Revelation by Tanith Frost

Author:Tanith Frost [Frost, Tanith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sparrowcat Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16

I can see why Lachlan needed time to set this up.

We’re next door to the room where I was interrogated on my first night here. This space is larger, divided by a wall made mostly of glass instead of bars, with a white speaker next to the window that allows us to hear what’s happening on the other side. A door would allow us entry into the space beyond, but Lachlan doesn’t seem to have any intention of passing through.

For now, we’re just spectators.

On the other side of the window, two humans kneel under a dim spotlight, heads down, both of them facing Willard, the vampire who interrogated me. There’s no furniture or decoration over there save for a round clock hanging next to a metal vent cover. White face, stark black numbers. The second hand is red, though, and through the speaker, I hear every tick.

The woman is pretty for a human, with thick brown hair braided behind her neck. He’s a big fellow, clean-shaven, strong.

“This will be fun,” Lachlan tells me, practically purring the words. “Best feed you’ve ever experienced without killing, I promise. If you’re ready, that is.”

“I’m always ready to feed.” I watch as the man glances up, trembling. “Is Willard going to hurt them?”

“No. He could, but that’s not why we’re here tonight.” Lachlan looks away from the humans and studies my face, searching for something. “Physical pain is a strong spice, but cheap. Fine in its place, but there’s so much more you could experience here. And I promise that real experiences in humans, whether it’s pain, fear, or something more pleasant for them, are far more compelling than what you’ve tasted with the help of the ridiculous little potions they offer in your former clan.”

I step closer to the window. The humans are obviously terrified.

“I tasted so much at the Inferno,” I tell Lachlan. “Joy, euphoria, lust, contentment… I never tasted the darker things. They seemed cruel and unnecessary, and I didn’t want to be that kind of a monster.”

“You were, though.” His voice is behind me now, but I feel his attention. “Even if you didn’t want to admit it.”

“I was.” I can give him what he wants to hear without lying. I just have to make sure he doesn’t see how it still hurts me to admit it. “I tasted fear in the blood of an unwilling victim, and it was the sweetest blood I’d ever known. I killed. Unwillingly, but that didn’t keep me from benefitting from his terror before he died. I hated myself for it, but I liked it. I was that monster, and it felt like the fulfillment of everything I was supposed to be. But I went back to offering stock the pleasant emotions after that, hoping I’d forget how right it felt to do the wrong thing.”

Lachlan places a hand on the back of my neck. “They taught you to feel shame. Not because they have morals in a human sense but because it’s how they maintain order and control.

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