24

"What are we going to do about her?"

I slowly open my eyes to the mumbling of two figures and I recognise their voices. I sit up holding my head as I try to clear the blurriness in my mind.

"What happened? Where am I? Who-"

"I see you are awake my pet," Leo says as he sits on the edge of the bed.

He stretches his hand to my head and I recoil from his touch.

"How dare you!"

Finn moves to my side and pulls me by my hair and I shut my eyes.

"Enough!"

Finn freezes at Leo's sudden shout and he lets go of my hair.

"Leo?"

"Get out Finn, we will continue this conversation later."

He gives me a wary look before walking out of the room leaving me and Leo.

"What do you want from me?"

Leo tilts my chin to the side so that am looking at him.

"You're mine pet. Remember that."

I swallow hard not able to tear my gaze from his eyes. He lets go of my chin and walks out of the room without another word. I hug my feet to my chest burying my head between my knees.

"What do you want?" Black asks clearly displeased by Kahiki's presence.

"I want to help you rescue Nine."

"No way. I'll rescue my sister without your help."

Black walks away from him and he follows closely behind him.

"Get lost!"

"You know you need my help, am the only one who can help you find her location."

"I most definitely do not need a vampire's help, go find another prey to toy with."

"Hey!"

Kahiki runs ahead of him and blocks his path. Black looks at him hands bowled into tight fists.

"How can I prove that I really care about her?"

Black pushes his way past him and continues into the forest.

"Nine? Nine!"

"Who's there?"

I slowly open my eyes not sure how I had managed to fall asleep in my current predicament.

"Nine..."

(That voice.)

As if under a spell, I walk towards the window and leap out a tree branch breaking my fall. I proceed further into the forest following the voice in my head. I come to a stop by a huge mahogany tree and my eyes scan the area.

"Hello?"

"Nine, you must help me."

"Help who?"

A string wind picks up and I shield my eyes with my hands. The laughter of children fills the air and my hands slowly drop from my eyes. Right in front of me, little kids run around playing amongst themselves.

"Careful kids, you don't want to hurt yourself."

I look from the lady standing by the door to the running kids.

"Nine? Aren't you going to play with your friends?" the lady asks looking in my direction.

"Um-"

"I don't want to aunt," a young girl replies and I turn around to come face to face with a younger version of me.

"Nine dear, how long will you keep distance between you and the others?"

The young me folds her arms across her chest and turns away.

The two kids run straight into her knocking her into the mud.

"Nine!"

The lady rushes towards her and slowly the scene begins changing and soon am standing in a burning building.

"Aunt..."

"You must leave Nine, go save yourself."

"I don't want to leave you aunt."

"You must go my dear, don't die here. You have a life to live. Go and make me proud, I love you child."

The lady's body falls limp onto the child's legs and she hugs the lifeless body, sobbing onto her neck.

"Sister! Sister!"

I wake up with a start and look around me.

"Black?"

"Sister, we need to go NOW!"

I slowly nod and I allow him to lead me out of the room. We silently run down the hall but my mind keeps drifting to all the strange scenes that I had witnessed.

"Black, do you have a plan on how to get out of here?" I ask my voice a soft whisper and his grip on my hand tightens.

"I'll do everything in my will to get you out. I promise."

I squeeze his hand as we make our way out of the mansion. We don't stop and proceed into the woods when a howl fills the air causing us to stop in our tracks.

"Black, that's..."

He immediately sprints down the path his grip firm on my wrist. We run for a few metres and when I sneak a peek behind us, my heart nearly stops beating.

"We got furry company."

Black steals a glance behind us, curses quietly and takes a sharp left turn through more trees.

"Hope you have a plan Black."

Before he can answer, a figure drops Infront of us and we come to a sudden stop.

"Where do you think you're taking her?"

"Why should you care where I take my sister?"

"As a matter of fact, I do care. After all, she's my pet."

He says the last word in a protective territorial tone and my heart picks up pace.

"Pet?"

He looks from Leo to me and I automatically shake my head in denial.

"It's nothing like that. This guy abducted me and gave me no say in anything."

"What do you expect from a disgusting dog?"

We all turn our gazes to the direction of the sound and Kahiki drops Infront of us.

"Kahiki? What are you doing here?"

"Let's just say I came to settle an old score with a friend of mine."

Black tugs in my arm and we slowly walk backwards as Kahiki and Leo approach each other eyes glowing.

"Let's go. Things are going to get ugly."

As we turn to leave, Finn and a group of wolves surround us blocking our path.

"Get the girl."

Black stands protectively in front of me his eyes glaring daggers at Finn.

"What makes you think I'll just let you 'get the girl' ?"

"I wasn't expecting you to, he's mine."