I settle on the bed, polishing off the soup bowl, before choosing another dish to sink my teeth into.
Tonight I will lick my wounds, metaphorically speaking.
Tomorrow will be another day to face that baffling creature, head on.
CHAPTER 10
Aimee
It’sbeenfivedayssince the embarrassing incident, and I haven’t seen or heard a peep from either Killian or Blaise.
When I finally succumbed to my curiosity, halfway through this silent treatment from their part, and asked Nella about their whereabouts, she just vaguely answered that they were away on important missions. I tried to press further, and pry more information out of her, but she just shrugged, stating that this kind of information was above her station.
At first, I was more than thankful that they left me to my own devices and filled my time with more sleuthing around the castle. But as the days dragged on, and I didn’t come up with any solutions to my lack of proper weapons, or a way to escalate those damn walls, dread filled my bones.
What if they were hunting down my sister, and they showed up at any moment, with Aurora in tow?
All hell would break loose for me. I started to regard their absence as the calm before the motherfucking storm.
It’s past midnight now, and I am filled with restless energy, so I decided to walk it off, slinking away through the shadows of the ground floor.
Maybe I can reach the kitchens below, and steal a butcher’s knife, taking advantage of the late hour. Maybe the humans won’t notice one missing knife from the fully equipped castle kitchen. And if they do, it’s easy to misplace a cutting blade in the hustle and bustle of such a big cooking area. It’s not only the best plan I’ve got for securing a blade, it’s the only one.
A slightly ajar door, flooding the corridor with warm light, catches my eye as I head down the dim hallway towards my destination.
A slight moan resounds in the utter silence, and my stupid nosiness gets the best of me. I inch closer and peek through the crack.
What I see has me rooted on the spot, my breath catching in my throat. The intimate room is faintly lit by overhead black candles, casting provocative shadows on the deep cherry red walls. It looks similar to the sitting room where Blaise took me after our run-in outside by the fountain the other day, with the slight difference that there are no sofas or low tables. Instead, a round, heavy table stands in the middle of the room.
Killian, Blaise, and a vampiress I’ve never seen before gather around said table, each one feeding from the throat of a human perched in offering on the tabletop.
All three of them are wearing similar combat leathers, and they look worse for the wear.
Another moan slips from the lips of the human woman under Blaise’s clutches, and the sound is more sexual than I would like to admit. Are these people here willingly, taking pleasure from being drained to an inch of their life by these dark creatures?
The air feels thick with lust and depravity, and even I am not immune to the intoxicating sultriness of the moment. My palms become sweaty, my thoughts a jumbled mess, and I’m not sure if it’s in fear or arousal.
I take a step back, ready to run away as silently as possible. But, as my lack of luck would have it, the folds of my purple dress make a faint noise, and Killian picks up on it, raising his full-on crimson gaze and looking at me straight in the eyes. I pray to any willing Gods that he won’t notice how affected I am by what I am witnessing.
He parts his lips from the redhead’s throat that is arching her back towards him, and a drop of blood runs down his chin, before he licks it away. He cocks a brow, as if letting me know that he indeed senses my inner turmoil.
“I see you’re feeling much better, little menace,” he says in a dry tone as he motions the human off the table. Two sets of red eyes snap my way, and I feel rooted to the spot.
Blaise rips his fangs from the human, regarding me with amused crimson eyes, while the vampiress keeps feeding, narrowing her stare at me.
There’s such blatant discontent in her eyes towards me, and I shudder. If I thought the males were wicked, she looks thoroughly terrifying.
“Come in, kitty cat. We don’t bite.” Blaise motions for me to step forward with his fingers. “Unless you want us to, that is.”
Killian throws a dark look his way, and Blaise just shrugs his shoulders before muttering, “Sorry, not sorry.”
“So this is the infamous magicless sister that your sorry ass brought in like a stray cat, Blaise.” The vampiress detangles herself from her mortal meal, cracking her neck. “She looks as insignificant as she is.”
I wince at the jab. I feel a comeback bubbling up in my throat, but I think better of it and stay silent. It’s clear that the femalehates me already, for some reason I can’t even fathom, and I don’t need to add another immortal enemy on the growing list of dangerous creatures I should avoid.
“Now, now, Leilah, don’t be petty. Play nice, will you? This kitty cat has claws.” Blaise says, bemused.
“I would like to see her try. I’ll snap her neck in two before she even gets the chance to blink my way.” Leilah answers Blaise, but the words are meant for me.
