Lord Motte's Vampire Bride - Version 1

Bye Bye

"Wait!" Daphne stands from her chair, holding both of her arms protectively in front of her. "Tell me what you're looking for, and I'll prove I'm worth keeping around!"

"You're not needed. Period." I hiss under my breath. "Just let her go and erase her memory." I direct this to Lord Motte.

Lord Motte looks to me maliciously. "She will just come running back forgetting she ever came."

I throw up my arms. "Why?"

"I can't erase a lifetime of compulsion to come here. This is the final destination for anyone that walks in through those gates. Ever." He says sternly, clearly irritated with my small attempt to save her.

Daphne lets the sobs come out. "Then why is she here and not dead?" She points her finger at me angrily. "I am twice the woman she is!"

Now I'm appalled. "And I was defending you." I huffed under my breath in disbelief. "Nevermind. Just get rid of her." I cross my arms and look away from the two of them in disgust.

Lord Motte clicks his tongue in amusement and wiggles his finger at me. "No, no. You're going to dispose of her."

I stand from my seat and slam my palms down on the table. "NO, NO, NO. I will not!" 

He stands to meet my challenge and lets out a low chuckle. "You'll have to eventually. Why not indulge and defeat the competition?" He raises his eyebrows suggestively while I stare back, gawking with an open mouth. 

"The competition?" I scoff. "You're actually going along with that? What has she done that has impressed you more than me?" 

Lord Motte looks back at me blankly. "And what exactly have you done?" 

Daphne gasps and stands. Any intelligent person would make a run for it at a moment like this, but of course, she doesn't. "I can be better than this bitch! Look at her! I doubt she even brushed her hair!" 

"Excuse me!" I grab her wrist in the iron tight clasp of my right hand. "I have been to hell and back in the last thirty-six hours alone. The last thing on my cotton-picking mind is a damn hairbrush! But of course, you would think of that, wouldn't you? Because your appearance matters more than your close proximity to death, doesn't it?" I whip her closer as she struggles to break free and shake my head. 

"You won't kill me!" She shrieks in a high-pitched squeal. 

I could practically feel her blood vibrating through her wrist like a flowing river in the desert. I was licking my lips instinctively without a thought and looking down at her like the pathetic prey she was becoming. 

A slow smile was spreading on the Lord's face in my peripheral vision and I hated to satisfy his wishes like this...but I can't take it anymore. Her annoying little voice, her stubborn pig-headedness and superficial attitude have become too much. 

That's the excuse I am using when really, I just can't take the hunger anymore. If it was a perfectly wonderful human being in front of me, I can't guarantee I wouldn't indulge. 

"Do it." Lord Motte's voice vibrates lowly into my ear and I shiver with lust - lust for her blood, that is. No words could describe his self-consumed grin as he watched me, but I can tell you one thing: I couldn't peel my gaze away from his. I stared right at him as my fangs extended for the first time. I could feel them pierce painlessly through my gums as tiny needlepoint weapons of hunger. I felt them gush into the warmth of the Daphne's source of life and suck it dry.

It felt like two seconds, but the repeated squirms and choked squeals that came from Daphne's lips hinted otherwise. It must have taken a great deal of time. 

The poor, pitiful girl. 

Afterwards, I scrape my teeth from her neck and slowly lay her down on the red carpeted floor. Lord Motte observes, resting his chin in his hand thoughtfully as if taking in a complex painting at a gallery. That is how he stares at me now, after all, like some kind of strange work of art. 

"There. Are you happy?" I grovel. 

"Unbelievably." He stresses nearly every syllable. "Now, let's dispose of it." He says nonchalantly, already leaning down to pick up the dead weight of the girl. 

"Uh, how do we do that?" It was a question that had never previously occurred to me. It is simply impossible to count how many girls have walked in these doors and never walked back out. How on earth does Lord Motte dispose of them without raising suspicion or causing an unavoidable stench? 

He throws her over his shoulder. "I have a chute I throw them down." 

I furrow my eyebrows. "That's it? You don't at least give them a decent send off?"

He shrugs. "Maybe. At first. To be honest, darling, the whole process is a little exhausting, especially after so many years. It's easier to just let them slide down there and rot in peace. Say a few words if she had a speck of decency, perhaps." 

I cross my arms. "Fine." I don't object, only because this one didn't strike me as particularly decent. If another "Jasmine" comes along, perhaps I'll say her a prayer. 

Then again, do Vampires pray? What gives them the right to pray? 

I follow the Lord with these questions in mind. He climbs to the top of the steps and walks to the far east corner of the building in the darkest corner I had ever seen. It was one of the few places I had yet to venture, and I am glad I didn't foolishly wander here before. 

"Bye, bye!" He pulls back a golden door, revealing a human-sized chute. He tosses her in head first, and she glides down awkwardly. He eventually loses patience and shoves her by her feet until she slithers down more fluently. I hear a soft thump when she hits the bottom. 

"Where do they go?" I ask quietly. 

"Under the basement. Don't worry, I have quite the ecosystem down there. They rot quickly and it feeds a beautiful garden lit up with plenty of lights." He sickly assures me.

"Great. A murder greenhouse I have no proof of." I roll my eyes and turn around. "Can I at least shower in this place and head to bed now? It's getting late." 

Lord Motte scoffs. "Shower sure, but sleep? No. You won't be able to sleep for a while, dear. You don't even feel tired after you feed. It's like a drug. You just want to get away from me." 

I pause, my eyelids twitching unpleasantly. 

"Don't you?" He teases from behind. I can nearly feel his hot, seductive breath on the back of my neck. If I was human, I doubt that would be something I would have sensed with him so far away.

"No." I regrettably admit. "I don't want to get away so much anymore."