Torture (Terraway Book 3) Page 2

  My eyes watered at his bold declaration. I’d been distant to him when last I’d seen his face. He’d been trying to be kind to me, but I was too jaded to see his sincerity. I saw it now. I looked through my blurry vision and saw the dad I’d always secretly wanted, coming to rescue me from a dungeon in a castle. It was like I was the daughter of a real king.

  “She’s ice cold! What have they done to her? October Grace, can you hear me?”

  “She’ll be okay,” Lang said quietly to Ezra. I was lowered to the ground so Ezra could smooth feeling back into my cheeks.

  I looked up and saw Finn and Kabayo running toward us, their faces filled with anger and fear when they took in the state of my deterioration.

  “What’s King Geon done to her?” Finn demanded, looking every bit like the captain he was in his black clothes and brown leather armor. The gills around his neck always threw me. He knelt next to Ezra and cupped his hand, pressing the side to my cracked lips. “Drink from me. My water’s clean. You look about an hour from death.” His hand that was empty filled with water, reminding me that he was from Dagat, which was the Mermaid country. Apparently they controlled water. I gulped at the gift, my throat painfully constricting as the Sahara finally found its oasis.

  “More,” I begged when he tried to pull away after a minute.

  Ezra moved to the side to give Finn a better angle. Finn’s other arm tucked under me so he and Lang held me together, sandwiching me between them so I had body heat on both sides. “He’ll pay for this,” Finn promised me.

  “Cold,” I worked out through a painful shudder. I cuddled into the new source of warmth, my body limp against Finn’s arm as he fed me more water that kept replenishing in the well of his palm.

  When my head migrated to his shoulder, Finn stiffened, as if he’d never held a woman on the brink of death before. Slowly his rigid posture began to relax, even going so far as to slide me away from Lang and onto his lap. He tucked my forehead under his chin, his body curving around mine as I clung to the near stranger. “I’m here, and I’ll take care of it. You get to rest now. No one crosses the council and lives to brag about it. It’s all over. I’ll take it from here.”

  “Cold,” I whispered, to which he held me tighter. He thumbed my cheek affectionately to warm my face.

  “Rest with your father. I’ll bring you back King Geon’s head to mount on your bedroom wall.” He stood with flawless agility and handed me to Ezra.

  Kabayo leaned in to observe me and then straightened to address the soldiers. Kabayo’s black horse head was huge, and when his muzzle turned in the direction of the army, he shouted with authority. “King Geon compromised your food supplier! Storm the castle! Free the prisoners and bring me the rest!” He turned back to me, his giant glassy black horse eyes meeting mine with the determination of a promise. “They’ll pay for this.” Then Kabayo reached out his human hand and held my fingers, flinching at the cold. “Help me inspire the men. Let them see what’s happened to you.”

  Ezra surrendered me to Kabayo, who slid my arm over his horse neck and human shoulders, and held me like a bride. Or a baby. I couldn’t decide which anymore. Kabayo was easily seven feet tall, and when he stood with me in his arms, my breath caught in my throat at being so high off the ground. I let my limbs go limp to further inspire the horse-men soldiers. Shoot, I’d pee myself if it meant they’d go after King Geon with everything in their arsenals. Luckily it didn’t come to that.

  Kabayo lifted me up to be level with his shoulders, shouting at his men in a voice with passion to rival Braveheart’s. “Your Omen wants to end the famine in Terraway, and this is the thanks she gets? Your Omen would see all the nations fed, and every child grow without the hard marks of the field tearing them down, and this is the thanks she gets? Your Omen freed you from the Goblins, and this is the thanks she gets?” He straightened his arms out from his body, holding me up to the men like a limp and filthy sacrifice ready for the slaughter. “King Geon thanked her by torturing her Pullers and leaving her for dead! If not for your swift answer to her cry of distress, she would no doubt be gone from us, and with her, all of Terraway! King Geon would see your lands shrivel up and burn under the sun! King Geon cares nothing for the children your Omen has been sacrificing herself to save.” The angry outcry reached me in waves of fury and pent-up aggression, ready to be unleashed. Kabayo raised me higher so I was on the level of his dark eyes. “Do you want to live?”

  They all shouted, breaking out into thunderous snorts and the clanging of hundreds of swords on shields.

  I was shaking, terrified of the impending war I’d somehow become a talisman of.

  “Then thank your Omen and bring me back King Geon, bound and ready for my prison!” Then he dropped me down two feet, making me gasp when I thought he might throw me to the mud in some dramatic gesture. “Attack!” he cried, and my heart swelled with the overwhelming vindication of it all. A whole army showed up to save us. There weren’t tears enough for that.

  Kabayo handed me off to Ezra so he could join his men in leading the fight he’d been raring for. Finn put his hand on Lang’s shoulder. “You and your allies stay by my side, or you’ll be slaughtered for sure.”

  “They’re already out. Do what you must.” Lang held my thinned wrist, rubbing feeling back into my arm. “Let Kabayo’s men do what they do. I can’t watch my father’s house fall. I was sent to stay with the Omen, so let’s move her. Let’s take her to her home.”

  “My home,” Ezra corrected. “Mason’s already there, and so is Von.” Then quietly to me, he whispered, “Your little sigbin monster, Edward, brought me the rest of the stone. It’s safe in my home. You did well, and now it’s time for you to rest.”

  Lang’s furrowed eyebrows were directed at Ezra. “Can Von handle being under the same roof as her? He was rabid when I saw him last.”

  “He’s locked up until he comes back to himself. I’m taking her now before Sama comes to steal her.” Ezra was distraught, and hugged me to him as he stood in the mud. He clutched my frail body to his chest, taking a deep breath before the sucking sensation drew me upwards, where I prayed no magical creatures would ever find me again.

  4

  Mariano, my New Sister

  I breathed easier in Ezra’s house. I’m not sure if that was due to the half hour-long shower, the constant pulling Danny did upon my arrival to mute my OCD, the breathable air or the warm fuzzy pink pajama pants and lavender thermal shirt that awaited me when I emerged. My skin was scrubbed raw, though it somehow still felt filthy.

  Mariang had bags under her eyes from too many days spent crying for us and working at a job that had long since been too much for her to shoulder alone. She sat on the toilet lid while I showered and helped me get dressed when my limbs were too clumsy to figure out balancing on one foot to get the fuzzy pants on. She sat me on the toilet lid and got down on her knees to rub lotion into my legs and feet, helping me above and beyond without being asked. Then she rolled on socks that looked like a skinned muppet’s fur and felt like they’d just come out of a microwave.

  “You’re being nice to me,” I said, my chin quivering. I wanted to lean on her, but she was so frail looking. I didn’t want to think of the damage I could do if I fell on her, and I was on the brink.

  “Of course I am. You’re my sister.” Her sweet declaration tugged at my heart, and I tried not to miss Allie with everything inside of me.

  She didn’t ask what they did to me. The only things that came out of her were tears and words that were so kind, I could barely understand how a person who had only met me a few months ago could say them. “You’re doing splendid. I’m so proud of you for making it out alive. Prince Langgam told us you didn’t tell them where you hid the stone. Is that true?”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry I let us get captured. You’ve been reaping on your own this whole time. I know that’s stressful.”

  Mariang waved off my concern and ran a brush through my hair, being super gentle not to rip thr
ough my tangles. Then she pulled up my auburn curls into a bun atop my head to match hers. We were sister ballerinas, and in that moment, I was grateful she was mine.

  Mariang offered her arm to lean on as I brushed my teeth with a new red toothbrush. “You’re doing great. Move slowly.” Then she pulled her head away from me and shouted down the mansion’s upstairs hallway. “Danny! Help me with October!”

  Danny was a good soldier, and came running up the stairs. He bounded toward us, his eyes wide at my bedraggled but clean state. He stood on my other side and wrapped his beefy arm around my waist, walking with the care he usually used when he ushered Mariang around.

  I was shocked he was being so nice to me. I mean, most of the time I was the bane of his existence. My bones ached, and I was so weak, my knees buckled a few times on the way to the room he and Mariang led me to. I remember being able to defend myself against even the giant inmates. Not well, but enough to not get myself stabbed all too often. Now I was worried about the damage I would do to myself if I tripped.

  “You’ll sleep in here with us,” he said, opening the door to the peach room that had clearly been decorated by Mariang. The peach walls had gold accents and hardware throughout the expansive space, bespeaking of opulence I’d not been exposed to growing up.

  The bed was so soft, I didn’t protest even when I thought of the germs I knew were inside the sheets. Probably dandruff. Probably Danny’s semen. I shuddered, but was too tired to do anything else. The sliver of light coming in through the peach curtain told me it was not the middle of the night, as it had been in Terraway. “What time is it?”

  “It’s around ten in the morning. But that doesn’t matter. You should rest as long as you like.” Mariang sat on the side of the bed and brushed a few stray strands of auburn hair from my face that had come loose from the bun. “Can I get you anything?”

  I wanted to tear up at her kindness. She looked down on my face with love that couldn’t be faked. She had no agenda other than being my sister. “I… You’re so nice to me,” I repeated, sounding like a moron. It was meant as a thank you, but I was so confused by the sweetness, I didn’t know how else to say it.

  “Who wouldn’t be nice to you? You’ve been through a dreadful ordeal.” She took my hand and pressed it between her thin ones. “You’re still cold. Not as bad as you were when Dad brought you home, but still too chilly for you to be comfortable.” She blew on my fingers and rubbed while Danny watched our exchange.

  “You have to tell us what happened,” Danny said quietly. “Von’s still not a person yet, and Mason’s too devastated to talk. What did they do?”

  I didn’t know where to start, so I picked a topic at random. “Geon poisoned all the pregnant women to lose their babies, so when the soldiers came to take me to the castle, the civilians revolted. I mean, shrapnel and gun powder kind of uprising. Lots of bodies on both sides.” I paused for Mariang’s gasp. “Then soldiers found Mason, Von and me and brought us in. I don’t know how many days I was in there.”

  “You’ve been in Terraway for two weeks,” Danny informed me.

  “Oh, jeez. Well, I was locked in a cell for a long time, then. Mason and Von were taken somewhere else, so I was alone in the cell until I murdered Andy.” I ignored Danny’s outcry and continued. “He tried to pull me to mindlessness so he could get out of me where the sagrado stone was hidden.”

  “No! He was a spy?” Mariang was horrified while Danny merely hung his head. I knew he’d had a hand in hiring Andy, and the shame was palpable.

  I waited for Danny’s humiliation to be discreetly swallowed down a few seconds later. When I spoke, I was quiet, afraid my presence and my voice weren’t welcome here. “Lang snuck me berries and water, and made sure I had enough baga root to breathe, but I need to eat something more substantial, if it’s not too much trouble. Does anyone know where my keys are? I can go get takeout.” I was pretty sure I could drive. I might need someone to help me to the car, but I was decently confident I could take it from there.

  Danny’s face turned to frustration. “You must be joking if you think you’re going anywhere. You can barely walk. I’ll go downstairs and grab you something.”

  A thought flickered in my brain, giving me new life. “Do you have my backpack?”

  “Yeah. It’s in your room down the hall.”

  Oh, right. I have a bedroom here. “Would you mind grabbing it for me? I need to get something out of it.”

  Danny got up without being asked and came back a few minutes later with the bag that made my heart leap in my chest. I ripped open the front pouch and pulled out my medication, nearly letting out a cry of relief when I shook a tiny pill into my hand and downed it without water. I didn’t care that Danny and Mariang were watching me. I knew that by the time it took to work its way through my system, I would be a little more myself, and that was a powerful promise.

  So focused on my mental sanity was I that I didn’t notice the bowl of beef until Danny placed the blissful deliciousness in my hands. It was beef bourguignon, and I was in heaven. I mean, really it could have been a greasy fast food slider and it would’ve had the same effect. I wasn’t picky at this point, but I appreciated the fanciness of the dish all the same.

  “Keep talking,” Danny instructed me, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned on Mariang’s white lacquer desk.

  “That’s all I know. Lang has two friends who helped us and tried to get Von and Mason out. I haven’t seen either of them since I got locked up. King Geon wanted me to give him the whole stone, so he kept me in the cell, thinking he’d starve me until I caved. Plus he wanted to punish the countries who didn’t come to his aid when the famine hit his people hardest.”

  “Ezra has the stone now,” Danny told me. “So you don’t have to worry about that. He confirmed the broken-off part was dropped in the well. And Geon’s going to be locked up in Kabayo’s prison, so Prince Aranya’s in charge of Sakuna for now. King Aranya now, I guess. I can’t decide if that makes things worse or the same, but at least the people won’t be starving anymore.”

  I pulled the spoon from my mouth. “They didn’t kill Geon?”

  “No. He’ll have to be tried for each crime he committed. That could take months, if not a year.”

  “Awesome,” I deadpanned.

  “You did it!” Mariang squeezed my knee. “You got the piece of the sagrado to one of the nations and made it out alive! You have no idea how amazing that is.”

  I chewed the beef, not feeling anything like amazing, but girlfriend was in full-on cheer-me-up mode, so I didn’t argue. “Tell me about Mason and Von.”

  Danny swallowed. “Von’s useless for information right now. They bled him dry.”

  I gasped. “I thought he was still alive! Bled dry? No!” Panic hit me hard as tears I didn’t even know I still had stored up began to well in my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? No!”

  “No, no. Vampires can’t die from blood loss. They just go rabid until they start to deteriorate. Von’s still in the rabid stage. Ruiz and Klark brought him back bound from head to toe and put him in the cage Ezra had made for him in the basement.” Danny motioned with a wave of a hand to his face. “Black bag over his head so he couldn’t bite anyone.” I could tell by the hollow look in his eyes that he didn’t like the use of the black bag one bit.

  “Are you kidding me?” Though the beef screamed at me with its siren song, I was out of the bed in the next breath. “Von doesn’t belong in a cage. Get him out!”

  I stalked toward the door, but didn’t make it more than a few steps before Danny intercepted me. “Von requested Ezra have it made when he started working for the household, in case anything like this ever happened. Von isn’t a person right now. All he can see is blood. We’re feeding it to him in doses so he can come back to himself, but until then, he’s not safe to be around.”

  “I’m going to see him. I won’t let him be alone while he’s losing his mind. Where is he?”

  Danny sig
hed. “I guess showing you won’t hurt anything. You might not like what you see.”

  “I haven’t liked one bit of my life in weeks, so I don’t care about that. I need to be with Von.”

  Danny and Mariang exchanged dark looks as they led me down the hallway and through the mansion to see my vampire.

  5

  Get Over It

  I heard the howling before I saw the man. In the basement, there was a cell in the corner occupied by one Mr. Brady. When we came into view, Von lunged at the bars, his jaw snapping as he fought with the iron to get at me. The bag over his head was gone and his bindings had been cut, but the sight still broke my heart all the same. Von didn’t have words, only growls and wails of agony that tore at my tender insides. I wanted to go to him, but Danny was firm I wouldn’t be allowed within four feet of the cell. “He needs more blood!” I cried. “Can I give him some of mine?”

  “No! Are you mad?” Danny shouted, as if I was inches from slitting my wrists to let Von drink fresh from the source.

  Mariang was more gracious in her response, taking the time to re-explain things to me. “Human blood’s the worst thing for him right now. He can’t be allowed a drop of human blood. It’ll only make him insane to get more, and it’ll bring him one step closer to this being his permanent state if he transitions.”

  I rubbed my forehead, remembering the vital details I shouldn’t have forgotten. “Oh, yeah.”

  “He has to gain control of himself.” Danny placed his hand on my shoulder to keep me from inching closer to the cell, but I shrugged off his touch.

  My mouth fell open when Von reached through the bars to claw at me, stretching as far as he could reach to grab any part of my body. His eyes were the usual: one gold and one blue, but the gold one seemed impossibly more vibrant than usual, the wanton desire driving him always forward toward the blood. He was beyond language, and I was beyond… just beyond.