Blood Bath, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series Book 4) (17 page)

The reality of my situation hit me. I hadn't realized I
still held on to the hope that Aidan or my father, that someone would get me out of this until she clued me in on how long I had been down here. The tears fell faster as a horrible thought took hold of my mind. Had they killed them? Or worse, chained them in some torture chamber like mine? When they heard the scuffle, before the mic no doubt went dead, did they try to charge in only to be out maneuvered by Caligula?

"Ah, you've figured out no one is coming to rescue you." She wiped away the tears as if genuinely concerned about my breakdown. She brought her fingers to her mouth, lic
king the salty fluid away. "This is always my favorite part."

"What do you want with me?" My voice broke through the tears.

"I thought it would be obvious." She waved a hand in front of the dialysis machine like she was practicing for The Price Is Right. "Your blood, the key to your power. The silver was a nice trick." She ran her fingers along her lips and I noticed the blisters for the first time. They were almost healed, looking more like cold sores than the seeping pustules they would have been when she first tried to drink from me.

"I waited a full day for the silver to work its way out of your system, it took a lot of henbane to keep you under and out of the iron so your body would reject the metal. I under estimated the witch who stirred the potion for you. I didn't drink straight from the vein the second time, for obvious reasons. You know, the dammed silver was actually su
spended in your blood? Clever witch. But not one to be outdone I procured this device and had it modified to purify your blood."

"You could drain the life from anyone, why me? Weren't the five other girls you killed enough?"

"They were an appetizer. Barely enough to wet my whistle. I have an insatiable appetite. In my past life I lured the young maidens to my chambers under the ruse of being hired as a hand maiden. The blood of nearly six hundred girls filled my baths before they locked me in that tower.

“
It was Caligula who freed me of course. He recognized himself in me after spending only days with me at court. Rumors had already begun to spread, I made the mistake of hiring an aristocrat's daughter. I told myself I wouldn't have her but her youth called to me. My body sang with the need to soak in her blood. I could absorb their vitality, you see. My own beauty, my own youthfulness extended by theirs. There is no sensation like bathing in warm blood, even now I prefer it to drinking. Caligula became aware of my gifts and rescued me the night before my execution." She made adjustments to the equipment, punching buttons, changing cycles.

"It took us sometime before we realized my gifts had e
xpanded. I had only been satisfying myself with humans until he met Mercy. The assassin he sent was his greatest mistake and my greatest blessing. She was so young, too young. I became a feral beast. I had to have her, had to feel her against my skin. I had denied the creature inside me too long and she was just the opportunity I needed.

“
She was gifted with the sight, for a time I was too. You can imagine my surprise when I saw what would happen to my sire. I wouldn't save his woman, not after he tried to cleanse his line for her, but when the Council was through with him I nursed him back to life. He wasn't the same and I tired of watching him barely exist. Europe called to me, I hadn't been home in ages." She sighed, a little shudder crossed her body as if she remembered something arousing. “They were glorious times, watching the modern age take hold. The mind of man grew darker and my life was easier for a time."

She was on a roll and I had no intention of stopping her. I was pretty sure I had figured out who she was. Cali
gula was crazier than I thought for turning her. No wonder he wanted to kill off his line and keep his children a secret from Mercy Brown. If the Blood Countess was an example, he'd sired a line of monsters. I was in some serious shit. I had an idea of what she had planned for me and none of it was good. The colloidal silver didn't stop her but it bought me time. There was obviously enough left in my system that she wouldn't risk it touching her skin again.

I needed to take advantage of however long it gave me. The henbane had almost completely worn off, the fog in my mind had lifted so I tried to focus on the between. I called out to my father, desperate for him to hear my plea. The weight of the iron was as heavy in my mind as it was on my flesh. I hadn't regained enough strength. I could only hope she'd keep talking or the silver would stay in my blood a little longer. I was working on a way out. I needed more time. 

"The blood lust was always my curse, even after all my years I could still lose myself in it. I got sloppy. The European Council sent for a cleaner, that fucking vampire has haunted my every step. I thought I lost him after Reykjavik.

“
I came here knowing my sire couldn't refuse me. Caligula took me in and for awhile I was able to satisfy both our needs. How the hell was I supposed to know the assassin actually lived near here?" She let out a small chuckle.

"He led me to you, did you know that? I was watching him the first time I saw you. The other girls looked like Mercy but you, you could almost be her doppelganger. The girls were the only thing
that kept Caligula from meeting the sun. When I saw you, I knew I could have it all. The freedom to move undetected, the power to take the blood I need without being hounded by the fucking council and the one thing that would save Caligula."

Oh hell no. No fucking way was this bitch going to use my blood to get into the between to track down victims and my body to bring back her sire. I tried again, tried to force my brain to remember what Hunter taught me in his office. He said I was powerful, that I could spindle more of the b
etween in my mind than any other fae he knew. I had to push through the iron blocking me. I might not be able to jump Conry and me out of here but by the gods I would bring someone to us.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't reach my father. I'd only met him in the between in the flesh before. I wo
ndered if not having created a mental link to him was why. Mason said not every fae had that gift but he was my father, surely he could hear me. I tried again. Nothing. Damn it! I almost let my disappointment and frustration out on a scream.

"What are you doing?" She hover
ed over me, then fussed with her equipment, then hovered over me again.

One of the alarms on the monitor beeped furiously. All this shit I was hooked up to
gave me away.

My heart raced, my head pound
ed and I dripped with sweat. She knew I tried to pull on my power. I felt the warm rush of drugs through the IV. She doped me with more of the henbane. I had seconds before I was out again. Ingested, it only took minutes to put me out, intravenously it worked faster than anesthesia. I called out to the only person with the ability to see inside my mind. Over and over I silently called out to him.

"Don't get any ideas pet, no one is coming to save you. They've searched both of my sire's homes and found no trace of you. I didn't think the glamour would hold up on the ghoul, you would have seen through it with your fae blood no doubt. Good thing iron was such a popular buil
ding material back in the day. It'll keep the fae bottled up inside you, makes your blood more potent too." She stroked my arm tenderly. For being a completely insane, murderous bitch her bedside manner wasn't half bad.

I s
ank back into the abyss of nothingness. Calling out for my hunter as I continued the downward spiral. I could almost feel the bottom. It rushed up to meet me. The sound of my heartbeat slowed. Seconds ticked by between beats. Thump. Thump. With a lurch the last audible thump sounded in my ears. I was weightless, suspended in a black sea. Cool velvet coursed across my skin, in my mind. And then I heard it. A whisper,
Maurin
. My name had never sounded more beautiful. It was the last thing I heard.

14

The voice of my captor split my skull as she screamed, over and over again. There were words in there somewhere but I couldn't make them out. All I heard was the ear piercing shrieks. Elizabeth Bathory tore the room apart. Equipment clattered to the floor, something big crashed against the wall. I tried to fight off the effects of the henbane but I'd been given so much in such a short period of time. My eyes were not even trying to open. My ears and a small part of my brain fired on less than one cylinder.

Something happen
ed. Had Caligula decided she'd kept me long enough? Was he coming to take me? I didn't want Bathory to have any more of my blood but I really didn't want Caligula to take me when I couldn't fight him off. The thought of his hands on my body, living out some sick fantasy while I was mentally aware but physically unable to stop him terrified me. Faced with two deadly fates I found myself choosing the physical death of the Countess draining my blood to bathe in, over Caligula using my body, slowly killing my soul until I finally withered away.

My neck burned and I felt something run down my shoulder. The
IV was out, probably yanked out by the amount of blood I felt puddling beneath me. Some sensation came back but not nearly enough. I heard her fumbling with the leather straps, she wasn't unlocking the iron cuffs yet. Either she was forced to move me or Caligula was really taking me away.

Please let her be taking me somewhere else. If we mov
ed I had a chance to get away during transport. I didn't think I'd get the same opportunity with her sire. Elizabeth was a bit of a hot head. Her rash actions and blood lust could work to my advantage. Caligula on the other hand had probably run calculations on all the ways he could secure me, including the ones where I tried to escape.

Wake up
, Maurin. You've got to wake up.
I fought off the henbane by sheer will.
Open your eyes. Open your eyes damn it.
My right eye twitched.
That's it, a little more.
My right eye fluttered open, followed by the left. Searing light assaulted my retinas. I couldn't make out anything through the blinding white at first. As my pupils adjusted to the horrific amount of light pouring in I made out the silhouette of the Blood Countess.

Bathory coat
ed her body with a deep red cream, lathering it on like sunscreen. She hissed with each stroke across her skin. When my eyes could fully focus I noticed the smoke coming off her body. It was made of my blood. Whatever she coated herself with contained a lot of my blood and it still contained enough silver to cause a reaction.

Conry stirred across the hall, barking, howling and then barking more. He crawled to the edge of his cage,
careful to avoid the bars and bayed like a new werewolf on their first full moon. Something or someone was coming down the hall.

Elizabeth was in a frenzy slathering more of the bloody cream on her face.
The sound of footsteps grew louder. She screamed, something about no one having me. I was pretty sure her sire would have something to say about that.

Conry wasn't snarling or growling at the owner of the boots I heard pounding against the stones but I wouldn't allow myself to hope it was someone other than Caligula.

I hadn't figured a way out of this hell that didn't involve being released from the iron shackles and off the henbane, yet. But I would. One of my captors planned to move me and I was certain they wouldn't do it with me strapped mostly naked to a metal table. I needed to be ready to make my move. I didn't struggle or do anything to draw attention to myself. I had to conserve what little strength I'd gotten back and it wasn't much.

Something rattled the bars of my cell. Someone scream
ed my name. The voice was familiar but I couldn't place it. Why couldn't I place it? My brain said I knew that voice, knew it and the person who commanded it but I couldn't pull the name. There was a loud bang as something connected with the door. I rolled my head to face the hall. Taking my eyes off Elizabeth was a risk but I needed to know who was out there. A single tear ran down my cheek as relief and embarrassment washed over me.

My father and Mason Hunter were in the hallway. It was stupid given the circumstances to care if my father saw me without my clothes but I did. It was yet another humil
iation I would have to endure at the hands of the Blood Countess. Mason kicked the iron bars again and this time they buckled. There was a rush of fabric, a shoe scuffing against the stone floor and I knew Elizabeth had spun around to see the intruders. I didn't take my eyes off of my rescuers until genuine fear flashed in my father's eyes and Mason stepped forward, his palms upturned, sword about to drop to the floor.

"Kill her." I mouthed the plea, hoping he would unde
rstand it was more important for her to die than for him to stop her from whatever she was about to do to me.

"Noooo!" Two letters but the hunter roared them with a ferocity that rattled my ribcage. I turned, it felt like an ete
rnity to complete that one physical act but I knew only a second had passed. Horrified and stunned I watched as Elizabeth plunged a piece of wrought iron fencing, the kind with arrow shaped tips, into my chest. My heart sputtered, blood spurting from my between my breast bone. She drove the makeshift spear through me with enough force to penetrate the steel table. It was impossible to breathe. Each attempt to pull oxygen into my lungs was excruciating. I was racked with coughing, blood filling my mouth.