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CHAPTER TEN

MADS

Dangling from the ceiling is not one of my favorite pastimes.

The tip of my bare foot can only slowly skid across the floor.

My arms are strung above my head and my ankles are chained together.

I’ve tried my hand at swinging this way and that, but it does very little to help when I really have nowhere to go.

I’ve also attempted to break the metal that holds me, but I’m so weak from blood loss that I can’t do much against it.

At least I’m not alone, although my current roommate is a bundle of joy as he hangs like he’s dead. How he’s not dead is beyond impressive. I wasn’t even aware that someone could live through being shot with that ammunition unless they’re a true vampire, which I’m pretty certain he’s not.

But he’s likely my only way out of this.

I swing a bit, hoping to nudge Ender. When I collide with him instead of nudging him, he jerks awake.

“Fucking hell,” he groans.

“How’s it hanging?” I ask.

He lifts his head and slowly looks over at me just to offer me a glare. Clearly, he didn’t enjoy my joke. Can’t fathom why.

Ender immediately tries to break the binds, but he can’t get them to budge at all. “Fuck.”

“Fuck is right. You going to live?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he grumbles, like I have offended him by asking a pretty reasonable question.

“Well, you got shot with something that would kill most vampires.”

He glances at his shoulder. “Oh.”

“You tried saving my life. That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me. Thank you,” I say as I give him a smile.

“I’m horribly sorry if that’s what you thought I was doing. Since you’re the most suspicious man I’ve ever met, I assumed you were up to some shit. I planned to sneak into your room and smack you around a bit, not save you.”

“Like… in a fun way?” I ask, a little hopeful.

“And if that didn’t work, I planned to torture you.”

“Like… in a fun way?”

“And if that still didn’t work?—”

“I feel like maybe you’re slightly evil, but I’m hoping there’s just a misunderstanding between us,” I say. “I’m sure that’s the answer. There’s simply a misunderstanding.”

“There’s not. I fully planned to torture information out of you.”

“But why? I’m like a baby council member! I joined around seven months ago! Why wouldn’t you torture someone else who knows more?”

“I didn’t say I’d only torture you. I was just planning on starting with you and working my way up to someone more significant.”

“But I’m significant! And I was over here believing that you were saving me out of the goodness of your heart. Are you sure you didn’t and are just shy and embarrassed that it was so romantic?”

“I would never help anyone out of the goodness of my heart,” Ender assures me.

“Well… maybe you’ll learn how to. It looks like we get to be buddies for a bit, so hopefully our bond will grow by leaps and bounds. By the end of this experience, I bet we’ll be willing to die for each other.”

“I would consider offing you to get out,” he declares.

“But why?”

“You’re a council member; I honestly don’t need more reason than that. I’m sure I could find more but I don’t need more. Now have you figured a way out of here or did you waste your entire time trying to come up with some joke about us hanging here?”

“Do you think I would still be dangling here with my butt crack on display if I had? I can feel the cool breeze caressing it. Like… you don’t think they ever considered pulling my trousers up a little when they tied me up?” I try to twist a bit so he can see what I’m talking about.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Ender asks as he blatantly glances down and smirks .

He obviously thinks it’s funny and doesn’t understand my woes at all!

Maybe it’s because his trousers are perfectly in place!

Like… how can he have been shot, dragged off to who knows where, and hung from the ceiling and still look completely put together?

His hair doesn’t even seem to be out of place. Although his complexion does seem off.

“Can you take me as seriously when you see my ass crack?”

“I never took you seriously to begin with.”

“Yet you took me seriously enough to pick me to torture,” I remind him.

“A mistake.”

I nod. “Ah, understandable. I was really counting on you to break us out. So go on, now. Let me see your moves.”

His skin is an odd color that I’m not sure I’ve seen too often in humans or in vampires.

While he didn’t suffer from as much blood loss as I did, what that ammunition released into his system has to have fucked with him to the point where he looks worse off than I do.

He swings a bit, and I assume he’s just going to try some odd swinging nonsense that will get him nowhere, but instead, he hooks my legs with his.

“What are you doing? Are you trying to pull me free with your feet? A bit ambitious, but I’m willing to see if it works.”

“I’m going to eat you and then I’ll have enough strength to get out of here.”

What the fuck? This man is a fiend! “Ah… ha ha. I’d rather not!”

“Lean over a bit so I can get your throat.”

“The more I talk to you, the more I feel like you don’t overly like me.”

“I’m not sure what would ever give you that impression. Just swing this way.”

“Weirdly, I’d rather not! Especially after you declared not even five minutes ago that if you could ‘off’ me to get out of here, you would!”

“You are a council member. How hard is it to understand that they are evil? What if I promise not to drain you completely?”

“I feel like I have so little blood that if I stepped on a thumbtack, I would just die instantly! They practically drained me all over the hotel room floor. Holding my head up feels like a chore I’m barely capable of!”

“Did you kill any of them before they knocked you down?” he asks, but he had to have seen what I did.

“I… uh… smacked one!”

“Aren’t you a vampire?” Ender asks.

“Not a very good one!”

“So then you might as well let me eat you. I have a child at home.”

“You’re like those humans with the ‘baby on board’ stickers. Like oh, I guess I won’t hit that car since there’s a baby in it!”

He doesn’t care. All he cares about is trying to eat me as he keeps trying to catch me with his feet. I try to kick him away, but with my legs tied, it’s wildly unsuccessful.

Ender must exhaust himself because he slumps down. “Dammit.” He grits his teeth. “FUCK. Fuck… fuck.”

He’s starting to sound less cocky and more panicky. He’s tearing and pulling so hard that I hear his shoulder dislocate. Ender grimaces but it doesn’t slow him down any.

“Hey, with limited blood and the drugs from that ammunition running through your veins, you’re not going to heal quickly, so don’t hurt yourself to the point where you can’t fight when you need to,” I caution him.

“I need to get out of here,” he says as his nails dig into the chains, but all he’s doing is hurting his fingers. Obviously, I’m also not having the time of my life here, but I really don’t think hurting himself is going to get us anywhere.

“Ender, please. Stop. Let’s think this through.”

“You don’t know what they’re going to do,” he says.

“Do you?”

“Of course I fucking know. Of course I…” He trails off.

“What do you think they’re going to do?” I ask, voice gentle in the hope he tells me something that I don’t know. Something I can use.

I hear a noise and he stills, but they don’t seem to be coming toward us. “Think,” I say. “We’re going to think about how to get out of here. Let’s start with what we know. Do you know who they are?”

“Fuck if I know,” he growls. It’s honestly not very helpful or even believable if he claims to know what they’re going to do. “Here’s the thing—if I tell you everything you want to know, how much are you going to tell me?”

“I mean… a reasonable amount at the very least. I can tell you that this isn’t the first time I’ve been dangling from the ceiling, but it’s the first time someone’s doing it because they want to kill me.”

“I don’t want to hear about your sexcapades. Do you know who created the council?”

I think about it for a bit before telling him what I do know.

“I know the council began in Europe before spreading to other locations. It was an attempt to keep unruly vampires in control. Wasn’t it started to deal with you and other vampires like you?

It was built to unite vampires and control those who refused. Right?”

He grins at me. “There’s a reason you’re here. There’s a reason they wanted you.”

“If you are aware of it, I’d love to know.”

“This is what irritates me. You want me to work with you, you want me to listen to you, but everything you say is vague and lies.”

I watch him for a long moment. “I honestly was under the impression the council was created to deal with vampires like you. And I’m aware you were around at the time they created it to keep other vampires from ending up like you.

That is not a lie. If it’s incorrect, you’re the only one present who can explain to me why it is. ”

I hear footsteps before the door swings open and two men walk in. They’re not wearing masks, but I still don’t recognize either of them.

“Are you ready to talk?” the taller man asks.

“I’m sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’d shake your hand but as you can see, my hands are a bit preoccupied. Ha! I’m Mads Nielson. And you are?”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“You asked if I was ready to talk so I started talking. I’m actually quite good at talking. Ask my buddy over here. Ender saved my life, did you know that?”

The man I’m speaking to punches me in the stomach. “You know what I mean.”

“Ow, fuck, the hospitality in this place sucks. I’d like to speak to a manager?—”

He punches me again, this time hard enough to do some internal damage. I groan as I grit my teeth and curl in on myself. Of course I’ll heal from it, but lacking this much blood, it’ll take a while, and before I can heal, he punches me again.