Fire burned through his veins and tore through his insides as hunger clawed at his stomach. Like a rat trying to flee a flame, it gnawed and clawed and tore at his intestines as it shredded what remained of his sanity, caused his head to spin, and almost knocked him to his knees.
If he went to his knees, he couldn’t feed, and he so badly needed to feed.
He hadn’t known it was possible to be so starved yet still live. He hadn’t known it was possible to be so mad with hunger yet also so coherent and focused on one thing… assuaging that hunger with those women.
Their blood and lives would sate the ravenous appetite that had taken control of him so many days, weeks, months ago. He had no concept of time anymore or any idea how long he’d been like this.
He’d once been a man, a good one too, but he could barely recall that man, and he no longer gave a shit about anything other than feeding and making the insanity stop.
Lucien didn’t realize he was moving or hear the rattle of his chains as he raced across the pit. He didn’t know he’d reached the first woman until the softness of her flesh rubbed his palms as he gripped her upper arms.
He didn’t know he was striking until he sank his fangs into her throat. Animalistic sounds issued from him, but he couldn’t stifle them as the sweetest blood he’d ever tasted filled his mouth. Dimly, in the back corner of his mind, he realized they’d turned him into a monster, but he didn’t care.
The second the creature’s fangs pierced her flesh, it felt like someone had taken a fork, stabbed into her neck, and released acid into her system. With every beat of her heart, that acid ate away at her insides until it melted her muscles and liquidated her bones.
The only reason she didn’t scream was that every part of her froze. She couldn’t move to push this monstrous, foul-smelling beast away from her.
Inwardly, the scream grew until it became an echoing cacophony in her head. She tried willing herself to lift her hands and shove him away, but her muscles had become encased in a block of ice as the acid tore at her insides and burned away everything she was.
He was taking his second pull of her wondrous blood when pain exploded inside his head. More of her blood filled his mouth, and he was desperate to keep feeding, but the hammer battering against his skull made it impossible.
Desperate to sate his thirst for blood, but unable to take any more of the pain, he retracted his fangs and staggered back. He blinked against the light as he tried to focus on her. Something inside him screamed to kill her for causing him such agony, but something else surged to the forefront.
And that something else was ferocious in its need to protect her. A brief clarity pierced through the haze of his insanity as he took in hair the color of a crow’s wings and eyes the color of cognac.
The sweetness of her blood burned itself onto his tongue and into his cells. He craved more, but as he stepped toward her again, the alarm in her eyes stopped him.
Eat. Feed. Blood. Blood. Blood. Make it stop. Kill her!
The incessant urges pounded at his brain, but he couldn’t bring himself to feast on her again. He didn’t understand any of this. He was starving; how could he deny himself the wonder of her blood when he’d just discovered it?
But even as he thought that he couldn’t hurt her again, he reached for her. She recoiled and staggered away, which only made him more determined to hunt her.She’s mine, and she’ll learn where she belongs.
He had no idea where the thought or the conviction behind it came from, but once it hit him, it wouldn’t let go. He lunged forward and seized her upper arms again. The squeak she emitted pierced through his overwhelming impulse to make her his.
With the pain fading, Callie’s senses were coming back, and all of them screamed at her to run. Her brain lumbered to process this information as thecreature pulled her forward and tossed her over his shoulder.
Lucien gazed wildly around the pit for some way out of it. When his eyes fell on the women closest to him, they scampered away from him like cockroaches from the light. Above him, a murmur went through the crowd, but they seemed more confused than upset by his actions.
They weren’t the only ones confused. He had no idea what he was doing or what was propelling him, but he had to get her out of here.
His hunger still churned like a tumultuous sea inside him, but getting her to safety was what propelled him now. He just didn’t know where to go to accomplish his mission.
Then his gaze fell on the door they led the women through. They’d locked it, but when he twisted his head to look back, he saw it wasn’t as solid as the gate he’d come through. Starvation caused his muscles to tremble, and his legs didn’t feel as sturdy as they should, but he could get through that gate. He knew he could.
Keeping one hand locked around the backs of her knees, he charged at the gate. Lowering his shoulder, he crashed into the door and threw all of his weight behind the charge. Metal bent and twisted before giving way with a wrenching screech.
He staggered forward when the door tore from its hinges, and he almost fell to the ground. Catching his balance, he managed to stop himself from going down as figures emerged from the shadows. Lucien snarled at the vampires coming toward them, and keeping his shoulder down, he charged at the first one who tried to stop him.
Callie cried out when the impact of hitting the door jarred her. She had no idea what was happening, but she would take her chances with the freak who bit her if he was trying to break out of this place.
He’d most likely try to kill her once they were free, but she had a better chance of surviving outside of these tunnels than she did inside them. Resting her hands on the small of his back, she pushed herself up so she could see more of what was happening.
The other four women had turned to stare after them; their mouths hung open as the monster carrying her stepped on the gate he’d destroyed.
One of the criers started to run after them, but before she made it more than ten feet, some of the people watching from above jumped into the pit. When their red eyes shone in the sputtering light, Callie realized her ride out of here wasn’t the only freak in this place.
The women’s screams abruptly cut off as guttural noises filled the air. Callie almost slapped her hands over her ears to block out the awful sounds of the feeding frenzy, but if she moved her hands, she would end up with her face against this thing’s back again.
