by K A Young
"My lord," the female shows him respect, the young man bowing beside her. He is taller than me, but not as tall as Locaine. He has jet black hair and is wearing dark slacks with matching dress shoes, his button-up shirt is a maroon color.
"Eloise," Locaine smiles and continues, "how are you this evening?"
She returns his smile and motions in the direction of the young man, "I am doing splendidly. This is Hunter, my slave."
"Hunter," Locaine regards him and then eyes me. I can see that look in his eyes, 'Oh, the irony of his name.' However, he doesn't say it out loud.
I try not to smile, looking away.
Eloise arches a brow and then continues, "If it pleases my lord, my slave has taken an attraction to yours...he would like to dance with her."
Locaine's muscles stiffen, and I felt his grip on my waist change. I can feel the possessiveness take over him and it makes me glad.
Huh?! What the hell is wrong with me!
With a final squeeze, he releases me. I'm completely stunned, looking from Locaine, to Eloise, to Hunter. A smile appearing on Hunter's face as Locaine replies lowly into my ear, "Behave."
I nod as Hunter extends his hand while I hesitantly take it, waiting for Locaine to say something, but he remains silent. Eloise begins chatting with him as they exit the ballroom floor. My attention is brought back to Hunter a moment later, his hazel eyes warming my heart. I can't remember the last time I have seen a male human before...it has been way too long.
As he prepares us for a dance, he asks, "Hey, what's your name?"
We begin to dance where I inform him, "My name is Annika."
Hunter is not as confident and commanding as Locaine, and therefore it shows in his leading during our dance.
"That's a beautiful name," he replies. He takes a step in the wrong direction, and I giggle lightly.
"I'm so sorry!" He bursts out and looks mortified as he steps on one of my toes. It doesn't really hurt, and it's cute how nervous he is.
I smirk and say, "It's okay, it's nice to be around flaws once again."
"What do you mean?" Hunter raises his brows at my comment.
"Vampires. Flawless. It gets quite old quickly," I huff out.
The music ends, and Hunter asks, "Do you want to get something to eat?"
"Sure!" I reply as we head in the direction of the buffet that has been laid out.
As we stand by the table eating small amounts of the food presented to us, Carly pokes me on the shoulder. I turn to her, and she narrows her eyes at me before asking, "What are you doing?"
"He said I could dance with Hunter," I motion toward him standing beside me, "and then we got hungry."
"If Lord Locaine said you could only dance, then you better get back to him-" Carly's sentence is cut short as the air around us becomes heavy.
There is a sudden burst of clapping, and Locaine startles me as he whispers behind me, "Come with me, slave."
I don't say anything, and I don't have much of a choice as his arm wraps around my waist, securing me to him once again. We stand at the very back of the ballroom. The clapping begins to teeter off as Locaine settles them all down.
"Brothers and Sisters," Locaine announces, his voice booming, "thank you for joining together on this night of remembrance. My brother, Lord Enos, was a brilliant man and a fair ruler. He did everything in his power to track down and kill our enemy."
He pauses a moment before stating, "Here we are, only a handful of families left to execute."
Ouch.
Locaine squeezes my waist and takes hold of my upper arm while throwing me under the bus in the open, "I present to you all, this hunter."
There are mixed reactions and feelings to him obviously having me with him here. I can see Hunter's shocked face as Eloise rolls her eyes. Apparently, he didn't know why my eyes are white...
"Not just an ordinary hunter. She possesses the power of blood magic," Locaine continues to out me.
This brings the volume of the crowd much louder.
Locaine glances down at me, his face holding a hint of sorrow and sadness.
Wait...what are you going to do?
He looks back up to the crowd before he finally hammers the last nail into the cross, "This is Annika, Jared Larson's daughter."
The room goes completely silent at his announcement, my heart beating fast. A pin could have fallen, and it would have been heard from anywhere in the ballroom. I expected vampires to hiss and scream, wanting blood. However, they do not.
Instead, every one of them goes down on one knee, even the women.
It finally hits me...
...I am the ultimate catch. Little do they know, I'm not nearly as powerful as they think. The only thing I do by my status offers him more power.
Locaine releases my arm a second later. A dazzling female vampire appears from the back of the ballroom. She has chocolate brown eyes an-.
My heart speeds up, and Locaine glances down at me, noticing the change.
Is that his beloved?
Her long shoulder blade length hair is slightly wavy. She wears a floor-length black gown with diamonds in the trim. The rest of the covens are still taking a knee as she walks right up to us.
She roughly snatches my chin in her hand and turns my face from side to side, examining me before confirming with skepticism, "This is Jared's daughter?"
Locaine replies without an unwavering doubt, "Yes."
When she is finished staring into my soul, she lets go of me saying, "Keep her."
Who is she?!
My thoughts are running a million miles a minute.
"Please rise," The woman states to the crowded room. They all look to her before she says, "Again. Thank you for being here, I know for some the trip is long. Including myself," she chuckles the last part, and some snickers and giggles float among the crowd.
"I know my deceased husband is watching us all," she continues.
Say, what?!
"Let us do our best to finish what he started by the end of this year," her voice is commanding. The room erupts with praise and clapping.
She's Lord Enos' widowed beloved?
My heart skips a beat...
...shouldn't she want me dead then?
Locaine interrupts the crowd and states, "May we have all slaves go back to their designated rooms for the rest of the evening. Your presence is no longer required here."
I guess it was nice to dress up like a princess for an evening, but apparently, it is over for us. I noticed numerous individuals leaving the room and heading towards their masters' and mistress' assigned rooms while they are guests here. Hunter has just left the room when I feel Locaine's stare, a chill travels down my spine.
Emily and Carly grace past me and motion for me to follow Locaine's order. However, I glance up at him, "Yes, slave?" he asks when our gazes lock with one another.
"Thank you..." I try to steady my voice, "master."
"It was my pleasure," There is something in his eye I don't quite understand. I don't really want to stick around and find out what that is. He releases his arm from my waist, and I make my way to the entrance of the ballroom. As I exit the doors, they are closed behind me abruptly.
One door never entirely shuts...
I make it a whole twenty feet, seeing Emily and Carly smiling at me at the way my demeanor has slightly changed over the events of this evening when I hear cheering and snarling.
Next...screams...
"How!!!???" I hear a woman's voice.
I know that voice.
"Annika!" Emily yells as I swiftly take my heels off and run toward the ballroom doors. I can hear Emily's and Carly's heels trying to keep up with me in the distance. However, I'm much faster than the two of them.
I place my hands and ear against the door, and I hear another voice say, "We haven't done anything...not for a very long time."
That's grandfather.
An icy chill runs up my spine, and Emily and Carly come to stand on either side of
me, breathing hard as they do so.
Carly hisses with irritation, "Are you crazy?!"
"What are you doing?!" Emily glowers in a hushed voice.
"I-I-...I ha-" I can't form words or sentences, and I attempt to think of something.
"Annika!" Emily hisses out again as I slip through the opening in the door, the cold black marble beneath my feet chilling me to the bone.
I weave carefully in between the vampires, keeping my head low and not making direct eye contact. A circle has formed, and everyone is watching the center of the ballroom. I push through to the center, and I see Rynn, standing with Flynn on her other side, both wearing combat gear and not looking the part of the highly sophisticated vampires this evening.
My emotions run in every direction, pulling me this way and that. There, kneeling on the floor is my grandfather Aldrich and grandmother Ansley.
"Grandpa! Grandma!" I scream and run to the center of the room toward them, breaking through the line of vampires nearest the inner circle. Eyes leave the elder couple entirely and lock onto me during my outburst.
Locaine never lets me get far as he takes hold of both my upper arms from behind my back, halting me from getting any further.
"No! No! Let me go!" I screech and thrash in his grasp.
His voice is treacherous when he informs me, "You weren't supposed to see this."
"See...see what?" I choke out as the female pureblood walks toward the center of the ballroom, standing a few feet away from my grandparents.
"Come," Locaine pulls me back slightly.
"Like hell, I will!" I use all the strength I have left and break forward out of his grip, stumbling to Rynn's feet in the process as I don't think he expected me to be fueled by the hurt and anger coursing through me. She looks down at me, surprised and then shoots a worried expression to Locaine. I don't care, not anymore. Not when the only two people who helped me establish a healthy life are right before my eyes.
I'm on my knees as well as I look into the white irises of my grandmother. "Annika?" Her voice sounds utterly shocked that I am the one kneeling before her.
"You're alive?" My grandfather smiles, but it soon fades from his face, "How?"
"I told you to come, slave!" Locaine's voice booms from behind me. The venom it is filled with cuts me deep as I attempt to ignore him, only focusing on the ones I love before me.
"That's how..." my grandfather's voice trails off as his eyes hold pity for me.
Locaine snatches my arm and yanks me hard to my feet, drawing me back.
"No!" I scream again, this time tears falling down my cheeks.
My eyes meet with his while his black rose irises hold my gaze. He narrows them at me as he begins to drag me to the crowd.
"They can't use you anymore..." my grandmother yells as I'm being pulled away.
"Your family moved, they can't use your blood. No one knows where they went!" My grandfather's voice holds a hint of fear in it...more than likely now understanding that it was because of me they are about to be killed...because...now if Locaine can't use me to find my parents, he's more than likely going to kill me.
I tug Locaine back in the direction of my grandparents, but this time his vice grip will not let me budge. I panic at that moment, afraid for everything...My grandmother's bloodcurdling scream causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. I stop walking behind Locaine, my grandmother's sobbing growing louder by the second.
"No...no...Aldrich..." her voice is defeated and weak, "pl-pl-plea-please!" She screams, begging for this to stop.
Grandma...
I take hold of Locaine's arm that is pulling me and bite his hand, undoubtedly hard. I don't believe I hurt him all that much, but he must have let me go out of pure shock. The immediate vampires that we are passing gasp at my actions, stunned in complete disbelief.
I don't hesitate for a second, and I bolt right back to the center of the ballroom, only I stop in my tracks as I make it past the front line. The blood drains from my face as I see my grandfather lying face down in a large pool of blood. My grandmother is being held by the pureblood woman as she bites into her neck. A second later, she growls and tears out her throat.
It makes me sick to my stomach when I hear my grandmother's gurgled cries, choking on her blood as she attempts to breathe.
"Slave!" This time, Locaine's voice is full of uncontrollable rage, my heart pounding fast in my chest.
"Behave." Is the single word that comes back to me...remembering what the consequences of my actions would bring about should I disobey him? I glance over my shoulder and scream, darting forward as Locaine angrily half runs toward me.
While I had been watching him, I hadn't noticed how far I had moved into the center of the ballroom.
A wet warm liquid creeps around my feet. My breathing stops, looking down to find myself standing in a pool of blood.
Their blood.
My grandparents' blood.
"Your blood is mine," the female pureblood's voice sounds bloodthirsty, her eyes identical to Locaine's black rose ones. It is the last thing I see before I feel something extremely hard hit me in the back of the head.
Chapter 14
-Locaine
Naive little hunter...
My nostrils flare while my blood begins to boil.
Just one thing I asked of her...just one...
After knocking Annika across the back of her skull, she instantly falls limp. I reach out and catch her in my arms, holding her tightly, so she doesn't slip and hit the ground.
"Why don't you kill her?" Jezabel's voice is thirsty as she looks longingly at Annika, lusting after her blood. She can't have my little hunter, no matter how short-sighted her actions had been in her rightful anger of the death of her grandparents.
I need to come up with a plan.
"I will handle her my way," I snarl, shifting her in my arms, carrying her like a bride. The blood of her elders drips back down into the puddle that had now spread out quite far.
Jezabel takes a threatening step toward me, but something causes her to pause. I glance down and notice the droplets of blood that trickle off Annika's bare feet is forming into sharp pins. I narrow my eyes, looking at her face as I'm reassured that she is indeed unconscious. Her pulse is beating normally as she breathes in and out steadily.
She's growing stronger.
"I believe it is time to put an end to our gathering," my voice carries out over the crowd right before I finish with, "I thank you all for coming, but I am going to have to ask everyone to leave..."
Many of the covens have already taken my command seriously and know that I'm not joking in the slightest about ending the ball early. Considering the circumstances...
Jezabel opens her mouth to retort but stops herself and instead returns a smile to me. She is sincere in our bargain, offering up Annika's grandparents instead of my little hunter herself...besides...I still need her, "Thank you Locaine...thank you for giving me the satisfaction of killing her elders. For that, I am forever in your debt."
I arch a brow at her...she's hiding something.
I nod my head in her direction and reply, "Of course."
Members of my coven observe me carefully, making sure people are filing out and into the main hallway to pack their bags. It will be a while until everything settles down, and all guests have been escorted off the premises, but at least the process has begun.
"Oh..." Annika sighs out in her unconscious state.
You could have cost me a lot more tonight...
I inhale sharply, gripping her securely as we make our way out of the ballroom. It's not more than a few steps I've taken before I can hear whispers and questions, knowing that many will believe that I should kill her while others hold no opinion. If I don't, then I might be looked upon as weak and not able to follow through with rules and standards we keep, especially when lashed out and disrespected as such by a slave.
Sadly...I empathize with her. She has every right to have acted ou
t the way she had...I only wish that she could have remained outside of those doors and that she wouldn't have had to witness the death of her grandparents.
I'm not angry at her...
...I'm mad at the situation.
The opposite side to this...is the one question that comes from a slave’s lips...
"Mistress..." Hunter's expression is in shock as he asks Eloise, "...is he going to kill Annika!"
Eloise sets a hand on his shoulder and informs him in a very calm manner, her tone more directed toward me than him, "That is not for us to discuss."
Rynn.
Yes, Locaine.
Make sure everyone is escorted off the premises in the next couple of hours. I must...
I can't bring myself to tell her, because I know then I would be committing to it by the rules that we live by...
I understand.
Her voice is tinged with a slight sadness, but I shake it off as I carry Annika down our familiar hallway, the dungeon door in my sights now. How many times now have I come down this way for her alone? Too many to count and possibly this might be the last...
My little hunter...
I sigh and shift her momentarily to open the large door and then close it almost silently behind us.
Am I starting to care for her on a different level?
I'm not used to these feelings, and I'm not sure I want to give into them either. She could have forced my hand to kill her, right there in the ballroom.
It isn't her fault. She wasn't supposed to be there.
My thoughts are lost as I had made sure that every slave was gone...I never wanted this for her, for her to be there...
If she hadn't been so stubborn and had just come with me, even after she'd reacted to the initial display of her grandparents’ capture, Annika wouldn't have had to see her elders die.
I bring her to the little cell she had initially been situated in, tracing the events of the evening through my mind on replay.
How did she know what was happening?
I thought the doors were shut...had someone been careless and didn't double check they were secured and locked? That appears like the only logical explanation.
