62. Rain

**This chapter will contain some violence and reference to SA (s3xual abuse - no details are given, but I want everyone to know that it happnes)**

**Rain**

The van stops, and the vampires prepare to get Caleb and me out. Three of them get close to Caleb, and he roars and bucks and thrashes. Sinn uses more gas on Caleb, and the vampires fall upon Caleb like flies, hitting him with their fists and feet. Caleb tries to fight, but he is bound in silver chains, with his hands behind his back and a thick collar around his neck.

I want to help Caleb, but my hands are cuffed in front of me, the silver biting into my flesh.

“Stop!” I scream, but no one listens to me. “Stop hurting him!” I try again when I smell Caleb’s blood.

Sinn looks at me, but I can’t read his facial expression. The gas he used on Caleb and me has blocked not only my magic, but also Safia. I can feel her in my head, but a wall stands between her and I.

It is crazy how the vampires overpowered us using a gas that has silver, wolfsbane, and dark spells. When the elevator’s door opened, Sinn already had the gas ready, and I didn’t have time to call on my fire.

Sinn comes to me and grabs a handful of my hair, and I wince.

“Do not touch her with your filthy hands!” Caleb roars, but Sinn ignores him and forces me to stand. The gas makes me feel not only weak but also dizzy. “I swear to all the gods listening to me, I will fucking kill you, Sinn!” Caleb promises.

“Cooperate, and I won’t harm your female! But keep fighting, and I will make her my new pet!” Sinn snarls. “And you know what I do to my pets, don’t you?”

Caleb stops resisting, and a vampire opens the van’s doors, letting the chill air of the morning hit me.

If I have been afraid before, it doesn’t compare with the fear I feel as I see a thick fog surrounding the Vampire Palace. When Caleb told me about it, I never imagined it would feel so evil. Sinn drags me out of the van, and I fall to my knees, but he doesn’t give me time to get up and yanks my hair hard, pulling me up. My knees hurt, but I ignore the pain, and I try to keep up with Sinn.

“Get your hands off of her!” Caleb roars, and I can hear him fighting the other vampires.

Caleb grunts, and I feel his pain through the bond. “Caleb, stop!” I say, trying to look over my shoulder, but Sinn walks fast, dragging me after him. “I will make you burn for what you did to Caleb!” I hiss at Sinn.

I might be afraid, and I am sure Sinn can smell my fear in the air, but I refuse to let my feelings dominate me. Hate is a stronger feeling than fear, and I latch on to it.

Behind me, I can still hear Caleb fighting the vampires. Each time they hit him , I feel an echo of Caleb’s pain.

“You have spirit, female! I like it! It will be my pleasure to break you!” answers Sinn.

I can tell him he can try, but he will never succeed, but what’s the point? How can someone break a person that is already broken?

Four vampires guard the main doors, and they open them as soon as they see Sinn. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. Something evil is inside this palace, and Sinn forces me to walk in hallways with dim light. Something lurks in the shadows, waiting to grab me and never let me go.

As I force myself to keep up with Sinn’s strong legs, I try to look around. “Where are you taking us?” Sinn doesn’t answer.

Caleb keeps swearing and threatening the vampires, and I hear them use more gas on him. They used triple the amount on Caleb than they used on me, and he still tries to fight them.

Soon we reach some stairs, and Sinn makes me climb them. When we are at the top, five big archways separate us from the Vampire Court. Long tables filled with food are close to the walls, but the vampires have their eyes on a naked werewolf—his scent tells me he is an Alpha—who is assaulted by a group of five Omegas. This is what they did to Caleb too?

As I take my first steps in the Vampire Court, I know I have to be strong for Caleb, Sky, and the baby.

Caleb and I are taken in front of the throne and forced to kneel in front of the Vampire Queen. She wears a black dress, and her copper hair cascades down her back and shoulders. Behind the throne, three vampire knights stand straight, probably ready to protect the Queen if need be.

“Mother, a gift,” Sinn says and sits on a smaller throne. He snaps his finger, and a female with long black hair sits on his lap. He begins his assault on her and forgets about the rest of us.

The Queen, who up until now, was probably looking at the Alpha abused by the Omegas, tilts her head towards us. She crosses her legs and leans on her throne. My blood chills when I take a better look at the throne. The back is made from bones and skulls.

Caleb pulls at the silver chains, but it is impossible to free himself. “Don’t draw her attention to you!” he hisses at me.

Two skulls on the throne’s arms and the Queen’s long red nails drum on them. “That witch had me believe you were dead. Soon, I will have her at my mercy, and I will make her suffer for a long time for taking away my favorite pet from me,” she says to Caleb. She bends over and grabs his jaw between her index and thumb. “You will be punished as well!”

I snarl. “Take your claws off of him.”

The Queen looks at me, and I stare back. Now is one of those moments when I wish I didn’t have face blindness so I would know the face of the one I will kill.

“Take my favorite pet next to my other one and have him reminded how vicious Omegas can be!” the Queen says, and Caleb starts fighting again. Two vampires approach Caleb, and even in his weak state, he hurts them. “If you don’t behave, I will have your female passed around instead of you!” she says to Caleb, and he stops moving. “You think I can’t smell her all over you? Or her scent mixed with yours? What will you do to keep her or the baby safe?”

“Anything!” Caleb rushes to say.

“Even serve me in my bed?” the Queen asks in a sweet tone.

“Yes! But let my female leave!” replies Caleb.

I think I will be sick because I know there is nothing Caleb wouldn’t do to keep his family safe. I try to reach out for my Fire, but the gas is still in my system, and together with the silver handcuffs that are around my wrists, it makes it impossible to summon my magic.

“Touch him, and I will burn you!” I snarl. I know how it broke Caleb to have to service the Queen. It will kill him to go through it again.

The Queen ignores me. “Take the pet to my room and have him chained to my bed!” the Queen says to someone. Then to Caleb, she adds. “Her life and that of the baby depends on how well you perform today! If you serve me well enough, I might consider letting her go.”

Two vampires rush to obey her orders.

“Don’t!” I whisper to Caleb. “She is lying.”

“I love you!” he says before they drag him away. “Don’t lose hope! I will get you out of here!”

“Caleb!” I scream after him. 

I try to dig into my tunnel of magic, to bring forth my magic, but I can’t reach it. Caleb disappears from my view, but through our bond, I can feel how angry he is, but also his determination to have the Queen pleased. If he touches her, when he touches her, I will feel everything, and it will kill me slowly. I have to find a way to free my magic!

The Queen grabs my chin with strong fingers, and I spit at her. “Touch just one strand of Caleb’s hair, and I will make your brain melt out of your ears!” I vow to her.

She slaps me before studying me silently for a long moment, a time in which I only hear the grunts of pain coming from the other Alpha as the Omegas are still assaulting him.

“Who are your parents?” the Queen asks me.

“What do you care?” I snarl at her, my heart pounding hard in my chest, but I won’t give her the satisfaction of showing how scared I am of her.

“Answer, or I will have the pet perform during tonight’s festivity!” she snarls, her nails digging into my flesh, making me bleed. She inhales deeply, takes her hand to her mouth, and licks her nails. And she laughs. “I must say, the Oracle did a good job hiding you from me.” She grabs a few strands of my hair from the same side Sinn pulled earlier and looks at it. I try not to wince, but I fail because she yanks as hard as Sinn. “For the past fifteen years, I have been looking for females with black hair, but I never thought the Oracle would use a spell to change your hair color permanently.”

I forget to breathe. On the night my parents died, my hair changed from black to red, or that’s what I have been told. “What are you talking about?”

The Queen runs a finger along my cheek, takes it to her mouth, and sucks the blood from it. “Interesting, a forbidden spell was used to make you pregnant. I wonder what the Oracle thought she would achieve by using that spell on you.” The voice I heard inside my head is responsible for my baby. I wonder who the Oracle is and about the spell she used on me to get me pregnant with Caleb’s baby. “What’s your name?” she purrs.

“Death! Because I will be the one to kill you!”

She laughs. “I can’t have you call that! How about I call you Blood because your blood is the key to opening the portal?”

I have a hard time breathing. “I don’t understand.”

“My dear Blood, haven’t you wondered why your parents died that night? Or why have you been born during a moonless night? It was so dark that night; the black witches danced under the sky calling the one that had been banished from this world to an empty realm a long time ago.”

“The Demon King,” I breathe.

“Him! You see, back when the Paranormal world was still at war, a witch, a dragon, a werewolf, an angel, and a fay met under a moonless sky and forged a portal to connect our world with an empty one. The werewolf, dragon, angel, and the fay gave up their lives so that the portal could be established. But do you know what the role of the witch?” I shake my head. “She was a black witch, and she could control not only the Fire and create small portals between worlds, but her blood was from a long line of black witches. But even if she was a black witch, she used her magic for good things, not for evil. Her blood activated the portal. For years, the Demon King ravaged the Earth. The angels, with the help of the Alpha and the Luna Supreme of that time, captured the Demon King and sent him to the empty realm together with his warriors. To ensure no one could open the portal again, the angels had the black witch killed. Little did they know she had a baby girl with her human mate. Sensing she would be killed, the witch left her baby with a powerful warlock.”

Oh, gods! Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

“When the daughter of the black witch became an adult, she married the son of the warlock and had a daughter that could summon the Fire and stop time. Her name was Fiona. Do you know who Fiona was?”

“Not your mother, for sure!” I mutter.

The Queen slaps me again before grabbing my face.

“She was one of the four witches that married Alphas to end the war between the witches and the werewolves. And you have her blood.”

The room spins with me, and no matter how much I try, I feel as if I can’t breathe.

“I tried to open that portal using the blood of many pets, but your blood is the key!” the Queen says before sticking her fangs into my neck and drinking my blood.

It hurts, but I try not to say a word while she feeds from me.

‘Little black witch,’ that’s what Jordan used to call me. Did he know? And the pack—oh, Goddess—everyone was right. I am cursed because of my blood.

“I won’t help you!” I say when she stops and removes her fangs from my neck. A few drops of blood run down my skin, and she catches them with her tongue.

The Queen laughs. “Fight me, and I will remove that baby from your womb!”

Even if I can’t access my magic, I can still feel my Fire around the baby, keeping him safe from harm. I snarl and try to fight, but the blood loss and the gas have weakened me.

“You can’t harm my baby! I won’t let you!” I snarl.

“With the help of the black witches, I can do anything. Wouldn’t it be a shame to have you harmed or killed after everything your father did to keep you safe?”

I blink. “What did you say about my father?”

“That is a story for another day!” she replies and leans on her throne.

I stand, my knees shaking. “Tell me, you fucking leech!”

The Queen grabs me by my neck. “Each time you act like this, I will have the pet punished!” I grit my teeth because I don’t want Caleb to be punished because of me. She snaps her fingers, and two of her knights come forward. “Take her to a cell! Make sure everyone knows I don’t want her touched until we prepare everything for the ritual!”

As I am being taken away, I can’t stop thinking about Caleb or what the Queen said to me.

She is going to use me to open the portal. I must find a way to escape this hellish place together with Caleb.

What will she do to him?


**Caleb**


While I am dragged into the Leech Queen’s room, I try to summon my magic or find a way to reach Raven, but they used so much gas on me that I am too weak to access my Ice, and Raven is blocked by a wall of black magic.

I am shoved into the Leech Queen’s room, and I close my eyes, because everything I tried so hard to forget erupts in my mind. The two vampires take me to the bathroom and scrub every inch of my body because the fucking Leech Queen hates when her pets are filthy or smell like another female. When I am clean, they take care of my wounds, stopping the bleeding.

Afterward, I am given a pair of pants and chained next to the bed. While I wait for the Leech Queen to come and treat me like her whore, I feel Red’s  hurt through our bond. The gas blocked almost everything except our bond. The connection is weak, but it is there. I pull on the chain, but the vampires use more gas on me before leaving me alone, and the chain is made of pure silver. No matter how much I try, I can’t free myself. The silver making me as weak as a human.

Oh, Goddess, Red will feel each time I will have to serve the fucking Leech. How will she ever forgive me for putting her in danger? For not keeping her and the baby safe? For touching another?

Goddess! How I hate myself. Red deserves a stronger soulmate than me. Someone who can keep her safe from any harm.

I thought I was prepared for another encounter with Sinn, and from the day Tatiana saved me, I have been taking a small portion of wolfsbane each day, but I did not expect the gas.

The Leech enters her bedroom a few hours later and looks at me with a face I hate so much. She has a whip with three tails in her hand. Each tail ends with a claw made from silver.

“You thought you could escape me?” she asks me. “Look at me when I talk to you!” She almost screams while she uses the whip on me. “I will make you beg for my forgiveness! After you fuck me for hours, I will have you taken to the Court and serve during the festivity.”

“How is my female?” I ask, not caring about anything else except Red and the baby.

The Leech Queen sees my mating mark and smirks. “Safe, for now. But if you think of her while you are fucking me, I will have her fucked in front of the Court while I make you watch. Once everyone has a turn with her, I will kill her! Do you understand, pet?”

I nod, and she takes off her clothes and has me standing. She bites the place Red marked, sucking my blood, and it hurts like fucking hell. My legs buck. I close my eyes, thinking of Red and her lips on me, and wait for the pain to fade away.

While I am inside her, I try to think of anything but what I am doing and with whom. I think she knows because she has me in her bed until it is time to go to the festivity. I am fucked and passed around like the favorite whore of the Vampire Court until morning comes.

And so the nightmare starts anew.

*Hi! This chapter ends the first part of the book. I will continue to update as I did before, so no need to wait for new chapters.*