Sacrifice (Book 2)

Chapter 7.2 - Missing and The Clock is Ticking

Missing: 23 hours. New York 12:00 a.m. - Umbria 5:00 a.m.

Mariposa sat on a soft wool fleece laid across the floor of her castle chambers, her body still shaking from the brutal reaping. She stared into the flames that licked and devoured the timber in the hearth, her chin cupped in her long delicate fingers. Her head felt as if a jagged blade had plowed into her brain and been used to slice it into thin strips. But it wasn't the fierce pain that consumed her; it was her worry. The Queen was outside the castle walls, vulnerable and isolated from help. Mariposa doubted not that their Sire had a trap lying in wait for her at this very moment. Having once been the Queen's shadow assigned to watch over her and guard her, Mariposa still felt responsible for her safety. And here she sat, helpless and unable to warn her of the danger she was in.

Because...their Sire knew no bounds in his ruthlessness.

A soft rap came at her door. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. She was afraid this might happen. She should have known her Sire wouldn't be satisfied with violating just her thoughts. With the Queen away, Mariposa was at his mercy. And what was about to happen was as much against the Queen as it was against her. He would continue his efforts to break her, only now he would choose a different method of persuasion.

Mariposa answered the knock and found a scullery maid waiting. "Madam, Sire is asking for you in his office." The girl wouldn't look Mariposa in the eye and stood there waiting nervously. "I'm to escort you," she whimpered.

The last thing Mariposa wanted to do was cause trouble for the maid, especially if it turned Erdo's attention on the poor girl. Better to keep his wrath focused on her. Mariposa quickly stepped over the threshold, closed the door, and followed the young woman through the castle.

She took a moment to collect herself and cleared her mind before entering Erdo's office. Whatever waited for her inside, she needed to be prepared.

She raised her shoulders and held her head high. He's nothing. He'll never break me, she told herself as she entered.

"Ah, my lovely pet." Erdo rose from his chair and came around the desk. "How are you feeling?" He stepped in front of her and wrapped his arms around her waist, affectionately gazing into her eyes. He laid his lips over hers and parted them with his tongue. She didn't try to stop him, because if she did, she knew it would only excite him. She stood outside herself, as if she were a stranger watching.

He broke the kiss and leaned back to look at her. "Such a delightful butterfly," he said. He ran his fingers through her hair as he slowly shook his head back and forth. "So beautiful."

She wanted to pull away from him. She wanted to wash his filth from her mouth, to run and hide, to curl up in a small ball someplace where he couldn't find her. She clamped her teeth together so the screams that filled her mind wouldn't escape.

Then, she turned her tight lips up in a smile to him. She wouldn't let him know how frightened she was.

He continued to pet her hair. "I've always loved your stunning black mane, Mariposa. It reminds me of a summer's midnight sky."

She stood there in his embrace, one of his strong arms still encircling her, the other running his fingers through her silky strands, waiting for him to say why he had called her. Her heart rose into her throat when he finally explained the summons.

"I have need of you at night's end. Go to your crypt, collect your burial dirt and present yourself to me in my tomb in an hour."

She swallowed hard, but didn't blink at his request. Her eyes remained fixed, staring straight ahead, unseeing. He meant to keep her beyond just one day. She feared she wouldn't leave his vault until the Queen returned.