Vampire Apocalypse #2 Cataylst (16 page)

Cole wanted to fight her, to run a stake
through her heart. It was her kind that made Cassie what she
was—weak and defenseless. This is what caused his sister to feel
like she was so brittle that she couldn’t escape with him. Hatred
boiled in his blood, but Cole’s face remained expressionless.

The Captain grabbed his shoulder, meaning to
spin Cole around, and push him back towards his section of the
palace. But, Cole grabbed her wrist hard, and yanked the vamp eye
to eye. “Do not touch me,” he growled in her face.

The vampire started to laugh, like she
thought Cole was insignificant as a flea, but before she could
utter another word, Cole reached into his pocket and wrapped his
fingers around his knife. Before she realized what he was doing,
the blade pierced her gut. The Captain gasped. When she tried to
pull back, Cole held her close, his eyes right in front of hers.
“Tell me what I want to know, or I’ll kill you.”

Eyes fell on them, but Cole’s body blocked
the knife. Cole could feel the cold unnatural stares on the back of
his neck as vampires stopped to see what their Captain was doing.
Cole spoke softly, “Tell them to continue or I’ll jab this straight
up into your heart right now.”

The Captain remained close to Cole, her eyes
narrowed into tiny slits of hatred. The Captain barked, “Continue
as directed, while I take care of this
problem
.” She hissed
the last word. Cole knew she’d kill him if he gave her the
opportunity.

“The weakest spot in the perimeter, where is
it?” When she didn’t answer, Cole pushed the knife in harder.
Sticky black blood oozed from her wound and back down the knife
onto his hand. “Where is it?”

“The south side of the palace.” The Captain
stared at Cole, not offering more.

Cole’s body tensed. His hand gripped her
shoulder harder as he started to twist the blade slowly. Watching
her eyes, he said, “Be more specific, Captain.”

The vampire bit her lip, drawing black blood
as Cole twisted the knife. A scream caught in her throat. Her
entire body was tense, ready to fight, but she was too weak. Cole
held the knife in place, allowing her blood to drain. The suit she
wore soaked up the blood before it ever hit the floor. No one could
see what he was doing. No one would know that this human was so
strong, that he killed the Captain with an embrace and a
well-placed knife.

A gurgling sound came from her throat when
she tried to speak, but Cole didn’t care. An inky trail of blood
ran from the corner of her lips. “Tell me,” he hissed, knowing he
only had seconds remaining before the vamp died.

“The south wall, under the palace,
i-gardunm—” her final words were garbled. Cole didn’t understand
her. Pulling her limp body closer, he moved the dead vampire to his
back, holding her arms around his neck like he was in a head lock.
Her freakishly unblinking eyes would go unnoticed, at least he
hoped so.

Cole turned away from the front door,
stumbling like he was being shoved and snapped over his shoulder,
“I’m going, I’m going! You don’t have to be so mean about it.” His
voice was loud enough that a few of the guards that remained the
foyer didn’t bother coming over. It looked like their Captain was
taking care of a pain-in-the-ass human.

Vampires were fools. Their arrogance made
them blind. When Cole rounded the corner, he kicked open the first
closet he found, and shoved the Captain inside. After searching
her, Cole took her keys along with a vial of blood. Cole smashed
the vial on the ground, ruining its contents so that no one would
gain strength from his kind.

The corner of Cole’s lip twitched before
pulling into a twisted smile. “This is going to be just like
Deliverance Day. Maybe even better.”

CHAPTER 25

Cassie didn’t want to go through with the
Pairing, and as the hour grew nearer, she felt worse. Looking over
her shoulder, she expected Cole to show up again, but he didn’t.
Cassie sat in front of a mirror, letting Brianna help her tame her
curls. The girl pulled her hair until Cassie’s scalp ached, but she
didn’t care. A sickening feeling crept from her stomach and up her
throat—she told Cole to go on without her. After all this time,
there would be no one left to protect her here. She was on her own
from now on.

Part of Cassie didn’t think Cole would leave
without her, but the other part knew that he needed to. She would
just slow him down, and while Cassie didn’t want to be dead-weight,
she knew she was. There was nothing she lent to aiding in his
escape. There was no way to help Cole. She’d just get him
caught.

Brianna gently tapped the top of her head
with a comb, “Hello? I’m talking to you. Anyone home?”

Cassie blinked and came back to the present.
“Oh, sorry, Brianna. I zoned out for a second.” Cassie smiled at
her in the mirror. “What were you saying?”

Brianna laughed, instantly assuming the wrong
reason for Cassie’s distraction, “You can’t stop thinking about
him, can you?” Cassie didn’t reply. It was easier to let Brianna
think what she wanted. “I was asking you if there was another guy
that you’d rather be Paired with.”

Cassie’s big brown eyes looked up at
Brianna’s in the mirror, “No, not really. I’ve never really thought
about it before.” That wasn’t totally true, but she barely spoke to
this girl. In truth, Kahli was the only girl in palace that she’d
felt like she could talk to. With everyone else, it was a matter of
being friendly, but she didn’t share her concerns or dreams, not
that she had dreams anymore.

Cassie was at the end of her life, of that
she was certain. If Kahli hadn’t saved her from the Purging,
something else would have ended her insignificant life—maybe a
scrape or a bruise—or the birth of her child. It killed Cassie to
think about bringing a baby into this world, especially because she
wouldn’t be there to protect and raise that child. It was like they
were livestock and nothing more. That’s what humanity aspired to,
and they seemed content.

When Cassie was a child, before that bloody
Deliverance Day that ended with her and Cole living in the palace,
everyone hoped to live in the palace. It was the place where humans
were the safest. There was no fear of the elements, no worries
about clothing or food. There was always a soft bed and plenty of
blankets. And they limited how often a person could be used for
feeding. It sounded like utopia back then, but now it was
different. Cassie felt no different living here than she did at the
old farm. In the end, she was still just a body to be used how the
vampires pleased. Cassie was born into slavery and she would die
that way.

As she thought of these things, Brianna
prattled on, “The guy with the brown hair and the dark eyes, what’s
his name?”

“They all have brown hair and dark eyes,”
Cassie replied, trying not to sound snide, but she really wanted to
laugh. Kahli would have laughed. “You’ll have to be more
specific.”

Brianna tapped the comb to her lip and had a
far-away look in her eye. “He’s named after a poet—Browning?”

“Chaucer,” Cassie replied, knowing exactly
who Brianna was talking about. They lived in the palace together
for years, but the guys were kept at a distance. The only time they
really spoke was at special events and the Purging. Chaucer had
made an impression on Cassie. He’d been on her team once. The guy
was a poet, if there were such occupations anymore. Cassie felt
warmth spread through her heart as she thought about it. Chaucer
was kind, but he wasn’t a push-over, either. He was like Cole in
some ways—he looked out for the weaker people in his group—but he
wore his heart on his sleeve. Cole hid everything, letting his pain
fester inside.

“Yeah! Him,” Brianna gushed. “Oh my God. His
lips are so smooth. And the way his hair curls slightly,” Brianna
kissed her fingers. It was something she got from old spaghetti
ads. A curvy woman pressed her fingers to her lips and kissed them.
Brianna thought it was cute and had been doing it for a while.
“
Al dente!
”

“Do you even know what that means?” Cassie
asked, grinning.

Brianna threw out a narrow hip and said,
“Does it matter? I look awesome doing it. It makes all the guys
drool, and
al dente
just sounds awesome. I’d like to be
al dente
.”

“You are
al dente
. We’re all
al
dente
.” Cassie smirked at her.

“Well,” Brianna asked, sounding a little
terse, more than she should have, “what does it mean, if you even
know?”

“It means were done. Finished. Ready to be
eaten.” Cassie stared blankly in the mirror as she said it. All the
fun was sucked out of the air instantly.

Brianna seemed annoyed, “You’re such a
downer, Cassie. Pull it together, all ready.”

“I am together,” Cassie snapped, and tugged
her hair away from Brianna. “Just because I think quoting
Spaghetti-O ads is silly, doesn’t mean—”

Brianna cut her off, “It was a famous French
chef. And whatever. Do your own hair. Wallow over here by yourself,
for all I care. I was just trying to be nice, but it doesn’t really
matter what you do, Brent will want you anyway, because you’re his
only choice.” Her words became sharper as Brianna spoke, but the
smile remained on her lips. If you watched the conversation through
the window, it looked like they were friends, but they weren’t.
Brianna tossed the comb in front of the mirror and walked away.

Cassie didn’t like her anyway, but isolating
herself from the other girls was stupid. She’d done it once before
and things didn’t end well. Cassie ran a brush through her hair. It
was wavy now, and not hanging in tight ringlets. Brianna had put
make-up on her face, too. Cassie’s brown eyes were surrounded by
black dust, her lashes dark as night. As she stared at her
reflection, Cassie didn’t feel like herself.

“Good,” she mumbled to no one. “If I felt
like myself, I couldn’t possibly go through with this.”

Cassie pulled the sheer lace dress over her
head and smoothed it out. This was different than last time. This
time she knew what she was walking into. Last time, she had no
idea. The King wanted her, that was what Cassie had been told. She
practically bounced down the hallway that night, heading directly
toward the King’s rooms thinking she’d been called for blood and
that her blood was finally worth something. What awaited her that
night was very different. She cringed thinking about it, thinking
about being used like that, but here she was doing it again. Last
time, Cassie had no choice, but this time was different.

There was a knock on her door. Cassie glanced
at the three empty beds, before saying, “Come in.”

It was Miriam, “Just checking to make sure
you’re ready, Cassie.” Miriam entered the room and stood in front
of Cassie, looking her over. “Stand up, girl. Spin. I haven’t got
all night.”

Cassie did as she was told. The corners of
her mouth felt like they were weighed down with lead weights. “Do I
look all right?” Cassie asked because she didn’t know what else to
say.

“The gown is a little big through the hips.
Come here and I’ll fix it.” Miriam pulled the sewing kit from under
her arm and opened the box. Inside was a rainbow of spools of
thread, different sized scissors, zippers, fashion tape, and
anything you could possibly need to mend a garment. Miriam selected
a black spool, threaded the needle with the precision of a master
seamstress, and got to work. She used a combination of stitches and
dressing tape to make the gown fit right. “It probably doesn’t
matter how much I fix this. That boy’ll just rip it off of you
anyway and another gown will go in the trash.” Miriam held the
black lace in her hands, looking down at it with remorse.

Cassie put her hand on Miriam’s shoulder,
“I’ll make sure the dress doesn’t get ruined. It’s your finest, by
far.”

Her kind words made Miriam look down at the
hem of the dress longer than usual. The woman didn’t take
compliments well. Cassie was smiling as she reached into the box
and fished something out of the sewing kit. Cassie slipped it
behind her back, her heart pounded wildly as she did it. Cassie
wasn’t cunning. She didn’t lie, cheat, or steal—but a plan formed
when that box opened. The sparkling scissors caught Cassie’s eye
like a glittering bar of gold and she couldn’t look away. Before
she realized what she was doing, she gave Miriam compliments that
were designed to pull her heartstrings, and Cassie’s fingers
wrapped around the item she wanted, lifting it out of the box
without Miriam noticing.

Miriam stood, and squeezed Cassie’s cheek
like she was a little girl. “You’re too good to be in a place like
this.”

Grinning shyly, Cassie said, “No, I don’t
think so. After all, I’m here for the same reason you are,” Cassie
replied, hoping that Miriam was too distracted to notice that she
took something.

Miriam looked up at her, confused. “And
what’s that?”

“They have really good food.”

Miriam laughed. Shaking her head, she said,
“You’re a rare breed.” Gathering the sewing box, Miriam tossed her
things back inside and hurried out the door to the next girl.

Normally, Miriam would have been assigned one
girl per night during the Pairing, but with the way they changed
things, she was a distracted, frantic mess. Nothing was perfect and
Miriam had been fretting since she found out about the changes that
morning.

Cassie watched her disappear through the
door, and then looked down at her scantily clad body and wondered
where to hide the stolen scissors.

CHAPTER 26

Will sat between Kahli and Reggie, his eyes
darting between them as they spoke. “Don’t go this way,” Kahli
hissed at Reggie, practically crawling over Will to make a grab for
the steering wheel.

Reggie swatted at her hands. When they hit a
patch of ice, the back of the truck slid and hit a bump, knocking
Kahli back into her seat. Reggie fumed, “I’ll go the way I please,
you deranged lunatic!” Glancing at William, he added, “Please
restrain that beast or I’ll stop the truck and throw her in the box
in the back!”