Page 55

CELINE

" F ive hundred,” I whisper.

I count five hundred seconds exactly before I attempt to leave my cell.

While terrified to leave, I’m even more terrified to stay.

Who knows how long before Genevieve snaps and takes me out.

Sure, she has me for leverage over Zavier, but I know her fuse is short, and it wouldn’t take much.

Plus, what’s stopping her from lying to him?

She could chop me into little pieces and send me floating down the river tomorrow.

I’m under no illusions that I’m making it out of this alive if I stay here.

All I can hope is the blood I’ve been slipping Valen is enough for him to give us a fighting chance. I can’t do this without him.

My body protests with every move I make, and the bits of stale bread and water sips haven’t sustained me.

Not to mention I’m probably in need of a blood transfusion myself and running on fumes at this point.

I use the metal bars to drag myself to a standing position and my legs shake like a newborn foal.

I’m pissed at how shot my endurance is since I’ve been held and deprived for so long.

Boxing is going to be a bitch to get used to again.

Resting my forehead against the metal, I center myself and give a mental pep talk before proceeding.

My needy vampire is out there looking for me. Who’s going to keep him out of trouble if I don’t? He could also be trapped here like I am. Plus, my dad needs me. Save the day, Celine. It’s what you’re made for.

With renewed determination, I cringe at the squeaking of the door when I open it part way. I’m not sure who all is around and what they can hear. Hopefully Genevieve is long gone for the day.

Turned sideways, I slide through, not wanting to risk more noise than necessary.

Valen’s cell remains empty, but I spot a small item wrapped in cloth against the wall.

I’ve seen flashes of him holding it when he thinks I don’t notice.

I’m not sure what it is, but it’s clearly something of importance, so I snag it and pocket the bundle.

Multiple times I have to stop while climbing the stairs.

From my stint down here, however long it’s been, my endurance is shot.

It’s sad how quick it is to leave your body when you aren’t consistently using it.

It pisses me off that I’ll have to hit the gym hard before I’m at full strength for work again.

Ugh. I’ll probably be bedridden while I heal, and I know Zavier is the mother hen type.

I pant and wheeze like an out of breath whale.

The air gets slightly warmer the higher I get, which is a relief, but also feels like needles against my skin after all this time.

It went numb early on and to have feeling back is a double-edged sword.

God I probably look and smell horrendous.

My hair is greasy and matted. When I get out of here—because I will get out of here, I refuse to think about the alternative—I’m taking the longest shower ever.

There’s a door at the top of the stairwell and it appears to be unlocked. Stupid vampires. Ever so gently I push and peer through the sliver of exposed hallway behind the door. At first glance it’s silent and empty of life but that doesn’t mean I’m letting my guard down.

I slip through and close the door behind me. Now in another creepy, hallway that’s only slightly less musty, but more modern than the dungeon below, I get my bearings. There’s a door at either end. I choose the right to head toward.

My footsteps are as quiet as I can make them and the closer I get to the door, the more I hear a slight whirring sound.

I walk over and repeat the process of slowly opening the door to peer in.

Thankfully, I chose the correct room and Valen lies strapped to a table.

His arm is full of tubes that are pulling blood out and cycling it through the machine before depositing it into bags.

The coast is clear, so I approach him. His eyes are closed and at first I don’t know if he’s awake or not.

“Valen,” I hiss as loud as I dare.

His eyes peel open slowly and widen at my appearance in his room.

“We’re blowing this popsicle stand. Come on.” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder and get to unplugging him from the tubes. I’m not a nurse, but it doesn’t matter. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

He seems a little out of it from the collection, but I run over to a large storage fridge in the corner.

Pleasantly surprised to find my hypothesis correct, I grab a few bags of blood and shove it at him to drink.

Valen doesn’t question me and quickly gulps them down.

Hopefully it wasn’t his blood because that’s kind of weird, but I guess not any worse than drinking a random person’s blood.

The puncture wounds on his arms heal before my very eyes and I’m reminded of how much more he is than me.

Hopefully once we’re out of here we can get to know each other like normal friends.

Knowing Zav, though, he’ll get jealous and need to supervise.

Maybe I shouldn’t tell him he bit me before Zav did.

We must look like an insane pair right now. Him with his long, limp hair and ratty old clothes. Crimson dripping down his chin and onto his bare feet. Me with my dirt and blood encrusted pale skin. My outfit isn’t much better than his.

“Do you have any idea how to get out of here?” I whisper, peeking out the door to see if anyone has noticed our shenanigans.

“No,” he answers, sounding stronger than ever before. “Whenever they bring me up, it’s straight here and back down.”

“Fuck. I guess we’re winging it then.” It’s probably foolish to hope for a clean break but so far so good. “Let’s go.”

Valen grabs my hand and squeezes it.

“See you on the other side, Celine.”

I hope he doesn’t mean the other side like the afterlife.

I nod back at him and steel my resolve.

Valen and I step into the hallway and make it to the other side when the door opens. A vampire is just walking through and spots us in front of him with a face full of shock. Faster than I can track, the vampire’s heart is ripped out of his chest and his head is knocked off his body.

I turn to Valen who holds the bloody heart and looks a little shell shocked himself at what he just did. It seems like he acted on instinct but I’m sure it’s been a long time since he last felt strong enough to do that.

“Fuck,” I mutter when I spot the handheld remote that’s now flashing. A big red button has been pressed by the vampire just before he died and from the sounds of pounding footsteps, he’s informed the cavalry of our escape. “We’re fucked.”

“This way.” Valen grabs my arm in an attempt to keep me up to speed with him, but it’s hard when my feet keep getting tangled up.

I’m panting and the urge to dry heave is overwhelming. He must get fed up with how slow I am because he hoists me up in his arms. Between my blood and the bags he consumed, I guess he’s feeling well enough to carry me and I certainly won’t complain if it gets us the hell out of here faster.

Careening down the hall so fast my hair blows around us, Valen blindly follows something. With his vampire senses fully functioning, I trust he knows what he’s doing.

“Wait, we need to check for Zav,” I panic, reminding Valen. I can’t be for certain that Genevieve doesn’t have him chained up somewhere around here too.

“I’d smell him if he were here. Now that I’ve tasted your blood, I can sense the connection.” He calms me down and continues to navigate the maze of halls and doors.

Relief floods me. Zav isn’t here, so hopefully that means he’s safe. I can’t contemplate the alternative.

My stomach rolls at the speed in which Valen’s moving. He stops in front of a door and opens it, shoving me in. I’m in shock and realize I’m surrounded by cleaning supplies. I have no idea why he’s done it and then hear the absolute chaos outside the door.

I peer out to see Valen going head-to-head with a few vampires.

Even with his imprisonment, he’s holding his own well, and I know having me to protect would’ve been too much.

Whenever any of the vampires get close to the door, he slaughters them.

It almost seems like a renewed sense of motivation has sparked inside of him.

One of the vampires manages to jump on his back like a feral raccoon and he shakes to dislodge them.

They land a bite and tear a chunk out of his shoulder.

Valen grunts in pain, and I know it hurts like a bitch, but he doesn’t react otherwise.

Getting a firm grip on the vampire’s arms, he flips them over his head and stomps on their chest when they land.

His bare foot quite literally goes through the vamp’s chest.

What the fuck is Valen? I don’t think he’s your typical vampire that’s for sure.

First wave of vampire goons down, Valen shows some fatigue and leans against the wall for reprieve. It won’t be long before he burns through the blood he’s consumed and then it’s bad news for us. To make it this far and end up right where we started would be unfortunate.

I just want to get home to my grumpy cat and unhinged, sunshiney vampire. Ava was probably waiting to scold me, I needed to call my dad, and I’d be lucky if I still had a job at the end of this.

We’re not left alone long before another group of vampires come bursting down the hallway. Valen weighs his options and swings the door open fully to grab me in his arms again before darting away, taking our chances elsewhere.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” he huffs. “I should have conserved my energy back there, but I’m not used to having my strength back.”

The maze of hallways and stairs makes it feel like some underground tunnel system. Where did it come from and what’s it used for? Could it be solely for vampiric purposes or something else?

“We have to be close to getting out of here,” I murmur, losing a little more of my consciousness. Adrenaline is wearing off and I’m reminded of my weakened state.

Valen tightens his grip and shakes me a little.

“Stay awake, Celine. We’re going to get out of here,” he says it matter of fact, but I don’t miss the shakiness to his voice.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Fuck.