Chapter 231

Marius started laughing as soon as he hung up. My stomach filled with fear as he smiled down at me. He looked crazy, I thought. Though his eyes were clear, there was a wild excitement on his face.

“If it makes you feel any better,” he said. “I could care less about you either.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not quite right. I care even less about you.”

I swallowed. “Candido will find me, and he’ll kill you. He’ll kill you both.”

He hummed, and the cage opened. “Wish deeply that he’ll take great care in burying your corpse… What’s left of it anyway. And I doubt highly that your little pet could manage to kill Ian.”

He laughed as I felt something grabbing me and dragging me out of the cage. “Though if he manages it, I supposed he’s more useful than I thought, and I may even have to keep him alive.”

I dug my fingers into the dirt, trying to resist the pull, but the force was too strong. Marius whistled and moved around as it dragged me slowly out of the cage. I tried to kick it away, but there was nothing there. It didn’t squeeze or even yank. It was just a slow pull that I couldn’t escape. I wasn’t strong enough to dig my hands into the ground far enough to stay there. I felt my nail bending under the pressure.

As I reached the entrance of the cage, I grabbed onto the bar and cried out as my muscles started to strain. My hands burned and sizzled at the silver that seemed to glow hot against my palms.

“Should we start our own betting pool?” Marius asked. “How long can you last? How long can you resist?”

He chuckled. “I give you… maybe a minute.”

I grit my teeth and clenched harder. The cage didn’t move at all, but my hands were burning. I felt sick until, finally, I had to let go. Then, it started to drag me across the ground, inch by inch.

“Ooh… even less,” he chuckled. “I suppose you are only a half breed.”

He walked along side me, just out of my reach.

“Let go of me!” I yelled, trying to grab onto something.

“I understand that Damian completed a ritual on you,” he said, his voice completely unbothered. “Well, at least in theory. Though right now, it seems like it was a waste of time. There doesn’t seem to be much power to take from you… if there was any in the first place.”

I glared at him. “What does that even mean? He nearly killed me!”

“Yes, sadly he didn’t succeed.” He smiled. “I hadn’t expected you to be so easy to capture… let alone for this space to recognize you so readily as a sacrifice…”

My heart lurched. “What… What do you mean by that?”

“This place,” he whispered. “The Hallowed Halls of Grief and Retribution only accept werewolves as offerings…”

I turned my head as a sound rang through the air. The room I was being dragged into smelled of blood, and I heard choking sounds. My stomach lurched as I heard someone cry out. The woman shrieked as one of the vampires tore open her shirt.

“It’s an old, vicious curse meant to keep werewolves out. Not of my making, ingenious… I’ve never been so proud of my nephew.”

“Nephew?” I shrieked. “You mean Ian?”

“The one and the same. Many over the years have come and filled the troughs of blood out of foolish plans to finish what the first idiot started, but the curse has held strong. It’s a brilliantly designed ritual… One I plan to use for my own ends.”

I thought back to the locker room, but the vampire didn’t seem interested in having sex with her. He pulled out a sword and cut through her as she screamed. Blood spurted out from her waist. He cut her head off and then dropped her body in the deep trench nearby. I felt sick as I realized that he wasn’t the only one doing it. There were others. The scent of silver filled the air, and I realized they were all being dumped in. One of their hands shot out as the flailed, then started to dissolve like they were in acid. I didn’t know if they were from Lunae or not, but as I looked up at Marius, I understood.

He didn’t have a plan to reign over werewolves. He wanted to destroy us all.

I glared at him. “Candido will never let you get away with this.”

He laughed. “Your little pet is the least of my concerns.”

Marius leaned over one of the pits and hummed. “This one is a bit low. Maybe two or three? Get her up on the altar.”

He laughed. “A place of honor for the fallen little half-breed.”

I screamed as they grabbed me and dragged me over to the large stone table. My vision swirled. I couldn’t breathe. For a moment, it was Marius standing over me or any of his henchmen. I was in that dark cave. I was watching that other person being put through that horrible ritual. I could feel the spikes being driven into my chest. I couldn’t breathe.

I was so scared. Where was Candido?

“Someone help me!” I screamed, trying to get away, but I had no strength. I couldn’t move at all. It was like I was being crushed under a great weight, held in place by something.

For a moment, I saw a pair of red eyes hovering in the air above me, glaring at me.

Marius laughed. “Not much of a werewolf, is she? Just as well. It will make things easier…”

He walked past me as his henchmen tied me down to the altar. The ropes didn’t seem like they were made of silver, but everything in me felt weaker. It had to be silver, didn’t it?

He pushed a domed top off a large box and looked into it. He looked down into it. His eyes were soft, almost doting. Was it a woman? Was his lover in the box? I felt sick. Was this some sick revival ritual or something?

Marius’ lips twitched as he looked at me. “You’re a disgrace, you know?”

He turned to look down into the casket. “To think… his dearest daughter would have an offspring like you… I’m sure it’s breaking his heart. Though I suppose if he had been able to do what needed to be done all those years ago, we wouldn’t be here…”

He laughed. “I’m sure a lot of people on either side of the divide would have preferred it that way…”

He moved away. People continued to scream. The scent of blood grew thicker as more werewolves were hacked up and thrown into the troughs. I looked around and realized the chamber was much larger than I realized. One of the men walked by. His footsteps squelched with blood. Then, a torch blazed to life on the other side of the room. A bright red light filled the space and illuminated a walking path between the troughs. I blinked. My eyes burned, trying to adjust to the bright light.

Then, they started to turn off whatever they were using to light up the space.

“Over there. More there.”

“Do we have enough?”

“Don’t worry about it. We have plenty.”

I felt sick as another torch, this one was a bright purple, blazed to life somewhere in the room. The ropes started to grow harder. Then, the altar shifted and lifted until I could see inside the box. It wasn’t a box. It was a casket.

I expected a half-decayed corpse in a dress or something, but that’s not what was inside.

A man that looked a lot like Ian with blonde hair lay floating in dark liquid that seemed to have lights floating inside it. His clothes looked soaked with water, but there was so little light, I couldn’t be sure if it was water or something else. My heart thudded. On his head was a glimmering, glowing crown of what looked like gold and silver. The little stones flickered with light and lightened the gloom of the room.

Marius looked down at the body with a warm gaze. He adjusted the man’s clothing and placed a hand on the hands lying on his chest.

“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” Marius asked. “Your little brat is a determined little thing… He must get it from dad… Blame him for it taking so long for me to come visit….”

He chuckled. “Though I guess you aren’t quite happy to hear my voice, hm? Of all the people you thought would be here, was I ever on the list?”

“Wh-Who is that?” I asked.

Marius turned to me and smiled. It was vicious and evil. He looked gleeful with what he was going to tell me.

“Say hello to your grandfather, little half breed.”