That last thought made her jerk more awake. Her movement sent pain shooting down her arms.
“Olivia?”
She turned her head and saw Mindy in the dim light. She was shackled to a stone wall, her arms stretched out above her and her ankles spread. That was when Olivia realized why her wrists hurt. She was shackled the same as Mindy, the same as the rest of the people beyond Mindy.
Oh, God, they were in a blood den. Cold, ripe fear shot through her. She saw it reflected in Mindy’s eyes. Tears streaked down her friend’s face.
“How long have we been here?” Olivia asked.
“I don’t know. I just woke up a few minutes ago.” Mindy looked the other way, toward the other captives. “We’re going to die here.”
“No, we’re not. We will figure out a way. Campbell will find us.”
“Campbell? He’s the reason we’re here in the first place.”
Olivia flinched at the ferocity of Mindy’s words. She told herself that Mindy was scared, and if anger kept her going, that was okay. Olivia did her best not to give in to panic and fear herself. She pulled as hard as she could at the restraints, but they didn’t budge.
The door at the top of the stairs opened, and loud music filtered through. Bile rose in Olivia’s throat as three well-dressed vampires descended, a woman and two men.
“You have impeccable timing tonight,” said the guy in the front to the others. “We just acquired two new sources today. One is already spoken for, but the other is the blood type you require. She’s young and healthy, so you can both tap her together.”
The vampire couple looked at each other and smiled. Olivia got the feeling that simultaneous feeding was somehow erotic to them, that it would be a sexual act as well as the gaining of sustenance.
The guy in the front met Olivia’s eyes, and she hated him on sight. She would have hated him if he’d been human. He had that slick “I can get away with anything” look about him.
“This one proved a challenge,” he said as he gestured to Olivia. “But I have a distinct feeling she’ll pay for it later tonight.” He gave her a knowing smile that sent cold rushing through her veins. Then he led the couple to Mindy, who struggled in vain against the restraints holding her.
“You’re wasting your energy,” the guy said. “You might as well stop struggling and enjoy it.”
Mindy spat in his face. He slapped her with such a ferocity that Olivia gasped and worried that he’d killed her. But then Mindy moved.
“Leave her alone,” Olivia said.
The guy moved slowly toward Olivia. “Can’t stand to watch what you caused?”
Olivia forced herself not to flinch from him. His kind thrived on seeing fear in others. “You can keep me. Just let her go.”
“No,” Mindy said.
“She’s right. We’re not letting either of you go,” he said. “You might as well set that pretty little head to accepting your new existence because it’s all you’ll ever see for the rest of your miserable little life.” Suddenly, he grabbed her breast and ran his other hand down her stomach. His vile touch turned her stomach. “Too bad you’re spoken for or I’d enjoy banging you against this wall while your friend watched helplessly.” He smiled, showing the tips of his fangs. “Instead you will be the one to watch as your friend lives her worst nightmare.”
He stepped away suddenly and motioned for the couple to come forward. In a flash, they were at Mindy’s sides. When they both sank their fangs into Mindy’s neck, she screamed the most horrible scream Olivia had ever heard. Olivia struggled as fat tears streamed out of her eyes. Her pleas for them to stop fell on deaf ears.
The man who evidently ran this den headed up the stairs, looking very pleased with himself.
“You’re going to die for this, you monster!” she yelled at him.
He smiled at her. “That I highly doubt.”
She’d never hated anyone so much in her life. She closed her eyes and prayed that Campbell found them soon, before the couple drained Mindy dry. Before the sound of Mindy’s screams drove Olivia mad with grief and guilt.
* * *
Sometime during the feeding, Mindy passed out. Olivia’s tears flowed a long time after the vampires left. She wanted nothing more than to be able to pull Mindy into her arms, but she was as helpless as anyone else hanging from this cold stone wall.
“I’m sorry about your friend.”
Olivia looked beyond Mindy to a young woman and realized it was Jennifer Watson, who’d been abducted behind her apartment building. “Me, too. How are you doing?”
“Still here,” she said with a shaky smile that seemed to cost her all her energy. “Not sure how much longer I can take this, though. I wonder if I’ll die or go crazy first.”
Though her own hope had suffered a lot in the aftermath of Mindy’s ordeal, Olivia found she wanted to give this young woman a reason to believe they’d be rescued. “I have faith someone will find us.”
“Someone named Campbell?” Jennifer shook her head. “There’s no way anyone can find us down here. There are too many vampires.”
Olivia looked toward the door and wished she had just one bit of knowledge—what time it was, where they were, if Campbell even knew she’d been taken. Deciding to focus on something she could determine, she looked past Jennifer. She recognized the teenage boy who’d been snatched up on his way to school. There were four others, but she didn’t recognize them. The reporter, Leila Russell, wasn’t among them.
“Has there been anyone else kept down here?”
Jennifer leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Were it not for the shackles holding her up, Olivia had no doubt Jennifer would crumple to the floor.
“A couple,” Jennifer said. “One...one boy died. Another woman was taken somewhere else.”
“Leila Russell?”
“Yeah.” Jennifer shook her head slowly. “I’m not sure if I saw this or dreamed it, but I’d swear a man in a black cloak took her. I couldn’t see his face, but...there was something terrifying about him. It was more than him just being a vampire.”
Olivia swallowed past the dryness in her throat and prayed again that Campbell and the rest of V Force found them soon.
Jennifer lapsed into silence and Olivia thought maybe she’d fallen asleep or passed out. Endless minutes passed with the occasional moan from someone else in the room. The minutes stretched until Olivia wondered if they’d become hours.
“Liv?” Mindy said, sounding weak.
“I’m right here. I’m so sorry, Min. I never meant for any of this to happen. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prevent them from taking you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is.” Fresh tears ran down her cheeks.
Mindy was quiet for several moments before she spoke again. “It’s not your fault. The world just isn’t a good place anymore.”
Olivia didn’t like the tone of Mindy’s voice, as if she was giving up. “Min, listen to me. We will get out of this. I swear to you, I will figure out a way.” She thought she saw a weak smile on Mindy’s lips, one of those that said she didn’t believe a word she was hearing but appreciated the effort.
The door at the top of the stairs opened and the slick vampire descended, thankfully alone this time. He didn’t even spare them a glance as he walked the length of the room and opened a door at the end. After a long moment passed, three people in cloaks walked in. Hoods obscured their faces as they seemed to glide into the room, ever closer to Olivia. When she could see them better, she noticed two of them wore red while one was cloaked in deep black. The story Jennifer had told about Leila caused Olivia’s heart to accelerate. If they took her out of here, she feared she’d never be found and be doomed to a life of horror.