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“You like that, don’t you? You know, that’s not just Ambrosia flowing through your veins. We’re pumping you full so we can go at it for as long as we want. It will keep you strong. Just strong enough to fight back, not strong enough to get away. Can you guess what it is?”
“Fuck you!”
“Human blood.”
God, he wanted to vomit. The thought was enough to make him sick. Cy tugged fiercely at his chains, but Merick only laughed.
“We drained them slowly, you know? Children, most of them. Their blood tastes better. And they were bound for the veal trade besides. So, really, we might have been doing them a favor.”
“You’re sick!” Cy hated him. Hated hearing about what he’d done. “When I get free from here, I’m going to rip you limb from limb!”
“When you get out of here? What makes you think that’s going to happen?”
Cy clamped his lips shut, squeezing his eyes closed. He wanted to block everything out. But Merick’s fingers persisted.
“You’re going to tell us everything. And then you’re going to die. You’ll be a scapegoat for Thorne so he can get back in his maker’s good graces. But not before I get to thoroughly enjoy you.” A hand slipped behind Cy’s back, massaging his bare ass cheeks. He cringed and struggled, which only made Merick smile more. “I haven’t had even close to my fill, slayer. When I’m through with you, you’ll be begging for death.”
“Why are you doing this?” Cy hated the rasp in his voice, the way his legs wanted to give out.
“Thorne asked me to.”
“It’s more than that. Hurting me is more than duty to you. You enjoy it.”
Merick laughed at that. “Of course I do. I’m a vampyre. Your pain soothes me. It fills my soul.”
“You don’t have a soul.”
A chuckle. “Perhaps not. But when I taste your pain, your fear, it sure feels like I do.” He lunged forward and bit down on Cy’s neck, biting him over and over again until Cy’s front was riddled with open wounds. They bled down his chest, and Merick traced their trails with his tongue.
“Do you think your pretty little Haven is missing his soul too?” Merick asked against Cy’s skin. Cy felt teeth digging into his pectoral. When Cy didn’t answer, Merick tore at his scalp, wrenching his head back to expose his neck. “Or do you think he’s better than all of the rest of us?” Merick’s lips pressed against the column of Cy’s neck. “He’s not. He’s no different. At his core, he’s just as ugly, just as hungry.” He paused. Smirked. “You don’t know what he did, do you? Did he not tell you? About the one time he lost control?”
A surge of anger flooded Cy’s system. Whatever had happened between them, Haven had refused to take Cy’s life, had refused to drink from him without his permission. Haven was different. He wasn’t the monster the other vampyres all seemed.
“Ahh, have I struck a nerve? You like the pretty prince?” In a flash, Merick slashed a razor-sharp nail across Cy’s chest. It tore through his skin as though through butter. The pain ratcheted through Cy. This was it. He was dying. He was going to die.
Merick licked along his wound, closing it where it had blossomed. “It’s a shame to waste such precious sustenance. Delicious. But nothing compares to Haven’s blood. You know, when Lord Thorne first brought him in as a boy, he let us all sample him. I’ve never tried anything so sublime. Such a waste to have turned him...but Lord Thorne didn’t want all that beauty to fade. Though I’ve been told he still tastes divine. Maybe once Thorne’s had his fill, he’ll let me take another bite. What do you think?”
“That’s what this is about? You’re obsessed with Haven! All of this comes back to him!”
“I like bringing wild things to heel. Hence why you’re here. And when I’m done with you, Haven will be next. I’ll devour that pain just like I devoured yours. Nothing will taste better. But for now, you’re my task at hand. We need you to come clean, slayer. Tell me about the Veritas. Tell me about the vampyres helping them. You know who they are, don’t you?”
“No!” Cy gasped. Merick slid his palm up Cy’s trembling body, clasping it around his raised hand and intertwining their fingers.
“You’re lying.” With only the slightest amount of force, Merick clenched his fist around Cy’s pointer finger and snapped the bone. Cy screamed in agony as Merick moved on to his middle finger, tugging lightly as if in warning. “Do you want to tell me now? Want to tell me all about the Veritas and their plans? Who’s helping them?”
“Fuck you!” Cy spat.
Merick grinned before breaking his middle finger, wrenching it out of the socket entirely. “It always amuses me how easily human bones can break. Even the strongest, the most vicious warriors, are, in the end, still mortal. Your bones break and take weeks, even months, to heal. It would be so easy to kill you right now.”
“Then do it!” Cy bared his teeth, his eyes glimmering with tears.
“Not yet, sweet pet. I’m far from finished with you.”
CHApTER SixTEEn
Haven
The Ambrosia hadfinally worn off, though its effects had made him undeniably groggy. Haven woke with a sore throat and a head full of fog. The previous night’s events hung heavily on his heart.
