The Blood Ruby (The Arcane Artifacts #2)

Chapter 12 - Begging for Death

My witch captors shoved me into a van and buckled me in. My wrists burned, from the zip tie. I didn't get a good look at the driver, who waited. "Where's Dom?" he barked.

"Coming. He'll only be a few minutes," Avril said, taking a seat on one side of me while Soren took the other.

"Do we expect any trouble?"

"This is Laurent Sarkas, what do you think?" Soren spat.

"This is all a misunderstanding," I interrupted. "You have to believe me. The vampires took me, kidnapped me. There are people looking for me." My pleading hadn't worked before, but I had to try. "Please."

"Shut up!" Avril slapped me. Stars exploded across my vision, my head snapping sideways. The taste of blood filled my mouth. She'd...she'd hit me! "Talk again," Avril snapped, "and I'll rip your tongue out. It would be a shame to waist your screams, but I will if I must."

I forced myself quiet, nostrils flaring.

These were the people Laurent had given me over to? I felt the blow of his betrayal anew. It pressed against my chest, making that yawning pit stretch a little wider.

Avril pulled something from her pocket. A vial of blood. I gulped, eyes widening. She popped the cork.

"Work quickly," Soren demanded. I flinched as she coated her finger in blood and began drawing marks on my bare arm.

"Damn it, Soren, hold her steady."

Soren twisted his fingers into my hair, giving my head a violent jerk. "Move again, bitch, and I will make you hurt before it's time." I kept my mouth pressed tightly closed, merely whimpered, as Avril continued. Blood! She was painting marks on me with blood. My stomach hardened into a knot.

She made several strange symbols, then quickly drew a couple on herself and Soren. "Just in case they try something," she said to him. He nodded.

I only blinked.

A few moments later, the front passenger door opened and Dominic was sliding in. "Drive," he barked.

"Did you give them what they wanted?"

"A bargain is a bargain. What the fuck do I care? Selling out the demons in exchange for a gift far greater?" The van lurched into motion. "Laurent must be losing his grip."

"Or" Avril said, "he's just desperate to find out what's happening to his vampires."

"Or it's a trap, and he plans to double cross us," Soren growled.

"You took proper precautions, just in case?" Dominic looked back at us, eyes darting to my bloodied arms, then nodded. He had closely shorn hair and a hard face. "Good."

My entire body felt...numb.

Once more, I watched a mansion shrink away behind me. Once more, I felt my chances of escape narrowing. I'd wanted nothing more than to get away from this place for the last ten days, now I would have begged to go back. Just before it slipped from sight, I caught movement. A vampire in the shadows lifted something to its mouth. A walkie talkie? And then they were gone.

I opened my mouth twice, to say something, only to snap it shut. Laurent's warnings had been frightening, but I'd never quite taken them seriously. I knew, without a shred of a doubt, that if I spoke again, Avril would do exactly as she'd promised with my tongue.

I squeezed my hands; they wouldn't stop trembling. I tried to distract myself. I started working out differential equations in my head, separating variables, solving for functions. The same trick I always used when trying to control my thoughts. I focused on one side of the equation and worked backwards like a puzzle, isolating the variable I wanted to solve for.