Pretty in Orange Read online

  I didn’t care what anyone thought if they saw me scraping it off the wall. I hadn’t bothered making tea with it here because there was no way to get hot water until Serafina got here, and honestly, sleeping was an excellent way to pass the time in prison. I hadn’t wanted or needed this tea before. If it would wake our Sleeping Beauty, I’d tip the general population off they might want to experiment with what grew on the walls.

  I had my own shiv. You’d have to be stupid to live in Scorchwood without one. I grabbed my own water cup and started scraping. I had enough for one cup of tea, which should awaken her. I didn’t know the first thing about Fae sedatives, but if Fergus needed a stimulant, this was one.

  I rushed back to her cell and dumped the moss into the scalding water Fergus had made. It wasn’t like we had filters here, so I filtered it through my shirt. I hoped she didn’t need the entire cup, because getting an entire cup of tea into a sleeping elemental would be difficult. I didn’t want her to choke.

  “Fergus says he doesn’t know the first thing about demon stimulants and how the Fae react to them, so just give her a little.”

  “I was planning to.”

  I only poured the slightest bit in her mouth and waited for her to swallow. It didn’t take long for the tea to kick in. Serafina bolted to a sitting position and looked at us all crowding around her staring.

  “Okay, it’s fucking creepy to watch me sleep like that. Is it time for breakfast slop yet?”

  Chapter 3

  Serafina

  W

  hat the fuck was going on? Fergus was buzzing in my head a million miles a minute and everyone was getting all huggy like I’d fucking died in my sleep or something. I’d had an amazing time in the shower with Skoll and Roman, then I passed the fuck out. It was an amazing night, even by topside standards and everyone was looking at me like Jasmine sent one of her minions in here while I was sleeping to shiv me in the gut.

  “You remember nothing, Serafina?” Roman asked.

  “How could I forget the shower?”

  “Rathmore took you while you were sleeping, Ena. He gassed the entire prison and took you while you were sleeping. The room was warded, and I couldn’t get in to get you out. I tried waking Roman by burning him, but as soon as they heard him screaming, they just gassed the prison again until he was out.”

  “What?” I shrieked. “How could I forget a midnight prison kidnapping session with a mad doctor?”

  I mean, I slept hard, but I was pretty sure I would remember that, and someone would be dead. I couldn’t have been asleep the entire time. Even if Fergus couldn’t get in, I was deadly on my own.

  “They warded the room to block your fire, Ena. There are several things Rathmore could have done so that you don’t remember what happened.”

  “Well, undo it! I need to make a kill list.”

  “Serafina, Jasmine is missing too, but I got into her head, and I know why Rathmore is experimenting on elementals. He’s still trying to build the perfect supernatural. Jasmine was supposed to get pregnant with an inmate he handpicked, but she could never manage it because everyone she tried to bed wasn’t stupid. They all wanted to pull out.”

  “It’s more than that, Ena. He’s doing this at the behest of your father. This prison used to be a Fae prison back in the day, and everything Rathmore has used has been Fae. The gas used to knock everyone out is from a mushroom in the Fae realm. What was used to sedate you was a sedative used during Fae surgery. Rathmore could have only gotten the wards he was using on the newer wing of the prison from your father.”

  “What would my father want with a hybrid baby?”

  “I don’t know, Ena. Your grandfather has been putting off letting him take the throne because he’s always been irresponsible. If he had an entire army of hybrid children, he could seize the throne and subdue any Fae that challenged his reign.”

  “I thought my father was some uber Fae snob that didn’t want to be in the human realm. Why would he use an elemental hybrid if my entire family looked down on them?”

  “I don’t know your father, Ena. Just rumors I’ve heard. I know he’s deep in this and I know Rathmore has a death threat over his head if they harm you in this prison. He doesn’t want you dead, but now that you’re here, he wants to keep you here for something. I’ve got no idea if it’s the same thing they wanted Jasmine to do, and now Jasmine is missing.”

  “Okay, everyone tell me what you remember last night because all I remember is a hot shower and going to sleep.”

  “I’ll start,” Amduscias said. “I was awake when the gas went off and I think I remember everything. I got into Jasmine’s head and she spilled that her way out of here was a baby that Rathmore wanted. Rathmore wanted Serafina way before he knew who her father was because Jasmine had been trying for so long and hadn’t fallen pregnant. I got a petty revenge and gave her what her worst nightmare would be. She was screaming in her sleep when the gas went off. She was missing when I woke up. That could either be because Rathmore wanted to see if he could fix what I had done to her, or he got rid of her because she wanted to hurt Serafina.”

  Fergus filled me in, so I repeated to the group.

  “Okay, Fergus got suspicious of the surveillance system. Like, how was it installed, but only Amduscias knew about it because he’s a demon. There had to be a reason no one knew about the system, so he came back. By then, the entire prison was gassed, and I was in another wing of the prison behind a door with wards that he couldn’t get in.

  “After he tried waking Roman, he overheard Rathmore that my father doesn’t even want me to break a nail here, but I’ve got no idea what he wants me in here for or why a hybrid baby is so important to him. It’s not like he’s bothered trying to meet me.”

  “Well, we need to get your memories back,” Roman said. “Charley helped me get mine back, even if they were awful.”

  “I want my memories back just as much as all of you. I need to know who to kill.”

  “Have you checked yourself for injuries? Does anything hurt?” Skoll asked.

  When I moved, my arm was a little sore. I looked at the inside of my arm and that was when I finally noticed it.

  “Well, he cut my birth control implant out, so I guess the theory he wants me pregnant is solid.”

  Amduscias frowned at me. “I’m not sure what magical device you had in your arm, but weren’t you super worried about getting pregnant in here?”

  “Even with the implant, I double up and make guys wrap their cocks up to be extra careful. It’s also filthy in here. I know all of you are probably disease free, but my mattress has bedbugs.”

  If these guys didn’t understand superstores and hot showers, how was I supposed to explain modern safe sex to them? Did they even know what a condom was? We had names and treatments for diseases they didn’t even know about. Amduscias thought my implant was magic.

  “I get not wanting to get pregnant in prison, but why so many precautions when you were topside?” Skoll asks. “Back in my day, people had as many babies as possible.”

  “Not anymore. Many people choose not to have children at all. I’d only have a child if I could provide a proper home, and that’s never been a possibility before. It’s definitely not now. It may never be. Even if we break out of here and find a place to hide, the Fae will always want me dead. My father is trying to accomplish something with elementals that he doesn’t want to get the Fae involved in. I may be his daughter, but I’m a halfling, so I have value.”

  That was so fucked up and so outdated. My value came down to my uterus, if that was what this was. What was he going to do? Cut off my head if I didn’t produce a son? What was so important about a hybrid baby, anyway? If he wanted one so badly, why didn’t he go court a Vampire woman or something? Oh, yeah. The Fae would fucking kill him.

  Well, he would definitely die. I’d kill him myself once I got my memories back and found out exactly what Rathmore had done to me. Rathmore was dying too. I just needed to make a list
of how many people in Scorchwood and topside I needed to kill.

  I realized everyone was just staring at me. Was there something hanging out of my nose? Did I have a big fucking booger dangling from my nostril or did I have drool all over my face? There’s no telling what that Fae sedative had done to me, and I still didn’t know what Rathmore had done to me.

  They all just descended on me at once. I was smashed in a group hug with three men who were stroking my hair and just happy to see me again. I was pissed and in a punchy mood, but this was nice too. I just sighed and relaxed. I guess sometimes you just needed to be held by three passionate guys. Four if I could ever get Fergus real.

  “We will find out what he did and help you kill him, Serafina,” Roman said.

  “No one hurts my mate,” Skoll growled.

  Amduscias squeezed me. “I’m glad it was Jasmine missing and not you. I’m glad they brought you back.”

  I didn’t have to ask. I knew as soon as I had my kill list, these guys would help me complete it. We needed to get the fuck out of here, but where could we go that we were safe?

  Chapter 4

  Roman

  S

  corchwood got worse and worse every day. How was I supposed to protect my mate if they had the ability to gas the entire prison? And why had none of us questioned how they got the mics in here without us knowing once Amduscias told us about them? I was wondering exactly how many times I’d been gassed and fucked with. And if Serafina didn’t want to kill Rathmore, I’d rip his head off myself.

  We needed to figure out how to get her memories back. Having Fergus in my head was just fucking weird. Even in my darkest times when Rathmore had me killing for him, I never heard voices. Hearing him in my head and having him show up in my dreams was just bizarre.

  And I would admit to being a little jealous of him. He was closer to Serafina than any of us. He’d known her longer. But now that she’d asked me to bite her, I could feel her emotions. She was pissed right now, but she was grateful for our touch. My touch made her feel better.

  I didn’t even have time to think about that shower or how good her blood tasted when it exploded on my tongue. Someone hurt her, and I needed to figure out what they did. I rested my head on her chest and listened. Something was missing.

  “They stole some of your blood again, Serafina. Do you want me to kill them and take it back?”

  She just shook her head. “They take blood now for medical tests. He couldn’t have done all that just to take my blood. He already had it from Jasmine.”

  What kind of world was I living in now that it was acceptable to steal someone’s blood for tests? Blood was to keep you alive or for drinking. You didn’t spill it just to experiment with it. It was spilled to kill someone or feed. Back when I was alive, leeches were popular among the humans, but we Vampires knew that wasn’t the answer.

  “Maybe he needed more. I’m not sure what kinds of tests would be done on your blood, but he might not have had enough from what he had Jasmine steal. I’m a wolf, not a Vampire, but I’m not okay with people stealing your blood either.”

  “Fergus said he would have either used his warlock powers or Fae magic to make me not remember. Would Charley help me? I mean, she hardly knows me.”

  “I can get her,” Skoll said. “But if it’s Fae magic, does Fergus know how to undo it?”

  “Only if Amduscias knows about something growing in here that’s like Fae herbs.”

  “This place is a sunless atrocity,” Amduscias said. “I know everything that grows here, but it’s not a lot. It limits us in what we have here. We’d have more resources outside of this prison and probably more allies.”

  Serafina gave us a grim look.

  “Fergus wants to leave. He wants us to break out. The only problem is that my father knows I’m alive now, and he will hunt me down wherever I go. No place is safe for us.”

  “Bael would take us in,” Amduscias pointed out.

  Serafina shook her head. “Fergus just thinks my father is the only one involved. If this is all the Fae, they could wage war against Hell and now there’s a door open for Scorchwood.”

  “Don’t underestimate Bael. He’s cunning. He’s not a king of Hell for nothing. I think we should leave and figure this out from my castle.”

  “I agree,” I said.

  I trusted Amduscias, and if he said this Bael would help us, I believed him. I’d heard what he told us about Hell, and it sounded like a much pleasanter place than they had taught me. I wanted Serafina as far away from this place as possible after last night.

  I felt so helpless. After I realized I was talking to Fergus, it felt like a huge win that I’d woken myself from my slumber. But that burn hurt, and I momentarily forgot they were always listening. I spoke in pain because I couldn’t help it. I saw the gas filling the cell again almost instantaneously.

  Serafina just shook her head. Maybe Amduscias and I could kidnap her and take her to Hell without her burning me. I didn’t think she would hurt me. I just needed to get her out of here.

  “We still need a witch in case it was Rathmore that wiped my memories. Get Charley, then we’ll discuss a prison break.”

  Chapter 5

  Skoll

  W

  alking away from my mate after what happened last night had to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done after not marking her in the shower last night. I wanted to just lie there and hold her. I felt like a fucking failure even though I knew I couldn’t fight some fairy mushroom being gassed into the entire prison. If I had marked her in the shower, would I have felt her fear and fought myself awake to go get her?

  I stomped off to Charley’s cell and hoped to find her sober. She was really into prison hooch. I hoped now that Roman had killed Darius, she’d sober up a little. Charley was here because she tried to use her magic to bring back her father who passed away. Necromancy was forbidden, and when her father came back, he wasn’t quite right. He ate a few people before they could undo her spell and put him down for good. Charley was here serving time for the people her dad ate while he was a zombie.

  Now that I thought about it, if we were breaking out, we should take Charley with us. She’d been here a long time and had learned her lesson. I didn’t think she’d be raising the dead any time soon. We could use a witch on our side. I decided. Charley was coming with us when we broke out if she was down with it.

  I found Charley eating breakfast. Fuck, Serafina hadn’t even eaten yet. Now that I knew she grew up on the street eating out of the garbage, I vowed she would never go hungry again. I would bring everyone food. Amduscias and I needed to eat too if we were to keep up our strength to break out of here.

  I elbowed my way through the witch and warlock table and plopped next to Charley. All the little witches and warlocks scowled at me.

  “I have a proposal for you, Charley.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Not here. Help me bring food to my cell.”

  “Is it our little Vampire friend?”

  “Just come.”

  Charley had already finished eating, so I wasn’t taking her away from her food. She carried one bowl of slop and a tray full of milk and I carried two trays. A few men looked like they would try to start some shit and knock my food out of my hand, but I just glared at them, and they backed down. They knew better than to mess with my little prison gang, especially now that Serafina had joined us.

  I handed out food when I got back to our cell. Whatever Rathmore had done to Serafina, it hadn’t cut down on her appetite. She ate like I imagine she did on the street—fast with her eyes darting around like someone would take it from her. It broke my fucking heart. When we got out of here, I would hunt for her and cook her meals. She’d never go hungry again.

  “Is it safe to talk in here?” Charley asked.

  “Yeah. The only place safe to talk in this prison is where I’m in the room,” Amduscias said.

  “Then what is going on?”

  We explained
to Charley that the entire prison was gassed last night and they had taken Serafina. They also brought her back, which wasn’t like anyone else they had taken so far except Roman. We also let her know Jasmine was missing.

  Charley just shrugged.

  “I will not pour out some hooch because Jasmine is missing. I’m guessing you want me to see if they have done anything witchy to her?”

  “Well, yeah. Then we need you to undo it,” I said.

  “Hold on there, big boy,” Charley said. “This differs from Roman. Roman had fangs and tying him down kept me safe. Serafina is a fire element and wouldn’t be able to control her fire. She could burn us all alive if I try to remove what Rathmore did to her, if he did anything at all.”

  Serafina just gave her a steely look.

  “I know a way to totally neutralize my powers, but I have to know I can trust you before I do it in this room.

  Was Serafina seriously about to put a permanent ward in our room that would make her powerless? I didn’t like that at all. Her fire kept her safe when the rest of us couldn’t. If they were willing to gas the entire prison, then Serafina needed everything she could to fight with.

  “I don’t like this idea and it has nothing to do with trusting Charley. I trust Charley, but you need your fire, Serafina.”

  “I still will. Fergus said we can mix some moss on the walls into water to form a paste. We can just wash it off when we are done. Will that work, Amduscias?”

  “Yeah, I can collect the right moss. We can trust Charley, and what’s more, if we break out of here, we should take her with us.”

  I knew that demon would be on my side. I didn’t have to ask to know Roman would want to bring her too. Sometimes, when Roman was in a dark place, Charley was the only one who could make him laugh. Serafina was the one we needed to convince. She didn’t trust very easily.