But they could be killed.
She was Magnus’ lover.
I was his killer.
The vampire shook me like a ragdoll, and my hair came forward to cover her arm. She scowled. "I should pluck out every last one of your hairs, trace your veins with a knife. If I could cut out your heart, I would eat it in front of Maxwell if I could, but that pathetic excuse of a vampire doesn't care enough about you to even show up. I guess he doesn't care about you all that much. A vampire and a human just don't belong together. Not as man and wife. A vampire needs a true woman—"
“If I’m not a true woman,” I interrupted, “then what am I? Oh, I know. A vampire killer.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back because that had been the precisely wrong thing to say. Her face turned an interesting shade of purple. Huh. I didn’t realize that was possible for a vampire.
She grabbed my hair and slammed the side of my head into the stone wall. I could feel liquid run down the side of my face.
“That all you got?” I asked. “I mean, I killed your lover. You don’t want to go easy on me.”
She opened her mouth and bared her fangs, but she didn’t move to bite me. No, she slowly closed her mouth.
“You want me to kill you,” she said slowly. All of a sudden, her mouth looked almost too small. Had her fangs enlarged?
I forced my eyes to grow wet, which wasn't all that difficult. All I had to do was think about those I missed, those I had let down, those who had been buried because of me.
“I… I can’t do this anymore,” I mumbled. “I… I didn’t mean… I’ve always loved vampires. My entire life! I always wanted one to bite me, to love me. But then when Magnus bit me, he scared me. I… I… I didn’t know what I did. I didn’t mean to kill him! I just wanted to stop, but… he… He’s not dead. I see him in my dreams. He… He bites me all over, rips off my limbs… It’s terrible. Please, please, just… I don’t deserve to live. I thought… I thought Magnus could make me whole, but… I can’t stop my mind. I can’t stop feeling guilty. I… I just want to die.”
“You can’t,” the vampire spat out. “I’m glad Magnus has found a way to exact revenge, but you deserve to feel nothing but fear and guilt. You’re pathetic, a disgrace, an abomination. You’re a monster, and if I could rip you limb from limb, I would. I would do it gladly. I would feast on your bones and drain you dry, leaving you just enough blood so you won’t die so I can do it again and again.”
“Go ahead,” I said, weeping openly. “Go ahead and kill me.”
The vampire's nostrils flared. I could tell she wanted to give in to her rage. She wanted to end me so very badly, but Viktor had some kind of hold over her because she would not give in.
I wasn’t the weak one.
She was.
I lifted my head and stopped crying on a dime. Coldly, I shook my head, my lips twisted into a sneer.
“You’re pathetic,” I snapped. “You won’t even avenge Magnus. How could you claim to have loved him?”
“You know nothing—”
“I know that I will be taken to Viktor.”
“Not now.”
“Yes, now,” I challenge.
Mocking laughter exploded all around me, but it did not come from her or from anywhere inside the cell.
As much as I wanted to approach the cell door and peer out to see if Viktor was finally nearby, I wasn’t about to turn my back on the vampire I had riled up. I’d hoped to trick her into divulging useful intel, but so far, she hadn’t.
The vampire breathed heavily. I could see anger and hatred in her eyes, but she wouldn’t act on them.
Like I said. Pathetic. If I stood in front of the one who had killed Maxwell, I would kill them myself or else die trying.
Viktor. He was going to try his damnedest to be the one to kill Maxwell, but if I had my way, it wouldn’t come to that.
I would be the one to kill Viktor as I had already killed his son.
And the world would be better off. As much as I had lived my entire life with Maxwell on a pedestal, I knew all along that not all vampires were as good or kind or giving. Even though Maxwell hadn’t been willing to be everything I needed seven years ago, he had still been there for my family, for my sister.
Right up until she died.
I stared down the vampire, waiting for her to move. Her arm lifted, and she snapped her fingers.
The guard approached. “She hasn’t eaten a morsel.”
“Not one bite?” the vampire cooed. “Aren’t you hungry? I would’ve thought all of that guilt eating away at you would have given you quite the appetite.”
The vampire stalked over to the bars and grabbed the tray from the guard. She returned to stand in front of me.
“You must eat,” she dictated.
“I don’t want—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you want.”
She yanked off a piece of bread. At least it didn’t look moldy, and it didn’t seem as if this food smelled as badly as the rest, but I didn’t want to eat it. I wanted nothing the lot of them provided. Food from Viktor? No thank you.
“I don’t need to physically torture you,” the vampire said haughtily. “Viktor will kill Maxwell in front of you. What more could I ask for? I could bash your head in until you’re a vegetable, but what would be the fun in that? Viktor granted me access to you, even though I knew he didn’t want me to kill you, and I can see why. You’re going to pay for what you did,
