Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(60)

Ruby was about my height, and she stared into my face as though she knew what I was thinking. With a faint grin that showed the tips of her fangs, she shook her head as she touched my lips with one finger.

“Remember, no chants, no invocations. Nothing to make me decide that you could use a good spanking.” She sounded like she’d very much enjoy it if I did.

I cleared my throat. “Fine. I’ll behave.”

“Good girl.” She grabbed me by the elbow. “Come on, buttercup, let’s move.”

My legs protested—they had been tied up so long that my left foot had gone to sleep. I let out a groan as I stumbled. Ruby gave me a disgusted look, then with an air of exasperation, she swept me up in her arms. I blinked, but said nothing. Vampires had superhuman strength regardless of their gender. Ruby could knock down a linebacker with her little finger.

I squirmed but she pinched my thigh. The pain was quick and sharp, and I settled down. At first I thought we were headed toward the staircase and my heart jumped. Get me up those stairs and I’d figure out something. But then, I saw that opposite to the stairs going up was a staircase leading down. We turned to the left and I realized that we were indeed heading deeper into the bowels of the house.

By the time we reached the bottom, my mood was sinking as fast as our descent. We were now crossing through what appeared to be a cellblock built of concrete, with a dirt wall at the end. There were cells on either side of the walkway, and some of them had bars that looked to be silver plated. That told me right there, Essie definitely punished her own kind.

We stopped in front of one of the cells and Ruby set me down. I stumbled, but she steadied me until I caught my balance.

“You able to stand now?”

“Yeah.”

“You see this cell?”

I nodded.

“That’s where Thornton spent the last six months, before he escaped. Essie wasn’t very happy with him, you see. He wanted to run off and start a new life, after he had pledged his life to her. He had begged her to turn him and she bit him, then let him drink from her three times. But even the promise of life eternal wasn’t enough to make him behave.”

I snorted. “Some people are just never grateful, are they?”

“I know you’re being sarcastic, but it’s truth enough.” She shrugged. “Thornton wanted to be king. He wanted Essie’s job, as well as Essie herself. In fact, most of us felt that he just wanted her crown. He was a sweet talker, though, polite and so talented, and so eager to help. So she gave him the first part of what he wanted. That’s when she found out that he was messing with some of her bloodwhores. One of them showed up pregnant.”

Bingo. Thornton had really fucked up. Essie was Queen Bee and she wasn’t about to put up with her favorite boinking anybody else, especially when he got the woman pregnant.

“Really, now? That certainly answers a few questions.” I tried to spur on Ruby to tell me more—the more I knew the better.

She seemed to be warming up to the fact that I wasn’t trying to run off. I also had the feeling she was bored and dying to talk to somebody. She pointed to the fourth cell on the left. I counted ten on each side, which meant Essie was either running a much bigger show than we had figured, or she had bought the house from a pervert.

A woman sat on the single bunk in the cell. She was human, I was pretty certain of that, and she was about seven months gone by the size of her belly. She was wearing a tattered dress, very loose, and she was staring at the floor, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. I felt incredibly sorry for her, even though I never had understood the desire to be some vampire’s bloodwhore. As much as I loved Aegis, the thought of anybody drinking my blood still gave me the creeps.

Speaking of creepy, Ruby was standing at my back. She took a long whiff and I quickly shifted to one side, not running, but putting another step between us. I knew she was smelling my witch’s blood. I hoped to hell she’d remember that Essie had said “hands off.”

Ruby’s fangs were down, but after a moment, she seemed to regain her composure and gave a little shrug, as though she didn’t care. “Anyway, that’s her. She’s carrying Thornton’s spawn. I have no clue what Essie has planned for them.”

Right now, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know, either. To keep a pregnant woman down in conditions like these seemed appalling, but vampires weren’t the best of hosts even when they were in a good mood. Piss one off and you got what you asked for. I wondered why Ruby had brought me here, but when she steered me toward one of the cells, I thought she was about to lock me in.

“Oh no, I’m claustrophobic!” I didn’t want to be stuck in a cell. Chances were she’d lock me in an anti-magic zone.

“Oh, stop whining. I’m not locking you up, so don’t get your panties in a wad. Not yet.” And with that, she pushed me through to the door beyond.





I HADN’T NOTICED the door on the end before, but now Ruby stepped through it, dragging me behind her. I glanced around. We were in a good-size chamber and by my best calculation, we were underground, well away from Essie’s house. In fact, I’d bet we were somewhere in the woods. Which meant that if I escaped down here, I’d have to race all the way back to the staircase, then up the next staircase, and somehow make it to the front door without being caught.