Chapter 16
Tina's mouth felt dry when she stared at the transparent plastic bag that lay one step from her, under the glass’s invisible opening, through which an Aradma had tossed the bag into the cage. She couldn't tear her gaze from the thick liquid. She could even feel its taste in her mouth and she wanted it, that crimson red, she needed it. She reached out, slowly, cautiously, glancing at Damon from the corner of her eye.
“Leave it.”
Tina whimpered, her fingertips touched the glossy material. She would take a sip. A tiny, little sip, that’s all. She drew the bag closer, the tube attached to the bag uncoiled.
“Tina, I told you to leave it.”
Tina didn't need to glance in Damon's direction to know that he glared at her. “Just a little sip.”
“There could be things mixed in there; even one, short sip can turn you into a Shadow.”
Just because Damon had smelled something weird in his, which with its now brown and sticky looking contents lay half opened in the corner of his cage, didn’t mean that the blood in her bag had something added to it, too. She slid her hand over the two stoppers that sealed the bag. She only needs to unstopper the bag or tear the bag's tube with her teeth, and the copper taste would flood her mouth. She licked her lips, then after she caught herself doing that, her eyes widened. The blood.
She kicked the bag away.
The bag slid across the room and banged against the glass.
The prisoner on the other side slowly turned toward her.
The pale, slightly green face with shallow cheeks and baggy red eyes would just two months ago have sent her into a panic or at least made her hide under the covers shaking, but now even the man's fanged hiss had no effect on her. Her gaze slid down to the bag, to the temptation she had fought against for more than an hour.
She could walk in the sunlight, she could still feel hunger and eat food, but somewhere along the way she had started to become like them.
She wasn’t like them, not yet, or at least that was what the Dumes had told her. As long as she didn’t start to drink blood from others, she would remain that ‘in-waiting thing’, not a Bloodeater, but not human, either. Something in between. That’s what she was, but she could become one of them so quickly, the thirst that right now twisted her inside and made her drool just at the sight of this bag was proof of that. And she hated it. Hated it. Her hands curled and she turned her head, glaring at Damon. It was all his fault.
“What?”
She averted her gaze, lay down on the mattress, drew her knees against her belly and pulled the blanket over her head. She focused on the darkness inside her head and called the image of Muriel before her eyes.
She still couldn’t concentrate enough to have long talks with Muriel, but after the dizziness subsided she had managed to exchange a few words and tell Muriel about their situation, about Damon’s plan, and how to set it in motion. Not that it seemed complicated: all the Dumes had to do was to contact Tristian and tell him to start with Plan C, whatever that was.
“Tina.”
Tina ignored him. Muriel, Muriel, she called into the darkness, hoping that Muriel would have some additional news which could put her fears at ease. He had already told her that Haniel had found their location, it was in the upper level of the building, sealed away from the rest of Angelica’s lab, so that even Uriel couldn’t force his way in. Muriel had also notified her when Tristian went to Prva and since that was quite a while ago, Tina wished for more news. No, she needed it, just to get through this.
“Tina.”
No answer. She should try to concentrate harder. She imagined Muriel’s face and called him again.
“Tina, stop ignoring me.”
She pulled the blanket down and glared at Damon. “I’m trying to concentrate here, could you shut up, please?”
“Why? You don’t need to. Just rest and take it easy.”
A piercing scream cut through the air.
“I... I can’t.” Even though Tina didn’t want to, her gaze automatically slid toward the source of the noise. Another Shadow, three cages away from her, had just fed on an inmate, and this time the thing didn’t need to search for the opening; the cage’s wall actually descended through the line in the floor.
“Tina?”
“I’m scared.” She wrapped the thin grey fabric tighter around her body. And she wanted Muriel to calm her down.
“Everything is going to turn out all right, don’t worry.”
She stared at him.
“I promise. I will get you out.”
A thud sounded behind Damon and as Tina looked past Damon, she could see a man in the cell next to Damon slamming his body against the glass wall. Another Shadow in the making. And right next to Damon. Her fingers found their way into her mouth and she started to nibble on them. Right beside Damon.
Damon, who also turned at the thud, focused on Tina again. “I’m not going to become its food.”
Tina furrowed her brows. If she could only believe him. The nibbling that had stopped resumed again. After Damon -- her face grimaced, she couldn’t even imagine it happening to Damon, not even when she had seen first-hand how those things sucked out the life from their ‘food’ and left nothing but bones and skin.
“Listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to me. That thing can give me superficial wounds, but it can’t hurt me. I’m too strong for it to hurt me.”
Like she would believe him.
The man in the cage beside Damon started to turn into Shadow. His skin and flesh changed into a dark cloud and then his bones rattled to the floor and shattered into dust.
Tina closed her eyes against the sight, which no matter how often she had witnessed it over the last two days, still troubled her mind, promised nightmares and made her glad that the lights in the hall were always turned on. She opened them again and the acid feeling rose in her throat. Her hand flew toward her mouth and she tried to swallow it, hoping that she wouldn’t need to drag herself to the hole in the ground, under the faucet.
She noticed the glass behind Damon sliding down into the floor. Her eyes widened. She swallowed as she pointed past Damon at the black blob, her arm shaking. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
Damon looked over his shoulder and stood up. He put a hand against the glass. “Don’t worry.” Then he faced the Shadow that flew toward him.
How could she not worry? Tina’s hand covered her mouth as, breathless, she watched Damon dodging the thing. Seeing him using his ability to in a flash appear somewhere else, calmed Tina’s fear, but what was Damon going to do? Evade the Shadow until one of them got tired?
Damon, when the thing jumped on him this time, sidestepped and reached into the fog. His hands dove deep into the black fog and his face grimaced. Then a grin flashed on his face and he swung his arms back, somehow holding the thing.
How could he hold it? Tina remembered her hands, when the Shadow attacked her, had gone right through it as if she had pushed her way into fog, but the thing burned where ever it touched her skin.
Damon tossed the Shadow across the two cages. With a weird pop, it slammed against the glass and slowly slid down.
“How? How did you do that?” Tina pressed her nose against the barrier that separated her from Damon. She could see the torn edges of Damon’s sleeves and burn marks on Damon’s hands.
“Their core is tangible.” Damon clenched his hands as if testing the injuries that looked like they had already started to heal.
The Shadow lifted itself up. It floated in the air, changing shape into an arrow before it shot toward Damon.
Tina sucked in her breath.
The glass barrier was projected up and the blob crashed against it. It fell down as if somebody were peeling it from the glass.
The hole opened in the middle of the hall and a round platform rose from it; two people, a red-haired woman and a brown-haired man stood on it.
As soon as the platform levelled with the ground they walked toward the cage. The woman, as they walked, lifted the display she held in her hand and pressed a few keys.
The barrier that separated Damon’s cage from Tina’s lifted and Damon rushed to her side. He helped her to get up; his arms offered support for Tina.
Tina’s knees wobbled. She hadn’t known that she was so weak. She pressed herself closer to Damon. It felt so good to be able to feel a human’s warmth, to be able to feel strong arms around her, which gave her a feeling of safety, even in this situation.
The woman pressed her display again. The wall that held the Shadow opened.
“Why are they releasing that thing? You don’t think they will use us as their food?” Tina dug her fingers into Damon’s arm.
“They already tried that. Let’s just see what’s going to happen.”
The Shadow surged forward. It would have attacked the pair, but the boy lifted a small, light ball the size of a marble that he held in his fist and tossed it at the Shadow.
The ball sailed through the Shadow, the light of it exposed the layers, which became thicker and thicker the deeper the ball went, until it stopped in the core of it, its light hushed.
The Shadow cried out and froze in the air.
The light flashed in a circle outside the Shadow’s core and then disappeared.
The Shadow like a leaf dropped down to the height of the man’s hips then in a rocking motion neared him.
“What did they just do?” Tina in a whisper asked Damon. “Could we get one of those balls, too?”
“I’m afraid not.” Damon’s voice was quiet on Tina’s ear.
“Why not?”
“Did you notice the slight grey edge on the ball?”
Now that he mentioned it, yes, she had. Tina nodded and looked up at Damon.
“I think that ball is Angelica’s essence; in the past she used something like that -- not in the shape of a marble, but in a beam of light -- to get low-ranking Bloodeaters and Mamaels under her command.” Damon’s forehead wrinkled. “It seems that she is using this now to make Shadows her pets.”
Tina nibbled on her fingers without breaking the skin, scrutinising what was happening. She was too tired to feel anything, but at the edge of her numb mind danced a fear of Angelica. Tina hated the woman because of everything she had done to the Dumes, but now she found her dreadful, especially since she saw the kind of power Angelica possessed. She knew that there were people in this world who would do anything for power, anything to get what they wanted, but... it always surprised her how far some of them would go. Turning people, even if they were Deadeaters, into Shadows to use them as pets or soldiers... how horrible. She glanced at Damon. Even more horrible when you were on the opposite side as she and Damon were.
From the bag tied around his waist, the man pulled out a glass box the size of his palm. He said something in a strange language.
The Shadow lifted and started to twirl around its axis as it slowly flew toward the box, becoming smaller and smaller. When it reached the man it had become the size of a child’s fist and could easily slip into the box.
The man closed the box and cleared it into the bag. Then he turned toward Tina and Damon. “We are here to collect you. Please, do not give us any trouble or we will be forced to harm you.”
The woman pressed a key on the display and the wall started to move.
“Where are you taking us?” Damon asked.
“To Angelica.” The woman turned her back to them. “Please, follow me.” She went toward the platform.
Damon followed her, his arms still holding Tina.
Tina pulled on Damon’s shirt and waited until Damon bent his head low. “Shouldn’t you attack them and try to get us free?” she whispered to Damon.
“It won’t do us any good, since the man behind us is aiming a box at us.”
Tina glanced over her shoulder and she saw the man holding a box similar to Uriel’s ball in his hand, the surface with the small hole in it aimed at them. “But couldn't you... aren't you quicker?”
“Probably, but since we are in what seems to be a highly guarded part of Angelica’s domain, I don’t see how resistance right now would help us.” Damon pulled Tina on the platform. “You have to choose the moment for battle, not just randomly start swinging your fist.”
“I’m just asking.”
“And I’m just telling.”
The platform descended and they found themselves in a black tunnel before the platform stopped and the tube that framed it rose up.
The man ordered them forward and they stepped from the platform onto the linoleum floor of a small room without windows. The room’s walls were covered with shelves, glass jars and boxes on their surfaces. The woman opened a section of the shelves like a door and they followed her through it into the hallway, then into a large room that looked similar to the lab in which Tina had found herself after the Dumes ‘rescued’ her from Damon’s hold.
Angelica stood behind the U-shaped counter and at the sight of them floated through the counter toward them. Her fingers touched Tina's neck and forced her to lift her head.
Angelica’s touch didn’t hurt her as it had the last time, it only made her skin tingle as if something crawled where Angelica’s fingers lingered. Tina moved her head away and she stepped closer to Damon as if she were looking for his protection, wondering why he was letting Angelica touch her.
“Stay still, girl. Let me see you.” Angelica’s fingers dug into Tina’s skin, preventing her from turning away from Angelica, and her silver eyes examined her. “You don’t feel like Trinity. There’s no spark in you, or in the blood that I took from you.” She released her. “You might not even be useful turned into a Seraktalu. You are too weak. Weaker even than Akilueteers.”
Tina’s stiff shoulders slumped down. The tension still held her body like a stretched string, but a part of her relaxed at Angelica’s words. She didn’t want to be useful to Angelica. She would hate it if that happened, it would mean pain and harm to her body, and probably even her soul.
“But you.” Angelica’s focus shifted on Damon. She touched the side of Damon’s neck, her fingers dipping into the flesh and when she pulled them out, crimson red hushed the light on her fingers. “You have power, your blood is loaded with it. You could be my masterpiece, the Master of Seraktalu.”
“To become your Shadow. No, thank you.” Damon tilted his head away from Angelica’s hand. “I’ll stay Lord Blackdart’s Ishaaas; if nothing else, he has better employee benefits.”
“It’s a shame I can’t keep you. My sister found out about you two; she demands I deliver you to her and since she’s, for now, the one in authority, I have no choice but to obey her.” Angelica narrowed her eyes at Damon and then ordered the woman, who stood with the man behind Damon and Tina, to bring ampoules, then floated higher and leaned over Damon. “But your Master in his demand for your return never mentioned that you have to come intact, just unharmed.”
That didn’t sound good. Tina wrapped her hands around Damon’s arm. “What does she mean by that?”
“It means that I’m going to collect as much blood from him as I can before I pack you two to Prva.” Angelica took the box the woman opened and put it on the counter beside her. “And you better cooperate or I’ll take her blood, and you might know what happens after a while to Aarsa Tiyaat if they lose more than a third of their blood.”
“What happens?” Tina furrowed her brows. She could vaguely remember something Trinity had told her.
“They usually die.” Damon’s jaw tensed.
“And I’m sure you don’t want to test that.” Angelica took a syringe with an ampoule out of the box.
“No, I don’t.” Damon stepped away from Tina, toward Angelica. He rolled up his sleeve and offered his arm to Angelica.