A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,5

my hair for ten seconds before using me as a power tool. I groan so loudly they both look at me again.

“Or, this may be the first time he sentences a human of his to death.” Mettingskew runs her tongue over her teeth while glaring at me. “There is a first time for everything, right?”

Narref shifts his gaze back to the hall, chuckling. “Perhaps. Most humans are not so dull as to test his limits. Either way, I have seen enough to fill out a report. I’m leaving.”

He disappears from my sight, taking his leave back down the hall. Mettingskew faces me. “Unfortunately, I’ll see you at Distribution. With any luck, it will be the last.”

I don’t respond, which garners a scrunched brow of scorn from her. Eventually, much to my relief, she turns to follow after Narref.

I sink into the ground. In part from the pain and in part from the disappointment. So, I’m not receiving the well-deserved death penalty today. Which would be a good thing in any other circumstance, but given the unbearable pain from my falling off a huge wall... right now it’s up in the air. What really gets me though, is the reason I’m being kept alive—for now, anyway. That Zein wants to show me off like some sort of trophy before he either turns me into fallen food or sends me to the hell that is Saya. What an epic purpose I serve.

I sink lower into the ground. I probably won’t have another shot at escaping either. If they are smart, they’ll keep me in here until Distribution, and most likely monitor me all the way up until the ceremonial judgment. A sole thought forces itself through the mess.

What if Zein’s crazy enough to take me back to his castle? To be a part of his blood supply? My fingers clench into my palms. No, even if I manage to get into Zein’s beautiful estate, no doubt I would still find a way to get out. Enslavement is still enslavement, no matter how soft the chains.

Against my will, my eyes close. Amidst the fatal uncertainty, exhaustion becomes an all-consuming force, pulling me out of my pain and anger, and drowning me in wonderful sleep. I pass out to the roars of the very beasts that could be tearing me apart tomorrow.

cHAPTER 2

My eyes open to a dim and misty, dark blue light. All around me is nothingness aside from the leather straps that bind my body to an uncomfortable, metal table. My mouth is so dry I can barely speak.

“H-hello?” Thirst consumes my every thought as I struggle against my restraints, though I take notice of the arument bandages that line my arms and hands. The vampires must have dressed my wounds, and probably against their will. But the pain is gone, at least. Remnants of the vampire’s salve glisten where my skin meets the cloth. It seeps into wounds and reduces pain all over the body, making it seem as if I never fell off an eight-story wall.

“Ready for Distribution, aberrant?” a croaky, male voice echoes from behind.

I swivel my head and eye the black room behind me, trying to blink away the darkness like I would the vampire race, if I could.

A senile vampire with long and scraggy silver hair hobbles into my sight. His long black cloak, zipped up and adorned with three white plus-signs tell me that he’s part of the medical class. I am in some sort of infirmary, though it’s not one I have ever seen before.

“Not particularly.” My strained voice muffles my words. “You look about ready for a grave, though.”

I cough, terrorized by thirst. Saliva really is a blessing that I never thought I would actually acknowledge.

“Hmph,” he chuckles, walking slowly over to what I assume is his supply station. “You really have quite the mouth.”

I take that as a compliment.

When he comes back into sight, he is carrying a blood pack. Except, instead of blood, it is filled with water. My eyes burn with sudden and incomprehensible need as it sloshes and maneuvers in his hands. The vampire suspends a connected, bronze spout over my mouth and I lift my head up, lips quivering, agonizing over every second that passes without the sensation of quenched thirst. As he readies to release it, his hand draws back, and he laughs.

“Not very nice, am I?” he asks, and all I want to do is strangle him. “You are thinking that you need water, so why wouldn’t