A few days passed while Danica sat in prison. It felt like a few years.
Cell Block D12 was large, grimy and dank. Gritty moisture dripped from the steel ceiling, and the heat was strangling. Drifts of metal debris floated through the air like laggard metal insects. F lickering thaumaturgic lamps cast dim illumination, but the corners and recesses of the chamber were drowned in shadow.
There was no segregation of the prisoners — Cell Block D 12, like every cell block in Black Scar, was just a big open room. There were no beds, just blankets, and most of those blankets were soiled and rancid. Food was provided at irregular intervals through grooved metal pipes that churned out sloppy gruel into large vats, and water was supplied through large faucets. There were a half-dozen of each food and water stations, and they were often claimed by the strongest inmates.
There were roughly 50 inmates per cell block. Black Scar prison housed nearly 3,000 prisoners, and it brought in more every day, because they were always running out.
Life for women in Black Scar was particularly brutal. But Black and Cole could both handle themselves, and they hoped that if they stuck together they’d be able to fend off any would-be rapists. T hey slept in shifts, and they also had their new “friend” Gath to watch their backs, but Black was n’t about to rely on him very much at all.
The air tasted like sweat and urine. Every now and again the distant doors to the cell block slid open a nd prisoners were either deposited or extra cted, but for the most part the metal chamber remained sealed, and the grimy population was left to fend for itself.
The inmates wore sodden clothes and crumbling shoes, and their skin was covere d in grey and green grime. Cell Block D12 was the size of a small barn. F ights frequently broke out, and they often ended with someone dead. Some of the inmates amused themselves and staged contests by throwing their shoes, steel rivets they ripped from the walls, or even severed fingers or toes. Whoever was most accurate or made the most distance won, which didn’t mean much except that no one was bored for a few minutes while the game was being played. Even then, most of the games ended in brawls.
They hung at the edge of barbarism. It never t oo k long for some prisoners to lose their minds and devolve into utter madness, if they weren’t mad already upon arriving at the prison. Most of the inmates in Cell Block D12 were human, but there were a few prisoners of other races: Vuul, Gorgoloth, Gol, and even a Doj, who held unquestioned dominion over a good portion of the water supply.
Black sat with her back ag ainst the wall. Sweat ran down her face, and her body was so covered in filth she felt sure she’d never get clean. Her bones ached, and her vision faded in and out. She hadn’t slept much since they’d arrived.
She and Cole occupied a far corner of the room opposite the doors. Dank water dripped down from the ceiling and formed a perimeter around their refuge of dry steel and dar k rubbish. The flickering green lamps didn’t penetrate the gloom in the ir corner, which allowed them to stay hidden in darkness.
Cole was asleep and wrapped in one of the few blankets they’d been able to get their hands on. The two of them had managed to avoid drawing too much attention. Part of the reason was because Cole had told the wiry Gath that both she and Black would sleep with him if he kept them well-stocked with food and water and gave them time to recover their strength. Somehow he’d fallen for it.
Thank God men are really stupid, Danica thought.
Gath was actually fairly efficient at providing sustenance for them, and he was good at keeping their existence a secret. He seemed connected, capable of getting goods and information from others, which was of vital importance to surviving in Black Scar.
All things considered, we’re doing okay. I figured we’d have been raped ten times over and dead by now. Which I’m sure would just thrill the shit out of Rake.
Rake. She couldn’t believe he’d whored out t he Revenger’s services to Koth, of all places. Selling prisoners to the Ebon Cities had been part of the plan from the very start, but for Rake to actively throw his lot in with the renegade necropolis of Koth meant he’d grown dangerously ambitious, and had bigger plans than Danica had ever given him credit for.
The alliance between Koth and T he Revengers didn’t bode well for anyone. They wouldn’t have enough power to directly challenge either the Southern Claw or the Ebon Cities, but they would still be a force to be reckoned with. And if they decided to join forces with a third party — like, say, the city-state of Fane, which she and the others had recently learned sought independence from the Southern Claw — the y could form a new superpower, a new faction in a world already torn a part by conflict.
We’d be screwed. That’s all there is to it. As it is, humans are barely holding their own. A third side in the war would tear everything apart.
And what did they want with Cross? Her guts twisted with worry every time she thought about him. Rake had clearly wanted Eric from the beginning — searching for him was what they ’d really been doing in Blacksand all along. Whatever they had planned for him probably had something to do with Soulrazor/Avenger, which was just more bad news.
Were they going to use him? Extract something from his mind? Turn him into a vampire?
God damn it. W e have to get out of here.
“Dani,” Cole said from out of the darkness behind her. Black hadn’t heard her wake. “Are you okay?”
They hadn’t spoken much, and m ost of the words they’d exchanged had been brief and necessary to their survival. None of what they’d said to each other had anything to do with them.
“No,” she said. “I’m not okay.”
A fight broke out between a dark-haired couple and a pair of Vuul savages. T he Vuul’s near-translucent skin pulsed with excited purple and black blood as they clawed for the female. The conflict didn’t last long. Black wanted to do something, but she’d just get herself and Cole killed in the process. Besides, it would be over soon enough.
“Dani…” Cole said.
“No. We’ll just get killed, too.” She looked away. A crowd soon surrounded the scene. The Vuul were amped up with adrenaline and violence. The woman would be dead before she suffered much. If Danica had access to her spirit, things would have been different, but he was still locked away. Sealed off, either by Narcosm their jailors slipped into the water or by some effect of the Fade, Raven.
“This is bullshit,” Cole said. Her dark hair was much shorter than the last time Danica had seen her. Black’s hair, conversely, was just past her shoulde rs, the longest she’d let it grow in a very long time. “It’s always like this, isn’t it?” Cole asked.
“What do you mean?” Danica asked. “Because you’re not talking about the living conditions here in Black Scar, are you? ”
“No,” Cole said. “I’m not.” S he sat up. They were side-byside in the darkness. The sound of water coming into the pipes drowned out the sound of murder taking place just a few yards away. “I’m talking about you.”
Danica looked at Cole. She still loved her. Lara had a brusque way about her, but something about her had always been so exotic, so intoxicating to Danica. She was a natural beauty, with her olive-colored skin and dark hair, her slight European accent and her glittering green eyes. And they’d had fun together. They drank and played and laughed, had sex deep in to the night and on in to the morning, stayed out on the town wreaking havoc and makin g other people smile, mov ed and dr a nk and danc ed and kiss ed and liv ed more than Danica had ever liv ed before. S he’d n ever felt happier anywhere else in her life, or with anyone else. Lara had shown her how to live again, and she hadn’t even really tried — just their being together had been enough.
At least for me.
“Why did you leave me?” she asked Cole.
Lara was taken aback for a moment. She looked down at the ground. Her tank top was soiled with grime and water, and her tattooed arms were covered in sweat.
“I don’t know, Danica,” she said with a sad smile. “I just…things were different. You always want ed to go further. You wanted t o keep partying, to liv e fast…”
“And you didn’t?” Black asked.
“No, Danica,” Lara said. She took a breath. “ I don’t know what I wanted… or what I want.” She looked at Danica, and her eyes welled with tears. “I don’t love you anymore. I’m sorry.”
Danica felt tears run down her face.
You bitch, she wanted to say. After all I’ve done for you. I betrayed T he Revengers and got a ranger killed. I
