At first I believed that Silvia had collapsed and Aiden had rushed over to support her. That was until I saw the spark of red ignite in his eyes and the flash of animalistic fangs as they lengthened. He bent his head towards her exposed throat, his eyes darting to me where I struggled in Josh's hold. Rose was on his other side, neither of us having any success in releasing ourselves from the vampire's grip.
I froze, his gaze paralysing me. It was in that moment that the truth of the situation dawned on me. Aiden hadn't fed; he'd never once asked me for my blood despite that being the only reason he'd bought me on this trip. It was quite chivalrous really, protective even. But, he was about to expose himself for what he truly was in the centre of a rebel camp.
''Aiden don't.'' I screamed as his eyes fixed on Silvia's pale skin, he didn't even react to my words, my struggles against Josh beginning again in desperation. It didn't even concern me that I was causing a scene, my first and only concern was for Aiden.
''Violet, you can't stop him, he's on the verge of starvation.'' Josh tried to reason, his hand gripping me so tightly that I was sure bruises had already begun to form, ''Not even I'm strong enough to now, your argument must have pushed him over the edge.''
I knew deep down that I should want him exposed. After all, the fall of the Prince would've been the first step in a revolution for the humans. But, it wasn't the bond between Master and Slave that wanted him to stop, it was an unexplainable emotion that I was ashamed of, but I couldn't deny it.
In that moment, Aiden struck.
Mid-lunge his body jolted before he stood deathly still. A moment later, his eyes met mine, filled with shock and dread as the scarlet colour faded from within, the threat of his fangs disappearing also. Confusion swamped me as he dropped Silvia, but she didn't fall to the ground.
Instead, she caught herself, twisting into an upright position and revealed a gun in her hand, pointed directly at Josh. ''Finally you show yourselves for what you truly are.'' Her voice was proud, her lips twisted up into a triumphant grin.
Then she pulled the trigger.
Everything had happened so fast, I didn't even know how to react as I watched both Aiden and Josh's bodies stagger and drop to the ground. It took a moment for everything to register, and I knew Rose was feeling the same as neither of us had moved an inch.
It was her who reacted first, ''Violet, get out!'' I wasn't sure how she supposed I did that considering Silvia was blocking the way, and still had the weapon held firmly in her grip. Strangely, my mind was working extremely slowly; everything happening around me was like a film playing out.
I didn't have time to try to regain my composure as Silvia shouted behind her, immediately after which a flood of rebels streamed in. Each of them held their own weapons, ranging from knives to blunt contraptions. My eyes widened as the men who had entered the room surveyed the scene.
One of them spoke up in a deep, unfamiliar voice, ''They're out cold. Grab the girls.''
Those were the last words spoken before two men advanced on Rose and me, weapons pointed at us. There was no time to beg for mercy or put my newfound skills to the test as a sharp pain erupted in my arm, closely followed by the cool flow of liquid entering my bloodstream.
The strange sensation was lost as darkness stole me.
-*-*-*-
The first feeling that came back to me was coldness. It made me shiver straight through to my bones. I could feel goose bumps erupt on my skin next, the hairs then standing on end on both my arms and neck. Next came the ache of my muscles, the stiffness of my joints that felt heavy surrounding me.
I tried to sit up and regain the rest of my senses, but to no avail. My eyelids fought against me as I attempted to lift them, hoping to get just once glimpse of my surroundings. The constant sound of thumping echoed in my head and it took me a moment to realise the heavy sound was my heartbeat.
Which was a good sign, I supposed.
''V-Violet? Violetta?'' A distant, groggy voice spoke to me and I realised that it must have been Rose.
Her voice sparked new determination in me as I attempted to open my eyes once again, this time managing to pry them open and be blinded momentarily by artificial lighting. I blinked a few times, trying to allow my surroundings to come into focus.
My chest tightened at the realisation of my location.
I was in a cage. Metal bars stretched up to the ceiling around me, too close together for me to even think about escaping. The floor and wall behind me was made out of stone, indicating that I was still underground. The suppressing weight of the earth above my cell made me nervous, it only accentuated the feeling of being completely and utterly trapped.
To my left, there was what looked like a lab. Several vials were scattered around the space, in the centre of which stood a man-made table with utensils splayed out over it. It was astonishing to see, quite obvious that this sort of science was being practiced out of vampire territory. That was almost unheard of.
I wasn't alone in this strange place. Through the bars I could see Rose sat in an identical cage across the room, a small path separating us. She was staring back at me, eyes wide and glistening with unshed tears. All I wanted was to be able to reach her, and comfort her so that we could get through this together.
''Rose, where are we?'' I asked, my voice raspy as I tried to support my weight and sit up.
''You don't remember?'' She seemed concerned, her voice shaky as she watched my slow progress.
I searched my memories, trying to recall some sort of occurrence that may have brought us here, but came up with only blurred and distorted images. It was extremely frustrating and made the situation even creepier.
I shook my head, finally managing to sit up. A choking cough snapped my attention to my right where I was shocked to find another cage. This one was made the same as mine and Rose's; the bars were thick and shone, reflecting a strange light. That wasn't what captured my full attention, what did was Aiden sat hunched up in the corner. He was slouched, his skin almost translucent with how pale it seemed, he looked extremely sick.
That wasn't a sight I was accustomed to with vampires.
''We're labelled as traitors by the rebels; they somehow knocked out both Josh and Aiden too, when Aiden exposed himself.'' Rose's voice was sad, although I doubt it was sympathy for the state the two vampires were in, more for our own predicament. The rebels had turned their backs on us it seemed.
The memories were still distant, but they were beginning to come back into focus again. The fear, shock and anger being the main emotions I could remember.
Josh was out cold in a cage opposite Aiden's and next to Rose. He didn't look as terrible as Aiden, maybe because he had been feeding regularly since we'd left, like he was supposed to. Leave it to Aiden to be so stubborn that he gets himself into a frenzy about it.
Just then, Aiden groaned and coughed once more. Immediately, my eyes tore back to where he lay. His eyelids fluttered once and then snapped open, he stood up so fast that the edges of his form blurred and I had trouble keeping track. He stood in place, eyes shining the shade of ruby and scanning his surroundings.
''Aiden?'' I couldn't help calling out his name, wanting his attention. The only way we could get out of this was if he remained under control, otherwise they could do something worse to him and us.
At the sound of my voice, his head slowly turned in my direction, recognition sparking in his eyes as they seemed to fade back to ocean blue. Only then did I realise that he had reverted back to his normal self, the same dark brown hair and strong, lean build that I hadn't seen for so long. A bubble of emotion erupted from deep within me, one that was getting harder and harder to suppress.
''Violet? I'm so sorry.'' His voice was full of pain, probably due to the terrible condition he was in.
Suddenly, he appeared closer to my cage, hands wrapped around the bars separating us. I didn't know what to say as I watched the muscles in his arms tense; the pale hands wrapped around the bars seemed to strain at our constraints. I expected the metal to crumble in his hands, but it didn't give any indication that it would give way any time soon.
He stopped trying after a few moments, sitting back down and resting his head on the cool metal, ''I can't believe I lost control like that. I'm such an idiot.'' He sounded defeated, his eyes closed tightly shut.
''Yes, you are.'' I couldn't help myself; after all it wasn't like he could punish me for it in this predicament. He'd gone too far with losing his temper and it was his fault we'd landed in this situation.
His head lifted a fraction, his eyes staring at me through the bars filled with guilt, ''Are you hurt?'' He seemed to have accepted my earlier comment which was surprising; I'd expected some sort of comeback.
''No, I'm good, just tired.'' I answered him honestly.
He dipped his head, letting out a breath of air, before turning to look around the rest of the room. His eyebrows were drawn down, giving his face a dark look. I wondered what he was thinking about, maybe trying to come up with some sort of way to get out.
I hoped he had more luck thinking up a plan than I had.
''I'm good too, thanks for asking.'' Rose spoke up snarkily, the corners of her mouth pulled down as she looked over at Josh's still form, ''Not sure I can say the same for him.''
''Don't worry about him; he'll come round at some point.'' Aiden shrugged nonchalantly, though the dark circles under his eyes and moisture on his brow suggested that he wasn't recovering well. Whatever they'd done to them, they'd done it well.
''So what can we do now? There must be some way we can get out of here.'' I spoke up hopefully, but knew deep down that with the way this was going, we were screwed.
''I don't know. I guess we just wait and see what they have in store for us. I'm nowhere near strong enough to get us out yet, I haven't fed in so long.'' His words weren't accusing, which was a good sign. After all, it was him who had decided to starve himself.
''Why is that?'' Rose cut in, her voice showing pure curiosity. My eyes flicked to her, wandering if maybe she was going to start spouting some of that nonsense about Aiden liking me. I wasn't sure right now if I wanted that or not.
''Because...'' Aiden hesitated, his eyes cast down to the stone floor beneath him, ''Because I never wanted to feed. Not from Violet.'' Once the words were out I expected him to regret them, but his eyes met mine and stayed there, steady and full of honesty.
Anxieties fluttered deep in my stomach and I felt my cheeks heat under his gaze. Of course I had suspected that he was avoiding drinking my blood, but I'd thought the reasons were selfish. The way he looked at me then, I knew he wasn't doing it for himself, clearly.
The moment shattered as the door to my left - the other side of the lab -swung open and revealed four armed rebels. They strolled in, one after another flaunting their weapons. I stood up, ready to protect myself if I had to, but I noticed Aiden hadn't moved an inch. His eyes were following their movements, his muscles coiled like a wild animal ready to spring, but he didn't look like he was about to do anything drastic.
Rose opposite me was also looking for a fight, her eyes narrowed accusingly. Meanwhile, Josh was still splayed out on his back and completely useless.
One of the men was my father.
-*-*-*-
A/N Thanks for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, please remember to vote and comment any feedback!