A throbbing pain woke me up, each pulse rolled through my head like a timpani. Opening my eyes was a struggle but I managed it. Sitting up, however, was not an option. Any slight movement made the rumbling waves of pain unbearable. I focused on my breathing as my eyes gradually adjusted to the low light. Vampires had the unique ability to see in almost any kind of light. A sliver of moonlight could be just as effective as a spotlight when it came to hunting prey through a forest.
The room I was in now had a small window and though it was night, a faint glow filtered through the glass, casting a rectangle of light on the stone floor. Across the room, the outline of a body became clear. “Matthias!” I cried out, ignoring the pain as I forced myself up.
No. It wasn’t Matthias. The figure belonged to a woman.
She stirred at the sound of my voice and rolled her head to look at me.
A pang of nausea radiated through me when I recognized her face and then saw the tattoo circling the slender wrist.
“Jupiter!”
A sob formed in my throat and I heaved myself to one side and then up on my hands and knees. Every motion hurt, but I refused to stop, even as the walls of the room seemed to shrink in around us.
“Jupe, wake up!” I whispered, taking Jupiter’s hand. Her arm was limp. “Jupiter, can you hear me? Please, please wake up.”
Tears swam to the surface and blurred my vision. Frustrated I swiped them away before taking Jupiter’s hand again. The room was small. No more than a ten by twelve space, and completely empty. I ran my fingers along the floor. It was solid wood.
The window above our heads was so caked with grime and dust that the light coming through was filtered and dull. What happened during the day? Was Jupiter taken somewhere else? Or forced to endure the sunlight? However indirect. I ran a hand over Jupiter’s bare arms and got the answer. Burns ravaged her smooth skin. She’d wrapped her arms over her face to protect it when the sun came through the window.
The thought sent a surge of bile to the back of my throat. Jupiter had been missing for two weeks. If she’d been forced to endure this room the entire time….
“I’ll end them all,” I vowed to my unconscious friend.
Metal clanged and a sliver of light poured into the dank room as a small pass-through opened up halfway down the door. A plastic bottle clattered to the floor. “Drink up,” a gruff voice barked before the door of the slammed shut again. “And make yourselves presentable. You’ve got a visitor, blondie.”
I lifted my hands in a crude gesture the man couldn’t see. It was pointless, and maybe a little immature, but made me feel slightly better.
I released Jupiter’s hand and scurried over to pick up the bottle. It wasn’t labeled, but I removed the cap and took a whiff. It was faux blood. “At least they had the decency to warm it up,” I muttered, capping the bottle again. I took it to Jupiter and sank back onto my knees. “Here, you need this.”
Jupiter didn’t stir.
“Please, Jupe.” I held the bottle to my friend’s lips and waited, silently pleading until she took a small sip. Excess ran down her mouth and I pulled back and then tried again, slower, until she latched on and drank deeper.
“Come on, Jupe. Drink up. We have to get you back on your feet.” I tipped the bottle back a little farther as Jupiter began to drink. Her eyelids lifted and I breathed a sigh of relied when her pupils expanded. The sips turned into ravenous gulps. A relieved sob ripped from my throat and tears burned my eyes. “Good job. Keep going.”
My own stomach rolled as the scent wafted to my nostrils, but I shoved the pangs down. Jupiter would need every drop if she had a chance at getting mobile. Weeks had passed. If she hadn’t eaten the entire time, she would be on the verge of a complete shut-down. She wouldn’t die necessarily, but her body would go into a hibernation state that would take weeks, if not months, to recover from. It was a survival mechanism, but would be damn inconvenient if I had to haul her out of danger on my shoulders. Although, I had a feeling I’d be lucky to get out with only myself to worry about.
The plastic crinkled as it began to cave in on itself once Jupiter reached the bottom. She sucked at air and collapsed the sides. I tossed the bottle aside and Jupiter surged up, grabbing at her shoulders. “Give it to me!” she hissed in a voice that sounded foreign and harsh.
Jupiter bore her fangs and plunged them toward my neck.
I ground her teeth and flipped Jupiter onto her back. In her state, it was easy to overpower her and I managed to get her pinned to the floor. Jupiter hissed and screamed as her hips bucked and her back arched, straining to be free.
“Jupiter, stop it! It’s me, Lacey!”
Her pitch-black eyes slowly returned to normal and she stilled as the fight drained from her body.
I released her wrists and backed off. “You okay?”
Jupiter laid there for a long moment, not saying anything. Her chest rose and fell too quickly at first, but then slowed to normal. When she pushed up from the cold floor, she groaned and pinched the bridge of her pert nose for a long moment. I knew the feeling of going too long without feeding—it was sort of like waking up with a nasty hangover once you got some food in your system.
“Lacey?” she croaked. “What—what are you doing here?”
“Wish I knew,” I quipped. I rubbed my fingertips over the fresh scratches from Jupiter’s nails. They were shallow and would heal within the hour.
Jupiter eyes darted back and forth across her features. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m all right,” I insisted, even as I flinched at Jupiter’s touch when she traced the fresh bruise swelling at my temple. “What about you? These burns look bad, Jupe.”
Jupiter inclined her face. “I try to keep out of the light, but—” her voice cracked and a stream of tears slid down her cheeks, glistening in the murky moonlight. “I can’t do this anymore, Lacey.”
“Hey, hey.” I shushed her before wrapping my arms gently around her shoulders. “We’re going to get out of here. I promise. Tell me what happened? Are these your marks?” I gestured at the tallies in the wood floor boards. “You’ve been here since the gala?”
Jupiter nodded as she dragged in a shaky breath. “I’ve already tried to run. There’s too many of them.”
“What House are they from? Have you seen any sigils or crests?”
“Lacey,” Jupiter interrupted. “They’re not vampires.”
I stopped cold. “What?”
“They’re humans.”
My hands started shaking as I reared back. It was preposterous. “If they were humans, I wouldn’t be here,” she said in a haughty tone. “There’s no way humans would have been able to capture you, not to mention kill that guard you were with. Ivan? He didn’t look like the kind to get taken out by a couple of mortals.”
“Not a couple,” Jupiter replied, her own voice soft, barely managing a whisper. “There were at least eight of them. They were waiting inside the room, hidden all around. As soon as we got inside and closed the door, they pounced. It all happened so fast …” She shook her head as her eyes squeezed shut. “Ivan told me to run. He took down the first one, but then two others grabbed him. I tried to get to the door while he was fighting them off. I got one, but before I could get the door open, I was stabbed.”
I gasped and dropped my eyes to Jupiter’s torso. “Where?”
Jupiter touched her left side. “It’s mostly healed now.”
“But how? If they haven’t been feeding you?”
Vampires could heal from almost any injury, but it took time and blood … lots of blood.
“They did feed me, at first. Then they stopped. I don’t know why. They won’t tell me anything. I’ve tried, Lacey.”
I nodded. “I know, Jupe. I’m here now and we’re getting out of here.” I glanced at the door. “They said I have a visitor. At least, I think they were talking to me. Any idea who they’re talking about?”
“No one has come to see me,” Jupiter answered.