Of Fangs & Fins ✔

58. The Future

SR: Jorja Smith - Don't Watch Me Cry

Fifty-Eight.

Marina.

"Stay by my side and don't even think about trying to escape," A laugh bubbled from Lucinda, "not that you would without your sister." I thought about Nerissa.

I tried my best remembering all the twists and turns Lucinda was taking so I'd could backtrack to find her, but it was no use. This place was a labyrinth, with hallways that would cut off into dead ends and doors sealed shut. She was a couple of steps ahead of me as if she wasn't afraid of me running away. She was completely right. I wasn't going to run without Neri.

My hands couldn't stop trembling as my legs involuntarily followed Lucinda. The room broadened and I realized that we were on a balcony overlooking the floor below us. Glass replaced the floor under us, and I could see below, but it made me nervous. I hesitantly took a step forward, clinging to the banister beside me.

Lucinda stopped to turn and look at me. "Pathetic. It's not going to break under you. Unless..." Her eyes dipped down and then back at my eyes.

I mustered the most intense glare I could give her as I clenched my fists. That bitch!

"Anyways, I'm kind of on a tight schedule, so let us keep walking," Luce's tone seemed uninterested as she snapped her fingers and sauntered forward. She was utterly comfortable having me walk behind her with no guard near us in sight. How confident of her.

I took a deep breath and caught up, peering out over the banister. Numerous people walked back and forth as if they all had a destination to go to. There was an eerie order to everything as they walked in tandem. On the other side of the large room, there were beds lined up against the wall. Bodies laid on each bed while figures in white clothing hovered over them.

I gasped when I realized what I was looking at.

The people over the ones laying down... they were feeding on them.

"What is this!?"

Lucinda stopped and followed my gaze. "Sometimes my scions are hungry. They need all the blood they can get."

Scions?

"You're... making vampires?"

"Of course. How else would I have been able to make the city what it is today?"

I thought about how the city looked like a scene out of a dystopian movie. Did Lucinda have a hand in this? There were too many humans and she must've figured out a way to get them here. I couldn't believe my eyes as I saw people in lab coats rotate the people on the beds.

The humans that were fed on, they were all escorted one by one with wheelchairs. I watched in horror as one didn't quite make it to the chair and fell to the ground with a thump. A person in a lab coat ran and tried to help her up, but the guards were instantly on the girl, pulling her away roughly by her arm.

There couldn't be any way Lucinda had a hand in the complete decimation of the city.

Manhattan would've taken a long time to turn into what it did.

Lucinda was only one person, was she really that powerful?

A woman with blonde hair thrashed wildly on a gurney. She fought against the man that fed on her. He palmed her face and slammed her against the bed, keeping her form moving an inch.

I clenched my jaw, trying my best not to shout anything. I was at the disadvantage here. If Donovan's classes taught me anything, it was to know when you're fighting a losing battle. I needed to bide my time and wait for an opening to escape. With all these humans here, it made things more complicated. If I even managed to escape, how could I leave everyone behind?