The Mating Rules
Book 2 – Chapter 33

Hadley’s POV

It’s been roughly three days without food to the best of my knowledge, it’s hard to tell when you sit in permanent darkness, the only light being when four guards’ storm in and slam me to the floor, holding me down for my daily dose of wolfsbane. They then stomp out, slamming the cell door and throw a juice box at me, my only form of sustenance since they cut my food off. I have been trying to ration each one, taking just a sip every few hours, enough to wet my parched throat when it gets too much like sandpaper.

The lack of food is getting to me slowly, we wolves burn calories at a ridiculously high rate, I can’t even do the push ups I was doing when I first got here as all my energy is being used just keeping me alive. My stomach is aching it’s so empty and I’m pretty sure I’m starting to hallucinate as I could feel . . something a while ago, maybe yesterday? I don’t know but something felt different but it was gone before I could figure out if it was real or my own imagination. On the plus side, with me not being fed, none of the guards have needed to come in alone, and that has meant that Zenith has been left alone, giving him time to try and come out of his b***d l**t.

It took a while for the Vampire to stop snarling like a feral beast, then he took to stalking around his cell in agitation. I could tell from the sounds that echoed through the empty room, that he was clawing at the walls with his finger nails. Finally, he crumpled to the ground and just whimpered to himself, ignoring my calls to him until all noises ceased from his side of the cells. He’s now been silent for so long I’m worried he’s gone into some sort of coma. I know he can’t die but just how long can he be tortured before his mind breaks?

A low g***n rumbles through the blackness and my head snaps up as I turn toward the bars, gripping them so I can pull myself as close as my leg chain will let me.

‘Zenith?’ I call out, my voice hoarse from no liquid for the last seventy two hours other than that one small juice box they were so kind and permitted me.

‘Hadley?’ The Vampire’s weak voice floats across to me and I feel the tension in my body ease slightly. I hadn’t realised just how much of a comfort my fellow captive was until he was no longer responding to me anymore.

‘Yeah it’s me’ I reply softly, ‘how do you feel?’

The Vampire laughs dryly, ‘like someone ripped open my body, pulled out my intestines and whipped me with them’ he grumbled hoarsely. I can hear him moving around, and from the sounds of it, he’s not in good shape. My fears are confirmed when a low curse word makes it’s way through the air.

‘What?’ I ask immediately, concern for the only thing I have close to a friend here, rising.

The man sighs weakly, ‘seems my b***d l**t is escalating’ he replies after a beat, ‘I tried to drink from my own body.’

I shiver at the thought, imagining the paper thin, milk white skin that I’ve seen on the couple of Vampires who strayed into our pack over the years covered in deep bite marks from their fangs.

As though he can sense my tension, Zenith chuckles darkly, ‘at least I now know why your lot don’t eat us’ he murmured, ‘we taste disgusting. It seems the living are only tasty because of their b***d, because us dead taste like sh*t.’

I snort with laughter at his words, ‘yeah, the only reason we don’t eat you is because you’re dead’ I retort, ‘nothing to do with the fact we don’t eat people.’

The Vampire barked out a laugh that turned into a harsh coughing fit, ‘don’t make me laugh’ he scolds breathlessly, ‘it hurts.’

‘Sorry’ I reply, ‘I’ll try to be less upbeat and hilarious from now on.’

‘Appreciated’ Zenith chuckles as he scuffles around, presumably trying to get comfortable. ‘How long was I out?’ he asks quietly, a touch of dejection in his tone.

‘Best guess, I’d say three days’ I sigh, ‘guards haven’t been back except to dose me up, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how long it’s been.’

There was a cough of surprise before the Vampire cleared his throat, ‘what about your meals?’ he demanded harshly, ‘water?’

I licked my parched lips, ‘nope, I was put on a no food diet by one of the guards when he brought that rabbit in here that was dripping b***d. He didn’t take kindly to me interfering with his little game. They have thrown me a juice each day though, so they don’t seem to want me to die too quickly’ I add, trying for humour in my voice.

Zenith snarled softly, ‘you shouldn’t put yourself in the lions mouth my friend, not for me. I can’t die remember, so don’t risk your own health for me, you mortals need to eat to keep your strength.’

I am about to reply when the door slams open and heavy footsteps make their way toward me, I ball my fists, taking a defensive crouch, my eyes already closed, ready for the harsh beam of light. I’ve already been dosed today so this is an unexpected visit and from the singular stomp of the boots moving toward me, this visitor is alone.

A beam of light flashes across my face and even with my eyes shut, I still flinch away from the pain as it pierces my eyelids. I hear the scrape of the bars being lifted before something slides across the concrete floor and stops a few feet into the cell. The small opening built into my cell door falls shut again, the padlock that holds it closed clicking back into place before a grunt sounds of a man standing up and the boots stomp away again. The door opens at the end of our row of cells and then shuts again with a resounding bang that echoes around us long after the silent visitor has left.

‘Hadley?’ Zenith’s voice calls out worriedly, ‘what happened, what did he do?’

I feel around on the floor tentatively before my fingers replace the edge of the tray. Running the tips over the top I replace a soft roll with some sort of sticky filling. Pulling my fingers back to my face, I touch the ends with my tongue to realise it’s egg mayonnaise. Continuing my search, I discover what appears to be a banana, some raisins in a box and instead of a juice box, it’s two plastic bottles.

‘They gave me food’ I whisper in surprise, pulling away from the tray uncertainly. ‘Why did they give me food? I’m supposed to be rationed for five days.’

My stomach is clawing at me to devour what’s been given but my energy starved mind is nagging at me, why have they changed the rules? I haven’t been a model prisoner or anything, I’ve continued to fight against them each time they come to inject me albeit it’s been less and less hard for them to subdue me. Why would they want to make me stronger again? I’d be more dangerous to them.’

‘they gave you food?’ Zenith repeats sharply, suddenly sounding much more with it than he did. ‘What type of food?’

I frown, reaching out for the tray again and slowly pulling it toward me like I’m afraid that it might be booby trapped or something.

‘An egg mayonnaise roll, a banana and I think a kids pack of raisins’ I mutter confusedly, ‘and two bottles of drink.’

‘Do you think they messed with it?’ the Vampire asks, voicing my mind’s own doubts as I run my finger over the roll longingly.

‘I don’t know’ I admit, ‘I don’t even know what their plan is, is this them starting to torture me instead of you? Will I eat it and be violently sick or something?’

The Vampire snarls angrily, ‘they are sadistic bastards’ he spat, ‘I wouldn’t put anything past them, they’d probably get their rocks off watching you stuff that down you throat and then forcefully spew it back up again.’

I sigh heavily, picking up the wonderful smelling sandwich and bringing it to my lips. ‘Even if they have, does it even matter? Whatever is going on here they are going to make happen whether I co-operate or not.’

Without further thought, I take a bite out of the roll and force myself to chew it slowly, working my mouth before swallowing the mouthful down. My throat tightens against the unaccustomed feel of swallowing, and I grab one of the two bottles, cracking open the top and drinking a gulp of what turns out to be water.

I splutter against the foreign feeling liquid and pull the bottle away, slamming my fist into my chest until the coughing subsides and then bring it back to my lips, taking small sips.

Once my throat feels a little less like a desert, I attempt the sandwich again, taking tiny bites, chewing slowly and following each swallow with some water until the entire thing is gone.

I feel around and pick up the fruit and box along with the water, moving to the back of my cell and placing them in the far corner just in case I don’t get another meal again for a while. I also figure that if the sandwich makes me sick, I’ll know not to eat the rest and maybe I’ll shove that damn banana into the face of one of the guards the next time they rush me. I smile to myself at the thought of getting one of those sadistic bastards to eat tainted food and suffer the same fate that I do if they have messed with it.

Moving back to the cell door, I pull the tray over and place it in front of the small opening, leaning against the bars as I wait to see if I start to suffer for my impromptu meal.

The vampire chuckles softly across from me, ‘I can’t tell if you are insanely ballsy or just plain insane’ he muses.

‘I was hungry’ I reply simply as I drop my head gently against the bars.

My only reply from my friend is a harsh laugh that is oddly eerie in the silent room we occupy.