okay?”
She looked down at the arm she’d been cradling earlier and half-nodded. “I will be. It’s all healing.”
A pang of sympathy ripped through me, momentarily distracting me from my job. “What did he do?”
Seeming hesitant to answer, Cordelia looked away from me, her eyes finding a particularly interesting point on the wall to her left. “They put me in the room—the one with the mirror—and waited until I changed. I-I had trouble, so they…they…”
My jaw clenched, and I spoke through gritted teeth. “They what ?”
“They forced me.”
Rage bubbled beneath my skin, the fever hotter than I’d felt in a long time, and I was so lost to the emotion that I didn’t realize I’d crushed the rock shard into nothing more than a fine powder. So much for that plan. “They forced themselves on you?” I demanded angrily, knowing what kind of monster Jason Smith really was.
“What?” she replied, incredulous. “No, not like that. They took my collar off and forced me to shift.”
I was only mildly relieved by this, and I still needed more answers. “How did they force it?”
Cordelia swallowed so thickly, I could hear it. “Five of them came into the room and surrounded me. I knew they wouldn’t hurt me beyond the usual, but they knew how to get the reaction they needed.” Her lip quivered as she remembered.
Now more than ever, I wanted to rip through the bars and pull this poor, sweet girl into my arms. But I couldn’t. I broke my tool, and I knew that none of the other shards were thick enough to accomplish my task. Instead, I decided to gather more information on the vampire’s plans for the successful creation of hybrids. I only hoped Cordelia would have more information since she’d been here the longest of anyone else. The one silver lining to her years of captivity.
“You said earlier they wanted to mix the bloodlines,” I reminded her. “Have they succeeded?”
Cordelia sank to her knees at the same time I did, and we looked at each other while we had what would have to pass as a normal conversation given our circumstances. “They’ve been trying for years—decades longer than I’ve been here.”
I listened raptly as Cordelia told me how Gianna had tried everything for almost a century. Gianna collected werewolves, researching their habits and taking their blood for genetic testing. Gianna injected some of her lackeys with the drawn blood, but they died within minutes, burning from the inside out. I’d witnessed firsthand what our bites could do to a vampire, slowly poisoning it, so it made sense that our blood running through its veins would kill it so rapidly.
“Biting didn’t work either,” Cordelia continued. “Us biting them, or them biting us. That only slowed the process, making the deaths of each test subject longer and far more excruciating. Gianna didn’t bother to put any of them out of their misery, though. She had no sympathy for that sort of thing. She just abandoned them and moved on to the next trial.”
“Which was?”
Cordelia shrugged. “I don’t know, exactly. She...
she talked about some kind of key .”
“A key?” I questioned, but before Cordelia could answer, the iron door down the hall opened and footsteps moved toward us again.
I knew it was too soon for them to be coming back. We’d only just been brought back. What could they possibly need us for again so soon?
Jason rounded the corner, eyes locked on me as he moved for my cell door. He grabbed the keys from his pocket, and I paid close attention to the key he used before he slipped it into the lock and turned it. It was brass like the other three, but I paid attention to the details of the key; the cuts and grooves. I committed it to my memory, storing it away with all the other information I’d gathered since arriving here. It would help to know which key to use so I could get Cordelia and me out of here as quickly as possible when the time came.
“What are you doing
She looked down at the arm she’d been cradling earlier and half-nodded. “I will be. It’s all healing.”
A pang of sympathy ripped through me, momentarily distracting me from my job. “What did he do?”
Seeming hesitant to answer, Cordelia looked away from me, her eyes finding a particularly interesting point on the wall to her left. “They put me in the room—the one with the mirror—and waited until I changed. I-I had trouble, so they…they…”
My jaw clenched, and I spoke through gritted teeth. “They what ?”
“They forced me.”
Rage bubbled beneath my skin, the fever hotter than I’d felt in a long time, and I was so lost to the emotion that I didn’t realize I’d crushed the rock shard into nothing more than a fine powder. So much for that plan. “They forced themselves on you?” I demanded angrily, knowing what kind of monster Jason Smith really was.
“What?” she replied, incredulous. “No, not like that. They took my collar off and forced me to shift.”
I was only mildly relieved by this, and I still needed more answers. “How did they force it?”
Cordelia swallowed so thickly, I could hear it. “Five of them came into the room and surrounded me. I knew they wouldn’t hurt me beyond the usual, but they knew how to get the reaction they needed.” Her lip quivered as she remembered.
Now more than ever, I wanted to rip through the bars and pull this poor, sweet girl into my arms. But I couldn’t. I broke my tool, and I knew that none of the other shards were thick enough to accomplish my task. Instead, I decided to gather more information on the vampire’s plans for the successful creation of hybrids. I only hoped Cordelia would have more information since she’d been here the longest of anyone else. The one silver lining to her years of captivity.
“You said earlier they wanted to mix the bloodlines,” I reminded her. “Have they succeeded?”
Cordelia sank to her knees at the same time I did, and we looked at each other while we had what would have to pass as a normal conversation given our circumstances. “They’ve been trying for years—decades longer than I’ve been here.”
I listened raptly as Cordelia told me how Gianna had tried everything for almost a century. Gianna collected werewolves, researching their habits and taking their blood for genetic testing. Gianna injected some of her lackeys with the drawn blood, but they died within minutes, burning from the inside out. I’d witnessed firsthand what our bites could do to a vampire, slowly poisoning it, so it made sense that our blood running through its veins would kill it so rapidly.
“Biting didn’t work either,” Cordelia continued. “Us biting them, or them biting us. That only slowed the process, making the deaths of each test subject longer and far more excruciating. Gianna didn’t bother to put any of them out of their misery, though. She had no sympathy for that sort of thing. She just abandoned them and moved on to the next trial.”
“Which was?”
Cordelia shrugged. “I don’t know, exactly. She...
she talked about some kind of key .”
“A key?” I questioned, but before Cordelia could answer, the iron door down the hall opened and footsteps moved toward us again.
I knew it was too soon for them to be coming back. We’d only just been brought back. What could they possibly need us for again so soon?
Jason rounded the corner, eyes locked on me as he moved for my cell door. He grabbed the keys from his pocket, and I paid close attention to the key he used before he slipped it into the lock and turned it. It was brass like the other three, but I paid attention to the details of the key; the cuts and grooves. I committed it to my memory, storing it away with all the other information I’d gathered since arriving here. It would help to know which key to use so I could get Cordelia and me out of here as quickly as possible when the time came.
“What are you doing
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