Valentine holds the large bullet between his fingers and I watch it with a scrutinizing gaze. His expression said it all - that we are never to escape danger. That our lives were at risk. It was getting on my very last, very irritated nerve. This was not heading anywhere and I could think plenty of other things I could be doing instead of running in aimless circles.
The bullet glints with lethal power, held compact in a small container waiting to burst. The liquid contained in the bullet began to glow with a bright hue.
"What is it?"
"The only thing that can kill a royal vampire," he stands and helps me up. We both look down at Chelsea, "I don't think she was supposed to kill you - you just happened to be in the way."
I drove off with his car, I conclude in my head. It's him they want. It was starting to make a little more sense.
"Augustine?"
"Maybe," was his only answer. His voice was low and gravelly and it rang with doubts and unexpressed emotions.
"Okay, let's take her with us, maybe she has the answers we need." I point down at Chelsea who gives a slight moan. She was deeply unconscious and lost plenty of blood. It was enough to keep her uncomfortable and give us any information she has. I was never an advocate of torture and probing, it's an act that I refused to put into practice.
Valentine lifts her up and carries her in his arms. Her brown hair sways as he takes her to the car and sets her in. I bend down to grab the dagger, gun and collar before following him into the car.
As soon as I sit in the passenger seat, the engine revs and we were off. For some reason, I felt like we were two bandits running off with our victim in the back seat. Chelsea has been my assistant for fifteen years, I found her when she was just eighteen years old. She discovered my true identity when she noticed my lack of aging. She was my most trusted confidant, she would never betray me like this. There must be a reason why she has taken it upon herself to do this. One just doesn't go off and kill friends, unless heavily influenced by someone very powerful.
"Where are we taking her?"
He keeps his gaze forward and his hands tightly on the wheel. "We can't take her to Astor or Amaryllis, they have already done too much and having her in the castle will just cause more problems," he explains and I silently agree. "I hoped we wouldn't have to go to this particular place, but our circumstances demand it."
I look out in the direction we were heading and notice that I had no inkling of where we were going. Of course, I couldn't go home - my residence was most likely crawling with Datura's minions. Obviously, this was his last resort.
There was one thing I did notice as we accelerated down the road, and it didn't make too happy. My body becomes rigid in response. "We're going to Talmira Cove?"
The kingdoms of the underworld each have borders and you can only enter if you belong or if invited. There's a town in the very center of the Kingdoms where all creatures and creeds can enter. It's not a place you would like to vacation but a place where people go when they are incarcerated, like a prison.
"Yes." The way he said it sounded like it was question.
My teeth clench. "Turn around, now," I demand.
"Why? We're almost there." He knows damn right that I can't go into that forsaken town without a fight happening or death - someone always dies.
"You think this is funny, Valentine? You know damn well more than half of the people there want me dead." My frustration had me thinking of rolling out of the car while he's driving.
"Will you calm down? We're going to the edge of the Cove, no one will know you're there. Besides, were you not the one who requested your own death?"
"It's different," I interject. Maybe I don't want to die anymore. I may have just been overdramatic and trying to get out from under him when I made that deal.
"Well, sweetheart, you'll be in here for another twenty minutes, so, I suggest you sit tight and at least act like you're excited." His voice was laced with impatience and irritation. Despite negative repercussions, I wanted to fuel a crackling fire.
"If you think I can pull a smile through all of this, you're just as insane as I thought you were," I say through gritted teeth.
"There are things that are not fair in this world, sweetheart, but it's your view on everything that matters," his voice was smooth and low. He was saying this from the depths of his so-called dead heart. "Perspective is what drives us. Why do you think creatures of our world live so long?"
I couldn't speak. Not even a small breath escaped my mouth. It was true and it was sincere. They were right, Valentine did have a unique way of looking at things, especially of the underworld.
"I always thought it was because you kept sucking on life and blood," I sneer.
He shrugs and hits the gas pedal as we enter the grimy vicinity of Talmira Cove. The faster we go through, the better. "In a way, you're right. They say the reason we live is tied to the lives whose blood we take. When we feed, we don't merely take their lives. At times, a drop of their soul or a second of their memory is interwoven in the very frabric of their blood, making us feel what they feel. It makes living worth it and killing useless."
Of all these years, I've been looking at everything completely obscurely. I did not allow myself to think differently and and find the good in everything. Instead, I closed myself off - I closed my eyes at the beauty of what's around me.
My gaze falls past the thick windows and onto the sad envronment of the cove. Talmira is and always has been a forgotten city - a place of the exiled. It was a melting pot of outcasts and criminals. My heart pools with pity for all of these hungry vampires for their condemned souls and restless minds. Maybe there is a way out, maybe they can be redeemed.
I shake my head and stare back at faces whose eyes follow the acceleration of our vehicle. Men and women of all species and creed watch with bloodshot eyes and scowls - their pale skin faint under the light of the moon. I could do nothing but frown at their poor conditions. For the first time, I chose to see them as lost children seeking refuge.
"There are so many of them," I whisper. We had gone past the town, heading towards the mountainside.
Valentine exhales. "There was a time when Talmira had rolling valleys and lush landscapes. When it was still thriving with life," he says, looking down and closing his eyes. "It wasn't always like this. Only one house stood above ground for miles and that was mine."
The car comes to a stop in front of a dark, stone manor surrounded by endless trees that stood guard to the estate. His voice held a melancholy tone. "Talmira did not exist until I took refuge here. Everything was built around my home, making it the birthplace of the unknown."
"And you have lived here all this time?"
"Yes, and no," he turns off the engine. "I travelled, unlike the residents here, I wasn't bound by law or magic. I could go as I please, but I always returned - it isn't much, but it's the only home I have left. Although the council deemed it as a town for the exiled, I chose to stay."
I place my hand on the door to prepare to open it. I turn to him. "You surprise me," I confess. "I guess there is more to you than I choose to believe."
He smiles. For a moment, I am taken aback. This was a genuine moment, one that I have never experienced with him before. The expression on his face was real, unlike the many he plasters on his face. I wanted to touch him to see if it was real because I didn't want it to disappear. "Would you like me to surprise you more, then?"
Before I could open my mouth to speak he was already out of the car. I shake my head and proceed to exit the car myself.
Yes.
Valentine opens the rear door and for the first time, he uses his power to lift Chelsea out of the seat. She looked like death as a dark hue colors her lips and her skin pales as moonlight. I remember her being eccentric and loving, not the lethal, hollow eyed predator floating before me.
He leads the way to his home and as we walk, lights illuminate within the mansion and the door opens upon his will and command. Valentine had been very lenient on the display of his powers and I was very curious to what limit his powers can reach. I had a quick taste of it at the masquerade but my mind was too preoccupied to pay attention.
I amble forward a step behind him as he concentrated on levitating my friend. The muscles on his back tense with each step and I found myself imagining the things I could do to help alleviate. Ashamed and bashful, I bite my lip and enter his beautiful home.
"I'll take her downstairs, please, make yourself at home. I will be up in a minute," he turns to look at me. I felt electrified when his eyes come into view. They resembled the endless seas I dream to float upon.
I don't know when or how it happened but Valentine managed to pump my heart and bring it back to life. Even with our differences, I was eager to see what more can occur between us. Good or bad.
"No, that's alright. I'll accompany you down, she is my responsibility after all," I volunteer.
He nods and bids me to follow. I quiver and flinch at the intense odor of titanium as we walk down. The basement was lined with thick walls and highly secured prison cells, which appeared more like a torture chamber. He sets Chelsea onto a chair and she slumps against the seat as he fastens cuffs around her wrists.
"You're wondering why I have this room," he says, so calmly. He was trying to read my mind without actually entering it.
"With you, it's not much of a question. My curiosity stems more towards who you have taken and bound in here."
He smirks. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Oh, yes, I'd love to see your wall of innocent victims." I approach a counter littered with instruments, titatium and syringes.
Valentine opens a container and fog rolls out as he acquires a bag of blood for our captive. "Is that all? Or would you like your photo added to my collection?"
He comes up to me and stops just a breaths width away. His posture beams with dominance and strength. My heart pounds hardly agaisnt my chest and blood rushes like a river in my veins. "I don't know. Will you string me up in one of your cells?"
A sweet smell wafts into my nostrils and he gives me a wide smirk. My tongue was like sandpaper. I was parched for the decadent liquid. "Thirsty?"
I gulp down the air lodged in my throat. "No," I say through clenched teeth.
He takes my hand and shoves the bag in it. Valentine's face was dangerously close to my own, letting me feel his cool breath on my eyelashes. I breathe in his scent and my thirst for blood sharpens. "Then I'll let you do the honors."
I snatch it from him and inch closer to his ear, brushing my lips against cheek. He smelled of mint and aftershave. I could feel him quiver under my touch and I couldn't help but smile. "I'd love to," I whisper with a sultry voice.
I brush past him and stalk to Chelsea. Using two fingers, I lift her chin and prop open her mouth. I rip the bag open with my teeth and held my breath as I allowed the blood to drip into her mouth. Chelsea gasps and continues to drink the blood.
Her body convulses in hunger as her body tries to heal itself. I study her face.
Her eyelids flutter and a hiss escapes her mouth. "Chelsea?" Upon hearing her name her eyes bolt open and her pupils dilate in the light. Her gasps mix with her screams.
"No," she screams. "You have to kill me." She squirms in her seat but her attempts of freedom are maimed by titanium cuffs around her wrists and ankles. "Please! Kill me."
"You're safe now, Chelsea. We won't harm you," my voice shook with worry and concern for her.
"No, you don't understand," she cries. Tears flow from her eyes and roll down her cheeks. "Oh, god, no. No!"
Her agonizing wails hit me like crumbling wall. Why would be want me to kill her? She starts to scratch at the metal under her fingertips, making a sharp noise. Rapidly, she shakes her head. "Please," she laments and her eyes meet with mine. Fear was all I managed to read.
"Why?"
"If you don't kill me, then," she sobs and her head slumps down.
I snap my fingers in front of her eyes. "Then what?" I shake her shoulder. "What, Chelsea?"
"He has them. He has my little boy, Saphira." Chelsea didn't speak much of them, but she has a family. A loving husband and a little boy. Families are what I envy the most aout humans. To have a network of souls that you can turn to when the world shuts you out.
"Who has them?"
Her eyes gloss over with a dark shade and the thrashing and screaming halts. A numb silence fell among the three of us and I scrunch my eyebrows. Tangled strands of her brown hair covered her face. A dark and ominous chuckle breaks the silence and Chelsea throws her head back in amusement. Her countenance morphs.
"Torture me all you want, boss. You're not going to get anything out of me," her voice had hanged indicating that she was clearly not herself. Valentine stands beside me and she gives him a devilish smile. "Well, hello there, handsome."
"She's under hypnosis," he concurs. "Someone is controlling her."
I fold my arms over my chest. "Who could be controlling her?"
"Yes, Valentine, who?" Chelsea mocks. She scoffs and scowls at the two of us, her bloodshot eyes turning pitch black. "Is that something you'll keep from her as well?"
Knives start poking at my sides and back as her icy words enter my mind. Does she know my sensitivity to Valentine's cryptic life? Whoever has a hold of her, knows both of us - our strengths and weaknesses. It surely sounds like his estranged brother, he's the only one that could know us so well.
Chelsea continues to speak and taunt us with her deadly words. "Let's see you figure this one out while trying to win her back. Tick-tock, time is running out."
His whole body tenses and he balls his hands into fists. "You will tell us who you're working for. Even if it takes draining all of the blood left in you," he roars.
"I will never give in." Her expression remains the same but the fear was laced in her eyes. Chelsea's in there and she's trying to regain control over her mind and body, but the hold on her is strong. Valentine takes her and puts her in a cell, I was expecting her to thrash and fight but she was surprisingly compliant - like she wanted to be here.
Valentine sighs just after shutting the heavy bulletproof door. "We'll give her a few days down here to mull things over, she'll think about killing herself before we do."
"And what if she does?" We make our way up to his parlor to continue or conversation.
"Then we'll use our best resources, but it won't get to that point, we'll keep her alive as long as we can."
"Do you have an idea of who it could be?" I knew I was throwing questions at him that he couldn't answer right away, but I needed answers yesterday. He stares at me for a brief moment and doesn't speak.
"A few people, but I don't believe it's Augustine. If he wanted me dead, he would have done it a long time ago," he mutters. They were brothers after all. Forgiveness is present even amongst enemies.
"There's one way to know for sure," I say, "I need to pay him a visit."
I stop in my tracks when an invisible barrier is created to prevent me from going. I couldn't move foward or backward. Valentine keeps me in place and gazes at me in amusement. My face heats in frustration and I try to cool down with lesser invasive thoughts. He turns my body around to face him.
I pass him a deadly glare. "What are you doing?"
"Are you hungry?" He asks, casually, while sitting himself on an arm of the sofa. "I'm could use a juicy piece of meat and a few pints."
I had the urge to roll my eyes at him. "You're thinking of feeding at a time like this?"
He folds his arms and his biceps flex against his long sleeved shirt. The chain around his neck glints and I eye it carefully and curiously.
"Indeed, but you do owe me a favor, sweetheart," he chuckles. "This is the perfect time to pay me back."
I try to break free of his hold, but his powers were too strong. "I don't owe you anything."
He stands, "actually, you do. You owe me dinner."