Chapter 20

I feel like molten lava is burning my brain as I wake up painfully. I grit my teeth, trying to find a more comfortable position when I hear the chain rattle.

Taking a breath of anxiety, I open my eyes hastily, triggering me a violent nausea. My mind is muddled, and I have a hard time thinking coherently, however, I try to analyze where I am with my blurred gaze.

There are large windows covered by thick red velvet curtains that only a few scattered rays of light manage to pierce. The main source of light being in the end a chandelier above me.

Growling to my feet, I frown, not only do I still hear the rattle of the chain, but I feel something hanging around my neck.

I lower my head and blink puzzledly when I see that I'm only wearing a man's shirt. It has become a habit to undress me while I sleep: did they take me for a Barbie doll or what?

However, this is not even what worries me the most because I have a leather collar connected to a metal leash which blocks all my mobility, I can barely sit up. Not to mention that to perfect the scene taken from a horror movie, I am attached to a kind of barber chair by the hands and feet.

My heart races as I scan the darkness for my executioner.

I end up finding him at the other end of the room, as he gets up from a large leather armchair, pushing away a sideboard where there are some unknown objects.

" Finally awake? " He asks me in a soft voice. I thought you would sleep for a hundred years, like Sleeping Beauty!

"The difference between her and me is that she wasn't bitten by morphine!"

I replied, acidly, glaring at him.

As I speak, I tug on my bonds in hopes of freeing myself, but they seem resistant. It's probably a metal chain.

"Don't struggle like that...said the vampire to me, looking vaguely worried. You will hurt yourself!"

I chuckle.

"Too nice to take care of my well-being!"

I scoffed before showing him the piece of furniture on which he held me prisoner. But hey... You might have thought of that before strapping me into that chair!

" I have no intention of hurting you or scaring you, however you are not a very reasonable person! " He said to me with a small ironic smile. The pile-up you created with Ericsson is on repeat on TV, you see! If I find that we can clearly see your talents as a stuntwoman on the video that took the helicopter which passed above you just at that moment, I preferred that you not repeat this kind of exploit again ...

I groan in annoyance as I collapse against the chair, realizing that I've just gotten myself into some dreadful trouble.

"I preferred to take a few precautions..." He ended up adding, stroking the straps with his fingertips. For your own safety...

This time, I laugh frankly asking him:

"What ? You were afraid that I would fall? Love the child safety devices! So now you can set me free, right?"

He sighs with fatality while lighting large blue candles, next to me, before moving away to light others further away. I notice that they are all over the room around us. Without stopping to pull on my chains, I follow him with my eyes as he patiently sets fire to all the locks, wondering what this scene is all about.

"No, I will not release you for the moment, he replies after a long moment of heavy silence. It's not the right moment yet... You're not in the right frame of mind!"

Why do I only come across crazy morons?

" As I am not a fan of bondage, you will excuse me, but my state of mind is not likely to change! "

I said sarcastically.

" Don't take it like that... I mean you no harm, he laughs in front of my pike. I just wanted to set you free..."

I tint my chains before resuming.

" Hellooo! I acted as if I was dealing with a retard. There is a contradiction between what you say and what you do!"

He comes back to me calmly knowing that no one will come to my rescue. I try to sound confident, however, I don't give a damn as he sits down elegantly in a seat next to my chair.

" You see... I immediately recognized the smell of your blood in the samples circulated by Carlos, he explains to me, leaning a little towards me. I haven't been able to forget her since I met you. Knowing you are in his hands, I had to get you out of there."

He pulls a strand of my hair off my face. Disgusted, I try to push myself to the maximum to avoid his contact, making my head hit the seat, increasing my migraine tenfold. I'm in so much pain that I close my eyes, on the verge of tears. I can't even curl up to relieve myself because I'm chained too tight.

" Are you in pain? " he asks me.

"Headache..."

He immediately places his cold hands on my forehead. Surprisingly, it's quite pleasant.

" You're hot ... He worries. Those damn wolves... I don't know what they did to you, but their scent was all over you! I had to soak you in a bath for a very long time to get the smell out!"

I really don't need the details.

"Is it a recipe to be able to eat me? " I sneered bitterly. "Do you marinate the meat? "

Me and my big mouth! I should literally stretch out my neck for him to devour me. At the same time, the pain pierces my skull making me acid.

" It's not our way of feeding ourselves for a long time... " He laughs with a smirk. I have a much better recipe.

In front of my frightened look, however, he quickly adds a reassuring tone.

"It's a joke, don't worry! "

"I don't need to take a very large amount of your blood, it won't cause you any harm. Moreover, you will see that it is rather pleasant! "

At least he believes in his rantings. Pou me aside, I look at him with a small smile as he sits down properly in the middle of the mist created by the candles. Their smell now fills the room, it's musky... Heady as you wish...

" What? " He asks me gently without my smiling.

" Nothing, I just watch the snake trying to charm the mouse!"

I have a little trouble holding my head straight, because it's suddenly abnormally heavy.

'Is that what you think of me? Does he ask me shyly, a snake? That's not very flattering...

He rests my head properly on the chair, while I groan at him. Maybe not actually. I observe a little more attentively his fine and harmonious face, his straight nose while his black eyes pierce me to the heart.

"So beautiful"

he whispers to me. So indomitable... You're the one I've been waiting for for so long.

Her voice is surprisingly soft, almost charming and attractive. After a while I realize that it is the smoke from the candles that is numbing me. I have to react.

" This is not my case!" I spat bluntly. I hate anyone who knows Carlos from near or far! He's not the kind of man you meet at a Tupperware get-together with fifty-plus housewives, so you must be like him...

This time, he's the one laughing. I fidget feeling strange shivers. I try to resuscitate my brain, fearing he's even more dangerous than my damn stepfather.

" You have such a refreshing personality out of the ordinary... "

He laughs happily. Don't worry, I have nothing to do with those kind of men. They are just useful for killing time sometimes!

If he wanted to reassure me, it failed, Carlos' clients are as crazy as him, I never wanted to approach them. I swallow hard as he steps closer to me, his eyes shining.

"I could make you a queen!"

He said to me in a grandiloquent way. Give you everything you've always wanted!

I pull on my bonds, my movements are however too slow to be effective although the pain is starting to fade slowly...

"I want my freedom!" I cried as I tried to play on his sensitivity.

"I can give it to you," he assures me, grabbing my shoulder in his cold hand. You can say and do whatever you want...

" I want to leave..."

My voice is too weird, too weak, too shaky.

"Soon you will want to stay..."

he whispers to me. I can protect you from anything, whether it's Carlos, wolves... Anything that scares you...

What's in those damn candles?

"The candles..." I whispered weakly. Remove the...

"They help you relax..."

I tug on my bonds harder, as he steps closer to me, his hand seeping under my shirt on the skin of my stomach, I flinch.

" I don't want that! " I was indignant, panicked.

I shouted in a pitiful high pitched voice, however it was effective as he pulled his hand back whispering to me.

" I won't do anything if you don't want to..."

" Let me go..."

" Let yourself go!" He almost begs me. "Stop fighting... "

"You can never get uncompromising freedom! Even if you flee far from civilization you will be subject to the law of nature!"

" You will always be a potential prey! I offer you your only real chance of freedom. You just have to let yourself go and enjoy."

It rises above me towards my neck... I moan pitifully. Is he right? My desire for freedom was utopian? I can only end up like my mother offering my body to the one who promises to protect me?

I arch my back as he licks my skin near my carotid artery.

'' Please... I begged."

"What do you want ?"

"Not that ! Leave me..."

His teeth rub against my throat.

" Relax! "

He orders me. "Soon, you won't be able to do without it!"

And suddenly he bites me. The sensation is terrifying, painful. I hear him sucking my vital liquid greedily, while I feel more and more soft. After a few seconds, against all odds, my body no longer weighs anything, I hardly feel it anymore. I'm like a free feather in the wind, not really suffering from my headache anymore.

I try to squirm as waves of shivers run through me. His hands, however, pin me to the chair.

" This will intensify my beautiful! "

He warns me, releasing his Bite for a few moments.

"Let yourself go..."

His voice against my skin panics my senses.

I no longer know where I am, my brain no longer has any efficiency. The sensations overwhelm me, half-choking me as he sinks his teeth back into my body. Mindless, I'm lost until the presence that's been hovering at the entrance to my mind since I've known the alpha returns.

I walk towards her, trying to escape what my body is going through. I'm strangely drawn... I know it's dangerous, but I don't have a safe place to go anymore.

I'm in a kind of trance when I hear screams in the hallway. The door smashes a few seconds later, revealing the brindle-furred wolf. Wasting no time, drooling, he leaps at the vampire.

He turns around, my fresh blood still dripping down his chin. With a gesture, he grabs the animal by the head before its teeth sink into its throat. With a jerk, the giant canine, however, throws the bloodsucker against the wall behind me.

Stéphane gets up with the help of the wall, but when he tries to approach me Ryley intervenes, his furious growl shaking the walls.

" How dare you, stupid dog? "

He is indignant, trembling with rage. You are in Veroni territory! You violate the pact!

The werewolf resumes human form in the simplest device, eying the vampire. A priori being naked as a worm in enemy territory leaves him unmoved.

"You attacked first bloodsucker!" Accuses the alpha, fists clenched, every vein in his neck sticking out in anger. She's mine !

"I bit her, she is my source! Affirms the bloodsucker."

I pull on the ties, straightening up, to scream with all the strength I have left:

" I DON'T BELONG TO ANYBODY ASSHOLE!"

He looks at me both surprised at my vehemence, especially since I collapse right after, out of breath. Blood still runs down my throat as my migraine punctures my brain again. In addition, I feel that I always have a fever...

" Let me go, damn it! "

I got angry in a plaintive voice, exhausted. I don't want to be with any of you! I have to explain it to you in which language?

I hear a hubbub as the room fills with vampires. Obviously, everyone doesn't care about what I want, they are too obsessed with their little personal war.

Vaguely interested in the outcome of the confrontation, I watch the wolf quickly get surrounded. I find him a bit silly to have come alone into enemy territory, especially without a weapon apart from his body. Around him, they are all armed with silver guns and long swords.

Stéphane's smile becomes carnivorous when one of his henchmen gives him a long, shiny dagger.

"You offer me your head on a chip bag tray! "

he scoffs. You came alone and without the protection of the conciliation brigade... Your eyes were bigger than your stomach!

Far from being impressed, the alpha straightens his chest and looks at him.

" Let her go and kill me if you like!"

I raise my head, surprised by this proposal. I hadn't understood that he was ready to sacrifice himself for me, for my freedom. I watch heart pounding, his body tense, his jaws clenched as he advances until his chest touches Stephane's blade.

"I do not fear death, if it is not by my side!" He said sure of himself in a heroic way.

I fall back into the chair, shaking my head in disgust. None of them listened to me for a single second...