Vengeance (The Captive #6)(18)
The steps creaked beneath his weight; the wood sagged in the middle. He kept his back to the stairs and his body turned to face any menace coming at him. Stepping off the last stair, he lifted the lamp to chase away the shadows filling the room the size of the building above it. His blood ran cold, his deadened heart plummeted as the lamp revealed the dozens of gleaming red eyes across from him.
CHAPTER 7
Tempest kept her head bowed while she walked down the street as twilight descended upon the town. Trying to stay invisible was the best way to get by since they’d been invaded. They’d all come to realize dissenters, and anyone who questioned what was going on, soon found themselves dragged to the prison or locked within the growing number of stocks being built outside the prison.
She still had no idea what was going on, who this woman claiming to be the queen was, or what would become of them all, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t going to get better anytime soon. They weren’t allowed to gather in groups of more than four. Any weapons they’d had were confiscated and burned the second day after the invaders arrived.
The power of the queen was whispered about amongst those that had taken over here. They spoke of the vampires taking back power, of putting right the wrongs committed by declaring humans equals and allowing them to have equal rights. Tempest’s skin crawled every time she heard one of them say they had to take back the world and reestablish their place as the superior species. They had to put the true and proper queen back on the throne, where she belonged.
She had yet to see the queen, but the way these vampires talked about her made her seem as if she were something almost mystical. Something completely unstoppable.
Someone had to do something before they were all imprisoned, slaughtered, or enveloped by the group who had invaded. She’d tried to deny it in the beginning, but she could no longer ignore the fact that the invaders numbers had swelled with residents of her town. She didn’t know if the new recruits actually believed the rhetoric they were hearing, or if they were simply trying to survive whatever the invaders had planned for all of them. Either way, it made her terror grow to watch them being indoctrinated into these new beliefs without having even met their new leader.
She buried herself deeper into her thick cloak as she surreptitiously searched for some weakness or break in the guards lining the streets. If she could get past the guards on the trails above, she’d easily be able to get lost amongst the mountains and slip away into the wilderness.
She didn’t know how long it would take her to find another town once she was free; she’d never wandered that far before. She didn’t know if anyone would believe her, but she had to try to do something to save her loved ones.
“You!” Her head shot up at the barked word.
Across the way, the ugly vampire who had taken up residence in the orphanage strode toward her. Over the past two weeks, she’d learned his name was Kane, but she still considered him the ugly, malicious troll. She glanced around to see if he’d been yelling at someone else, but his beady hazel eyes were focused on her as he moved in on her.
She threw back her shoulders when he stopped before her. “Where are you going?” he demanded.
“I simply wanted some fresh air and a walk.”
His gaze raked over her before returning to her face. Tempest had to fight the urge to pull the cloak tighter around her, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing his lecherous stare made her feel like scrubbing herself in a bath until her skin turned pink. “Go back,” he commanded.
Tempest opened her mouth to protest but bit back her words. She’d never be able to slip free of here if she was thrown into prison with the others. “May I ask why?”
“Go back.”
I’ll take that as a no. She turned on her heel to head back toward the orphanage.
Around her, she began to realize the vampires who had invaded her town were moving down the street toward the hotel. She wanted to turn and see what they were doing, but she didn’t dare let her curiosity show to them. She also wasn’t above admitting she was a little afraid of what she might see there. The only ones who weren’t on the move were those patrolling the mountains, the ones in front of the barricade, and a dozen or so others who remained in front of some of the homes and businesses.
Her pace increased until she almost jogged up the steps of the orphanage. She thrust open the door and hurriedly closed it. Pallas and Abbott looked up from where they were sitting with the children in the living room. All of the children had books open in their laps.
“What’s going on?” Pallas asked.
“I don’t know,” she murmured and hurried to the window.
Pallas rose to her feet and followed behind as a growing swell of the vampires in white gathered before the hotel. She recognized some of the vampires from town, now dressed in white, amongst them. She hadn’t seen a human since the first day they’d invaded town and locked them all within the blood bank. Blood was delivered to them, not much, but enough to get them through the days. Normally she would have gone into the mountains and supplemented the meager supply with animal blood, but that had become impossible now.
Her gaze ran over the mountains again. From here, she could tell there weren’t as many vampires patrolling up there as before. Even those vampires were coming in to witness whatever was about to unfold.