Like a puppet on a string, he jolted upright.He ignored the splintering sensation that tore across his brainwhen his eyes flew open.
His brain was still straining to process whathe saw as his instincts screamed at him to protect her. Hegradually drew in the information of his surroundings.
His back was against something cool and hard.A thick wall of glass stood across from him. When he managed totwist his head, he discovered another wall of glass behind him. Hesat inside a circle of glass at least a foot thick.
The glass was embedded in the concrete floor,and when he looked up, it extended thirty feet above his headbefore disappearing into the concrete ceiling above. His mouth wentdry when he realized the Savages had caught him.
But how was that possible? He’d been winningthe fight. He’d taken them down, and… and…?
He couldn’t quite remember what cameafterward; he just knew Melanie wasn’t here. His heart raced, andblood pounded in his temples as he frantically searched forher.
However, his brain still wasn’t processingthings right. His frantic search didn’t let him take in much of hissurroundings as his eyes rolled and his stomach heaved.
As a thin coating of sweat chilled againsthis body and he struggled not to heave the meager contents of hisstomach all over the floor, more pieces of memory floated acrosshis mind. He recalled shadows slipping through the trees andelectricity flooding his body until it felt like his heart wasgoing to rip away from its arteries and explode.
His skin prickled at the memory of theneedles piercing his flesh and the warmth flooding him afterward.As more sweat poured from him, he detected the acrid aroma ofsomething foreign seeping from his pores.
Whatever drug they’d given him smelled likeburnt rubber as it oozed out of him. It was probably part of thereason his stomach was such a mess and his head felt like a tinymonkey with a pickax was chiseling into his brain.
Savages didn’t do this, but… who?
As he pondered this, his vision clearedenough to see more glass cages around him. At least a dozen morewere in front of him. One of the Savages he’d fought sat up andblinked against the harsh fluorescent lights in the room.
No… the Savages hadn’t caught him. Theyhadn’t done this.
Then what was going on?
With a trembling hand, he wiped away thesweat trickling into his eyes. As he did so, the image of Melanie’sface, when she first saw what he was, burst into his mind.Revulsion had shone in her eyes a second before the first jolt ofelectricity hit him.
He tried to get to her, but eventually, thecontinued blasts had taken him down. Someone had stepped out of theshadows to stand beside her while she gawked at him. Someone he’dseen before…
Her father!
Melanie’s father had been there! He’d helpedto take him down, or… or something, but he’d been there.
And then he’d… he’d… well, Kyle didn’t knowwhat came after that until waking in this place.
What was going on?
Resting his hand against the cool glass, Kylerose. His knees nearly gave out before he locked them into place.He bent his head and tried to breathe as sweat coated his body andhis stomach heaved.
When he was sure he wouldn’t vomit, he lookedaround his cage again. A bucket and a bag of blood were also in thesmall room with him.
His fangs throbbed and his mouth watered atthe sight of the blood. He couldn’t recall the last time he fed,but he wouldn’t touch that blood. There was no telling what was init.
When he felt stable enough to move again, heturned to discover more glass cages and vampires. Most of them hadred eyes, and fury contorted their features as they gazed at him.However, a few sat against the glass walls, staring straight ahead.They looked broken in a way he’d never seen before.
The blank, mindless looks on their faces madehis blood run cold. How long had they been here?
He wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.
And where was Melanie?
Thatwas a question he wanted ananswer to, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t get it anytime soon. Hecould still sense her out there, somewhere, so she was alive, andshe wasn’t in one of these cages, but was she safe?
A snarl curled his lips, and his fangslengthened at the possibility that someone could have harmed her.Then he recalled her father standing by her side. The man hadrevealed all the emotion of a shark while staring down at him, buthe was her father, and he wouldn’t hurt her, would he?
No, he would not hurt her. Kyle had tobelieve that because, if he thought otherwise, he would go insanein this place, and he was barely hanging onto his sanity.
