Eyes of Emerald

Chapter 29 - The Maid

    "You're lying." Iris stated, her multi coloured eyes meeting mine. Her jaw was set in a firm line, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make sense of it. I wanted to look down, to avoid her accusing glare, but I couldn't. It was like some sort of magic was holding me in place, unwilling to break the eye contact. 
        
        "I'm not." I whispered, wishing I could sound stronger. Why did I always have to be so weak at times like this? Why couldn't I be strong? Why was I always the one to break? 

        "You are, you must be! You're trying to trick me!" she shook her head wildly, like she was trying to rid her head of a swarm of loudly buzzing bees. "Or...or..." she snapped her gaze back to mine and I was surprised to see so much emotion in her eyes. She looked...angry? "You're working for him, aren't you! You're trying to get us to do what he wants!" 

        "No!" I squeaked. "No, I'm not! I promise!" Iris' face twisted, she glared and for a moment she didn't look like Iris any longer, like some wild animal that had consumed Iris' body and mind. She looked like she was struggling to make sense of it all - understandably, really. I didn't think I had made sense of it. It was too...too strange, too unlikely. But still it was true. I knew it was, I couldn't deny it. 

        "You have to be! There's no other explanation, the Autumn I knew wouldn't do something like this!" she cried, holding her head in her hands. I wanted to help her - I wished I could turn back time and make sure this would never happen. Maybe that would prevent her from having this mini mental breakdown. Maybe then she wouldn't hate me. I sighed. 

        "I'm not, though. Trust me." I pleaded with her, trying to show her that I was, in fact, telling the truth. She had to know that! I didn't lie about this kind of thing! I wouldn't lie about something this serious. 
        
        "But I can't," whimpered Iris suddenly, all trace of anger gone. She seemed to deflate slightly, crumpling to the floor and laying her head on her knees. "It's all too..." she shook her head, beginning to cry. I could imagine why - it wasn't just the fact that she had just been told that her parents, the family she had been hoping all her life would be perfect, were in fact evil and twisted. It was more the building up of emotions, the fact that she was far away from her home, far enough to know that help would never be coming. She was away from everything she knew, chained and restricted in a dark, damp, cold dungeon that she was unlikely ever to be released from unless we found a way to escape before they executed us.

        "Don't worry, Iris." Celie shuffled over to her and put her arm around the small girl. "It'll be okay." she rubbed her back comfortingly and I remembered how good that felt, it was like all of my troubles fell away when Celie turned on her magic. 
        
        I saw Angel curl herself up into a ball, her head on her knees and leaning against the cold, dripping wall. I didn't feel cold any longer, my skin was tingling strangely and I felt numb. Mind, as well as body. I was numb all over, even my brain was numb.

        I leaned my head against the bars, feeling the cold metal seep through my skin and into the bones, before closing my eyes and hoping everything would disappear by the time I woke. Maybe, at least, I would get a few hours of peace of mind while I slept. Maybe...


                                                                                                        *

        The next thing I knew, my name was being hissed urgently. I awoke with a start, wondering where all the light had gone. I looked around, the memories flooding back in an unpleasant sensation. I was in the Obsidian Fortress, held captive by my own father. My mother was dead. I had a half sister. 

        I groaned, holding my head, which was pounding like a blacksmith was forging a sword in the heat of my brain. I looked around again, seeing a beam of golden light playing on the dark floor from the window high up in the wall. 

        "Autumn!" someone hissed again, and I whipped my head around, groaning when it jarred the pain in my head, and saw my friends. 

        Celie and Angel were standing, stretching themselves like they were about to go for a run, and Iris was sat down, her head bowed and her bright hair hanging straight, all life gone from her locks. Her shoulders were slumped and she looked tired. She looked like she had kept herself awake all night (or what was left of the night, anyway). 

        "Wake up!"  Angel whispered, stretching her arms. "Someone's here, we thought we should wake you up. Iris, get ready!" she nudged Iris gently in the back, and Iris stood silently and slowly, looking like she was half dead. 

        "My name is Asya," came a voice from the shadows of the corridor, and a tall girl emerged, with long, black hair and a dark skin tone. She looked Hispanic of origin, her long dark eyelashes that I would kill for and skin that was as tanned as if she spent her life in the seas of the Mediterranean. She wore an outfit that I thought no one had worn for years, since slave girls had been out lawed. It was a short black dress, with a white apron over the top and shiny black shoes on the end of her long, long legs. Her eyes were disturbing though - they weren't blue, green, grey, black, or even gold. They were a deep, blood red, like she was wearing contacts, but I knew she wasn't. The small trickle of blood running down her chin told me all I needed to know. 

        This girl...Asya...was a vampire.