Shadow Lake Vampire Society - Wendi Wilson Page 0,71
hadn’t followed the plan. That was why the door never slammed. Sarah had killed her. And she would kill us next.
We needed to get out of here. We needed backup.
But Mom and Levi. I couldn’t just leave them.
A calm feeling settled over me as I made a decision I hoped I wouldn’t live to regret. I would stay and fight, but True had to go.
Sitting up, I gripped her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “You go,” I mouthed. “Run.”
She shook her head.
I dug my fingers into her skin, willing her to listen. “You go. Too dangerous,” I mouthed. I gave her shoulder a shove. “Go. Get help.”
True frowned at me. Her lips formed a word that was as unmistakable as it was stubborn. “No.”
This was all going so wrong. Mom and Levi were already in grave danger. I couldn’t risk True, too.
“Please,” I mouthed, tears filling my eyes again.
She shook her head, her own tears starting to flow. Once again, her hand found mine.
I was about to shove her away when, behind us, the door yawned open. A shadow sprung out and hands gripped my shoulders, yanking me inside. As I took my next breath, I was tossed on the floor. Bumping into something solid, I turned to find I was lying beside Micah’s corpse.
No. Oh, no.
Before I could scramble up, Lars stepped into the light. Behind him, Chef Chloe was dragging in True, who fought valiantly but stood no chance against the vampire.
Micah had been wrong. This wasn’t Sarah acting alone. It was at least three strong vampires, maybe more. I’d have thought Micah was involved in the plot to bring us here, except her body lay cold and lifeless beside me, her skin flaking as it turned to the color of cold ash. She’d been duped like the rest of us.
Sarah, queen of it all, stepped into the room, glaring down at me like I was a cockroach she’d like to grind into dust.
One corner of her mouth curled up into a nasty, self-satisfied smile. “Oh good. You’re here. Now we can get started.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
My gaze darted around the room, ignoring Sarah’s words, Lars’s dark laughter, and True’s grunting as she tried to pull free of Chloe’s grasp. I froze as I spotted Levi standing in a darkened corner, his head turned down and his eyes closed as if he were sleeping.
“Levi,” I begged, “wake up! Please. Help us.”
He didn’t even twitch a muscle, and I felt my panic rising as Lars chuckled. I turned toward the sound, but stopped mid-motion when I spotted Mom in a chair at the rickety wood table. She was bound and gagged with long strips of fabric, her eyes filled with terror.
I swallowed against the lump forming in my throat as my eyes travelled over her ratty hair, bloodshot eyes, and a dark bruise forming on her cheekbone. I took in the rest of her, my gaze locking on a puckered, bloody wound on her forearm.
A wound that looked very much like the one I saw on that cow.
I inhaled sharply as my heart leapt into my throat, but the fear and revulsion quickly morphed into anger. One of these bloodsucking assholes had bitten my mother.
“Oh, now isn’t this interesting?” Sarah asked in a mocking tone, sensing my anger. “Are you pissed, little human? Do you want to punish me for making a snack out of your wimpy mother?”
“Let. Her. Go,” I gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Or what? You’ll spray me with holy water?” She laughed, then turned serious. “No, I bet our friend Micah here taught you the difference between myth and reality, didn’t she? Traitor.”
She spat the last word, kicking Micah’s head, sending it rolling across the floor to disappear behind the couch. I swallowed against the bile rising up my throat, ordering myself not to puke.
Lars laughed again, and I wondered wildly if that was his only role here—to placate Sarah by condoning her every action. Chloe remained silent, her hand gripping a big chunk of True’s curly hair to hold her still.
“You have me here. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? Let my mother and True go. You don’t need them.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true,” Sarah replied, her voice taking on a lighter tone as she ambled in a circle around me. “My compulsion is strong, but even I don’t think I could make a mother forget her own daughter forever. No, she’ll have to die alongside you.”