Once we reach the far end, there’s a set of unoccupied cells. Kole stops at the last one, and as he unlocks it, I see that two of the walls are coated in blood, pooling across the ground. He kicks a bucket full of water and tosses me a large scrubbing brush.
“Get to work.”
I bite back any snide remarks, knowing it’ll only amuse him, and dip the brush into the bucket. The prisoners eventually settle down, leaving the two of us in awkward silence, the only sound coming from the bristles scraping the bloody wall.
“So, what earns you a spot down here instead of in the pens?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder at Kole, who is leaned up against the wall with his arms and legs crossed.
“The truce that was made before the Last War has weakened over time. Now that most of the humans are long gone, the rift between our two species has grown. It’s in our nature to want to claim power. Over time, there have been groups that have formed with the intention of breaking the truce.” He nods to the occupied cells. “Once Thane gets the information he wants, they’ll be killed for their treachery.”
“And what happens if Thane can’t stop these groups from spreading?”
“War,” he answers simply, as if this isn’t the first time he’s thought about it.
I keep my attention trained on the wall as I process the information, trying to figure out if a war between the two species would be a good thing. The idea of there being only one species to worry about certainly sounds appealing. Maybe I’d be able to find somewhere to finally settle down. Somewhere free fromthe monsters that have plagued the world. Somewhere to call home.
Hope swells in my chest as thoughts of the future run wild in my mind. Thoughts that have no business existing while I’m still being held against my will. Even if a war did break out, it wouldn’t be like the Last War. Both sides won’t be easy to annihilate. It could take years for either species to eradicate the other.
A loud bang pulls me from my runaway thoughts, and I whirl around to find Kole standing on the outside of the cell with a sinister grin spread across his stupidly handsome face.
“What are you doing?” I screech, yanking at the cold bars.
He pulls the key from the lock and dangles it in front of his face. “Enjoy your new room, Grey.”
Before I’m able to get another word out, he shoots away, leaving me in a frozen stupor while I realize what my real punishment is.
Kole
Leaving her down there with those animals feels wrong. I know Thane is just trying to get her to submit, but the dungeons seem like a bit much. Whatever happened in that study between the two of them seems to have rattled him. It’s not like Thane to leave the punishing to someone else, but he made it clear he wanted no part of it.
When he asked me to take care of it, I was happy to oblige, but ever since I locked her in that cell, I’ve had a pit of guilt growing in my stomach. I shouldn’t even care, but it’s impossible not to when she looks at me with those mismatched eyes of hers.
I’m not sure how long this dungeon stint is going to last, but for the sake of my own guilty conscience, I’m hoping it’s not too long.
Chapter 17
It’s been ten days since Kole locked me in this shithole. The first few days, the other prisoners hissed threats and told me my kind was an abomination. But eventually, they settled down. In the end, we were all prisoners. Their hate for my kind didn’t matter down here. I wasn’t the one threatening them, and when one of the vampires was taken by two of Thane’s men, they were reminded of that fact. He hadn’t been brought back, and I know he won’t. He’d be killed whether or not he gave Thane any information, and part of me hoped he hadn’t.
Now that I’ve had time to think on it, war between the vampires and werewolves seems like a good idea to me. It would cut the population in half, and there would be one less species for me to fear. Well, that is, if I ever get out of here. Thane’s absence has given me hope that maybe his obsession with having a human pet was just a phase. Although, if that’s the case, then this cell might just become my permanent residence, and the idea of that might just be worse.
“Let’s go, Grey.”
I snap my head up to find Kieran on the other side of the metal bars. As much as I’ve hated being locked in this cell and fed only cans of tuna, I’m thankful Thane still allowed for showers. Ice cold showers, but at this point I can’t complain too much. He’s made it very clear that my situation can get worse, and I’m not stupid enough to challenge that. It’s bad enough having to pee in a bucket. If I didn’t get shower privileges every day, then I’d have to use the bucket for something else, and there’s really no coming back from that.
“You know the drill,” Kieran says, pushing me into the bedroom I used to be able to call my own. “You’ve got twenty minutes.”
Once I’ve showered and changed, I spend my last few minutes huddled in the warmth of the comforter I now long for. It’s stupid how fast I got used to such luxuries that I spent the past three years without. It’s like I’ve tasted chocolate, and now I can only have vegetables. It’s cruel.
Out of nowhere, Kieran bursts through the door, and I faceplant, trying to scramble out of bed.
“Oh, now that’s just pathetic,” he snickers from the doorway.
I pick myself and my pride up off the floor, avoiding eye contact. “You’re not the one living in a dungeon.”
“No,” he says, nodding for me to follow. “And you wouldn’t be either if you had just done what you were told.”
I scoff but remain silent because he’s right. I could be living it up with hot showers and warm meals, but even after spending time in the dungeons, I know if given the chance, I’d continue to disobey Thane. It’s in my nature to disregard authority, and ten days in a dark cell isn’t going to change that.
“Wait, aren’t you taking me back to the dungeons?” I ask when Kieran heads for the front door instead of the back one.
