Blood Slave

Chapter Eight: Forbidden

I pull Clipper to my chest and hold him protectively. "No. You will not touch my son. He's not going to Amaryllis." 

Angser jumps around like he's got ants in his pants. "Please! I'll stay in the cage with your son and Amaryllis! I'm stronger than Amaryllis. I just want to try something." 

"Give me one good reason why I should do this," I demand. 

Angser frowns deeply. "Hybrids have it horrible. I can't tell Amaryllis's business, but I will tell you that she has had children before." 

"But...she's sixteen..." I say in surprise. 

Angser shakes his head. "She's had a hard life. But she knows how to be a mother. I'm just curious to see if she'll treat Clipper like her own even if he's not hers... Maybe that's why she's so irritable." 

"Because she wants a child?" I ask in confusion. 

"Mothers, even humans mothers, when they lose their children... They long for them. I guess Amaryllis is longing for that. It's just a hypothesis, but I think Clipper will make her feel better. Maybe she needs a baby in her life again." 

"She's a hybrid though! You told me that they're abominations! So how the hell am I supposed to hand over my son to an abomination?" 

"You can be in the cage too. It'll be fine. I just want to see how Amaryllis will react to the boy...and if she reacts badly, I'll get him out of there before she could anything to hurt him. I promise you," Angser vows. "But you'll have to make a deal. I don't do anything for free." 

Am I really going to take the word of a vampire and actually trust one? That's a whole lot of trust if I give Angser my son to put in a cage with an abomination. But now I got to make a deal... 

My eyes narrow. "I'll only do it if I can stay in the cage. If something happens to my son, you have to let me go. I'll no longer be a blood slave and I can walk free." 

"And if nothing bad happens?" Angser asks with a smile. 

"Then I'll let you feed from me any time you want. Regardless of what Jacqueline says," I state with a frown. 

Angser giggles, but Jacqueline's eyes widen in horror. 

"What the hell are you doing?" she yells angrily. 

"I doubt he'll do anything without making a deal somehow," I tell her. "I'm screwed either way." 

"A blood slave can't have two masters! You cannot be loyal to two vampires," Jacqueline snarls. 

"I'm not loyal to either one of you. I'm my own person, and I ain't doing shit for you two but giving my blood. That's it." 

Jacqueline shakes her head. "You won't be your own person after this, Zuriel. You'll be like all the other blood slaves... You'll get so dried up that you end up dying early. Blood slaves can only have one even sharing is dangerous for the blood slave." 

"Since when did you ever care about me anyways?" I snap. 

When Jacqueline stays silent, I get off the bed with Clipper in my arms. My legs are kind wobbly from blood loss last night. 

Angser is by my side suddenly and touching the bite mark on my neck. 

"I see Jacqueline has a snack last night... Then if I win and nothing happens to your son, I will be feeding from you today, and Jacqueline will get nothing."

There's a room just right above the floor of the basement where Amaryllis's cage is. It's a huge cage with a huge florescent light hanging above the cage, giving the place light.