THE THIN LINE BETWEEN THE VILLIAN AND THE ANTI-HERO

4 MARCH, THURSDAY, CONTINUED

And then Jude wept bitterly, "You were born with everything AND a silver spoon in your mouth. The goddess is too unfair! Why did she give everything to a selfish ungrateful brat?"

Good question.

"You were supposed to be the villain I defeat!" Jude continued... I think the dehydration was making him delirious, "I was supposed to get the princess and triumph over you."

"So not because of love for the princess but a father-complex with the king?" Fluffy smiled.

"Not quite," Ki opined, "It sounded like he wanted to usurp Luna Bell's position too."

"I thought it was an underdog story." EJ piped in, "I always cheer for the underdog."

"That's because you're a simpleton." Fluffy smiled.

"That's enough." Dad said. He sounded p***ed. And then without looking over he said, "I'm quite sure ten minutes has passed."

Ben immediately opened the door. It was a very swift movement since the key card was still in his hand, and we both escaped the dungeons.

"I'm so dead." Ben said when we were back out on the empty basement hallway.

"Are you?" I slowed my steps to consider this. Ben WAS directly tasked to get me out in ten minutes.

"Not as dead as those fools." Ben scoffed. His hand was now on the small of my back and I was being pushed up the stairs.

Which ones? The ones inside or outside the cells? But for some reason, I didn't ask.

"You okay?" Ben asked after a moment. We reached the ground floor landing and made our way towards the front door.

"Yeah." I said as nochalently as I could, "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Ben nodded, "That Jude guy is a real piece of work."

"What do you mean?" I was still processing what happened.

"He's totally f***ed up." Ben made a short laugh, "The guy thinks he's a hero of some Lycan legend or something!"

"What if he is?" I asked.

"No way." Ben shook his head, "He's just an insignificant minor alpha."

That's what they all say about the hero at first, but the hero will always prove everyone wrong.

"Cannon fodder. He'll be dead sooner or later." Ben deadpanned in his usual monotone, "And no one would even remember his name."

Now Ben was beginning to sound like one of the detractors who would be proven wrong.

"You don't have to mind him, Sam." Ben concluded, "He's delusional."

I couldn't decide if I wanted Ben to be right.

On one hand, I was also the "simpleton" who cheered for the underdog. On the other, I wanted to cheer for Bell.

Nobody's perfect, but what made one guy the hero and another guy cannon fodder?

This question continued to bug me even after I climbed into bed. I looked at the alarm clock on the ledge of my golden clam shell. 2:48AM. Urghhh... I have to be up again for school in a bit. I shut my eyes to sleep but I was awoken by unfamiliar voices.

"Hey, do we have a new sister?" A young female voice... but I couldn't place it. I opened my eyes to see a beautiful wide-eyed she-wolf, her short bronze curls tied up in a little pony tail and her tawny skin lined with a web of thin white scars...

"Where? Woah.... Topaz looks like you aren't the youngest anymore." Another she-wolf came over to look, she had red long hair - like Ariel the mermaid, "Hey, everyone! We have a new little sister!"

I blinked at the red head, "EJ?"

Wait, EJ was a boy... right? Yes, I was quite sure. I've seen EJ at the pool...he was definitely a guy. But this red-head looked ALOT like EJ when he wore a girl's uniform and acted as Nerd. Not that she was wearing a school uniform... she wasn't wearing very much to at all actually.

EJ shook her head, "Who's EJ? My name's Ruby."

I felt my blood run cold and I took a double take, just to make very sure that the young lady in front of me wasn't the walking corpse - well, its not like they looked anything alike. The hair was similar, but this Ruby's eyes were brown... like EJs. Her skin was also lined with the same white lines, but it didn't show so easily since her skin was so pale. Now that I looked more carefully though, these girls were older than I was. Like college girls or older? I wasn't sure.

I shifted to sit up on the giant soft pillow and blinked at the unnatural brightness around me. The other girls were coming over to check out their new little sister. Where was I? My first thought was that I had returned to the first floor of the Warlock Towers. Giant colorful pillows everywhere within stone walls. Although these stone walls were a very normal stone grey. There were even jeweled chandeliers - sort of like the magic crystal chimes the Warlock had hung over his pillows - but these were just expensive looking, not magical at all.

My second guess was that I was in Bell's Tyger Castle. If that was the case, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

One of the girls, the one with green hair, stroked my cheek, "So young... but so beautiful."

Boo growled lowly at her.

"Be careful you don't scratch her, Opal." A blond warned, "Our master hasn't named her yet."

"Let me guess!" Ruby grinned, "She's going to be Sapphire!"

Which led me to my third guess. I was in a certain Ciara Lord's playpen.

"Diamond is here." The girls started whispering among themselves and standing up. I stood up with them to meet this Diamond's arrival.

From the dark awnings on the side, a beautiful she-wolf came into view. She was wearing translucent clothes with little glitter bits sewn into it. Her hair was white, and her eyes a silver grey. Snow wolf!

Like the other girls around me, her skin was also marked with white lines, but she looked older... like the other girls looked like college girls, but she looked like a real proper woman. A very beautiful woman. Don't get me wrong, the other girls were all beautiful too, but Diamond was even more so. How should I explain it? The girls around me looked like they were cosplaying for an Aladdin party, but Diamond looked like she could have been a diva just stepping up to the stage.

"Why are you girls fussing about now?" Diamond asked, her voice smooth like velvet.

{Snow Wolf! Snow Wolf!} Boo was quite excited. It wasn't just Diamond, the girls here were all exhibiting rather distinct bloodlines at varying levels, but Diamond was like the strongest wolf.

Diamond stopped when she saw me.

"A new little sister, Diamond!" Ruby announced.

"I'm not the youngest anymore!" Topaz cheered.

Diamond just stopped there looked puzzled, "I was not informed we will have a newcomer."

She looked me up and down and sighed, "He keeps bringing home younger and younger girls... how old are you, girl?"

"15." I answered.

Diamond sighed, "Still a minor."

She considered it, "I suppose you only have your unique coloring to blame."

"I'm right, aren't I?" Ruby crowed, "She's gonna be Sapphire, right?"

Diamond smiled, "I suppose. Now you all know the rules, Topaz you will be in charge of showing the new girl the ropes. Ruby you better help too. Topaz has only been with us for a few months. Let us go..."

"But her clothes!" Green hair pointed out at the white silk camisole and shorts. I think her name was Opal. Her hair was worn in many long dark green braids. It was very much like the braids Fluffy had made in his hair when Henry accused him of reliving his fight dog days. It looked pretty on Fluffy, but on Opal, it made her hair look like seaweed. Boo decided to call her Seaweed Head. Boo didn't like strangers touching her cheeks.

"It will have to do." Diamond shrugged, "We cannot keep our Lord waiting any longer."

"Don't worry, Sapphire." Ruby told me.

"Yeah, just bear with it for a night." Topaz whispered, "It'll get better after the first night. Trust me."

And for some reason, I found myself following the other girls out of the brightly lit pillow room into a cold dark stone hallway - Okay, now we looked like we were in a real vampire's castle. The owner spared no expense in replicating every movie depiction of a very wealthy vampire's keep. We walked down the dimly lit hallways lined with water porcelains and red roses, paintings, and a super long and ornate carpet runner. There was no door or window on either side, so this hallway was a single passageway with the sole purpose of linking the pillow room to wherever we were going.

"On the bright side, we won't have to play punishment night this week!" Ruby said gleefully.

"Just for that, I will only make pretty markings on you." The Seaweed Head promised.

"As opposed to what you did to me?" Topaz groused as she tugged the translucent fabric to cover one of her shoulders, "Don't think you're going to get away with that Opal."

Opal laughed and tossed her dark green braids, "What can you do about it?"

"One of these days, Opal..." Ruby warned darkly, "You'll get what's coming to you."

Diamond stopped in front of a pair of large doors. On each side of the door was a giant gargoyle. I suppose no vampire's home would be complete without one.. or a hundred.

"Are you ready girls?" Diamond asked quietly, almost sternly.

The girls around me straightened, adjusted various bits of clothing on their bodies, and nodded. Even Ruby and Topaz became quiet.

I probably should be freaking out about now, but for some reason, Boo only shrugged and then straightened to match the other girls now lined up neatly in front of me. I think my wolf knew quite well who was behind the door, {Fun.}

In my defense, this was Boo, not me! But I was just a bit curious too - how was the new Lord Ciara doing? It's been a while since we last met.