Ann moves close to my side, her arm hooking into mine as she stares with me at the vampire pirate things. I’m no geography student, but I know this place isn’t on any human map, but then again, I hardly got kidnapped by a human. These are vampires, and it doesn’t surprise me they have a secret island to live on. Not one thing about them could pass as human. They are too perfect, too shiny, and they stand too still. Humans are flawed and imperfect, something these monsters are not.
And I honestly think we are the winners. Being flawed is what makes us human.
“Welcome to The Onyx, the island of vampires and many, many human slaves,” one of the vamps shouts out, stepping in front of us all and clapping his hands. The crying and weeping doesn’t stop, it only gets louder. I search the humans, so many of them, for my brother, Sophie, Arlo or anyone I recognise, but I just can’t see them all in this group. There must be a hundred people, easily. My brother could be here, and unless I move around, which might piss off the vamps and end with my head being torn off, I can’t see him.
Onyx. This island has a name and a whole race of supernatural beings that belong in movies and TV shows. Not real life.
“This is your home now, and you will be looked after if you behave. The Onyx has a saying, and you will do well to listen to it. There is no power in The Onyx except for blood and death.”
Ann looks at me, and I carefully hide my fear, knowing it’s pointless to make her more afraid. I have a bad feeling blood is the only reason we are here. The vampires need food, and we are just cattle they have rounded up. “You have two of the most coveted things on The Onyx. Blood and the ability to die. But make no mistake, from now on, you are a slave to your masters, and if you wish to survive, you must follow the rules. We aren’t all that bad.”
“Bullshit,” I whisper to Ann, who nods with a little tilt of her lips. But they want us to act like sheep? Then fine.
At least until they realise the sheep aren’t all the same, and there is a wolf here waiting to bite back. I’m not going down without a hell of a fight, that’s for sure, but first I want to make sure my brother isn’t on this goddamn island with me. Or Arlo or Sophie for that matter. Part of me suspects Sophie is okay, but Austin and Arlo? I’m not too sure. The vamp seems done with his shit speech and clicks his fingers. The other vamps start grabbing the people near the front and pulling them with them to the end of the ship, and they climb down into awaiting boats, I assume.
The one vamp, who I recognise from the beach, searches the crowd until he finds me. With dark tousled hair, muck-covered skin littered with scars, and almost black eyes, he is hard to forget. I only saw him briefly, but he is memorable. I know when he finds me as he walks through the screaming group, who part quickly, and he stops close so I’m forced to smell his dirty clothes. God, he stinks. Do vamps not need to shower? He reaches out, cupping the back of my neck and pulling me to him, turning my head to the side. I smack my hands against his chest, trying to pull away, but he is too strong. He doesn’t even notice my efforts.
“I will buy you and keep you, pet,” he coos, leaning down and pressing his nose into my neck before lifting his head. “I can still taste your sweet blood on my tongue. You smell like the angels themselves sent you here.”
I sneer at him, even when I know it will get me nowhere, but I won’t let him bite me again. “Your friend said in The Onyx there is no power but blood and death, so that means my biggest power is my blood and my decision when to die. I would rather kill myself than be your plaything.”
He laughs and it’s bitter, cruel. “Who says you get to die in The Onyx?”
“I do,” I bite out.
He leans closer, and I try to fight his grip on me once again. “No, you don’t. Your freedom is gone, but keep fighting me; I do like it when my prey fights back.”
I scream and try to hit him, but he picks me up like a doll and carries me to the edge of the ship before dropping me. I scream as I fall and land harshly on my side, hearing something snap in my arm. I cry out as hands pick me up and pull me down to sit as I cup my arm, trying not to cry. But tears fall down my cheeks as I look up, seeing the bastard vampire who bit me looking down from the ship. Bastard. Before I die, I’m finding out how to kill vampires and taking as many of them as I can down with me. I turn away, knowing he will keep staring, and the sick freak probably likes the attention. I glance around me, seeing a large wooden motorized boat full of people hiding in every corner of the boat but Ann is not one of them. The engine starts up, and I look up at the vampire who bit me and dragged me here.
He is going to die before I do, even if it’s the last thing I do. Everyone has a weakness, and I bet vampires aren’t all that different.
Either way, I’m not going down without a fight.
Chapter Four
It’s cold. Not that annoying sort of cold, but the temperature that worries me that frostbite is a real issue, and I like my toes where they are. The vamps don’t seem to give a monkey’s arse about us as we walk through the red snow covering the sand, away from the docked boat. My clothes are still wet, and it is odd they don’t care about keeping us alive, considering all they went through to kidnap us. Maybe they do this a lot, and it’s not odd at all. I think of my uncle for a moment...he was right. He said they were out hunting, and he was dead bang right about it all. But how could he have known that?
The dock was empty, with nothing more than a rocky, snow-covered beach and a few trees to be seen after we got out of the boat. There are twenty-four of us in this group—I counted on the boat—and three vamps. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the silence of the island in the dead of the night. The forest seems endless, as does the snow freezing my toes off, until we come to a house in the middle of it. The house appears normal, nothing odd about it at all, but it feels all kinds of wrong. The house itself is attached to the bottom of the mountain, and its white-framed windows and brick walls look almost out of place here. There is nothing personalised about the house, and soon the vamp opens the door, and we are ushered inside.
All of us are crammed into this tiny house, and I wonder if there are others like it? There was certainly more than one ship. I consider running away for a brief second...but then the thought comes...where would I go?
How am I going to escape this damn island?
I follow the guy in front of me into the house, which is warm, and my toes are thankful for it as I stand shivering in the hallway, nothing but several doors and a staircase to look at.
“Send one of them up!” a woman shouts down, her very British and almost Cockney, aka London-sounding, voice familiar to my ears. Please pick someone else. Please pick—I’m jolted from my thoughts as a vamp man grabs my elbow and leads me to the stairs, giving me a slight shove up the first two steps.
Pushing down my fear, I walk to the top of the stairs, which opens to one massive room littered with four wardrobes and two dressing tables. Shelves of boxes fill the corner of the room, and there are several white doors. The house creaks in the wind, and it smells like expensive perfume in here.
A woman stands in the middle of the room, and I stare at her as she looks right back. She is pretty and strange all at the same time. With her long black hair, dark tanned skin, and stylish brown leather dress, she almost seems normal, but then I see the tattoos on her cheeks. Two sigils, if I guess right, and they are completely different. One is a circle shape with birds making the circle, and in the middle is a sword with wings behind it. The other one is a dragon wrapped around a dagger with fire in a circle around it. They look burnt on, like she was branded many years ago, as they are fully healed. Why would anyone do that to themselves?