Things continued straight away, no one coming forward to clean up the blood or remove the severed organ. Some demis were kept while others they discarded. There didn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to the decisions.
Hot anger and shame for my fellow demis continued to swelter as I watched each and every one of them lose pieces of their dignity and self-worth.
Always in sets of two, they were brought forward. A pair of nearly-identical sisters were most memorable. While one stood tall and showed courage, the other looked as if she were going to faint from abject terror at any second. The vampire’s advice came back to me.
Do not cower.
“Kill the left; take the right,” that same voice ordered lazily.
Kill? I was certain I’d misheard that. The verdict was unjust and asinine. The braver of the two screamed and cried for her twin but was inevitably dragged from the room. Her sister remained solemn, as if resigned to her fate.
She did not beg or fall apart as her executioner approached, and she did not flinch when her throat was slit.
The room remained silent as her body slumped to the floor and the bloodied gurgling noises of her choking on her own blood died away. Her eyes remained wide open, as if staring at the severed tongue she’d nearly landed on.
When only the three of us remained, I found it harder to keep still and be quiet. I could not bear the thought of anything happening to my Jacinda or Scarlett, my sisters unrelated by blood. We had been together for years, growing up and experiencing life. I waited to be spoken to, steeling my spine when I was finally addressed.
“Ah, the wayward queen finally decided to find her way here.”
His voice was different now, still authoritative but not as cold. Strangely gentler.
I contemplated how he knew I’d been purposely brought in. Then, I remembered he was said to be as intelligent as he was cunning.
A third voice, one that had remained nearly silent throughout the proceedings, added his own comment. “You can speak. He won’t have your pretty face disfigured.”
That didn’t comfort me. I didn’t want to be flattered with meaningless compliments. However, I understood it was a command and not a friendly reassurance. Cognizant that Toby would still be on the grounds and not wanting to implicate him, I found my voice and chose my words carefully.
“My options were slim.”
“Options.” He said the word as if its meaning were lost to him, suddenly demanding, “Bring them.”
The vampire extended one of his hands in a gesture meant to usher me forward, but he didn’t attempt to touch me.
In fact, he seemed to avoid that at all costs. I sidled by him, careful to do the same, and walked towards the center of the room. I kept my head high and eyes trained on the darkness ahead. I could hear Jacinda and Scarlett following me by a swish of their gowns and soft footfalls.
I was almost to where the body and tongue lay seemingly forgotten when his next command carried through the room.
“Stop.”
I did so after one extra minuscule step and a few silent curses, my small rebellion to his order. I swear a faint chuckle or two came in response.
“Stand single file and turn in a circle, slowly.”
What will that accomplish? None of the others had to do this.
“Turn,” he repeated harsher when I didn’t move.
With rigid limbs and a heart beating so loud I knew anyone in the room with accelerated hearing would hear it, I did as instructed, wondering what he got from this. Was it his way of seeing if I were truly who I claimed to be? I finished making a full circle and waited anxiously for what he would ask of me next.
“You’re different,” he stated after a whole three minutes of the longest silence I’d ever known, “but still beautiful.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that—the remark on my beauty or the one that was said as if he knew me. I looked far more street peasant than royal.
I’d lost the subtle curves I’d once possessed, and my natural olive skin that had always been warm was now shades lighter, almost sickly looking.
My filthy, fern colored gown had once been fashionable but was now a giant rag. The long braid I’d plaited was nothing more than a mess of wild hair.
Another stretch of uncomfortable silence filled the throne room before he spoke again.
“Dose them here.”
“Dose?” I spoke to myself. What did that mean?
Without warning, a bald Lycan appeared at my side. My arm was grasped delicately, a needle poking into a vein before I could pull away. I muffled a yelp as an immediate burning rifled beneath the skin.
I swallowed a rush of bile, a heavy wave of nausea smashing into my gut.
There was no way for me to ask what had just been done. Within seconds, darkness rushed forward and consumed me.
CHAPTER FIVE
It was quiet.
There was a cool metal table beneath me. Cold air skated over my body, causing goose bumps to spread across the skin and my nipples to harden.
Realizing I was naked, my eyes flew open, revealing a room barren of any light except for a dim blue bulb. It smelled so strongly of disinfectant that my nose began to burn. I looked down and followed the thin cord that was strung from my arm to a half-empty drip with an odd green liquid in it.
Body feeling stiff as cardboard, I forced myself to sit up.
Everything about me felt different somehow.
Eyes scanning the contents of the stone-walled room, I saw nothing of use.
I grasped hold of the cord and tugged the metal IV pole to where I sat. After powering it off so it wouldn’t beep, I gently pulled the taped-down needle from my arm, allowing it to swing aimlessly. The sticky tape left residue behind, letting me know it had been in for a while.
Ignoring the bead of blood welling up and how tender the injection site was, I painstakingly climbed down from the table, placing my hands on its surface to support my trembling legs. There was nothing to cover my naked body, but I shrugged it off. There were more important things than my modesty at that moment.
I slowly began to move towards a door with peeling blue paint.
Upon reaching it, I cautiously peered through its glass window. Nothing was in sight but a long, bare hallway with a few dim bulbs overhead. I gripped the door's cool metal knob and twisted.
It made a low groaning sound, and I froze, straining to listen.
After waiting a few minutes and not hearing anything, I slipped out into the hall. The cool linoleum floor felt slick against my bare feet. I had to place a hand on the rough coated wall to move them along, making my pace tortoise slow.
Jacinda.
Scarlett.
My mind went to my friends, wondering where they were and if they were okay. When I came to another door like the one I had been behind, I peeked through the glass block window and saw a naked demi laid out on a metal table like I had been.
Finding the door unlocked, I cautiously entered the room. The woman didn’t stir as I hobbled closer. She looked familiar. I thought she was among those that hadn’t been casually discarded.
Peering down at her naked body, I realized she wasn’t breathing. I placed a hand on her arm and found it was cold to the touch. I backed away as fast as I could, bumping an IV pole in the process and sending it clattering to the floor.
Darting from the room, I began to peer through door after door—it just got worse. All the demis were dead. Every single one of them. Some had an excess amount of blood still dripping down their limp arms as if they had rejected whatever the hell the colorful liquid in the IV bags was.