AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They’re awake!” The voice rings a bell, the familiarity in it sending my stomach into knots.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Rainey growls as soon as Odette appears above, right next to Harrie. “It wasyou?”
“It was necessary,” he replies.
Odette grins down. “So sorry for your harsh conditions. We simply couldn’t have you escaping early and ruining the experiment.”
“And what experiment is that?” Rainey demands. “How long it’s going to take me to climb out of this place and rip your head off?”
Odette chuckles. “I’m afraid that’s not it, though I would be rather interested to discover how fast you could scale a wall. Hmm, perhaps with the next hunter I cross paths with.”
“Where are the others?” I demand, my thoughts instantly going to Bronywyn and every other person I give two shits for. “If you—”
“You two sure make a lot of threats for a pair of powerless supernaturals trapped at the bottom of a one-hundred-foot cylinder. As for the others, I apologize they didn’t make it this time. No worries, though, we’re headed to get them shortly. Though, not before you two drown. Tell me, I know from experience a hunter can drown, but I’m curious whether or not a made vampire can.” She grins. “I suppose we’ll glean the answer to that particular question soon enough.”
Hundred-foot cylinder.It’s then I realize exactly where we are, and that sobering knowledge terrifies me.
“Fucking bitch. I’m going to kill you!” Rainey shouts, pushing to her feet. In the bright light, I take a moment to study the blood steadily dripping from an open wound in her shoulder. Her face is crusted with blood from a now-healed wound in her temple.
“Have a nice swim,” Odette says as she waves, and walks away.
Harrie begins to heave the cover back over our prison.
“Harrie!” Rainey shouts.
He pauses and stares down at us.
“Why?” The simple word is enough to send her bottom lip quivering. Rainey Astor does not give her loyalty lightly. In fact, until this moment, I didn’t realize she fully trusted the shifter. But the regret on her face—the anger, betrayal—it’s plain as day.
“Because we are better than the humans,” he replies. “And your kind would never have let us prove it.” Without another word, he easily slides the cover back over the entrance, plunging us into darkness once more.
Beside me, Rainey takes a seat. “I’ve been in a lot of shitty situations,” she says, finally. “But I have to admit…this? Being trapped at the bottom of a concrete tube about to drown? It takes the fucking cake.”
“I more than agree with that. But at least we know where we are now.”
“We do?”
“We’re about a mile outside pack lands, if I had to guess.”
“Wait a fucking minute. We’re back in Billings?”
“If I’m right, we are. There’s a bunch of wells the pack made back in the early nineties. They’re made of concrete, and every night, they fill up then distribute the water back to the pack via small tubes that open once the pressure is high enough. The bottom has an opening right along—” I trail off and slide my hand along the bottom where concrete meets sand. Rainey scoots out of the way, and I continue, stopping the moment my fingertips touch a stainless-steel grate covered in a solid plate. “The rest of it drains back through this tube and into a holding tank in case something fails.”
“Wait, how the hell do you know this?”
“Because I helped Josiah design and build the system so his pack didn’t have to keep using buckets to bring well water back to their homes. Now, it runs on solar panels along with the rest of the village.”
“And Willa moved everyone away for safety. Something that Harrie fucking helped her do. Fucking shit luck, that’s what we have.” Rainey sighs. “How long do we have?”
“I could tell you that if I knew what time it was.”
She shuffles then mutters a curse. “Shit. This would have been a perfect time to have an electronic watch. But no, I had to go old school with no fucking light. Can you guess? Maybe give an optimistic time frame?”
“With it being dark and the sand beneath us damp, I’d say the water has already been pumped out for the night, which gives us about a day before it fills up.”
“How long does it stay full?”
“Until the pressure builds long enough to send the water through the tubes.”
“Which means if we don’t drown, the pressure will likely kill us. There goes swimming until we can move the top.”
“The top hatch is sealed,” I tell her. “You can only open it from the outside.”
“Fucking perfect. Couldn’t build in a safety mechanism?”
“Why? People being trapped inside wasn’t a concern we had.”
Her foot slams into the concrete. “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe he fucking betrayed us!”
I don’t respond, mainly because my words will do no good. Neither one of us saw this coming. Hell, Harrie wouldn’t have made even my top one hundred suspects. And while I can hardly begin to believe this is happening, either, it is—and as someone who helped design the system, I know that what was once a source of life for the pack is going to be what strips us of ours.
