Isadora (Masters Among Monsters Book 2) (21 page)

“TODAY’S MY BIRTHDAY,” Paris said as the impenetrable iron door of their new prison was shut. “Not really how I envisioned spending it. Just sayin’.”

Elias, who was standing with his back against one of the four walls, looked worse than Paris remembered having ever seen him. Worried fingers had messed up his hair, and he had at least three days’ worth of stubble along his jaw. The white shirt that was usually buttoned to the neck, pressed, and accessorized with a tie currently had one side tail out of his dress slacks, and the neckline was hanging open by three buttons. The fabric was crushed, and right then, Elias resembled a man who’d spent the week in Vegas and barely survived.
 

Pity that that wasn’t the actual reason for his appearance.
No
, instead, two thick cuffs surrounded his wrists, similar to the ones also around his own.

“Elias,” he said as he walked over to his friend. “You need to help me out here. Tell them what they want to know. They…they want to kill you.”

Elias raised his head, and when their gazes clashed, he replied, “And, now, you.”

Paris staggered back from him, his hands shaking. “Me? What… Why?”

“It’s not your fault,” Elias said. “You didn’t know.”

Paris frowned so hard that his head throbbed from the intensity.
 

“I didn’t have time to tell you,” he murmured as he examined their small confines.
 

The chain that attached their cuffed hands to a metal hook on the floor rattled against the stone floor, grating Paris’s nerves like nails down a chalkboard.
 

“Tell me what the fuck you are talking about before you’re dragged out of here and killed.”

Elias’s eyes found his, and they seemed conflicted, as if he weren’t sure that telling him now would make any difference. “They can hear what you’re thinking, Paris. If they are listening, they can
hear
what you’re thinking. And back there, when he asked what you were—”

“I immediately thought of what you said.” Paris dropped his head forward and looked at the floor. “This is absurd,” he said as he thought back to the conversation and
demigods…
“This is absurd.”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Once Leo found out, then it was supposed to be you.
Then
we were supposed to find them. The problem is—”

“That vampire found Leo first,” he said, not quite believing he was following the crazy thread of this conversation.

Vampires? Demigods? What the fuck? When did my life become a fantasy novel?
The more he thought about everything he’d seen, though, the more he was starting to believe.

“Yes.”
 

“So, if this was all supposed to happen in a particular order, what happens now that the order is fucked up? And I’m sorry, but what’s my role again? I’m just the idiot moron who knows nothing? The character in the movie who finds out too late and dies?”

Elias adamantly shook his head. “No. None of us… We aren’t supposed to die. This, what’s happening? It makes no sense.”

Paris scoffed at that. “No shit. But you may want to rethink that. Because, from where I’m standing, it looks like you and I are going to be filling the role of dead very soon.”

“No. You’re the last piece. Once it happens, which should be soon—it needs to be fucking soon—then everything will change.”

“Once what happens?”

Elias opened his mouth to respond, but before anything could be said, the door yawned open. The same colossal-sized vampire from earlier stepped inside and unlocked Elias’s chain.
 

“You. Come.”

Paris wanted to say something, but Elias shook his head.
 

As Elias was dragged out of the cell, he said, “Remember what I said about thinking.”

Paris nodded, the answer to that pretty fucking obvious:
Don’t think at all.
 

Once the door had been shut behind them, Paris stood alone, wondering if he would ever see his friend again.

ELIAS WINCED AS the chain he was being led around by was yanked harder than necessary. He was positive that whatever was about to happen wasn’t going to be pleasant. Or pretty, for that matter.
 

The male who’d come to collect him was built like a brick shithouse and had the same temperament. He appeared unbending in every way, and when the big fucker stopped in front of two towering doors and removed the chain, Elias tried to push down the doubt that was intent on rearing its ugly head.

The tight cuffs remained fastened around his wrists, and considering what he knew these vampires were capable of, he was surprised that it was the only pain that had been inflicted.
 

As the guard, or whoever he was, walked around behind him, Elias waited for the doors to part so he could walk to his execution. He thought back to everything he’d been shown and told over the last decade and wondered where the fuck
this
all fell into their plans. His death had never been mentioned before. He was positive he would’ve remembered that.

You must trust in me, Elias Fontana.
 

As the authoritative voice entered his mind, the familiar, high-pitched melody of it had his erratic heartbeat slowing to a normal rhythm.
 

Just as you have thus far.

He wanted to trust in her, his goddess, his purpose. But blind faith was hard when no one believed you, and he couldn’t help but think,
Is my death part of your plan? Or—

The groan of the heavy doors squelched any further thoughts he might have had as they swung open and the path to his destruction stretched out before him.

Shoved from behind, he stumbled and glared over his shoulder at the fucker responsible. He then steadied himself and took a deep breath. He believed in what he was doing, and that alone would get him through.
 

He walked into the massive hall and noted the difference from the place he’d been in yesterday. Unlike the empty chamber, the one from his dreams, this meeting place was full to capacity.
 

From floor to ceiling, each side was lined with stadium seating that held hundreds of bodies. Vampires of all ages, races, and genders stood to watch him, the human, be led to his death. Refusing to cower, as they no doubt expected, Elias straightened his spine and scanned the crowd with a confidence he sure as fuck didn’t feel.

The vile hiss of the enraged creatures filled the air, as fangs were revealed and hatred oozed from their pores over his audacity to show courage as he walked farther inside. They were watching him with rabid eyes, and the snarls let him know that each of them wished they could have a turn at ripping him apart limb from limb.
 

When he was brought to a standstill before three elaborate thrones, he knew that
that
honor would no doubt fall to the ones seated there. And yes, today, there were three.
 

Elias recognized the male at the center, the one he assumed was the leader. He was also the one Leonidas was in some kind of warped cohorts with. Vasilios was his name. The one to his left was Isadora’s Ancient, the one who’d thrown him to the ground the day before. And the third male, the one sitting to the right of the deceptively calm central figure, was the one who’d been missing yesterday. He appeared much younger than the other two.

Although he was dressed the same as his fellow vampires, his cheeks were hollowed in and his eyes were bleak. His hair was unkempt, and the growth around his chin was at least several days old. He looked drawn.

“Elias Fontana,” Vasilios said as he got to his feet.
 

Elias raised his eyes to meet the one who’d addressed him and waited.
 

“I cannot tell you how fascinating it is to have you here in our presence. The one who was able to overpower two of our oldest and most cherished members.”

If this bastard thought Elias would let him talk him to death before
actually
killing him, he had another thing coming.

“And yet I’m underwhelmed by yours,” he said. “Amazing how we can still be shocked right up until our final moments, isn’t it?”

A collective gasp rose in the hall, and the vampire he’d addressed raised a hand, silencing the crowd. As the murmurs ceased, Vasilios flicked his wrist and a loud crack echoed off the walls. A shout tore out of Elias. His left index finger had been snapped like a twig.
 

“It is interesting, don’t you think?” Vasilios mused. “That you are so courageous—”
 

“Yes,” Elias interrupted, clasping his wounded hand to his chest. He refused to bend before this arrogant fuck. “I suppose it is. How dare I address the almighty Vasilios. Am I right?”

The male’s eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. That was the only physical sign of agitation he gave before he spoke again. “I was trying to be cordial, Mr. Fontana. Though do not ask me why when I have never cared in the past. I wonder if you will be so brave when writhing around on the floor in agony?”
 

As the question was issued, it felt as though a fist had clamped around his trachea, and the air to his lungs was cut off as effectively as someone bending a garden hose. He choked and sputtered, and the veins in his neck protruded as he gasped for breath.
 

“Vasilios!” Leo shouted.

An ominous growl reverberated from the vampire who held center stage as he instructed, “Keep a muzzle on him, Alasdair.”

Elias let his throbbing hand go and brought his fingers up to his throat. His eyes bulged as they watered, and he struggled again for air. He’d heard Leo’s voice as he’d called out to the one conducting the entertainment this evening, but he didn’t have the energy to find him. Instead, he forced his eyes to stay fixed on Vasilios who was strolling down the stairs towards him.

“As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, perhaps it’s your misguided belief of
what
you are that has you so courageous.”
 

Fuck
,
keep it together, Fontana,
he told himself as the male took one more step, bringing them practically nose-to-nose. The eerie, black eyes that held Elias ensnared didn’t flinch as dizziness, from lack of oxygen, made his head start to spin. The male’s features were close to perfect, his scrutiny fierce as he inspected every inch of his face.
 

Elias forced himself to search the crowd for the man he’d once called his friend, and there, seated beside the asshole Alasdair, who had a hand clamped over his mouth, was Leo.
 

Apparently, it didn’t matter to them as to who or what Leo was, because if they knew about him, then they must’ve worked out by now that Leo was the same. But his friend was wearing some kind of robe the color of black and gold, and as he squirmed in the seat, the material shimmered as light caught it.
 

Silk.
Of course.
There would be nothing but the best for this bunch. They thrived on feeding their every pleasure. No matter the monetary cost or, in his case, the life lost.

As he caught Leo’s eyes, the ache of betrayal ran deep within his bones, and he trembled under the force of it. The bleak grimace marring Leo’s face didn’t tell him a whole hell of a lot, either. However, the way he struggled and pulled away from the vampire next to him did.

Maybe this isn’t over just yet.

“Do not look at him, Mr. Fontana,” Vasilios purred in his ear. “He is mine now to do with as I see fit. And in here,” he said, reaching for his chin and turning his face, “you will keep your eyes on me. You see, I heard something very interesting about you today. And Leonidas has no clue what I am speaking of, does he? In fact, if what you believe is true, then I have acquired myself quite the clueless little plaything, haven’t I?”

Elias’s eyes zeroed in on the one taunting him, and when Vasilios shifted to place his lips by his ear, Elias shuddered.
 

“I think it’s time to tell him, don’t you?”

When the vampire stepped back, the grip around his throat released and Elias gasped for air. While gulping down swallow after swallow of much-needed oxygen, he coughed as he continued to watch the male opposite him. The guy was fucking hypnotizing. Even as Elias stood there trying to remember how to breathe, he was finding it difficult to resist the fucker’s charm and tell him to go to hell.
 

“Tell him what?” he finally managed.

Vasilios’s lips curved as he glanced over to where Leo was watching the two of them with wide-eyed panic that bordered on horror. “Why, tell him what you believe you are, of course. What you believe
he
is. Actually, no,” he said, raising a hand to stop him. “I think a demonstration would be much more effective. After all, shouldn’t a
demigod
be able to free himself from two measly little cuffs? Or how about heal your broken bone?”

The quiet buzz of speculation rose from the stands, and Leo’s eyes rounded until they looked as though they would fall out of his head.

 
“See? Even
he
finds that difficult to believe. Proof would really help your case at this stage. Perhaps you could overthrow this room and vanish? That would be a glorious start,” Vasilios announced as he turned away from him to walk back up the stairs.