Page 21 of Ice

Snarls and barks, teeth and jaws, the sounds engulf me. There’s a flash of white. Snow is in front of me, nuzzling my side.

Then there’s a rush of water. Thornfield and Sam are blasted apart.

Through hazy eyes, I can see that Sam had shifted. He’s now standing, dripping wet, panting.

Thornfield jumps to his feet and brushes down his suit. He clicks his neck and looks at Sam as if he’s one second away from starting all over again and ripping his throat out.

I try to speak. To tell them to calm down.

But the room fades into oblivion.

11

KOLE

“Kole…” Zephyra stands in the doorway. Her hair is long and glossy, and hangs in a thick curtain over one side of her face.

She is dressed in a 1920s style evening gown. Silky black gloves, tassels.

She’s too thin, and too angular, but she thinks she looks incredible. I can tell by the way she leans against the door frame, sliding her arm up it and propping her hip against the frame.

From behind her, Kim appears. His hands are tied in front of him, his neck healed but his face deathly pale from the amount of blood that must have been drained from him.

Brynn, the one holding his arm, gives him a shove and he stumbles into the cell.

Nova catches him and puts an arm around his waist to help him stay standing.

Zephyra barely even glances at the two of them.

“Come with me, Ink Heart. I have something to show you.”

Kim puts a comforting hand on Nova’s arm and tries to smile at her.

I’ll be back, Little Star.

Be careful.

When the door closes, my stomach clenches with the sound.

Zephyra loops her arm through mine as if we are going on a date. Then she kisses my cheek.

Fuck.

She thinks this is a date.

The crazy bitch is trying to win me over.

At the end of the corridor, we take a left and turn into a room that resembles the throne room she constructed in the house she occupied when I was last in England; an unassuming terraced place on Parker’s Piece that had a huge basement. She covered the place in velvet, and most days it was more like a whore house than a vampire’s nest.

Although, maybe they are one and the same.

This room is less opulent, but maybe she hasn’t had time to redecorate.

One thing is the same though… the throne.

She shimmies over to it and sits down, then crosses one leg over the other, giving me a flash of her naked cunt.

I look away and try not to let the disgust I feel show on my face.