by Anna Santos
After lunch, the girls reunited on the living room Sitting on the couch between Anna and Dulce, Jessica dialed to talk to Alaric’s again. She turned on the loudspeaker so everybody could listen to what he had to say.
“Hello,” Alaric’s voice greeted her on the other side of the line. It had an edge of darkness that made her stomach clench and twist with fear. Jessica knew he was her son from another life, but all the harm and all the death he had caused was enough to bypass that fact.
“Hi,” Jessica replied, trying to sound cheerful.
“You took your sweet time to call me back. Are you ready to tell me what you want?” Alaric asked, going straight to the point.
“I have a deal for you.”
“Yes, I’m quite intrigued about that. You claimed to have found the witch who has cursed me, and you will give her to me in return for a substantial monetary reward.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But, don’t you know that you are the only one that can break my curse? Didn’t Myra tell you that when you two met yesterday?”
Jessica froze in a panic with his words. Yet, it was part of her plan to make Vincent believe that she had looked for Myra in hope that she could help her in canceling the prize on her head. Maybe Myra was still playing accordingly to the first plan. Or maybe she had just spilled the beans and Jessica’s plan was ruined.
Alaric’s mocking tone was heard, “Come on! Do you really think that Myra wouldn’t tell her master that she had seen her cousin and that her cousin wanted to strike a deal with me? You have little faith in the blind obedience that my subjects have for me. I have to confess that I’m extremely intrigued.”
Jessica arched an eyebrow. “About what?”
“Why do you need money if you are going to get married to my old man? What is up with that anyway? Did you cast a spell on him? I saw the pics, you were walking in town extremely friendly. And then I heard about the marriage! Do you really have some kind of a death wish? Did you really think that I wasn’t going to cook up a plan to have you kidnapped before you could fill my mother’s shoes?”
“Well...” Jessica breathed in slowly as Dulce squeezed her hand in hers. “I really don’t care about what you think about that matter. I’m calling you about a ransom, not to discuss your mommy issues.”
“Hum. About that, I’m a bit confused how you can collect a ransom on your own head. Or do you think that I will simply pay you for your trouble?”
Jessica smirked. “I don’t know, will you?”
His harsh voice echoed on the phone. “I can find you, witch, don’t play games with me!”
Jessica sighed, sounding bored as she rolled her eyes. She raised the phone closer to her mouth as she explained to him, “Darling, if you could find me, then you wouldn’t be picking up the phone to talk to me. And don’t even bother in trying to find where I am. This phone number is untraceable.”
“You are a clever witch,” he said after a moment.
Jessica felt cold shivers of darkness curl around her heart. He was creepy and he was a rollercoaster of moods, one moment, he was sarcastic and the other he was mad.
Alaric asked after a moment of silence. “How did you convince my old man that you were my mom?”
Jessica bit down her lip before she could gasp at his question. She looked at Anna and, then, at Dulce with widened eyes. How did he know that? He was too well-informed for someone who’s supposed to be out of reach.
Jessica said with what she hoped to be a calm voice. “I see you have spies in your father’s kingdom.”
“Yes, I like to know how the old man is doing.”
“He’s not an old man,” Jessica muttered unable to conceal her annoyance.
“He must be senile by now if he believed your lies.”
Jessica clenched her jaw before speaking again. “Have you ever stopped to think that maybe it’s true?”
He snorted from the other side. “Sure and maybe pigs can fly.”
“They can if I cast a spell on them,” Jessica informed him, not trying to be funny, yet that simply rolled out of my mouth. Alaric laughed nevertheless, but she didn’t. His laughter frightened her deeply.
His voice echoed again with an edge of darkness. “You are intriguing and extremely good-looking. I guess that and your talent for the dark craft made it possible for my idiot of a father to believe your bullshit. Either way, I was not going to let that slide easily. If you hadn’t run away, you would be right here with me, having this conversation face to face. And trust me, I can be rather persuasive to get what I want.”
“I don’t need you to tell me that. In any case, I’m the one with the leverage here, so if you are through with the chit chat and your mommy issues, can we negotiate now?” Jessica asked, annoyed by his cocky words and his stupid threats. “I should have spanked you harder when you were a kid, then you would have shown some respect!”
“Bitch,” he snarled like a wild animal. “My mother was an angel. She never laid a hand on me!”
“That explains a lot.”
“Fuck you!”
“I rather not right now. We have business to take care of,” she said patiently, smiling to dissipate the wrath she was feeling for him. “But if you want me to call you later or never call you again. That’s fine by me.”
He growled into the phone, and Jessica heard something being broken. Then, she heard whimpering and Jessica could only guess that the jerk was hurting someone next to him. A girl’s voice, with a soothing tone to calm him down, was heard in the background. It worked because the growls eventually stopped. She had no idea of what was happening on the other side of the line, but it was probably some twisted stuff.
Moments after, he asked, “How can I help you?”
Jessica indulged him. “I think we are both pursuing the same thing.”
“And what is that?”
“Revenge.”
“I’m listening.”
“The person who cast that curse on you, and the one that kept me locked up when I was younger are the same. So when I understood that she was the cause of my parents’ death, I thought I should have my revenge and make some money in return.”
“Valentina is a long time gone,” Alaric muttered. He clearly remembered the name of his former witch lover. “Don’t try to trick me.”
“I’m not. It’s quite simple actually. Because she was a witch, you thought that she had died. However, what happened was that she was turned into a vampire and she is still alive.”
“That’s impossible. I have been looking for her all this time. Do you think I hadn’t thought about that possibility? Even the possibility that she could have used the dark magic to live longer. No one has ever encountered her and no one of her bloodline knew about her.”
“Well, that is because she was well-guarded and she had a strong coven protecting her from the other witches and wizards you have used to look for her.”
Alaric asked with an apparent wounded pride. “And how were you able to succeed where I’ve failed?”
“Well, she took me away from my parents and she raised me.”
“Why?”
“Personal matter. But the thing here is that you need one of us to break your spell since you killed the rest of our bloodline in your crazy pursuit for a cure...”
He interrupted Jessica. “Where was she hidden?”
“With her mate.”
Silence on the other end, until he said, “You are the last of your kind and the strongest from what I’ve been told. What makes you think that I’m going to believe what you are saying?”
“I have proof. Besides, what is it worth to you even if you have me or any other witch, but you don’t have the right spell to break your curse?”
“I have a copy.”
“Intriguing,” Jessica stated. She had the feeling that it would be a long conversation. “She didn’t want to give it to me. I suppose that will make things easier for us when we discuss how much she is worth to you.”
“Let me
see if I understand what you want. You want to save your skin and, in return, you give me the one responsible for cursing me?”
“You are a smart guy, but again all our family is,” she said.
“You are not my family. You are not my mom. My mom is a long time dead. I don’t care what kind of bullshit you have said to the king, but I’m not falling for your lies.”
Jessica rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Whatever, I’m not really looking forward to a family reunion with you. Let’s not forget the fact that you killed me, you prick,” she accused him, annoyed by his stupid accusations.
He shut up for a while. Jessica furrowed her eyebrows. He may have been offended or he was just an idiot and he was smiling wickedly at his past actions.
“It was an accident,” he muttered. Then a smashing sound was heard. “If you were truly my mom, you would know that.”
Jessica recoiled in her seat. What was up with all that violence? He really needed to control his temper.
“Well, I can’t remember it. I just have dreams about it. The fact is that there isn’t a lot of hope of forgiveness for you, is there? You are a cold hearted vampire, who killed your mom and sister and then not satisfied with just that, you killed your older brother, his wife, and tried to kill your niece and nephew. I would advise you to go see a psychiatrist but you are beyond repair.”
“Don’t be a smart-ass, witch,” he growled. “George married a panther. It was against the law. They shouldn’t have procreated. And you shouldn’t pretend that you are my mom’s reincarnation. I don’t care what you want, but I want you out of my family’s life.”
“Well, don’t worry about that. Once you give me my money, I’ll be long gone.”
Alaric breathed deeply before asking, “So, all this is because of money, is it?”
Jessica mustered all the courage she could to reply to him. “What else could it be? Did you think I wanted a family reunion with you?”
“How much do you want?”
“How much is Valentina worth to you?”
“I need proof that you have her.”
“I can send you a picture.”
“Pictures can be forged.”
“I’ll send you a video with her confession about her crazy plan to make you her soul-mate and bind your two souls together. I might say, you actually would be good together. You are both maniacal and self-centered.”
“You are rather cocky, aren’t you?” He asked, even though she didn’t think he was actually waiting for an answer.
Jessica sighed with annoyance. “Think about a price and then call me when you have received my video on your phone. Talk to you later.”
With a smiley face, she hung up.
Jessica tried to relax her tense body as she placed the phone on her lap and looked at Anna’s face. She had been grimacing in despair at Jessica’s evasive comments and cocky talk. “What?”
Anna sighed. “You pushed your luck.”
Jessica shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it? Alaric is a prick who doesn’t like to be defied. He would only take me serious if I acted cocky. Plus, now he wants to punish me for outsmarting him. I’m counting on his arrogance to have a face to face with him.”
“He’s not going to show up. He’ll send someone else,” Anna said.
“Maybe, but he wants to break his curse and he hates Valentina. He’ll pay.”
“Or try to kill us at the drop point,” Dulce said.
“That too!” I agreed.
Liam walked into the living room with his laptop in his hand as he looked at the screen. “The video is ready to be sent,” He warned. “I’ve just uploaded it to your mobile.”
“Thank you,” Jessica called to him as I looked at my phone and composed the message to send the small video with Valentina’s twisted confession about her love for Alaric. He didn’t need to hear everything, just the part that concerned him and the curse.
One minute later, Jessica had sent it.
“Do you think he will believe it?” Anna asked, shattering the silence.
Jessica replied, “We’ll find out in five minutes. I said what was needed to spike his interest.”
Anna entwined her hands on her lap as she pursed her lips. “I’m just nervous, that’s all.”
“Everything will be fine.”
“We have a spy in our midst,” she whispered.
Jessica nodded but then added, “Well, not on our team, but there is someone in the town or even in the Palace, giving information to Alaric. But if it was someone really close, he would already know about Valentina and he doesn’t. He mentioned some pictures, maybe he had some detectives or bounty hunters in town.”
“Even so, we should tell the king. If he is coming to help us, Alaric could be warned if he assembles a group of men to come to the city,” Dulce reasoned.
Jessica turned to Anna’s side. “You should text him.”
“That’s a good idea,” she declared, reaching for her phone.
“You can tell him that we are all okay,” Jessica added.
Anna said as she typed the message, “I don’t think that we will be able to meet him tomorrow night. We may need a bit more time if he doesn’t accept your terms. Plus, make no mistake. Alaric will want you and Valentina. He’s annoyed by the fact that you are pretending to be his mom.”
“I have a news flash for him, I don’t care and if I could, I would spank him hard. He is a worthless spoiled brat and he needs to be sent to his room and think about the wrong he has done.”
“I think he is long past that,” Anna stated as she looked at her friend.
The sound of the cell phone ringing startled everybody. It was Alaric calling.
“Yes,” Jessica answered lazily.
“I’ll give you five million in exchange for that bitch,” Alaric said without any kind of hello or how have you been. His voice was serious.
Jessica let his words sink in for a moment. “Five million?” she repeated.
He said angrily on the other side, “Or I’ll just find you, kill you and get the witch myself. Five millions or no deal. It’s already double of what I would give for your head.”
“I guess you have a soft spot for her, then,” the witch teased.
“Meet me at – “
“Hold on. I didn’t say yes and even if I do say it, I’ll be the one to set the meeting. I don’t trust you. I will talk to my friends and we will text you our answer together with the coordinates where our meeting to exchange gifts will occur,” she explained to him.
“Gifts?” He asked. “You are a box of surprises.”
“You have no idea,” she declared. “Talk to you later, hon!”
Jessica hung up and stared at Anna who was frowning at her. “The plan is set in motion.”
Chapter Eight—PUNISHMENT
BETH
The moonlight glowed on the stone wall of the cell Beth was held in. During the day, small fragments of silver brazed her flesh, floating from the same wall that was now receiving the moonlight. It was just another way of torturing her for what she did. She had been physically punished during the day. Her back hurt. The whip’s lashes were still showing. Her flesh didn’t heal because she hadn’t fed. The pain was excruciating each time the fragments of silver touched her wounds. She wished for a quick death, but she knew she wasn’t going to have one. Alaric wasn’t going to let her go that easily. Not even after she had killed Vincent.
Alaric was enraged when he found out. She didn’t try to hide what she did, though. She wanted Alaric to know that it was her, the weak vampire girl, who he kept tormenting for years, had killed his right-hand man. She didn’t regret it either. Vincent got what he deserved. There was no way in hell that she was going to let that bastard hurt her sister.
Alaric wouldn’t understand her reasons. He wouldn’t believe her. Beth put forth no effort to conceal her actions, she surrendered, endured the punishment, and the interrogation. All she wanted was to die, she was expecting him to kill her. God could be
merciful with her, for once, and take her soul away from that beaten and weakened body of hers. But she was still alive, suffering and begging to all entities to take her away from that place, to free her from her captor and give peace to her soul.
* * *
ALARIC
Alaric opened the dungeon’s door, the ominous creak sending shivers of panic to the ones that were kept down there. He heard the whispers, he smelled the human stench of his slaves and prisoners. He was in no mood to play with his captives and inflict any pain on them. He didn’t want anything to do with any of the new blood slaves either. His mind was set on one person only.
The prince descended the curved staircase and followed the corridor to Beth’s cell. His figured towered over the small space while he peeked in to stare at his prisoner. She was quiet as if she was asleep, her back turned to him. He could see the whip’s slashes on her skin, her hands tightly pressed together in the handcuffs that lifted her in the air, refusing to let her rest.
The scene aroused and made him lust for her. Even beaten and dirty she was beautiful. Her hair was falling messily about her shoulders and her clothes were torn to shreds. He could imagine her legs under her ragged skirt. She had beautiful legs. There was something about her that made his blood boil and his heart hurt inside his chest. He wanted to make her submit and obey him. What started as a twisted game to punish his own soul-mate became an obsession to him. Beth was everything that his mate was not, and he craved her like the blood that he needed to survive. As much as he tried, he couldn’t break her, and he wasn’t able to make her love him. At least that was what he had thought until that night. Even if he sent her there to be beaten and tortured for what she did, he had no intentions of disposing of her. He needed her around. He just wanted to punish her to remind her that he was her master, and she shouldn’t disobey or lie to him.
Alaric opened the door and approached the silent woman.
* * *
BETH
Beth closed her eyes harder and tried to conceal her fear. Maybe if he thought she was sleeping, he would go away.
