by Anna Santos
Beth was Alaric’s gift to Vincent, a gift Vincent treasured and made sure to treat a bit better than Alaric had treated her. She had gotten out of the dungeons and was living in the main house, in Vincent’s bedroom, as Vincent’s mate. She hated him a bit less than Alaric, but she couldn’t show it. Vincent had a sick obsession for her that he called love. And Alaric still harassed her and made her life miserable; but at least her sister Marie had started to talk with her again after months of silence.
Beth’s life was complicated and meaningless. Why not just jump? All she had to do was climb out and fly to freedom. It would feel like freedom to fall into the deep, deadly waves that crashed against the rocks below, like falling asleep and never waking up again.
She leaned forward, her hair falling over her face and pulled everywhere by the wind. Then she felt arms surrounding her waist that brought her against someone’s chest.
“What do you think you are doing?” a hoarse voice asked next to her ear.
It startled her and left her breathless, especially when she understood who was holding her. She shivered with horror, wanting him to let her go immediately, but she said nothing and did nothing to upset him. Upsetting him was a really bad idea. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
After sniffing her hair and trailing his hand from her stomach to one of her breasts, then holding it and releasing a moan of pleasure, he spoke again. “I missed you. My worst mistake was giving you away. Did you miss me?” he asked with what could be a sensual voice had he not been as sick and twisted as Beth knew him to be. As much as she hated Vincent, at least being his kept Alaric away from her. Kept her away from his rapes and abuses. “Don’t you miss me, Beth?” he asked, annoyed by her lack of an answer. His voice was no longer sweet; he turned her on her feet, making her look at him.
Beth gazed, breathless, at his green, evil eyes that demanded a swift response. She had to lie to make him happy. “Yes,” she whispered, just audible for vampires like themselves. His face softened and his mouth spread opening into a terrifying smile that made Beth swallow hard. She hoped he would just let her go and leave. She really hoped that he wouldn’t try to force himself on her. She held back her tears and self-pity.
“You are such a bad liar, Beth,” he sneered at her. “You know I didn’t have any other choice but to give you away. You know, it was probably you who asked your sister for that. You bitch!” Alaric was being psychopathic like always. One moment, he was sweet; the next, he made a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn and became neurotic, sometimes beating people up.
“I didn’t,” she whispered a bit louder, putting her hands over his face and trying to make him believe that she cared for him so he would calm down. He had serious abandonment issues. “She was the one who was jealous,” she added. Her words seemed to have an effect on his mood.
Beth had no idea why, but she was the only one who was able to calm him down. She was not even his mate—her sister was. However, Alaric hated her sister. He scorned and abused her. He would beat Marie down, even knowing that anything he did to her, he was doing to himself. They were bonded, not just by mate bond, but also by a spell that had been cast on him a long time ago by a witch. It was the only thing that kept Beth’s sister alive all these years. Beth had no idea how many years they had been trapped there. There were no TVs or any kind of technological gadgets to keep track of time. It had felt like an eternity.
“You should be my mate, not her. That would make you love me and want me,” he whispered with a boyish voice that sounded almost unnatural on him.
Beth hated when he said things like that. She would most likely cut her head off herself in some guillotine if he was her mate. The idea of being forced to love him was the worst torture imaginable.
“Vincent is so lucky to have you,” he added, hugging her tightly, almost making her lose her breath. “Don’t you miss me, Beth?”
Beth almost sighed out of impatience. They had had that conversation already; she didn’t want to tell him again just to make him happy. She just wanted him to leave her alone with her misery.
“Didn’t you?” he asked, irritated this time.
“Yes, I did,” Beth lied again. His hug became less possessive and hurtful.
“You aren’t saying it right, Beth. Do you want me to punish you?”
“No, master, I don’t,” she answered, afraid of his threat. She wanted him to leave. If the gods existed, they would make him leave. It was all she was thinking and begging, trying to hold back her tears. She felt his hands circle her back, trailing his fingers on her spine until he grabbed her butt cheeks. He groaned with pleasure, and it made her shriek in fear.
“You are so beautiful, it hurts,” he whispered, smelling her neck again.
“Master, please don’t do this,” she begged. Showing fear would only make it worse, but she needed him to stay away from her.
He didn’t seem to hear her; he was busy pulling the skirt of her dress up her legs and kissing her neck.
“I promise, I’ll make you feel good this time,” he said in her ear, nibbling her earlobe and whimpering of lust as he reached her inner thighs with his fingers.
Beth suppressed a scream of horror when she heard him say that. She seriously doubted he could make her feel anything but hate and disgust.
“She will hurt you,” she said, trying to change his mind. It was all she could think of, though she doubted that it would make him stop. He liked pain; he wouldn’t mind if her sister hurt him.
“When I get that witch to cancel the spell,” he said, holding one hand on the top of her dress and ripping off the front, “I’ll make you mine.” He gazed at her breasts inside her bra.
He smirked at the sight of her upper body. His eyes turned red, and his fangs grew in his mouth. Beth squealed in terror, immediately putting her hand to her lips. No screaming, no screaming! He liked it when she screamed and asked him to stop. He liked it when she fought him off. It made him hurt her harder and take longer to satisfy his needs.
When she looked at him, he was not smirking anymore. He was still gazing at her face, but he seemed hurt in some weird, twisted way. His fangs disappeared, and his eyes turned green again.
“I said I wouldn’t hurt you this time,” he whispered, menacingly. “So why the fuck do you have that look on your face?” He was yelling now, making her sob. Tears fell down her face. “Don’t cry, don’t cry,” he begged, worried like he actually cared. Twisted and crazy was all Beth could think of him. “Just stop crying,” he repeated, seeming to lose his patience again. Beth did her best to obey. She cleared her tears with one hand and held her damaged dress with the other. “Nice girl. Now give me a kiss,” he whispered near her mouth, waiting for her to lean forward to touch his lips. But she just stared at him, perplexed and gasping for air, praying to all the gods to make him go away for good.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” screamed an annoyed girl’s voice, as if Beth’s prayers had been answered. It was her sister Marie, Alaric’s mate. “What the fuck did I tell you about getting near her again?” She sounded pissed with her mate. “Did you think I was joking? Do you think I’m going to allow this to continue to happen? I will fucking kill myself! Do you hear me? I will. I will–fucking do it!” Marie entered the balcony where Alaric still stood with his back turned to her, holding Beth by the waist. Alaric rolled his eyes with a pained face at the screams of his mate.
“We were just talking,” Alaric replied with all the calm in the world. He let Beth go and looked at his enraged mate. An averagely tall girl, with green eyes like his and long curly brown hair, she looked similar to Beth, but was smaller and seemed much more fragile. She was pretty when she was not screaming like a mad person.
“Do you actually think that I’m that stupid?” she asked, fisting her hands and narrowing her eyes like she was about to jump on his neck and tear him apart. “Get away from this whore,” she ordered, pulling him away from Beth, who was staring at her sister and holding her breath wit
h a pale face.
“And you, fucking jealous bitch, just stay away from my mate,” she yelled at Beth, slapping her across her face and leaving a red mark on her cheek.
Beth didn’t react, but suddenly throwing herself off the balcony was looking a lot better than continuing to live in that place with a bunch of deranged mental people. Her sister was really territorial about her mate, even if Beth was the one who kept getting the blame for Alaric’s twisted obsession about her.
“He is mine, whore. You have your own mate. Stop hitting on mine!”
“He’s not my mate,” Beth spat at Marie, annoyed by her words.
She was to blame for Alaric giving her to Vincent. She was the one who had arranged the whole twisted exchange. Her attitude really hurt Beth. It was the only time that Beth had tried to kill herself and leave Marie alone. However, the attempt had failed: hateful Alaric had saved her and made Vincent torture Marie in front of Beth, knowing that it would hurt her more than doing it to herself. He taught her what would happen to Marie if she tried to kill herself again. Seeing Marie’s skin peeled like an apple was not a good thing. It haunted her and made her have nightmares for months!
“Well, that is the only one you are going to get,” Marie said in a hateful voice that made Beth’s heart hurt with pain.
She missed her loving, caring sister. She didn’t know that woman in front of her. Marie was nothing like what she’d used to be: she was evil and hateful now, and had this crazy idea that Beth wanted Alaric to herself and that she was jealous of Marie for finding her mate first. But Marie couldn’t be more wrong. She couldn’t be more different than the kind, cheerful girl she had been before Alaric appeared in her life.
“And you,” she snapped at Alaric while Beth held her breath. “Do I have to remind you what—” She didn’t say anything more.
Alaric walked inside the bedroom, grabbing Marie’s wrist and making her follow him. He had been silenced, but his eyes were changing from green to red. That wasn’t a good sign. Beth lost her breath when Alaric held his hand high and slapped Marie’s face so hard that she was thrown against the chest of drawers and mirror on the other side of the bedroom.
Beth shrugged her shoulders when it happened, but couldn’t feel any kind of empathy for Marie. She had pushed her luck. She had deserved that slap. It was wrong for her to think that, but Beth couldn’t feel anything but rage for Marie after she’d accused her of wanting Alaric.
When Beth looked up at Alaric, he had his eyes on her, ignoring Marie’s crying and whimpering sobs. She was hurt for sure, but Beth didn’t move to help. She normally would have moved to help, which was why Alaric had an arched eyebrow on Beth, waiting for her to respond. When he realized that Beth wasn’t going to help Marie, he smirked at Beth, who looked away from him, feeling like a trapped rat in a cage.
“Why are you protecting the whore?” Marie asked, sobbing while holding on to her wounded arms.
“The only whore here is you, Marie,” Alaric retorted, watching how she couldn’t even pick herself up from the floor and was already crying like a helpless baby.
He hadn’t even hit her that hard, but she was a whimpering little bitch. Her sister was much stronger and more interesting. Beth should have been his mate, he thought; not that helpless sobbing girl. He was going to fix that when he found that damn witch and forced her to take off the spell. Soon enough the bond that connected him to that stupid inutile vampire would be gone, and he could kill her for good.
“Do you think I am bluffing?” Marie asked, voice weak as she bled from the wounds caused by hitting the mirror. She looked at her mate and saw scars also appearing on his face. The bastard was smiling as he looked at her sister. She took a big piece of mirror and stabbed herself in the stomach to prove her point. Alaric gasped forward, leaning his hands against his stomach, feeling the blood run on his fingers.
“You crazy little whore,” he cursed, snapping his head to Marie and making her a target.
“I am your mate, not her! You like pain? I’ll give you pain, bastard,” she screamed like crazy woman, stabbing her stomach again and again.
Beth didn’t even move or blink. She just stood on the balcony, listening to the wind blow and dreaming of quiet and oblivion. She dreamed of going somewhere better than this place where she could forget all that had happened to her over the past years. Somewhere where hate didn’t exist and pain was not the only way to make her feel something.
Alaric grabbed Marie’s hand to try to stop her. They were fighting each other until he could hold her tight and make her calm down. She sobbed against his chest, asking him why he didn’t love her and didn’t want her. They were sick and twisted. He lied to calm her down, or maybe he was telling the truth. Beth couldn’t understand. He told her that he wanted her and that she was acting silly. Then he took Marie in his arms, bridal style, both with blood on their clothes like they were some sort of serial killer, and he walked to the door. Before they could get out, the door opened, and Vincent entered breathless.
“What the hell?” he asked, surprised to find Alaric and Marie in that state inside his bedroom. “What happened?”
“Marie is acting silly again,” Alaric said with Marie sobbing against his shoulder. “What happened to you?” he asked, noticing that Vincent was wounded and seemed rattled.
“We were attacked, but we have great news.”
“What news?”
“We also have bad news. I had to kill Evelyn—she was acting weird, and she had fallen in love with a werewolf from there. Her loyalty was compromised.”
“What’s the good news?” Alaric asked, narrowing his eyes, hoping the good news was better than the bad.
“Myra says she found your witch. She appeared after I left with the data you asked for, master. But Myra swears it’s her. Her name is Jessica.”
“That is good news indeed,” Alaric said, pleased. Marie had stopped sobbing and was now looking at Vincent with killing eyes.
Both Marie and Beth knew what Vincent meant by “finding the witch.” It didn’t look good for Marie nor for Beth, who certainly didn’t want to fill Marie’s shoes.
“Did you find the name of my niece? Is it true that my father found George’s daughter? Who is she?”
“It’s true,” Vincent confirmed. “Evelyn didn’t want to tell us. We have the school files with the names of the teachers and the hybrid students, though.”
“I asked you just a simple thing and you failed!” Alaric shouted, beginning to lose his temper. Marie was all that was stopping him from grabbing Vincent by the neck and punching him. Beth had witnessed it thousands of times.
“I tried to question one of the werewolves, but he didn’t say a thing. But it’s just a question of time until we find out. I have the files, and Evelyn said it was one of the female teachers. We will find out, sir,” he said in trembling voice.
“Beth!” Alaric yelled, making her shiver and focus on his back. “Come!”
Beth walked his way, not questioning why he was ordering her to go with him. She hoped he didn’t plan to continue what he‘d been doing when Marie came in.
“Why?” Vincent questioned, shuddering at the bold attitude of questioning as he looked at Beth. He noticed the state of her dress; he didn’t have to guess what had happened. His eyes turned black and his teeth came out. “You said you wouldn’t touch her. That she was mine!”
Beth shivered and stared at him, startled by his nerve. Was he really facing Alaric because of her? Was he crazy?
“Shut the fuck up and bow to your king and master!” Alaric ordered, making him bow his head immediately. “You failed me. Beth is coming with me!”
“No, she will not,” Marie warned, looking up to his face. They started a staring contest.
Marie must have won, because Alaric changed his mind. “She can stay, but you will not touch her. If you touch her, I’ll rip your head off!”
“What?” Vincent asked, confused by his words. “She’s my mate!”
“And I’m your master. You obey me. Beth will stay here and attend to your wound, but you will keep your distance from her. Understood?”
“Yes, master,” Vincent said, lowering his eyes to prove his loyalty and submission.
Moments after, Alaric left with his mate, and Vincent shut the door with strength enough to make it crack. Beth shivered, afraid of what he would do to her because of his jealousy.
“Did he assault you again?” Vincent asked, standing next to Beth and putting two fingers on her jaw to make her look at him. His voice was sweet, and Beth released a sigh and nodded. “Fucking idiot.”
It always surprised Beth when he talked trash about his master. He always looked so obedient and committed to Alaric, but when Beth understood that Vincent was envious and resentful, she used that to her advantage. He was a prick and a murderer, but he had a weird adoration for her and treated her better than Alaric. At least he was not a masochist or bipolar. He lusted for her, and he wanted her to act with him as if they were real soul-mates. Of course, it didn’t work like he wanted, and Beth was not even slightly in love with him, but at least she was better at pretending that she didn’t hate him and that she cared for him.
“Why did you tell him about the witch?” Beth asked, trying to look concerned with his wound. She put her hand on his shoulder and caressed it. “You should take these clothes off and clean the wound. It has silver inside.”
“I told him about the witch because when we find the witch, we can finally kill him for good, and I can take his place.”
“And Marie?”
“I told you I will let the witch unbind your sister from him and let her live. Then we can make the witch kill Alaric and make us true mates.”
That was his plan and Beth, even if she thought it was a rudimentary plan, hoped that he could free her sister and kill Alaric. The rest, she could take care after. There was no way in hell that she intended to stay bound to him or anyone else, for that matter.
