Hello Darkness

Chapter Sixty

Arms pull at me from all around and the world becomes a blur. No—no, no. "It's all my fault," I mutter. I need to get to her—I need to save her. I have to try.

I ignore the grabbing hands and force myself out the door. Every voice is drowned by the buzzing in my ears. I pause in the middle of the yard, and search for the bond. I need to see her face again. I find it and pull. Let him know that I'm coming. His wall falls too easy—he wants me to see.

Alma is strapped to a chair, tears streaking her face. He's let me in. He left it wide open for me to find.

I understood what Talum meant when he said he had to be the one to come find me, because I have that feeling now. No one cares for her like I do—no one is willing to make the sacrifices I am to save her. It has to be me.

"What's happened?" Talum stands at my side.

"He's got Alma. In his lab..." I don't glance back at Talum before I take off. The world slips by in a blurr. Train tracks and street signs. Trees and riverbeds. All my energy is focused on my speed, but my heart weakens with each step.

Beat.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Beat.

I burst through the door of the security building and into the hall, only stopping to swipe the card on the door and when I punch in the code for the elevator.

The elevator doors swing open—he knew I would come. Five vampires block my path. Before I could make another move, they wrap me in a blanket of silver chain. I scream as thousands of tiny links burn my exposed skin. With my energy drained, the silver weakens me into submission.

The five brutes drag me from the stairwell. I grit my teeth trying not to show my weakness beneath the chains. They pull me down the hall, slamming me into the walls. With each impact the silver presses deeper into my skin, burning.

"Charley. I was wondering when you would return, my sweet," Victor says through his teeth. "Put her on the chair."

Thin silver spikes line the chair. I thrash in one last failed effort to free myself. But he can do whatever he wants to me. I only care about the girl tied to a chair and gagged in the center of the room. Alma's head slumps forward, but there's no blood and her chest still rises and falls.

They toss me in the chair, chains and all, and clamp down the locks around my ankles and wrists. "Leave us," Victor snarls.

I force back a scream as the spikes rip my clothes and bury themselves into my flesh. My whole body is a burning flame, new raw tendrils lapping up my thighs and twisting through my shoulders.

"Let her go." I gasp through the pain.

Alma lifts her head, her brown eyes meeting mine, and whimpers. My heart shatters into a thousand pieces, and it hurts worse than silver ever could.

"Well, she is relatively useless now. I only needed her to get back what was mine." He smiles. "You do remember, don't you? You belong to me."

"I belong to no one," I hiss.

He laughs. "You don't get how this works? You see—you take something valuable from me, and I take something from you."

His heavy boots echo as he crosses the floor to stand by my chair. "I will do whatever I want to you, before I make you watch me enjoy your sister." He rolls a cart close to my chair. "I've been wanting to try this out on someone, but no one has done the crime worthy of it."

He pauses. "Do you know what this needle contains?" He pretended to wait for an answer. "Of course, you don't. It's a pure silver injection... goes right into the bloodstream. It's a new compound that's twice as potent as the I.V. drip. Now that sounds pleasant, doesn't it?"