Vessel X Reader/OC (Sleep token)

Chapter 11

He looks at me intently, and nods again, signalling for me to proceed.

"I like you, Vessel. But I have a good amount of reason to believe there's something you're not telling me."

He nods.
"Okay."

I stare at him, waiting for him to admit, and confirm, what Elva had already told me.

He thinks about his words, carefully, and bites his lip.
"All of it can wait. It's nothing that you need to know. Urgently, at least."

"No?" I say, folding my arms. "Not going to mention the fact that I'm a hostage here, and that you or your god have no intention of ever letting me go?"

He frowns at me.
"That's untrue."

"I know that it's true."

"You do?" He asks, smiling. "Fascinating. Where'd you get that idea?"

"One of your little disciples told me."

He bites his lip, and laughs quietly.
"I'm sorry for that misinformation. It's complicated, sure, but you are not going to be here forever. Not against your will, anyway. I promise you that, Iris. But at the moment, that's all I can tell you. Because, simply, that's all that I know. Is that okay?"

He looks so sincere, that I instinctively nod.
"Ok."

"Thank you, Iris."

"No problem. I'm a model prisoner." I say, half bitter, half joking, and he quietly laughs, again.

"I have tried to make you feel less like a prisoner. If there's anything else I can do, you know where I am."

"I do."

"Good. Rest up." He says, and leaves, abruptly.

I get some rest, and get up in the morning, getting some fruit, and a little bit of honey, for my breakfast. I sit by the fire, and Elva sits beside me, with a faint smile.

"You okay?" She asks, placing her hand on my shoulder. I guess she remember how upset I was last night.

I nod, and smile.
"Yes. Fine, thanks."

"It's okay, girl. You fit in great here. It's gonna be a big change, but you'll be okay."

I smile again, and shake my head.
"No, no. I'm not staying. I cleared it all up with Vessel. Thanks, though."

She raises her eyebrow.
"Listen. Girls have to stick together. He's lying to you. You gotta figure out how to get out of here, because he's not going to let you."

"Okay. Okay, fine." I respond. I notice Vessel, watching me, from a bit of a distance, and tilting his head slightly, looking confused.

I get up, and grab my knife from beside my bed, and hide it in my trousers. In the evening time, I decide to just fucking go for it. This is a real bummer. I like Vessel. My heart is racing, and I can feel beads of sweat on my forehead. I enter Vessels tent. He's sitting at his piano, and he turns to look at me.

"Iris." He says, and gives me a faint smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing." I respond, and sit on his bed, watching him.

He nods, and gets up from his piano, and pours us both a mug of wine.

"Here." He says, quietly, and hands it to me. I nod, gratefully, and drink it, quite quickly, and suddenly feel calmer, and more confident that this is what I need to do.

He finishes his, and takes his mask off. He always looks scarier, at first, because of the black paint smeared about his mouth, neck and chin.

"Cheers." He says, and we clink our mugs together, and chug the wine.

He's mellow most of the time - sure. But something is really off with him. Like he's hiding or something, again. Or like he knows something.

I breathe, carefully, and think about it.
Quickly, I grab my knife and violently slash at his neck. As if he knew exactly what I was going to do, and when, he dives out of the way. Because I miss him, I lose my balance for a second, and he grabs my wrists, and throws me onto the floor.

I groan, and try and get up, but he straddles me, and pins me to the floor by my wrists, my hand still tightly clutching the knife.

I try and shake him off, but my god, he is strong. Eventually, I give up, and drop the knife.
He stares at me blankly, for a few moments, and his expression slowly turns into a frown.
"What the hell are you thinking?"

I glare back at him, and he smiles at me.
"I've never had a woman try and kill me before. I'm flattered." He says, and gets off of me, and helps me to my feet. I take his hand as he helps me up, and he pulls me close, and presses his lips against my ear.
"Don't play with knives." He whispers, before kissing my ear gently, making me shiver.

Jesus, why is he being hot? Frustrated, and trying to shake off how much I'd like to jump on his bones, I shove him by the chest quite violently. I knew quite well by now I wasn't going to win, but I couldn't stop myself being enraged. I throw a punch at his face, and hit his cheekbone. He's knocked back, and takes a few steps back to get his balance.

I see a smile spread across his face.
"There's nothing you could do, and very little you could say to hurt me." He says, softly, and I take deep breaths, and calm down.

"I'm sorry." I mumble, still angry, but quite aware I probably shouldn't have tried to stab him in the throat.

"Don't be sorry, Iris. You have every right to be angry. Besides, I enjoyed wrestling a knife out of your hand. That was the most fun I'd had in a long time."

I raise my eyebrow, confused, and frankly, weirded out.

"Let me clear this mess up." He continues, and runs his fingers through his hair, trying to keep his expression blank, though he looked slightly nervous.

"You know there's something I am not telling you. I thought there would be no point in telling you, and that nothing good can come from it. I believe that this remains the case. But since you are clearly paranoid, I'll tell you. You have not been here long, and you've done nothing but cause trouble. You've attacked me, more than once, shouted, sworn at me, and not once have you backed down, despite how intimidating I know this place can be. You've tried to kill me. You're stunningly beautiful, and fierce, too. I have given it time, to see if I'm just bewitched. But that's not the case; I am-".

"Don't. Don't. Don't say it. Do not say what I think you're about to." I say to him, sharply, and he stares back at me in shock, and looks hurt.

With one single blink, the hurt in his eyes fades back to expressionless.
"Fine. As you wish." He says, quietly, and I turn and leave the tent, and outside of it, I see a man standing, with his arms folded. He's wearing a plain, white mask. Much creepier than usual.  Not taking my eye off him, I walk back to my own tent, and his head slowly folloes the direction I walk in. Jesus Christ, that's creepy.

I shrug it off, and go to sleep.