Of Blood And Snow - Paranormal Romance Serial Ebook

Chapter 15

Scarlet lay on her front in the dirt next to Troy. Her eyes scanned the village below. She tried to ignore the fact they were in exactly the same spot that she had been with Corazon during her last mission to this fort, but it was difficult and memories of him stole her concentration.

The fort below seemed different now. The humans had reinforced the walls so they were now double thickness. They were still low though, and not even the pointed tops would deter her kind if they attacked. It would be easy to clear the walls and enter the fort. A few people would be all it would take. They could easily kill off those defending the doors and open them for the rest to come through.

Scarlet glanced at the sky, aware of the time as the night drew on. She didn’t want to be stuck out in the open with Troy. Since the other night, he had been distant and introspective, and it weighed heavy on her heart to see him that way.

In fact, he had barely spoken to her tonight. During their walk with Miranda and Stanislav to the outskirts of the village, he had addressed them as a whole. When they had split into the two groups, he had fallen silent and merely signalled to her whenever he needed to direct her or tell her of his intentions. She hoped that it was just the mission and his desire not to alert the humans to their presence stealing his voice and not his feelings for her and the things she had said.

The idea that she might have hurt him deeply made her feel cold inside. She felt guilty because she couldn’t love him in return.

His hand covered hers. She looked down at it and then at him. He let her go and pointed towards the village.

She scanned it to see what he was trying to point out.

It looked like a hunting party was leaving.

There were a lot of them, and they were all carrying weapons. She focused on them, slipping into her vampire guise to sharpen her vision. A few of the men were carrying bows. She wondered what they were hunting.

They disappeared into the forest and her attention returned to the fort. Not much was happening. She could see a few people wandering around, going from house to house. Near the livestock pen, a man was beating iron in an open fronted hut. The tinny noise rang out steadily into the night, like a heartbeat. She subconsciously listened to it as she watched the other people.

A light appeared and drew her attention as it disappeared again. There was a man closing a door. She stared at him as he walked from the hut he had exited towards another. He spoke to a few people during his journey across the fort and then paused at the door of the largest hut—one with several doors and no windows. He looked towards her.

She scooted backwards, instinct making her hide even when she knew it was impossible for him to see her in the darkness.

It had felt as though he’d looked straight at her.

She glanced at Troy to see if he had noticed. He was still studying the village, an intent frown on his face. His hair was mussed from his helmet. It lay beside him on the ground. She’d taken hers off too. It had been digging into the back of her neck because of the angle she’d had to hold her head at while laying on the floor. She presumed that was why he had removed his.

Moving towards him a little, she opened her mouth to speak.

A scream pierced the air.

A chill swept through her.

Troy was on his feet before her and was putting his helmet on as he ran.

Scarlet scrambled to her feet and grabbed her helmet. Sprinting after him, she told herself over and over that it hadn’t been a vampire that had screamed.

But she knew it had been.

Why else would Troy be running?

Her eyes widened.

The hunting party.

She had wondered what they were hunting and now she knew. They had known that they were being watched. Another chill ran through her, dancing up her spine and making her skin prickle. That was why the man had looked at her. They had known exactly where they were.

She almost tripped but retained her footing as she tried to keep up with Troy.

Another scream broke the silence, this time a man.

She wanted to cover her ears as memories of all the battles she had fought in came back. She knew that sound. It was the sound of death.

Her eyes shot wide again.

The archers.

Her senses reeled as she made a lunge for Troy.

Everything slowed down.

“Troy!” she screamed at him.

He was turning to face her.

Behind him, something glinted in the darkness.

He roared as the arrow punctured his side.

She grabbed him and collapsed to the floor with him. His breathing was laboured. She stared at his face, frantically patting it and trying to rouse him. He was immune to the poison. She had to get him back on his feet. They had to run.

Pain shot through her as something burning and hot stabbed the left side of her chest.

Her hand reached for it, closing around the slim shaft of wood and yanking it out.

She stared at it, her vision swimming in and out of focus.

Panic consumed her, quick and fierce. She began to pant as she struggled to catch her breath. Her throat felt too tight. She was choking.

Her head spun and she looked at Troy. He was out cold.

This wasn’t the usual poison.

She fought to remain awake but her eyes slipped shut and she slumped forwards onto Troy’s chest.

She managed to get her eyes open again and a set of boots appeared in view just before the world darkened and silence swallowed her.

* * * *

She wasn’t dead.

If she was dead, it wouldn’t hurt this much.

Scarlet gritted her teeth against the throbbing inside her skull.

She tried to move, but her hands were bound behind her back. There was a distinct smell of horse manure and wet straw. She shuffled, her knees aching from the hard stone floor beneath her. It was cold.

Someone grabbed her hair and yanked her head up. Her eyes rolled open and the light blinded her. She instinctively tried to move away from it, convinced it was the sun and desperate to survive.

“She’s awake,” a gruff voice said.

Her nostrils flared as she breathed in.

Humans.

They stank.

Another scent drifted to her. Vampire blood. Her stomach clenched when she recognised it.

“He’s not awake yet, give him a kick,” said another voice.

Troy.

Scarlet slid into her vampire guise and roared at the filthy human holding her hair. He smacked her hard across the face, but it didn’t deter her. In the blink of an eye, she had found where Troy was and was on her feet. She pushed herself forwards and fell to her knees beside him.

He was on his side on the floor, bound in the same fashion as her. She frowned when she saw the blood on the side of his face. His lip was split and a dark bruise encircled his left eye. What had they done to him?

One of the men yanked her backwards and flung her against the far wall. She growled at him but he stood over her. The point of his sword against her throat silenced her.

She looked at Troy, hoping he was all right. Her eyes ached as they struggled to adjust to the brightness of the room and her head was splitting. They had drugged her and Troy. What about Miranda and Stanislav?

A glance at the humans revealed there were three men. The one standing over her was broad built and hairy. A large beard obscured most of his face and his dark hair was matted and dirty. He was wearing a brown shirt, trousers and tunic similar to the other two men. They all stank.

The ones standing over Troy were slimmer and younger. They both looked barely into their thirties and were both cleanly shaven. The taller of the two men had dark hair and reminded her of the man that had looked up at her from the village. The other one was fair haired, and when he turned to face her, she decided that he was the younger of the two.

Troy stirred.

The fair haired man kicked him hard in the stomach.

She growled and tried to evade the man’s sword so she could get to Troy. The sword nicked her throat and she whimpered.

“Watch it!” The darker haired young man shouted across the room. He walked towards her and pushed the bearded man’s sword away. “She’s quite restrained. The poison will make her weak.”

She felt weak, and not just physically. She wanted to protect Troy, but she couldn’t. She cursed under her breath. The dark haired man raised a brow.

He backhanded her.

“Another noise from you and we’ll gut your friend.”

“Troy!” she screamed and pushed forwards, barrelling through the dark haired man to get to him. She had almost made it when someone grabbed her wrists and pulled her backwards.

Troy opened his eyes and looked up at her. They were black. She could see the sharp points of his teeth as he growled.

She swallowed when the man holding her placed a knife against her throat.

“One move and she’s dust.”

Troy’s eyes melted back to blue and a look of defeat filled them.

The men laughed and threw her down beside Troy. He managed to push himself into an upright position and looked at her. She smiled, trying to tell him without speaking that so far she was all right. He nodded.

“Are there any more of you?” the darker haired man said.

Troy stared at him.

“Answer me. I know you’re the superior.”

“There were two others,” Troy said.

“We killed them,” the man replied, no trace of feeling in his voice.

“You killed them?” Scarlet said and then bit her lip and shrank back when the man gave her a hard look.

“Another outburst and I’ll do as I said. Do you want to see your man here gutted? I hear vampires can survive being tortured like that if you do it right. They die nice and slow, and painful... just like they deserve.”

Scarlet shuffled to be closer to Troy. He looked at her, and she saw the worry in his eyes. When he looked back at the man, all sign of his emotions was gone.

“I am the superior officer here. I’ll answer any questions you have, so long as you don’t harm her.”

The man laughed and looked at his friends. “Did you hear that? He thinks he’s in a position to bargain with us!”

“What did you say his name was, little one?” The bearded man leaned over her and ruffled her hair. “Troy, wasn’t it?”

She swallowed and then frowned as she evaded the man’s hand. She sneered, revealing sharp teeth. The man backed away.

“First Lieutenant Troy of seventh company,” Troy said and stood. He raised his chin.

She followed suit, getting to her feet and standing proud beside him. “Corporal Scarlet of seventh company.”

“A lieutenant and a corporal,” the dark haired man said to the fair haired one. “Not the captain we were hoping for, but they’ll do. A first lieutenant’s got to know what’s happening at the fort. Take him to the other room.”

“No!” Scarlet tried to block the man as he grabbed Troy, but he shoved her aside and she fell to the floor again. She looked up at Troy to find him watching her. “Troy?”

“I will return soon, Scarlet. I will not let them hurt you.” With that, he was gone, led from the room by the fair haired man and the bearded one.

Scarlet looked at the dark haired man and cursed her weakness when tears filled her eyes. What were they going to do to Troy?

“Very gallant man you’ve got there,” the man said and sat down across the room from her on a low stool.

She didn’t look at him. She continued to stare at the door.

“It’s a shame we can’t do as he asked. You’re both likely to know what’s going on at that fort of yours.”

Scarlet got to her feet and ran at the man, hissing and baring her fangs. He raised his foot and kicked her square in the chest, sending her stumbling backwards until she hit the wall. She fell to the ground with a sharp bump and grimaced as her shoulder jarred.

She growled at him.

He walked over, grabbed her tunic and hauled her onto her knees.

Troy screamed, a cry of pain so full of anguish that it drove her to react.

She bit the man’s wrist.

He muttered a curse and punched her hard across the jaw. She leant over, breathing hard as she struggled to shut down the pain. Troy screamed again.

She spat blood out onto the floor and stared hard at the man through her lashes.

Her heart ached to hear the sounds of torture coming through the wall and she couldn’t bear the images they brought. She wished she could stop herself from imagining what was happening to Troy, but she couldn’t. She looked at the wall, listening and reaching out with her senses to see if she could pinpoint Troy.

These people had killed Miranda and Stanislav. She was under no illusion that her fate wasn’t going to be the same.

There was the sound of metal against leather and then pain erupted in her shoulder, hot and throbbing as the blade struck deep. She growled and clenched her jaw to steel herself as the man pulled it out again. He hadn’t even asked her a question. Didn’t they want information?

He stabbed her thigh and she cried out this time, the pain too much to contain.

There was muffled shouting next door. It sounded like Troy. She leaned forwards and buried her face in her knees, squeezing her eyes shut as her shoulder and leg burned.

“Troy,” she whispered to her knees. “Corazon.”

The man grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her up. She whimpered as he tugged on it, tiling her head back until she felt as though her neck was going to snap. She looked at him, her vision blurred with tears.

“What did you say?” He sneered down at her and she furrowed her brows as he threatened her with the point of his sword.

“Troy,” she said.

“After that.” He rested the blade against her throat.

She swallowed and the motion of it made the blade nick her throat. Her senses were full of the smell of blood. Not just hers, but Troy’s too. She could smell it from here.

She could smell the man too. He was bleeding. She could taste him from when she’d bitten him.

He yanked on her hair.

“Corazon,” she whispered, wanting him to stop hurting her.

“Corazon?”

There was another blood curdling scream from next door. Her eyes slid to the side, looking at the wall that separated her and Troy. She wished she could see him to know how hurt he was. She was sure that he would sooner die than give the humans information. He was so much stronger than her. He never should have told her the plan. She didn’t know how much torture she could take before she told the man everything in the vain hope that he would set her free.

She frowned.

No.

If Troy wasn’t going to give in to them, then neither could she. Corazon had believed in her, and this was her chance to prove to herself and him how strong she was.

She wasn’t going to tell the man anything.

She would die first.

“Who is Corazon?”

She just stared at him.

“I see we’re feeling a little stronger now,” he said and before she had time to steel herself, he had thrust his thumb into the wound on her shoulder.

She screamed but quickly bit her tongue to contain the rest of it. He twisted his thumb in the wound, opening it up. Her whole body tensed and she clenched her bound hands. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he was hurting her.

He dug his thumb in further and then gave a short frustrated growl when he withdrew it.

“Do you think Troy is enjoying himself?” he said as he wiped his thumb on his trousers and walked over to the wall. He banged on it. “This one isn’t speaking. Give her a reason to.”

There was a muffled laugh and then Troy yelled again, louder and longer this time. She got to her feet and ran to the wall, collapsing beside it with her cheek pressed against it.

“Troy!” She reached out with her senses to check on him. She could still feel him. “Troy!”

She flinched when the man ran the blade across her upper arm, cutting into it.

“I don’t think she got the message.”

The next scream made her heart jump into her throat. She had never heard such a terrible sound, not in all the battles she had fought.

She closed her eyes and silently told Troy to be strong. She hated the idea that the man was going to use torturing Troy to make her speak. It was horrible, twisted and made her want to kill the whole village. Anger quickly gave way to despair and she let slip a tear as she locked onto Troy’s signature.

How long would it be before anyone would come for them?

Would anyone come for them?

It wasn’t standard practice to send an army out to get hostages back. There was a high chance that no one was coming.

Which meant any resistance to the torture was pointless. They would kill her and Troy eventually.

It was only a matter of time.