Enslaved (8 page)

Chapter 15

Viktoria
had unintentionally fallen asleep in Vince's room that night and had only awoken to the feeling of the human part of her soul pulling towards the light that was rising steadily over the Rocky Mountains. She looked at Vince while he slept. His dark, jet-black hair fell around his face like the Gothic halo of a vampire prince, his now-black eyes were closed and dark crescents of lashes brushed his sharp cheekbones. His long, straight nose twitched slightly as he slumbered and his chiseled-to-perfection lips quirked subtly as he clutched Tori closer to his relaxed body.

Tori had never seen the most dangerous of all vampires this vulnerable.

She sighed and slowly, gradually eased out of his comforting arms. Despite the fact that she was a servant that was feeding the vampires, she had to help out with the rest of the servants today- especially today, for at dusk the Gathering would commence and blood lust, thirst, pleasure, and torture will swirl through this very air, causing the lethal creatures of the night to get giddy, excited...hungry.

Tori slipped out of bed and over to Vince' writing desk, taking the sealed envelope and moving out of the room. Vince had told her that she needed to get that letter in the mail and sent to his cousin Splice immediately, that it was extremely important. And so she did. Vince hadn't told her much about this cousin, just that he was dangerous and needed to be informed of a few things before she changed.

Striding down the stairs, running her fingers through her hair to neaten it up she walked to the main double doors made of pure glass, rot iron, and gold. She opened them, sticking the envelope in the mailbox,
then
went t
o start her duties for the day.

As she closed the door, a rush of cold air burst at her, fully awakening her. At the time Tori didn't take that wind seriously, but it would prove in the future to be a bad omen, f
or Death had entered the Hotel.

* * *

The weight of the pendant on Tori's chest slowed her nervous breathing down and calmed her, for the simple fact that she had something of Vince's with her made her think that he was always there. She hadn't seen much of him
today,
he'd been running about the Hotel, snapping at servants, checking the food, making sure the rooms were in tip-top shape.

It was around quarter to five in the afternoon when Vince caught Tori on the way back from the storage room with a stack of towels in her arms, her head barely visible over the load she carried. He seemed to materialize out of nowhere and pull her into a nearby bathroom, setting the towels down and crashing his lips upon hers.

They kissed for a little while until Tori whispered against his seductive mouth, "We need to get back and help out...
Vincey
." She said his name in a gasp as a blast of agony bashed into her skull from every angle.
If Vince hadn't caught her by the waist than she would've fallen to the marble floor in pain.

"
Viktoria
," Vince whispered, lowering her to the ground, the cold linoleum tub feeling good against her back that felt like it was on fire. She was suddenly, frighteningly, aware of every single last bone in her body as heat washed through them, then ice-cold sensations. Every time she tried to move her arm she felt as though her joints creaked like the old hinges on a door.

"
Viktoria
, I think you need to go rest," he purred softly in her ear, stroking her clammy cheek.

She shook her head stubbornly, "No, no. It's okay...it'll pass,
it's been happening all day."

Vince eyed her skeptically and helped her up despite his better judgment. "
Viktoria
, if it gets any worse you NEED to go to my room and stay put, sleep it off...when you wake up, you'll be changed and hungry."

Viktoria
sighed. "I'll be fine, Vince. Go get ready, the guests should be here in an hour or so, you need to be prepared....and careful. I haven't seen Jon or Maria all
day,
they're up to something, Vince."

Vince nodded, leaning his forehead against hers and inhaling the last whiff of delicious human scent he might ever get off of her before saying, "I know, but it is YOU who must be extremely careful today. The vampire blood in you is going to change you one way or another and our little enemies are building up to some crescendo."

Tori looked into Vince's black-as-night eyes and ran her fingers over the dark shadows under his optics. "
You feeling
alright yourself? You're too thirsty-looking."

Vince chuckled deeply, "All the vampires are 'thirsty-looking' today, darling. They're not only 'thirsty-looking', they ARE thirsty. So be on your toes."

Tori rolled her eyes, the slight movement sending pa
ngs of aches through her head.

"Okay, stop mocking me. I'll see you soon." She kissed him once more on the lips and collected her towels before exiting the bathroom to continue her jobs, all the while she fought off the warning signs of the change into the next life and focused on what lay ahead...four Guardians, three-hundred-and-something thirsty vampires, fifty or so humans, and one half-human, half-vampire girl.

Chapter 16

Tori sighed as she walked into the kitchen, it was exactly six O'clock and the sun was lowering the sky as she came face-to-face with Maria, her black hair tied up in a ponytail, her green eyes flickering with nervousness- and excitement?- as she locked the door Tori had just strode through. She then moved to the counter while Tori's unease about this girl spiked.

"Maria, what are you doing?" Tori
demanded,
her voice unwavering and harsh in spite of her fear.

Maria smiled cruelly and picked up a knife from the sink. "I'm following orders, Tori. You're not getting out of here alive." She murmured and moved towards Tori.

Tori backed up against the doors, trying to unlock them with nervous fingers.

"Huh-uh, Tori."
Maria purred.

Tori felt that surge of power through her body as the vampire blood intensified once more, it laced through her bones and nerves, heightened her senses, made her more...lethal. She swung around in a smooth movement and glared at the traitor, her irises gaining a thin ring of blood red around her pupils.

Suddenly, Tori
wasn't
scared at all about what was threatening her life. The blade in Maria's hand didn't strike fear into her heart...and that stupid human holding it didn't chill her to the bone. The blood was nearly done changing
her,
it was almost to her brain...it was changing her outlook on life...on humans and fear...on thirst and death.

Maria took a shocked step back from Tori as she lowered her body into a slight crouch, her eyes blazing with the cravin
g of a fight- of spilled blood.

"Kill me," Tori growled and didn't even wince away as Maria ran towards her, knife poised to murder.

When Maria was within a foot of Tori, she grabbed hold of Maria's knife hand, twisted it so Maria had no choice but to spin with it. Tori heard a satisfying crack as Maria's wrist snapped and, to Tori's disbelief, she LIKED the sound of the crack, of Maria's shriek of agony, of the blood that seeped out of Maria's chest as Tori retrieved the knife from Maria's hand and plunged it into her opponent's heart.

Tori slowly moved towards the twitching body of the servant girl, the crimson liquid spilling out of the corpse mesmerizing her....she wanted it SO bad, wanted to feel the liquid run over her tongue, taste its coppery flavor....wanted to sense the soul of her victim rush out of the body, through the blood, and into her mouth.....

There was a sudden knock on the door and Tori jumped. She knew it wasn't a
servant, that
it was one of the two vampires who roamed the Hotel today and quickly, Tori moved the body- with the knife still plunged into its chest- towards the cellar door that was located off to the side of the room. She opened it and, without an ounce of guilt or regret, dumped the body down the stairs.

Tori closed the door quietly, hearing the thump as the carcass hit the cement floor at the bottom of the stairs. She rushed to the fridge, grabbed a carton of blood and opened the lid, dumping some on the ground and unlocking the door.

Jon walked in and froze.

"What happened here,
Viktoria
?" He demanded
irritatedly
.

"I had a little accident, Master Jon." She murmured innocently, her eyes showing guilt, no longer baring the ring of crimson around her pupils.

"Clean it up immediately...and by any chance, do you know where Maria is? I need to speak to her." Jon said, heading back to the main doors.

Tori shook her head. "No, I haven't seen her all day long, must be off cleaning a guest room upstairs."

"Ahem, I see. Okay, clean this mess up immediately, the vampires should be here in a half an hour."

Tori once nodded and watched Jon's broad figure ghost away, oblivious to what had taken place in the kitchen. Tori grabbed a mop and started cleaning up the "spill."

Death struck once tonight, how many times would it feed before it is satisfied?

Chapter 17

The vampires had arrived.

Vince was cool and calm on the outside; nervous and thirsty on the inside. He could barely stand the sight of the servants' necks as they passed by him, wafting their sweet scent into his flaring nostrils. He sighed, wondering where
Viktoria
was, Jon had said she was acting abnormally, and when he had mentioned that there was an odd glint of anger and mischievousness in those temporarily obsidian eyes.

Vince was well aware that she was acting oddly- she was changing into a vampire. He had checked his room and saw no sign of her there,
then
he had poked his head into her chambers- she wasn't there.

He stopped a male servant with a hand to his shoulder and asked in a pensive tone, "Where's the servant- uh, what's her name...?
Oh yeah,
Viktoria
?"
He feigned absentmindedness so it wouldn't look as if he was worried about
Viktoria
.

"Oh, Tori?
She said she had to go take out trash a few minutes ago, I don't think she'll be long, though, Master Vince." The servant answered, his brown hair flopping in his eyes.

"Thank you...and slick back that hair before the Guardians arrive, we don't want them thinking I rely on dirty humans, now do we?"
Vince hissed, his thirst bringing out his bad side.

"N- No, Master Vince."

"Good, now go tidy up and pass the word along to any other servant who looks like they need to clean up. Go." Vince shoved the young man away and moved towards the main door, ushering in another bunch of vampires.

The Hotel was now filled with about two-hundred vampires, not including him, his brother, and the four Guardians that should be arriving soon.

Vince slipped out of the Hotel and into the brisk autumn air of the mountain, his eyes roaming the never-used driveway that wound its way through outcroppings of stone and the occasional tree. He smelled blood, too faint for the other vampires to really notice if they were entering the human-filled building. But Vince noticed it because it was
Viktoria's
blood mingled with some other humans....

Vince took off, feet barely touching the rocky ground as he looked for the dump heap that was placed far away from the Hotel....He hoped
Viktoria
wasn't lying in that pile with all the other dead human bodies...he just hoped.