CHAPTER 10 AILEEN
CHAPTER 10
AILEEN
Atalon was absolutely furious as he paced back and forth in his office while Isora and I sat like scolded schoolkids before him. Zion and Malik, the twin Lieutenants, stood at the door, keeping guard, as if we would attempt running away again. Zion seemed to think so, though, judging by the look of utter suspicion he had when he stared at Isora and me, but Malik, who might’ve been Zion’s identical twin, seemed far more empathetic to our situation. I’d never interacted with Malik before, but after he gave me an encouraging smile earlier when we were ushered into Atalon’s office, I thought him to be far more approachable and amicable than his stern-faced brother.
“Foolish,” Atalon said now, eyes glowing in a way that made them look like shadows. “Reckless. Insolent. What were you two thinking?”
Isora and I said nothing, since it was obviously a rhetorical question.
“I’m extremely disappointed in both of you,” Atalon hissed, coming to a stop in front of us, staring down at our frightened faces with rage in his eyes. “You broke at least ten rules with the stunt you just pulled. I could expel you from my League if I wanted to, rendering you two Leagueless.”
Neither Isora nor I liked the sound of that, I knew, and we exchanged fearful glances.
“Zion, Malik,” Atalon said curtly, “escort Isora back to her room. I’ll deal with her tomorrow.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Zion and Malik said as they came toward Isora, who sent me a worried look.
I mouthed to her, Don’t worry , before she was escorted out of the office, leaving me alone with Atalon.
With a deep sigh, Atalon took a seat on the chair Isora had just vacated and looked at me with eyes no longer emulating eerie shadows. “You’ve done a really foolish thing, Aileen,” he said now, voice no longer curt but rather gentle, almost. “Do you know what kind of dangers are out there?”
I looked at him while remaining quiet. What could I say, really? That I felt suffocated and on edge and needed to breathe in fresh air? Despite my distrust of him, Atalon had been treating me extremely well. Sure, it could have been because he was interested in me, but still. From his perspective, I believed that what I’d done was like poking him in the eye.
So all I could say was “I’m sorry, my Lord.”
He gave me a look that was surprisingly sad. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something had happened to you,” he told me, grabbing my hands. “You’re important to me, Aileen, and the fact you recklessly put yourself in danger is driving me mad.”
I studied his face. He seemed sincere. “What kind of danger do you think would’ve waited for me out there?” I asked, thinking back to Las Vegas, when I’d been taken by those men when I’d attempted to run away. But back then, I’d acted rashly. This time, I was careful, and besides, I’d been with Isora.
Atalon gave me a serious look. “Have you heard of the Jinn?”
I frowned. “No. What is that?”
He leaned back and looked away, grimacing. “In nature, there is a food chain. Zebras eat grass, and lions eat the zebras. This is the way of this world—and the same goes for the anthropomorphic races.” He paused and leveled his gaze on me. “If humans eat animals, and vampires consume humans—albeit only their blood—then who, or rather what , eats vampires?”
Since I didn’t expect this almost philosophical conversation, I said, “Aren’t vampires supposed to be at the top of the food chain?”
Atalon shook his head. “There is no such thing. The food chain is never ending. Infinite. Thus, something must always consume something else, and those who consume us vampires are the Jinn.”
A chill trickled down my spine at his foreboding words. “In what manner do these Jinn eat us, then?” I inquired, not really wanting to hear the answer if it was something along the lines of how humans ate animals.
As if he’d read my mind, Atalon gave me a humorless smile. “They feed on our Lifeblood.”
I was at a loss. “Isn’t Lifeblood the essence that makes us what we are?” I asked, confused. “Then how can they eat it?”
“They don’t exactly eat the Lifeblood but rather suck it,” Atalon replied with a dark look before locking his gaze on mine. “What are the two ways we can be killed?”
An ominous feeling crawled into my gut, and I answered, “Beheading or having our hearts carved out.”
“You’re only half-correct,” Atalon said. “There is a third way, though it’s far slower.” He paused and gave me a pointed look. “Having our Lifeblood utterly depleted.”
His answer irritated me. “They didn’t teach us that in the Comprehensive Newcomer Course,” I said accusingly.
“Despite its name, the course doesn’t cover everything,” Atalon said evenly. “And all of us Lords have decided not to teach about this method of killing, if only because it’s very easy to find out that vampires can do so to other vampires, not just the Jinn. However,” he added when I opened my mouth to speak, “the difference between how vampires and the Jinn empty one’s Lifeblood is what matters. You see, vampires can deplete other vampires of their Lifeblood, but if given enough rest, that Lifeblood can be easily replenished with time. If a vampire’s Lifeblood is sucked by the Jinn, however, the damage can be far more severe. Meaning, unless the vampire gets fed with another vampire’s blood—preferably a Gifted’s or a Sacred’s blood, for they have a large amount of Lifeblood—they won’t be able to recover and eventually will perish.”
I looked at him in silence as I processed this information. Many questions ran through my head, but the main one was “Why are you telling me about all this?”
Atalon put his hand on my shoulder, and I tensed. “The Jinn are lurking everywhere,” he said quietly. “They can sense us, which is why all vampire Leagues make their bases underground and difficult to find through regular means. But the moment we go aboveground, the Jinn can find us from miles away.”
I understood what he was saying. He’d basically said that Isora and I put ourselves in danger when we went out. That the Jinn could’ve found us. But one thing I wondered—“The Atalonian Museum is aboveground, though,” I said, scanning his face. Something about his words struck me as odd. His pitiless black eyes were too careful when he looked at me. Too cold and calculated.
“The Atalonian is full of trained guards,” Atalon replied. “Unless they come in a horde—which the Jinn would never do due to certain circumstances—the guards can take care of a few who try to get in.”
While what he said sounded logical enough, there was still something amiss about Atalon’s words, though I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what. And yet, when he spoke about the Jinn and the danger they posed for us, his repulsion was genuine. They were real, and they were a true danger, and perhaps that’s all that mattered.
I deflated and looked away. “We won’t do it again, my Lord.”
He took his hand off my shoulder and leaned back. “I’m glad you understand, Aileen,” he said quietly, and when I returned my gaze to him, I saw him give me an almost exasperated smile. “And please, call me Atalon.”
Whether it was due to luck or not, Atalon decided not to punish me for my transgression. Isora was a different story, though; she had to not only work in the kitchen but clean the cafeteria as well. For the next week, she left right before sunset and returned well after dawn. I hadn’t been able to see her at all.
Guilt gnawed at me in my mind. As a second-timer, Isora was in a grace period, meaning she had three months to prove her worth to her new League and get reevaluated. If she was found to be worthy of becoming a proper member, she could elevate her status to a bottom-ranking Common. But if she was found disposable ...
Needless to say, our little outing must’ve put her already precarious hierarchical standing in even more danger. And while we’d both made that choice, I still felt I should’ve said no when she’d offered to sneak out.
And not just for Isora’s sake, but for mine too. What if Isora resented me for Atalon’s blatant favoritism? What if she hated me and wanted nothing to do with me?
Those thoughts refused to leave me alone.
“I feel sorry for her,” Eleanor told me as we headed toward the League’s hair salon at the top floor, right near the boutiques. “And I’m also angry. You should’ve taken me with you!”
While the story of Isora’s and my escapade thankfully didn’t spread beyond Atalon’s office, I did tell Eleanor, who was our suitemate, about the little adventure. “You would’ve been in extra trouble,” I told her. “You work at our Lord’s secretarial office.”
She shot me a dirty look. “So what? I’d rather be punished than feel left out.”
While Eleanor and I weren’t as close as I was with Isora, it wasn’t as if I had an abundance of friends. So I felt somewhat bad about not including her. “This is why we’re spending our free day together,” I said, trying to lighten the mood as we entered the hair salon.
“Which is great and all, but why here of all places?” Eleanor said, glancing at my hair. “Are you planning to cut your hair?”
Before I could respond, the hair-salon manager, Torrence, approached me with a big smile. “Ah, Aileen! Long time no see.”
I rolled my eyes at his joke. “I need to dye my hair.” I grimaced. “Again.”
Torrence’s smile turned into a frown as he studied my hair. “I’ve never seen such a phenomenon before,” he informed me. “I mean, we just dyed your hair two weeks ago, and it’s already such a light brown? Insanity.”
“Just take care of it, please,” I said with a sigh.
For the next two hours, Eleanor and I chatted with Torrence while he dyed my hair back to its normal dark-brown hue. I hoped that this time it would hold, because I was sick and tired of visiting the hair salon every other week.
I really had no time or energy to deal with this, and yet I had to.
Once we were done at the hair salon, Eleanor and I went window-shopping at the boutiques before we headed to the cafeteria for lunch.
Because Isora had been working so much, Eleanor and I had settled in with new dining companions for the time being. Our new companions were Fareez and Oz, the other two newcomers Atalon had purchased at the Auction.
Fareez Goshenan was a sexy, scruffy man. He was tall and muscular, with a mop of dark curls on his head, and he had this air of authority about him that immediately drew the eye.
Then there was Oz. He was the oldest-looking vampire I’d met so far, with him being in his thirties when he was given the Imprint by Lady Kalama of the Kalama League. Oz was a handsome man, with waist-long ashen hair and quicksilver eyes. He had a tall body that was built like a tank, with tree-trunk-thick, corded arms and long athletic legs.
“Hello there, Fareez,” Eleanor now said when the two joined us at the table. “I heard a particular rumor earlier today.” He raised a bushy eyebrow in her direction and nodded, his dark eyes quickly running over her outfit.
I frowned. That was news to me. “What rumor?”
“Haven’t you heard?” Eleanor looked at me with wide eyes. “Fareez is allegedly dating Demetria, the Gifted!” She whipped her head to Fareez. “Aren’t you?”
Fareez leaned back with a smirk. “No comment.”
I gave him a long look, but before I could speak, Eleanor jumped in again. “You’ve got to teach me your ways, master,” she grumbled teasingly. “I’ve had my eyes on this Gifted guy since we arrived here, and he won’t even look my way!”
Yet again, this was news to me. “Why didn’t you say anything about it?” I asked her, surprised.
Eleanor flushed and looked away, folding her arms. “It’s embarrassing,” she murmured. “I mean, before I learned you, Fareez, got with Demetria, I didn’t think someone like me had a chance. Especially not with a Gifted.”
Fareez’s cocky posture changed, and he gave Eleanor a seemingly genuine sympathetic look. “I don’t think I’m a good example, though,” he said quietly, smirk gone.
I glanced at him, frowning. “Why?”
Fareez opened his mouth to say something before he shut it and looked away, his face clear of any expression. After a few moments, he spoke. “I suggest you stay away from the Gifteds, Eleanor.”
Eleanor seemed puzzled and fell quiet.
Since I refused to let the conversation turn awkward, I focused on Oz, who was sitting next to me, and asked, “How’s work been for you?”
Much like me, Oz got a job at the Atalonian Museum—only unlike me, he worked behind the scenes, at the museum’s bookkeeping office. His response, unsurprisingly, was monosyllabic. “Good.”
So far, I got the impression Oz wasn’t much of a talker.
But I was desperate for conversation that wasn’t about gossip and rumors. Something that would take my wandering mind off all my ailments. “I heard there has been a rise of donations in the past few months because of our Lord’s decision to showcase new art rather than curating classical pieces.”
Oz glanced at me. He didn’t respond verbally but nodded to agree with what I’d said before he stared at me for a few long moments. Feeling discomforted, I glanced away and focused on breakfast, my irritation rising. Why did he make every conversation awkward?
For the rest of breakfast, Eleanor managed to change subjects and get a conversation going. But I wasn’t entirely into it, since I began hearing murmurs around us from the nearby tables, and it took everything in me to keep a blank face.
“I heard our Lord is utterly infatuated with her.”
“He must be, considering she’s the first noob he bought from Lord Rayne in decades ...”
“Someone said she also had a thing going with Lord Rayne ...”
“Is her pussy made of gold or something?”
“She’s not even that pretty ...”
After my dinner with Atalon, these kinds of rumors began running around the League. I knew Eleanor, Isora, Fareez, and Oz had also heard about these rumors, but they pretended they hadn’t and never asked me any questions about the gossip, which I appreciated.
It made me wonder if part of the reason why Ragnor had insisted on keeping our little affair under wraps was because he knew this would be the reaction and he wanted to protect me.
Internally, I snorted, even as an ache made my stomach clench. Right. If he cared about me that much, then he wouldn’t have sold me off to begin with.
Deluding myself into thinking he might’ve cared for me would do me no good.
I suddenly remembered that one moment, back in the Rayne League greenhouse, when Ragnor had shown me, perhaps for the first and only time, his vulnerable side. For that one instance, he’d let his walls down and let me see his devastatingly gorgeous grin.
It had given me butterflies all over. Especially since that was one of the very few moments when Ragnor and I didn’t fight.
He threw you away, I reminded myself weakly.
But then why was it so hard to do the same?