It’s a long silence while he watches me closely, considering my words. I keep a tight hold of my breath and heart, stilling everything inside me, willing this to work, because if it doesn’t, I can’t bear to think what’s going to happen to me.
“So I brought you a present,” he says, moving his hand from his mouth, his voice suddenly bizarrely cheerful.
He jumps down from the bed and strides over to the door.
My legs nearly buckle under the weight of my relief. I grip the wall with my fingertips for support and quickly fasten my jeans.
“I’m guessing you haven’t fed in a while,” he continues, “so I’ve brought you something to eat. You can thank me later.” He gives me a diffident wave of his hand and I watch as his lips curl up. “Can’t have my girl going hungry now, can I?”
I move across the wall, levitating on my fingertips, trying to put more distance between us. “I’m not hungry,” I say, keeping my voice even.
I am. I’m starving, but I’ve got the very distinct feeling the food he’ll be putting on offer will not be the same as Nathan’s.
“Au contraire, my darling,” he winks knowingly at me, “you’re very hungry. I can tell. And I also know you’ve never tasted human blood in your short little life. I can smell that rotting animal blood your shifter’s been feeding you on, like you’re drenched in it. You can deny your hunger all you want but you won’t last another hour, and that works perfectly for me.” He pauses, rubbing his index finger over his incisor. He looks like he’s trying to sharpen it to his fang. “The Originals will be here in three hours and by then you’ll be looking fit and healthy for them.” He leans his head out the open door. “Jin, bring Alex her gift now.”
I almost know what’s coming next and it’s confirmed a nanosecond later when I hear the deafening cries of a young girl.
The Asian guy who was with Albino earlier strolls into the room, dragging along a dark-haired girl of about seventeen - eighteen at the most - with him. She looks terrified. Her face is streaked with tears. Jin pushes her forwards, straight in my direction. She stumbles, falling to her knees on the hard floor.
My initial reaction is to go to help her. I’m down and off the bed, pulling her to her feet. “Are you okay? Have they hurt you?” I say quickly.
She shakes her head and I don’t know if she means she’s not okay or that they haven’t hurt her. I don’t push it further. I just go with the latter.
“Aww, now would you look at this, Jin. Alex is getting to know her dinner. Sweet, isn’t it?”
The girl’s confused eyes flicker in my direction. I step back away from her.
“I fucking hate you!” I spit at Albino.
He moves so quickly, and hits me so hard in my face, that it knocks me off my feet, sending me flying backwards. I crash against the wall and nearly bite my tongue in two as my jaw spasms in shock. Blood floods my mouth.
It takes me a moment to find myself. Dazed, I struggle to my feet, using the wall for support. I swallow my blood down.
Albino’s calm is long gone. His eyes are flaring and his shoulders are rising and falling with each angry breath he takes. He grabs hold of the girl by her arm and drags her over to me. She cries, struggling, but he’s unyielding. Then I see the blade glint in the light as he pulls it out from the back of his trouser pocket and, without flinching, he slices her arm open, cutting clean around it in one fluid movement.
She screams, a gut-wrenching scream. I cover my hand with my mouth, horror-stricken. Her panicked, helpless eyes flick to me, then down at her arm. She passes out. Her body goes slack but he keeps her held up by her arm, showing no effort whatsoever, leaving her limp body hanging in the air like a puppet on a string, her brown hair draped across her young face.
And I can only watch in horror and fascination as her blood trickles to the tiled floor, sitting in a pool by my bare feet.
The second the smell hits me, my fangs are out and I’m consumed.
It’s like nothing I have every smelt before. If I thought animal blood smelt good, it’s been like having a lifetime of Cava only to discover Dom Perignon.
Albino runs his index finger through the blood on her arm, momentarily breaking its flow, and places it in his mouth. Even the grotesque sucking noise he makes doesn’t break my focus.
“Drug free, even better,” he says in a sick-sounding voice. “Surprising for a skank like her.”
But his words are just a dull buzzing sound. All I can see and smell is her blood. It’s my only focus as it runs like strawberry juice down her arm.
I’ve never wanted anything so badly. I thought I wanted Nathan; that was nothing in comparison.
“It tastes as good as it smells,” he tantalises me, his voice soft and silky as he moves the girls arm up closer to me, her body floating like it’s somehow detached from her arm. “Why don’t you try some?”
The ache in me intensifies. I’ve never felt this before. It’s unyielding, all-controlling, and I’m moving closer to the blood before I know it, my hand itching to reach out and take hold of her arm.
Albino is whispering words I can’t hear anymore. The monster is talking to me, ruling my domain, telling me just one little taste won’t hurt anyone. The girl is already cut and bleeding, the blood is dripping wastefully onto the floor. It’s not like she needs it anymore and all I have to do is reach out and ...
Remember who you are.
Hot unaccountable emotion slaps me hard across the face and, for a split-second, I actually think Nathan’s here. My heart searches the room, it wilting when I realise it was all in my mind.
I recoil backwards, covering my mouth with my hands again. “I won’t do it,” I cry, “I won’t be like you!”
His eyes narrow to slits. He releases his hold on the girl, dropping her to the floor before me. He steps over her still body like she’s nothing, backing me up to the wall, and puts a hand either side of my head, trapping me.
He leans his face in close. “Yes, you will, Alex.” There’s no bargaining in his tone. “Play nice with her before you feed on her or don’t, I don’t give a fuck. But you will feed. You will become a true Vârcolac before the Originals see you, not some animal-fed half-breed. I’ll be back in an hour, and if she’s still alive, I’ll feed her to you myself.” He pushes himself off the wall with his hands.
My body is shaking and I can’t stop it showing. He turns, walking around the girl, stops and turns back. I see something flicker across his face, like something very significant has just occurred to him. The hairs on my scalp tingle, and a shiver shoots down my spine when I see the smile he gives himself.
He takes a step back toward me. “On second thoughts, don’t kill her.” He scratches his nose. “Feed, but leave her with enough blood to keep her alive. I’m interested to see if you can change her to be like you. And try your best, Alex, because it’ll be real nice for me to have another bargaining chip to play with.” He smiles, an oddly pleasant smile, displaying just the level of psycho he truly is.
I wrap my arms protectively around myself, and lowering my trembling voice, say, “Nathan will find me, and when he does, he’ll tear you to pieces.”
“I look forward to it,” he replies, his voice gentle, almost flirtatious, but his eyes are as cold as ice. And with that he breezes out of the door, Jin in tow. The thick metal door closes with a clang. I hear the lock turn, trapping me in here with the girl, the girl who has blood oozing out of her arm.
I run at the door, hammering against it with my fists. “Let me out!” I scream. “Don’t do this! Let me out! Please!”
But all I hear is the cackles of their callous laughter as they walk away from the sound of my pointless pleas.
I rest my forehead head against the door, tears rolling down my face, as I continue to bang my hands in vain against it.
Then I hear the girl groan as she starts to come round. The pain must immediately have set into her consciousness because she starts screaming in agony again. “Help me!” she c
ries out. “I’m bleeding real bad! You gotta help me!”
Slowly I turn to face her. She’s sitting on the floor, her arm pressed tightly up against her chest. Her blood is seeping into her white cami. She looks up at my face and in this moment I realise my fangs are still out, but it’s too late. I see the horror stretch across her tiny features when she realises what I am, or what she thinks I am, the thing her nightmares are made of.
Only she doesn’t realise this nightmare is mine, not hers.
She starts to scream, an ear-piercing scream. She scrabbles backwards across the room, away from me.
I clap my hand over my mouth, pinching my nostrils, cutting off the scent, stopping it flooding in, trying to hide my monstrous fangs. Sinking to the floor, I turn my face toward the door, trying to block her and her blood out.
I won’t do this. I won’t become one of them. I’m not a monster. I’m not.
But I was wrong earlier. I’m not like that fly at all. I’m not the innocent here. I’m the spider and the girl, well, she’s the fly.
Chapter 20
Hold Your Breath
The girl has stopped screaming. It petered out after a few minutes when she realised I wasn’t actually intending to kill her. She’s been quiet for a while now. I’m still sitting on the floor next to the door, knees up, arms wrapped around them, my nose and mouth buried between my knees as I try to hide from the smell of the girls’ blood.
I’m taking small clipped breaths when my lungs force me to, trying to inhale any other smell I can.
I can still smell Nathan on my clothes. He's filling the hollow places inside me. I’m trying to focus on him, on his face, on his dry laugh, on the way he looked right before he kissed me, on the way he kissed me.
But no matter how I try to block it out, the smell of her blood is everywhere and so overpowering I feel like I’ve showered in it. It’s like trying to breathe under water.
My hope for Nathan rescuing me is starting to dwindle. I could be anywhere and, with each ticking minute, the Originals' arrival edges closer, foreshadowing my inevitable fate.
My insides shrivel up at the thought.
“Are you going to kill me?” Her tiny voice carries over from the other side of the room.
It takes all my strength to raise my head and shake it. I look at her from out of the corner of my eye. She doesn’t look good. She’s lost too much blood. The wound needs sealing and I’m going to have to help her. If I want to staunch the smell of her blood, this is going to be the only way to do it.
Taking a quick breath in, I sit up straight, take hold of the hem of my vest and rip it up the side. Then I tear it all the way around, exposing my stomach and my scar, leaving me with half a vest but freeing a decent piece of black fabric for her to use.
I throw it across the room. It lands on the floor beside her feet. She glances down at it and up at me, her eyes confused. “What do you want me to do with that?” And for the first time I register her accent. It’s Teesside. I must be there or somewhere near there.
Pressing my lips together, I motion a tying movement around my own forearm.
“Ahh right.” She nods. Leaning forward, she picks the fabric up off the floor and tries to tie it around her arm over the cut, struggling to fasten it with one hand.
“Can you help me?” she asks.
For fuck's sake.
She’s obviously past worrying I’m going to hurt her but she needs to be wary of me. I might not want to hurt her, and will do everything in my power to ensure I don’t, but soon it might be out of my control.
“I can’t,” I say quickly.
“Why?”
“You want me to kill you?”
Her eyes widen. “No.” She shakes her head vehemently.
I take another quick breath. “If I come near you and your bleeding arm, that could be a big possibility.”
“Oh,” she says. I see the understanding line her eyes.
She bends her knee up, lays the strip of my vest on it, rests her wounded arm on top, folds one piece over with her hand and slides the other under. She keeps hold of one end and leans forward, taking hold of the other end with her teeth. Then I hear her take a deep breath and count to three between her gritted teeth. She pulls the fabric as tightly as she can. I see her face redden and grimace as she lets out a cry of pain.
She brings her arm up to her chest, holding it with her other hand, breathing heavily. When her breathing finally slows, she simply says, “Thanks.”
Keeping my lips pressed tightly together, I force something resembling a smile.
But it hasn’t helped. The scent of her blood is still floating all around me. I cover my mouth with my hand again, pinching my nose with my thumb and forefinger, and start to pray for a miracle.
“What’s your name?” she asks.
I close my eyes and picture Nathan’s face. “Alex,” I answer through my hand.
“Mine’s Scarlett,” she offers when she realises I have no intention of asking.
I remain silent, but I can almost feel the questions she wants to ask me hanging in the air, so I’m not surprised when she asks in a tentative voice, “What ... are ... you?”
I open my eyes and move my hand away from my mouth, exhaling loudly. “You don’t want to know.”
I see her eyes flicker to the scar on my side, then back to my fangs. “Are you ... like ... a vampire, or something?”
Before I even get the chance to figure out how to answer that question, I hear a noise, a gunshot. I spin around, pressing my ear up to the door and let my hearing go wide.
“Is someone out there?” Scarlett whispers, hearing it too. She gets to her feet and starts to move across the room toward me.
“Don’t come near me!” I order in a quiet voice, holding my hand out to stop her.
“Sorry,” she murmurs, backing up. She goes to sit down on the edge of the bed.
I can hear shouting. There’s a mixture of male voices and more gun shots. Are the Originals here? But why would they be shooting guns?
Guns. Nathan likes guns. Is he here? Has he found me?
I try to listen again for his voice in the mix, but my pulse is beating so loudly in my ears I can barely focus.
Well whoever it is, and whatever is happening out there, it’s not good, and if by a big chance it isn’t Nathan, then I need to get out of here, now, and I’m gonna have to take the girl with me.
But the only way out of this room is through this locked metal door.
My eyes start to scan the room looking for something to pry the door open with. The bed’s a metal frame. Maybe I could use something off it, one of the legs? I guess it’s worth a try.
As I’m about to get up, I hear movement down the end of hall, the sound of footsteps coming downstairs. I hold my breath and listen intently. It’s just one person, male, and they’re slowly making their way toward us.
Quietly I rise to my feet and start to step back away from the door. My heart is thrumming in my chest. Turning to Scarlett, I put my finger to my lips, indicating for her to be quiet, and motion for her to get up off the bed.
She gets up slowly, her eyes flickering in the direction of the door. “Is someone coming?” she mouths to me.
I nod.
“Alex are you down here?”
My heart leaps up into my throat as I spin around on the spot. “Sol?”
“Alex?”
“I’M IN HERE!” I yell, running to the door, banging my fists against it.
The door rattles from the outside as Sol tries to open it. “NATE, SHE’S DOWN HERE!”
Nathan’s here. My heart nearly implodes.
“NATHAN!” I cry.
“He’s coming.” Sol’s warm voice echoes through the metal door. “We’re gonna get you out of here. Just try to stay calm. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine ... I just … ”
“Alex.” Hearing Nathan’s voice causes my throat to thicken with emotion.
“Nathan,” I choke as te
ars of relief spill from my eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asks, voice soft. I can almost envision his hand on the door, his nose touching the metal as he speaks to me through it.
“I’m okay,” I wipe my runny nose on the back of my hand, “but I’m not alone, There’s a girl in here with me and he cut her. She’s bleeding, Nathan, and she needs help.” The words are tumbling out of my mouth. “He was trying to make me feed on her but I haven’t, I swear. But please, Nathan, you’ve got to get me out.”
“It’s okay,” he soothes. I can feel his heat and strength, and silent power radiating through the door. “I’m gonna get you out. Sol, you got anything with you that I can use to pick this lock ‘cause I can’t see us getting through this door any other way, not unless you’ve got a stick of dynamite, that is?” I hear Nathan’s hand tap against the dense metal door and the almost-humour in his voice.
“This do you?” Sol replies. I can practically hear his smile.
There’s an approving chuckle from Nathan. It coats my insides, warming them. The desire to be near him is overwhelming.
“I don’t even wanna know why you’ve got one of these.” Nathan chuckles again, then says to me, “I’ll have you out in a sec.”
I step back away from the door as I hear Nathan start to fiddle with the lock.
“Don’t worry,” I say, turning to Scarlett. “Nathan’s gonna get us out.”
“Your boyfriend?” she asks, moving a touch closer to me.
I cast a surprised glance her way, feeling a lurch in my stomach.
I stare back at the door, wrapping my arms around myself, well aware that Nathan is on the other side listening, and just shrug a response. I can’t answer because Nathan and I haven’t got that far, yet.
Chapter 21
Who Knew?
The lock clicks open less than a minute later. Relief overwhelms me at the sight of Nathan.
He closes the distance between us in a few strides, and just when I think he’s going to pull me into his arms and take me away from all of this, his eyes flicker down to my torn vest, my dirty jeans, my bare feet, and to the blood that is laying in small pools all over the floor.