Selena
Two thoughts flitted through my mind as Ignus led me into a clinical-looking room, his hand clamped around my wrist, the heat of it more repulsive than a V's touch could ever be. First, that I might soon be dead. And second, that if Varick really wasn't on Raskdød any longer, then my efforts had been for nothing.
Ignus guided the trainee Vampire through the door, walking to a wall and tethering her chain to a hook embedded in it.
A woman and a man entered the room, both of whom were armed with syringes and what looked like cattle prods.
“What are you going to do to me?” I backed toward the single bed in the plain-walled space, raising my hands in surrender. I didn't want to discover what the sparking ends of those rods felt like.
Ignus considered my words, rolling up his sleeves, making me more nervous than ever. “I think we'll get it over with. I'll have to make sure you suffer a little, considering the enormous amount of trouble you've caused my family. But I have too much to do today to spare you more than an hour of my time.”
The backs of my legs hit the bed. I trembled from head to toe, thinking of Reason and Mekiah. What would they do when they found out Varick was no longer here?
Ignus snapped his fingers at the woman who was tall and burly, her jaw nearly as square as Abraham's. She moved toward me, raising the syringe in her hand.
“The serum will paralyse you from the neck down,” Ignus informed me casually, a small smile pulling at his lips. His boyish features were twisted; it seemed a demon lived in him and I could see it gazing at me through those powder-blue eyes. “But you'll feel everything.” He licked his lips as the large woman approached me, raising the cattle prod in her hand.
Panic rose in my chest like a storm rushing in from the sea and colliding with the shore.
“Wait!” I begged, moving around the bed and putting it between me and my aggressive-looking assailant. “Please, there must be something I can do!”
Ignus shook his head. “Nothing I'm afraid. You fought well in the games, but we told you the rules once you'd won. You broke them. You could be at home now with your family, living out the rest of your life. But you chose to disobey.”
“How could you expect me to let that man put his hands on me?” I demanded, side-stepping as the woman tried to follow me around the bed.
Ignus regarded me coolly. “A small price to pay for freedom.”
“Easy for you to say,” I growled, retreating and my back hit a trolley. It rattled with metal implements and I stole a glance at it. All manner of torture devices were laid out on it and bile rose violently in my throat.
I couldn't let this happen.
I couldn't die.
I wasn't ready.
“I'll do anything - please!” I hated to beg, but fear gripped my heart like an iron fist was clamped around it. And there was something else rising in me, a flicker of longing, of desperation to see Varick freed. Alive.
The large woman dashed forwards and I lunged for a scalpel on a trolley behind me. I had it in my hand in moments but the cattle prod rammed into my side before I could do anything more. The blade clattered across the floor as what felt like a thousand volts of electricity coursed through my body.
I was immobilised, twitching and jerking on the floor. Then the worst happened: a needle sank into my neck.
Tears escaped my eyes as terror invaded every part of me, just like the serum seeping through my veins, making my body weigh a tonne.
I was twisted awkwardly on the floor, unable to move, unable to see through the curtain of hair that had swept over my face.
Strong arms lifted me onto the bed and my heart rate increased to a rapid beat. My body was useless, the only part of me that was still in my control was my face.
“No, no- Ignus!” My eyes found his and I prayed using his name would reach past his cold exterior. Beyond him, the Vampire was watching me, her eyebrows drawn tightly together. In that moment, it seemed she had more pity for me than any of the humans in the room.
Ignus moved toward me, tilting his head to the side as he surveyed my body. “The fingers first,” he instructed one of his team.
I wailed, trying desperately to move as the burly woman picked up something from the trolley.
She took my hand in hers, pinching my index finger between her meaty digits. She slipped my finger into a clamp and I screamed, terrified of what was about to happen.
Through my panicked state, Varick came to mind. I let him fill up every part of my thoughts, the feel of his body surrounding me, how I'd felt so safe in his hold.
“Don't,” a girl's voice cut through the room. One I knew, I was certain.
Ignus halted the woman who was holding a very sharp knife by my finger. Everyone's eyes slid to the Vampire tethered to the wall and with a jolt, I suddenly recognised her. Kite.
I'd been thrown off by her pale arms, entirely void of the colourful tattoos that had once stretched over her body. Oh god, how could they have done this to her?
“Excuse me?” Ignus said, his voice cutting.
“Don't hurt her,” Kite said, her voice tinny as it reverberated through her metal muzzle. “Not yet,” she said quickly.
“Why would I wait?” Ignus folded his arms, offering more time for Kite to speak. Why was he giving her that courtesy?
“I...have an idea,” she said. “One I think will please you.”
My features twisted. That wasn't like Kite. She was one of the most defiant people I knew. What had Ignus done to her to make her so subservient? Vampire or not, surely she hadn't lost the will to fight back?
Ignus raised a brow, seeming to enjoy Kite's efforts with him. “And what's that?”
“Let her play the game again,” Kite said and my heart jumped.
“The game?” Ignus questioned and whilst he mulled it over, I gripped onto the idea with all my might. Varick was on his way to a new island. A new game.
The possibility that I could live to see another day was overwhelming and I clung onto the thread of hope with all my might. Maybe I could still find Varick, still save him.
“Yes- let me play!” I blurted, glaring at Ignus and no one else.
The woman holding my finger seemed impatient but Ignus held up a hand to stave her off, regarding me.
“What did you say?” He shifted closer, his eyes alight with curiosity.
“I'll play the game. Let me play again. I won't survive twice. You'll still get what you want.”
“Why play if you're so certain of your death?” Ignus chortled a laugh that held no humour in it at all, though he was clearly enthralled.
“At least I'd have a chance at living,” I admitted, my breathing shallow. “And if I don't, wouldn't you rather see me die like that? This way no one else will witness my death. Don't the spectators want their pound of flesh too, for what I did to their friend?”
Ignus considered my words. “True,” he said at last.
I clutched onto the lifeline. “So let me play,” I insisted.
Ignus's eyes rounded. “The Vampire...” he looked thoughtful for a moment and my gut clenched. “Varick assisted you in getting off this island, did he not?”
“Yes,” I breathed, my lungs dragging in ragged breaths.
He grinned and there was something so vicious in it that I couldn't grasp what he was picturing in his head. Her turned to Kite with a look of satisfaction. “What an idea. I knew I chose well when I picked you.”
He wafted away the woman who looked disappointed as she dropped my hand. Ignus turned to me, smiling. “Reuniting you with Varick would be my absolute pleasure.” He sucked in his cheeks, looking like a kid in a candy store, facing the others in the room. “Send her to the Isle of Lidelse on the next shipment.” He moved to Kite, snatching her chain and marching toward the door. Kite glanced over her shoulder, meeting my eye for half a second. I mouthed a thank you, but she gave no response. I wondered if she'd done it for me at all, or if she really had wanted to please Ignus.
As they exited the room, I was left at the mercy of the two meatheads. I prayed they would stick to Ignus's orders, because they both looked hungrier than the Vs in the game.
I was crippled by fear as the balding man moved to a cupboard, humming as he drew up another syringe and walked to my side. He lifted my wrist, pressing the needle into my veins.
“You're a foolish girl,” he muttered. “Trading one hour of suffering for a week of torture. Not very clever, are you?”
My eyelids drooped and I battled against the dragging feeling that was tugging me down into sleep.
“I won once,” I whispered, my lips barely moving as I faded away into the black.
His voice followed me and I drowned in his arctic tone. “Soon, you'll wish you hadn't.”