The air flew past her at a neck-breaking speed. She tried to struggle but failed when the chains didn’t break but rather burned in her skin. Caitlin looked back up at her home, which was quickly fading from view and let out a broken-hearted scream. She knew there was no turning back. She wouldn’t escape her fate, not like when she helped Liam escape his.
But still…it was worth it.
She felt the pain when she blasted through the last layers of her realm, breaking all the physical and emotional links with her people above and went tumbling down to the worlds below. Her body started spinning out of control, straining against the resistance of the air, wanting to push her up while her wings were straining against the hold of those cursed chains.
Just a few more seconds left…and then the resounding smack as she was met by the greeting of unforgiving ground.
Pain. Bone-shattering pain. She felt every bone in her wings snap as easily as if they were made of glass while her head made a sickening crunching sound when it made contact with the hard rock underneath her.
And then silence.
Through her pain-filled haze, her disability to scream and all of the wounds screeching out, alerting her of their presence, she heard the sound of distant voices.
Humans.
The only luck she had, was the fact that she broke her fall with her wings, shattering them in the process. Clenching her teeth together to stop the moans and grunts of agony, she pulled them in her back and withdrew the last feather when the first human rounded the corner.
Startled shouts filled the air before padding of feet on hard rock alerted her that they were coming towards her. She only caught a glimpse of the small, rugged group of people, who were on edge, scanning the terrain around her, before she passed out.
---Caitlin’s POV---
“ Are ye’ sure we can trust her? What if she’s a spy?”
“Don’t be a fool, Nicolas. Do you honestly think she looks like a vampire? Or a demon? To me, she looks like a woman who ran out of luck. Took a thorough beating as well; her whole back is covered in bruises and marks.”
The voices slowly registered in my mind as I became aware of my surroundings. I was lying on my stomach on what felt like a pile of rags. One of the humans was peeling the last of the chains of my body while two of them were in a heated discussion.
I winced when the hands gripped the piece of chain wrapped around my throat, causing an eerie silence to slice through the room before footsteps approached me.
“Can ye’ hear us lass?” a male asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. Slowly, I raised my head of the rags to nod numbly, groaning under my breath when the bruises protested. Another, softer pair of hands gently pushed me back down. “Stay down, your body is covered with chain marks and your back is badly bruised.”
A sigh escaped my lips while I eagerly complied. I swallowed harshly as the last chain fell down with a soft tinkling sound before I peeled my eyes open to look at the humans around me. The woman seemed Asian and was peeling a pair of thick gloves of her hands while she stared at the chains in disgust.
“I don’t know what the hell these are, but I sure don’t want to find out by experiencing them on my skin. I hate to tell it to you but there will be scarring from those chains.” She said, narrowing her eyes towards the pile of softly glowing chains before she turned her eyes on me, filling them with compassion.
I nodded weakly, resting my forehead against the ground while I inhaled deeply through my nose and steadily exhaled through my mouth, trying to force the pain away. My advanced healing wouldn’t help with these wounds; they would only heal the broken bones and bruises from the fall.
“Mighty fine beating you took there.” The man drawled sarcastically before he was interrupted with the second man saying, “Nicolas.” The first man, obviously Nicolas, looked over me towards the speaker and raised his eyebrows. “What? A man can’t be cautious enough these days. Don’t wanna end up as a blood bag.”
With a groan, I worked myself up, resting my weight on my lower arm as I halted for a moment before forcing myself in a sitting position, draping my arms over my knees while I overlooked the room.
Five pairs of eyes followed my every move with caution, distrusting but still compassionate. Scanning my surroundings, my eyes glided over the windows, covered with wooden boards from the inside out and the few pieces of weathered furniture. One woman was sitting at the table, on the lap of a young man, who shot glances between the teenager and me.
The other three were now standing a few steps away from me, examining me closely. One of the elder men walked forwards and crouched in front of me. “What’s your name, lass?” I opened my mouth to answer but all I could produce was a hoarse croak, the attempt creating a jolt of pain to rush through my throat while something warm bubbled up and dripped from my lips.
“Hey, hey…it’s okay, you don’t have to talk.” He hushed when I touched my lips and looked at the bloody spit in slight panic. The man turned towards the Asiatic woman and sighed. “I’m guessing those things done some internal damage as well.”
I nudged the man’s foot with my own and looked up at him when he turned around. When his eyes were focused on me, I dragged my finger through the dirt floor, carving my name in the soft sand.
“Caitlin huh?” I nodded and stopped quickly as the strain on my back intensified. “Were you being followed?” he asked, getting the attention of all the humans as they stood on edge. I slowly shook my head and coughed, moaning at the pain that shot through my back. Damn, those broken wings hurt!
A pair of feet came rushing towards the entrance before a young man, barely a teenager, came bursting in. “John! Liz and Suzie have been captured! The vampires have ambushed them on the willow-fields.”
A curse ran through the room as the woman gathered together around the table while the men huddled together, moving their hands roughly through their hair while they urgently whispered in a muffled conversation. The younger man, who had previously been sitting at the table, nodded and quickly ran up the stairs in the hallway before he returned with a wooden box, dumping it on the floor.
John and Nicolas stood at a wooden crate next, quickly picking some guns out of it before Nicolas scowled and turned towards the kid. “And you ran straight here?” The kid nodded quickly, his chest still expanding and deflating in a quick pace from his running. “Did you cover your scent?”
The mouth of the child dropped in shock, but before he could reply, the door behind him flew of its hinges and several figures darted in. John roared and fired his shotgun towards one of the blurs before the weapon flew through the room, quickly followed by John himself.
“My, my…what have we here?” a male voice drawled slowly. Turning my head around, I noticed that the other humans were pinned to the ground while more men filtered into the room, looking around. “It seems like we got ourselves some slaves boys.” The speaker drawled lazily, smiling at his men while they fished up some cuffs and secured each of the humans.
“Well, hello.” A voice murmured close to me before a finger as smooth as silk, lifted my chin but became as hard as marble when it forced me to look up. I looked up in a stunningly beautiful face that belonged to the man that previously spoke to his men. His lips pulled up in a grin while he gripped my chin and turned my head from side to side, checking me out.
“This one will pay a fine price, might even be one of the best catches we had.” Although his face looked breathtakingly beautiful, it reminded me of the faces I’ve seen before, of what this predator in human skin in front of me really was.
Vampire.
A few hours later
---Ethan’s POV---
This was useless.
I glanced back at the other side of the car, looking down at my 6-year old daughter and sighed deeply. His little Lilith was staring out the window of the car with dull, uninterested eyes. When she felt my gaze on her, she turned her head towards me and softened her azure eyes a bit but that was the only reaction she would give to me. The others only gained a bored blink.
Ever since my Beloved…my heart’s desire broke the bond and left 3 years ago, I was a changed man. Lilith hasn’t spoken since her mother looked down at her with a leer and left with her lover, with her Demon Lord. She left her blond, 3 year old child alone, broken-hearted while I tried to pick up the pieces of a bond that was never meant to be broken.
I’ve tried to coax her out of her shell; I stayed myself around little Lilith, hoping that one day my daughter would finally talk to me. With another sigh, I shook my head and turned back to the window when the car stopped. This really was useless. My uncle had advised me to try and get his little treasure to open up.
So, he had suggested that I should take her out to pick herself a slave. Well, we wouldn’t treat it as a slave, more like a servant. As long as Lilith was the one who picked it. I turned back and smiled slightly when Lilith glanced through the window at the old slave house. “Let’s go honey.” I murmured, reaching out with my hand.
Lilith looked at me with the ghost of a smile on her lips before she intertwined her small little fingers with mine. Her eyes ran over the outline of the building before they landed on the large wooden doors, where two vampires stood guard. It wouldn’t be the first time that one of the newly turned vampires tried to get to an easy blood supply.
I nodded shortly at both the vampires while I kept Lilith close at hand. The left guard, who looked like a woman mid-thirties, flashed us a warm smile while her counterpart just glanced at my daughter before he raised his eyes towards me in shock.
“Milord! A pleasant surprise to see you here.” He exclaimed, regarding me with caution as I looked at him, tilting one eyebrow up to look at him with an expectant gaze. “I-I mean, aren’t you against the whole idea of having slaves?” he stuttered, quickly correcting his mistake of looking at my daughter by inclining his head towards me and looking at his feet.
A dark, hollow chuckle rose from my chest while I nodded. “That’s why I’m here to look for a servant.” I said, stressing the last word before I continued, “so instead of searching the streets for people who are afraid to earn their livings, I’ll guaranty the freedom from some of the people you trapped in here.”
The man opened his mouth hesitantly before he closed it again, not so sure how he should continue before he inclined his head towards us and returned to his post. I shook my head mentally while I passed them and went inside the slave house.
The woman behind the counter looked up and smiled welcoming. “Welcome to The Den sire. Can I help you?” I ignored the way she was gawking at me, obviously not noticing the fact that a 6-year old was present and cleared my throat. “Yes, I’m in need of a servant, someone to accompany my daughter.” I said, motioning towards Lilith who stared at the computer screen with a bored look in her eye.
The woman’s face was cleared of the lustful look at the mentioning of my daughter but clicked away on the keyboard. “Preferences?” she said, suddenly strictly professional. Shifting my weight on my other leg, I shook my head as I placed my hand on Lilith’s shoulder. “It’s completely her choice.”
At this, her sultry look turned scornful while she sat back in her seat at her full height. “Well sir, we don’t do ‘take your pick’ over here, we have strict rules for-“ The woman’s sneering was quickly interrupted when a door behind the desk swung open and a man walked in.
“Veronica, call Adrian to tell him that we need help with those new arrivals. He might need to….” The man stopped mid-sentence when he noticed us and conjured a smile on his face. “Moore? Ethan Moore? This is a pleasant surprise!“ His smile quickly slipped off when he noticed the scowl still present on Veronica’s face, mixing with shock while I had crossed my arms slightly.
“Veronica…” The man turned his unusual violet eyes on the secretary with a scowl, “What happened here?” Veronica swallowed and smiled, although I could see that her nerves were getting the better of her. “Nothing at all Master Williams, sir. This gentleman just wanted to pick his slave and I was-“ Williams waved his hand through the air, landing it with a resounding smack on the desk beside the woman.
“This again? I thought that Adrian has stopped this nonsense of making up some ridiculous rules but apparently I was mistaken.” He sighed deeply and pulled his cellphone out. “You can go.” He said, raising the phone to his ear while he gestured with his finger towards me to hold for a moment.
I nodded and leaned against the wall with my back, making sure that I didn’t ruin the suit vest. Lilith shot glances between Veronica, who stood there with her mouth hanging wide open and at Williams, who was softly talking to someone on the phone.
Veronica turned her head towards me and her scowl appeared again. “Who the hell are you?” I smiled sarcastically and shrugged. “That’s not the right question. You should be asking ‘What are you?’.” It was amusing to practically see the smoke coming from her ears before she replied in a sugary sweet tone, “I’m terribly sorry sir, but what are you?”
I smirked at that. “ Doesn’t the name Moore ring a bell or two? I suppose not, since you keep looking down at everyone around you. I’ll just say this: I’m a born noble vampire.” Veronica’s mouth dropped open in shock before her creamy skin paled even more. “I-I…I’m terribly sorry, I-I didn’t know-“
Williams ended his phone call and looked at Veronica with disdain. “You’re still here? I told you that you could go.” She turned her head and mouthed, “Go?” while tilting her head. Williams pointed to the door behind him. “We no longer require your services. Please leave the building before I’ll have security guide you.”
Veronica nodded shakily before she stood on her heals and quickly left the room. Williams stepped over and inclined his head while placing his right hand on his heart, a sign of honor. “I’m terribly sorry for her behavior sir. Hopefully you can see past that woman’s actions. Please, tell me why you’ve come to my humble abode?”
I smiled and motioned towards Lilith, who yawned slightly before looking towards the doors again. My heart clenched painfully when she looked up in my eyes; it looked like something had died inside her. Like she was dead.
Quickly shaking those dark thought away, I said “I’m looking for a companion for my daughter but I want her to be able to choose one.” Williams nodded before he looked down at Lilith. “Miss Lilith, I presume?” he said, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes.
When I nodded, his face gained a softer touch to it; every vampire in or out the kingdom knew what had happened to me, to her. “Well then, if you wish to follow me?” he said before walked through the hallways.
-------
“I’m sorry that nothing is to her liking Ethan.” Grey Williams said and I sighed, shrugging it off; I had suspected as much. “Well, this was all uncle’s idea to begin with.” I confessed and rubbed a hand over my neck. “I just…don’t know what to do anymore.” I murmured at the end.
Grey sighed next to me before he pated me on the back. He was one of my best friends when we were still newborns. After what had happened, he noticed the way I had changed, how I had closed myself off and he had been the one to pry me out of my shell…partially.
I walked, talked and acted normally with family and close friends but it wasn’t really me. It was the shell that was left behind after my heart had been ripped out and stomped on. He patted again and said, “It’ll be alright Ethan. She’ll turn around and speak again.”
A shivering, longing sigh escaped my throat before I nodded. “I really hope so.” I said, pulling the pieces of my heart back together, shielding it behind the walls I pulled up. “Well, I thank you for all your help Master Williams, but we must be off.” I said and turned to my daughter.
Only, she wasn’t standing against the wall like a couple of minutes ago. “Lilith?” I spoke up, looking around me while I felt the bile starting to rise up. Please not her as well. I need her in my existence.
Andrew poked his head around the corner, a shocked expression on his face while he waved us over. I frowned and looked at Grey, who answered my look in the same way before we both made our way towards Andrew. He was standing at a doorway in the middle of one of many passages in the building. When we came up behind him and looked over his shoulder, I froze.
We were in one of the wings that held the holding pens of the slaves. Both males and females mixed together were placed according to when and with whom they came in. My eyes weren’t fixed on the gloomy, almost sinister room with chained slaves scattered against the walls. No, my breath was caught in my throat when I noticed the blond haired child, who seemed to lighten up the whole room.
Lilith was standing a few steps away from a slave, looking intently at her while the woman had her eyes fixed on the sky that was visible through the barred window. As Lilith took a step closer and reached a hand out to touch her hair, the woman slowly turned her head, looking at the child in front of her.
The woman didn’t move from her sitting position against the wall, other then resting her chained hands on her knees while she looked at Lilith with a deep sadness in her eyes. Lilith tilted her head to the side before she reached further and slowly brushed her fingers against the black strands of hair, resting on the blue edges that created an intricate pattern.
I unconsciously pushed myself past Adrian and Grey, my eyes glued to this unknown woman, which had seemed to do the impossible; capture the interest of my little girl. My lungs filled themselves with air again while I could sense the waves of confusion, amazement and wonder coming of the men behind me.
The woman tilted her head too, her lip slightly twitching. And then, my slow heartbeat came to a halt when Lilith stepped forwards and crawled under the woman’s arms, hugging her tightly while she closed her eyes.
The woman seemed confused for a moment before the same twitch was there on her lips and she wrapped her arms as best as she could around Lilith’s frame. Her bonded hands were awkwardly twisted so that she could give the impression of a hug while Lilith was cradled between the woman’s arms and hips, with Lilith’s head on her shoulder.
My mouth felt dry as I swallowed harshly, looking over my shoulder as I felt a hand rest on it. Both Grey and Andrew were shocked beyond reason, their mouths hanging ajar while all of us looked at the sight in front of us.
Finally, Lilith opened one of her eyes to look at me, the azure depths of her eyes not so hauntingly death anymore. And then the blood in my veins froze as I heard two whispered words.
“This one.”
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Ah, the first chapter of my new book. I wanted to try something different and after desperate searching for some more good vampire books, i decided to add one on the pile myself :p
Hopefully, it will turn out just fine ;) Pic of Ethan to the side ;)
I uploaded this chapter to see if there was enough interest in the book, since i've got quite a few in the running. Should i continue or stop?
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