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“I own and operate a few underground clubs in the human portions of the empire,” Vinicius said, his eyes roving over my face. “They are staffed with humans, much like yourselves, who provide a number of illicit thrills that, thanks to your viceroy, are considered illegal under vampire law.” His lip curled. “Maximillian may have convinced some of us to pamper their humans, but the rest of us recognize you as what you are—slaves to be used for our pleasure. And it will give megreatpleasure toknock you down from whatever false pedestal Lord Starclaw has placed you upon.”
Terror threatened to choke off my airway as the vampire knelt down, fisting his hand in my hair. Desperation drove me hard as he dipped his face toward my neck, and I reached for the tiny kernel of power still left inside me, yanking it from the depths of my magical well as I struck with my free hand.
The vampire howled as shadow magic exploded out from my palm, smashing into his face so hard that his neck snapped sideways. He collapsed to the ground, his neck twisted nearly one-hundred and eighty degrees, and I sprang back as the blood magic holding me loosened.
The vampire lifted his hands to his face, then grabbed his head and yanked his neck back into place. The crack of his spine realigning echoed ominously through the room as he got to his feet, and everyone shrank back. My pulse thundered in my ears as I snatched up my stake again, bracing myself for his next attack. I wish I’d used my shadow magic to pin him against the wall instead, but I’d reacted on instinct, and now I had nothing left to defend myself with.
“I see,” he said, a crazed look entering his eye as he advanced on me. “You’re not human at all, are you? You—”
The rest of his words were cut off by a loud explosion that vibrated through the floor. Vinicius stopped, confusion twisting his features as dust trickled from the ceiling. It sounded as if someone had blown averyheavy door off its hinges. “What in the name of—”
The rest of his words sputtered out, and his hands flew to his throat, clawing at an invisible hold. The other vampires in theroom choked as well, releasing Simon and Lucy, and a wave of relief flooded me as the ribbons of blood unwound their grip from my limbs, slithering back to the human body they’d been stolen from.
“Wh-wha—” Vinicius said in a garbled voice.
“It’s really too bad for you that vampires can’t die of asphyxiation,” Maximillian said as he strolled into the room with Jinx at his heels. The little minx scampered directly to my side, looking far too pleased with herself for bringing the rescue brigade. “Because that would be a far kinder death than the one I’m about to give you.”
He released his hold on Vinicius’s windpipe as Sparrow and Nyra entered the room behind him. Vinicius’s eyes bulged at the sight of them, but he could do nothing as Sparrow used his magic to drag the vampires unceremoniously forward, then threw them out of the chamber and into the hall, where I could hear a loud commotion unfolding. Hopefully that was Lucius with his guards.
“Catherine.” Nyra rushed to my side. Her features were pinched with worry, none of her usual scorn or annoyance present, but I waved her off.
“I’m fine. Go help the humans,” I told her. “They’ve been trapped here for almost two days.”
“My death?” Vinicius snarled, trembling with rage. I could tell he wanted to leap at Maximillian, but his feet were rooted to the ground by the vampire lord’s magic. “You can’t seriously mean to kill me, Starclaw. I am the emperor’s Master at Arms!”
“And I am the heir of House Psychoros,” Maximillian reminded him. His voice was deadly soft, but his eyes blazed with fury,and sparks of magic snapped in the air around him. Nyra hastily herded the humans out of the room while her sire advanced on the vampire soldier, clearly wanting to get them out of harm’s way before the bloodbath started. “I warned you what would happen if you tested me again, Vinicius.”
He lifted a finger, and the commandant shrieked as his leg bone snapped like a twig. My mouth dropped open—could telekinetics really snap bones like that, with a mere thought? I’d never seen anything like it. The leg buckled beneath him, forcing Vinicius to one knee, and Maximillian wrenched his other leg out of his hip socket next. The vampire groaned as he toppled over—he would heal in a matter of minutes, but the wounds still had to hurt—and Maximillian stepped over his body and stalked over to where I still knelt.
I struggled to my feet, and the vampire lord caught my hands, pulling me upright. “Are you all right, Kitten?” he asked quietly, searching my face. He glanced down at the bandages on my wrists and the slice on my hand, and his expression turned downright arctic. “Did he do this to you?”
“No, but he did kidnap me, and all those other humans, too.” I swallowed and looked to where the commandant still lay on the ground under Sparrow’s watchful eye. The spymaster had both swords out and aimed toward the vampire officer, just in case he somehow broke free of Maximillian’s hold. “He was bragging about how he takes them to some underground club, then rents them out to vampires searching for illegal thrills. He…” I swallowed. “He was debating whether he wanted to take me there too, or keep me for himself to spite you.”
Maximillian closed his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Kitten.” He pressed his forehead against mine, as if needing to reassure himself with the physical contact. “This is my fault.”
I was about to argue that this was most definitelynothis fault when Vinicius let out a barking laugh. “Look at you, fawning over that human,” he sneered. “Or should I say witch, Maximillian? Does the emperor know you keep one handy?”
Maximillian’s eyes opened, a chillingly blank expression on his face. Another loud crack echoed off the walls, and Vinicius screamed as his spine bent at an unnatural angle.
“Take her, Sparrow,” Maximillian ordered, turning away from me. “I’ll be along once I’ve finished with him.”
“Wait,” I said as Sparrow came forward. I grabbed Maximillian’s arm, and he whipped his head around to face me, his eyes burning.
“You would beg clemency for this monster?”
His icy voice was like death itself whispering in my ear, and goosebumps raced across my skin in response. “No,” I said. “I just want to make sure that you find out where this club is located. He says he has one here in Lumina, and a few in other cities, too.” Maybe Hannah’s friend was there, maybe not. But either way, there was a building full of brutalized humans somewhere in this city, and I meant to help them.
"Consider it done," the vampire lord said. “Now go. Please,” he added, his voice softening just a fraction.
I nodded, and he turned away, his predatory focus on Vinicius once more. I allowed Sparrow to lead me out of the room, the commandant’s screams echoing down the hallway with every step we took. The sound was music to my ears, and I sincerely hoped Maximillian wrung every drop of pain he could from that monster before he ended him.
15
Many hours later, I found myself back in my bed, staring up at the canopied ceiling without seeing it as an unending stream of horrors playing out in my mind’s eye.
It had taken four hours for Maximillian to break Vinicius, then another six for Lucius, Sparrow, Eliza, and me to find and evacuate the dilapidated warehouse in one of the rundown, mostly abandoned districts. Vinicius had transformed it into a sadistic pleasure den where, for a price, vampires could rape, maim, abuse, and even drain dry the humans they rented—depending on how much they were willing to pay. The slaves were heavily drugged to keep them compliant, and many of them had actually fought back when we’d attempted to remove them. I wasn’t sure if watching a fourteen-year-old girl cling to the leg of her vampire pimp as we removed him was the worst thing I’d seen, or the incinerator in the back of the warehouse that the vampires used to get rid of the humans that their clients had gone ‘a little too far’ with.
Simon had bravely agreed to come along to see if Imogen had been amongst them, but he hadn’t recognized any of the slaveswe’d rescued. Despite all the good we’d done, my heart still sat heavy in my chest at the failure. It was very likely that the girl was dead, if Vinicius had taken her, her life callously used and thrown away by a vicious bloodsucker who had forgotten what it was to have a heart.
