Humbled by his words, I put my hand on his shoulder. “I was wrong about you, Kayden. I’m sorry.”
He nodded and went to the door to see if the hallway was free. Stepping outside the door, he motioned for me to follow. Instead of heading towards the dorms, he turned right towards the maintenance area. I ducked under the low hanging pipes and scooted inside the laundry room.
I realized too late that Kayden might be leading me to my doom, though I figured that killing me while strapped down would have been easier than taking me into a dark room to kill me.
Kayden picked up a folded school uniform and tossed it to me. “I’m sure you’re tired of being half naked.”
Grinning, I nodded and removed my torn clothes. He turned his back to give me some privacy.
“You know what will happen if they find out you helped me, right?”
He sighed. “You have no idea what it’s like to be a Bitten. You call me a Night Slave, but have you ever stopped to consider what that means? I am bound to the night, bound to the taste of blood and a lesser creature in the eyes of the purebred. I never asked for this life, unlike those who courted death and begged to be immortal. For the first time since becoming a vampire, my fate is my own. If I die doing what I believe is right, then I accept it.”
Though I had never been friends with a Bitten, I saw how they were mistreated. “I’m sorry that you were turned against your will. The choice should have been yours. I can’t begin to understand what you go through on a daily basis, but are you sure you’re ready to accept the consequences of helping me?”
The sorrow in his eyes disappeared and was replaced with a rage unlike anything I had ever seen. He shrugged off his blazer and pulled at the buttons on his shirt. Freeing himself, he slowly turned so that I could see his entire chest and back. What I saw made my stomach churn. Bite marks, burns, scars and welts covered most of his upper body. Bitten vampires healed slower than purebreds but they still healed. The damage inflicted upon him must have happened within the last day, which meant that he was constantly tortured.
Without thinking, I reached out to touch a bite mark on his stomach but he recoiled from me. “Who did this to you?”
He looked down at the marks and frowned. “Wesling likes to bite me as a reminder that she can do as she wishes to me. Adriel takes out his frustrations on me all the time. When he has a bad day, he likes to whip me. The rest of the bruises are from being hit in the hallway, beaten in the showers or after lights out. The Bitten are constantly tormented.”
I had no idea that he’d suffered this kind of abuse daily. I felt guilty for calling him and the others names. Who was I to talk down to anyone?
“Kayden, I swear that I will never call you a Night Slave again. I’m sorry that I was too self-absorbed not to understand your plight sooner. Though the covens treat the Bitten as lesser beings, it doesn’t make it right. No one should have to suffer as you have.” I offered him my hand as a way of apologizing.
He stared at my hand for a long moment before slowly reaching to touch my fingers. “Thank you, Ceyla. I’m sorry for the things I’ve said to you. I’m also sorry for asking to be part of your coven. It wasn’t within my right to do so.”
I took his hand in mine. “I told you that I wanted loyalty, yet I wasn’t willing to pledge my loyalty to you in return. I saw you as a thing instead of a person. If I want to revive my coven, I need to be better than the Mielcareks, better than my parents were.” Seeing the wounds on his body made me realize that covens needed to care for their people, not abuse them to achieve their goals.
His eyes lit up as I spoke. “Does this mean that you’ve changed your opinion of the Bitten?”
I slowly nodded. “Yes, though it might make it more difficult to convince the purebreds to join my suicide mission.”
He smiled and squeezed my hand. “Having the support of the Bitten is a powerful thing. None of the covens have ever understood our value beyond being their slave labor. If you are truly willing to accept us into the fold, we will be loyal until our deaths.”
I stepped closer and put my hand on his smooth cheek. He sighed and pressed his face into my palm. “I promise to do what I can to help you and the others, though I can barely get through the day without being beaten myself.”
He turned his head and kissed my palm. “I would fall upon my knees and swear my loyalty just to know that you cared about me.”
My knees were weak as I looked at his expectant face. It was then that I realized what he was trying to tell me. “You were never human; you were an incubus before you were turned. That’s why I can’t stop thinking about you and why I can’t name the color blue of your eyes. You entrance me whenever I
