Tears trickle down the young woman’s face. “What would you call it after five years? What would you call it when you watch your friends die? What would you call it when you’re forced to lure more of your kind here?”
“That depends. What exactly is ‘here’?”
Raine looks toward the partially open door, her gaze distant and sad. “It’s a pretty prison. Not this room, obviously, but the big house. A prison decorated with lavish parties and forced entertaining.”
I drink my lemon water, which is strangely making me feel a lot better than one would expect, and watch a shiver run over her. “This blood brothel is run by Cecil Davies. He’s a vampire addicted to Were blood.”
“Addicted to Were blood? A blood brothel? I didn’t know the first was possible or the second even existed.”
She looks at me and shakes her head in remorse. “Apparently the addiction is more common than I would’ve have guessed. Cecil has my whole pack bound to him as vampire servants. We can’t refuse his commands—even ones that go against every fiber of our being.”
Her overly flirtatious behavior when I first pulled into town makes more sense. She was ordered to bring more werewolves to feed this vampire’s addiction. Maybe ordered to flirt with me as well.
“I don’t understand. How many of you are here? How much blood can one vampire drink?”
“I don’t know how much they can drink at once, but several feedings too close together have killed quite a few of us. Our pack was small to begin with, only twenty. Half of them died in the last eighteen months.” She trails off and hangs her head, staring at the floor. “But I’ve brought in nine more over the years—three of which also died. And I’m not the only wolf bringing in victims.”
A chill creeps down my spine. She meant to lead me here, just like the others. But she also warned me, telling me to leave town. Something doesn’t add up. How did she resist her orders to bring me in?
“How did you lie to him about me?”
“I’m not sure. There is the obvious compulsion to obey burned into my brain, but apparently I could lie just enough regarding you to make him believe me.” She looks at me with longing. “I wondered if it might mean we were destined to be… more to each other… if the situation was different.”
My mind whirls, desperate to figure out a plan to save these wolves and myself. What is Cecil’s security like? I recall two who attacked me as a third stood close by, feeding on Raine. “How many vampires live here?”
“Just him. The others come and pay to feast on werewolf blood... among other things. They use us like rag dolls, knowing we can heal from any damage they dole out.”
Sickness coils in my stomach at the thought of all these people held against their will and made to service any vampire with enough money.
“How did all this happen? Where is your alpha? What happened to him and his mate?”
A sad look crosses her face as she fills my mug once more. “He was the third one taken. After that we all dropped like flies, bound to his call as our leader.”
“Third? That means he knew what was going on...and...” The bastard led them into this Hell.
“Yes. He knew. He had no choice.”
“Really, no choice?” I haven’t even met the guy and I’m not sure I like him.
“He told me later that he’d hoped we’d ban together and overpower the vampire... Somehow find a way out.”
Disgust crosses my face at the situation she’s describing. How could’ve it gotten so bad, so fast?
As if sensing my unease in the facts laid out, she continues. “First, the creature took his eight year old daughter.” Her words drive a spike through my heart. “When his wife tried to find her, against her mate’s orders, she was abducted as well.” A heavy sigh escapes her and she sags against the cold wall, exhaustion and defeat etched into her skin. “By then it was too late for little Pamela. She’d lost too much blood to Cecil’s addiction and couldn’t bounce back.” She motions to the pitcher, with the strange lime-lemon tasting water. “We found out about the blood replenishing additives later.”#p#分页标题#e#
Power floods my limbs at her mention of the drink. I gesture with my cup. “What’s in it?”
“I don’t know for sure. We grow the plants out back at the vampire’s direction. But he won’t let us give them to Cliff and Kristin, our alphas.” Sadness crosses her face. “My sister, Jennifer, was killed when she tried to sneak the herbs to them. Cecil keeps them chained and weak for a reason. I think together they would eventually overpower him. Their draining is very specific; they aren’t used at the main house, but depleted here in the cells. He makes sure they remain on the cusp of death.”