Page 7 of Savage Blood (Den of Shadows #6)

Chapter

Six

Icy water startled me awake, and I inhaled the liquid with a gasp. I rolled over, coughing and choking to clear my lungs. Laughter echoed in the background, mixed with banging on metal bars and the rattle of chains.

The pain throbbing in my skull and limbs—hell, everywhere—made it perfectly clear that I was finally back in my body.

“You’re pathetic.” Roxie, the bitch who tried to drown me, tossed the now-empty bucket into the back of my small cell in Karn’s dungeon. “Did you really think you could simply break into that circle and stop the ritual?”

I pushed soaked strands of hair from my face, rivulets of water cascading down my cheeks and neck. “Nah. I just thought it would be fun to get knocked out. It was better than listening to those psychotic shifters chant and cackle.”

Little did Roxie know that getting zapped by the ritual magic actually worked in my favor. I visited Fane and passed along pertinent information. I also overheard a snippet of Barric’s endgame plan .

Too bad I had no idea what the Admordum Nexia Covenant was.

Ruin buried his head against his knees and rocked in the far corner of his cell, his chains still rattling while he muttered incoherently. My chest tightened when tremors overtook him, and he pressed his hands over his ears as if something taunted him.

Using the Infernal Sol to siphon his powers definitely caused Ruin’s intermittent psychosis. Once his mind cleared, I’d asked him if he’d ever heard of the ritual Barric mentioned.

Roxie kicked my thigh, shooting a blast of pain through my muscles. “Try to escape again, and you won’t get even a drop of water to drink.”

“Barric wants me alive.” I smirked. “You can hurt me, but you can’t kill me, Rox.”

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, a sinister grin pulling her lips apart. “I can hurt her too.”

Cold dread wrapped around my throat like a noose as Enid leaned against the bars in a cell across the hall. They’d unchained her, but the Malbraxis manacles around her wrists keeping her from shifting caught the dim, flickering lights from the lanterns along the stone walls.

Would Saint forgive me for putting his mother in danger?

“I’m fine,” she mouthed, reading the obvious anguish in my expression.

“So just behave, Tate.” The raven—or former raven—leaned forward with a sneer. “You look like shit.”

I laughed and sat up straight, water dripping onto my shoulders and down my back. “And yet, I still look better than you.”

Her fist reared back, headed straight for my nose.

But fireworks suddenly exploded through my insides, and my head arched back, barely dodging her hit. The cell melted into a collage of bright lights, ribbons of scarlet, and shadows, all vying for attention.

My palms slapped the cold ground as I fell forward, my cheek hitting the stones.

Lava flowed through my veins, and flames engulfed my flesh, spreading like wildfire in the driest of seasons.

The remaining piece of the amulet hidden inside of me infected my bloodstream and organs, slowly stealing my life.

I coughed, and burgundy splattered the stones beneath me.

Just perfect. I was coughing up blood.

Roxie scrambled away so I wouldn’t soil her boots. “How about a little warning before you hack up a bloody lung?”

After the raging fire in my body calmed to a dull throb, I flipped her off. “Stay out of my cell, and I won’t bleed on your boots.”

“Fane wouldn’t think you’re so hot now, would he?” She chuckled and peered over her shoulder at Enid. “Or Saint.”

Enid’s nostrils flared, and if those mystical cuffs weren’t curbing her power, claws would have burst from her fingertips. “I never knew ravens to be so weak that they had to kick someone when they’re down.”

Roxie rolled her eyes. “Mind your own business, lady. You don’t know half the history between us.”

Hell, neither did I. Why did Roxie hate me so much?

A broken shriek burst from Ruin, penetrating the dungeon’s atmosphere like a sharp arrow. “A murder of crows and an unkindness darkened my doorstep. Don’t fret. My potion will make them better. The lad cried all night. So sad. So somber. ”

His rocking intensified, and he slammed his head against the wall.

Roxie cursed and marched out of my cell, slamming it closed but not locking it. I wasn’t stupid enough to escape now. I wasn’t even sure I could stand.

And I couldn’t leave Enid.

“Stop that,” Roxie demanded, cradling the back of Ruin’s head to cushion the hit. “You’re hurting yourself.”

His unhinged laugh rang through the grimy dungeon. “A life for a life. A tooth for a tooth. A soul for a soul.” Slowly, the demon’s unfocused gaze swiveled to me. “There’s more than one side to a coin. Flip it over and you might get a devil. The other side could be an angel.”

The moisture zapped from my mouth, and my scalp prickled at the familiar ranting. He sounded so much like me when the Infernal Sol had infected my mind and stolen my sanity.

“Do I need to chain you up so tight you can’t move, Ruin?” Roxie kept her hand on his head, even though he’d stopped banging it against the wall.

“No need, dark raven.” A melancholy smile tugged at his mouth, a tear gliding down his pale cheek. “I’m better now.”

As I swallowed the lump clogging my throat, I crawled back to sit against the wall, cold seeping through my damp shirt. I’d never seen Ruin cry. Who even knew he could?

The hardness in Roxie’s expression evaporated, and she knelt next to Ruin, wiping away that tear. “Good. I—we—wouldn’t want to find you with your skull bashed in.”

Enid and I shared a knowing look. Maybe Ruin’s charm had already worked its magic on Roxie. Watching him hurt himself had gotten to her.

She reached into her pocket and withdrew something plastic, the sound of it crinkling within the dungeon. “Eat this, but make sure you hide the wrapper in your pocket so I can grab it later. Understand?”

Her whisper wasn’t as soft as she’d thought, not for shifters. The mystical cuffs didn’t dull my hearing that much.

Ruin took the power bar and slipped it into his pocket. “Thank you.”

As footsteps echoed, Roxie shot to her feet, and Wes and a female Collective Nosterium member dragged an unconscious shifter between them.

The woman’s eerie grin had cool air drifting over my wet skin. “We brought some more company.”

My stomach lurched as they tossed the female shifter into the cell on my other side, a groan tumbling from her mouth. Coils of golden-brown hair slid from her face, but I didn’t recognize her. The bitten wolf shifter looked young, maybe in her early twenties.

Was she their next sacrifice?

“What’s the matter, Tate?” Wes leaned his forehead against the bars of my cell. “You can’t save her. She’s ours now.”

I climbed slowly to my feet, even though I should have conserved my energy. “What’s the matter, Wes? Sad Barric made you sit out during the last ritual?”

His gold irises flared like a bright light hit them. “He asked me to sit out as a favor. It’s an honor.”

My laughter made his top lip curl in disgust. “Or he just thinks you’re weak and unable to handle Ruin’s power.”

Wes jerked on the bars, and the door swung open, spiking my pulse.

Shit.

I forgot Roxie hadn’t locked it .

His manic smile poured frost down my spine, and he stormed into my cell. Before I could lift my hands to defend myself, his body pressed into mine and trapped me against the stone wall.

“Not so tough now, are you, Tate?” His breath reeked of whiskey and meat.

“I’m plenty tough.” I tried to force him off, but all that did was point out his hardening length.

Bile collected in the back of my mouth. His son had the same sick, sadistic tendencies.

“Would Fane be angry if I fucked you?”

“What do you think?” I ground out, my gut twisting.

He shrugged. “He won’t be able to get to me. I have the power of The Collective Nosterium behind me.”

“Don’t be so sure.” My head spun as he ground against me, a ruby tinge blazing around my vision.

A long time ago, I swore never to be weak and vulnerable in a position like this again. And I didn’t intend to break that oath.

I’d rather rip my flesh and break my wrists to remove the Malbraxis manacles than let this sick fuck steal anything from me, especially my consent.

“Get off of her, Wes!” Enid snarled, shaking the bars of her cell. “Fane won’t be the only one after you if you hurt her.”

Sneering, he raked his hand through his hair. “You all act as if she’s something special. She’s nothing but a piece of trash.”

“A piece of trash you want to use,” I pointed out. “Don’t you have a mate?”

“ I’m his mate.” The female Collective member flicked sleek dirty blonde hair over her shoulder while she watched her mate assault me. “We have an open relationship.”

They obviously weren’t fated. Even Barric had probably been faithful to Tamara before he slaughtered her in cold blood.

“That’s enough, Wes.” Roxie marched into my cell and jerked him off me. “You heard Barric. He warned you not to touch her—unless he says otherwise.”

Wes snatched his arm out of Roxie’s grip. “Why are you even here? You’re not a fucking shifter, and yet Barric gives you all this rank and power.”

“Why don’t you ask Barric?” Roxie jerked her chin toward the door. “Go.”

Wes’s mate laughed as she grabbed his hand. “Don’t let her fool you, Wes. She’s just Barric’s little whore. That’s all.”

Roxie flipped the pair off but didn’t deny it.

Ick. Was she really sleeping with Barric?

Once the three of them left, another groan echoed from the new prisoner in the cell next to mine. The shifter sat up, rubbing the back of her head.

“Where am I? Something attacked me.”

I searched my cell for a cup of water, but Roxie had knocked it over. “You’re in the Underworld.”

“What!” She became a little more alert as she sat up, her mouth parting. “I’m in a different realm?”

“Here.” Ruin knelt at the bars separating us, offering his cup of water. He stopped ranting, and some of the fog cleared from his eyes.