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I pulled out a wooden chair and eased into it.
Kara didn’t cover Nadira’s eyes. That little girl had been in this room before.
“Are you going to stay?” Nina placed her hands behind her back.
“It’s your decision.” Kara took a quick glance at the eyeballs and vampire canines displayed on a table beside her. She grimaced before facing me. “This one is a fighter. She killed both of the beasts.”
Nina stiffened. “Oh, I see, but she has on the hematite cuffs, and angels don’t hurt humans unless to defend themselves so I should be fine.” She reached inside her dress pocket and took out a syringe. “I have this too, so don’t worry.”
“Then send a guard when you’re ready,” Kara said, and began guiding Nadira toward the curtain, but the little girl tried to break out of her hold all the while she stared at me.
Nadira yanked her hand and shook her head. “I want to watch. I feel she’s different. Her heart is different. She cares. Not like the others we’ve cap—”
“Silence.” Kara clapped her hands once. “I don’t want to report your disobedience to Victus. You come with me now or there will be consequences.”
Nadira stomped. “I am not a human child. And size shouldn’t determine how a person is treated.”
Kara grabbed Nadira’s hand and their banter continued as they passed through the curtain and out the door.
Nina’s braid swished on her back as she moved from one table to another. The drawers creaked open as she put things on a tray, then she put the tray on a small table next to me.
“You’re a human.” I rested my cuffed hands on my lap. “What are you doing here?”
I had no idea if the walls were thick, or if anyone spied on her. She picked up a cloth and paused as if surprised by my question. She didn’t answer but dipped the cloth into a bowl filled with water and wrung it. Then she swiped it over my forehead and cheeks.
Nina shifted my hair over my ear and whispered. “I owe a debt.”
“To whom?”
“Please don’t ask me questions. I’ll get in trouble.”
She dipped the cloth into the liquid and squeezed. Then she walked to the curtain we passed through and peeked, waited a few seconds and came back.
Nina wiped my face again. “My father was a physician, and he taught me his knowledge. Not because I wanted to be one, but because he thought I might be able to offer my skills to keep me alive.”
She didn’t state the obvious, but I understood.
Nina dipped the cloth into the water again and dabbed my neck. “Demon soldiers followed me home from the market and tried to kidnap me.” Her voice cracked. “My father, mother, and my older brother died that day. By some miracle, King Victus and his soldiers nearby heard my scream. He saved me.”
I furrowed my brow, stunned. “Victus saved you?”
Nina ignored my rhetorical question and dumped the inky liquid into an empty bucket by the cabinet. Then she poured clean water into the bowl and placed it back on the table.
“You told him you’re a physician, I assume,” I said. “And he brought you here.”
She guided my hands into the water. “I didn’t want all the years of my father teaching me to go to waste, and I also had no other family.”
“But you’re creating monsters.” I scrubbed the dried blood along my fingernails harder as anger grew, the cuffs clanking against the bowl. “What else are you doing for Victus? Chopping off the angels’ wings? Did you know it hurts just as much as getting stabbed? You might as well throw a torch at them.”
Nina inhaled a deep sigh as she peered up at the skeletal wings. “I didn’t touch any angel. I swear to you on my life. There are scientists who do such work. Some are skilled enough to cut off an angel’s wings and replace them with bigger ones. And those beasts you fought, they were changed. I can’t say anymore.” She handed me a piece of fabric to dry off my hands, then took out the syringe from her pocket, and cleared her throat lightly. “I just need a little bit of your blood, please.”
I could make her feel guilty and uncomfortable, but I also understood her. She felt powerless and I supposed living with the vampires who protected her was better than being with demons who would enslave her.
“Did you know that Seraphim blood can either cure or kill a vampire?”
She pulled back one of my sleeves and carefully inserted the needle. After she finished, she peeked out the curtain and came back.
“Your blood can cure. It does not kill.”
