A Cursed Embrace

decided not to fight. No, not yet. I needed to conserve my remaining energy. If Emme was right, I’d get my strength back somehow.

Misha, Misha, where are you?

Even as I called Misha, I thought of Aric, hoping he and the other wolves were tracking us. The thought of what might happen in the meantime, though, made me panic, so I willed myself to relax. My sisters needed me, and I needed a plan.

I took in my surroundings, trying to figure out where the hell we were. Before us stood an imposing building resembling a castle, its high walls and towers fashioned from tan and gray brick. At first, I thought we were someplace foreign, until a large sign in front of the building gave away our exact location.

The Old Idaho Penitentiary

Tours Sunday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

I focused hard on the sign and thought of Misha, hoping our call would somehow transfer the information.

I hadn’t concentrated long before our demon captors hauled us through the gate and into a large courtyard where a slew of Tribesmen awaited us. The courtyard mimicked a well-manicured and surprisingly pretty park, unlike the lockdown unit we entered next.

Tribesmen crammed the unit. The former prison had become their lair. As we were dragged through, weres and vampires catcalled and whistled while demons greedily licked their fangs. They taunted in an obvious attempt to frighten us. It worked. I tried to edge away from their unnerving stares only to encounter disturbing visions that sent my heart fluttering into a frenzy.

Hundreds of cells, each housing one nightmare after the next, lined the three-story-high enclosure. Naked women in varying stages of pregnancy crammed several cells nearest to us. A few of these broken souls curled on the filthy floor, quiet and still, reeking of urine and feces. Others cackled in hysteria, clawing at their bodies or pounding their heads viciously against the cinder block walls. Worse yet were the parasites that crawled beneath the surface of their bellies. I shuddered, understanding then what had become of the women who’d disappeared. The slaughtered men had gotten off easy.

Emme and Shayna shut their eyes, but I couldn’t do the same. I needed to know everything we faced. But then I saw her. The awkward young woman from the club the night we were attacked. The one ignored by the males who’d flirted with her friends. My God, I hadn’t realized she’d been one of those missing. I searched her face for any signs of verve or hope. Only to have her dead eyes stare past me, an empty shell of what once held promise.

The demon wrenched me away before I could pledge to help her. But as the being stealing her life squirmed the length of her protruding stomach, I knew nothing could spare her now.

About halfway down the cement corridor, the Tribesmen stopped unexpectedly. Inside the adjacent cell lay a pregnant woman screaming and convulsing violently. It was hard to watch the suffering, mostly because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

What happened next, though, proved more than I could bear. The woman’s stomach erupted like a bloody volcano, splattering the paint-chipped bars and cracked floor with nauseating fluid. From her remains, a demon child’s head emerged. His clawed hands carved open the rest of her body. His tongue eagerly lapped the blood caking his face. Once free, he jumped against the bars, making the vampire and werebear holding me shudder. They gagged as his revolting and putrid-smelling form writhed next to us. I vomited uncontrollably, unable to take the gore.

One of the larger demons opened the cage and grabbed the newborn by the throat. He tossed him in the adjacent cell, then flung the woman’s lifeless body into the heap. That cell housed a flock of them, happily munching away on what remained of their mothers.

The next block contained about thirty vampires in the late phases of bloodlust, chained at their necks and waists to the rear walls. Judging by their size and degree of starvation, the bars alone wouldn’t have held them. As we passed, it became apparent that even the chains weren’t enough. One of the bloodlusters broke free and took hold of the werebear through the bars. The bloodluster tore into the bear’s throat and drained him in a matter of seconds.

A horde of demon children serving as guards tried to contain her as the others hauled ass to our final destination. A vampire yanked open a large metal door, with a tiny window, leading to the prison’s former death row. Death row. Awesome. Irony had a way of spitting in my face. I only wished I could punch back.

Only four cells and a short hallway composed death row. Our captors shoved us into one cell together, but they didn’t shut the barred door right away. One of the werewolves lugged me to my feet by the front of my T- shirt. He sniffed my neck in a way that made my stomach roil.

“Leave her alone!” Shayna screamed.

“No! Please no!” Emme begged.

I was too scared to move.

“What are you doing, Bryan?” one of the vamps asked.

The wolf’s breath was hot and nasty. “I want to taste Aric’s whore.”

Terror gripped me when he licked my neck, and I began to hyperventilate. But when he groped my breasts, my fear turned to rage. I swore once I’d never let anyone hurt me that way again, so I leaned back and slammed my head hard into his face.

Blood spurted from his nose like a jet stream. His fist drew back, but my dulled reflexes slowed my response. His blow launched me into the cinder block wall, where stars exploded in my vision and my body collapsed like sand.

A sick throbbing sound pulsated behind my left ear before a rush of fluid seeped out. I tried to stand when I saw him coming, only to immediately topple over. Shayna and Emme scrambled in front of me in a pathetic attempt to shield me. But I knew they were powerless to stop him.

Just when I thought he would kill us, the vampire twisted the were’s arm behind his back and pulled him away. “Tribemaster wants them alive,” he told the were.

The were growled. “That whore is mine! No one hits me and lives.”

The vampire rolled his eyes. “Relax, idiot, you’re already healing. Besides, do you really want to be fed to the demons over this stupid bitch?”

The were stormed away, foaming at the mouth and swearing. The threat of death by hungry demons proved a suitable deterrent. The others followed, slamming the metal door behind them.

The bleakness of our situation hit Emme and Shayna all at once. They collapsed against each other and sobbed. The room swayed and turned repulsing colors, yet my sisters’ despair compelled me to gather my senses.

I scooted toward them, although my body begged me not to move. “I have a plan.”

“What?” Shayna stammered.

“We’re going to cut these ropes. Shayna, you have to sharpen something—anything—no matter how small.”

Shayna let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know if I can. I’m so busted up.”

“Emme suspended Taran in midair after being shot. You can do this. I know you can. Start looking for anything you might be able to transform.” I turned to Emme, sounding more optimistic than I felt. “Can you use your force to manipulate the locking mechanism?”

“I’ll try.” She shook her head. “But, Celia, what good will that do? There are hundreds of Tribesmen and only three of us. We’ll be slaughtered.”

“There won’t be just three of us, Emme.” I swallowed more pooling liquid in my mouth. “You see, we’re going to release the infected vampires.”

CHAPTER 30