Page 75 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

I wasn't powerless anymore.

I was fallen.

My magic was more dangerous than any man who wanted me dead.

My power reserve wasn't high, but I didn't need much. I sent dozens of the dark, deadly threads of power I had, straight into the wrists of the man holding my throat.

His eyes blazed with pain, and his grip loosened just a little.

It was enough.

I yanked myself away and took off down the hallway at a run, checking the prisoners in the cells as I went.

There was no way in hell I could leave without the people I'd come for. Not when Reaper was actively tearing down the prison's framework.

I looked at every one of their faces.

Not innocent.

Not innocent.

Not innocent.

Not innocent.

Not—

Innocent.

I skidded to a stop at the end of the hallway and grabbed the bars of the cell to regain my balance. Reaper was snarling and yelling down the hall, but I could see where his magic had stopped.

He couldn't reach me with his power anymore, and he hadn't torn down the magic enough to actually escape his cell.

The innocent, somewhat familiar man stared at me. His fists were wrapped around the bars like Reaper's had been. The power around his cell was still intact, and he didn't try to hurt me.

Just stared.

He had tan skin, and was almost entirely black, blue, green, and purple from the bruises that covered every visible inch of him. With his jumpsuit tied around his waist, there was plenty visible.

Something had to have gone horrifically wrong for him to look like that. I didn't have time to ask or linger, though.

It only took the tiniest blip of magic to unlock the cell, and I yanked the door open. "We're getting everyone who doesn't belong here out," I said, trying to sound authoritative despite my terror and the wild pounding of my heart. "Come on."

After a beat of hesitation, he surged through the door.

"Are you the one who built this place?" he asked, as we jogged down the stairs and into the next hallway.

"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't know it was being used like this."

"Fuck," the guy breathed.

"If you try to kill me, no one's making it out of here," I warned. "The elevator won't work if I'm dead."

That much was true.

There was a ladder you could get to through the roof of the elevator, though. The construction crew had required it. I'd blocked access to it with a hell of a lot of magic, but it was there. Probably fucked up thanks to Reaper, but there.

If I died, it would be easy for the prisoners to reach the ladder, but no one knew that.