The leader of the secondhouse was a willowy female. She had dark blond curls that fell around her face.She was a lot taller than my five feet seven and looked extra cheerleader cute,even though she was most probably deadlier than cancer.
She was scolding Ryder.“You have one of my vampires in the pit who has had an unnecessarily longsentence. A month for biting an ash?” Her tone indicated that this was barelyeven a crime at all.
Ryder stood taller, hisheight giving him domination advantage over her. “A month for attacking andfeeding off of a female ash.”
The Quorum members lookedat me quickly before turning away again.
“Let him go, he hasserved enough time,” said the dour and jowly male leader of the third house,before turning with cheer-vamp and leaving.
As he watched theirretreating backs, Ryder’s face indicated that he wanted to beat the Quorum intosubmission, but instead he just walked over to Kyle and me.
“Well, duty calls,” Rydersaid.
Kyle grabbed my hand.“Wanna see the pit?”
Ryder shot him a glare,but before he could protest I nodded. I totally wanted to know what thisinfamous pit was.
Ryder shook his head,looking resigned. “It’s not going to be pretty, and starved vampires are prettydeadly. But if you want to come along…”
Even with our talkoutside, I knew it was going to take him some time to stop treating me like a delicateflower and realize I was just as tough as most of the ash. Sure, I had boobs,but that only increased my power.
We all walked to the lineof elevators. I paused, expecting we would take them down into the crater ofhell or something. I mean, where else would the pit be? So I was a littlesurprised when instead of going to the normal silver elevators, we went aroundthe corner, and there, resting in a small alcove, was an elevator with a reddoor. I had never seen it before in all my time at the Hive. It was perfectlyhidden away. Ryder and Kyle put their thumbs on a keypad and the elevatorbeeped and flared to life. Whoa, legit super-secret. My stomach knotted in anxietyand excitement.
The doors opened and westepped inside. One button on the panel, labeled “pit.” Ryder hit it and theelevator made its way down.
“So,” I asked, “the pitis what exactly?”
Ryder looked at me,seemingly thinking about his answer. “It’s the Hive’s version of jail.”
Kyle snorted. “More likea mixture of, jail, solitary confinement, and torture.”
Ryder and Kyle exchangeda grin. I felt a moment of queasiness at the mental images those wordsprovoked. I must have paled, because Ryder stepped a little closer to me, hisheat warming my cool limbs.
“You can still back out,”he said.
I swallowed down my fearand stood taller, squaring my shoulders. “I’m fine.”
The slightest of smilestipped up the corner of his lips. Nice to know I could amuse him.
The elevator ground to ahalt and opened to reveal a long hallway. Before we even stepped out I was hitwith a wall of stench. It immediately had me gagging. Since becoming an ash I’dlearned to separate out various smells, and right now I was surrounded byblood, sweat, and urine – plus a completely disgusting concoction of bodilyfluids. To add extra ambiance to the stink room, there were distant but drawnout screams echoing across the stone chamber.
We walked slowly down thehall to a man sitting behind a reception desk. He was a vamp, with a hard,lined face, and gray hair. Vamps didn’t age, so he must have been infected atan older age. This is where the Hive stuck old people, I guessed.
“Hey, Marty.”
Ryder shook his hand andthe man nodded, standing swiftly, looking surprised. “You bringing her in?”
Ryder shot me a sideglance before chuckling, “No, she’s training. I’m here to release Vincent Crowearly. Quorum’s orders.”
Marty nodded. “Good thingtoo. He’s been going crazy, screaming about humans and rejecting blood.”
Ryder frowned. “He hasn’tbeen here long enough to do that much damage.”
The old vampire shrugged.“Everyone’s different. The pit wears us all down. He’s in cell 56H.” He turnedto a machine and ran Ryder’s card key through it. Once we had clearance, thethree of us stepped further into the pit, leaving Marty behind.
We walked down a seriesof twists and turns before stopping at a small door marked 56H. The screamingwas much louder now, coming in from all directions. It was especially strongfrom inside Vincent’s room.
I started todifferentiate the sounds out, and realized he was screaming words.
