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In a few minutes, we were about to kick some ass and take some names.

And my friend would be back home with us at last.

Chapter

Thirteen

The door to my cell banged open. Liaza stood there, freshly showered. His irises were ringed in crimson. He watched me for a long moment before stepping inside.

The vampire left my cell door open, one of the few times he’d done so since I’d been in this place. Why would he bother to close it? After today, unless a miracle happened, I wouldn’t have the willpower or energy to escape anymore.

After today, if things went like I expected them to, I planned to give up and let fate take me where it wanted me to go. I watched him—a predator under his civilized veneer.

His soap smelled like oranges. My stomach roiled as I stared at him.

I sat by the hole with the seed. The soil was still damp from the tea, but nothing miraculous happened overnight. My effort was solid, but science had been against me from the start.

A for effort. F for results.

Before Liaza reached me, I carefully adjusted my blanket to cover up most of the hole, leaving only a slight opening for light. Just in case.

“Are you ready?”

I scoffed. “For what?”

Liaza’s eyes flashed bright red. “Get up.”

I smiled. “I have a headache, darling.”

Will you walk into my parlor? said the spider to the fly.

My heart began to pound. A cold sweat beaded on the back of my neck. My breath turned ragged, and fear walked fingers down my spine. This was it.

I gathered that last minuscule kernel of magic and held it tight. Liaza strode over and yanked me up by my elbow so hard a bone in my forearm snapped. A cry of pain broke from my chest.

Something creaked inside my cell. The bed? We weren’t standing near it.

Liaza was too consumed with rage to hear anything other than my whimper of pain. His lips pulled back from his teeth. “You smell like a landfill,” he hissed. “But no matter. I can still scent the blood pumping through your veins. Pure and clean.”

His sclera turned crimson. Lethal fangs snicked down from his incisors. I tried to jerk away, but his grip was made of iron. I could handle it if he bit me. In fact, I was surprised he hadn’t done so already. Mother Dearest must have loosened his leash today.

I dropped the power I held onto so tightly. Biting wasn’t killing me, not yet at least, and I couldn’t afford to waste the moment. Liaza was an older vampire, much more in control of his urges. He wanted to taste me first.

As dangerous as it was to let him snack on me, the alternative was worse.

Another creak sounded, this one from below my feet. My heart lurched. Surely, the noise came from Liaza. The alternative was too much to hope for.

As his fangs came for me, I turned my head and risked a look.

A green tendril snaked out from the hole and edged along the floor.

My eyes squeezed shut for a second, my heart so full and so empty all at the same time.

Liaza struck like a snake, and just as I braced myself for the inevitable, a sickening crunch shattered through my cell.

Liaza went still, eyes wide with shock. A gaping hole bloomed in the center of his chest, vines tipped with wicked, dripping thorns exploding through the opening. Before Liaza could react, the greenery curled around his neck and squeezed, sending the vampire’s head tumbling from his body. A moment later, my maker and torturer exploded into ashes.

A sob burst from my throat as the now brown, thick tendrils that had just destroyed Liaza lovingly curled around my arm.