Just A Taste | BOOK 1 The Night Lords Series

29. Pain

I am numb. My brain is telling me I should feel angry, betrayed, hurt, but even my emotions seemed too much to convene. At some point, I stopped listening to what the three vampires were saying as I sank into the numbing, cold sea that was drowning me. I allowed myself to run from the truth, from reality, all of it. I didn't want anyone to pull me out of this new feeling. In fact, I was relieved. If this were to be my place of peace within me, then so be it.

I watched them talk to one another in low tones, low enough for my human ears not to hear. Jacques scowled from time to time, picking up books and flipping through them before discarding them. Andin watched Eldric pace back and forth as they argued. I think they were arguing. Eldric kept shooting me worried looks but what for? I couldn't do anything. I was no threat. They were the enemies. Weren't they?

My parents cursed me.

Before I was born, he said. Did that mean I was ever loved to begin with? Everything I thought I knew about my life...

Was it a lie?

I look down at my hands that were lying limp in my lap. When did I sit in this chair? It doesn't matter. An identical set of green eyes swim into view inside my head. Had my brother known? We'd been so close. My fingers twitch slightly as if ready to curl into fists but they relax. No. If he'd known, he would have told me. But then, where did they plan to take him that day? Did they plan to curse him too? Where was he?

"Isabelle." The deep voice is gentle as the priest kneels beside me. Andin holds out a hand, waiting. "We must leave now."

I look up. Eldric and Jacques were gone. Andin sighs. "They left. Hawthorne needs to update Bane on the rogue clan's current position."

Nothing. I couldn't form any sort of interest in what he was saying. I stare at him. The vampire's expression was reserved but his pale eyes shown with a quiet sorrow. He was the first to break eye contact. Straightening to his full height, he takes one of my limp hands into one of his steady large ones, tugging me gently to my feet. Without another word, he lifts his free hand to point at the space before us. That white ring of fire appeared once more. I suppose his gift might be the ability to create portals. Or was he using magic? My thoughts fade as fast as they form, though, leaving me to stare blankly. I simply couldn't hold onto my curiosity I guess.

We step through. At first, I'm puzzled. We stood in the middle of a sparse wood, the trees practically skeletons. Through their thin limbs, pale morning rays sliced their way to the hardened floor to dance off the small patches of frost that clung to the dirt. Winter was on her way. The glittering, frozen jewels of her early greeting would've been pretty to me in the past and I probably would've admired them for a time. As of now, I merely glanced at it. Before us, an old well whose stones were now cracked sat barely visible beneath a blanket of vines. Andin lets go of my hand.

"Don't be deceived," he says, gesturing towards the well. "That is an entrance to the Passages. Magic conceals it from all sides but as soon as you're within three feet of it, you'll see the door."

The Passages? Why not take me straight back to Cassius? Isn't that what Jacques said? That I'd be brought back to him anyway?

Unless... Andin was giving me a chance to run.

Something glimmers to life inside me, a flicker of hope. I turn to find him reopening a portal for himself.

"Don't worry. Bane was only joking when he said he gave you those clothes to annoy Cassius. The Night Lord would have his head for that." Andin looks back at me. "You can try to run, child, but Cassius has already been notified of our breach in this area. My job was to return you to him. Now that it is done, you are on your own. We made sure to use magic to prevent our scents from rubbing off on you so you'll be able to avoid telling him anything about us."