Vengeance (The Captive #6)(75)
Leaning back, she tossed the rag into the basement. She didn’t have to look inside to know the room was full of old desks and furniture. It had been that way since she was a little girl and had attended school here. She’d resented almost all of her time here, and she had stopped coming when she was thirteen.
To make sure the fire would stay lit, she watched the flames from the rag she’d tossed inside until they caught on a cardboard box. Leaving the window open to allow air to flow in and feed the fire, she crept away from the school and headed toward the library next. The idea of burning books didn’t sit well with her, she’d never been much of a reader, but she’d always enjoyed the smell and feel of them.
However, she planned to try to start as many fires as possible in places she knew were empty, and that would easily catch fire, before moving onto the residential homes. The fires wouldn’t be noticed until it was too late if they were in uninhabited places. Books were more easily replaced than the life of someone who could be an innocent.
The library didn’t have any basement windows, so she slid down the side of the building and climbed onto the small back porch. Wrapping a rag around her hand, she busted out a pane of the window in the backdoor. Careful not to let the glass fall to the floor, she kept hold of the pieces. The snowdrift next to the porch engulfed the shards when she released them. She lit the rag and tossed it onto the stack of books by the door.
Turning away, she continued through the backyards until she came upon the tailor’s store. No one had been in there for a while, and it was nearly a mile away from where she’d started the first fire. She tossed another lit rag inside before turning and heading toward the more human part of town. She’d started fires in three of the bigger places within the town; now it was time to start some smaller ones.
The humans no longer resided in their businesses and homes. The thought of killing anyone made her stomach turn, but if they were inside of the human residences, then they shouldn’t be in this town in the first place. She’d trade their life for William’s and the children’s any day.
CHAPTER 25
William could feel his injuries healing, but he kept most of his weight on the two vampires still holding him. They still believed they were helping to hold him up. He didn’t want them to know how much better he already felt or to suspect he’d regained any of his strength. Weakness was his friend right now, if he had any chance of escaping this mess.
The minutes ticked by, the only sound within the room was the restless shuffling of the vampires around him, and that was sporadic. Most of the vampires were as still as stone, but he could feel the excitement coming off them in waves. He could almost hear them salivating over the anticipation of seeing their queen and hearing what grizzly sentence would be handed down upon him. Goran hadn’t moved so much as a muscle; his hands were folded behind his back, his gaze steady on William.
It wasn’t so much that he saw or heard anyone approaching from the shadows of the stage, but more sensed a presence coming toward him. His head turned toward where Goran had emerged. Around him the vampires shifted, their heads bowed, and a small murmur went through the crowd. He had no idea why, but a shiver went down his spine; his skin became electrified by the enclosing presence and the power wafting from it. The hair on his arms stood up. The energy coming from the other room emitted an aroma that brought to mind the scent lightning emitted when it scorched the earth.
And they may all be scorched in the end, he realized. A pale hand wrapped around the curtain blocking the side of the stage and pulled it back. He’d meant to keep his face impassive, but his eyes widened on the woman who emerged from the shadows. He didn’t have to be told who she was, or how old she was; the vampire inside him instinctively knew the power she possessed was ancient.
For the first time fear curdled in his belly, not for himself, but for all those he cared for and loved. He’d believed this rebellion would be squashed beneath the power of Braith’s family and The Council; he realized now he’d been greatly mistaken. This woman would not be taken down without a massive fight, and he understood now why her followers had grown so rapidly.
Her kind of power would be addicting, thrilling, and the prospect of being able to get a small piece of it would be enticing, even to those who didn’t believe the human race should be kept beneath the boot heels of vampires. It would be irresistible to those who did feel the human race deserved to be kept down and used only for their bodies and blood.
There were vampires who resented Braith for making them equal to humans, for taking away their ability to rain cruelty down upon the human race with ruthless glee, and no apprehension about receiving punishment for it. Those who would want things to return to the way they’d been and would believe this woman wielded more power than Braith, and they may be right, he realized with a sinking sensation.
Striking wasn’t the word he would use for her, or beautiful. Ice would be the best description for her. No matter how perfect her facial structure was, or how eye-catching her coloring, with her utter lack of warmth he couldn’t consider her beautiful.
Old, it was the first word to go through his mind when the woman stopped before him.
His skin prickled as she stood over him on the stage. She looked him over from head to toe and back again with a leisurely perusal that made his hackles rise. He’d have no shot against her, but she was the first woman he’d punch in the face if ever given the chance. Her antipathy for him radiated from her in waves, and he was certain she could notice the same emotion coming from him. He’d love to see this woman taken down a hundred pegs; he wasn’t sure he’d ever get the chance to witness it, or if it would be possible.