’d been shot in the shoulder. Another fucking tranquilizer. This time, at the hands of Abba. I collapsed onto the marble, head smacking against the cool floor.

“I have to do everything myself around here!” she screeched. “You fools would all be dead without me.”

The men groaned, arguing with each other.

“Enough! Someone tie her up, so we can get this show on the road.”

The last things I heard were Abba’s heels clacking, and Aire and Sebastian scurrying toward me.

Someone threw water on me, and I woke, scrambled to my feet.

I was in a holding cell at the end of a dark hall that felt as though it was buried in the earth, in a basement of some sort.

Standing in black leather on the other side of the bars was a girl.

Shoulder-length black hair and olive skin.

Eyeliner thick around chestnut eyes. Long, pointed nails. She was beautiful and menacing.

“Wake up,” she yelled, hitting the bars with the bucket. “They’ll be collecting you soon.”

She walked away, and I hurried forward, gripped the bars. “Wait!” I said in a panic. “Please! Where am I?”

“The last place anyone will find you,” she leered before continuing down the hall.

“But why?!” I screamed, and with a quickness, the bucket had been thrown at me, bouncing off the bars.

I flinched, but the theatrics didn’t intimidate me.

“Why go through the lengths of all of this for my blood? Why not kill me immediately?” And I swallowed down tears and snot and whatever else was on my face, throat throbbing as I held it all in.

She raced to the cell with unspeakable speed. This time, it frightened me. I jumped away, pressing myself against the stone wall. From the window above, beams of moonlight highlighted her face, and she wrapped her long fingers around the bars, one by one.

She tilted her head to the side, her stare thin and grim. “You think this is just about the scent of your blood?” She snorted, nostrils flaring. “You’re not that special, dhampir.” And she spat after she said it, wet slime landing inches from my scarred toes.

I was unfamiliar with the term dhampir , unsure of the correlation to me.

She groaned as she shook the bars, dust sprinkling from the ceiling.

“Get a grip, Mira. You are here for the sins of your mother.” She laughed very loudly, teasingly, like a witch, like a hyena.

“You’re going to bleed tonight, and I will be in the front row with a smile on my face.

Remember me,” she hissed, and then she was gone, really gone, and I hadn’t had the chance to ask her more questions.

To be drained of all my blood, to die in a place like this, for the sins of my mother.

I slid to the ground, hands pressed to my chest. What could that mean?

Had Rena been eradicating Blood Lycans? Is this what she was trying to protect me from?

If I were here, in her place to die, it had to have been something beyond horrific.

Beyond unforgiving. But if not for the scent of my blood, then why?

Pulled my knees to my chest, and the soreness set in.

The budding ache was everywhere, splitting and stinging with each move.

I was punctured limbs and swollen eyes, a tragedy.

The agony I felt stretched through muscle, through tissue.

Tonight, I was to die, and here I was, caged like a flightless bird, helpless.

I cried, and cried, and cried, sulking on the filthy cement, wishing for a better end. I’d wanted a life without this fire of suffering, and I’d tried, I’d tried with all that I was to get to her, to build a happy life, conquer peace.

It was the sole thought of Bobby that made me weep harder. The sole thought that made me stand. He’d fight for me if he were here, and since he was not, I needed to find the resilience to keep going. Not like this, I told myself. You fight until every breath is gone.

Pivoting, I kicked at the bars, hoping they’d break, even though I knew they wouldn’t.

The vibration of the iron reverberated into my soles, not bending for me.

Out of reach, where the curve of the wall met the ceiling, was a small window, bedecked in vertical bars.

Perhaps, if I could manage my way up, I could remove the bars, see if the window opened. It could be an escape.

I removed the oversized sweatpants Julian had given me and used them as a rope. After a few tries, one of the pant legs caught on the window bar, sweeping and dropping to the other side, just long enough.

With a few jumps, I retrieved the ankle of the leg and pulled it the rest of the way down. In this position, I was able to use both sides to scale the wall. At the window, I slipped my hand between the bars, pulled on the latch to unlock it.

A crick of air and dirt pushed through, and I coughed. However, even with the window unlocked, it refused to open. I bashed in the glass, knuckles creaking until they bled. A few punches later, and the pane fell outward, onto grass, opening into the forest.

My heart raced, and I yanked at the bars with all my might, only to arrive at the realization that they were welded to the frame of the window.

Before I could make another move, someone behind me cleared their throat. A man appeared. He unlocked the cell, and I jumped down. He was dressed in an all-black suit, shades covering his eyes. Dark hair brushed into a ponytail, a tattoo on his neck.

“Let’s go.” It was all he said, and I barely had enough time to put on my pants before he grabbed my arm and hauled me down the hallway.