Blood Instinct (25 page)

S
ophia woke
up against a cold wall. Her first thought was that her eyes were failing to open, or that maybe she was blindfolded, but as she blinked she realised she was in a pitch-black room.

A second later it became equally obvious that her wrists were manacled to the wall, restricting her movement to only a few inches.

She felt the brickwork with her fingers to get some sense of where she was. The auditory deprivation created a thrum deep in her eardrums as she tried to steady her breathing so she could hear properly – hear if there was anyone in there with her. She wasn’t going to call out; she wasn’t going to say anything at all. She wasn’t going to give whoever was responsible the satisfaction.

She attempted to wet her dry mouth as she waited, tentatively listening for clues.

The light came on overhead, blinding her enough that she had to squint to shield her eyes from the impact. Nothing short of a spotlight some thirty feet above, it lit the entirety of the twenty-foot-square room.

The empty room.

Wherever she was, whatever the space had been intended for originally, it was now a brick chamber emblazoned with graffiti, grotesque imagery raining down on her. Steel plates marked various aspects of the walls, whether vaults or doorways or simply a means to prevent anything that could use glitches in the brickwork to climb out, she couldn’t be sure.

Her heart pounded, her breath hitching in her throat, when she saw the concrete floor was patterned with the stains of dried blood.

‘Shit,’ she hissed under her breath, her attention then snapping to the steel door ahead.

Cons had taken her, which meant she was either in the south in The Circus somewhere or, worse, nearer the hub. The prospect that she could be at The Theatre, con-entertainment central, chilled her more than the cold air in the chamber.

Because The Theatre wasn’t exclusive to cons. Instead, The Theatre was available, at a price, to every low life that crawled the streets of Blackthorn – human and third species alike. Every low life with a depraved taste in ritual killing, sacrifice, fights to the death, abuse or humiliation bestowed on the victims would trade whatever they could for private or group viewings.

It was a furtive affair – word spreading amongst the trusted. The TSCD knew it existed but raids revealed only evidence of happenings, not who was involved. Even when they had names, they were impossible to find. The darkest corners of Blackthorn remained in shadow, information remained unspoken and limited resources, as with everything else, jeopardised finding anything substantial enough to prosecute. And even if answers were found, there was little that could be done – especially as the victims were hardly the cherished residents of Midtown and Summerton.

As she remembered one of her schoolmates saying after they’d had yet another propaganda lesson on why a stratified society brought out the best in people: ‘If you make bad choices in life, that’s what happens. You have to reap the consequences. You don’t end up in Lowtown or Blackthorn for nothing.’

And now in the eyes of the crowd she once mingled with, she’d be seen as nothing more than one of those who had it coming.

And in the cons’ eyes, she was an insignificance picked up off the street that nobody cared about. And that meant she was available for whatever sordid entertainment they saw fit – or what others were willing to pay for.

In that room, she was a commodity. In that room, she had no mind, no heart, no soul. In that room, she had value only until she broke. She was less human in there than the third species were to the privileged communities who would never know just how slippery the slope was from significance to insignificance.

She squinted up at the light, knowing they were watching beyond it. The old Sophia would have already been screaming abuse up at her faceless captors. The old Sophia would have been challenging them to come down and face off with her. The old Sophia wouldn’t have cared if she’d lived or died as long as she did so with her pride intact – as long as she’d made as many of them as possible bleed in the process.

But the new Sophia wasn’t willing to give them the satisfaction. The Sophia who had temporarily managed to suppress the serryn again; who was waiting to see what she was up against first.

Unless it
was
the serryn who was still in control. Unless the serryn in her was keeping her calm, was dictating her resolve, secretly whispering, ‘
Bring it on.
’

The door clunked, and she braced herself against the wall, her breaths ragged.

A hooded figure was shoved into the room, most likely male from what she could see of his height and stature. He fell to his knees, his hands bound behind his back, his feet chained a foot apart. The sackcloth was yanked from his head to reveal a crown of cropped dark hair before the door slammed shut behind him.

He stood.

Still having not fully adapted to the strength of the light, Sophia continued to squint as she swiftly assessed her companion. He was at least six foot and the well-honed side of stocky.

But as the intensity of the light was reduced from above, her breathing snagged and her eyes widened, unable to accept what she was seeing. Her heart pounded beyond reprieve, threatening to break from her chest as she stared in horror at the vampire who looked back at her as if he too could barely comprehend what he saw.

Because he clearly recognised her just as she’d recognised him.

She recognised him from The Alliance photos. She recognised him from the night they’d tried to assassinate him in the bar. Assassinate his brother – Caleb – and him.

Her little sister’s lover: Jake Dehain.

S
ophia backed
into the wall as much for Jake’s sake as for her own. For all their sakes. For the repercussions for them all.

He took a step towards her. ‘
Sophie
?’

His use of her sisters’ name for her made her heart skip a beat. She instantly held up her restrained hands. ‘Jake, stay back.’

But he already understood the implications. She saw it in his eyes; in the way he scanned above and behind him, taking in the chamber they were imprisoned in.

Imprisoned in together.

‘Just stay as far away from me as you can,’ Sophia warned.

‘I know how it works,’ he said quietly. His eyes narrowed. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘What are
you
doing here?’

He looked back up beyond the light, his jaw tightening, his glare fixed on the distant darkness. ‘I’m starting to piece it together,’ he muttered, primarily to himself. ‘FEINITH!” he yelled. ‘YOU FUCKING MANIPULATIVE, SCHEMING BITCH!’

‘Feinith?’ Sophia stared back at Jake as he paced, his fists coiled in the restraints. ‘I was kidnapped by cons.’

He wrenched his attention back to her. ‘And there was me being led to believe you were the streetwise one. Come on, Sophie – she doesn’t only have vampires under her thumb; she’s had a whole team out on the streets looking for you. How the hell did she get her hands on you? Jask was supposed to be keeping you safe.’

‘How did they get
you
here?’

‘I was in the club one minute and the next minute I woke with a bag over my head. But you know all about honeytraps, don’t you, Soph?’

The dig at The Alliance practices told her that Jake knew as much about her involvement in trying to kill them both as Caleb did. But the shortening of her name, the term of endearment, took her aback.

But as he stepped closer, Sophia instantly recoiled.

‘Take it easy,’ he said, as he examined the manacles that bound her. ‘I’m looking to see if we have a fighting chance here. How long have we got before you start to affect me?’

‘I don’t know. I guess part of it depends on your self-control.’

‘Yeah, well, considering I’m not exactly renowned for the latter, maybe this is going to be over a little too quickly.’ He cursed under his breath as he finished appraising her manacles. ‘Kind of ironic, huh? You trying to poison me with one of your colleagues and now being able to do it all by yourself.’

His fleeting smile lasted only a second longer than his gaze before he backed off again.

‘What makes you think this is Feinith?’ she asked. ‘I’d be with Caleb already surely.’

‘Maybe if Caleb wasn’t playing hardball. Or…’ He frowned. ‘Oh, shit,’ he hissed to himself as he looked back up at the light. ‘She knows. She fucking overheard.’

‘Knows what?’

He let out an exasperated sigh. ‘As if she couldn’t sink any fucking lower in this mission of hers.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘She knows about the kid.’

‘What kid?’

Using his eyes as pointers, he indicated down towards her stomach.
Her
stomach. As if they already shared some mutual secret.

‘She can’t guarantee her Tryan anymore,’ he added, ‘so she’s playing dirtier than ever.’

Her heart pounded to the point of discomfort. It was impossible. What he was intimating was impossible.

‘She wouldn’t risk you being in here with me otherwise,’ he continued. ‘That’s what my restraints are about. She knows I could snap your neck in a second. She wants me dead. She’s going to put him through what he went through with Seth all over again. She wants the old Caleb back. She wants him how he was the last time he was under her thumb. She knows that’s the only way she’s going to win…’

‘Jake, what are you talking about? What do you mean she can’t guarantee her Tryan anymore? What kid are you talking about? You’re not making any sense!’

He searched her eyes, his reflecting the bewilderment that was no doubt emanating from hers. ‘You don’t know?’

‘Know
what
?’

‘You’re pregnant, Sophie. I can hear the heartbeat from here. It makes you defunct for the prophecy.’

She stopped breathing as she stared at him, feeling as if she’d been sucked backwards into a bubble.

‘Look, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t have heard it from me. But my guess is that bitch overheard Jask talking to Caleb about it.’

The bubble separating her from any sense of reality intensified. ‘Jask
knows
?’

‘That’s why he went to see Caleb: to try and save you.’ He wandered across to the adjacent wall and leaned back against it before sliding to the floor. ‘What a fucking mess.’

Sophia stared at him in the silence as everything unravelled before her.

She’d been pregnant the entire time, and she hadn’t had a clue. Because it had to have been for the entire time. Jake had said he could hear a heartbeat. She was no expert but even she knew that meant the baby had to be at least a few weeks old.

It had to be Dan’s. Dan was the only other person she’d been with in months.

And Jask knew – and had said
nothing
.

But he had gone behind her back. He’d gone to Caleb despite her pleading with him not to.

Her heart skipped another beat because Jask’s deceit was the last thing she should have been concerning herself with. ‘Is he okay? Is Jask okay? Where is he? Did Caleb let him go?’

‘He’s fine as far as I know. He was heading back to wherever you lot are hiding out.’

Heading back to the bunker to find her gone. And he
would
come looking for her. He would be putting himself in even more danger by looking for her.

She
had put him in that danger, and no more so than if the inevitable took its course, as it already seemed to be from Jake’s pallor.

The vampire raked his hands through his hair before lowering his head to his knees, the struggle clearly beginning to take hold. She knew it would begin with her as well soon enough.

She blinked away her tears as she again scanned the walls that contained them.

A mother.
Her
.

And Jask had been trying to save them both.

She stared up into the light, her jaw clenching as anger surged in her veins at the prospect that Jake was right about Feinith’s plans. And she had no doubt her survival, the survival of her baby, was inconsequential now.

Her baby
– two words she never thought she’d put together.

She yanked at the manacles with all her strength, a guttural growl of despair escaping her gritted teeth from the frustration of their immovability.

‘Don’t waste your energy,’ Jake said, resting his head back against the wall. ‘Save it for me.’

‘How can you be so resolute?’

‘Look around you, Soph.’ He shook his head slightly as he looked away again. ‘Besides,’ he added a few seconds later, ‘if I’d ever got round to making an honest woman of your sister, that would be my niece or nephew in there, so go easy, yeah?’

Rejected tears constricted her throat as she was reminded again of Alisha. ‘If I make it out of here and you don’t, she’ll kill me.’

‘I’m not going to make it out of here, Soph,’ he said, his eyes resting squarely on hers from across the room. ‘They’ll leave me in here with you for as long as it takes.’ He looked away again. Looked back at her. ‘How is she?’

‘Alisha?’

He nodded.

‘She’s fine,’ Sophia said. ‘Desperate to get back to you, but fine.’

He broke into a fleeting smile. ‘Yeah, well, the Jake charm is easy to miss.’ His eyes immediately turned sombre again. ‘She’s a good girl. If you make it out of here, you tell her I said that. What about that other sister of yours? What’s happening there?’

‘She’s trying to get back to Caleb.’

‘So Jask was telling the truth?’

‘He told you?’

‘He told Caleb. Caleb told me.’

‘Did Caleb believe him?’

Jake sighed heavily. ‘He might have.’ He looked back up at the light. ‘If that bitch hadn’t intervened.’ He looked back at Sophia. ‘If you make it out of here, if you get back to her, you tell her not to give up on him. You tell her to get back to him.’

Jake closed his eyes again. He lowered his head and pressed his thumbs to his temples, taking a few steadying breaths as the struggle to resist her intensified.

He looked back at her. ‘Trust doesn’t come easy to my brother. It hasn’t come easy to him in a long time. I thought it would be impossible for him to give even an iota of it to a witch, let alone a serryn. But Leila got to him, Sophie. She cracked that armour he wears and she got inside somehow. I don’t know how she did it, but she has to keep going. We all need her to keep going.’

‘Does he care about her?’

‘He let her go didn’t he?’

‘Why?’

‘Because he believed her.’

‘But he still came looking for me.’

‘Because he couldn’t have a serryn loose in Blackthorn. And because he promised to find you and keep you safe.
And
because he’d have you close if she did let him down.’

‘All bases covered.’

‘That’s Caleb,’ he said with a glimmer of a strained smile.

‘She keeps telling me he doesn’t want this. That he doesn’t want his Tryan status. Are you telling me that’s true?’

‘My brother has been haunted by nightmares of the prophecy for weeks. Does he want to see Blackthorn destroyed? No. But will he do whatever he can to protect his own? Yes. He trusted Leila to find an alternative. He’s waiting for her to return to him with it. Please tell me she has it.’

Sophia held his gaze. She held his gaze as she partially lied; as she imparted the only kindness she could to him right then. ‘Yes.’

He smiled before lowering his head again. ‘Then tell her to give him hope,’ he said, looking back at her. ‘She’s his ray of light – the only one he’s had in decades. Make sure she doesn’t give Feinith a chance to snuff it out.’

‘Is she getting to him?’

‘Not yet, but she knows what she’s doing. She knows what taking me out of the equation, blaming it on you, will do to him. Tell Leila to blow her out of the water. She can do it – I know she can. And if he falls all the way for her, if he lets his last guard down enough, he’s going to be her greatest protector. He’ll be the greatest protector to you all.’

He struggled to his feet and pressed his forehead to the wall for a moment before he clearly had to force himself away. He sauntered to the furthest corner from her, forging some much-needed distance.

‘Just do one other thing for me,’ he said, the strain starting to show in his voice.

‘What?’

‘Don’t fight me when the time comes. For the sake of you and the little one, let me go quickly. Don’t fuel me into the indignity of doing something else. Let me at least pass with some sense of honour.’

Sophia blinked away her tears as he rolled his body ninety degrees to lean back against the wall again. He stared back up at the light. He was putting up a fight, his eyes watering with the pain of it, his neck strained, his arms and chest tense.

And she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

‘Alisha really loves you, Jake. I know she’ll want you to know that.’

He looked back across at her. ‘And Caleb loves Leila, Sophie. He’s scared to, but he does.’ He closed his eyes. ‘You
have
to get her back to him,’ he said, his voice strained. ‘She’s his beacon. Don’t underestimate the darkness in him, but don’t underestimate the light either.’

He lowered his head, fighting with whatever last ounce of strength he had in him.

‘Tell her to go to him,’ he added before he met her gaze again. ‘Tell her to tell him that his little brother believes in him. Tell him to spit the poison out before it takes hold, just like he did with that viper once. Just like when he saved me from it. Tell him this is me saving him from the viper this time.’

Sophia braced herself as a glaze finally came over Jake’s eyes. Her breaths became ragged, a tear trickling down her cheek.

Two weeks ago she would have relished in the serryn power flooding through her veins. Now, as Jake took his final steps towards her, she wanted to rid herself of every drop.

She would have given anything to watch its rancidness spill black onto the concrete floor.

Given anything to free herself from the curse.