Chapter 17

Olivia’s POV

When the screaming stopped, and Damien’s eyes returned to their normal red hue, Henry immediately apologized to Damien, “I’m sorry, Damien. Truly. That was so foolish of me. Of course your pet is yours alone. Forgive me.”

The pain seemed to have entirely sobered him. “I was hungry,” he continued. “I lost myself for a moment.”

Turning to Lucy, he exposed his fangs once more. Lucy paled, her eyes widening in fear, as Henry lurched forward and clasped his mouth to her neck.

There was nothing gentle or pleasurable about Henry’s bite. He gnarled and sucked at her neck like a starving man, and the pain was clear on Lucy’s face. Her mouth dropped open as if she wanted to scream but it was silent.

When Henry finished, shoving Lucy away, she swayed dangerously on her feet, nearly fainting. As Henry appeared to be done with her, she started to walk away.

The entire scene turned my stomach. The Vampire King, it seemed, was somehow even crueler than Damien.

Feeling as if I might be sick, I turned to Damien and spoke hurriedly but quietly, “I’m not feeling well all of the sudden. Could I leave early?”

Damien frowned at me, and I immediately regretted my request. Though, after a moment, and with a quick glance to Henry, he told me, “I have private matters to discuss with Henry anyway. Return to my room and wait for me.”

“Yes, Master,” I said, bowing my head. “Thank you, Master.”

He grunted, which I took as my dismissal and quickly removed myself from the Hall. I disappeared through one of the servants’ entrances, not wanting to run into any vampires unattended.

I’d only just made it around the corner when I found Lucy, passed out in the middle of the hallway floor.

Knowing the servants’ kitchen was nearby, I rushed there to retrieve some water and then hurried back. After positioning Lucy up against the wall for support, I coaxed her to open her mouth and poured some water down her throat.

She coughed a little, her eyes fluttering open. Her eyes were wild a moment, as if frightened at where she was and why, but when she saw me, she relaxed a little.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You walked out here after the Vampire King bit you,” I said. “You must have passed out.”

She nodded a little, accepting this. “That has been happening a lot to me lately. My Master drinks deeply and often. He’s a powerful vampire, you know… He has to…”

I felt like she was making excuses but I didn’t say so. None of us had any choice here, who we were given as masters. We all had our own personal nightmares to endure.

Lucy glanced at me, and then away. “I’m sorry for how I treated you before…” She sounded so pitiful and weak, I couldn’t hold a grudge. So much had happened since then anyway, that it hardly seemed to matter now.

“Forget it,” I told her.

“You are too kind,” she said.

I didn’t think so. “All of us werewolves have to watch out for each other here,” I said, even as my heart was heavy for what happened to my friends. “It’s the only way we’ll survive.”

“True…” Lucy pushed herself against the wall, as if trying to stand, but immediately fell down again. “I can’t walk, but I’m supposed to return to the Vampire King’s chambers. He will be very displeased with me if I disobey him.”

Lucy seemed so frail, I didn’t know if she would even survive another punishment.

“I’ll help you,” I said.

Lucy gave me a weak sort of smile. “You really are too kind.”

“Thank me later,” I told her.

She placed her arm around my shoulder, and with my arm around her waist, I hoisted her up to her feet while keeping her at my side. She did much better standing up this time, and walking, as I helped carry her weight.

“I’ve never been to the Vampire King’s wing of the castle,” I told her. “You will have to direct us.”

“This way,” Lucy said and gestured down the hallway. “We should stick to the servants’ passages. We don’t want any of the other vampires to catch us without an escort. The thirstier ones drink first and ask questions after.”

I nodded, accepting that wisdom. I didn’t like Damien drinking my blood, but I’d rather him than anyone else. Damien, at least, from what I could tell, had limits. I didn’t have such confidence on anyone else.

At Lucy’s direction, we moved through many of the side passages. I’d worked below before but never in this direction. At first, I was trying to remember all the turns we made, but really, after a while, I was utterly and completely lost.

Just where were the Vampire King’s rooms anyway?

“Is this right?” I asked, after a minute. I felt like we were somewhere really remote. It’d been a while since we had seen anyone, even other slaves and servants.

Lucy stood on her own then and stepped away from me.

I stood still, confused.

Then Lucy turned to face me, a cruel smile on her lips. “You are right where I wanted you to be.”

The alarm bells started ringing in my head, and immediately, I turned to go back the way we had come. I didn’t make it more than two steps before something smacked the back of my head.

I fell down, and into darkness.

I woke up again with a splitting headache and grass and dirt under my hands.

Wait… grass?

Lifting my head and looking around, I was surprised to find myself not in the castle, not even within the walls. Instead, I was outside in the forest with only the stars and moon for light as they flickered from between the leaves and branches above.

Lucy must have set me up and cast me out here somehow. But why?

Had she been faking everything? Had she even fainted?

I pushed myself up to my feet and looked around. I’d already tried once to escape and it had ended horribly. I needed to go back, but I didn’t even know which way the castle was.

Gods, Damien was going to be furious with me. I really didn’t want to be punished again. I might not have been whipped but that containment cell had been torturous on its own.

Before I could pick a direction to go, however, I started to hear a strange sort of shuffling through the brush.

A wild animal?

I froze, hoping it wouldn’t detect me.

Yet as a humanoid figure stepped from the brush, its red eyes locked on me, I knew it was already too late.

Though I could only detect a vague outline and those red eyes, I could tell that this was the skinniest vampire I had ever seen in my life. His clothes were ragged, hanging from his limbs with pieces torn off in strips.

As he looked me in, he started to smile, his extended fangs glinting in the moonlight.

“Now, wait a minute,” I said, holding up my hands. “We can talk about this! You don’t want to hurt me! I belong to…” I reached up to my collar, but found that it was missing.

Oh, no.

The hungry vampire pounced toward me.

I tried to struggle, but even starving, the vampire was too strong. If I hadn’t been wolfless, maybe I could have stopped him, but as it was, I was entirely useless.

He grabbed me by the shoulders then diving forward, roughly latched onto my neck.

My vision grew dark quickly. At the rate the vampire was draining me, I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

It hurt only briefly before everything started going numb.

Then, just before I blacked out once more, I heard a scream, shrill and loud in my ear.