Chapter 65: Aiden

They never speak, never laugh, never even make a sound of effort, but I remember how they smell. Every kick, every punch, every chunk of hair ripped from my scalp, every broken tooth and rib and collarbone and finger, each one I match to a smell, and remember. They will pay. After a few minutes of the fledgelings’ assault, I stop feeling the injuries. I am a single ball of pain being flung about the vampires’ playing-field. Frost claws me from within, frothing mad and desperate to deal his own punishment here and now, but they mustn’t know. They can’t know my strengths, not until it’s too late for them.

I’m finally left lying on the floor, a broken toy in a puddle of my own blood. The fledgelings file out silently, the single observer following them out. I remember his smell too. He’s just as guilty as they are, and he will face justice. I relax as best I can, letting them think I am helpless, until the door closes. I don’t even move then, listening for the footstep