Chapter 8
As soon as the sunlight is blocked out, the door opens and the vampire I assume is Xavier appears in the doorway. Wearing all black with dark hair, he’s tall and intimidating as he zeros his gaze on me, a deep guttural growl coming from his chest.
He advances with inhuman speed and I take a quick step back, pressing myself against the wall.
My breath hitches as his gaze sears into mine, eyes deep blue and gray, like a summer night’s sky right before it storms. Power emanates from him, dark and oppressive.
It should scare me, terrify me right down to my bones.
But it doesn’t. Instead, it awakens something deep inside of me, stirring up emotions I’d long ago silenced.
Because for the first time, I see my soul reflected right back at me in those midnight eyes.
This is a man who knows the pain of feeling the void of emptiness deep inside.
A man who has loved and lost and had everything he wanted right in his grasp before it was taken away.
Only…he isn’t a man at all. He’s a vampire, an old and powerful one.
“She’s a witch,” he says, deep voice rattling right through me. “And not on the list.” His eyes sweep over me, inspecting every inch of my body.
“S-she was prettier than the other one,” Devon rushes out. “And in the house as a family member.”
“But she is a witch,” Xavier snarls, fangs coming down.
I suck in a breath, eyes going wide. It’s taking everything inside of me not to react and to keep my decades of training deep and buried.
I wouldn’t be able to take out a vampire like this alone, but I could make a getaway.
So I do what comes naturally instead and open my smart mouth.
“Thanks, Captain Obvious. I’m also a Libra sun and rising. Taurus moon, if you want to know. I’d ask for your sign but I’m not really sure if you’d use your human birthdate or your vampire birth—death—whatever date.”
“Great, she’s annoying, too,” Xavier huffs. “I should just kill her.”
“You said I could choose,” Devon interjects.
“I said to pick someone you will enjoy.”
“Gross,” I sneer and summon energy in my right hand, pressing my fingers against Xavier’s chest. It hits him like a taser and he tenses, mostly startled that I was able to do that more than anything. It gives me just enough time to duck under his arm and move toward the door.
I’m fast, but of course, Xavier is faster.
“Look, this whole thing seems like a mistake. Let me go and you can pick someone from the catalogue or whatever.”
“Letting you go would be admitting I can’t handle a witch.
” He grabs my arm and ushers me back into the room.
“We’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way.
” His eyes narrow ever so slightly and he leans in, inhaling.
Vampires can sense the magic coming off witches the same exact way we can sense it from them.
“How did a witch end up in the Order? I know their stance on witches.” He eyes me, more curious than anything else. I clamp my mouth shut, refusing to say anything. Xavier raises an eyebrow, amused. “You’ll learn your place, and, if you’re smart, you’ll learn to listen.”
He steps back, retracts his fangs, and lets his eyes linger on my body before turning to Devon. “My office. Now.”
“H-he had no way of knowing who I was,” I blurt and both Xavier and Devon look at me incredulously, wondering why I’m defending him. Hell, I don’t even know why I’m defending him.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Xavier tells me. “I suggest you rest.”
With that, they both leave the room and the door slams shut behind them. I can hear the locks sliding into place and a few seconds later, I'm left alone and mentally shaken. That was a lot of info to digest all at once and I think I’m going to be sick.
I pick at the rest of my food, finish my coffee and then do a quick workout. Moving and staying in shape has always been important to me, and even though this looks like a fancy, social media trending room, it’s also my prison.
Pacing around the room, I start to feel a little exhausted. I really should sleep so I can stay focused, but the chance of relaxing enough to actually fall asleep is slim to none. Instead, I open my bag and take the photo of my parents out and put it on the nightstand.
“I don’t know what you’d hoped for me, but this life isn’t it,” I whisper.
Not just being here, kept as a vampire’s captive, but being a hunter.
I lay down on the bed, hating how comfortable it is, and pull the folded pink blanket from the foot up around my shoulders.
I close my eyes and do my practiced meditations, letting my body rest even if I can’t sleep.
Thinking about how different my life could have been, I eventually drift to sleep.
* * *
A knock at the door startles me awake. I sit up, blinking, and look around. Nope. It wasn’t all a bad dream.
“Miss Russo? Are you awake?” a woman on the other side of the door calls. She has a thick southern accent. “Mr. Xavier has requested I take you shopping for a new wardrobe.”
“I’m up,” I say and wonder how long I’ve been asleep. With no natural light, it’s hard to tell.
“May I come in?”
“Sure,” I reply, knowing I don’t have much choice. The door opens and a woman who looks to be in her early forties comes in. She’s dressed casually, in pinstriped linen pants and a white top. Her brown hair is pulled back in a tight French braid and she has a headset on with a tiny earpiece in.
“Mr. Xavier has requested you wear this,” she goes on, holding up a bracelet.
It’s some sort of thick bangle that clips—and locks—into place.
I roll my eyes. It’s a GPS tracker that won’t come off easily.
“He also wants me to remind you that Gia’s favorite color is Persian Pink… whatever that means.”
I clench my jaw, knowing it very well means he’s threatening me. He knows my family and knows hurting Gia would hurt me the most. He’s telling me I better not step out of line.
“Do you want to get changed?” the woman asks.
“No,” I tell her, looking down at what I’m wearing. “This is fine. I’m Wren, by the way.”
“Nina, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She holds out the bracelet and I oblige, lifting my arm so she can clip the tracker to me. This itself isn’t enough to stop me, though I’m sure the Malus family has people everywhere in the city, both human and vampires.
“Where are we going?” I ask, shaking my wrist so the bracelet moves down by my hand. This thing is fucking uncomfortable.
“Wherever you’d like, miss. I find that SouthPark Mall has a nice variety.”
“I don’t have any money,” I tell her. I really don’t, and I’m about twenty grand in credit card debt. Being an Order member doesn’t pay that well, and since I’ve never been fully accepted, I get substantially less than my siblings.
“Mr. Xavier is buying,” she tells me and I perk up.
“Okay then. I’ll follow you.”
She nods, seemingly relieved that I’m not putting up a fight.
I grab my knife without her seeing on our way out.
We go the same way we came in, and all the metal curtains are closed again.
I get a better look into the kitchen this time, and feel weirded out to see a large light-up photo hung over one of the windows, making it look like you’re able to see out into the day.
We get into a Mercedes and a different driver takes us downtown, dropping us off at the entrance to the mall, where we are greeted by one of Xavier’s bodyguards. It’s another warning, I’m sure, to remind me that I won’t get away with it if I try to escape.
Sometimes you have to play the long game and right now…I don’t know where I’d go if I were to make a run for it. I wouldn’t go back home, not to the people who sold me out.
“Is this how you normally dress?” Nina asks me as we walk into the mall.
“Yeah. It’s practical.”
“Maybe we can try a style a little more…feminine.”
“I’ll try,” I say with a shrug and feel like Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman when I walk into the first high-end designer store.
I’ve always dressed like a hunter on a day to day basis.
But I’ve played roles to gain access to places where monsters hide, and I secretly always liked getting to dress up.
So while I’d never admit it to my brothers, I’m having fun trying on dress after expensive dress.
Hours later, we leave the store with dozens of shopping bags. I’ve gotten good at compartmentalizing, and I tried to allow myself to enjoy the fact that I spent thousands of dollars of someone else’s money. But the reality has been hanging above me and the pain of betrayal hurts too bad to ignore.
“What’s it like working for the Malus family?” I ask Nina when we get into the car, smoothies in hand.
“They’re very nice to work for,” she says in a monotone voice,
“Like really,” I push. “They’re all vampires. Aren’t you scared?”
“No, ma’am,” she tells me. “They treat their employees with much respect.” Her southern accent is muted when she talks and I know she’s repeated what someone has put into her head.
I don’t know much about what happens when someone is held spellbound.
I don’t know that much about vampires either, to be honest. Now I can see through the obviousness of it all.
The Order kept us from killing vampires because of this deal. It had nothing to do with the Vampire Inclusion Act or how it was more difficult to cover up missing vampire reports.
“Have you worked for them long?” I go on.
“For seven years.”
“Do you remember the woman who stayed in my room before me?”
“That room has always been empty,” she says and I know there’s no point in prodding anymore. Everything has been wiped from her mind. “Xavier is really good looking.”
She smiles. “He is a handsome man, er, vampire.”
“He was a man at some point.”
“I suppose they all were.” She pulls out her phone. “I’m to schedule a hair appointment for you. Is that your natural color?”