“I don’t know. Ever ssssince the bloodborne virussss sssstruck.” The female closed her eyes, giving me a chance to stare without feeling judged. Thick black veins snaked down thin arms, and whereas ahealthy vampire always healed quickly, festering wounds covered her exposed flesh.
She was not in good health. What in the goddess’s name had these monsters done to her? Many years had passed since the vampires had supposedly died off. Had Rasmus’s sister been trapped down here all this time?
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I said with great determination while simultaneously having no plan. There had to be a way. Alaric would help. From our brief dream conversation, he was no happier about being imprisoned here than I was.
The vampire sighed. It was obvious she didn’t believe me.
“There are many more trapped in thisss place.”
“More vampires?”
“More everything. Ssssirens, mermaidssss, sssshifters, even kitsssunessss.”
Oh my goddess, were Kenji’s relatives imprisoned too? I gasped out loud as the door flung open and an armed mage stormed in.
“We’ve found her,” he yelled into a comms device before bashing me with an electric shock baton. My body spasmed in agony. Was this what Demelza endured when Alaric roasted her ass? If so, I now had some sympathy. Not much, admittedly, but holy hellfire, being electrocuted hurt.
“Stop!” I screamed louder when the mage zapped me a second time for his own amusement. I wasn’t even trying to get away!
The vampire twisted in her bindings enough to reach his belt. She yanked him back and sank her vicious fangs into his butt. Now it was the male’s turn to shriek.
Rasmus’s badass sister tore a chunk from the mage’s scrawny ass. He screamed some more and then dropped his shock baton. Notwanting to be zapped again, I picked it up and wielded it against a second mage who’d just arrived.
He gasped at the fate of his poor colleague. “Drop the weapon, you feral bitch, or I’ll fucking shoot!”
“Calm the fuck down!” Miss Whiplash materialized in the doorway, her lips pursed in annoyance. “If you hurt the witch, Vane will kill you, so I’d think very carefully before you shoot.”
The mage about to cast an attack spell at me gulped and lowered his hand. Behind me, Rasmus’s sister gnawed and growled like a feral dog as the first mage whimpered. Her level of unhinged aggression made even Zane appear civilized.
Good to know I now had a sister-in-law I could relate to.
“We should swap recipes sometime,” I suggested as she spat out a hunk of fabric and flesh. “I have a great one for slow-cooked pork.”
She mumbled an agreement. At least that’s what it sounded like. It was possible she’d just choked on a chunk of fatty ass gristle.
The mage with a missing chunk of hairy butt slumped to the floor, bleeding everywhere. A nicer witch would have offered to heal him, but first of all, my healing magic sucked, and second, these bastards had put magic-blocking cuffs on me.
“I hear there are good plastic surgeons working at human aesthetics clinics,” I told him. “Maybe consider a Brazilian butt lift when it stops bleeding. Females don’t find flat asses attractive.”
“Zolton, take the witch back to her cell while I deal with the bloodsucker.”
The mage, who’d fully intended to murder me for no good reason other than to satisfy his ego, scowled. He didn’t like being ordered around by a female. What a misogynistic asshole. Women made much better managers. We had more empathy.
At least I did.
I wasn’t so sure about Miss Whiplash over there examining her acrylic nails. That bitch lacked a lot of things. I’d read an article about a female human serial killer and was ninety-eight percent certain Miss Whiplash bore a striking resemblance to the mugshot on the magazine cover.
She definitely gave off serial killer vibes with her cold-fish eyes.
“Have you killed many people?” I asked out of curiosity as the misogynist mage led me out of the vampire’s room.
“Lots,” she said with a smirk.
“Fantastic,” I replied. “Now I won’t feel guilty when I melt you.”
It might not happen today, or even tomorrow, but the minute I got these cuffs off, that bitch was joining the sea witch wherever evil souls with no redeeming qualities ended up.
16
