With Damien who left the hall to go back to his room, Lady Fleurance ran to her daughter’s side. Maggie followed her step-mother’s steps, going to stand next to the chair as her younger sister stared at the empty space ahead of her. She sat there with a blank expression, her upper jaw bleeding with trickles of blood that fell down from her lips to trail down to her neck and her clothes. Lady Fleurance picked the fangs that were covered in blood, speaking to her daughter,
“Gracie?” her voice was soft and gentle. Taking the ropes that were tied around her hands to the armrest. When Maggie tried to help, stepping close with her hands raised, “Stop!” came the sharp voice of her step-mother, “Don’t even think of touching her. Your brother and you framed this, didn’t you? Always treating us like outsiders. Stay away from her.”
“Mother-”
“STOP! Grace doesn’t need your help. Leave us,” Lady Fleurance looked away from Maggie not wanting to her face or anyone’s right now. Her daughter looked wrecked and broken as if she would never be herself from now.
“I apologize for what has happened,” Maggie bowed her head for a second and then walking back to her room.
Lady Fleurance picked up her daughter from the chair, taking her by her arm, she helped her back to her room, “You don’t have to worry about what happened. There’s the council doctor who has experience in these things and he will fix back a new pair in no time,” but Grace didn’t react or say a word.
With them who lived in the high society of the pureblooded vampires, fangs were the most important weapon that defined them as who they were. It was a matter of pride to have them and without it they were nothing.
“Here drink this,” said the lady bringing a glass of water to her daughter who took it without any complaint. That night a lot of them didn’t fall asleep.
Penny dreamed over what happened. The slaps and the kick on her back. The way the vampiress had pulled her, dragging her like she were a low dog towards the black market. But that didn’t stop there, the girl had continued to take her to a place until she was back on the platform of where the bidding took place.
Her breathing turned quick in her sleep that had Damien’s eyes snapping open to see the change in the intake of her breath. Bad dreams, thought Damien to himself. Moving closer to her, he leaned forward to have his lips placed near her ears,
“You are safe,” he whispered the words in her ears, “Don’t fear anything. You have nothing to lose and if something happens, I will be there. You are safe right now, Penny. Safe,” he said to her softly without waking her up.
And in less than a minute, the raging heart of hers had fallen back quiet to its normal rhythm. He looked down at her sleeping face. It was only a matter of time before he would have revealed who she was but not what she was. That was something that would never be revealed.
He could go set a meeting with the priest of the church but he didn’t want to leave the mansion right now. Especially with emotions that were all over the place and it wasn’t just him. Vengeance was always sweet and with what Grace had done he could have pushed the chair into the sea they are surrounded with.
Sleeping next to Penny while listening to her hear breathing. He placed a hand below his head, crossing his legs as he laid on the bed.
There was not an ounce of regret but satisfaction for what he had done. The punishment had been severe than death.
When morning arrived, Penny woke up with her eyes that struggled to open up. Her body hurt as she had slept the entire night in one position.
“Good morning, mouse. Slept well?” came Damien’s voice behind her as he stepped out of this bath. The fresh fragrance of soap filling up the morning air in the room.
Penny gave him a nod, “You?” she asked.
“Wonderful sleep as always,” his feet padded around the room and he walked to pull out the drawer from the dressing table, “Will you be able to walk down to the dining room?” he glanced at her and then back to look at his reflection in the mirror in front of him.
Her thoughts quickly went to meeting the other members of Quinn and the shame that took place yesterday, “Can I stay in here?” she asked looking at him in the eye.
“You can but my question was if you could walk down,” he didn’t leave his gaze.
“I can,” and before she had finished pronouncing the last word, he clapped his hands to say,
“Good. Breakfast is going to be there for thirty minutes. It should be sufficient time to wash your face and fix your face if you need to,” Penny glared at him quietly.
“Glaring is not going to do anything right now. Get yourself moving. If you haven’t fixed yourself, I won’t mind taking you down there the way you are now,” saying this he padded to the other side of the room to fetch his trouser and shirt.
And last night she thought, he was being nice. Did the coin flip where he was back to torment her? But the more she concentrated on him, it appeared that his emotions were calm and happy. Was this also how a killer felt before killing his victim? asked Penny herself. Placing her feet down, she made her way to the bathroom while keeping her back tight.
Skipping the bath right now, she washed her face and brushed her hair before going to stand in front of Damien who was tying the lace of his shoe, sitting on the bed. Once he was done with it, he looked up at her.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
