Stake You

Chapter Seventeen

(One chapter left).

“Oh, God, no. Stop! Please, stop,” my mother cried out.

“Mam!”

I heard Sully grunting, some noises I didn’t recognise, but loudest of all were my mother’s sobs, and that had me wild with craziness and desperation. I struggled against the chains, but it was pointless. There was no escape.

Sully had won.

A couple of minutes later, he returned, a fanged grin on his face.

“I need you to help with the unexpected company. I believe I saw him at your house once. You’ve managed to drag yet another one down with you. I’m almost impressed,” he said, and then held up a finger. “But first, I’m thirsty. Dragging that oaf around was more tiring than you’d expect. I need a top up.”

Gazing at him in horror, I felt a mild modicum of relief as he turned to Aoife rather than me. Guilt overwhelmed that sensation, and I cried out to him to take me instead.

“Oh, I’ll get around to that,” he said, his scarlet eyes burning into mine. “But I need your hands first. It won’t be half as entertaining if you’re too weak to stand.”

Grimacing at the ideas of what that could mean, I watched helplessly as he roughly yanked Aoife’s hair out of the way to expose her neck, his fangs sinking deep into her skin. To my surprise, he let her go and looked up at me, his eyes half-crazed, and his now obvious fangs covered in Aoife’s blood.

“See, it isn’t just the blood. That was never enough for me. You might be surprised to learn that I never wanted this for myself. The bitch who turned me drew me in with an act, and when she saw what I became, she left me there. Abandoned me to deal with the idea of immortality alone. And while I revelled in the blood for a time, it became tedious after a couple of centuries. I actually contemplated suicide before I discovered what I could do, Devlin. I was so bored that I wanted to die. But then I found a way to make it exciting.” He sucked his teeth, his eyes half-closing. “It became satisfying in ways I had never experienced before. I chose the right girl, and I took in her pain.”

Aoife cried out a little, and he smiled as if with pride. “See what’s happening to her? She’s remembering. Every fear, every awful moment in her pathetically short life. She’s reliving it all now. And that’s what I’m living for. The nightmares, the memories, the pain. Yours will be so much sweeter though. She was too hopeful, too ready to move on. But you, you’re still in the past. I saw it in your nightmares. I promised myself I would savour you, Devlin O’Mara.”

He sank his teeth into Aoife’s neck ferociously, shaking her like a small dog might shake a rat. Her body jerked with pain, and I couldn’t look away, couldn’t stop watching my own inevitable fate. She gasped a little, and he withdrew, the slurping sound thankfully ending.

“I’ve always wanted a companion,” he said. “But there just isn’t room for two of us in a place like this. Too small, too close. Maybe I’ll take Aoife along for the ride though. Or maybe I’ll turn you and make you feed on your own mother.”

I gaped at him. Could he do that?

He checked his blood splattered watch. “Ah, but I don’t have the time. Oh, well. Let’s speed this up, shall we?”

He leaned over me, his bloody breath on my skin making me want to vomit. He took the chains from the walls so that I could move, but my hands were still linked together. He made me stand, but my knees refused to stop wobbling. I walked as best I could as he pushed me out of the room, taking one last look at Aoife, but he slapped the side of my head to make me face forward.