The Phantom's Princess.

Ch. 3

"Hiding," a single word that came out as a whisper.

"You usually hide?" he asked, to which Alexis nodded.

"From what?"

Alexis could feel the eyes of the other men on her as Vincent questioned her. Her fists tightened beneath the table as considered what he was asking her to speak about.

Dropping her eyes from his gaze, she gave a small shake of her head.

"Alexis," Vincent said, "Nobody here is going to hurt you, you know that right?"

"Stop saying that," Alexis argued after having heard that same sentence more times than she was comfortable with. "That's what people say when they are going to hurt you."

That is how it was. They spoke nicely and lured you into a sense of security, promising gifts and kindness, and then when you believed you were safe they hurt you.

Vincent's jaw tightened as he watched her stare back at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Did somebody hurt you, Alexis?"

Alexis' lips trembled as her only reply.

"Who ..." Vincent's voice broke slightly, and he drew in a deep breath.

He was angry, that was clear. His calm demeanour was now lined with something fierce which screamed out from the depths of his eyes and sent a million chills coursing through Alexis' body.

She shuffled awkwardly in her seat as the silence filled the room. She wanted to get out of there, to run and to hide, but where could she go? She didn't even know where she was.

At least if anything, I could find somewhere to hide, she wondered before pushing her chair out and jumping from the seat.

Vincent didn't move as she quickly backed away from the table except to raise his hand slightly to someone she hadn't seen behind her, and soon his arm had gripped her around her waist and was lifting her from the ground.

"No," she screamed, kicking wildly at the man who was holding her until his hand pressed down over her mouth. His hands were heavy, and her body restricted enough to make wriggling difficult, and it was only for the painful piercing of the piece of mirror she had tucked in her crop top that gave her the insane hope that she might get free.

She reached up and grabbed at her chest, making her best effort to release her makeshift dagger, but she was easy work in the arms of the man who was holding her, and he quickly lowered her and secured her legs below his, and then her arms tightly against her chest.

It hurt.

The squeeze of his hand against her mouth and the pressure of his grip against her arms which pressed down on the broken mirror piece inside her crop top. Alexis couldn't do anything except to close her eyes and hold her tears.

"What the hell, Mamax?" Geoffrey said, rushing over to the man's side. "Ease up."

"I was trying to calm her," the man named, Mamax said.

Geoffrey's hands grasped at Mamax and loosened his grip from her before turning her towards him.

"She's a little girl, not a rabid dog," he snapped and then his voice softened as he spoke to Alexis. "Are you ok, princess?"

"I ... I don't ..." Alexis stammered, all the while pulling away from Geoffrey and fighting her best to restrain her tears.

"It's okay, it's okay," Geoffrey said, loosening his grip but not removing it.

Wide-eyed Alexis glared at Mamax comparing the force he'd used to the men's repetition of 'nobody will hurt you'. But then she had been lashing out, and he was a giant. That much she had surmised when he glowered over Thomas and Vincent, who had now come to stand by him, the scar that ran across his eye compounding the giant look.

Thomas' frown seemed to have softened as he approached with Vincent, while Vincent's face was expressionless as he walked over and crouched beside Geoffrey.

"I'm sorry," Alexis said in a rush, unsure if he was angry or not.

"No, no. I'm sorry," Vincent said and raised his hand to pat her head before stopping abruptly at the sight of her flinching. "Did I scare you just now?" he asked.

Alexis' eyes dropped to the floor. She wasn't exactly scared, she just wasn't sure if she felt safe.

"We keep telling you, princess," Geoffrey said. "You're safe here, and it's not just words."

Alexis nodded.

The men had all been as open as she could have expected since she'd arrived and had displayed nothing but friendliness, although in her experience it didn't always mean much.

It was just that niggling feeling of vulnerability that she always felt around strange men, that threw her off. And now there was that painful sting in her chest that she had felt since being grabbed by Mamax.

She pressed her hand against the area where the broken piece of glass was held and let out a wince as the pain surged through her.

"What happened?" Vincent asked, pulling her hand away from her chest at which his eyes widened slightly as red liquid seeped from under her dress.