"I don't know what you've been thinking," the widow stomped through the kitchen, a knife in her hands, pointed dangerously at Max. "But I held up my end of the promise. I gave you that spell, leech. Now give me the blood I'm owed."
Max stared at the widow, nodding silently. Normally, the two of them couldn't stand each other but kept things civilised. Now, however, she was on a warpath. Because of everything that happened, he had forgotten to uphold his part of the bargain, and if he wasn't careful, he would end up death. The woman was serious, and even though the knife in her hands wouldn't kill him no matter the injury, she wouldn't leave that job unfinished if it came that far.
"I do apologise. My daught-"
"I don't want to hear it. I want my blood. I have things to take care off."
Max nodded, taking an empty glass bottle out of a kitchen cabinet. He grabbed a funnel, placing it in the bottleneck.
"You seem stressed." Max noted as he carefully kept his wrist above the funnel, making sure no blood was spilled.
The widow sighed as she glared at him. "The amount of disappearances is rising again. It was a mistake, allowing you to help those vampires."
Max shook his head. "Julie has nothing to do with this."
"Oh, she may not have killed or taken them," the widow said, her voice sharp and cold, "but she is at the core of it. Tell me, have you heard of your employee yet?"
The widow sighed, her expression softening when she saw how worried Max looked. "She is missing. It was in the papers this morning."
Max closed the bottle, handing it to the Widow as he grabbed the newspaper that Thorn had dropped on the floor. It was a small article, noting only that there were signs of a struggle. No leads. The vampire sighed, looking at the witch.
"I have a feeling I know who's behind this."
The boys and Julie had just returned to the cave from their feeding when Marko turned to Julie. "Were you serious when you said you wanted to be the one to kill your sire?"
Julie nodded, sighing softly. She needed to be the one to take her control back. She wanted to be the one who finished this.
"Then you'll have to know how to fight. Ever fought before?"
Marko stood in the middle of the cave, looking expectantly at her. She shrugged. She hardly remembered it, but she vaguely knew that she'd been hit - and that she hit something back. Marko nodded, motioning for her to come stand a couple of feet across from him.
"You can fight two ways: by defending yourself or by attacking. Show me what you got, alright?"
Julie raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. Fighting? She didn't want to fight Marko, but as he began to circle her, she couldn't help but be on guard. She couldn't help but swiftly step away when he lashed out, and before she knew it, she had thrown a punch. He punched back, but she managed to turn - making him hit her side instead of her stomach. She gasped, focussing on his movements. She kicked. He jumped, kicking her backwards to the ground and landing on top of her. Julie slammed her head against his, causing him to stumble backwards. She jumped up. Flew through the air, landed on top of him, pinning him down to the ground. Marko grinned, hooking his legs through hers and twisting. She fell backwards. He quickly moved, holding her in a headlock.
Julie nodded, tapping on his arm. He let go immediately, holding out his hand to help her up. "You're better than I thought you'd be." He smiled at her. "But if you really want to take your sire down, you have to get better. Are you ready to go again?"
Julie grinned, taking a stance. They fought, flying through the air, rolling over the ground. It took a while, Julie held her own against Marko for quite a while. But when Paul walked into the cave singing loudly, Julie looked up, distracted by the sudden arrival, and before she knew it, she was once again pinned to the ground. She let out a frustrated sigh as Marko helped her up.
"You're not bad, kid. If you want to quit for tonight-"
Julie shook her head, taking her cardigan off, baring her arms. She would fight again. She wanted to win. She needed to be good. Like Marko said, she needed to know how to fight if she wanted to take down her sire. Julie was ready to go again but stopped when she realised that both Paul and Marko were staring at her. She froze, frowning slightly, before realising why they looked at her like that. She sighed quietly, her hands covering her bare upperarms. She felt the rough edges of scarred skin, the scars going all the way from her shoulder to her elbows. She had hardly looked at them since she got out, only that first night when Lucien had saved her and had checked her over to see if she was okay. Ever since she had always worn something to cover it up, just so she didn't have to see it. So she didn't have to see that her skin remembered the horrors her mind couldn't.
"How are you alive?" Paul asked quietly as he stepped forward, gently taking her hands in his. She looked down, shaking her head. She truly didn't know. Softly, she leant into his touch. When he saw that she was okay with him holding her, he pulled her into a hug. "Fucking hell, Jules."
Julie shook her head at Marko's question. He stood next to her, his hand comfortingly laid on her shoulder. It was quiet for a moment, neither of the boys knew what to say. After a while, Julie sat down, leaning her head on Markos' shoulder as he sat down next to her. She had never really seen them this quiet, and it was even more proof to her that they cared. Sometimes, she still couldn't quite grasp it, them caring, that is, but moments like these made it real. She didn't have to do this alone, or just with Max. The boys would be there for her too.
"Alright," Paul said as he took a deep sigh. "David said that Company of Life was behind this, right? So all we need to do is kidnap one of their employees. Preferably someone at a lower rank. Someone who won't give a shit to tell company secrets."
Marko grinned. "When we got him, we can figure out who was responsible for your change."
"And we won't be stuck doing paper research!" Paul added, causing Julie to smile faintly.
"And then we can make sure you kill your sire."
The three of them looked at each other, the boys grinning madly, whereas Julie had an amused yet nervous smile on her face. Would this work? Would they succeed?
"Shelly?" Maria sounded tired. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the stark darkness around her. The only light came from a small candle, illuminating Shelly's face. "What's going on? Where are we? Are you alright? What happened-"
"Jesus, take a breath, Maria." Shelly snapped before sighing and continuing on a kinder tone. "Sorry. It's just -" she thought for a moment, shaking her head. "You're fucked. I am, too. Us being here? It's going to be the death of us."
"I don't understand - what's going on?" Maria sat up, rubbing her head as she looked at the girl across from her. She saw some bruises, a single cut on her cheek. Her arm was bandaged. "Did - did they hurt you?"
Shelly nodded. "I don't know why they picked me. Guess I was an easy target. They enjoy their little experiments, don't ask me what they're for because I don't know."
"Do you know who they are?"
"What were you doing before they took you?"
"Because," Maria said, "if we figure out if there's something we've got in common, then we know why we were taken. Maybe it can help us figure a way out."
"You want to escape?" Shelly laughed. "I've been here for three weeks. There's no way out."
Maria sighed, deciding not to say anything. She'd known Shelly for a long time, going to the same school as her since kindergarten. Shelly had been a year above her, and up until middle school, she had been kind. She had been the kind of child who would stand up against bullies and protect the younger kids. At the end of middle school, however, she became popular. Boys started to desire her, and she, in turn, started to like the attention. That's when Shelly changed. She became power obsessed, obsessed with getting what she wanted simply because she could. For her to just give up - Maria shook her head, sighing softly. This place was bad. She needed to get out and quickly.
Next chapter > (available on August 11)
