“Orange’cha glad you’re not the one in here?” A wheeze of laugher floated out of the cell, followed by a wet, hacking cough. “Ow.”
He grimaced as he pulled open the door. A long, low groan issued from the wood.
“They keep trying to repair it.” Her voice hung heavily in the liquid darkness. He could barely see her form in the corner, like a body dumped there after it had been dismantled. “I kicked it in when they were bringing me in here. That confused them. Then I kicked it out after I killed two of their guards. They swarm the place like rats, though. Can’t get past the buggers. Too many.”
“How you doin’? You good?”
“Oh sure, yeah. Fucking amazing. How are you doing?”
He pushed the door open wider and brought in an unlit torch from the outside wall. “Can you light this so I can see what I’m working with?”
“Take a deep breath, bud. I am not the same girl you saw last time. Also, can’t you see in the dark?”
“To an extent. This is beyond—” He lost his words when the torch flared to life.
She sat on the cold stone nude, deep blue and purple bruises covering her body, broken by bloody slits and spots where they’d torn off chunks of skin. The bone on her lower right arm stuck out through the skin. Her left hung limp from what looked like a badly dislocated shoulder. Her right eye was swollen shut, and her right foot at an unnatural angle. On her right hand, not one finger was lined up correctly.
“How’s my hair?” she asked, her head resting back against the stone wall smeared with blood. “I didn’t get a chance to style it today. The elves have kept me busy. So sweet of them to visit so often. They don’t seem to like my jokes, though. Probably because I make them at the elves’ expense, huh? Sensitive fuckers.”
Cahal knelt beside her, at a loss. He hadn’t thought there would be this much damage. Not so soon. They were clearly trying to fast-track the process, a sure way to kill someone rather than break them.
“What are they after?” he asked, leaning closer to her chest to see if there was any rib damage that might indicate internal bleeding.
“Oh…you know. Nothing much. Just my life story. Very nosy, these elves. They seem to think I’ll tell them my history. What dopes, am I right? At least they didn’t cut anything off. Awfully hard to heal it if it isn’t there, know what I mean?”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Right, yeah, I forgot. You know the deal. Another day in paradise. Not sure I’d want to do this for a year, though.”
“I didn’t have it as bad as this. Not all at once.” He couldn’t help his breath hitching. “Not even close.”
“Nice. I win. Where’s my prize?”
“Here’s what we’re going to do…”
“Crack everything back in place so I can heal it up—eventually—and then run me out of here, I hope?”
“Yes. It’s going to hurt like hell.”
“Nah. It’ll hurt worse than that.” Her bleary eye came to rest on him. “I am really, really glad to see you. Did you know that the elves can dampen a vampire bond?” He grabbed hold of her pinky. It was as good a place to start as any. Crack. “Elephant dongs in a singalong! Damn it, I sound like Penny.” Crack. “Holy fuck tarts!” She breathed through the pain. “Anyway, turns out they can dampen a bond. He’s there, I feel him, but he’s so muffled that I can’t feel any emotion from him. Don’t worry, I will kill the king and queen for that. Mess with my limbs? Not good, but we all have our issues. Mess with my bond to Darius? I will rip your head from those bony shoulders and shove it up your ass.” She paused as he tackled the rest of her fingers. “Just as soon as I can work my limbs, obviously.”
“At least you’re in good spirits.”
“Yeah. I was singing bottles of beer on the wall through the last session. They really hate that song, it turns out.”
The ground beneath them rumbled. The walls groaned. A push of air disturbed the stuffy silence.
Cahal paused, her shoulder in his hands, listening.
Somewhere in the castle, a large load of power was sinking into the very foundation, tremoring through the stone.
…how would she learn?
He turned back to Reagan in a rush. “We need to go for ‘good enough’ and get you out of here.”
“Why, what is it?”
“Someone you’re in no shape to meet.”
Lucifer blew off the front face of the castle, sending stone and brick raining down. His subjects erected a ceiling of air so he could pass through the debris without being struck. His subjects hurried out in front of him, all different forms, ghastly creations that had been forbidden to show their faces in this poor excuse for a castle.