What Makes a Monster

♱Fourteen♱

"Ouch!" I hiss, ripping my hand away from the steaming kettle.

My fingers are red. One of the kitchen staff smiles apologetically, asking if I'm in need of assistance. I shake my head and finish up Lord Makai's tea.

When I look in the cup, all I see is red. Then I blink the sight away and shake my head. With a heavy sigh, I return to Lord Makai's room. He's sitting at the desk, rifling through more papers. Like this it seems like he just fired the workers instead of killed them in cold blood.

Maybe I sit the tray of tea down too hard. Some spills over the cup. Lord Makai raises his gaze to meet mine. Maybe I don't hide my glare this time either, which has him smirking. Not frowning or appearing upset. No, he's fucking smirking.

"Be careful, Wallace. Should you break anything, it will be taken out of your paycheck."

"I'm starting to wonder if I want that paycheck," I hiss even if in the back of my mind I'm berating myself for it.

Lord Makai snorts and takes the cup, sipping some tea before speaking over the rim, "Are you surprised by today's events? You have been working for me long enough to know what to expect, I'm sure."

"Rumors and gossip should be taken with a bag of salt."

"The saying is grain."

"Yours are extreme so it's a bag."

Lord Makai snorts.

"But now I'm thinking the rumors aren't extreme at all. Did you have to kill them?" I ask.

"I didn't. Jeffro and the woman lived."

This bastard.

"Did they have to steal?" Lord Makai inquires with a roll of his eyes. "Can you take a guess how much money they took?"

"You don't even need it."

"Oh, I don't?" Lord Makai leans back. It's frightening how composed he is. "So the money for my company isn't needed, interesting. Would you like to tell the workers that? Perhaps we should head to their homes now and tell their families how they were fired because the company didn't need the money and therefore could not pay their workers."

Lord Makai stands. Like earlier, each step is heavy until he's looming over me but I don't back down even when he leans in close so that every word is breathed softly against my cheeks. This close, I notice how pale his skin is, how red his eyes are, how there isn't a single blemish or scar, skin as clear as porcelain. Such an appearance many others wish to achieve yet I find it almost terrifying. He really is nothing like us.

"What do you think would have happened had I spared them?" He asks in a whisper but his tone is sharp.

"You would have taken them to court," I answer, but that doesn't seem to be enough. Lord Makai waits for me to continue. I'm reminded of what Layne said months ago, and what Lord Makai said only hours ago.

I sigh and mumble, "And someone with power would have made sure nothing bad happened to them."

"You remember well."

The one compliment I get and it pisses me off.

"Something wrong? Angry that I didn't turn out to be the great hero you thought I was?" Lord Makai asks. He's still leaning over me so I take a step back, but he reaches out. When his hand wraps around my wrist, his skin is ice cold, so much so that I wonder if even a vampire should feel as such.

"Not angry," I answer. "Just disappointed."

Lord Makai, for the briefest of moments, looks taken aback, or maybe I'm seeing things. The expression is gone in a second.