Penelope didn’t know what she was doing but since the time he had spoken about his childhood where his heart had been corrupted, his mother being the cause who hadn’t realized it, she wanted to help him. For someone like her, who had only heard about corruption by words and the only person she met being him, she wanted to be of some use.
One would question her intentions which were hard to explain right now. It was a sudden change of heart. In the beginning, Penny despised this man for making her starve and making her sit on the floor while the rest sat at the table. Threatening her that if she were ever to escape he would make sure to hunt her down. Putting her posters all around the lands until she was brought back to him. Now that she thought about it, there was no way he could do it. Those were empty threats as he had to get herself drawn and an artist could do only match up to an extent. It would be a different matter if Master Damien knew how to draw and paint.
Things had changed though and she was glad he was the man to save her from the black market. She was grateful and would never be able to repay his kindness. The man was brash as he spoke but he spoke most of what was on his mind without holding back how he felt.
“I don’t think it is going to work, Penny,” she heard Damien speak. With her hands that were placed on his chest, she looked up to meet his eyes. Their body close in proximity, “Your eagerness brings me joy but I know the limitation of when a person has the ability and also when the person has the core of the heart corrupted.”
“There’s nothing wrong in trying,” she said, giving him a questionable look.
“True but with the trial of tries comes hope which isn’t good to carry. Humanity is a lost cause because of this very hope,” he said, his voice turning somewhere cold.
“But it is hope, that makes one live happily without carrying the burden on the shoulders,” Penny wondered if his words were truly right that he couldn’t help him, “The black witch, Bathsheba said I was a water-elemental white witch. If I can change the poison to water and blood to water. I should be able to remove the harmful particles that now run in your blood.”
“Do you hear your words, mouse. Everything you have turned until now it was only to change back to the water. Have you tried to change it back to blood?” he questioned her, his body falling back lax as he leaned further to the edge of the desk his back rested on, “Do you plan to kill me by turning my remaining good blood to water? No matter it be a human or a vampire, blood is what keeps us running and functioning.”
Damien had a point there. Would her trying to help him only make it worse for him?
“I don’t stop you from trying though if you think it is going to work,” he said but Penny’s confidence was shaken. What if she did something she didn’t mean to?
She didn’t want to do something she would regret and with that thought, she retraced her hands back to her side which had been placed on Damien’s chest.
“Are you scared?” he questioned her when she moved her hand away.
Penny whispered, “Yes. I should first look and see if I can turn the blood impurities to clearer blood.”
“By then I would be dead,” he deadpanned making her snap her head at him.
“What?”
His voice was serious as he said, “You didn’t think I have a long life to live now, did you? With my already corrupted heart and the black witches who tried to inject me with spitgrass to turn me into a completely converted corrupted vampire, I haven’t been myself. It was why I was unable to come here on time.”
“But you are here,” was there something wrong with him now.
“I might be here but I know how you see my eyes. Noticing those black flecks that are in there, knowing the corruption is taking place. I might go berserk at any time,” he shrugged his shoulders like his life meant nothing.
“W-what do you mean by that? We should take you to the council doctor. Or a white witch,” he could sense the worry in her tone of voice. The fret so evident that he basked in it. How long had he been for Penny to have finally opened her heart and mind to him which she finally did without realizing it. Of course, he was perfectly alright but a man could only gain sympathy and worry from his woman’s eyes that he so much craved.
“I don’t think any other white witch could help me right now. If the word were to get out about my corruption, I would be rechecked and executed on the council grounds. And if it is Murkh you are going talking about. That man will happily hand me over the council to get me back so that he can cut out my chest to see what is wrong. We wouldn’t want that…would you?” he questioned her.
Damien Quinn was a known sadist. It was one of the main qualities of his that got highlighted around people who knew him. He enjoyed embarrassing people and hurting them. The emotional pain that he fed on but this one was different. The more he tried to explore Penny the more he found himself to be ecstatic.
Her face was marred with worry.
“What are we going to do then?” she asked him.
“Well, I can send you over to someone else’s home who can take care of you better. Only that you will have to hide your identity,” he noticed a certain sadness that came over her. Compared to Penny, Damien had more access to her emotions, that he was able to read it more openly than if her, As she would have to concentrate harder, “You look sad,” he stated.
“You are going to die. You want me to be happy about it?” she questioned wondering why Damien was not worried about his own life. Was this how every pureblooded vampires lived? Not caring about when they died because they were satisfied over the years they lived on.
