“Their yearlings are precious to them. They won’t care about your affiliations. They’ll avenge you simply because you’re one of them.” He shrugged. “Even if they don’t, I’ll find some other way to jump start the war.”
I took that to mean he planned to kill me either way. So comforting.
“And the witch? Angela? What’s her role in all this?”
He gave a negligent shrug. “She helped me secure the draugr’s treasure and then use them to control him. That and a few spells were her sole contribution. It’ll be nice to kill her after all this is over. She’s a nice fuck, but her whining and clinginess is annoying. Perhaps I’ll kill her while fucking her. Send her off with a good memory.”
“Such a charmer,” I gritted out. Why wasn’t my body healing itself? The pain should be getting better, not worse.
“Don’t worry. This’ll be over for you soon enough.” He walked back towards the stairs, pausing at the bottom. “See that window? Dawn is just around the corner. I’m sure you can feel it. All you fang heads can.”
I searched inside. Sure enough. I felt that great ball of fire lurking just out of reach, sending electricity humming along my nerve endings.
“Sun won’t kill me,” I said.
Sondra had said it wouldn’t. Maybe give me a few burns and put me out for the count, but not kill me.
“Is that what you think?” He smirked. “Judging by the fact you haven’t begun healing, I’d guess your last meal was quite a few hours ago. Your youth and injuries will make the next few hours excruciatingly painful. I’d put your chances of survival at about fifty percent.” He shrugged. “Maybe less.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
VICTOR HEADED UP the stairs, leaving the draugr staring down at me with hungry eyes. There was no use in appealing to him. His eyes were glassy as if he’d sunk into his mind and acceded control to his instincts. His body was still moving, but nobody was home.
I didn’t want to believe Victor. Sondra had seemed much less concerned about the dangers of the sun for my kind. I hadn’t gotten the feeling she was lying, whereas Victor seemed to have made a practice of deceiving everyone near him. On the other hand, Sondra may not have counted on me being this hungry or injured.
Who to believe?
A few hours would answer that question.
“Shit.”
I jerked against my chains and whined at the sharp stabbing pain in my ribs. They weren’t budging, and my skin was beginning to tingle and itch where the chains were, even though cloth protected my skin from direct contact.
Silver. I’d bet my few remaining hours on it.
I settled back, resting my head on the cold concrete as I glanced around me. The window was at the top of the wall. It would be hours before direct sunlight even approached me. I wouldn’t be in real danger until midafternoon, when the sun was strongest and the angle was just right.
The only mercy is that I’d probably sleep through my incineration. Thank God for small favors.
Maybe if I could just edge over a few inches, it would be enough to take me away from the danger zone. It was a better plan than just lying here waiting for my impending doom.
Focusing on something helped stem some of the despair beginning to overwhelm me.
Alright, Aileen, focus on the things you can still do and then do them. No wallowing in the possibility of death.
Pep talk finished, I shifted my weight and scooted an inch closer to the wall. The pain in my side spread. Was internal bleeding a problem for vampires, or would my body eventually just reabsorb the blood?
How durable were we anyway? I was really hoping we edged closer to indestructible than destructible.
Otherwise, given how scrambled my insides felt, daylight would be the least of my concerns.
I made it about a foot before coming up short. I twisted, looking behind me. A chain trailed from me like a metallic tail. I followed the path to where the links wrapped around an iron pipe. I wasn’t going anywhere unless I rolled back over there and somehow broke the pipe and wrestled the chain free.
My head dropped. Just one thing after another.
Exhaustion wrapped cottony arms around my thoughts. Sun must be coming up. My eyes drooped. So tired.
The concrete was cool against my face. So comfortable. Maybe I’d just take a short nap. Yes, a nap would do me good. I could figure this out afterwards.
