Bloodbank

Thirty One

The screaming continued as Scott and I walked through the decadent halls.

"What a lovely place to grow up," I muttered.

"And a bunker under the ground is any better?" Scott said. I stopped. He turned, sighing, and continued to speak, dropping his voice to a whisper, "why do you think I planned to poison Tenebris?"

"Call him what he is - call him father. No use pretending any more."

"Ebony, please."

"You knew I would find out eventually. Why not tell me sooner?"

"Because I was afraid of you reacting exactly like you are right now."

"Because you wanted to use me as a pawn." I paused, "tell me why I shouldn't tell daddy what I have running through my veins."

He moved suddenly, his weakness from the beating vanishing as he pinned me against the wall, hand against my throat, "you and I both know that would be stupid."

"Tenebris! I have something to tell you!" I called, a laugh bubbling from where he gripped my throat.

His hand was now over my mouth, his face inches from mine, "you want to be his little blood slave for the rest of your life? To doom yourself and your future children to a life as a blood bank? To never see the sunlight again?" he was so close I could feel his breath, "this plan benefits us both. So I suggest you shut up."

"Better his than yours." I pushed him off, my pulse racing. I hated him - almost as much as I hated Mason. He was only looking out for himself, I could see that now. But as those green eyes laid on me, all I could think about was kissing him. My desires were betraying me, and I had to be stronger than that.

"Like I said a few days ago, you and I are equals," Scott said. He began to walk forwards, his hand on my back and lightly pushing him with me, "Tenebris will never treat you as an equal."

"If I was your equal you wouldn't have lied to me." I walked faster than him, batting his hand away from me. I didn't want him touching me. Every move, every word was calculated with him. And I didn't want him anywhere near me.

He led me through the sprawling mansion, past hundreds of doors until we descended a staircase. From the sudden lack of windows, I assumed we were underground.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, I thought for a moment that I was back in the Bloodbank. It was almost identical.

Concrete cells, each with a glass window. The furnishings inside looked slightly better than the bank, but the gist was the same. Bed, toilet, sink. And the people inside - I could see six along the long corridor, most of them women, had the same look in their eyes. As though there was nothing behind them, no life. One girl was hooked up to a blood extraction machine, and she stared at me through the glass, eyes empty.

"I'm not staying here?" I stammered, "am I?"

"Not until you piss him off," Scott laughed, "do you still think he's a better choice than me?"

I turned from the glass, examining his face. Surely he was lying, manipulating me again to get me to side with him. I refused to fall for it again, but I couldn't see any tells on his face.

He leant in close, his mouth against my ear, "why do you think I ran away?"

I backed away from him, my pulse erratic. I couldn't go back into a cell. Not ever again.

The journey back upstairs and through the mansion was silent as I contemplated what Scott had shown me. Eventually, we reached a bedroom. I didn't know quite how I would find it alone - the hallways were a maze.

It was the most decadent room I had ever seen. Compared to the bunkers and desert campsites I had seen over the past few months, the bed alone dwarfed them all. Everything was gilded in gold to compliment the red walls, from the ceiling to the toilet in the ensuite. I was beginning to question killing Tenebris. Scott had deliberately shown me the basement before my quarters to get me to go along with the plan, he was manipulating me as usual, but at the same time this made me question even attempting to kill Tenebris. Failure would certainly mean getting on his bad side, getting moved to the basement, which was no better than the Bloodbank. But was attempting to kill him and failing better than living a life in fear of him?

What had seemed like such a simple plan was now twisted. Even if I went along with Scott, and attempted to poison Tenebris, would he give me the antidote? Or would he hold it over my head, use it as another way to control me?

I sat on the immense bed, legs weak from all the walking.

"Can you leave me alone now?" I asked Scott, still loitering in the room, "I'm tired."

Scott's face paled, "already?"

My eyebrows shot up, Scott's reaction sounding off alarm bells in my head. The poison shouldn't be working this fast, surely? Something was wrong.

I was on the edge of panic when a needle of pain stabbed into my stomach. I ran to the bathroom, stumbling as my legs turned to jelly. Kneeling on those perfectly clean tiles, over the gilded toilet, I threw up the contents of my stomach.

There wasn't much - the meals in the desert were meagre at best. But the contents of the toilet were red.

I flushed quickly, panic raising my pulse. The mansion was crawling with vampires and I didn't need them all smelling the blood I had just thrown up.

Scott swore under his breath, standing in the doorway. He had seen the contents of the toilet, smelled it.

For once, I didn't need him to explain the problem. I was dying too quickly. At this rate Tenebris wouldn't even taste my blood before I was dead.