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“I’m still alive,” I said with mock sarcasm and kicked the straw underneath my boot.
“What happened up there?” she asked.
“They probably took her blood,” James said.
“They should have sold her to the demons,” some male muttered down the far end.
“Don’t talk with such disdain to your superior,” Sarah snapped.
I raised my cuffed hands even though she couldn’t see me. “It’s fine. I understand. He’s been wronged. Who was his team leader?”
“We call him the Angel of Many Faces,” James said, his voice full of hatred. “My team and I admired him and have done things for him we’re not proud of. When we stopped following his orders, he sold some of us to the demons. I found out from another prisoner that he went by Rafael, Phillip, Luke, and other names.”
“I’m so sorry.” Though I truly meant it, I knew the prisoners wouldn’t believe me.
“Don’t waste your breath apologizing,” Sarah said. “Everyone is bitter in here.”
Something rustled under the hay by the back wall. I cautiously walked toward it, then I yelped and jerked back. A black and a white mouse startled me. They had to be the same ones that visited me during my bath. I recognized not only their color but the one with half its tail.
“How did you get here?” I lowered to my knees. “Did someone send you to me?”
A female angel was bought yesterday at the demon auction, Nina had said.
Snow was the only being I knew who could speak to animals. If she was alive, I would find a way to get to her. With Nina’s help, we would escape together.
I stretched my wings, nearly touching the walls on either side. I needed Snow to know that I was here too, so I bit my bottom lip, twisting at the waist, and carefully plucked out one of my gilded feathers with my cuffed hands.
I laid it in front of them. “Here. Take this to Snow. Go.”
The white mouse bit down on my feather and took off with its friend to the back corner. They shuffled under the pile of straw and disappeared through a crack small enough to fit their bodies.
Footsteps pounded down the hall and a blanket of cool air waved over the dungeon as the scent of roses wafted toward me. Kara’s silencing magic descended over the other prisoners.
Nina twisted a key to the padlock, then opened the door with a clank, hitting against the hematite bars. Victus carried Nadira inside, followed by Kara and Nina.
“Cure her.” Victus gently laid Nadira on the straw by my toes.
Nina and Kara remained by the bars, but Kara narrowed her eyes in concentration, keeping the prisoners quiet.
The desperation in Victus’s demanding voice didn’t anger or frighten me. I actually felt sorry for him. He despised angels and yet he had to turn to me for help. He had to brush away his pride and ego. This must be killing him.
Nadira’s face was pale, sweat beading on her forehead. Dark veins slithered from the top of her head and down her neck. I imagined them all over her body like how I had seen them on the sick vamps. One I had cured, and the other that died.
When and if she woke up, would she become wild like Thomas?
I lifted my arms to cross them, but I had forgotten for a moment I was cuffed. “What if my blood kills her? Are you going to blame me?”
Nina had said my blood cured vampire diseases without a doubt. Just in case she lied to me, I had to make sure Victus understood the possibility, and if she was telling me the truth, I had to keep up the pretense that I didn’t know anything.
Victus’s nostrils flared. “You have to try. Nina told me that you can, but you must want to do it. She said your power listens to your intentions.” The vein under his eyes throbbed. “So be careful what you wish for.”
Interesting explanation. I couldn’t believe Victus believed it, but he was desperate and clinging to any ounce of hope. I stole a glance at Nina, who nodded fervently, begging me to follow along. She fed lies to Victus to help me. Then I had better take advantage of this situation. I may never get another chance.
“I’ll cure her if you take me to Asmodeus. Take me as your prisoner if you will.”
He took a step closer to me, too close, my heart thudded faster as I recalled his canines grazing my neck and from fear, right? He had the power to kill me, so that had to be it.
A muscle on his jaw twitched. “If I take you, who’s to say you won’t stab me in the back? How do I know it’s not a trap?”
