Adriana
Blood.
It was the first thing Adriana could remember, the first thing she could smell and taste as she slowly awoke. Her body ached all over, her neck still stung from whatever Norman had injected her with, and she was freezing cold in Xander’s joggers and t-shirt.
Xander.
She had no idea if he was okay, had no idea if he had even woken up, or if he was here with her.
She opened her eyes and lifted herself off the cold floor, her head throbbing with every movement. It was dark—so dark she struggled to see in front of her, even with her Lamia eyesight.She could hear odd sounds of panting and crying all around her, and the sweet smell of blood grew stronger as she fully woke up.
She reached in front of her to guide her steps, only for her fingers to wrap around cool, metal bars. She was in a cage.
Adriana began to panic, her breathing erratic as she felt around the cage for a faulty bar, a dodgy padlock, any way she could escape. But there was none, this cage had been built for something strong, much stronger than a second generation Lamia.
She conjured a small ball of fire in her palm, lifting it in front of her to examine the cage, only to be met with a set of huge snapping teeth lunging towards her through the bars. A Lupus.
She fell back in shock, her elbows taking the brunt of her fall against the hard ground, the flames diminishing in her hand and leaving her in the darkness once again. The darkness was good. The Lupus might be in a weakened state, too, and not be able to see her—she hoped so, at least.
Suddenly, a loud creak echoed through the room as a door was opened. She could hear heavy footsteps walking down a set of stairs before coming to a stop a few feet from her.
A light switched on, a bright bulb hanging from the centre of the room that cast an ugly white glow across the basement. She squinted for a moment, waiting for her eyes to adjust, and looked up to Norman Corley’s smiling face.
“Good evening, everyone!” he yelled, his thumbs tucked in his waistcoat pockets as he strolled around the room. “I hope you all slept well, we’ve got a big night ahead after all. It's a full house for a full moon!”
Adriana’s eyes followed his movements, only allowing herself small glances at the rows of cages like hers that housed the other victims. Five of them were Lupi, she could tell by the way they had all begun to shift or, in the case of her neighbour, had already fully shifted into their wolf form. She saw two Lamiae incages furthest from hers, a woman and a man, their eyes black and fangs sharp as they hissed and growled at Norman. They looked starved; their skin was far too pale, and their black eyes seemed too big for their faces. And then, to Adriana’s horror, she saw two mortals huddled in a cage across from her.
They appeared to be mother and son, judging from the way the woman was holding the younger boy and shielding his body with her own. Adriana’s jaw clenched as Norman stopped in front of them, running his talons against the bars as he peered down at them.
“Well, I don’t think you two are going to last much longer. I mean have you seen how hungry they all are?” he laughed, gesturing towards the snarling Lupi and drooling Lamiae.
“Leave them alone.”
Norman turned his head to look at Adriana, his brow furrowing at the cold threat in her tone, before being replaced with a cocky smile as he sauntered over to her cage.
“Ah, my star of the show awakens. The Lamia Incantrix. You’ve been out for some time,Little Miss Blood Witch,” he sang in a condescending tone. “It’s amazing what Lupus venom can do when injected into a Lamia’s bloodstream.”
Adriana noticed the two humans stare at her with a mixture of wonder and fear. She tried to convey to them through her eyes that she was not a threat to them, that she would get them out of here, but she knew it wouldn’t matter. She would be feared by everyone, and that made her a threat to the Lupi and Lamiae around her.
Norman shook his head at her and tutted, “My brother, so high and mighty, claiming he had never turned anyone at all. What a load of bullshit, just look at you! You’re two monsters in one.”
She flinched at his words, not wanting to listen to the truth. But he was right. Of course, he was right.
“But enough of the small talk,” Norman said, as dozens of guards came down the stairs, armed with stun batons. “It’s time to put on a show. You can introduce yourselves to one another when we get upstairs.”
Adriana had been too busy listening to Norman to notice one of the guards had snuck behind her cage and struck her body with one of the batons. She hissed as a sharp wave of electricity coursed through her, her body freezing for just long enough for her cage door to be wrenched open and some sort of collar to be clasped round her neck.
She lunged for the guard who had collared her but her body dropped to the floor as another electric shock wracked through her, this time from the collar itself. The aftershock caused her body to tremble and shake on the cold floor, rendering her useless to fight off the guards who dragged her out of her cage.
As she was hauled up the stairs by her hair, she saw every other prisoner had been beaten and collared before they were dragged up with her. She kicked and spat at the guards but every time she lashed out, her collar would shock her again. She could feel how sore her body was already; her muscles fiercely ached and the skin on her neck was raw. Any attempt to tap into her Elemental magic fell short—she wasn't able to control the electricity, not in her state.
The spasms in her muscles had only just started to calm when she was thrown through a door and landed on a sandy floor. The electric shocks had made her nauseous and she began to heave on all fours as all the other prisoners were thrown to the ground with her. At the sound of the door closing, she looked up and realised she was in a huge circular cage, with over a hundred shouting Liberators staring down at them through the bars that lined the pit.
As her gaze wandered around the onlookers, she saw a raised platform opposite the door they’d been thrown through, wherea large wooden chair that resembled a throne sat. And on top of that throne, slouched a middle-aged man in a cream suit with thin greying hair, sickly pale skin, and cold blue eyes. Lucas Rook, leader of the Liberators.
He stared down at her as Norman appeared by his side and whispered into his ear, his piercing eyes roaming the Nocte brandings on her arms. Shifting in his chair to sit up straight, his belly sagged over the waistband of his trousers, stretching the buttons of his shirt. A smile spread across his face and Adriana saw the understanding in it as he realised what she was: Alexander Duran's creation.
Adriana’s stare broke as the already turned Lupus lunged for one of the Lamiae, only for their collar to be activated again and send a deadly voltage through their body. It should have killed them; it would have if they hadn’t already turned.
