Chapter 81
Jabi.
’’You could be very useful,’’ the vampire I just met grabs me by my hair. It hurts but the only thing I can do is cry in silence from the pain of his hard grip. Slowly, Rex disappears from my vision. I never even get the chance to get my things.
How am I supposed to be with Darrien now?
This man is obviously going to kill me.
’’What do you want from me?’’ I ask, my voice shaking.
He smiles this kind of evil smile, the one that makes you sick to your stomach. He has no intentions of bringing me with him, he is doing this for fun.
’’You know from all the stories I’ve heard from your kind. You don’t live up to the expectations. Here you are shrivelled beneath me, afraid. Unable to fight for your safety.’’
He grabs me by my hair and I feel is immense pain and he is right, there is nothing I can do. I am the weakest of our kind and if he wants to kill me right now, he could. I fall to the ground even though he meant to grab me to my feet.
’’Please let me go,’’ I beg. I just want to see his face again. That smile that I have come to love.
I am not ready to give up.
He laughs. The kind of laugh a heartless person would in this kind of situation. ’’There is no letting you go. You are mine now,’’ he exclaims almost a little too proud of himself.
I have no idea what he is talking about. We are in the woods, a little too close to the community. I don’t think he even knows what he is doing. I don’t know if Darrien is back. I don’t know if beau is safe. They were going to get him, I was supposed to be safe with Darrien. He said he was going to protect me, that I didn’t have to be scared anymore.
Now I might die in the hands of this vampire.
He drags me as he continues his quest. I have no idea what use I could be to him. from all the blood on the gates, I would like to think he wasn’t the only one which means there were more vampires in our territory, and there is the chance that more of our kind was killed.
I don’t know what this war is for but I don’t even want to be in it. I don’t want to have anything to do with it. I wish I had left the day I said I was going to. Suddenly there are more important things in my life and I want a fighting chance.
It doesn’t seem like this man intends to give me a fighting chance.
He drags me until we get to a cave, the night sky looming over us. He wants to rest, so close to my home. There is still a chance of being found. He tosses me so hard into the cave that my back hits the wall hard, I flinch from the pain as I try to sit up. I still think about it, he took me, when it was me and Rex. Why did he have to take me?
’’We wait the night here and then continue tomorrow.’’ He explains to me like I have a choice in this.
I stay on my knees on the cold ground even though the stone on the ground prickles at my skin. This is pain, at least feeling pain means I am still alive and as long as I am alive, there is a chance to still see him. to feel his presence. That is all I want, to see him again.
I don’t want the last time to be the last time.
I look at my captor for the first time and there is something peculiar about him, something confusing. It doesn’t seem like he wants to kill me, he would’ve done it already if he wanted to.
’’Staring at me won’t get you out of here.’’ He chuckles and I watch him sit at the edge of the other side of the wall. He is closer to the exit of the cave, there is no way I can pass without him knowing.
There is nothing stealth about me.
’’Why are you doing this? there is a contention. You shouldn’t be hurting my kind.’’
He laughs again.
’’You can let me go; you don’t have to be the monster they are making you out to be. Just let me go and I won’t tell anyone about this. please.’’
This is the sound of desperation, I will do anything to get another chance. There is a sad expression on his face. This man is genuinely sad like there are demons he is battling and if I can get to the bottom of those demons, then maybe I can manipulate him into an escape.
’’We are not all monsters. Some of us need to survive.’’
Those words get to me.
I have been trying to survive all my life. everyday has always been a struggle. Each morning I wake up, I thank the gods for letting me see another sunrise before I go to bed, I am glad I could watch the sunset. I know what it feels like to survive. Barely living, but hopeful that a better tomorrow would come.
’’I know how that feels.’’
His eyes shoot up, straight to mine, probably from the shock of my admittance. He didn’t expect me to be so honest… maybe.
’’You have no idea. Taking you back with me might earn me some points that will get her back to me.’’
’’I am nobody.’’
He laughs almost disbelievingly ’’I’ll find out when we get back. I am sorry about this but I have no choice.’’
He feels like he has no choice. So that means he is not doing this because he wants to. He is being forced to be this monster against his own will. There is still a chance to redeem himself.
’’Everyone has a choice.’’
’’Not when you can lose the most important person in your life. you might not understand yet because you are young but this is my only shot. I have no choice.’’ He spells it out slowly.
At this point, I don’t get any reception from him and slowly he turns around and faces the other direction, almost his way of saying the conversation is over. I take steady breaths as I look over him and to the exit that is so close but also so far away. I can’t do anything because I am not strong enough to escape. There is no part of me that even believes that I will be able to make it out of this cave on my own.
Even if I do, I am not fast enough to outrun him. I rest my back on the wall, ready to give up. In that slight moment, I feel him. it is like a chemical reaction. Some kind of invisible force that makes me feel this energy that radiates out of him. my eyes remain fixated on the exit of the cave. It takes a second, I mean just a split second to see those eyes I have come to love and with those eyes, I see a smile. The warmest smile I have ever seen. It looks like he has been crying, I mean how did he even find me in the first place.
No one has ever looked for me before.
So many times, in the pack, I would stay indoors for days and no one would ask, or worry but it has just been a couple of hours and here he is, to my rescue. My guardian angel—that is what he is.
He is behind a rock and I watch him as he places his index finger on his lips, still smiling, almost like a shush motion. I nod because being quiet is easy for me, all I have to do is hide my excitement from seeing him.
His movement is swift, but the vampire that took me, notices him. he stands up immediately, ready to attack, and I stay in the corner like the coward I am. Darrien doesn’t retreat, he wants this fight, there is anger in him and he wants to let it out.
’’Oh, looks like someone came to your rescue kid.’’ Bad vampire smirks evilly.
Suddenly all the good I thought was in him evaporates and he glances to give me this vile expression ’’Hey, eyes on me. leave the kid alone.’’ Darrien waves him back to him.
’’Who would’ve thought a vampire would run to the rescue of a mutt?’’ he chortles sarcastically.
Darrien shrugs ’’this vampire,’’ with those two words, he jumps forward and grabs him by his neck, going straight for a kill. I watch them, my heart basically in my throat. Darrien doesn’t retreat, he doesn’t falter, even with the blows he gets.
I love this man with all of me.