Chapter 11
Antoine
"This is not a negotiation," I snarled, frustration filling my voice. "No one is going to sacrifice themselves to save the others. We are going to all make it out together, with Piper." My eyes moved over the room, meeting the gazes of my blood brothers. Each of us had a reason never to want to come back to this place, but all of us came back for her. If that wasn't a testament to how much we had come to care about the little human woman, then nothing was.
"I'm not saying anyone should sacrifice themselves," Drake countered with a frown, as he leaned forward from where he had taken a seat on my bed. The same bed I had tasted Piper on just a few short hours ago. Against my will, my eyes slid over to Rayne. Piper had slept with Rayne. That much was clear. The scent of sex still clung to Rayne's skin and the sweet scent of Piper tinged my nose. It overrode any other scent in the room. A part of me wanted to tell Rayne to go back to his room and shower, but that would be admitting I cared if Piper slept with Rayne and I wasn't about to do that.
"Then what are you saying?" Rayne asked, with an irritated scowl. "I'm not playing the puppet for him anymore. I won't. I can't." A dark shadow crossed behind Rayne's amber eyes.
I understood where Rayne was coming from. As the youngest of those our master had changed, Rayne had been the most popular with the other vampires. Especially those who preferred young boys. If it wasn't forbidden to change children into vampires, then I was sure some of our master's friends would have done it already. It wouldn't surprise me if they did in secret. Though, the punishment was death by starvation.
Oh, we could die alright. In some of the most grotesque ways possible. Sunlight burned if we were exposed to it for too long, a stake to the heart or a knife to the neck was the quickest and most merciful way to kill us, and the longest and most drawn out was starvation.
We wouldn't die after a few days of not eating. No, that would have been preferable to the hell that we went through. A vampire, if unfed, desiccated...slowly. Each day was a burning, gasping need for blood until you were a rampaging animal ready to feed on anything that was within biting distance, including yourself. Eventually, you become so weak, that you just lay there with the moisture sucking from your skin as you become not much more than a living husk. It wasn't a pretty sight. I'd seen it a time or two in my lifetime, and it wasn't something you easily forgot.
Our master liked to punish his creations with starvation. I'd been locked away for weeks at a time dying but not dying, all because I dared to displease him in some way. He always let me out of course—I was his favorite after all—but those days felt like an eternity. However, it was nothing compared to what Marcus has endured at the hand of our master.
My eyes flicked in the direction of my sentinel, the logical one of my brothers. Which was surprising, since at one time he would have been called the crazy one. Now, he was the brother I went to when I needed an unbiased or unemotionally based opinion. Sometimes, though, Marcus could be too logical, as was the case with Piper. I hoped I wasn't putting her in danger by just having him around.
Seconds before a sharp tang of blood filled my nose, terror ripped through my chest. Piper. I froze. A quick look around the room showed that the rest of them had smelled it too. Just as Rayne murmured, "Piper," I was slamming the bedroom door open.
My heart lodged in my throat at the sight before me. Piper was clutched in the arms of Valentine. His filthy fangs were inside her neck as tears ran down her face. How had I not heard them? We hadn't been arguing that much for me to miss this, had we?
Before I could think, my feet were moving and I slammed into Valentine, ripping him away from Piper. Piper started to collapse to the floor, but Wynn was there in time to catch her, leaving Valentine to me. I snarled and bared my fangs at the bastard who smelled of Piper's sweet blood. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"Why, tasting our girl." Valentine smiled and licked the blood dripping from his lips. He didn't seem at all concerned by the fact that I had him by the throat. He really should be. I tightened my fingers around his neck until he winced.
I could hear the others crowding around us, whispering warnings of caution, but I ignored them. The protectiveness in my chest burned for me to seek vengeance for Piper.
"She is notourgirl. Piper is mine," I roared at Valentine, my nails slicing into his skin until his blood slid down his neck and stained his pristine shirt. I had always hated how clean of an eater he was, but now I was happy for it. I didn't know how I would have reacted had he been covered in Piper's life source.
Even so, I was tempted to squeeze until Valentine's smug head popped off his shoulders. I was two seconds away from doing it too, but a heavy, familiar hand landed on my shoulder. My eyes shifted from Valentine to the large form next to me and I clenched my jaw. "Stay out of this, Marcus."
"Not here." Marcus's rumbling voice filled the hallway, even though he was murmuring. My eyes locked back onto Valentine's who wasn't smiling anymore. My lips ticked up in satisfaction. Marcus's hand tightened on my shoulder, and I snarled at him.
"Marcus is right, Antoine." Allister took up the other side of me, but didn't touch me. I could feel his words of persuasion slide over me. He wasn't as powerful as me, but it did make me pause.
"Stop," I growled in warning. "Or I'll kill you next."
"Come now, Antoine. We're all upset." Drake stood by his brother and tried to reason with me. "No one wants to see this putz pay more than us, but this isn't the time or place. What do you think our master will do if he sees we've killed one of our own in his home?"
Dammit. He had a point.
My eyes narrowed on Valentine and with one, last snarl and a huff, I shoved him away from me. Valentine grabbed his throat, his eyes locked on me, and for a second I could see him wanting to come at me. Then his gaze went to my brothers who were crowded around me—except Wynn, who still had Piper in his arms behind us.
"You're going to regret this, Durand." Valentine backed away from us and down the hall, but not without swiping a finger along his lower lip and popping it into his mouth in an exaggerated manner. With a hum and a pop of his digit, Valentine purred, "Delicious."
This time, it was Rayne who started for the asshole, but he was easily restrained by Drake and Allister. All of our eyes watched until Valentine disappeared into the darkness, and then when his scent was far enough away, we relaxed and turned back to Piper.
"How is she?" Rayne rushed to her side, kneeling where she lay on the ground in Wynn's arms.
Piper could almost be sleeping. Her eyes were closed, and her chest rose and fell in an even pattern. Except she wasn't sleeping. At least, not peacefully. She had passed out from the blood loss. There was nothing normal about that.
In addition, I could feel Piper in my chest, weak and fragile. At least she wasn't afraid anymore. I had tried my best to push her emotions away all day. Especially earlier when she was with Rayne. Sometimes, having human servants was like having someone else in your head. It made me have new sympathy for Rayne and his abilities. Piper must have been really afraid to get through the walls I had put up to keep her out. Shame and guilt filled me. It was my own selfishness that had kept me from feeling her distress earlier. If I hadn't been blocking her, then I might have known Valentine was out here with her and he wouldn't have gotten his dirty fangs in her.
"Is she okay?" Drake asked, standing over Wynn with a curious but worried frown. "She's not going to die, is she?"
"Don't be an idiot," Rayne growled, shoving past him to kneel by Wynn. "You've been a vampire for how long? You can clearly see she's not going to die. Plus..." He trailed off, his lips tilting downward. "I can hear her thoughts. She's not dead."