The tap on the cage bar had Indigo looking up, where she found the vampire in the cage next to her trying to get her attention.
I’m hungry.
The words were relayed in sign language, but there was no need. She could see that hunger written all over his face, one that bordered on desperation. They probably fed him the same amount of blood since their last conversation, thinking that it would punish the vampire and make him more acquiescent to them. It was stupid, really, because hungry vampires were more volatile, and it wouldn’t be long before this one lost any semblance of control and turned into a nightmare for everyone.
Was that what they wanted? A violent vampire for some freak show?
Indigo looked around, squinting her eyes and trying to see if there were guards roaming about. It was probably past midnight already, and all she could hear was silence. She sidled closer to the vampire, just out of his reach, and moved her hands.
What’s your name?
Salazar.
I’m Indigo. I’ll let you suck blood from my wrist if you promise not to hurt me.
His eyes widened, and she watched them darken. He struggled as his fangs slid out, sharp and making her inwardly gulp. But she didn’t retract her offer, knowing that she was here for a purpose—and that purpose was to take the ring down, and in turn, save prisoners along the way.
And that included vampires.
I’ll try not to hurt you, Indigo.
In response to that, she stretched her wrist out until it slid between the bars and into his cage. She tensed when his hands took it and lifted it up inches from his face, his eyes turning darker again. His fangs sank in…
No pain came. Instead, what she felt was a steady calm, and she realized he was trying to minimize the sting for her through some pheromones. It made Indigo feel warm, and she watched him in motion—his throat moving at every suck of blood, his body shaking at the hunger that probably heightened at the first taste before settling down. Part of her expected him to pull her hand, maybe rip it off her body, but he surprisingly held steady, speaking of a control that she didn’t realize their kind had.
The calmness surrounding her increased, and pleasant thoughts entered her mind. She let it wash over her like a balm, though it did not wash the memories of what happened earlier.
Disgusting men thinking they could have their way with her and get away with it.
Their cheers.
Dean’s kisses.
Dean’s fingers sliding inside her and making her feel so good.
A spark of lust shot inside her, and she was back in that moment—hearing the sound of Dean’s groans and harsh breaths, feeling his hot, hard arousal pulsing against her. Need simmered, and she had to fight back a moan as she remembered those fingers and how they made her feel pleasure like she’d never experienced before. The scent of his skin hit her nostrils, and she almost stumbled back. She must have made a sound, because suddenly whatever calming presence was over her was gone, as if a blanket was being lifted off.
Shaken, Indigo turned her head to the vampire, who had blood dripping down his chin and was backing away from her frantically. He made huge gestures with his hands.
I’m sorry. I got carried away. I didn’t mean to hurt you.
The desire she felt got wiped off immediately when she realized he must have thought her reaction was due to his bloodsucking. She shook her head, trying to think past the fast beating of her heart.
It’s okay. You didn’t hurt me. Are you still hungry?
I’m better now. Thank you.
You’re welcome. I’ll give you some again tomorrow after I eat. Let’s keep our strengths up.
Her statement had him stunned, and she could tell he was overwhelmed by the generosity she was showing. A tentative smile appeared on his face as he licked the blood off, and the sight was so funny that she couldn’t help but stare as his smile grew wider.
In response, she grinned.
Something nudged at her mind—a wisp that was light at first, turning darker by the second and joined by other wisps. The grin disappeared from her face when she realized what it was and how familiar it felt. But that was all the reaction she could give before memories flooded her and blurred the present.
She was in a room: a dark gray room that smelled of disinfectant and rust, making for an odd combination. She was chained to a table, her mouth gagged but her eyes seeing everything, including the entrance of a couple of robed people carrying baskets. She watched them remove the items one by one, then watched them line the candles up around her. There were sticks and gems and what looked like a bottle of blood, along with objects sharp enough to make any person nervous. She felt those nerves sink into her as they lit up the candles, then did chants that were melodic and haunting at the same time. Then they all stepped forward, bringing with them a sharp object each and telling her to stay still.
And that was when the torture began.
They prodded her with those sharp objects, starting with the slightly blunt ones before slowly accelerating the sharpness and watching her reaction to each one. By the time the sharpest object, a knife, slid inside her skin, she was screaming her pain. She was also struggling so much against her chains that it started to sting, indicating that all the moving was already tearing her skin apart.
They began to draw blood until her screams turned to cries, and she was begging them to stop and pleading for her life. But they didn’t stop, and it wasn’t long before the pain turned to numbness, her mind wrapping around itself and switching off.
They didn’t take that as an indication for them to stop. In fact, they upped the ante and did something else to bring her mind back: put a spell on her so that nothing would be switched off, and every sensation she felt would be heightened.
They kept it up, never letting her sleep or eat. They gave her water so she wouldn’t be dehydrated, then kept up the torture until her brain felt like it was going to melt. Her body threatened to explode, and she broke a tooth or two while she simultaneous begged and made promises just to get them to stop.
That was when her magic started leaking—an energy that she couldn’t identify at first but made her body stronger and able to sustain whatever they gave. Eventually, she saw colors of it: whirls in her system, crackling like red electricity that singed them every time they tried to touch her. But they had more spells up their sleeve, burning her skin next and making her feel in her mind what it was like to be skinned alive.
She almost died. But her magic fought back, those that didn’t leak out storing in her body bit by bit. When they turned their backs for a short break, she was breaking against the chains and getting out of that chair, which already smelled of her own piss. Then she was breaking their necks with a snap of her energy and burning the whole place up as she stumbled out of there and passed out in a nearby forest.
That forest had a lake occupied by lake fairies, and the fairies hadn’t killed her. Instead, they healed her underwater and communicated with her via her mind, a kindness that she never expected from their kind. They let her go when she was well, sealing her mind so that she would die if she ever revealed their location to anyone. It was a fair bargain, and she hadn’t seen them since. But she’d been soft for fairies after, treating them kinder than she did other creatures—even her own.
The scene changed. She was in the marketplace, relatively older and wiser, standing strong past the nightmare that happened to her. She hadn’t seen black witches since, and she braved her fears and put up a bid for Kasper’s bar, which she won. She worked day in and day out until she accidentally discovered the existence of the human world, where she went ahead and put another bar to increase her earnings.
The scene changed, and she was talking to someone faceless and tossing insults. Just before the faceless person could be cleared and revealed, reality came crashing in and punching her in the stomach, and she was fighting back with all that she had. Energy flowed from her, a ball in her chest that spread all over her body before shooting up her mind and wrapping around the wisps in sweet comfort.
Then it yanked, removing the wisps from her brain in one go. Pain sliced through her at the suddenness, and she stifled the scream that she would have let out.
The wisps tried to come back, but her energy fought it, biting back until the wisps eventually cleared. She could feel it probing in the air now, almost like a hissing snake, circling her cage and waiting for its moment to strike.
She didn’t let it.
Indigo felt for it, keeping her body straightened and readying herself to fight with everything she had if it ever came back. But it didn’t come back, leaving the area altogether until the pungent smell in her nostrils disappeared, and the air felt decidedly easier to breathe. Her vision cleared of the memories that still lingered, enabling her to see her present surroundings fully again.
Nothing changed—not the cages, not the silence, not the vampire beside her. But Salazar was eyeing her quietly, his body tight as a string and ready to pounce at any second now. At first, she thought he was still hungry, but further scrutiny made her realize he wasn’t even concentrating on her.
He moved his hands. Are you okay?
Indigo nodded her head. Yes. I’m okay. She was shaky, and she had to take deep, inward breaths to calm herself down. She hesitated, the question looming in her mind. Did you feel that?
Yes. Dark energy.
Yes.
It was coming from you.
That made her stare at him with a start, horror starting to bloom. But the horror receded when he continued speaking and telling her the darkness left her and surrounded the forest before disappearing altogether. Her energy worked, it seemed.
But for how long?
She looked at him again. Are you still hungry?
The vampire shook his head. No, thank you. I’m fine.
He was so…civil, breaking all her initial perception of vampires, even her second one. She wondered if all vampires were like him, or if he was as rare as she was. But before she could ask, he was already pressing his back against the back of the cage and closing his eyes, indicating that he was sleeping. That was another thing—she didn’t even realize that vampires slept, showing exactly how ignorant she was.
He slept like a dead person, still as the night, and more questions rose up in her mind. Was he dead? Was he still breathing? Did vampires eat anything other than blood? But she didn’t want to bother him, so she shut up.
Indigo felt the first stirrings of sleep come in and try to snatch her senses, but she fought it back, trying to hold on for a little bit. Her eyes roamed the area again, taking in the darkness and the trees. Moonlight filtered in from spaces between the branches and leaves, but not enough to completely light up their area.
The black witch was somewhere here, and that black witch was aware of what she was. Indigo didn’t know how to protect herself fully, but she was going to fight that witch’s intrusion as much as she could.
She was going to make sure their mission here was a well-guarded secret, and Dean would be fully protected from being discovered.
She blocked the memories of his kisses away, feeling them too precious to be invaded so easily here. She tucked them somewhere inside her, her heart aching for something she couldn’t understand.
Then memories of her torture came back again, and that was harder to tuck away or get rid of. Indigo lay down on the ground and curled in on herself, trying to keep herself warm.
Trying to fight the fear still sneaking into her system.