I leaned against the window of my room. It was already night and according to Julianna, Victor has been down in the dungeon with a few more hunters ever since the afternoon. Since Aphrodite wasn’t here, I was able to have the room all to myself. I thought it would be a good thing having a room to myself, but I had problems going to sleep. Whenever I closed my eyes, I saw the face of Harry being tortured or the moment he found out the truth about me. I didn’t care that he forgave me, I still felt guilty doing it. It was too much to handle sometimes, especially whenever I passed by a vase that had a red rose or a bush that had red roses growing on it.

After the third day of Angelina being in the dungeon, I couldn’t stand being in the torture room. Harry’s cries of pain already burned through my ears already and Angelina was just recently added. Sometimes at night, I could hear her screaming. It was insane that I could hear them from all the way up to my room. When I asked the other hunters about it, they told me that they didn’t hear anything and that I was just hearing things.

I looked through my phone and noticed that Harry’s number to his phone was there. Taking a deep breath, I called the number and hoped that he would answer.

“Hello?” I heard on the other line the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard.

“Harry,” I whispered.

“Jazlyn,” he said, relieved. “Where are you? Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I didn’t know you put your number on my phone until now.”

“I sort of did it behind your back the night you stayed at the penthouse and I got yours too. What’s going on?” He asked with authority.

“I was so worried about you. I was worried if you made it out alright or if you were going to heal or anything! Why didn’t you call me if you had my number?”

“I didn’t want to call you at a bad time. Trust me, I wanted to call, but you had to be the first one to call me.”

“Did you heal alright?”

“I got my health back on track maybe two days ago. How’s Angelina holding up?”

I cleared my throat. “She doesn’t look great, Harry. I snuck some blood bags for her, but it’s not helping, especially with what my uncle does to her. He’s been giving her so much of that dead man’s blood. She’s a lot paler, as if she is actually a corpse, and she keeps pausing in between her sentences. I don’t know how long she can keep this up.”

Harry paused for a moment. “Listen, Jazlyn, you can’t tell a single person about this. Don’t even bring it up with Angelina, do you understand me?”

I nodded, “Of course.”

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone about whatever is you are about to tell me.”

“We’re getting her,” Harry informed me. “We are getting her tonight. Stay away from any fights that are happening and look for me.”

“How are you going to do this?” I asked him. “How are you going to get pass the hunters that keep watch around Hawthorn?”

“It’s best if I tell you as little as possible, Baby. Don’t worry about what we are going to do, just be careful.”

“Can’t I say the same thing to you? You’re the one who is about to go on a suicide rescue mission tonight.”

“It’ll be okay, Jazlyn, I promise. We are going to be back together in no time.” There were voices on the other end that I wasn’t able to acknowledge. “I’ve got to go. Remember what you have to do tonight. I love you, Baby.”

“I love you too, Harry. I love you so very much.”

He hung up the phone and I took a deep breath. They were coming back to get Angelina. Did Angelina know that? Would she be mad if they did get her? I wanted to tell her, but I promised Harry I wouldn’t tell anyone, not even the leader herself.

Feeling the need to make amends with her before Harry and the others came to get her, I found the courage to go down to the dungeon. I grabbed two bags of blood secretly and hid them in my shirt. Before I could even make it to the door of the dungeon, I already heard her screaming. I took a deep breath and descended the stairs.

Angelina screamed in agony as Victor stabbed her in the heart with a syringe full of dead man’s blood. I wanted to close my eyes from what I was seeing. She was hanging from the hook again. Her skin was practically as white as snow, her lips were a light shade of gray, around her eyes was pink, and her bags were dark. Her body was thin and fragile. I could practically count every bone in her body now.

I could tell that he was getting impatient with her, but he knew that Angelina was the only way that he could get information about their kind.

“We will give you this fresh bag of blood, if you answer our questions,” Victor informed her as he held up the blood bag. “I know that you’re hungry. Come on, vampire, I know that you want this bag.”

Angelina was breathing heavy and her eyes were halfway shut. Her mind seemed to be somewhere else as she stared out at the window. Victor growled against his teeth and injected Angelina again. She cried out and shivered. “Is there others stronger than you? Tell me your secrets!” He shouted with his hands on either side of the table.

Angelina glowered at Victor with so much hate in them. “When…I…get…out of here…I can’t wait…to kill…you…”

“What makes you think you will get out of here?” he demanded.

“Don’t…judge…a book…by its cover…”

He stabbed her again with the syringe emptying the jar. Angelina cried out again. I cringed when Victor slammed the glass jar against Angelina’s head. The shards penetrated her skin and his. Victor cussed out loud and clutched onto the hand that was bleeding.

Angelina’s head jolted forward. She was growling and snarling at him, hungry for the blood that was coming out of Victor’s hand.

Victor laughed bitterly, lifted up his hand over Angelina’s mouth, and allowed the blood to pour down her mouth. “Like that, you filthy monster?” He looked at me. “Well, I haven’t seen you down here in awhile.”

I just shrugged at him. “No one else is down here?”

He shook his head. “I sent them away. Watch her while I clean my hand up.”

Once Victor was gone, Angelina snickered. My eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

She smirked at me. “Your uncle…is a fool.”

“What?”

“Remember my gift?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“He gave me some…of his blood.”

“Oh, so you know everything?” She nodded weakly. I walked over to her and plucked out the glass that was on her face and pulled out the two bags of blood from my shirt. “I should figure out how to get you out of here.”

“Don’t bother,” she mumbled as I placed one bag in her mouth. She bit down on the bag with her fangs and drank the blood. “Everything is under...control.”

“How?”

“I got what I came for,” she muttered in between sips.

“Which is?”

Angelina looked deep into my eyes. “Do you…honestly think...I would tell you?” She groaned and tried her best to readjust her stance, but it was clear that she was too weak to move a fraction. “So, what brings you down here?”

“I wanted to…” I took a deep breath as I helped her drink the other bag of blood. “I’m sorry I put you through all of this.”

“Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want apologies?”

“If I even help you escape, would you just take me in like you did in the beginning?” I asked her. “Would you give me another chance?”

She twitched and jolted forward. Noticing my concerns, she said, “The blood is acting like a detox for my body.” Angelina turned her head to the side with her eyes nearly shut. “The only way...I would give you another chance...is by you being...one of us…”

“You want me to change into…”

“Yes,” she sighed, “Vampire or...none at all.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Can...and will…” Her breathing was rasped, but her color wasn’t as pale and I could’ve sworn her lips were showing some form of pink. “Leave me alone…”

I was about to walk out until four hunters, Victor, and Andrew came downstairs. The four vampires grabbed Angelina and made her hang on the hook.

“What’s going on?” I asked Andrew.

“Victor is getting impatient and he found a new toy to use on the vampire.”

I looked Victor and noticed how he had a flogger whip with silver links to them. Angelina eyed it for a moment and laughed loudly. Her voice might’ve sounded husky, but her laugh was loud.

Victor grabbed her by the hair. “What’s so funny now?”

“Two weeks…” she breathed. “Two weeks of me, being here and you decide to make it interesting now? How touching of you…”

I winced at every lash that Angelina got. The sound of her fleshing being torn and the sound when the chains hit her skin echoed in my ears. Even though Angelina cried out, she still laughed in between. After maybe the twentieth whip, Angelina laughed even louder.

“Stop laughing!” Victor growled as he lashed at her again. “Why are you laughing?”

“How long is this going to go on?” Angelina shrieked through her gritted teeth. Her voice was harsh and filled with rage, but it didn’t cover the sound of her agony due to the lashes. “It has been two weeks...and you still have nothing! What makes you think I will say anything after all the things you did? No matter how many times you burn me with silver, stab me, beat me, give me blood of the dead, or even whip me, and I will still never talk!”

Victor yelled at the top of his lungs and began whipping Angelina continuously repeatedly. Two hunters pulled Victor away and brought him out of the room. I stared at the puddle of blood that was leaking out of Angelina’s back. I hesitantly walked behind her and covered my mouth when I saw her back. Her back was a mixture of burns and deep gashes. There was a little bit of smoke that came out of her skin and I could’ve sworn I saw a section that revealed her backbone.

“Andrew, help me get her back to her cell.”

“I don’t think Victor is done with that thing yet.”

“He’s done!” I said. “He’s done for the night. He can continue doing this tomorrow, but it’s enough for tonight.”

As I reached to get Angelina down, Andrew grabbed my wrist and pulled me away. “Are you feeling sorry for this thing? This bitch is the reason why Melissa and Darren died!”

Without thinking, I struck at Andrew hard in the face. He rubbed his cheek and glared down at me. “Don’t say anything about Melissa or Darren! She may have killed them, but you are the reason why they were put in her hands in the first place! You have no right to talk about them ever!” Tears slipped down my cheek as I spoke. “If you don’t want to help me get her back in her cell then get out of here!” I shoved him towards the dungeon doors and tried to get Angelina down.

Her head was bowed and she seemed like she was actually dead. I got her down, but nearly dropped her because she didn’t even try to catch herself. I tried my best not to touch her back as I brought her back to the cell because whenever I did, I heard her moan or suck in a breath due to the pain. I placed one arm over my shoulder, grabbed two more bags of blood that was on the table nearby and dragged her to her cell. I carefully lied her down on her back and moved strands of her now straw like hair away from her back and face.

“Angelina?” I said, slightly shaking her. “Angelina, can you hear me?” The sound of the cell doors closing made me jump. Victor slammed the doors shut and locked it.

“Uncle, what are you doing?” I walked over to the cell door. “Open the door!”

He didn’t do it, just glared at me.

“Come on, this isn’t funny! Open the fucking door!”

Victor snickered. “I knew that there was something off about you the very first moment I called you when you were away. I pushed away the thoughts of you having feelings and caring for those vampires, but the more I talked to you, the more it proved to me that you were showing emotions for these monsters. I especially noticed it when we had that other one hostage. Well, now you can stick around with them.” Victor walked away from the dungeon, ignoring my demands of opening the door and cussing at him. I shook and shook the cell doors, hoping that it would somehow magically open. As I shook the cage, my hand started to sting. I moved my hand away and examined it. On my palm was a long three-inch cut.

“Damn it,” I muttered. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Angelina sit up. I looked at her and froze. Her eyes were dark and her fangs were exposing. She growled at me and stared at the hand that was leaking out blood.

“Angelina,” I began, “It’s me, Jazlyn. I know we have our issues now, but please, don’t do this. Don’t do this, please.”

She charged at me. Quickly, I moved away and allowed her to hit the silver bars of the cage. Angelina screamed pain as the bars hit her skin. I moved her away from the bars, laid her back down on the bench, opened the blood bag, and poured it down her mouth. She drank it all hungrily and automatically reached for the other bag that was next to her. In seconds, the bags didn’t have a single drop left.

“Sorry,” she muttered softly.

I sighed, “It’s fine.”

She glared at me with half open eyes. “For the record, if you ever make me run into that gate again….I will break your neck.”