NOVPUBThe vampire blanched and nodded his head vigorously at Cassius’ assault and domineering aura. Once he let his wrist free, he scampered to the side, sitting down next to one of their collard slaves. Aila raised her brow at Cassius, keeping her charade of iciness.
"Was that really necessary?" She asked, raising a brow. Cassius looked at her incredulously, and she felt his temper flaring at her ungratefulness. "I could have resolved it just as violently."
Cassius scoffed. "I think you would do more than just break his wrist." He stepped closer to her. "You have quite the little temper."
Aila held his gaze and smirked. "Then you should know better than to piss me off." She spun on the spot then halted again as she saw Claudina glaring at her.
"How ungrateful your mutt is. You should put a collar on her. Teach her a few tricks while you are at it," Claudina sneered, then stepped back when Aila’s eyes glowed, and a growl left her lips.
"He likes his ’mutt’ untrained." Aila stepped towards the vampiress, her hand tightening on the champagne flute. She’d only known the woman for less than an hour, and already she’d had enough. Everything about her made Aila’s blood boil. She was arrogant and conceited and poked her nose where it didn’t belong.
The glass in her hand shattered, making Claudina yelp and fly to Cassius’ side, grasping at his arm. Aila rolled her eyes and stepped over the fallen glass, glancing at the vampire who pushed her plump breasts into Cassius’ arm. "There is untrained, and then there is just beastly!" She screeched, making Cassius grimace then glare at her. She bit her lip and twirled her hair around her finger.
"Cass, baby. I haven’t seen you in forever. Stop spending time with your latest toy when you have me by your side."
Aila bit her tongue at the word ’beastly’. She looked down on werewolves and especially hated her. Ignoring the vampiress who only wanted to stir things up, she lowered down to clean up the mess, but Fiona was there holding her hands up. "No, your highness. Please let me."
At her words, the room went silent apart from the music blaring from the speakers.
"Highness?"
"What does she mean?"
"Who is she?"
Aila straightened up, brushing down the front of her white jumpsuit, ignoring everybody’s stares. She would only follow what Cassius deemed fit to tell this group of vampires. Though when she glanced at him, the vampire was talking with Claudina.
With his distraction and the need of her own, she walked through the open patio doors and stopped just before the balcony wall, leaning one hand on it while she removed her pointed white heels.
"Care to join?" She asked quietly, knowing well who had followed her onto the balcony.
"It’s a bit stifling in there. So, don’t mind if I do." Davian hopped over the balcony, landing on the grass below without any issues. Aila followed suit, and then they were off jogging towards the woods. She felt lighter on her feet already, and she hadn’t even shifted, but it felt like she had a small ounce of freedom as the cool night air brushed through her hair.
Once Aila was well inside the coverage of trees, she started to strip out of her clothes, folding them neatly into a plastic bag she left there from last time. Then the breaking of bones echoed in the nighttime, and the shredding of her skin sprouted out the white fur of her wolf as she grew in size. She stretched her legs, feeling the ache and need to run unbearable now.
As soon as she saw Davian’s silver wolf, they raced off. It was a quiet run, peaceful and well and truly needed.
Aila let Malia take over, letting her run and play for at least two hours. At times she went near the borders of Cassius’ territory, and Aila knew she was testing security and Davian. Running away would be so sweet, but they couldn’t, not yet, plus the bond wouldn’t allow it. Even if they made it far, Cassius could just call them back like how he called Davian to rescue him from that tomb.
"Back. Now." Cassius’ command echoed through her mind, stilling Malia in the process of running near the barrier that kept them hidden from the world.
Davian whimpered and barked, calling to her to come back with him. It was obvious he also commanded him to return and to make sure she was with him. It had been two sweet, wonderful hours of freedom, but now, it felt too short as they returned to the woods. With a whine, Malia returned the reins to her, and she shifted back into her human form.
Walking forwards, Aila halted when she realised her bag wasn’t by the tree. She looked around, searching for the bag, believing she had misplaced it or got the wrong tree. But Davian’s return near her original spot made her frown.
Wait, did those vampires steal her clothes? No.. They wouldn’t. What.. How old were they!?
"Davian.. I need your shirt."
With Davian’s black shirt hanging loosely over her like a dress, they walked back to the castle. Aila marched back to the guest quarters, stopping in the middle of the bloodied room, her hands on her hips. But her annoyance and temper faded and was replaced by shock.
It had only been two hours, and the room now looked like a crazy murder scene. Blood was everywhere, even trickling down the walls. How did it even get there?
Bodies were crumpled up on the ground; at least five humans with collars on were lying lifeless and pale. But what made her pause was seeing two of their own feeders dead. Aila turned her head, eyes wide, searching for Cassius, but he wasn’t in the room. There were only crazed vampires left, all of them drinking blood from the slaves and a few even sharing one.
It was like it was planned.
Aila looked away from the scene and glanced at Davian’s sour expression. "Is this normal?" Aila whispered. She needed to know. It was already heart-wrenching to see bodies piling up, and everyone seemed to act like it really was normal.
"Sometimes. But I don’t know why Cass isn’t here to control it," Davian muttered with a shrug, but Aila stared at him and noticed it was all an act, most likely to keep her calm. He may lose his cool occasionally, but someone with five hundred years behind them must have seen almost every incredulous thing now. Good and bad.
Aila looked away, her heart feeling heavy and her shoulders slumping. She couldn’t bear to be there any longer. She came there for a reason, and that was to prove the vampire’s ridiculous plan of stealing her clothes was utterly pathetic. Even if Davian wasn’t there, she would have still walked in on them naked. She was a werewolf; being naked and revealing her body felt normal now.
Not that she’d want everyone to gawk at her body, but she wanted to prove a point. Now, she just wanted to crawl back to bed and hide until these monsters were gone.
But as she started to drag her legs away, she stopped after seeing Claudina in the hallway rip the throat out of one of their feeder’s necks. She looked back at her, blood dripping down her chin and smiled maliciously, revealing her fangs as she stepped towards her.
"Why did you do that?!" Aila exclaimed, furious that the vampiress didn’t even kill by drinking too much but by outright murdering them.
Claudina tilted her head to the side. "Because I wanted to."
Aila’s hands curled into fists, her eyes blazing. But she turned around, not letting the vampire get to her. There was only so much bullshit Cassius would put up with. She was actually surprised he’d let Claudina get away with some of her actions. But maybe it was because they were lovers, or well, had slept together over the years.
Just as she was calming herself down and wanting to leave, she stopped again, this time from the sound of two necks snapping. Aila looked across the room, her mouth gaping. Claudina killed two more of their feeders!
The vampiress snapped her fingers at another vampire, and he reached for the nearest human, abiding by her wishes. He sunk his teeth into their neck, and Aila could tell from the way Geralt’s face scrunched together in pain that they were doing it on purpose. He was going to kill him by drinking too much!
Aila dashed forwards and grabbed Geralt by the arm, pulling him behind her while struggling to keep his body upright and not slumping over from so much blood loss. The vampire hissed at her, but she hissed back. "MINE!" She growled. "This human is mine!"
She let her fangs show, silencing Claudina and her minion from shock.
"You have your own humans, and yet you are discarding Cassius’. Where is the respect?!" Aila’s voice boomed across the room with her rising anger. She felt someone tug at Geralt, and she whipped her head around, ready to attack but paused when she saw Davian. She let him take the feeder as she stared the room full of vampires down before stepping up to Claudina.
"Are you so keen on ending your life?" Her voice was low, chilling and full of malice as the flecks of red in her eyes started to burn brightly.
Claudina scoffed. "Ending? Such cheap words.. What the hell are YOU anyway, dog?!" She kept her mouth open, her fangs on show, threateningly at Aila.
"Well shit, it seems you only have looks and no brains," Aila remarked sarcastically. There were a few snickers from the crowd that started to form around them. "I’m part werewolf and vampire."
This gained everyone’s attention; their eyes widened. Claudina looked her up and down, crossing her arms. "How disgusting." She spat, making the crowd stir. It was obvious she was the one in charge of this group of vampires. If Cassius stepped up, she knew they’d be under control. But he was letting it happen.
Aila’s face hardened, even more, her icy gaze on the vampiress.
"You’re disgusting," Aila snapped back. "Look at this place. Dead bodies, blood covering the walls."
"I don’t have to listen to a disgusting half-breed-"
"No. You don’t have to listen." Aila kicked the wooden coffee table, breaking the leg off and swiftly turned, clutching the vampiress by the neck with her growing claws before piercing her heart with the make-shift stake. Claudina’s stunning features shrivelled up, her skin going grey before her head slumped forwards.
Aila stepped back, leaving the vampiress to hang on the wall where she stuck her with the stake. "Anyone else have an issue with this disgusting hybrid?" She looked around the room, freezing it with her glare. They shook their heads and took an involuntary step backwards. "Then I suggest you steer clear of me."
With that, Aila abruptly turned and stalked off; her eyes rested on Cassius’ briefly. He was against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his foot resting on the wall. He was watching her proudly. She didn’t say a word as she left the room.
