Victoria Brooks
Standing in my dark room I look through old photos of mine to distract myself from Morgans distant sobs. She's been stopping and starting the entire day. I don't blame her, I did the same thing when Lucien first took me. I pick up one of my newer digital cameras and absentmindedly go through the photos and few videos in there. I haven't touched a camera since we left to go move into that apartment with Morgan. How short lived that was.
I trudge further down the hall, further away from Morgan's room on the opposite side. Heading towards the bar in the main living room- at least the one I use the majority of the time. I live in a palace, obviously it's huge and has far too many rooms for one person to own. I rarely go in the vast majority of them. I have a few I consider to be truly "mine" that I hang around in quite a bit. The rest my servants and guards use for themselves as rooms to hang out in or for the few that permanently reside inside the palace- rooms to live in.
I contemplate what to drink as I take mindless steps towards the room zoning myself out. My photos are my favorite distraction but they provide enjoyment and I don't think I'm deserving of experiencing any kind of enjoyment right now. Do I enjoy drinking? Yes, but it'll take a lot and therefore a while before I reach a point of emotional numbness. So prior I'll still be wallowing in my life choices.
I stop, motionless when I hear faint voices coming from the living room- fuck. The instant Luciens bone chilling voice is heard I turn on my heels preparing to walk away. "Victoria, why don't you come in." He calls out to me before I could leave. Shit.
I silently sigh then drag my feet into the room. "Hello father." I glance over at Grayson leaning against my bar, drinking my liquor. "Grayson." I acknowledge the twat.
"I was just about to leave." Lucien says and internally I'm celebrating. He turns to the hybrid prick. "I will send for you once I'm told that all of Danes nobles and any loyalists are dead. Shouldn't be long now."
"Thank you." Grayson nods.
"Jacob will be arriving any moment now and your Pierce will be here by dusk tomorrow." He says Pierces name with a scowl and I keep my excitement internal.
"And you will never put a hand on him again." I add, reiterating that aspect of our deal.
"I'm a man of my word. He won't be touched." He says. "Now, I'm trusting you with a lot. Don't disappoint me." He says trying to sound like a reassuring father but the lack of any kind of warmth in his eyes and smile makes that sentence as threatening as he intended.
"I won't."
"I will be getting her once Kendrick is properly dealt with." He mentions again.
"I actually had a few ideas about how to deal with him effectively, father." I say as I tightly clasp my hands together in front of me. "If you'd like I can share them with you."
He tilts his head in contemplation. "Call me and we'll go over them." He says before walking out of my living room. I continue standing still with my hands tightly clenched together, remaining in complete silence so I could listen to his every footstep getting further and further away from me.
"We did it." Grayson says all cheery as he pours himself another drink. I nod, keeping my composure.
Whatever was the closest bottle to me, I reach for, unscrewing it and drinking deeply while I listen to Lucien leave the premises with his nobles. In my peripheral Grayson stares at me with a stupid smirk on his face in direct opposition of the frown twisting on my face. I put the bottle down listening to the doors on Luciens trucks shut, and the ignition turn on.
Once I hear the faint sound of my front gate shut behind him I turn to Grayson and punch him in the face. His nose cracks followed by his glass shattering on the floor.
"What the fuck?" His attention going back and forth between me or down at the blood covering his hands from his now profusely bleeding nose.
"I have been wanting to do that for months. You self serving, power hungry, piece of shit." I seethe.
"Are you kidding?" He cracks his nose back into place. "Pot. Kettle."
I punch him once more, across the jaw. His jaw tenses holding back the impulse to return the favor.
"If this all goes wrong. If..." All the hypotheticals of this fucked situation run through my mind in a flash, each one horrifying me in new ways. "She'll be ruined."
"Don't be dramatic. She's getting her rightful title, a whole palace. So she has to deal with Lucien-."
I back fist him across the face.
"Hit me one more time." He says gritting his teeth, a low growl lacing his tone making him sound more animal than not.
"Okay." My fist connects to his mouth, splitting his lip.
His eyes shift colors- as do mine. With heightened speed he punches me once in the face because I allow it. He tries again but I grab his arm and snap it- hearing and feeling the bone split. I wrap my hand around his throat slamming him against the wall behind him. On the end table next to me lies a large picture frame housing one of my photos in it. I slam it on the table and take one of the glass shards jamming it into Graysons neck.
"Hybrid or not, I am 700 years your elder." I remind him as I step back letting him choke on his own blood.
He pulls the glass shard from his throat and stands back up. "You're actually psychotic." He coughs, clearing his throat. "She's going to get to be what she was born to be. You saw her in the bleeder den that night she's perfect for this. I don't understand why you're so pissed."
Anger quickly washes over me. "Do you have listening comprehension problems or are you willfully ignorant!?" I yell. His puzzled look makes me scoff as I back away from him. "Unless for whatever reason my father demands it. You are no longer welcome in my territory. If you disobey that- I might not be able to kill you but I will do things to you that will make you beg for death."
"You're funny-."
"I'm not laughing." I cut him off. "You are the reason my brothers going to die and why Morgan's..." I stop myself from saying anything further.
"You were by my side during all of this were you not? Handing over your own siblings for a boyfriend from 300 fucking years ago yet I'm the self serving one."
"Do not pretend to know me." I snap stepping closer to him once more. "Your insecurity and desperation has paid off. You got the title, you got the palace, you got the city. Now go to it Your Highness." I say mockingly.
He opens his mouth. "Don't speak. Go." I command before he could say another word that will surely send me into a murderous rage.
He walks out wiping blood off of his mouth, thankfully not saying another word. I let my breath go running my hands through my hair.
I'm really gonna have to do this aren't I?
*****
The next afternoon I wake up only to spend the majority of the day trying not to rip my own hair out. I have to do something today otherwise that bitch Jacob's going to tell on me to Lucien. He arrived shortly after Grayson vacated my city. Jacob is so far up Lucien's ass he's going to be reporting every little thing Morgan and I do and say. If either of us breathe incorrectly he's going to tell Lucien.
I pace around in my bedroom as I take deep swigs of the bourbon bottle I quickly grabbed from the bar in my rec room. I really don't want to do this but if I have to I don't want to be completely sober for it. I text Riley, one of my few nobles still living since Mercers attack, telling her to bring two humans to my living room. I guess I'm doing this.
I give myself a minute to prep myself before going into Morgan's room. Why is this so hard right now? I do worse things to people on an average day.
Once I feel like I've properly stepped into my role of Lucien junior I open her doors, spotting her with her legs curled up on the floor next to the bed. "Up, we have shit to do." She looks up at me with her bloodshot eyes, tears glistening in the dim light of the chandelier. Her brow furrows. "Up. Now." I demand once more.
"I'm not going anywhere." Her hoarse voice cracks.
"If you'd like your life to be easier you'll do as I say when I say it. Now get up." She glares at me, narrowing her eyes. I stomp over to her. "Trust me when I say this, now is not the time to be a stubborn bitch." I grab her and drag her out of the room. She's fighting me, I feel the pull back but not to the extent that I know she could.
"Where are we going?"
"First lesson. You're a vampire, you're hardwired with a need for blood- to kill. It's in our nature. Especially in yours, it's probably amplified ten fold." I turn down the hallway leading to my living room. "You're going to have to accept it. Hopefully you'll love it."
"I'll never love it. I ended that woman's life yesterday, I didn't love that." She retorts as I slide open the double doors to my living room. I stop before I enter with her.
"No but you liked it." I say and her eyes finally break from mine. "You were raised human I get you're going to hold onto some of those tendencies. Hopefully those will go away sooner rather than later." I walk over to my bar grabbing a much needed drink, nodding to greet Riley standing near the couch with two humans in her clutches. They both stand there shaking, frozen in fear they're not even speaking only silently crying.
"What is this?" Morgan asks panicking while I take a swig of some kind of dark liquor. I think it's whiskey.
"You're going to kill them." The two humans collectively start yelling and pleading for their life. I walk over to the two grabbing an arm on each. "The both of you are calm, sit down and stay quiet." I use my ability to manipulate minds to force them to do so. I walk back over to Morgan as the two quiet down and sit on the couch. "They're calm now. No struggling. Go ahead."
"No." She frantically shakes her head. "No. I just killed a woman yesterday was that not enough?"
"Not nearly." I widen my eyes as I take another swig. "Now do it."
"I don't want to." She states. "I won't."
"You want to, you always want to. I'm a vampire, Riley is a vampire we know what that hunger is like. There really is no need to lie to us and to yourself."
"No." She crosses her arms.
"That's the fake human in you. Ignore it."
"What happened to fun and control?"
"We're trusting in what Grayson says now?" I ask, immediately her glare falters and it's like I can hear her heart sink.
She quickly snaps back. "Well, I don't trust you."
"Riley leave us." I say. Riley exits the room leaving the two- four of us alone. "You're going to kill these two-."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She cuts me off.
I press my lips together then take a breath. "I'm trying to help you."
She laughs. "Help me? You practically handed me to Lucien on a silver platter. You want me to kill people-."
"Because it's what you need to do."
"You're vile." She fumes.
I clutch Morgan's shirt with both hands and slam her into the wall behind her. "You don't know what vile looks like. You don't have to trust me ever again but trust me when I tell you that I am trying to help you." I say sternly.
"Your Highness?" One of my guards' voice pulls my attention away from Morgan.
I answer while I keep Morgan against the wall. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."
"Sorry. Victoria?"
"What?" I say through my teeth, pushing away from Morgan. I turn to face my guard standing at the threshold of the door with two other guards behind him.
"The King has sent um."
"Pierce?" My face softens and my heart twists in my chest.
"Yes ma'am."
"Don't call me that either. Where is he?" I say mindlessly walking towards them.
"In the throne room."
"Make sure she doesn't go anywhere." I say at the three guards, sprinting out of the room without a second thought.
I stop at the doors of my throne room, raising my hand on the door but not going in.
I haven't seen him since 1724. 298 years is a long time. It's not like I was a saint back then but I've changed. What has never changed is the way I feel about him. Every single day I wake up and my love for him is as strong as it's ever been. I know how I feel but what about him? What if his feelings have changed? What if he doesn't love me anymore? He was unimaginably suffering for 298 years it's highly likely he's changed.
I can stand here forever driving myself crazy mulling over the what if's but I won't know for sure until I walk through those doors.
I close my eyes and clench my jaw. In the seconds it takes to push open the door and step through, my mind runs through the possibilities of what I could be walking in to. I walk in, hearing the yelling and grunting before I see Pierce in chains, tearing away from a random humans throat while some of Luciens people struggle to hold him back from the other human standing off to the side in visible fear. The body drops to the floor joining the three other bodies surrounding them.
Pierce attempts to fight Lucien's people off, targeting the woman holding onto his chains. He rips them away from her, smacking her with them immediately after. The man standing next to this scene picks up something off the floor in a hurry. I realize quickly it's a stun baton. Pierce drops to the floor screaming in pain as the man prods him with it, electrocuting him.
Watching the man I love screaming in agony inspires unimaginable anger within me. I bolt over there tearing out the heart of the man tasing him. I turn at the other two, one getting up off the floor with a gash in her head from being hit with the chains. The other standing unsure what to do, while Pierce gets himself up promptly attacking the last remaining human like a rabid animal. "Give me the key to his chains." I say holding out my hand.
"Your Highness he-."
"He nothing, give me the key. Now!" I command. The woman takes out the key but hesitates so I step and grab it out of her hands.
Pierce tears away from the human letting the body drop to the floor. I run over in front of him while he stands hyperventilating. "Pierce." I go to take his hands to unlock the chains. He jumps and aggressively grabs onto my arms with all of his strength. I wince as my bones crack within my arms but I disregard it. "Pierce it's me. It's Victoria." His eyes shoot up meeting mine. Those deep brown, warm eyes riddled with fear and anxiety gaze into mine. Trembling, he looks over my face several times. I see his eyes fill with a deep sadness as he exhales. "It's me. It's me."
"No it's not. But it's okay." He says defeatedly.
"I'm real." I whisper, feeling a tear fall down my face. He shakes his head no. "Pierce. I'm real. This is real." I don't know what to do here as I walk on eggshells.
"I'm tired." He says with tears welling in his beautiful brown eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere. Okay? Never again. I'm right here." I say with conviction.
He looks down registering that he is in fact still crushing my arms. He lets go of them finally. "Victoria." He whispers, raising his hand to my cheek, gently caressing it. God how I've missed hearing my name in his voice. "Rayo."
I laugh through tears, I haven't heard that nickname in so long and from his lips. "I'm here."
"It's a shame I'll wake up soon."
"No you're here. This isn't a dream."
"It's okay." He doesn't believe me. "It's always nice seeing your face but I'm tired."
"Pierce." I say completely at a loss for words. His hair is a long, matted, mess. Same with his beard. His clothes that are tattered and dirty and practically falling off of his body. Of course Lucien wouldn't give him clothes or commit any act of kindness towards another person. "Come on. I'm gonna take these off." I say holding his hands and gently unlocking the shackles on his wrists.
"Thank you." He rubs his wrists.
I take hold of his hands and a small warm smile appears on his face. The smile that's seen me through some of the worst and best times of my life. He's always been that burst of light my life so desperately needed and now I'd have to be that for him- and I'd do it happily. "Tell me what I can do for you."
"This is a long one. I haven't had a long one in a while." He looks into me taking me all in with his exhausted eyes as he brushes my hair behind my ear. "You look different."
I smile sympathetically. "I have a lot to explain."