Page 125 of Forsaking All Others

“Where do you think he gets his meals?” I snarl, “fucking McBloodalds?”

“What are you saying? What are you saying?” She cries, looking from me to Sona and back again.

“I’m saying that vampires kill humans for blood. They don’t drink donated blood like we’ve all been taught or led to believe. That’s why these games are so disgustingly bloodthirsty. They want a wife with blood-stained hands because she won’t question their lifestyle. She’s complicit in the death of her kind in every way, from the night she’s selected to the night she marries him.”

“Oh, my God!” Thorun sobs, falling to her knees, her face in her hands.

“Yes,” I sigh, motioning with my gun for Sona to join her in the dirt, “so you see, killing Sona is just a necessary step for me to get where I need to be. And she deserves it. She double-crossed us both, she broke her word, she is NOT A FRIEND.”

94

Listening to Cat and Thorun makes me feel physically ill.

Thorun’s sentiments are commendable and align with mine exactly.

But Cat’s one hundred per cent right.

The Games are designed specifically to select women who won’t quibble when they discover our diets.

‘Why haven’t I ever considered this? It makes so much sense when she words it that way. Even Wolf must have subconsciously known this when he said we need to weed out the lambs. His point was that our world is dangerous. But it’s not really our world. It’s us – we’re dangerous. And humans can’t know that. For us to retain power over them in this day and age they must believe the lie. A wolf can’t marry a lamb. A wolf must marry a wolf.’

‘And yet, it doesn’t always work, does it? After all, Eleanor was captured in the Games by Falcon’s father, yet she worked to free humanity from our predation for centuries. She was even willing to sacrifice her own grandchild if it meant saving the lives of countless other grandchildren in the future.’

‘She’s a wolf who works for the lambs.’

I shake my head and turn my attention back to the pair as Cat presses the gun to Sona’s head and Starlen capers about in the background, warning viewers to ‘close their eyes and look away’ — if only I could.

95

“I can’t, Cat, I just can’t. We have to go back.”

“Thorun,” I come to a standstill and sigh heavily, adjusting the weight of the pack on my back and turning to meet her teary eyes.

We’re only two blocks from where we’d left Sona.

Against my better judgement I’d agreed that rather than shoot her, I’d ensure she came last. Tying her up and stashing her underground in a basement cupboard meant no one would hear her scream. She wouldn’t be found until the end of the competition, where she’d be dealt her punishment for coming last.

This wasn’t the worst idea Thorun had come up with.

The guns each contestant has only hold one bullet, and the rules with guns are the same in this trial as in any other. We can’t eliminate more than two contestants each with a gun. By not shooting Sona I was leaving the possibility wide open that I could still take out the evil twin and anyone working with her if I had to. Or shoot to kill anyone else trying to knock us off.

But even though the basement had been Thorun’s idea, she hadn’t stopped crying about it since we left.

Facing her now I resolve to end this conversation once and for all, or shoot her, Jag’s deal be damned.

“Look, if it makes you feel any better, by coming last Sona’s going to be eliminated by Starlen.”

“Why would that make me feel any better?” She sobs.

“Because,” I frown as I try to think through how to tell her about the bite without revealing anything about myself. “When vampires bite, not the nip you had with Jag, but really bite, like to suck the life out of you, it hurts, it hurts like crazy, but then it doesn’t.”

“What are you saying?” She sniffs, her sobs calming slightly.

“I’m saying,” I put a hand on each of her shoulders and force her to look at me. “That the bite turns from pain to pleasure. Indescribable pleasure, like ten million orgasms all at once kind of pleasure.”

“Really?” She sniffs, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

“Really. So by offering Sona the opportunity to come last, rather than be shot,” I sigh, “You probably gave her what she’s been looking for all along.”