Chapter 9

Elowë's POV

Kovas.

The name meant nothing to me. Probably one of his people. Another vampire. Another thing I didn't have the brain capacity to deal with right now.

I didn't ask.

Cassian was already moving toward the door.

"It's dangerous outside," he said. His voice was calm. Steady. Like he was commenting on the weather. "Stay in this room."

Then he pushed the door open and walked out.

The door swung shut behind him with a soft click.

I stood there, staring at the closed door, waiting for something. The sound of a lock turning. The scrape of metal. Something that would tell me I was trapped again.

Nothing came.

The silence stretched out, broken only by the muffled sounds of fighting from somewhere beyond the walls. Thuds. Crashes. Something that might have been a shout, cut off too quickly.

Wait.

I blinked, my exhausted brain trying to catch up with what hadn't happened.

He didn't lock the door.

I remembered the first time. When that server had shoved me into this room, the lock had turned with a clear, definite click. I'd heard it. Felt it in my bones, that sound of being caged.

But this time, there was nothing.

Just the soft sound of the door closing. That was it.

I took a step forward. Then another.

My hand reached out. Touched the handle.

I pushed.

The door moved.

Not much. Just a crack. But it moved. It wasn't locked.

This is my chance, but what Cassian said...

Should I trust him?

My brain felt like it was moving through molasses, trying to make sense of something that made no sense at all.

He kidnapped me. Or bought me. Or... something. He was a vampire. He'd brought me to this sex club and paid for me like I was a commodity.

But then he didn't force me. Didn't drink my blood even though I'd literally told him to do whatever he wanted.

Instead, he healed me.

None of it added up.

I closed my eyes, trying to piece together the fragments of memory that were finally falling back into place.

The forest. Shera and me, running from those things. Those werewolves. Shera falling, her ankle twisted, telling me to go. Me running until I found that clearing and saw—

Cassian.

Snapping someone's neck. His people burning the body.

Then the rescue station. The man there with his notebook. The way the world had gone fuzzy and dark after that flash.

Waking up here.

The pieces were sliding together now, forming a picture I didn't want to look at.

The rescue station worker sold me.

Not Cassian.

Even if that was true, Cassian was a vampire.

Trusting an vampire didn't sound about right.

A scream ripped through the air outside, short and sharp and abruptly cut off.

My eyes snapped open.

The sounds of fighting were getting louder. Closer. Something heavy slammed into a wall hard enough that I felt the vibration through the floor.

I moved before I'd made a conscious decision, pulling the door open just enough to peer through the gap.

The smell hit me first.

Blood.

Thick and metallic and overwhelming, like someone had opened a butcher shop in the hallway. It coated the back of my throat, made my stomach heave.

I pressed my hand over my mouth, fighting the urge to gag.

The hallway was chaos. Women in skimpy dresses like mine were running, their faces twisted in terror. One of them stumbled, nearly fell, and the girl behind her gave her a hard shove to keep her moving.

They were all running toward the main hall. Toward the exit.

I could follow them. Blend in. Get out in the confusion.

Or I could stay here like Cassian said.

Trust a vampire or trust my own instincts?

Another scream from outside, closer this time.

Fuck it.

I pushed the door open wider and stepped into the hallway.

The blood smell was worse out here, so strong it made my eyes water. My bare feet touched the carpet and I felt it immediately, the wrong texture under my soles. Wet. Sticky.

I looked down.

The carpet was dark with it. A pool of liquid spreading out from somewhere down the hall, creeping toward me like it was alive.

Don't look. Don't look at where it's coming from.

But I did.

I looked.

The body was crumpled against the wall about ten feet away. No head. Just a neck that ended in ragged tissue and bone, blood still pumping out in weak spurts.

My stomach lurched violently.

The forest. Cassian's hand on that person's neck. The crack. The flames.

Same method. Same execution.

Oh God.

I bent over, my whole body trying to reject what I was seeing, but nothing came up. My stomach was empty. Had been empty for hours.

Don't think about it. Don't look at it. Just move.

I forced myself upright, forced my legs to work, and followed the running women.

My feet left sticky prints on the carpet. I tried not to think about what I was walking through. Tried not to think about the person that blood had come from. Tried not to think at all.

Just run. Just get out. Figure out the rest later.

The hallway opened up ahead, leading toward what looked like the main hall. I could see the other women streaming through, their panicked voices echoing off the walls.

Almost there. Almost out.

Then the women in front of me stopped.

Not slowed down. Stopped dead, so suddenly that I almost crashed into the back of one of them.

Then they screamed.

And turned around.

And ran straight back toward me.

"Move!" one of them shrieked, her eyes wild. "Move, move, move!"

I grabbed her arm as she tried to push past me. "What—"

"The door!" Her voice cracked, high and terrified. "There's people at the door! They're not letting anyone out!"

She wrenched her arm free and kept running, the others streaming past her, back the way we'd come.

I stood frozen, watching them go.

Then I looked forward, toward the main hall.

The exit was visible from here. Large double doors, the kind that should have been standing open, letting people flood out into the street.

But they weren't open.

They were blocked.

Four figures stood in front of them, backlit by the lights from outside. Tall. Broad. Completely still while chaos swirled around them.

I couldn't see their faces. But I could see their eyes.

Glowing. Reflecting the light in a way that human eyes shouldn't. Yellow-green and predatory.

Not human.

Not human at all.

Behind me, the sounds of fighting were getting closer. Something crashed into a wall with a boom that shook the floor. A man's voice shouted something I couldn't make out, cut off by a wet, tearing sound that made my skin crawl.

Front door blocked. Back way full of whatever the hell was happening back there.

I was trapped.

I spun around, searching for another option. Any option.

There.

To my left, a narrow hallway branched off from the main corridor. The lights were dimmer there, flickering slightly. I couldn't see where it led. Couldn't see if it was a dead end or an exit or just another trap.

But it was something.

I took a step toward it.

My shoulder jerked backward, hard enough that I stumbled, my feet sliding on the blood-slick carpet.

A hand. Someone had grabbed me from behind.

No.

I twisted, trying to pull free, my heart slamming against my ribs. The hand tightened, fingers digging into my shoulder, and I felt myself being dragged backward.