Anna:
The pounding in my head hadn't stopped for two days. Liam thought I was insane and maybe I was, but I knew these people were not my parents. They looked like my parents, talked like my parents, even brought me to my childhood home, but they were not my parents. I couldn't explain how I knew, but I knew. I prayed for Liam's trust, but I broke that when I taunted him on the plane. He wouldn't listen to a word I said now. Of course he never left my side, but that was because he thought I was sick. He thought I lost my mind. I was sick for sure, but I hadn't lost my mind. I knew what was happening. I knew exactly what I was saying when I told him I wanted to sleep with Pierce, but I couldn't stop myself. It was like something took over and I was powerless against it. If it wanted me to tell Liam those horrible things, I did it.
I watched Liam for a moment. He was slunched down in a recliner that formerly lived in the family room. I wasn't sure when it was brought into my room, but it's where Liam slept. I mean, he hardly slept, but when he did it was on that chair. I felt his distrust towards me and I didn't blame him. I killed someone already. I ripped a man to shreds and the worst part about it was that I didn't feel that bad about it. I wanted to hate myself for it, but I didn't. I hardly felt any remorse for killing someone. Granted, it started off with me trying to defend myself against him, but I didn't have to kill him. I could have disabled him. Instead, I went the extra mile and annihilated him.
"Liam?" I asked quietly.
He didn't stir and it was probably best if he stayed asleep. He needed the rest. I moved my arms a little only to realize I was still heavily chained to my bed.
I let out a frustrated sigh and glanced over at Liam again. He really was amazing. He was king and I was sure he had a million other things to do, but he was here with me. He cared enough to put his duties aside and come here on a whim to try to help me. He didn't even know if this was going to work, but he took the chance.
"Staring is creepy," he mumbled.
"Nothing I do is creepy."
"Except when you stare at me."
His red eyes locked with mine. He had started watching my eyes very carefully when he talked to me. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't care. I liked that he did it.
"How much longer do we have to be here?" I asked.
"As long as it takes you to get better."
"I feel like I am better."
"You might feel that way, but when your temper starts you're out of control."
"But I haven't lost my temper since the plane."
"Anna-"
"You're awake," the woman pretending to be my mother said as she walked in the room.
I didn't respond. I didn't know what this woman wanted with me and I didn't care. I just wanted to leave.
"She just woke up," Liam said.
"Good. I was thinking Anna and I need some time alone," she suggested.
Liam nodded, understanding what she meant.
"I have some work to do anyway. I'll check on you in a couple hours."
"Wait, Liam," I quickly protested.
"It'll be okay, Anna. I'll be downstairs."
"Don't leave me alone with her," I panicked.
"I promise you'll be fine, sweetheart." He leaned over and kissed my forehead.
I watched him leave and close the door behind him. I let my gaze fall on the imposter as she slowly approached my bedside.
"You know, you have been a real pain in the ass, Annabel."
"Why are you pretending to be my mother," I demanded.
"I can't believe it's taken you this long to figure out."
"There's no reason for it!"
"The timing seems awful convenient, doesn't it?"
"What?"
"You honestly believe you have demon blood?" She asked.
"No, but Liam does."
"That's the plan, sweetheart," she mocked.
"He will believe me."
"Sure about that?"
"Yes."
"Has he believed you yet?"
"He thinks I'm sick," I deadpanned.
"And he will keep believing that."
"No he won't."
"You should relax, Anna. Your eyes are turning yellow again."
I scowled. "You're doing that, aren't you?"
She laughed. "Maybe."
"I don't understand why. What did I do to you?"
"I was hired. To be honest, I'm a little tired of this meat suit."
"Where is my mother?"
"She's been gone a long time and she's not coming back."
My mouth instantly felt dry and my heart dropped. My parents were dead? I . . . I didn't know how to react. I wasn't ready for my parents to be gone forever.
"Why would you do this?"
"Apparently, Liam's council doesn't care for you. Instead of killing you and destroying any chance at him marrying, they decided this was better."
"Killing my parents and driving me insane was better?" I managed to ask.
She shrugged. "I'm just the middle man."
"I don't understand. Why wouldn't they just ask me to leave? Why would they do this to me," I asked. As much as I didn't want to, I knew I was on the verge of tears.
"Who knows. Vampires have never been very trustworthy."
I glared at whatever was wearing my mother. "What are you," I demanded.
"Demon. I wasn't lying about that."
"And the other thing in my father is a demon too?"
"Sure is."
I glanced around my room. Nothing had changed since I left. The walls were still a light gray, littered with pictures of Hugo and my friends. I hadn't even thought about my friends since everything that happened. All I had was Liam now and I wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing. I didn't even have my parents.
"Liam," I called out.
"He won't believe you."
"Yes he will."
"I don't think so." She sat at the foot of my bed, just like my mother would have. She thought she could mimic my mother and that infuriated me. How dare she think she could even come close to the person my mother was!
"Get off my bed," I demanded.
"But, sunshine, I'm just trying to have a conversation with you."
"Fuck off," I spat.
"My, my, Anna. Do you think God would appreciate that language?"
"What the hell has He ever done for me? Did he protect my parents when leeches started to suck the life out of them? Did he help fix my brother? You know what, maybe I should thank Him for allowing me to be sold into slavery."
She scowled. "Well you're no fun."
"I prayed every day. I did everything I was supposed to do and look at where I am. I have no one except Liam and even he thinks I'm insane. He's going to leave me soon enough."
"Couldn't have said it better myself. You know, I may be a demon and all, but if I were you I wouldn't challenge the council. I would take off while I still could."
"Like I would take advice from the demon that killed my mother."
"Oh I didn't kill her. She was gone by the time I got here."
"You're still wearing her," I gritted out.
"Not for much longer."
"You know if you just told Liam what's happening he would believe you."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because it's the right thing to do."
She looked at me like I was the dumbest person alive and maybe I was, but I had to try to get someone on my side.
"What makes you think I want to do the right thing?"
"You wouldn't be having this conversation with me if you didn't think this was wrong. What the council is doing to me is cruel. I've never done anything wrong."
"It's not my place to decide. They want you out, I'm here to do a job. If you happen to make a sudden recovery, that's not really my problem, now is it?"
I scrunched my eyes together confused by what she said. Was she actually giving me advice on how to fix this? Should I pretend like I realized how insane I was and act "better"? I hated to do that because I didn't feel right about keeping it from Liam, but I also felt like she was right. This might be the only way to make this stop. Still, I didn't know how they made me like this in the first place.
"Was I poisoned?"
She cocked her head to the side for a moment as if she was pondering the idea.
"My guess is they laced you up with some salt at one point."
"Salt?"
"Don't you know anything about yourself?"
I shook my head. I was a little embarrassed that I didn't know more about what could harm me.
Liam knocked lightly on the door, but opened it before I responded.
I looked to the demon, hoping she would tell Liam what she told me, but I wasn't holding my breath.
"Liam, I want to go home," I said.
He looked slightly surprised by my request even though I had been saying it all along.
"I know, but you need to be here right now."
"I'm not sick, Liam. I was poisoned."
"What?" He asked. I could tell he was worn out. I knew he invested a lot of time and emotion into this ordeal and he was close to tapped out.
"Tell him," I demanded.
"Tell him what?" She asked innocently.
"My parents are dead and I'm not a demon. Someone poisoned me," I said, turning back to Liam.
He sighed, "Anna, please. For ten minutes can you just lay off this?"
"No! I'm not crazy!"
"I'm not saying you are. I'm saying you're confused."
I knew damn well what he was saying. He thought I completely lost it even though I didn't show any signs of true insanity. I was completely lucid. I didn't mix up events.
I stayed silent and waited for him to leave. The demon shot me a quick look and left the room with Liam following close behind.
I searched my small nightstand for anything that could break the chains on me. I wasn't going to stay here a minute longer. If Liam didn't believe me, fine. I would prove to everyone that I wasn't crazy.
I found a pair of nail clippers. I wasn't sure if they would be able to break the silver, but it was worth a try. The chains were extremely thin, but silver sliced right through my skin every time I tried to break it.
I worked on the chains, clipping and bending pieces of silver away until one chain finally broke. A rush of excitement flooded my body. I couldn't believe I actually had a wrist free!
I quickly went to work on the other chains and freed myself from them.
I stretched my legs out after being cramped up for days. I knew I had to move quickly and silently in order to get out of here unnoticed. I tiptoed to my closet and peeked inside to see some clothes still in there. I grabbed an old backpack and shoved the few item in. I would need some money, but I also knew there probably wasn't any in the house. I grabbed the blu-ray player from under my TV and an old iPod. It wasn't much, but it would be something to get me around. I had no idea what I was going to do or where I was going to go, but I had to prove that I wasn't crazy. If I stayed here, Liam would just keep listening to the demons and ignore me.