Sophie swallowed carefully, struggling to keep her composure. So, Casimir had told her these things before, she had just been too weak to remember them. The information was priceless. She had to find a way to let Kain and Alexi know so they’d have time to come up with a strategy.
“What about me?” The Count furrowed his brows and Sophie corrected herself: “What about us?”
“Don’t worry about us. You’re very precious to me, Sophie, and to prove it to you, I won’t even participate in the hunt. You’re all I want. All that fresh, delicious energy boiling under your skin will be mine.”
He kissed the corner of her lips, and her knees gave in. He caught her, his arms encircling her waist and pulling her closer to his body. The closeness filled her head with a thick, heavy fog she couldn’t chase away no matter how hard she tried. She could have used her demon sigil and her own aura to push him off her, but that would have ruined everything, so she let herself drift off to sleep. She only hoped this time, when she’d wake up, she’d remember what the Count had said.
?
“Listen to me, Leila!”
Sophie grabbed the girl’s shoulders and forced her to look into her dark brown eyes. Unfortunately, she was too weak after her most recent encounter with the Count, and Leila was strong.
“No, I can’t do this. I have to get out of here!” Leila shrugged out of Sophie’s grip and ran for the door. She was two steps away when her supposed cousin took hold of her arm and pulled her back.
“You can’t run, Leila! They won’t let you. The only way out is for you to calm down and listen to me. Now, more than ever, I need your help.” She turned the girl around, then used all the strength she had left in her bones to pin her against the wall. She hated it that she had to be so firm and violent, but she couldn’t afford losing the only person who could send the message to Kain and Alexi. After drinking more of her energy, Casimir had laid her in bed and let her rest, not before promising her he wouldn’t be gone for long. Drained as she was, she had used all the power she had left to sit up and ring for the maid. She knew Leila would be up in a matter of minutes, so she struggled to stay awake. Unfortunately, the moment she started telling Leila about the Count’s plan, the girl had lost it.
“Please let me go, please…” the girl whimpered. Her eyes filled with tears and her whole body shook like a leaf. “You’re not my cousin. You say you are, and sometimes I believe you. I don’t know why… I’m so confused… I just want to go home.”
“And you will go home, I promise you.” Sophie held her gaze and let her demon sigil come to the surface just enough to compel Leila. “It’s not only you, Leila. The Count is keeping over two dozen men and women locked up at his chalet. He’s going to feed them to his demon friends, do you understand that? He’s going to let them scatter into the woods so the demons would hunt them down and suck all their energy. We can’t let that happen.”
“Why do you need me?” Tears had started rolling down her cheeks. A minute ago, she had been ready to fight and run for her life, but now she was feeling herself giving in. She didn’t want to. Her heart screamed for her to push Sophie away, but her muscles wouldn’t cooperate. She was once again at the mercy of this strange woman who seemed capable of convincing her of anything.
“I need you because I can’t get out of this bloody room. I can’t risk going to the guest house to see Alexi and Kain. Remember Alexi and Kain, my friends? Your friends…”
“Marquis Leraje and Marquis Andras…”
“Yes, that’s the identities they took to fool the Count. You have to go there and tell them everything, so they’d have enough time to make a plan.”
“I don’t want to, I’m scared.”
“I know you are, honey. I am scared too… But you have to understand that in four days you will end up in the woods along with all the other prisoners and all the maids at the mansion. There will be no human left here after the Spring Celebration.”
“Then help us escape now.”
“I can’t. We have to catch the demons first, otherwise this will all have been for nothing.” Sophie closed her eyes for a second and focused on the demon sigil on her stomach. It was so nice to feel it warm again. Leila was shaking and crying under her weight, but she didn’t let her go. She had to make sure the girl was deep under her spell before she allowed her to leave the room. She opened her eyes and fixed her with newfound determination. “The mansion is a nest swarming with demons, and they will only keep coming until the Spring Celebration. We have to seize them all, do you understand?” She shook her gently.
“Yes, yes I do.”
“If we don’t, this will happen again next year, and then the next. The people living in these villages will never be free. So, you see Leila? It’s not only about you… it’s about everyone you love. The Count will hurt them if we don’t catch him now.” The girl nodded vigorously, and Sophie knew she was finally getting through to her. To be absolutely certain Leila would do what was asked of her, she added the last straw: “Petro is in that cellar.”
Leila’s green eyes sparkled with fear and pain. “No…”
“Yes. He’s there. You want to see him again, don’t you? You love him, don’t you? You’re about to get married.”
“Yes… Please tell me he’s all right, please…”
“He’s fine. For now. I’ll make sure he gets out of there unharmed, I swear. But you have to help me. You have to tell Alexi and Kain everything that I told you about the hunt.”
“I’ll tell them. I’ll go right now.”
Sophie let out a sigh of relief and released Leila. The girl rubbed her arms, trying to make the blood flow so the white marks Sophie’s fingers had left on her skin would disappear.
“I don’t like doing this to you, cousin.” Sophie meant every word she said. “No one should play with your mind like this. Not the Count, not me. This is the last time I’m doing it. Believe me, it hurts me just as much.”
“Okay…” Leila felt confused, but for some reason she wasn’t afraid anymore. Her mind was fixed on one thing and one thing alone: she had to find Alexi and Kain and tell them about the hunt. Then everything would be fine. Everything would go back to normal. She would return home, to her father, and she’d marry Petro.
“Okay.” Sophie offered her a kind smile. “Go now. Casimir might be back any time.”