Secrets

Chapter 7

The smell of blood bathed my tongue as I struggled to open my eyes. I felt so weak for some reason. What had happened? Where was I? Why does everything sound so faint and distant?

Then it hit me. Moira and Julian captured me with the help of Zeus. I tried to get up, but something was holding me down. I was still in my tiger form and my paws were bound to the leather straps in front of me. I raised my head and looked around, spotting a few cages here and there. They all seemed relatively empty, and I groaned as I realized where I must be. A vampire lair...they had to bring me to the dang vampires. They are so not surviving once I get out.

I looked towards the door as someone walked in. The smell of blood surrounded them, and I squinted my eyes in the attempt to see who they were. My eyes widened and a growl rippled through my throat as I glared at him. I couldn't believe it was my adoptive father, James.

"Greetings April. Let's see why you are still in your tiger form. I'm going to let you free, but don't think about attacking. I have a few vampires standing guard outside the door who will stop you at all costs." He spoke as he reached for the leather straps holding my paws down.

I growled and tried to scratch him with my claws. He shook his head with a twisted smile before looking towards the door. He then looked back at me and bared his fangs. I immediately growled and pulled my head away as quickly as possible. I let out a roar as his fangs dug into my left foreleg. I could feel nothing but pain as he drank my blood. He looked slightly disgusted by the taste of my orange blood but didn't seem to let go.

"James! Release her now!" A voice snapped from behind me.

My vision, by now, was blurry and my ears were flat against my head. I was having difficulty fighting against the urge to sleep. James refused to let go of me and whoever had yelled at him, jumped over me and tackled James to the ground. I barely could see the fight, but I did know the black-haired person with red eyes was fighting James. I tried to use my nose to figure out the scent of the person, but my nose seemed to be clogged by the smell of my blood.

Soon the fight was over and the man with black hair hauled James over to the door. He opened the door and shoved James out.

"Get him the hell away from here!" The man yelled.

"Yes, Mr. Winter." Two people said before the door closed.

"April, are you okay? I need you to be okay so I can figure out why you're still in your tiger form and not your human form. You should be in your human form when you pass out or sleep." The man said.

His voice sounded very familiar. His last name was Winter, so I knew almost immediately that he had to be my father, Michael Winter. I wanted to turn back, but with how little strength I had left, I was trying to keep my eyes open.

I felt Michael remove the leather straps around my forelegs and grab my left foreleg carefully. I tried to pull my leg away while giving a barely audible growl, but I was too weak and tired to do so right now. Michael wrapped something around my foreleg and set my foreleg down carefully.

"There. That bandage should catch any blood that falls from the bite mark. I'll be letting you out of these restraints so that you could understand I do not want to harm you farther. I... just want to talk." Michael said, his voice sounding genuinely truthful.

Why did he want to talk to me? Is it some ploy to get me to listen to him and allow his unruly experiments to continue me? He wouldn't want to talk to me just because I am one of his three children. That would be almost impossible for him to even consider us as children than his experimental subjects. Nothing in the world could ever change him. Of that, I know for sure.