When he found out, what kind of expression would he have?
Just imagining it made me happy.
I’d probably die soon after, but it might be worth it.
My eyes drifted closed, the pain invading my body stealing my attention for a short time. It was also how I realized I wasn’t just being held in place. Somehow, I was being absorbed. Slowly eaten as my blood and power were siphoned away.
A vampire tree. What kind of place was this?
A sharp blow to the opposite cheek where Vitus had hit me jolted me out of the semi unconscious state I’d fallen into.
“There you are,” Vitus drawled as I came awake with a gasp.
My breathing was labored as black ate at the edges of my vision, threatening to drag me back under.
Vitus flicked the tip of the root sticking out of my chest, the faint vibration sending a ping through my already damaged muscles. “Ah, ah, ah. There will be none of that. No matter what I do, you’ll remain awake and conscious.”
I tried not to let the fear I felt show.
This was how the king must break his enemies. Hours of torture without the reprieve of blissful rest. Probably lasting decades or centuries.
Vitus twinged the root again. “The bond between a sire and a yearling is a unique one. Both a source of power and weakness.”
I gritted my teeth, refusing to allow any sound to escape as the vampire rose to circle me.
“It’s such an intimate connection, allowing the master to feel everything their yearling does. Every bit of pain and sorrow. Happiness and pleasure. I have several theories about why that is, but I doubt you care.”
Another flick of the root. Another bolt of pain. This time with the sensation of threads spreading throughout my chest.
Tiny, tiny roots that allowed the tree to better absorb me.
“I, myself, only ever made one yearling because of the risks. Your sire killed him.”
Wrong. Alches. He was the one who’d eaten Vitus’s yearling.
“Right about now, Thomas is getting the feedback from your pain. He’ll feel the agony we inflict on you. The way your life ebbs away.” Vitus knelt in front of me. “Your suffering will drive him mad. And while he is lost in his rage, I will end him. Muiredach was right. This is much better than killing you quickly.”
“Spectacular plan. Really great. Did you come up with it all on your lonesome?”
It was pretty much an exact replica of what his yearling had attempted when he’d tried to take over Columbus.
It had failed then. It would fail again.
“I expected more from you,” I rasped.
He was the big bad, after all. The plague that had dogged Thomas and Liam for centuries. I’d anticipated something a little more mastermindy. Not a rip off of something that had already been done.
“Aren’t you the feisty one?”
Vitus stabbed his hand into my belly. A pained grunt was all I could manage.
There was no emotion in Vitus’s eyes as he stared at me. No satisfaction or pleasure at the delivery of pain. Not a speck of humanity. It was like the lights were on but nobody was home. Nobody human that is.
“Lilith was like that too. At least in the beginning,” Vitus whispered in my ear.
An agonized gasp left me as Vitus squeezed. Something inside my abdomen burst.
An organ.Myorgan.
