Bronik walks in, grabs hold of Tanya, and steps her back, keeping his hand in hers as another angel steps into the room this time. He is carrying someone over his shoulder, and when I see who it is, I try to move against the ropes tying me down, but I can’t move. It’s impossible.
“Seems he is a good tracker, tracked you to me all by himself.” Queen Veronica walks over and touches Patrick’s hair, lifting it as he lies over the angel’s shoulder, passed out.
“Let him go. He has nothing to do with any of it.” My voice is broken, and it cracks, having not used it much.
“Lies. All the wolves will be dead soon. Thinking they can side with you is not a possibility. They will pay for their disobedience with their lives.” She spits the words like venom from her lips. “Lay him down, then we shall play.” Queen Veronica looks back to Tanya. “You can stay.” Tanya nods like a well-trained puppy, and I keep the tears at bay that she is choosing this life over us.
It hurts.
It hurts so fucking much.
“I like to play with my subjects. I was going to be nice to your family. To only get rid of you and let them live their lives normally. But then you had to go and do that disappearing act of yours. I wonder why it is that Death saves you.”
I have no answer for her because I don’t know why he chooses to save me. It’s a mystery to us both.
“No matter, though. He can’t reach us in here, so he will never know what pain you are about to endure.” Patrick is placed in a chair and bound to it the same way I am, but he has extra rope around his hands.
“Patrick…” I say his name, but he doesn’t move. I lean over as far as I can go to hear if he is still breathing. When I hear a slight release of breath, a sigh of relief rushes over me.
She hasn’t killed him.
Yet.
“Patrick is under a spell,” the queen says, then reaches her hand out and touches his head, waking him. He moves his head slightly before a loud roar rips from him as he tries to move. It’s useless, though. Neither of us can move and we are both tied down, unable to do anything. “Now.” She claps her hands. “He is awake.”
I don’t spare her a glance. Instead, I keep my eyes trained on Patrick. His deep brown eyes lock on me, searching me over to make sure I am okay, before he turns his nose up.
He can smell it.
Shit.
His eyes fall to my pants, and he growls.
“Oh, hush, puppy. It’s you, you should be worried about, not this precious bird over here.” She nods her head, and a vampire walks in through the door. I watch helplessly as he strides over to Patrick and then tears his shirt off him. Patrick doesn’t even flinch at the action. The vampire leans down, and I watch as his fangs protrude until they touch Patrick’s skin and he bites, taking something precious that isn’t his. Patrick remains still throughout, and my heart hurts for him, breaks for him.
“Why?” I question as I watch the color leave Patrick’s face.
“We can’t have him at his full strength now, can we? This is the fastest way to drain him, and it’s quite efficient if you ask me.” I can hear the smile in her voice, so I don’t have to look at her face to know it’s there.
Bitch.
The vampire pulls away and Patrick’s head bobs before he manages to steady himself and lock eyes with me again. Two puncture marks now mar his neck, joining with his other scars, but he doesn’t seem to care.
“Patrick, Patrick, Patrick… why would you choose to follow such a lowly being when you could have chosen to follow the queen?” she asks him.
“Because you are evil, worse than any other human, as bad as the shit under my boot, and do not deserve the position of power you have. You steal, break shit, hurt people to get where you are. A true queen would never do that to her people,” Patrick says proudly, all the while keeping his eyes locked on mine.
“How wrong you are. A true queen will do whatever is necessary to get to where she wants to be. You really think your precious Talia here could kill someone close to her if it meant saving others? No, she couldn’t. I can tell you that much. But if you don’t believe me, ask her sister.” The queen waves Tanya forward.
She takes a few steps, looks up with her emerald eyes and answers, “You couldn’t. We both know it, Sister.” Then she steps back and looks back to the floor. As if she isn’t betraying me with every word. Every step. Not just me, but our entire family and Tatiana who has loved us more than life itself.