Damien makes a move to spit in Rita’s face, but she holds her hand up again and his jaw stills. “Don’t do that, it’s no way for a gentleman to behave.” She sweeps her hand downwards and I see Damien swallow the saliva back down his throat. Had Rita always been this good at magic? I know she was brilliant before, but it seems to be becoming even more effortless to her nowadays. When Damien turns his head again I catch a small glimpse of a wound on his neck.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, getting up and walking over to see if my suspicions are correct. I take a hold of his collar and pull it down further, revealing several fresh bite marks on his neck and a few old ones that have healed up. They remind me of the ones I’d seen on Amanda when I’d first come back to Tribane. I look to Rita. “I think he’s a vampire blood donor.”
“Oh,” she says, like she didn’t expect that. “I thought it might have been Theodore or Marcel who sent him.”
“Not judging from the bite marks all over his neck.”
Damien’s whole face tenses up, as though trying so very hard to keep from saying anything. A vein in his forehead bulges out with the effort.
“My mistress sent me here to spy on you,” he says in a rapid gush, the words spilling from his mouth involuntarily.
“Oh yeah? I repeat, who’s your mistress?”
Rita gives me a smug look that says, I told you it would work. His face goes tense again, but no matter how much he tries to stay quiet, he can’t fight Rita’s magic.
“Eliza Whitfield, daughter of the vampire governor, Jeremy Whitfield,” he sputters the words out against his will, before swearing, “Fuck!”
A shiver of fear runs through me. I’d hoped Eliza would move on from her hatred, but evidently she’s still gunning for me.
“Why did she send you here?”
“She told me to get as much information as I could about your routine, and to find out a time of the day when she would be alone.” He nods his head to me. He’s not bothering to try and fight against talking anymore.
“When Tegan’s alone? Why?”
“Because she wants me to take her and bring her across the river to be killed in front of all the vampires. She wants to make an example of her for deceiving them.”
Rita reaches out and slaps Damien hard across the face. She’s absolutely fuming, even more so than I am and I’m the one Eliza wants to murder.
“What kind of person are you, allowing vampires to use you to kill an innocent woman?” she spits harshly at him.
I still her hand as she moves to slap him again. “Hey, Rita, it’s okay. You don’t need to hit him. It’s not his fault, he’s just an addict. I remember when Amanda was like him. She would have done anything just to have Lucas feed from her one more time.”
She looks at me and for a split second her brown eyes seem almost black. She shakes off her anger quickly and replies, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
She turns back to Damien now.
“So you’re a blood donor of Eliza’s, eh. Tell me, what are the vampires planning? They’ve been very quiet.”
Damien lets out a derisive snort. “How would I know? Eliza only uses me for my blood and my body. Occasionally she gives me daytime tasks – like this one.”
I suppress a shudder at his mention of her using his body. He doesn’t even sound like he’s annoyed over it. He just states it as fact.
“Well if you don’t know then you’re no use to me. I’ll give you the poison now I suppose,” says Rita with a flippant sigh, dusting off her hands and standing up. She walks over to one of the cupboards and opens it, making a show of searching for something.
“Poison?” Damien asks, with a slig
ht quiver.
Rita peeks her head around the door of the cupboard. “Yes, arsenic to be specific. I like to think it adds a certain historical touch. You didn’t think I was going to just let you walk out of here, did you?”
“But you said before that you’d let me go once you were done with me,” Damien argues in desperation.
She points a finger at him. “I did. But that was before you told me you were going to help kill my friend. For that you get the poison.”
“Rita…” I say and trail off, worried that she might be serious. She gives me a silencing look, pulling a clear glass bottle containing a yellow-ish liquid from the cupboard. Jesus, does she just keep poison sitting nestled between the salt and pepper or something?
“Please don’t – don’t make me drink that. Eliza is very protective of her donors. She will kill you.”