All Chapters of Marked By My Prey : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The knock continues, but Kaine doesn't move. He doesn't even give a sign that he intends to answer the door. The only difference in his still body is his eyes, turned amber, fixed neither on me nor the door. I follow the direction of his gaze, my anger giving way to confusion, but there is nothing but the wall there. A cold tremor shoots down my back. What in Hel is he staring at? I shift against the bed, not sure of what to do. Not sure I should even be moving as every instinct I've spent twelve years sharpening is telling me that something is wrong. This is the second time now I've seen that color in his eyes, and the first time was when he'd seen the blood on my neck. “Leech?” Nothing. Not even a twitch. My stomach pitches. Something is definitely wrong. “Kaine?” He blinks once, and after what feels like too long, his attention finally shifts to mine. Slowly, the amber begins to recede from the edges of his eyes, the green returning until his gaze looks normal again. He

“Well,” I say, pushing the heavy realization away. Escape first, think later. I force back my smile, “how long have you lived here for then?” Lived here. My own words sound strange in my head. “Hmm...” He thinks for a moment. “A little over two hundred and ninety-seven years.”I nearly stumble. Two hundred and ninety-seven?My gaze snaps to him. The vampires I've killed were usually between one hundred and one hundred and fifty. If he's this old and looks like this, how old is Kaine? How old is everyone else? I force my expression to remain neutral.“That’s… impressive.” I glance ahead again. “Then you must know this place pretty well.”His expression brightens slightly. “I do.”Perfect.I turn my attention back to the corridor, pretending to study one of the paintings on the walls.“It's so large though. I can imagine there are rooms even you don't know about.”He straightens slightly, something like pride flashing across his face. “I was practically brought up here. I can assure

My bare feet hit stone, then carpet, then stone again—I’d kicked off the useless slippers given to me alongside this Hel-forsaken dress within the first few strides, and didn't look back. I nearly stumble when the fabric of the dress catches around my legs. For Hel's sake. I gather the skirt with my free hand and yank it higher, the stamp seal crushed in the other as I look for the nearest door to open. The way out has to be within this stretch. If my instinct is right, we must have already passed it. Fenn and I were only a turn away from Kaine's room when River came. And when he'd finally answered my question, he'd made the smallest twitch toward the corridor we'd come from. Left. No—right. I don't know. Every hallway looks the same. I throw open a door that looks promising, but I'm met with a room filled with high shelves. A library. It's not it. I slam the door shut and check the door across from it. A parlor. My shoulders sag for half a second before I force myself to move to

The cell door slams behind me and silence swallows the sound, but I stay exactly where I am, staring at the silver cuff biting into my wrists. They think I'm one of them, is all my mind repeats. As if I can somehow prove otherwise, my tongue finds the flat human edge of my teeth before I can stop it. When I feel nothing, whatever's left of me starts to unravel. A cell. They put me in a cell. Cold seeps up from the stone floor to my bare feet and through what's left of the ugly dress, but I barely feel it. I press my tongue harder again against my molars, as if wishing hard enough would turn them sharp, would give me a reason in this chaos. For why she called me a vampire. But there's still nothing. There's fucking nothing. I swing my arm and my fist connects with the wall. A scream rips out of me with it—short, ugly, and gone as fast as it came. What did I do? What happened? Why— Why? Why? Why? I'm sliding down the wall to the ground. Silence again and the rasp of my brea

By the time gray light creeps through the cell window, my thoughts have become heinous. I strain my ears for the fifth time, but other than the chirping of the tiny gecko that found its way in through the window, no sign of life comes. They should have sent for me by now. I drag air into my chest, trying to steady myself, but it doesn't work. Whereas nighttime is for the vampires, dawn is when judgment is passed on us—the humans who harbor them in any way—whether it be looking away when you're supposed to ring the alarm or, in my case, getting kissed and marked by one. My next breath doesn't come as easily as my last. I squeeze my eyes shut and bang my head against the wall. “Ugh.” I groan as a dull ache blooms at the back of my head. I hadn't meant to hit it so hard. Then again, I haven't been making the best decisions lately. I open my eyes and notice that the light has shifted from gray to pale gold. Hel's gate. They weren't planning on leaving me here to rot, were they? My t