Layla.
I always knew that life would never work out the way that I wanted. Ever since I could remember the auction was something that everyone always talked about. But the funny thing was I rarely heard anything good about being sold to someone, and at the time that didn’t bother me. I knew that being sold against our wills wasn’t a good thing, but now my entire perception of the situation was changed all because of one vampire; Harry.
He changed me in good ways, and also in bad. Sure, he didn’t always treat me the best, but in the end he seemed to change. I didn’t regret anything he’s done because he only did it to protect himself. I just wish I had been able to break down a few more of his walls before we were pulled a part, so that I could’ve gotten to know him more. We barely knew each other, or at least, I barely knew him. The deepest thing he’s ever told me about himself was the last time that he was ever truly happy, and for some reason I always thought that I could’ve changed that and given him more happy memories. Now it’s too late.
My eyes shifted toward my left hand, and tears stung my eyes. It hurt like hell, and the bloody bandage that was wrapped around it had to be constantly changed and tended to. The bleeding and the pain seemed like it was going to be a never ending cycle. I still couldn’t believe that Damaris actually cut my fucking finger off like it was nothing to him. He almost seemed to enjoy watching me whimper and thrash inside of myself while the compulsion that he had used on me held me in place.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, he also carried me up to his room afterwards, and ripped the shirt I was wearing, Harry’s shirt, to shreds that hung on my torso. I was wearing a tank top underneath it, but it was now stained with my own blood, and I felt nearly naked. He was demeaning me in the cruelest way, by taking away my dignity. There wasn’t much left of me anymore, and I couldn’t do anything to help myself. I guess it was true what everyone has been telling me from the beginning, I’m just a human, I can’t protect myself, and I’ll never be able to decide for myself. My species in the lesser of both the made vampire and the lamia vampires, we’ll never get to win.
I closed my eyes, and quietly cried. The blood from the bandage around my hand was seeping through it, and soaking the bed sheets, but I didn’t care. Let my blood soil the stupid silky sheets, they weren’t the silk sheets I wanted to lay on anyway.
The door to the room opened, and Damaris entered slowly. His gaze was on me, and it was cautious, almost like he was afraid of an outburst that I would have, but I couldn’t even find it in me to acknowledge his presence. I was too afraid of what else he would do to me.
Gently, the space next to me on the bed dipped, and cool fingers picked up my left hand, and blue eyes studied the bloody bandage. Slowly, he unwrapped the bloodied item and tossed it into the nearby trash. It was obvious that he was trying to angle it so that I would be unable to see my hand, but his timing was off, and I did see it.
My breath caught in my throat as I saw the amount of blood running down my hand from the space between my middle and littlest finger. The finger that my ring had once been on was just gone, and in its place was a hole that showed me things that I never wanted to see again. I could see sections of veins that weren’t attached to anything, and were spilling out blood, ripping muscle and skin. There were hesitation marks just below the actual wound, a bit closer to my hand, showing that Damaris didn’t want to do what he did at first, but his conscious was beat out by his pride.
The sobs that were escaping my throat became louder, and I pressed my face into the pillow that my head had been resting on. My body was gently trembling, and I wished that I had a pair of cool arms to wrap around my body, and comfort me, but I’d never get that again. Lamia vampires were warm blooded by nature, so their skin was usually always warm.
“I’m talking to the witch every chance I get to see if she can reattach your finger, and I’m sure she’ll do it,” Damaris said, and rubbed my back. A new bandage had been wrapped around my hand again, but the blood was already beginning to swell up again. The bleeding seemed like it would never stop.
Without much thinking, I used my shin and shoved him as hard as possible. He fell off the bed with a grunt, and I curled further away from him as he could to his feet. I was afraid of him because I knew that he would hurt me.
“Why did you do that?” He growled. “Don’t be pissed off at me, Layla. Blame the bastard that put a ring on your finger that can only be removed by your heart not beating. It was the only way,” He sternly said.
I glared at him through the tears that were running down my face. “H-He didn’t c-cut off my f-finger,” I hissed through my teeth, and through the sobs that were still escaping. “And it wasn’t the only way to do it! You were just trying to show how big and tough you are to Marcus.”
Damaris sighed in frustration, and ran his fingers through his hair. “I was not,” He retorted, and wrinkled his nose. “I knew that the witch,-“
I cut him off by sitting up. “Her name is Emma,” I said lowly, and the fingers of my right hand wrapped around my left hand, my now four fingered hand. “And you didn’t know anything. Harry wouldn’t have been able to track me with it. It just pulsed with my heart beat, nothing else.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re so naïve, Layla.”
“I am so fucking tired of hearing that!” I shouted at him, and got up on my knees. “I’m so fucking tired of everyone belittling me just because I’m human. I like being human, and I don’t plan on ever changing.”
“You’re going to be changing into a vampire whether you fucking like it or not!” Damaris snapped at me, and grabbed my left wrist roughly, causing me to scream out in pain. “You think losing one little finger hurts? Wait until you’re changing, and every bad thing you’ve ever done in your life flashes in front of you, and every painful, sad, or angry emotion you’ve ever felt is forced upon you again, but this time all at once. You have no idea what pain is like.”
I gritted my teeth, and tears ran down my cheeks again, before I let out a sob. “What happened to you, Damaris? What happened to the man I used to love, the one that protected me, and only wanted me to be happy?” I whispered.
He exhaled, and closed his eyes. Somehow I could see the red of his irises glowing beneath his eyelids. “I lost that part of me the moment you walked into that auction building, and away from me, Layla. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same, and I don’t think I can ever be without you.”
“You’re going to kill me,” I told him, and wrapped my right hand around his wrist. “Whether you totally kill me, or parts of me, I won’t be the same either. I don’t want to be here, not when you’re like this.”
“You wouldn’t want to be here even if I was the same guy I used to be,” He bitterly spoke. “You’d want to be with Lord Harry Styles, the vampire that literally controls everyone and everything in the world. He has the lives of it all in the palm of his hand, and he can crush it before your eyes.”
“Do you know why I’d want to be with him?” I asked him, and sniffled. “Because he wouldn’t force me to change, or force me to do anything but watch my mouth since it could get me into trouble one day.”
Damaris slowly looked down at my left hand, and a small tear ran down his face, then he gently pressed a soft kiss to the bandage, being careful not to touch the bloodied area, so that he wouldn’t get sick. “I do love you, even when I don’t show it very well. Things are too complicated right now.”
“You’re telling me,” I said, and shook my head. “You’re not the one missing a finger.”
“I will get that witch, Emma, to reattach your finger. I promise you that much.”
“I thought you didn’t trust her,” I said, and bit my lip.
“I don’t, but if you do, then that’s enough for me, I guess,” He responded.
“You guess?” I frowned.
“Layla, you don’t understand how I feel about this,” He said, and took my right hand. “I love you so fucking much, but the things you’re saying aren’t what I believe, what I taught you to believe. Made Vampires are evil; every single one of them, there is no good in the artificial bastards. Vampires were meant to be born, not bitten.” He paused to gently kiss my right hand. “And witches are just as bad. They betrayed us in the end when we needed them most. The only reason we have this one with us now is because we need her to use her gift.”
“I don’t like that you’ve changed, Damaris. Not even in the slightest,” I told him, and shook my head. “You broke your promise to me; you told me you would never join this place.”
He sighed. “I’ve always been a part of it, Layla, but now that I’m getting older…I’m taking over.”
I snorted. “Like Marcus would let that happen. It’s so fucking obvious that he has more of a foot in this in this than you do.”
He frowned, and squeezed my hand. “That’s not true, Layla. People here trust me.”
“Then why am I cooped up in here, with only nine of my ten fingers, if they trust you?” I asked him, and pulled my hand out of his grasp. “Also, this is completely off topic, but you didn’t have to rip this shirt. I liked this shirt,” I told him, and narrowed my eyes.
“I didn’t. You should be wearing my shirt, not his!” He snapped, and ripped the remaining material from my body. His bottom lip was taken between his teeth as he looked at me, and I suddenly felt self-conscious by the look he was giving me. It was a look that Harry would give me most of the time; a look of lust.
“Stop it,” I told him, sternly, and crossed my arms. “I mean it, Damaris. Just because I’m not a virgin anymore doesn’t mean that you can try to take advantage of me.”
“I wasn’t meaning to, I just, I love you, Layla. I want you. I want you in every single way possible.” His hands gently grabbed my waist, and I gasped as he pulled me closer. My arms were still crossed, so my elbows were the only thing that kept us separating, that kept our chests a part. I didn’t want to melt into him, or give into him at all because none of this felt right. It was all wrong, so fucking wrong. I shouldn’t want him to even touch me after he cut off my finger, and caused me this much pain. “I want to make you moan for me, to see you tremble and quiver with my touch. Why can’t you let me do that, when you’ve already let him? You’ve known me longer, you trust me more than you ever could with him.”
“My trust for you vanished the moment I realized that I only had nine fingers instead of ten and that you were the reason for it,” I whispered, and shook my head. “And Harry wanted to do it with me to show he cared me, not because he wants to prove to himself and everyone around him that he’s a man.”
His eyes turned red as he stared at me. I felt like I was suffocating underneath the smoldering stare. “If I wanted to show you, prove to myself and everyone else around me that I was a man, I’d throw you down on the bed and do whatever I fucking pleased with you, but instead, I’m going to resist it. You need your finger back before anything like that happens to us.”
I scoffed slightly. “Don’t act so noble when you’re the one that took my finger off in the first place. I’m not an item that you or anyone else can own. That’s the only thing I hate about being human, we never get our own rights. They’re always decided for us, and it’s never for our best interest. It’s only for those who need us to survive.”
“Yeah, well, the trust I had in you vanished when I realized that you were quite literally sleeping with my enemy,” Damaris bitterly said, completely turning the conversation away from the subject I had brought up. I hated when people did that. “While you were sleeping with him, I was thinking about you, and how I would get you away from that place so that we could start over. I was thinking about how I could make you happy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Again, stop acting so noble in this. You lost your virginity years back, and I never said one fucking word about it. At least when I did it I was doing it because I actually liked him, not because he was there when I felt the heat rise between my thighs.” I couldn’t even bring myself to feel embarrassed about talking about something like that, and what made this even more amusing to me was that we were completely skidding over the conversation we were supposed to be having. We were supposed to be talking about how the hell I was going to get my finger back on, and if it would be any time soon.
“I was stupid, and I admitted it was a mistake not too long after it happened. Can’t you just let it go?” He asked me, and threw his hands up in the air in aggravation.
My eyes widened, and I grunted slightly before I climbed off of the bed. “Can’t I just let it go? Are you serious? You fucking slept with my best friend, and you even admitted you were thinking about me the entire time! You just needed to get off and she was there, completely willing to spread her legs for you. You could have resisted her, but you didn’t!”
“You literally make me want to pull my hair out, then stab knives into my eyes because of how much you irritate me, Layla!” He snapped.
I stared at him for a moment. “If that so true, then why do you care so fucking much about me? Why can’t you just let me go back to the person that makes me feel safe, and cared about?”
He snorted. “I’m protecting you from someone who only wants you around because of your blood, and your body. I didn’t want you to be taken advantage of. Also, I love you so fucking much because you irritate me. You’re so strong minded, and strong willed, and you always have to have the last word. It makes you more appealing than anyone else.”
I could see how much he was struggling not to respond to what I said about Harry keeping me safe and caring about me, and I wondered why he wasn’t having a full blown rage attack on him. Maybe it was because he knew that I knew it all already, or because he thought I was too brainwashed to even care what he had to say.
“You’re also beautiful, so beautiful that the moon would quite literally melt at the look of you if you’d let it. You put the oceans, and the grasslands to shame, Layla. And you never see it.” Damaris shook his head, and walked over to the window in the corner of the bedroom, then pulled open the shades. “And I know how much you like to see the sun, so that’s the reason I decided to have a bedroom on the top floor. It had the best view of it.”
I bit my lip. “You hate the sun. It irritates your eyes, makes you sleepy, and weak,” I whispered, and glanced down at my bare feet. Why would he torture himself with the sun like that?
He shrugged. “You like it, and I wanted to show it to you by waking you up at sun rise. I would’ve opened the blinds for you very slowly, and made sure the light hit your face just enough to wake you up, then I would’ve laughed at how amusing it was for you to yell at me because you were too tired.”
“Why do you think about things like that when you know that they’re impossible?” I asked him, and shook my head. “You know that it’s not possible for us to be together, because whether you like it or not, Damaris, Harry is going to find me, and he’s going to take me back. He needs me.”
He cracked a slight smile, and walked over to me. “I think about things like that because it’s fun to image what the future could be.” The amused, happy, warm feeling I was beginning to feel in the pit of my stomach vanished when Damaris’ expression turned darker as he looked at me. It was like he was waiting for me to come crashing down from the sudden burst of energy I was currently having. “And no, he won’t eventually find you and take you back, Layla. Marcus sent him your ring after you passed out when I cut off your finger. He thinks you’re dead.”
Harry.
“Had enough yet?” I asked our new guest as I bent his wrist back further than it should’ve been able to go. I wanted to tear off his hand, but he wouldn’t be able to fully heal from that, and it could potentially kill him before he gave me the information I needed.
“Fuck you,” He spat at me through his gritted teeth. I had to give him credit, I’ve been out this torture session for hours, and he had the same ballsy response.
“This can go on and on forever, I hope you know that,” I told him, and grabbed his other wrist. We were inside of the shed that Liam and Leigha didn’t use anymore, and the lamia vampire in front of me was tied to a chair with ropes that were dipped in vervain. It hadn’t been easy to get them on him, but it was almost amusing to see him burn with each struggle he did. I felt like this was a good outlet for me now that my time left would be limited. “Even if I die, my friends don’t have the same curse I do. They can continue torturing you for years and years after my death. They’ll never stop until you tell us what we want to know.”
He squeezed his eyes closed. It was almost like just the mere thought of it made him want to die. A part of me felt sad for him, and I even regretted the measures I was taking, but then the other part reminded the first one about Layla’s death, so it kept quiet.
“If you just tell me what I want to know then I’ll give you blood, and let you go, but if you don’t tell me,-“ I began, but the pure blood grunted a curse word at me. The same line that he had been spitting at me for the last three hours; fuck you. However, this time, he didn’t leave it at that.
“You’re lying about not killing me if I tell you where the lamia is hiding. You fucktards can’t be trusted, I’ve been taught all about your ways, and you won’t be getting anything out of me,” He said through his teeth.
I laughed at him. “My kind can’t be trusted? And what about yours? You were exploiting the witches’ powers for years, and none of them could do anything about it because their elders wanted to side with the breed of vampire that offered them.” I walked around the chair that held my captive, and I felt faint glee at the way the blood on the floor was sticking to my shoes with each step I made. “Why do you think that most of them chose to side with the made vampires after that?”
“Because they were stupid fucking whores that only wanted one thing! Especially the little girl that we have with us right now,” The other vampire sneered at me, and I chuckled. He was amusing my dark side so much by trying to behave like I would actually be afraid of him. His attempts were quite cute to me.
My hand collided with his cheek without a second thought, and I was glad that Justin wasn’t around to see this. He didn’t even know about our little guest just yet, and I didn’t want to bother him about it right now. He was mourning his sister, and I couldn’t interrupt that. I needed to get Emma back to him safely or else I’ll have to tie him to a chair with vervain ropes to keep him from doing anything rash. Those two girls meant everything to him.
“You know, that’s another reason the younger witches wanted away from your kind so bad. Not only were they forced to use their magic to help you by using dirty tricks against my superior kind, but they were also being raped as well. None of them had a voice with you.”
He laughed, and blood dripped down his chin. I wasn’t sure why it was happening all of a sudden because I’d lost track of the brutalities that I was making him suffer so I could get my information. “We were told a much different story.”
“Oh really? Which one were you told? Because I’ve heard dozens upon dozens in the recent years,” I said, and crossed my arms. “Did you hear that I fucked the old crone of the witches just to get what I wanted? Or maybe even the story where I found some kind of magic potion and threatened to share its secrets all over the world if they didn’t join me?” I smirked, and laughed quietly. “And despite how amusing the other little theories were, do you know what one has to be my favorite to date?” I asked him, and didn’t give him time to respond. “The one where I killed the crone, the maiden, and the witch Queen, enslaved the younger witches, and made a few bucks out of it. Were you told that one?”
He stayed silent, and he almost looked shocked by the amount of knowledge that I was offering him. It was obvious he hadn’t expected me to know so many of the wise tales that were told around the campfires in his world.
“But you know what makes that last one even better?” I asked him, and knelt down to his level. “It’s because all of those events actually did happen, but my kind wasn’t responsible. It wasn’t until the other Lords and I were offered a whole batch of half-naked witches that looked barely old enough to know how to cast a simple manifestation spell, that I realized it was going on, and who was behind it.” I stared at him, long and hard, trying to find some kind of reaction, but I only got the most obvious one that I had been expecting; shock. “The lamia were very naughty vampires back in those days, and they still are by the looks of it, but I don’t expect you to believe me or anyone I would bring in here to prove it.”
“They wouldn’t do anything like that,” He responded in a thick tone, and he shook his head. “I can’t believe that. I’m not as naïve as you probably think.”
I snorted slightly in amusement, and then rolled my eyes. “You are naïve because you’re risking your own life for people that just want to harm more innocents. Do you think that the human race will be any safer with your kind ruling? Especially with the way you talked about my blood slave? I bet you heard things like that from the people around you, and you actually convinced yourself that it wasn’t true.”
“I don’t care whether I live, or die,” He said through his teeth. “I’m protecting our location, and that’s something we all took an oath to protect. I knew I was risking everything by coming here, fuck, I was even warned about it. But I didn’t think a pussy like you could put me through anything.”
I laughed. “Are you going to tell me that none of this has broken your spirits, even in the slightest? You’re going to offend my torture abilities,” I said, and grabbed my chest, pretending to be hurt by his accusation. The darkness in the inner edges of my soul loved the thrill of knowing I could kill him at any time, or that I could torture him for as long as possible. It had been centuries since I last let my demons out to roam free like this, they had always been under lock and key.
“This is worth it to keep our Order safe,” He smartly responded.
“Yes, and I’m sure they appreciate your efforts,” I told him, and straightened my back. “I bet they’re all worried about you right now, but that wouldn’t explain why no one has showed up to see why you’ve not returned from giving me the ring back.”
“Everyone has to make sacrifices. Forgetting about me just means they’re arranging more important things.”
“Fuck and you seriously think I’m deranged,” I scolded him, and shook my head. “If I had sent a messenger into enemy territory, then I’d make sure that person had back up just in case something went wrong, and then that back up with have back up. I care about my men, which is something foreign that you probably don’t even understand.”
“Everyone has to make sacrifices,” The younger, pure blooded, vampire repeated through his teeth. “I’m not important, I can be replaced if needed, and if anything happens to me then they’ll know I stood my ground with you artificial bastards.”
I sighed. “There’s that phrase again. You’d think you could think of something new and much more colorful call me while I broke each of your fingers one by one. Seriously, you’re not even trying.”
“Fuck you,” He mumbled.
“And we’re back to that again,” I responded, and rolled my eyes.
“Harry, we need to talk. Get out here,” Leigha calmly spoke from outside of the shed. I was glad that she decided not to come in, because despite how strong and kept together she was, the sight in this shed was gruesome and she didn’t need to see it. No one should ever see it.
I walked out of the small, square shaped, shed and quickly closed the door behind me. “What’s going on?” I asked her.
Her face turned even pale as her eyes ran over my torso and legs. There were blood stains on nearly every inch of fabric and skin that was exposed, some dryer than others, some fresher than other. I could tell by the look on her face that she was sick to her stomach. “I know that this is necessary, I really do, but he’s just a stupid naïve kid, Harry. Isn’t there another way to get information out of him without spilling more blood? There’s enough of it already.” She frowned.
Leigha was so peaceful in nearly everything that she did, and it was yet another reason why she refused to have a blood slave, and refused to let Liam have one either. She and Liam lived the life style that Niall had created for himself; drinking from blood bags instead of fresh blood from a human. It was a sacrifice, but she claimed it saved more lives, and she was willing to take the risk of losing her own strength.
“I wish that was true, Leigha, I really do,” I said, and sighed. “But look at me. The sight in there is even worse. There’s nothing else that we can do to make him tell us what we want to know if even torturing him to the brink of death can’t even get it out of him.”
Her face suddenly turned stern, and she turned toward the shed. “Let me talk to him.”
I laughed quietly. “Leigha,-“ I began, but she held up her finger.
“No. My shed, my house, my property; my rules. Open the shed and let me talk to our guest,” She curtly responded.
I laughed again, and nodded. “Fine, but I’m staying in there with you. Liam would pull my heart out of my chest if I let you go in there by yourself, especially with the mess.”
She cringed slightly, and slowly picked up a basket that she had put at her feet after she called me out to her. It was filled with blood bags, I assumed. “Just open the fucking shed for me, Styles.”
“The good cop routine won’t work,” I told her as I walked over to the door, and opened it for her. The scent of blood was even thicker, and I could tell that she was trying so hard not to gag.
“Just trust me,” She scolded me.
I shrugged, and waved my hand in front of me. “Ladies first.”
She squared her shoulders, and lifted her chin up as she walked inside of the dark shed, then I followed behind her, shutting the door so that no light from the house entered the tight space. We were vampires, and night vision was something that every one of us were blessed with, but Leigha and I had stronger sight than the young one that was tied to the chair. However, the dark wasn’t something that any vampire was afraid of, but it would make him have less of a chance of getting away if he got lose.
“This is the tiny and delicate female that was keeping you in place earlier,” I told the lamia vampire, and crossed my arms as I cracked a faint smile. “She has a present for you.”
He snorted slightly, and leaned back against his seat. “Unless she’s got a stake that I can drive through her heart, I’m not interested.”
Leigha put the basket on the bloodied concrete floor, and opened it slowly. She was trying to be careful to not touch any of the blood around her, but it was quite literally piling up. I wanted to get her out of here, though; I also wanted to give her a chance. I didn’t believe her kind methods would be any more successful than my brutal ones.
“I’ve brought you some blood bags. They’re not fresh from a human, but it’s what my mate and I feed from,” She told him, and held the bag up to his mouth.
“I don’t drink blood tainted with vervain,” He hissed to her. “If you want to kill me for not telling you what you want to know, then just do it. Don’t beat around the bush by slowly poisoning me. These ropes are beating you to it anyway.”
Leigha frowned. “But they’re not poisoned with vervain. I wanted something to help you get your strength back up.”
“Oh yeah? And why would you want to do that? Your friend over there spent the last few hours messing me up, and you want to put me back together? No thanks. Goodbye.”
She nodded, and held the bag up to his mouth again. “Because I want to show you that not all of us are as heartless as you think. It’s rude for you to believe everything you hear about a species, or thinking that just because one of us is bad doesn’t mean the rest are.”
“You all are bad. I’ve known that since I was born. My parents were killed by made vampires,” He said through his teeth. “I’ve know your true identity since I was a boy, and it won’t change just because you give me blood bags.”
“I know that, but it’s still a start,” Leigha responded him, and pushed it closer to his mouth. “Come on, one won’t hurt you. You’ll probably feel better, and can think more clearly.”
“Next you’ll probably want to let me take a shower, and clean up in one of your solid gold bathrooms inside of your sparkly diamond house.” He rolled his eyes. “No thanks. Again.”
She sighed quietly. “You don’t have to be so rude, you know that, right? I only want to help you.”
“You’re an artificial bitch.” He smirked. “But you’re hot as fuck. No wonder your picture’s hanging up in the room where the whores are kept.”
I half expected Leigha to slap him, or say something crude in return, but what she did surprised me.
She laughed quietly, and smiled a kind, comforting, smile. “Thank you. I’m glad that my image is used for entertaining purposes instead of cruel or unusual ones. I always expected it to happen since I am the only girl among the Lords.”
“But it doesn’t make you any better than him.” He jerked his chin my direction to show he was talking about. “You’re still a made vampire, and you probably fraternize with the entire bunch, not just your mate.”
She laughed again. “One, if you’re insinuating that you think I’m sleeping with Harry or any of the others beside Liam, then you’re wrong. In fact, it makes me sick just knowing you could think I’m capable of it.”
“Insinuating?” He sniggered. “I said it up front, little girl, and I mean it, and I’m glad that it makes you sick. You deserve it for being such a dirty whore.”
This time, I knew that she snapped, and was finally through with the nice routine. One of her hands still held the blood bag, but the other was grabbing his throat. “Dirty, maybe after stepping a foot into this shed that’s quite literally coated in your blood, but a whore? Definitely not. In fact, I don’t think another man’s ever touched me beside my mate, even during my human life.” Her hand tightened around his throat. “Also, I’m not the little girl here, little boy. I have shoes older than you.”
“I knew that you were just like the rest of them,” He spat at her.
Leigha cocked her head, and smiled sweetly at him. “Back at you, darling.” She leaned in slightly, and it was clear that she was trying to use her beauty to appeal to him. I almost wanted to turn away so that I wouldn’t have anything to Liam about their conversation, but I knew her almost as well as he did, and I knew that she would never let someone else touch her that way. “Now, I think you have some information that I’d like to know. Where are you keeping Emma?” Her eyelashes fluttered, and she continued to smile at him. It was getting a bit creepy that she could look so evil, yet sweet at the same time. How could a woman do that, and do it so well? Especially one as innocent as her.
“Fuck off,” He grunted, and I almost wanted to rip my hair out because I was fucking sick of hearing that phrase.
“Nope. I need to know that information so I can save an innocent girl from the clutches of evil,” She responded.
“The made vampires aren’t holding her, the lamia are, and she’s a witch so she’s clearly not innocent.”
“Well, all of the lamia are just like you are, so with how you speak of witches she won’t be alive much longer. You seem more evil than me. I offered you a blood bag, a few actually, and you called me a whore that fraternizing with my mate’s friends. I am not, never have been, or never will be, a homie-hopper,” She retorted, her face holding the same sickly sweet expression as before.
“Lies are all I ever here from your kind. It makes me wish you’d just kill me instead of talking to me. That’s even more torture than feeling my collar bones snap with just a flick of his wrist,” The idiot said to her.
Leigha’s grip around his neck obviously wasn’t too tight or too firm considering he could still breathe, and I think it was more for show than anything else. She knew what she was doing, and I was more amused than anything because I almost felt like she had a chance at getting the information we needed. And if she did, then I would quit making fun of her cleaning preferences for as long as I live, and I mean it.
“And you’re more trustworthy? You’re telling me lies about myself, because you think I’m a weak little girl that will kiss the ground you walk on, or rather, you probably think that I should be kissing the ground you walk on because you’re a pure bred.” Leigha rolled her eyes, and let go of his neck. “Well, I’ve got news for you; no one is going to be doing that, because none of you deserve it for your disrespect toward woman, the human race, and even the witches.”
He laughed. “You can’t disrespect something that hasn’t even earned the right to be respected, baby. Woman are fun toys, especially the vampire woman because it’s entertaining to see them try to fight back, and know that they’ll never beat a man.”
“I could easily beat you. I’m not afraid of you, and I’m not going to drop my panties for you, because you don’t deserve to even be in spitting distance of me,” She responded and straightened her back. “Also, to be quite honest, I’m pretty sure that I saw your parents get killed by some lamia troops during the end of the war.”
“I wasn’t even alive during the war,” He bitterly spoke. “You’re lying. They were killed by made vampires.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you think I can’t spot a lamia that decided not to age? You’re about five hundred years old, I think, which is still a baby compared to most of the made vampire race.” She shook her head slightly. “I never forget a face, especially because it was the first time I ever saw someone’s head get cut clean off their body for sport. They used and abused your mother in front you, a mere eight year old boy that barely had his fangs grown in.”
He nearly screamed at her in aggravation. “It doesn’t matter if the lamia were responsible, you’re no better than them because you were there and you didn’t stop it!”
Leigha laughed quietly, and put her hand against his cheek. “I didn’t stop it, no, but the vampire over there,” She paused to point at me, “And the rest of the ones inside of my house did.” Gently, she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, and smiled. “I tended to a small little boy that was crying, and curled up in the fetal position underneath the kitchen table. The only way I could get him out of there was to promise him a kiss on the forehead because I was pretty, and he wanted a kiss from a pretty girl.”
“That wasn’t you. It couldn’t have been,” He responded, and shook his head. “I don’t remember seeing you, I would’ve remembered. Everything about that night is crystal clear, and what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense.”
“When you go through a traumatic experience, it’s natural to forget important details, or to just block them out altogether. It’s also natural to blame then enemy just because it’s easier than believing your own kind could hurt you so much,” She said gently, and knelt down in front him. “We aren’t as bad you think we are. Right now, we’re desperate, that’s why you’re in here and why everything had to happen this way. You have someone important to us, and you killed someone that was very vital to him.”
“How do I know that none of this is just a trap?” He whispered.
I was honestly in shock by the whole ordeal. I couldn’t even bring myself to speak up that I remembered that day. We had been trying to protect countless families from vampire attacks, and we almost missed the incident because even we found it hard to believe that a group of lamia could do something to their own kind, especially a mother and father in front of their child.
Leigha was definitely the best one for controlling a situation, and getting the information. I trusted her even more with my life, and I don’t think I could’ve gotten through any of this without her.
“You already know that what I’ve said is true because you’re not screaming at me and telling me I’m lying,” She responded, and shrugged with a half-smile. “We will let you go, you know. You can even take a shower in my solid gold bathroom, and have a few blood bags, if you’d like. But you have to tell us where they are keeping Emma, and where they’re hiding.”
“I can’t just, I can’t just betray my own kind just because you saved my life when I was a kid.” He shook his head.
She frowned slightly. “Your own kind betrayed you by taking away your family. Don’t let them do it to anymore families. Tell us where they are, and we’ll make sure that they never hurt anyone again.”
He stared at her for a moment, and looked at me before nodding slightly. “Fine. I’ll tell you artificial vampires what you want to know.”
A/N:
Yay, I did update today like I promised, and it's twice as long as yesterdays. :D
I literally worked on this all day yesterday, and I woke up at three AM (couldn't get back to sleep) and wrote until now (seven AM) just to get this finished for you guys, so I expect loads and loads of feedback patting me on the back. :3
This chapter felt really intense, and I'm sorry if it's all over the place because my head feels stuffy and I'm tired, haha.
Hope you enjoyed though. Be sure to vote and comment, both or either would mean the world and bright my day. <3
I love you guys so much! :D
Trailer on the sidebar. >>>>