Page 17 of Bound by Vengeance
“But they violated me in countless otherways, fed from me in places….” Her hand fell to her thigh as shetugged at his shirt again; although, it was already as low as itcould go. “Well, you get the idea.”
CHAPTER 8
A murderous red hue shaded his vision. “Areany of the vampires who did this still alive?” Because he wouldhunt them down and cut them apart piece by piece if they were.
“No. Many died the night I was rescued, andthe others were relentlessly hunted by Ronan, his men, and some ofmy family before they could go after more purebreds. I’m not sureif Duke was involved in the whole thing, or if he just sold me tothem. It doesn’t matter now.
“I don’t know how much Drake charged theother vampires to feed on me and the other purebreds imprisonedwith me, but I’m sure he made a fortune off us. I lost count afterthe first fifty vamps drained my blood, but it seemed as if athousand vampires traversed the stairs to our prison.
“There aren’t many purebreds in this world,and there were six others with me; not to mention the ones who diedbefore Drake was stopped. He kept us in chains specificallydesigned to restrain a purebred, and he starved us to keep usweaker. I fought so hard in the beginning….”
Her voice trailed off as her head bowed andher blonde hair fell forward to shield her pretty features. Nathanreached out to stroke her cheek, but she recoiled from him.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “I don’t deservekindness.”
His hand fell limply back to his side. “Whathappened to you wasnotyour fault.”
“No, it wasn’t. I was dating Duke for allthe wrong reasons, I was more self-centered than I should havebeen, I liked to party, and my family considers me the wild child,but I still didn’t deserve what happened to me. I was a stupid,silly girl, and I paid far more than anyone shouldeverhaveto pay for that, but I haven’t paid enough for what I did whilewearing those chains.”
“And what was that?” he inquired.
Vicky hadn’t meant to bring it up. As ahunter, Nathan might try to kill her if he learned the truth, andif he didn’t attempt a staking, hewouldbe repulsed byher.
What does it matter what he thinks ofyou?she asked herself. Mate or not, they could never betogether, so maybe it was best if he put her in his truck and bidher adieu now rather than later.
She lifted her chin as she defiantly met hisgaze. “They beat us, fed off us, and starved us until we were tooweak to resist anything they did to us.”
Nathan retreated to the sink before heembraced her against his chest and tried to soothe the misery sheradiated; something she obviously didn’t want.
“I haveneverbeen so cold in mylife, so weak and broken.” Some of Vicky’s defiance melted asmemories surged forth. “I lost so much weight that my spine and hipbones dug into the floor during the rare times I slept. I was sobattered and weak that bruises covered me.”
So engrossed in the past, she didn’t realizeshe’d spoken those words out loud until Nathan sucked in abreath.
“Anyway, one day, they threw a human inthere with us,” she stated. “They’d cut her up first, to make sureshe was bleeding when they locked her in. She staggered past thefirst vamps who lunged at her, but she somehow made it by all ofthem. The poor woman never saw me in the shadows.
“I didn’t mean to kill her. I just needed toease the hunger burning my veins and blistering my skin. I don’tremember taking her down; I do remember emerging from the haze ofstarvation to find her drained, limp body in my lap. Before then,I’d never hated myself, but after, I knew I deservedeverythingthey did to me.”
Nathan turned to look out the window overthe sink as he digested her words. He should destroy her for whatshe’d done; she’d killed an innocent. Instead, he found himselfcontemplating how to ease the broken air surrounding her. “Theydrove you to that point.”
“Perhaps, but I should have been strongenough to resist and not given them the satisfaction of breakingme.”
“Vicky—”
“My family came for me,” she interrupted,unwilling to hear any sympathy or understanding for what she’ddone. “By then, I’d given up hope of making it out of there alive.The stench of all those imprisoned with me, the pain of having myblood pulled from me unwillingly….”
Just recalling her blood being taken fromher made her bones feel as brittle as glass again like when theywere slurping her blood from her veins.
“Has a vampire ever forcefully fed on you?”she asked.
“No.” He inwardly recoiled at the idea ofhaving one ofthemdrinking his blood. Then, he wonderedwhat it would be like to haveherfeeding on him, and hisrevulsion vanished as his pulse raced with excitement.
“It’s the most agonizing thing I’ve everexperienced. Often, I thought all my bones were shattering intopieces and it wouldfinallybe the end, but every time Iwould wake again to find myself in that place worse than death. Aplace Satan would have proudly called home.”
She lifted her wrist and rubbed her scar. “Ithink it remains because some part of me has willed it to remain asa constant reminder of the horrific thing I did. I deserve this,and more, for killing her.”
“You don’t.”
Vicky released her wrist. “As soon as I waswell enough to start training to kill Savages, I did. I’ve beenworking with Ronan’s men, and Aiden, to get stronger all in thehope of destroying Duke.”
