Chapter
15
Elena couldn’t sleep that night. Every
time she closed her eyes, she saw the vampire’s hellish gaze, felt
his fangs savaging her throat again and again. She huddled under
the covers, shoulders shaking, eyes burning with tears. Where was
Drake? Why wouldn’t they let her see him? She needed him, needed
him desperately. She was lost and alone in a nightmare from which
there was no escape.
Gradually, exhaustion claimed her and
she fell into a restless sleep, only to wake some time later, a
scream on her lips.
“Hush, now, you’ll be all
right.”
Elena opened her eyes. In the dim
light, she saw one of the women kneeling beside her bed. “S-sorry,”
Elena said, sniffing back her tears.
“No need to apologize. We all have
nightmares now and then. I am Northa.”
“Elena.”
“What are you doing here? You are not
one of us.”
Elena hesitated a moment, wondering if
she should tell the truth, and then shrugged. “Drake is my
husband.”
Northa’s eyes grew wide with
astonishment. “You married Rodin’s eldest son?”
At this announcement, someone lit a
nearby candle and several other women clustered around Elena’s cot,
their expressions filled with curiosity.
Elena nodded.
“It is said that of all Rodin’s sons,
Drake is his favorite.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Elena
said, remembering how angry Rodin had been.
“We only know what little we hear,”
Marta said. “It is rumored among us that Drake left the Fortress
over three hundred years ago and in all that time, he has never
come back.”
A girl with straight brown hair and
gray eyes nodded. “Cullin told me that his brother has never been
one of them, that he never approved of his father keeping us here
against our will.” She made a vague gesture with one hand. “I don’t
understand what he means, against our will. If we didn’t stay here,
where would we go?”
“There’s a whole world out there,”
Elena said. “You could have a place of your own, get married, have
children.”
“Some of us will be allowed to mate and
have children,” Northa said.
“And those children will be food for
the vampires!” Elena exclaimed.
Northa shrugged. “It is how it has
always been.”
“But you’re prisoners!” Elena looked at
the women gathered around her. “Don’t you want to be
free?”
“What is free?” Marta
asked.
“I’m free,” Elena said. “I chose to
marry Drake. We have a house of our own. No one tells us what to do
or when to do it. We can come and go as we please.”
A girl with short black hair snorted
with disdain. “You look like us,” she said, tugging on the sleeve
of Elena’s nightgown, which was like the gowns all the other women
wore. “You feed the vampires. How are you any
different?”
“I don’t belong here.”
“But here you are,” the dark-haired
girl said with an air of finality. “And once you are here, you can
never leave.”
Those words, and the finality with
which the dark-haired girl had spoken them, haunted Elena in the
recreation room the next day. It might be true for the sheep, that
there was no escape, but it couldn’t be true for her. She didn’t
belong here. Would never belong here. She refused to believe she
would never leave this horrible place. She had to cling to the hope
that she would soon be with Drake again, that they could return to
Wolfram Castle, because hope was all she had.
Now and then, one or another of the
women would ask her what it was like outside the Fortress. What did
the outside world look like? Had she ever seen a tree? A flower?
Felt the sun on her face? The sheep knew about these things. They
read books, saw movies and pictures, but they had never touched a
living tree, smelled a flower, walked barefoot in the
grass.
When she found herself drowning in
despair, she clung to Liliana’s promise that she would see Drake
again. She prayed it would be soon.
The day dragged on. She tried to read
but couldn’t concentrate on the words. More than anything, she
wanted to go outside, to feel the sun on her face, to go for a
walk. To spend some time alone. How did the women stand it, always
being together, never having any privacy, never having a few
minutes to themselves? She wondered why the vampires refused to let
their captives go outside. Didn’t they trust the guards to protect
them? Or were the vampires afraid the guards would run away if
given the chance?
After what seemed like forever, it was
time for last meal. She was trembling when she entered the dining
hall. Too nervous to eat, she kept glancing at the door, praying
that Vardin would not call for her again.
When he appeared in the doorway, she
could scarcely breathe. More frightened than she would have
believed possible, she kept her head down, hoping he wouldn’t see
her. Her heart pounded so loudly she could hardly hear anything
else.
But she heard his voice echoing loudly
in her mind, felt herself rising, moving toward him on legs that
trembled, following him down the stairs and into his
apartment.
And then the door was closing and
Vardin was standing over her, his eyes glowing a bright, hellish
red, his fangs gleaming in the candlelight.
Elena came awake to the sound of
someone calling her name. For a moment, she imagined it was Vardin
leaning over her, lightly shaking her shoulder. She swallowed the
scream rising in her throat when she opened her eyes and saw Rodin
standing beside her bed.
“Get up,” he said sternly.
“Where’s Drake? Is he all right? I want
to see him. I need to see him. Please, I’ll do anything, just let
me see him.”
“Then do as I say.”
Rising, her heart filled with
trepidation, she followed Rodin out of the dormitory and up the
stairs to the tower room.
Outside the door, a candle in a wall
sconce came to life, seemingly of its own accord. Rodin plucked the
taper from the holder, then opened the tower door and stepped
inside.
Elena followed him, a soft cry of
denial falling from her lips when she saw Drake curled up against
the far wall.
Murmuring his name, she ran to kneel
beside him. “Drake? Oh, Drake.”
“Go away.”
“No. What have they done to you?” His
hands were swollen and blistered.
“Elena,” he said hoarsely, “get out of
here. I do not want you to remember me like this.”
“I’m not leaving.” She glanced over her
shoulder. “How could you do this to him? What kind of monster are
you?”
“He is my son,” Rodin replied coldly.
“He has violated our laws. The usual punishment is death. But I
have decided to be lenient, for his mother’s sake.”
“Lenient!” She screamed the word at
him. “You call this lenient?” Tears filled her eyes when she looked
at Drake again. Gently, she stroked his hair.
He flinched at her touch and she
realized his scalp was also burned.
She looked up at Rodin again. “Do
something. He’s suffering.”
Rodin nodded. “It would not be
punishment if he were not.”
“I want to be alone with
him.”
“I will allow you five
minutes.”
“How very generous of you.” It took all
the willpower she possessed to keep the sarcasm out of her
voice.
Rodin inclined his head. He placed the
candle in a crack in the floor, then left the tower, closing the
door behind him.
“Drake, you need blood,” Elena said
urgently. “Hurry, we only have a few minutes. Take
mine.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Go
away.”
“Stop being so stubborn. We don’t have
time to argue.”
Raising his head, he looked at her,
only then noticing that she wore the same plain white nightgown the
sheep wore. “Why do you not hate me for bringing you
here?”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know
this would happen.”
“I promised he would treat you well.”
His nostrils flared. “Vardin.” The name hissed past his lips. “I
will kill him for this.”
“I’m fine.” She forced the lie past her
lips. “Please, my husband, take what you need.”
He shook his head. “I dare not,” he
said. “If I begin”—he shook his head again—“I am afraid I would not
be able to stop.”
“Please, Drake,” she begged softly. “I
can’t bear to see you suffering like this.”
“It will pass, in time.”
She stared at him. His beautiful face
was blistered almost beyond recognition. She yearned to take him in
her arms, to hold him close and comfort him, but touching him would
only cause him more pain.
Leaning forward, she kissed him ever so
lightly. “I love you.”
“Foolish girl.”
“Tell me,” she begged. “Tell me you
love me, even if it’s a lie. Tell me we’ll be together again soon
and that nothing will ever part us.”
He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I
love you,” he said fervently. “Whatever the future holds, never
doubt that I will always love you.”
“And we’ll be together again, promise
me.”
“We will be together again, wife,” he
said, brushing the tears from her cheeks. “I swear
it.”
She forced a smile. She knew he was
lying, but for now, it was all she had.
“Rodin is coming,” Drake
said.
Leaning forward, he kissed her again,
an achingly tender brush of his scorched lips across hers. A
fleeting caress that she knew meant good-bye.
And then Rodin was there, dragging her
to her feet, leading her away.