She motioned David and Kathryn to follow her as she rushed in the other direction, away from her suite. Since nobody was currently locked up in the cellblock, she didn’t expect any guard to be on duty there. Besides, they would all be upstairs, trying to hold off the Mississippians.
Careful not to make a sound, Faye turned the next corner and reached the entrance to the cellblock. She peeked inside. It was empty. A sigh of relief came over her lips.
“Come.”
David and Kathryn hesitated when they saw what they were entering. Kathryn froze.
“Don’t be afraid. There’s an exit through there.” Faye pointed to the cell that Robert had occupied. “Trust me.” She walked to the open door and took a step inside, nearly tripping at the threshold. She looked down and saw that the wood had worn down over time and was loose, creating a tripping hazard.
Faye glanced back. The doors to the other two cells were open, too, and behind the last one was another small room the guards used for supplies. She entered the cell fully and looked over her shoulder.
Hesitantly, David and Kathryn followed her to the entrance of the cell and waited there, clearly afraid to step inside the dim interior. Faye didn’t press them immediately. After all, she had to find the entry point to the tunnel first anyway, and there was no need for the two to wait inside the cell they so clearly feared until she’d managed to locate the tunnel entrance.
“Wait there,” she instructed them and went to work.
Methodically, her hands swept over the walls of the prison cell, feeling every indentation, every groove, testing them, before moving on to the next section. She knew what she was looking for: a series of indentations that would fit her fingers, allowing a certain sequence of pressure which would unlock the mechanism to open the secret passage. She knew both the doors in her and in the king’s suite were opened that way, and she had no reason to believe that this one functioned any different.
Inhaling the stale air in the room, she tried to remain calm. Rushing would only lead to her not noticing the indentations she needed to find.
“Are you sure there’s an exit?” David whispered from the door.
Faye cast a glance over her shoulder. “Yes, there has to be.” Cain had used it. And if he’d found it while still suffering from amnesia, so could she.
She felt her heart pound in her chest, beating rapidly against her ribcage. Memories of her own suffering at the hands of a cruel king resurfaced and made her double her efforts. She had to help these vampires. Nobody deserved to suffer like they had.
Her index finger slipped into a groove. She froze. Then her thumb found purchase.
“There,” she whispered to herself and pressed against the stone wall, feeling something click. She stepped back, a feeling of accomplishment already spreading within her.
“Somebody’s coming,” David suddenly whispered.
Faye whirled her head around and saw how David grabbed Kathryn. Faye rushed toward him, but he was already dragging Kathryn toward the far end of the cellblock where the supply room was located. At the sound for footsteps growing louder, Faye froze for a split second. She was about to dive after David and Kathryn to hide in the supply room with them, when she remembered the door to the tunnel. She spun on her own axis and saw that it was now fully open. Anybody stepping into the cell would see it. She dove back into the cell, but her foot caught on the uneven threshold and she tripped.
Reaching out her hands, she fought for balance, when the person entering the cellblock reached her.
An arm caught around her waist and she was jerked back.
“How fortunate.”
The cold voice in her ears made her blood freeze in her veins.
“Abel,” she managed to echo, pulling herself up to standing. She quickly turned in his hold, hoping to block his view so he couldn’t see the open door to the tunnel.
But when she saw his face, she knew it was too late.
“Well, well, well. So that’s how he got out.”
Faye’s breath hitched. Abel’s words could only mean one thing. He’d been the one who’d tried to kill Cain. “It was you!”
Before she could do or say anything else, Abel shoved a vial at her mouth and forced the contents down her throat. The bitter liquid sent a shock through her system, making her spasm involuntarily. Then her movements slowed and though she tried to push against him and refuse to swallow, her body wouldn’t follow her mind’s command.
She concentrated, collecting her strength to send a mental message to Cain, but she couldn’t form any thoughts.
“Gotcha now,” was the last thing she heard Abel say before darkness engulfed her.