Just like his eyes were when they were in the car, they were flashing from red to black and those black veins hazardously lined his face, down to his neck where the robe started covering the rest.
She stepped back slowly in fear.
The fear she felt for him was overpowering, more than even the bond she couldn’t fight.
A cold hand grabbed her from behind and she turned, startled.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
It was Gwen but it wasn’t the sunshine Gwen. This Gwen had something dark and monstrous in her eyes as she pulled her away from the hallway.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
Zezi looked back at the man lying on the floor. He had black blood oozing out of his mouth, a sharp contrast with the sparkling clean white tile. His eyes had also been permanently rolled back, leaving a plain whiteness in its wake. His body stiff as he gave his last fight and suddenly he went limp.
She looked back up at him and she immediately felt trapped because no longer could she look away. The compelling bond and fear tussled into one, each one trying hard to overpower her.
She wanted to look away, so badly but she couldn’t. It was like she enjoyed and feared what was going on with her at the same time. It baffled her. He didn’t look away either, not for even a second.
So locked remained their gaze till Gwen dragged her completely out of the hallway and she couldn’t see him anymore.
When they got to the room, she still felt dazed.
That dark aura around him terrified her to her very bones.
That aura of death.
“You shouldn’t have gone there at all. I should have been there to stop you,” Gwen mumbled to herself.
“What was that? What had happened back there?” Zezi finally found her voice.
Gwen stopped for a while and stared at her. Her gaze was cold, nothing like the one that had welcomed her and she had felt at home with.
“I can’t tell you.”
“So all of you kill without touching your victims?”
“Not all of us and vampires don’t die, we are immortals.”
“But he died!” Zezi snapped. She felt like she was slowly losing it. It wasn’t safe here, it wasn’t safe at all.
“He died. Except if he didn’t. Except if there was another way. Except if he wasn’t.”
“Don’t trouble yourself about it, My Lady. It will do you no good. It is best you act like it never happened.” Gwen started leaving but Zezi’s brain was working really fast and before she could close the door, Zezi ran at wolf speed and pushed it back.
“What is your King? He is no ordinary vampire, is he?”
Gwen stared at her coldly for a while before she spoke, “the King of all vampires is no ordinary vampire.”
Without another word, she left.
Zezi locked the door shut, then made her way to her bed.
Why did it feel like that statement meant a lot more?
*****
The next morning, Zezi had awoken by a knock. She opened the door and there was Gwen wheeling in a trolley with a smile plastered on her face. Not any of that cold look she had on yesterday. It was like that person was entirely gone or had never even existed to begin with.
“Rise and shine, my Lady!”
Zezi nodded curtly then dashed into the bathroom to freshen up. While she did that, she heard Gwen talking as she set the food on the table.
“… I tell my kids all the time that an early to rise is always an early to shine. How about that?”
Zezi didn’t spend so much time in the bathroom. Immediately Gwen was done setting the table, she was already out with a clean dress on her.
“That was fast. You are indeed surprising.”
Zezi stared uneasily at Gwen, comparing the cold one that had held her hand in the hallway to the one that stood by the table with a large smile.
This just didn’t feel right.
She took note of the long sleeve that Gwen wore, contrary to the short-sleeved flowery dress that Zezi had seen her wear for the few days that she had been there.
“The food is going to get cold.”
Zezi made her way to the table, sat down and sucked in a deep breath. The aroma of the food was absolutely enticing.
“Enjoy your meal,” Gwen said, turning to leave.
“About yesterday…”
“Yesterday?” Gwen chuckled.
“What about yesterday?”
There was something about her face and that large smile that seemed totally out of place.
“Tell me what happened in that hallway, Gwen. I need to know.”
“What hallway?”
Zezi stared back at her but something she saw in her blank eyes made Zezi’s heart race.
It was like as if she had forgotten.
Zezi would give anything to be able to listen to her heartbeat right now and determine if this was all a big facade but…
Gwen had no beating heart.
The more she stared at Gwen, the more worried Zezi became.
Had they done something to her? What exactly had she walked in on to make them alter Gwen’s memory? Or maybe she was just really good at lying.
Well, that could be it.
“I know you told me to pretend it never happened but…”
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Lady Zezi.” Gwen’s eyes furrowed in confusion.
“Maybe this new environment has your mind mixed up. If you are finding problems adjusting, just tell me and I will tell the King. Or you could just tell him yourself,” Gwen winked mischievously, her voice hinting at something entirely different.
“I wonder how that would go down.”
Excitement rushed in Zezi’s veins before she blinked quickly, banishing the thoughts that had ambushed her mind against her will.
For a brief moment right there, she had imagined Gwen’s last statement.
Imagined how it would go down.
She was mad at herself for even thinking it. She felt digusted with the raw thoughts that had flashed in her mind.
How dare her mind bring up such images with a Monster!
“Forget I asked,” Zezi finally said, giving up. She was certain about what she saw though.
Her only conclusion was that they had most definitely altered Gwen’s memory.
“Alright then. It’s going to happen sooner or later. It definitely will happen.” Gwen said on a teasing note while she wheeled the trolley past her.
Zezi definitely didn’t agree with her statement and she had turned from her food to air her thoughts when those long sleeves Gwen wore caught her eyes once again.
She squinted at it and without a word, reached for Gwen’s hand that was closest to her and ripped the sleeves off.
Gwen immediately stopped.
Marks! Long red marks of whips that stretched up Gwen’s plump skin.
Zezi gasped in horror and stood up immediately making her seat fall back. She traced those marks with her eyes.
They seem to run on and on till she couldn’t finally see them anymore, till the gown Gwen wore buried the rest.
Her body must be full of them.
Those horribly looking marks!
That must be the reason why she was wearing such an overflowing dress.
She must have been punished but Vampires don’t scar that easily. They heal quickly, even faster than werewolves. Whatever she had been punished with was no ordinary thing.
Then her mind flashed to what she must have been punished for and her heart sanked.
She looked up at Gwen whose eyes were cold once again, just like that night in the hallway.
She snatched the piece of cloth from Zezi, her hand holding the handle of the trolley in a death grip.
“What did he do to you?”
“Nothing compared to what he will do to me if you ever wander so far that hallway again, my Lady. You don’t have to worry anyway, you don’t have to worry about anything. Just don’t delve too deep, sometimes not knowing is bliss.”
“Gwen.”
Her eyes switched again and a smile plastered on her face.
“Your food is getting cold, my Lady. Enjoy your meal.”
This time around, Zezi wasn’t confused. They had not done anything to her memory instead they had punished her. Zezi picked up her chair and sat back down, her brain thinking fast.
She knew what she needed to do.
What had happened in that hallway wasn’t anything ordinary, probably something bigger than she had suspected. Most likely something she shouldn’t have ever walked in on.
These creatures were dangerous and she needed to get out of here while she still had her life.
Although, she knew that the King would never allow any misfortune to befall her but to her, he was already the biggest misfortune that could have ever befallen her.
It was him she needed to run away from.