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Gritting my teeth, I stared back at him, preparing myself to go on the defensive should he make a move toward me. He lifted his arm toward me and turned his palm to the sky. His fingers flicked upward and a small red flame appeared just above his hand.
“That’s not possible,” I whispered in shock. Witches couldn’t access their magical skills when they took over another human’s mind, let alone this strange demonic possession I was witnessing. I raised my eyes up to those terrifying dark red and gray ones and took another step backwards. I had a distinct feeling that the longer I was in this man’s presence, the less I would understand.
“You’d be surprised at what is possible for me, Ruby,” he answered, his gaze appraising me up and down with appreciation. He flicked the fingers on his opposite hand toward me and a wave of desire rolled over my body from the very tips of my toes straight to my core.
What the fuck was that?
The feeling passed quickly, coming and going in under a few seconds and the distinct metallic taste of magic washed over my tongue. He’d done that with his power. He’d made my body react to him like that. I rolled my upper lip, preparing myself to fight. Or run. At this point, I was ready to do either.
He simply laughed at me. His smug arrogance was astounding but I was beginning to understand that he had earned that right. I was also figuring out that I was in far more trouble than I originally thought.
“Who are you?” I demanded once more. I narrowed my eyes, studying his mysteriously dark expression, but I could garner no clues from him. Nothing about him gave anything away.
“My name is Cain,” he answered, and I froze. Shit, this was far more than I bargained for. This was even more ancient than I had even thought possible.
“As in the one referred to in Genesis?” I whispered, my voice beginning to shake with fear.
“One and the same,” he replied, his voice strong and far more confident than mine.
The Demon Hunters had thought that the recent rise in vampire activity was due to an older vampire, but none of us had any idea that it would be the fault of one this old. We all knew who Cain was. We feared his name so much so that he’d taken on a mythical status. He was mentioned in the Bible as well as a number of scrolls that were far more ancient. In the stories, he’d murdered his brother and lied about it to God. There were clues that this initiated a blood curse that led to the creation of the very first vampire, leading to the creation of him. Certain writings and parchments mentioned his name throughout history and in every instance, it described him as an extremely powerful monster. Those texts said he was to be feared. He was the reason vampires existed in the first place. He was the very first one. The original evil.
Cain snapped his fingers and spread them wide, dark red electrical pulses radiating outward from his fingertips. All at once, the graveyard came alive. One vampire rose after another, emerging from the dirt of all the freshly dug graves. Then older ones started to turn, and even more demons rose from their eternal slumbers. Vampires stumbled out of the old crumbling tombs and crypts along the edges of the cemetery and for the first time in a very long while, I was afraid.
Holy fuck. This was really, really bad.
In moments, I was surrounded by freshly turned vampires and demons alike, at least fifty of them. I took a deep breath and brought my fists up, blocking my face from their advances. I started to fight, kicking and punching in order to find my way out of this mess, but it was no use. Even as I took out one vampire, another would ultimately take its place. The cycle occurred over and over, and my muscles started to burn from the exertion of the endless fight. I started to lose hope, but still I looked for an escape route. Grisly hands grabbed at me and before long, I was quickly overwhelmed. Strong hands gripped each one of my limbs, lifting me up off the ground and holding me captive. Strangely, not a single one of them bit at my flesh. From several feet away, Cain appraised my capture, his gaze shadowed, and my blood ran cold.
Even I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape this with my life.
“Bring her to me,” Cain ordered.
He cast his fingers in my direction and after that, all I knew was blackness.
Chapter Two
The next time I woke, I found myself in a dark room, lit only by a small window that was too high up for me to peer out of. I blinked several times, allowing my eyes to adjust as I pushed myself up and off the floor. Rampant muscle soreness radiated up and down my limbs, making the transition from lying down to sitting up much more difficult than it should have been. Behind me was a cool stone wall and I used it for support, leaning against it as I began to study my surroundings. A chill raced down my spine and I shivered.
“What the fuck happened to me?” I whispered into the dark. No one answered.
Distinct shapes began to form in the shadows and a cold nervousness raced beneath my skin. I realized I was in a cell of some kind with thick unyielding metal bars. I narrowed my eyes and blinked again, trying to see beyond into the darkness, but I couldn’t make anything out. Sluggishly, I pushed myself up to my feet and groaned as my achy body protested my movements. At least my t-shirt and jeans still covered me and offered a small bit of warmth. I wrapped my arms around my chest in an effort to heat myself further.
I moved toward the bars and wrapped my fingers around the thick metal. It was cold, possibly steel and likely strong enough to contain any evil creature in existence. The probability of breaking through any one of them was unlikely. I sighed. This really wasn’t good.
Where the hell was I?
The events from the night before came rushing back to me and I pressed my forehead against one of the chilled bars, trying to figure out what my next move would be. All around me, I could hear sounds of rancid breathing of other beings stuck inside cells similar to mine, the pangs of death rattling in some and groans of pain from others. Whatever dungeon I’d been thrown in, it was likely that its inhabitants never saw the light of day ever again. Absentmindedly, I wondered if I would die here, all alone in this cool, dank cell.
Shivering from the mind-numbing cold, I backed away from the bars. Even the chill from the icy stone beneath my feet crept through the bottoms of my sneakers. On the right side of the cell was some sort of fold-up cot and I curled up on top of it. Once I was no longer standing on the bare stone floor, I found some semblance of warmth by curling my arms around my legs. I laid my right cheek on my knees and closed my eyes, hoping that this was just a nightmare and that I’d wake up soon.
I slept for some time, but I had no idea how much time passed. When I was awake, the hours crept by and the onl
y way I could determine at least an estimate of how much time had passed was the light of the sun peeking in through the small window in my cell. For a little while, the brightness allowed me to see more of the prison that held me captive and I was grateful for it. From what I could gather, it appeared as though my cell was in a hallway that was closed off by another barred door. There were additional cells beyond that held others, but I couldn’t see enough to make out who was inside any of them. My cell was far enough away from them that I couldn’t ask them where we were either. At least, I didn’t dare without seeing who they were first. There could be monsters in here with me.
One day passed. And then two. At one point, a hooded figure stopped by and pushed a rather large glass of water inside between the bars, but other than that, no one came to me. In my thirst, I drank it all, not caring if I lived or died. If it was poisoned, better I perish now rather than suffer later at the hands of some demon. My stomach growled and I pressed my fingers to it, trying to ignore the twisting agony of my terrible hunger pains.
I was so tired. So hungry. Eventually, I closed my eyes and just slept, trying to conserve both my mind and my energy for whatever was to come.
On the morning of the third day of my imprisonment, the screams of someone in the distance woke me from my slumber. Whatever was happening to that man, it likely wasn’t pleasant for him. I crinkled my nose as his screams intensified. Nope. Definitely not.
