The oldest of the three men scoffed, and his eyes shone with unmasked hatred. “Don’t worry about him. You’ll get to see him soon enough.”
There was nothing comforting about his tone of voice, and Vivienne shivered.
“What do you mean?” Cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck. “When will I see him?”
“Very soon,” the oldest man sneered as he pulled out a small black bag. He reached inside, withdrawing a handful of glittering dust. “Be a good little vampire and stay still.”
The air shifted, and the oldest man had an almost manic gleam in his eyes as he snickered menacingly. Vivienne’s breath caught in her throat, and the three looming humans suddenly seemed far more dangerous than they had moments ago.
She wasn’t even sure what she was begging for when she said, “Please, don’t?—”
He chuckled and blew on the dust. Silver and black glittering particles fell, raining on her. A blood-curdling scream filled Vivienne’s ears. It took her a moment to realize it was coming from her.
Fire swept over her.
Everywhere the dust touched felt like it had erupted into flame. Black spots filled her vision. Her lungs squeezed tighter, tighter, tighter.She tried to brush off the dust, but there was too much of it. Tears poured down her cheeks, and she wept as the pain worsened.
Laughter filled the air, the sound mixing with her screams in a dreadful harmony.
She was vaguely aware of someone lowering a ladder into the well, but she could barely breathe through the pain, let alone fight back.
One of the humans laughed, “Not so dangerous now, are you?”
Something slammed into her temple, and she tumbled headfirst into darkness.
Thank all the gods,the burning faded, and Vivienne’s mind returned to her. That was where her good luck ended, though, because she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings.
A hundred curses ran through her mind, each worse than the last.
Oh, gods.
This was by far the worst of all the situations Vivienne had found herself in since her Making.
That said something because a few decades ago, she’d been stationed at a remote northern outpost during one of Eleyta’s worst winters on record. She had been alone for an entire month while the blizzard raged, and the solitary existence had nearly driven her to madness.
This made that seem like a summer holiday.
Her hands were stretched above her head to the point of pain. A thick rope was wrapped around them, binding her to a pole. The prohiberis collar was still around her neck, and she was kneeling in snow. A cloth gagged her, the material so tight it was cutting into the corners of her mouth. Tears pricked at her eyes, and her empty stomach felt like a bottomless pit.
The moon was full, and snow fell like sparkling diamonds, blanketing the cobblestones on which she knelt. If death weren’t looming over her, she would’ve loved to paint this scene.
A whispering crowd of humans circled her, blocking her view from the rest of her surroundings. The crowd was almost exclusively made up of men, although there were a few women. No children were present, save for a few babies strapped to their mothers’ chests.
There were nearly a hundred mortals, and every single one looked at her with undisguised hatred. They whispered amongst themselves, their voices low enough that a human wouldn’t be able to hear them.
Unfortunately, Vivienne wasn’t human and had no problem hearing the vitriol spewing from their mouths. If she hadn’t been so hungry, she probably would’ve cried. As it was, her eyes burned.
One person called her a blood-sucking leech. Another commented that it would’ve been better if she’d never been Made. A third cursed her, saying they’d dance on her grave.
Such hateful words coming from people who didn’t even know her. Their disgust for vampire-kind crawled over her skin like millions of ants. It felt like hours passed as they spread their malicious words, although it was probably only a few minutes.
After a while, the crowd shifted, revealing more of her surroundings.
She was in the village square, a slight upgrade from the well. A wooden platform stood forty feet in front of her, and four men were dragging two empty chairs onto it.
And then she looked to her right. Vivienne’s stomach churned, and bile rose in her throat.
Another pole stood a few feet away, and it wasn’t empty.