by Mason Sabre
Gemma didn’t say anymore. She started on the hole and before long, they were done. Faster than Troy and Raven. Gemma gently pushed the girl into the hole, and then carefully covered her with the dirt they had dug up. “Do you need to do anything more?”
“I don’t think so. Just wait ... maybe.” She didn’t have a damn clue really. It would be just her luck that this was how you raised a ghoul.
Gemma took the shovel from Yvette. “I’ll take these to the guys. See if they need them.” They probably would—to shovel the parts of the bodies up that had been scattered around.
“I’ll stay and pat this down,” Yvette said. “I feel like I should stay with her a little, you know?”
Of course, Gemma wouldn’t know. She wasn’t a vampire. Yvette didn’t really know, either, but she didn’t want to go and leave the girl. As dead as she was, it felt like she was just abandoning her. She didn’t even know her, so it was totally crazy to feel this way. But her young life had been taken, and the least someone could do was to sit with her and pay her some respect.
Gemma carried the two shovels up the Hill to the tomb, and Yvette sat herself down in the dirt. Such an odd fucking day. Moon-days were always weird, but this one beat weird hands down. Next time, she was staying home. It wouldn’t matter how much Raven offered to pay her or said he needed her. She wasn’t doing this shit again.
Hands clamped down on Yvette’s shoulders and she froze, long fingers digging into her collarbone painfully.
“Henry,” she whispered. She hadn’t felt him coming, didn’t sense him near.
“I should kill you for your defiance,” he whispered.
Yvette stayed where she was, body tense, waiting for what he would do. He could crush her in a heartbeat. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, hoping she sounded remorseful enough.
“No. This is not sorry.” He dug his hands in harder, piercing the flesh under her bone, forcing her to stand up. “This is reason to end you for what you did. This breaks the rules that bind us. Do you understand what you have done?”
She nodded furiously. “I do, but I couldn’t let her die. You still live, Henry. You have what you want.”
He launched her sideways with no effort at all. She hit the wall, slamming into it with her side. She yelped from the impact. “I do not have what I want. I wanted the girl,” he roared.
“You’re alive. You get to live,” she shouted, holding her hands out to protect herself as Henry raged closer.
“Hey, you,” Troy called from the top of the Hill, brandishing one of the shovels. “Get your fucking hands off my wife.”
Henry’s eyes glittered dangerously, so deep, so dark. Ice swirled in their depths as he stared at Troy, and then, Troy was throwing the shovel to one side and obediently sitting in the middle of the long grass, legs crossed, arms resting on his knees.
“Troy, what are you doing?” yelled Yvette. Shit.
“You underestimated my power before, child. Do you not see that I control you? I control him. I control all my creations. This is what it means to have your master. This is what you wanted.” He slid himself behind Yvette where she still sat on the ground where she had landed. Henry grabbed her by the arms, his strong fingers digging in painfully. “I would not even have to touch you to kill you. I could make him do it for me.”
“No … please.”
“Let her go,” Raven demanded as he suddenly appeared from around the side, Gemma hot on his heels.
Henry froze, his eyes on Gemma. His grip on Yvette loosened until he eventually let her go—his eyes did not leave Gemma, who stood there staring back at him with hostility on her face. When he hadn’t moved for a good minute, Yvette dared to move away from him. He didn’t even flinch. He stood there, mesmerised by Gemma. Something inside him had changed. All the hate in Yvette’s mind that she had felt coming from him before had gone. Pain tore through her, pain that squeezed her heart so tightly she thought she might choke from it.
“Hen—”
“No,” he said, putting up his hand. “Do not say my name.”
“Let her go,” Gemma demanded, snarling at him.
Henry stepped back, hands up. “I cannot let her go,” he said, inclining his head respectfully at her. “She is part of my line.” He turned to a bemused Yvette. “However, as your master, I offer you my protection and a place in my home as my voice. In return, I expect your loyalty.”
Yvette gaped at him. She didn’t get it. What had changed in the last twenty seconds?
“Yvette?”
“The girl lives? When she turns, she lives?”
Henry bowed his head. “You have my word.”
“I don’t understand,” she said to him. “You …” She didn’t want to anger him or set him off, but none of this made any sense.
“I am your master. I will take my place in this world, and I will do it with you and Troy by my side. Do you agree?”
To be at the side of the master vampire? She turned back to Troy. He hadn’t moved, not even his expression. Could he even hear them at all?
“The sun is rising. I need your answer,” Henry urged.
“I accept,” she said in shock. “I accept it all.”
The End
Thank you so much for reading. Please feel free to drop me an email or visit me on Facebook.
Mason
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