Make my job easy

Ellie quit screaming when they exited the hall. It was no use anyway. No one was listening or responding anymore, and she was sure this rock-like being dragging her by her arm would not pay her any attention. 

Outside the hall was even darker than the inside, so she couldn't tell where they were going or what the place they were passing through looked like. She could barely see anything and feared she would accidentally bump her legs into some obstacle.

But the man holding her didn't look like he had a problem with the darkness. He walked like the place was brightly lit and he could see his path clearly.

While a number of questions continued popping into her head, Ellie quietly followed him at an almost running pace until they reached another door. 

The moment they stepped out of the door, the cold night breeze hit Ellie's face, but she focused her attention on looking around. Her brows pulled together when she couldn't recognize anything. Was she still in Alada? 

The building they just came out from was nothing in comparison to the other buildings she saw scattered around. 

Her eyes caught sight of four other structures, all bigger in size than the one they just exited. The speed at which her captor was pulling her, combined with the darkness of the night didn't allow her to get much details about her location. 

Before she knew what was happening, she had been dragged into another building, and thrown into the first room with a heavy metal door. The force of the push made her lose balance, thereby falling and landing on her bottom. 

The door was shut with a bang, locking her in the vast room. 

She let out a drawn-out hiss because of the pain she felt on her bottom due to the force of her fall. Left alone, her eyes surveyed the room. 

The only thing present there was a single bed. Unlike the studio, the room was well-lit. The white marbled floor was clean and still slightly wet as if they just finished cleaning it without drying it properly. The strong smell of antiseptic solution filled the room.

However, to her utter disappointment, the walls were also made of metal, and the only window in there was placed so high, even if she stood on the tip of her toes, she wouldn't reach it.

This further killed her hope of escaping from this place. That feeling of hopelessness, despair, and defeat, which she had been fighting against ever since she heard the words that emanated from the lips of that strange vampire, aroused and began to take root in her heart.

Nicholas… What would happen to him? How would he react to her sudden disappearance? Who would take care of him as she does? Her heart broke into several pieces when she imagined the fear and pain he would feel knowing he might never see her again. If she had known, she would have just stayed home. She would have listened to that voice warning her to sit back and wait a few days before the next operation.

She was still deep in thought when the door was pushed open and a lady in a black, knee-length dress, and a brown apron over it, walked into the room. 

She looked to be in her early twenties, and she had a tray of food balanced on her palm. She didn't emit the kind of overbearing aura she noticed with the other men she had encountered that night. She looked and felt… Normal.

"Your food. Eat." The lady stretched the tray to Ellie, her face, void of any emotion, even though she was looking Ellie over.

Ellie took back her previous thought that the girl was normal. What normal person offers another food in that manner? She eyed the girl unpleasantly before she shook her head.

"No, thanks. I'm not hungry." Ellie responded, finally looking at the contents of the plates inside the tray. Salad, grilled beef, some rice, and something else she didn't recognize.

The food wasn't bad. It was even a surprise to her that they would offer such mouth-watering food to a prisoner. But her mind was not in the right state to crave food at that moment. Moreover, how could she accept food from her captors, people whose intentions toward her she didn't know yet?

"One piece of advice. Don't be stubborn here. Eat. You will need a lot of strength for what's coming." The girl spoke with a neutral tone and a slightly pitiful expression.

Her words confused Ellie. "What's coming?" Ellie queried, her brows knitted in confusion as she set her gaze on the girl. "Why am I here? What's going on?" Ellie threw more questions.

"I can't answer your questions. I'm not in a position to do that. I'm only here to feed you. So make my job easy and just eat." The girl answered.

"Make your job easy? How can I do that when you all are making my life difficult? You can't even explain what is going on to me, and I'm supposed to just comply? Did you really expect your job to be easy with someone that's in the dark?" Ellie flared up, tired of guessing what the hell was going on. 

The girl didn't flinch at her raised tone. She instead, withdrew the tray after a short while, then turned around and started walking back toward the door.

Ellie panicked. "Wait! Please… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I'm just confused." She apologized, realizing she would be left alone again if the girl left.

So far, she had not felt any form of hostility from the girl, so she felt sorry she let out her frustrations on her. 

The girl halted but didn't turn around. "Are you now willing to eat or should I just leave with it?"

"I really am not hungry. I just really need to know what's going on, or at least where this place is."

Silence permeated the room for a few seconds as the girl contemplated whether to answer the question or not. 

"This is Alada's Royal House. As I said earlier, stubbornness will get you killed here. Keep that in mind. You may not need this, but if you survive tonight, I'm Mary." The girl answered, introducing herself at the end of her speech, then without waiting for a second extra, she knocked on the door, and walked out when it was opened from the outside.