Free Vengeance (The Captive Series, Book 6) by Erica Stevens Page B

skin.
    “Good evening everyone!”
    A woman’s sweet and melodic voice flowed over the crowd. Even if Tempest hadn’t already heard the power and self-confidence resonating in the woman’s voice, she would have known the supposed queen was speaking when all the gathered vampires bowed as one. It was like watching a flock of birds following their leader and moving with the same rhythmic flow. The sight of it made her stomach turn. Her hands fell away from the window as the woman continued to speak.
    “I am so happy to see so many new faces amongst us today. So many who know our proper place is at the top, above the human vermin we’ve been forced to coincide with and treat as our equals.”
    The sick feeling in her stomach grew. Judging by the vast crowd out there, and their growing enthusiasm, there were many who believed this woman’s twisted words.
    “We will take back what is rightfully ours!” The woman’s zealous tone caused the crowd to erupt into applause.
    The woman waited until the cheers died down before speaking again. “We will be the top of the food chain again; vampires will no longer have to pretend to give equal rights to a species far inferior to ours!” The woman’s voice rose with her ardent words. “As you can see, our numbers are swelling to encompass more and more who realize being ruled by a king weak enough to fall in love with a human, a former blood slave, is no king at all. We are vampires who refuse to be led by a turned human, a woman weaker than us in every way. We will not be kept down. We will not be forced to accept a race who kept us locked away for thousands of years, and who would do so again if given the opportunity! We will be number one again!”
    Cheers erupted through the crowd. They vibrated so vigorously down the street that the glass in the window before her vibrated with the force of their shouts. Their feet stomped on the snow-covered ground, causing resounding thumps to shake the floor beneath her. Tempest rested her hand against her chest; she didn’t know what to do as acid burned its way up her throat.
    After five minutes, the excitement of the crowd calmed again. “Bring forth the traitors!” The queen declared.
    Traitors ? Tempest didn’t have much time to ponder who the traitors were before the invaders began to unlock the stocks and remove the vampires from them. The crowd parted to let the invaders pass as they led the prisoners down the center of the street toward the hotel. A choked sound escaped her when the vampires within the crowd began to spit and beat at the vampires walking by them. The prisoners threw their hands up in an attempt to protect themselves, but before they were halfway through the mob, bruises and blood marred their faces and clothes.
    “What are they doing?” Pallas gasped.
    “I don’t know.” Tempest said the words, but a niggling horror was already forming in the back of her mind.
    The crowd continued to part in order to let them pass, but she could no longer see the prisoners within the sea of angry vampires. She stood, unable to move, as she waited to see what would happen to those poor, beaten souls.
    “This world will become ours again!” The woman somewhere at the front of the crowd declared in the same excited, passionate voice that roused the crowd to more cheers. “And we will do whatever is necessary to take it back!”
    Tempest jumped as flames burst upward from the courtyard outside of the hotel. Horror chilled her bones when agonized screams rent the air. The flames soared nearly to the tops of the houses before coming down to ten feet in height. The flames leapt and danced in the glass; the light from the fire played over the three of them.
    Over the top of the snapping fire and the crackling wood, the screams continued to echo through the night. The crowd shifted, moving just enough so she caught a glimpse of one of the prisoners straining against the ropes binding him to a pole seconds before the pile of