Vampocalypse (old first draft)

Chapter Twenty-four

A/N Chapter dedicated to @Ann5005 for the lovely cover she made in the media section ^_^

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Not a single moment passed when at least one servant wasn't fussing over me: fixing my hair, cleaning under my nails, or even brushing my teeth. By the time they'd finished, I was afraid to move - fearing I'd get dirty and they would start the awkward, embarrassing process again. The treatment was extremely unnecessary.

What is the meaning of this? I wondered.

If Leonard was honoring me, I had news for him: outside- it hadn't been some huge display of badassery; it was merely luck. Yes, I was a Spellbinder. I was also ignorant and inexperienced. Yet, here I was being treated like royalty.

I trailed behind Uma as she led me into the dining room. Her hand in mine, I could feel how rough they were. The same way my father's hands were when he used to work in the farming field outside the compound.

"What else do you do for the alpha?" I asked her.

"Anything he asks," she said.

For some reason, I felt very close to Uma. It could have been her innocence. Perhaps it was the fact that she looked so unhappy here, excluding the moments I made her giggle. I was unhappy in the compounds. Before Hector helped me escape, I thought I was destined to die there; alone, without knowledge of the rest of the world, without ever having done anything except gaze out of the window.

"It must be awful," I said.

"It's not so bad." She shrugged. "It beats trying to make it out there with the other humans."

Her confession stopped me.

"You're human?"

She nodded, her mess of dreaded champagne-colored hair swaying against her shoulders.

"So are Matilda, Jewel, and Donna," she said, with a nod behind us, where we'd left the other girls behind. "There's more, too. Happens lots now."

"So... They kidnap you to be servants to the alpha?" I asked, starting to really dislike the alpha, no matter how powerful and breathtaking he seemed.

"No, we are born here from the were women," she explained.

Like Wren, I thought sadly. I took a seat at a large pinewood table.

"Alpha Leonard keeps us, otherwise we would be in the wild, because our parents disown us when we don't get the first change at puberty." She looked positively downcast.

The very idea of it- But I knew how the animal instincts were. If something is wrong in their offspring, they abandoned them...or ate them. I cringed, pretty much feeling finished with the conversation. Then curiosity got the better of me and I carried on.

"Why doesn't the change come?"

"No new blood lines, too much of the old ones," she said.

It took a moment for me to grasp what she meant, then, eww.

After that little talk, I was still somehow able to fill up on soup - potatoes and beef. No food had ever tasted as delectable. Likely because I'd been eating food provided by creatures that didn't even eat food themselves. Meals had been very basic in the compounds, but here, a chorus of flavors burst from every bite. Everything was idealy seasoned and cooked to the exact moment of perfection. Either the alpha had a very talented chef, or the fact that I hadn't eaten properly in days was taking it's toll. By the time I had to stop, I felt my stomach would burst.

"That was fantastic!" I said.

Uma nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Yes, alpha Leonard prides himself in his cooking," she said.