Vengeance (The Captive #6)(12)
For years she’d never spared a thought for how the humans were treated in their town. She’d been too focused on her own plight to consider theirs. However, she’d gotten to know the humans of the town better over the last year and a half, and she didn’t like the idea of any of them being mistreated. Never mind being locked within the blood bank going through tortures or something else she didn’t like to imagine. The humans hadn’t been taken away because they were going to be treated well, of that much she was certain.
The queen who had once been human wouldn’t lock them all away, would she?
There was that urge to bang her head against the window again as she fought the tremor working its way through her body. She didn’t know who the woman she’d seen was, who these vampires were in her town, but she doubted they were what they claimed to be. She had to find a way to learn what they were doing here.
Amongst the white cloaks, she spotted varied colors of clothing, plus a few familiar faces from town. The men who had stayed here last night had never said they couldn’t go outside. If she was stopped on the street, she could always claim she was going to her home to retrieve some of her things.
“I’m going to go and see if I can find out what is happening.” Turning, she rested her free hand on Agnes’s shoulder before prying the three year old’s bone crushing grip from her other hand.
“Wait!” Agnes cried and grabbed for her, but she kept her held back and nudged her toward Abbott.
He bent and lifted Agnes into his arms. Tempest walked into the hall, grabbed her black wool cloak, and secured it around her shoulders. The men who had invaded their home last night had gone out this morning, but the ugly one with the scar had told her they would be returning tonight.
She tugged the hood up over her head, opened the door, and stepped into the swirling snow. No flakes fell from the sky, but the wind whipping down from the peaks surrounding their valley caused the snow on the ground to swirl about her feet. She’d always loved the remoteness of their village, their lack of contact with the outside world, but she now feared what she’d always cherished about her town may now be its downfall.
Standing in the light of day, she realized her earlier estimates about how many vampires had arrived were way off. There were at least a thousand strangers patrolling the streets. All of them were wearing white cloaks and clothes that blended in with the landscape around them. Glancing at the mountains on all sides of them, some less than a half a mile away, she could see more vampires walking amongst the trails and outside of the caves carved into the faces of the cliffs.
She’d spent most of her childhood exploring these mountains; she knew how treacherous and capricious they could be. There were many hiding places within them. Places where the invading vampires could lay in wait and places where those fleeing this village may be able to hide. Trails out of the mountains that these strangers might uncover, but they would never be able to discover the exact pathways to freedom.
She knew the nooks and crannies of these mountains like the back of her hand. She knew their trails and peaks and had once wandered over the side of a cliff that dropped off suddenly around the corner of a trail. She’d suffered two broken legs and numerous broken ribs from the fall, but she’d healed and returned to exploring again two weeks later.
The shudder running through her had nothing to do with the chill in the air, and everything to do with the pit in her stomach as she stared at the intruders now patrolling her mountains. Few, if any, knew these mountains as well as she did. While others had casually explored them, she’d lived and breathed them. There’d also been many places to hide from the beatings that at times had been commonplace within the orphanage.
Perhaps, if she’d been more daring, she would have fled into the mountains and never looked back, but she’d only seen the world outside of this valley a handful of times before. It had been far too large and imposing for her liking. Besides if she had taken off, it would have been one less vampire to help take care of the younger children.
Despite the warmth of her cloak, she felt like ice as she placed one foot in front of the other. Her black cloak stood out starkly amongst the sea of white surrounding her. Some turned to look at her, most ignored her. Making her way toward the stocks, she was finally rewarded with a reaction as three of the invaders stepped in front of the vampires locked within them.
“What do you want?” one of them demanded.
Tempest glanced at the men and woman locked into the wooden stands. She tried, but she couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen anyone bound in these stocks. Two of the men lifted their heads to look at her; she recognized them instantly as the magistrates of the town. The positions they held were appointed by the new king when his troops had come into town after the war.
Another man lifted his head. Tempest’s eyes widened when she saw the insignia of the king on his cloak. Every once in a while, a passing member of the king’s troops would travel through here to make sure the new laws were being followed. They never stayed long, but they’d always worn the wolf insignia upon their cloaks. Tempest kept her eyes on the prisoner; she didn’t look at the three men standing guard before her closely enough to see if they were also wearing the king’s wolf insignia.
She already knew they weren’t. She hadn’t seen it on any of the men who had entered the orphanage; she just hadn’t realized it until now. If these men had been willing to do this to one of the king’s men, what would they do to any member of this village? And who had sent them all here if it hadn’t been the king? Had it been the queen? Had something happened between the two of them that had turned one against the other?