---Caitlin’s POV---
The trip to our new home was…slightly awkward. I could nearly see the tension waving through the air as the humans huddled to one side of the luxurious limousine while the vampires were on the other side. Well, I was somewhere in the middle, as Lilith was slowly tracing the faded outlines of the chain marks on my wrists.
The humans looked at me with something akin to awe while the vampires looked at me with emotions varying from shock, amusement to curiosity. Especially the father of the child; the wondering, curious look was etched on his beautifully sculpted face, along with the hidden emotions in his eyes.
Makes sense after what happened to the Moore family.
Even in our realm, what happened to the Moore’s was a subject worthy of an hour or four of talking. The way his soulmate had upped and left him, their century old relationship and their two year old daughter for a Demon-lord was unheard of. Especially the thought of a mate rejecting his or hers other half, it was simply impossible, or so they thought.
One of the elders had suggested that the demon might have put a spell on the woman. Gabriel had renounced the idea, saying that the bond between mates was well protected, especially with vampires. They didn’t just love and un-love in the blink of an eye. When a vampire loved someone, he or she loved him or her with their entire being. Mind, heart, body and soul.
My mind had come up with a theory of it’s own; Ethan’s Beloved had been someone who always stood in the center of attention. At early times, we had received her prayers to be bonded with the king or one of the princes. Instead, she was the Beloved of Ethan, who had part of the Royal blood flowing in him but no sights on the throne.
This theory became more plausible to me when word reached out about what happened and the name of the Demon was recovered: Asmodeus or Ash, like he calls himself. Hell’s prince of lust. I suspected that she had fallen for him on her own bidding and left her family for a higher status.
I could nearly see the walls that the man…Ethan, used to hide his true feelings, to protect his crumbled and broken heart behind. His actions made me want to shake my head; acting the way he did wouldn’t help a thing. Lilith was this way because her mother abandoned her and her father became a rock, barely any emotion there on the surface.
Big azure eyes looked up at me, slightly hidden behind strings of nearly white blond hair. I smiled at the child and noticed the twitch of her lip, as if she wanted to smile but found no reason to do so. A pressure surged through my head before I heard her voice inside it. “I like your voice. Talk some more please.”
Ethan was staring at his daughter, his features relaxing as if he was hoping that she would have bonded with me. I looked down at the child that was sitting down next to me and smiled slightly, placing one hand on my sore throat as I croaked, “I talk more, you live more. Deal?”
Lilith looked down at her feet with a small frown and I noticed her nibbling on her lip slightly before a wide smile ran over her face. “Deal.” She whispered, shocking the vampires so much that Grey dropped out of his seat with a pearly white face. Ethan wasn’t far behind, the way his mouth was hanging open before he managed to close it and hugged his daughter to his chest.
“Ya sure you should hang around with leeches? They aren’t the same as us child.” Nicolas added teasingly, his eyes shooting from Lilith to Ethan and back to me. I rolled my eyes, tapping a finger on my chest. “Have heart, feelings like us. Talk and walk the same. Just fangs.” I shrugged; flinching when my throat felt like it was slowly tearing apart. Lucky for me, my divine healing was making short work of the pain in my throat and the broken bones of my wings.
Nicolas let out an amused chortle while he shook his head and laid his feet on the leather seats. “And they drink blood, they have abilities we don’t have, they don’t age nor die. Should I continue? There are too many differences between our races to become distantly related to another.”
I shook my head as Lilith scooted closer to me and peeked at Nicolas with hidden curiosity in her face. “Blue eyes, female, scars.” I said while tapping my finger under my eye, then on my wrist before pointing at Nicolas’ face. “Brown eyes, male, no scars. We’re not the same, so I’ll avoid you?” I managed before coughing slightly in pain.
The younger female chuckled at that and elbowed Nicolas, who was speechless with my reasoning. “She got you there Nick. And Caitlin has a good point; in a way, we aren’t so different from each other. It depends on how much we want to be different from them..” I nodded at her, silently agreeing while I chose to keep my mouth shut. I felt a squeeze in my hand and looked down at Lilith, who looked worriedly at my throat.
“So…” I looked up at Grey, as he had introduced himself shortly after we entered the car. He was looking at me with a pensive expression before his face grew blank. “Where exactly are you from Caitlin?”
“L.A.” I blurted out the first thing that popped up in my mind. I couldn’t exactly say the truth about where I came from. “Oh, I’m just an angel, fallen from grace because I saved a vampire’s life. No biggie.” Thankfully, I had been in the human world a few times before, saving several humans when they were on the verge of ending their own lives. It was one of the reasons why me and Zadkiël were good friends.
“Ah, the city of Angels.” Grey pondered with a smile, nodding to himself while I bit on my cheek to stop myself from smiling. If only they knew how close he was to that statement; Los Angeles’ nickname was justified, since several angels lived their semi-permanently while looking over their charges.
“You’re a captured one? How the hell did you end up in those chains we pulled off you?” Nicolas asked, his voice high-pitched from shock. My hand unconsciously rubbed over the markings before I felt eyes on me, looking up in the intrigued face of Ethan as he slightly leaned forwards in his seat, his eyes jade eyes flashing with barely reigned curiosity and apparently eager to hear my answer.
“I don’t know for sure.” I replied, swallowing painfully. “One moment I was doing my daily routine, minding my own business, the next thing I know I’m being whisked away. I woke up with you,” I motioned towards the Asian woman, who smiled slightly, “peeling those chains off my body.”
Ethan leaned back in his seat, his face drawing in a neutral expression as he stared in space for a moment. Eventually he looked at the humans and smiled reassuringly. “I think it’s time to get to know each other better. It would be easier to call you if I at least know your names.”
Everyone quickly stated their names. We already knew John, Nicolas and apparently Devon, since Ethan had read his mind in the slave house. Further, there was Nikita, the Asian woman, Devon’s girlfriend Amelia, Liz, Suzie and Liam; the little kid that had led the vampires to the human’s hideout.
The limo slowed down as we neared a finely woven iron gate, which opened on its own accord. “Well,” Ethan slowly said as the humans pressed their noses against the windows to see where they would be living and working, “Here we are.”
John was the first one to sate his curiosity and turned towards Ethan with a slightly wary eye. “So, what are we going to do now, mister Moore? Surely you don’t know what we could do as a job?”
Ethan smiled and crossed his legs leisurely, intertwining his hands before he rested his chin upon his fingers. Although he was smiling, his eyes remained distant, reserved while he looked at his new servants. He tapped the tips of his fingers together before he leaned back in the chair, tilting his head slightly.
“Well, normally I get to know my servants better, which was the whole purpose of this trip. I can tell that you’re a tightly knit group, hence the reason that these two are mildly surprised i brought you to my home.” He said while his lips curled up in the faintest smile as he shot a look at Grey and what I assumed to be an accomplice of Grey.
Both of them were looking towards the mansion in the distance with slight bewilderment. Clearly, it wasn’t standard procedure to bring the slaves he saved home. I followed the looks of the vampires and saw the beautiful mansion growing closer and closer.
My new home.
---Ethan’s POV---
My eyes searched the expressions of the humans as the limo crawled to a halt at the stairs. Judging by the amazement and awe on their faces, my home made quite an impression. I looked at the mansion, seeing it through their eyes and smiled; bricks and nature were harmoniously intertwined in the design as I glanced up at the house.
“It looks something like Rivendell…” Liam murmured quietly, making me look at him with a hint of confusion; I never heard of that place…I searched his mind and was amused that he was thinking on some human movie he had seen with elves, goblins and other supernatural beings before he had been whisked to this world.
Standing up, I slowly walked past the humans, gently tugging at Lilith’s hand as I moved past her. She got the hint and followed me, clenching her little hand around mine and surprisingly, Caitlin’s as well, pulling the young woman with us out of the car. By the time that we had stretched our legs, the other humans realized the car had stopped a while back and we were already outside, waiting for them.
After they stumbled out of the car, I guided them through my home, carefully watching their expressions as we passed the rooms while I gave them the basics of the design. When we stopped at the kitchen, two of the woman and surprisingly Devon as well, were looking around with barely hidden enthusiasm, as if they couldn’t wait to discover every corner and crack of the room.
“Amelia, Suzie and Devon?” They looked up at me, snapped out of their daze and pulled their curious expressions into neutral, slightly guarded ones, although I could see that I was warming up to the younger Suzie. I smiled at them reassuringly before I gestured towards the kitchen. “I’m assuming you’ll do well in the kitchen, so you three are on kitchen duty.”
“Yes!” Susie exclaimed in a sharp hiss, an overjoyed expression on her face before she noticed that I was staring at her with amusement. She flushed slightly and looked at the ground. “Oh god, that was so embarrassing!” she breathed before adding a bit louder, “Sorry.”
I waved it away before I continued the tour. At last we were in the living room, where I heard the television echoing through the room. A sigh escaped my lips before I politely asked, “Leo?” The TV was quickly muted before mess of blond hair popped above the seat, swallowing whatever he was chewing on. “Yes sir?”
The humans were hesitating at the doorway as I walked further in the room and gestured towards the screen, where some action movie was playing out. “You have sensitive hearing, I have sensitive hearing. Cut the sound down a little so you can do your job, okay?” I stated while raising an eyebrow at the werewolf who was supposed to be on guard.
“Whatever you say boss.” Leo stated with a grin before throwing another handful of crisps in his mouth and clicked on the remote, lowering the sound level to an acceptable level before he focused back on the movie.
“I wonder what his job is. Check out how many TV stations there are?” Liam whispered softly. I saw Leo grin slightly before he shook his head. “Depends if you want to know if they’re from this country or not. But I’m not the television guy. I’m the guard, kiddo.”
The humans slowly filtered in the room, curious to see the guard before Nicolas snorted loudly and shook his head. “This kid is our guard? Come on, what’s the point, he didn’t even knew that we were here in the first place.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes while he glanced at what was visible of the top of Leo’s head.
Leo chuckled from deep in his throat as he swallowed the crisps. “You arrived at the mansion in a limo, along with two other vampires, who have already left the premises. There are four males, five females and one of them is pregnant.” Leo leaned his head back to wink at Amelia before he grinned. “Congrats darling.”
Amelia was glued to the floor as Devon gaped from one face to the other whilst hugging his girlfriend to his chest. Leo chuckled before looking back at the flabbergasted Nicolas and tapped on his chin. “Let’s see…you all got a tour of the house, on which Amelia, Devon and Susie got a job in the kitchen. Whoever you all are, I really hope you can cook cause the boss over there sure can’t.”
I snorted at that comment, instantly rewarded with a curious, slightly amused look from Lilith, who squeezed my hand slightly. A smile slipped on my face as I observed my daughter while she looked around at the humans while Nicolas and Leo were chatting away, laughing loudly. I’d guessed they would become great friends, they had the same personalities.
Lilith seemed more…aware. She didn’t have that hauntingly empty look in her eyes anymore. I couldn’t say that there was much improvement, seeing that she didn’t speak, play or dance around like she used to but it was something. Oh, I remembered those days, when she would run in the kitchen as soon as she woke up, asking me question after question until I nearly had to force-feed her just to keep her quiet for a second.
And now…my hand tightened slightly around hers, afraid to lose my one and only source of light in all the darkness. My eyes glided over the humans, noticing that Nikita was looking at the mess close to Leo’s feet with a slight twitch in her eyebrows. Hmmm, that twitch made me think she didn’t like a mess in the house, almost as much as I did.
Another job found. The males can do the heavier work outside and maybe the last female can help them with some landscaping.
I nodded to myself, having decided what they were going to do before I glanced at the black and blue hairs that were at the same height as my shoulders. Caitlin was silently looking at the teasing that went back and forth between Leo and Nicolas, a smile tugging on the corner of her lips as she looked from one to another and back.
There was something about her that was…calming, in a way. Although she remained silent for most of the times, her eyes were the ones speaking. It reminded me much of the look that Lilith had thrown at me after Deidra…my mate, had left us. If you looked deep in Caitlin’s green eyes, you would see the hidden torment, the pain and the overall loss she was hiding.
My thoughts were tossing and turning ever since I met this human, something that hadn’t happened in the past years. Everything that had reminded me of her had been banished of the grounds. Everything that I had loved doing with my family had grinded to a halt, because it had been too painful to continue.
“And one of you is in pain. That’ll be you sweet cheeks. Want me to kiss it better for you?” Leo’s flirting voice waved through my mind as I noticed that he was giving his trademark lopsided grin to Caitlin, who had one hand placed on her throat while she stared at Leo like she couldn’t believe her ears. The amused gleam in her eyes showed me that she could laugh it off though.
She shook her head and replied in a hoarse, cracking voice, “No thanks, I’m good.” Leo smirked slightly as he turned his attention away from the movie and leaned over the back of the seat, showing off his muscular chest in the process, which was bare due to his high body temperature.
“You sure I can’t help you? Werewolf saliva happens to be the best healing agent in the world. Once you go wolf, you never go back.”
Caitlin laughed at that, an airy, bubbly laugh that seemed to lighten her up from the inside. Well, that was before she flinched and grasped at her throat. I sighed and shook my head at Leo, who sheepishly rubbed his neck. “Sorry miss, I’ll try to behave myself.”
She just shook her head, slightly, wanting to speak but I stopped her by placing a finger on her lips, which caused her to freeze up. “I think it’s better if you rest your throat for a while. You’re pushing it to try and speak but you’ll hurt yourself in the process.”
Caitlin sighed and reluctantly nodded before glancing at Lilith. “Sorry.” She mouthed before Lilith shook her head slightly. “It’s okay.” Leo fell of his seat and smacked against the ground where he stared in shock at my daughter. It was quite amusing to see his reaction towards Lilith speaking.
“Was that…did she? Hee-hee, the boss-kid finally spoke up! Dayum!” Leo scrambled up before walking towards my daughter and scooped her in his arms. “Why didn’t you do that with me lil’ miss? I’ve been trying to get you to talk for ages!” Lilith shook her head, an amused glint in her eyes before she looked back at Caitlin.
My phone buzzed, and I discreetly stepped out of the room before looking at the number and recognizing it as my uncle. Looking back at the room I left, a smile graced my lips before I accepted the call; ready to tell my uncle about everything that happened so far.
Hey guys ;)
so, a new chapter for you guys ;) the fever finally broke down so i managed to finish this chapter up today. What did you think?
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