flickered over Rashel and the other girls.
Werewolf.
Rashel's instincts were screaming it. And the
name... werewolves often had names like Lovell or Felan that meant wolf in their native language.
Rudi meant "famous wolf" in Hungarian.
Best guards in the world, Rashel thought grimly. Going to be hard to get past him.
Rudi was opening the door. With Lily prodding her from behind, Rashel walked down a narrow,
extremely steep staircase. At the base of the stairway was another heavy door. Rudi unlocked it and led
the way.
Rashel stepped into the cellar.
What she saw was something she'd never seen before. A large low-ceilinged room. Dimly lit. With two
rows of twelve iron beds along opposite walls.
There was a girl in each bed.
Teenage girls. All ages, all sizes, but every one beautiful in her own unique way.
It looked like a hospital ward or a prison. As Rashel walked between the rows, she had to fight to keep
her face blank. These girls were chained to the beds, and awake... and scared.
Frightened eyes looked at Rashel from every cot, then darted toward the werewolf. Rudi grinned at
them, waving and nodding to either side. The girls shrank away.
Only a few seemed brave enough to say anything.
"Please..."
"How long do we have to stay here?"
"I want to go home!"
The last two beds in each row were empty. Rashel was put into one. Daphne looked both sick and
frightened as the shackles dosed over her ankles, but she went on gamely staring straight ahead.
"Sleep tight, girlies," Rudi said. "Tomorrow's a big day."
And then he and Lily and Ivan walked out. The heavy wooden door slammed behind them, echoing in
the stone-walled cellar.
Rashel sat up in one motion.
Daphne twisted her head. "Is it safe to talk?" she whispered.
"I think so," Rashel said in a normal voice. She was staring with narrowed eyes down the rows of beds.
Some of the girls were looking at them, some were crying. Some had their eyes shut.
Daphne burst out with the force of a breaking dam, "What are they going to do to us?"
"I don't know," Rashel said. Her voice was hard and flat, her movements disciplined and precise, as she
slid the knife out of her boot. "But I'm going to find out."
"What, you're gonna saw through the chains?"
"No." From a guard on the side of the sheath, Rashel pulled a thin strip of metal. She bared her teeth
slightly in a smile. "I'm going to pick the lock."
"Oh. Okay. Great. But then what? I mean, what's happening here? What kind of place is this? I was
expecting some kind of-of Roman slave auction or something, with, like, everybody dressed in togas and
vampires waving and bidding-"
"You may still see something like that," Rashel
said. "I agree, it's weird. This is not a normal enclave. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of holding
center, and they're going to take us someplace else to sell us...."
"Actually, I'm afraid not," a quiet voice to her left said.
Rashel turned. The girl in the bed beside her was sitting up. She had flaming red hair, wistful eyes, and a
diffident manner. "I'm Fayth," she said.
"Shelly," Rashel said briefly. She didn't trust anyone here yet. "That's Daphne. What do you mean,
you're afraid not?"
"They're not taking us somewhere else to sell us." Fayth looked almost apologetic.
"Well, I'd like to know what they're going to do with us here," Rashel said. She sprung one lock on the
shackles and jabbed the lockpick into the other. "Twenty-four girls on an island with one inhabited
house? It's insane."
"It's a bloodfeast."
Rashel's hand on the lockpick went still.
She looked over at Fayth and said very softly, "What?"
"They're having a bloodfeast. On the spring equinox, I think. Starting tomorrow night at midnight."
Daphne was reaching across the gap for Rashel. "What, what? What's a bloodfeast? Tell me."
"It's..." Rashel dragged her attention from Fayth. "It's a feast for vampires. A big celebration, a
banquet. Three courses, you know." She looked
around the room. "Three girls. And there are twenty-four of us...."
"Enough for eight vampires," Fayth said quietly, looking apologetic.
"So you're saying that they take a little blood from each of three girls." Daphne was leaning anxiously
toward Rashel. "That's what you're saying, right? Right? A little sip here, a little sip there-" She broke off
as Rashel and Fayth both looked at her. "You're not saying that."
"Daphne, I'm sorry I got you into this." Rashel took a breath and opened the second lock on her
shackles, avoiding Daphne's eyes. "The idea of a bloodfeast is that you drink the blood of three people in
one day. All their blood. You drain them."
Daphne opened her mouth, shut it, then at last said pathetically, "And you don't burst?"
Rashel smiled bleakly in spite of herself. "It's supposed to be the ultimate high or something. You get the
power of their blood, the power of their lifeforce, all at once." She looked at Fayth. "But it's been illegal
for a long time."
Fayth nodded. "So's slavery. I think somebody wants it to make a comeback."
"Any idea who?"
"All I know is that somebody very rich has invited seven of the most powerful made vampires here for
the feast. Whoever he is, he really wants to show them a good time."