“Yes…” I said. Under my breath: stupid, ungrateful bitch.
“You’ve killed my whole pack,” she said loudly, with a dirty finger pointed in my face, confusing me. How was she pissed? That was the plan all along—so she could get away.
“I was ordered to, for you, you fucking bitch!” I said, losing my temper. The comment, I think, threw her off and angered her more. That was when I finally got a good look around, to try to figure out where I was. The walls were dark-grey cement, and there appeared to be water dripping down the corners. The only dim light was in the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling. It was covered in dust, and gave me no further insight into where the hell I was. My toes rubbed against the cool, gritty cement floor. Where did my shoes go? The cool sensation of the floor caused goose-bumps to form on my arms. There wasn’t anything hanging on the walls, and the only thing I saw, besides the undeads, was a small blocked-off window. It was way too small for my lady humps to get through. So much for escape routes—well, that was, if I was actually going to be able to get past these assholes. I looked down. At least they’d left my outfit on. Classy girl in a dingy basement—probably the ending of a lot of horror movies. How’d I let this happen?
That stupid panther must have got caught up with another group, because they were not supposed to travel alone. It always looked highly unusual and suspicious to travel alone, if you were once part of a gang. She must have thought of a crazy story to cover her ass. She must have said that I killed her gang and she got away—like that would have ever happened. Why she had to throw me under the bus, I couldn’t understand.
“This hunter is crazy…” she belted out. “Kill her now, before any of her hunting party arrives,” she said as she walked over to stand next to her fellow shape shifters.
“I don’t have a hunting party, so you’re good to kill me at any time,” I mocked. If they’d wanted me dead, they would have killed me by now. What they wanted me for, I had no idea.
“Oh, don’t worry. We definitely plan on doing that. But before that…I’m really interested in getting to know you,” one of the empyreal spoke up and stepped closer to me. I glanced over at panther. She looked nervous. I should have thrown her under the bus, like she did to me, but honestly, it wasn’t even something I considered. I wasn’t an undead like these monsters, so I wouldn’t sink to their level.
“Well, as much of a fun time that sounds like…you’re not really my type, so I don’t really have any interest in talking to you.” I’d expected a slap, or at least a growl, at my comment, but instead, all I got was an extremely high smirk.
“It’s funny you’d say that I wasn’t your type…that’s what I wanted to speak with you about, for it’s kind of hard to be your type, since your standards seem to be set at royal,” he hissed. What the hell is he talking about? “You look confused.” He laughed. He was 100% correct—I had no idea what he was talking about, what it meant to have royal standards.
“I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about…” I said honestly.
“Liar!” called out the panther. “She was probably going to kill him too, like she killed my gang, but she’s sick in the head, so she was probably just planning on doing it slowly—for her own pleasure!”
“Shut up, panther!” said the empyreal, putting the panther back in her place.
“Panther’s probably right!” said another empyreal vamp. “That’s why I never agreed to Calogero coming out here with only a small gang. Look at what he’s gotten himself into. This bitch has probably been tracking him for months. If only he would act like the rest of the royals, we wouldn’t have this problem. Not even the were or witch royals behave this way. Seriously, after this, we should put into place that no royal, especially not a vamp royal like Calogero, go out unprotected. They are the oldest and most powerful of the royals—our council could not afford such a loss.”
“Calm down, Rolan…Don’t let panther get you all riled up. Calogero is no fool. He would have known that this…this thing…was hunting him. I believe her when she says she’s in no hunting party, for they would have already attempted to save her. There’s something else here, and I’m trying to figure it out, so if you all would shut up and let me speak to the thing, we might get somewhere!” said the first empyreal.
“What do you mean something else is going on, Chuck? I don’t really see anything besides this bitch hunting him,” Rolan said as he stepped up to get a better look at me. “Tell me why you were hunting Calogero, or I will kill you now!” I couldn’t help but laugh, not at the fact that this thing was telling me it was going to kill me, but that he had called the other empyreal vampire Chuck. Funny name for a vampire, if you ask me.
“I threaten your life…and you laugh?” said Rolan as he gave me the slap I had expected earlier. His skin was so sharp, it felt as if he’d slashed razorblades across my face. “So you laugh because you think I won’t kill you, huh? Well, you are mistaken there! I’m not sure why we’re even still talking…at first, I thought there might be something more to you…like Chuck was saying, but now, you’re so fucking frustrating that you’re not even worth keeping alive to find anything out! Now, you either start telling us something, or I’m going to kill you, nice and slow, so that you’ll feel your heart slowly begin to deprive itself of oxygen as I gradually take out each ounce of your blood from your body.”
“I have nothing to say, because I know nothing of what you’re speaking of. I have never tracked anything that I left alive. I have no idea who Calogero is—who has everyone’s panties in a twist. But, trust me, if I did, he wouldn’t be alive, if I was tracking him. I don’t like to keep the undeserving—I mean, undead—alive.” They were going to kill me anyway, so I didn’t feel the need to put this off any longer. I figured, if I angered them enough, they couldn’t help but to kill me quickly, when they let their frustrations out.
But what was this talk about a royal? I’d never hunted, or even seen, one. I’d heard Claire mention them here and there, and my old hunting party had hyped them up to be more of an urban legend, if anything. They said, basically, that they were the highest you could get in the undead world. That they were the oldest and most powerful, and if you found out you were hunting one, you should run the fuck away, because your only chance of survival was if they hadn’t noticed you yet. Claire had once told me a story of how the lazy ones would push suicidal thoughts into the happiest people they could find to make them kill themselves, so they wouldn’t have to actually make an effort on their hunts. Royals, in general, were supposed to be quicker, smarter, and the rulers of the undead world. Each race of the undead had them, but the vampire ones were known to be the most vicious.
“Now we know you’re lying,” said Chuck as if he had proved his point that I was keeping some type of valuable information from them. “We caught you right by his place, and there are no other undead in that area.” This was not good. They had caught me not far from Braxton’s place; that meant he must be living close to a royal vampire. That was probably the worst luck you could ever have. I needed to think up a story—quickly. I couldn’t tell them why I was really over there, because they would definitely kill Braxton, trying to pry information from him that he had no clue about. Shit—I still had no clue what information they were trying to get from me. I also couldn’t believe that I hadn’t noticed my bracelet light up when I went to his place. Surely, if there were a royal in that area, the thing would have been lighting up like crazy
“She’s not going to tell us anything. Let’s just kill her and get on with it. She has no hunting party to tell us about, she’s lying about hunting a royal, and if she was even good enough to get close to Calogero, she’s too dangerous to let live. Not to mention, we know of at least three undeads that she’s killed from panther’s group, so, Chuck, you’re prying for information that just isn’t there—or worth any more of our time. Who wants to do it?” said Rolan.
“But I really think…there’s something else going on here wi
th Calogero…I…” Chuck mumbled.
“Enough, of this nonsense, Chuck!” said the third empyreal that had remained silent, up until now. “I know you were not about to dare speak ill of a royal. I’ve listened to this nonsense long enough. Rolan is right, and I have highest authority here, so I will have no more of this. I feel that, if I would have let you carry on, Chuck, you would be in line of an execution yourself, so, for the sake of your life, and our laws, it is time to dispose of this waste.”
“Fine,” said a disappointed Chuck.
“Even though I would love to kill this smartass myself,” said Rolan, “I feel it is only fair to let the panther do it, since she has the most resentment for this thing. Is everyone in agreement?” he asked, and Chuck, the were, the shape shifters, and the higher empyreal all nodded. Rolan turned away, letting panther step forward, as he threw me a smirk. Yeah, that was a joke. He only let panther do it, because he knew I would die slower, because she wasn’t nearly as powerful as him. She was the last person in the room I wanted to kill me. The others were all much more powerful, and it would have been a much quicker death, but now I would have to die slowly, as this piece of shit, low-strength shape shifter killed me. I hoped she would at least go for my neck first so that the loss of blood would numb my body.
I closed my eyes and tried to think of the first person I would want to see when I died, and hopefully, went to heaven. I would go to heaven, right? I had killed, which was a sin, but it was only undeads, who killed humans, so I figured that had to counteract the sin. Hopefully, I would see my grandmother first. To this day, I still missed her, even though I tried not to think about it. Maybe I would see my old hunting party. I thought about them each time I staked a son of a bitch. I don’t think I would see Kevin there, which was good, because I would probably try to kill him again—and in heaven, that probably wasn’t allowed. I took what I thought would be my last deep breath, because I could feel that she was inches from me.
I could sense her raising her hand to strike me. Stupid thing was going to hit me in the face first? Just go for the neck, damn it! Before I felt the blow, I heard a loud smack—as if someone had stopped her from hitting my face—and from her scream, I could tell that was exactly what had happened. I opened my eyes and saw two hands—at the speed of light—had latched themselves onto her head as they tore it from her torso and threw it towards the werewolf. What the hell just happened? I looked around to see all the undeads—well, besides panther, of course—staring in my direction at whatever was behind me. Their eyes were lit up in horror—something I had only seen on an undead, when a stake was in their chest.
I took a deep breath and tried to process what was happening: panther was about to strike me, and whatever was behind me killed her, before she even graced my skin. Who would do that? Shad, possibly. But there was no way any human could have moved that fast. Plus, I was pretty sure I had achieved a permanent spot on his hit list. I felt my breath quicken as I could feel whatever was behind me slowly creep closer to where I sat. I felt its solid hands rest on my shoulders. It was going to kill me, like it did to panther. It had to be an undead. Maybe it was one that I hadn’t seen in the room earlier. Maybe it was unhappy that panther was chosen to kill me, because it had wanted to kill me. But why would it go to the length of decapitating her?
“Calogero,” the undeads all said together.
“Yes…” hissed the deep voice behind me. It sounded really strong, and pissed off. It seemed to be trying to calm its breathing, to not explode, as its hands gripped my shoulders tightly.
“What are the means of this planned execution…and why was I not informed?” Calogero sounded as if he was about to explode again…which I definitely didn’t want to be around to see, since I had just witnessed what he did to panther. There was something about his voice that, weirdly enough, seemed to calm my body. It was almost familiar, but because of the aggression behind it, I couldn’t tell why.
“We had some concerns…Calogero…We thought she was hunting you…and…” Chuck was trying to find words.
“She was not hunting me,” Calogero interrupted. They all looked scared, and not just ‘boo’ scared, like scared shitless, like they were on death row and it was their time. Last meals, anyone? I wanted to say out loud, but refrained myself. I really knew how to put myself into the best situations. Here I was, surrounded by undeads, and a royal had its hands on my shoulders and was close enough that I could hear it shaking in anger, its fingertips trembling on my shoulders.
“She actually is no business of any of yours. Leave now, and I will take care of this myself, you fools,” he growled.
“Calogero…may I speak?” asked Rolan.
“If you feel you must,” Calogero replied coldly.
“We were only looking out for your best interest—honest. If I would have known it would be a problem to not inform you, you certainly must know I would have right away. It’s just, with things of this concern, royals tend to be pissed off that you informed them, due to them being bothered. In my experience, they typically want you to deal with it on your own, which is all we were trying to do. Being under your father’s council for so long, I feel compelled to ask why you have taken such interest in this one instance; I’ve never seen you bothered by matters like this before—especially when it comes to dealing with an undead hunter, who we have definite proof of her killing off almost a whole gang. Well, we had proof, but it seems you murdered the only one who witnessed the instance.” I felt Calogero’s fingers tighten their grip on my shoulders.
“I do not have to answer your questions or give an explanation of why I choose to do anything,” Calogero said.
“I really wish you would, so that the confusion and ill thoughts I’m having would venture out of my head,” Rolan said.
“I really wish that you wouldn’t speak of having ill thoughts or concerns, for they are none of your business. Now, leave me to take care of this on my own,” Calogero said.
“As you wish. I do find it tempting, since this one was so spunky, and I am thirsty from a long trip. Would it be possible for me to stay for some of the consumption?” Rolan asked.
“No,” said Calogero.
“I do have to wonder how a royal didn’t ever come across word of there being undead hunters around. Someone of your gifts surely could sense, just from the absence of undead, that there had to be a hunter around.” Rolan seemed to be accusing. “If you wish to make her your blood slave, then my head would be clear; you know there is no shame in this for royals.”
“I don’t feel the need to inform you of what my plan is,” Calogero said, and I felt his hands lift from my shoulders. Something was about to happen; I could feel it.
“In fact, I feel that, by now, you must know what it is—unless you are completely stupid…which I know you are not—but if only you were smarter, you wouldn’t have asked so many questions. I’m sure you’re now at the right conclusion in your head, and it even saddens me—slightly—to do this, since you have served so long under my father’s counsel,” said Calogero.
“Calogero…think this over…you’re a royal. You can’t believe in such waste! They will find out, you know, and for what?” Rolan pleaded, but was given no reaction, and I watched as he lowered his head, as if ready to be hanged. As he did this, I saw something fly past me and collapse on top of the werewolf. I saw it fight for a second, but this royal seemed to have—with his fingers—slit the were’s throat, before it could move its arm up to protect itself. Of course, it was too dark for me to really see anything.
It was then that I felt three bodies collapse on me and begin to tear at my body. The impact from the collapse busted my chair, and I tried to kick my legs free as I felt the shape shifters grab for my neck and my limbs, trying to pull them apart. The last thing I remember was one of their paws—not sure from which undead, for they transformed so fast and I was already numb from the first blow—slam into my face and my world going black.
Chapter 16
> Black Out
I awoke, feeling like a drunk college girl who had stayed the night at a frat house. I had a pounding headache, a sore body, and no idea where I was. Walk of shame, here I come. A scream left my lips as some of the events of last night flashed before my eyes, making my head throb even more. I looked around me and saw random limbs—well, undead body parts—and blood thrown around the room. It seemed as if I had missed one hell of a fight. Hopefully, they had taken each other out, and I could get away. But, of course, I couldn’t be that lucky. I looked up to see—what had to be—Calogero, sitting in a dark corner. All I could see were his legs; the shadow of the corner was hiding his face. Why was I still alive if this thing was still here? It seemed to notice, probably by my scream, that I was awake, and it opened its eyes. They were a fierce, dark, ruby-red—almost black—color, which I could see through the dark shadow he was sitting in. The ruby-red color I’d see only once before, and, until now, I thought the color was something I’d imagined as I was passing out from a loss of blood, the night I’d almost died killing my first werewolf. But why was I seeing those eyes once again? None of this made sense. Why would he have been there? Why would he have left me alive—then, and now even?
“I know you’re awake, Caylee. How are you feeling?” he asked.
“How do you now my…” I asked, as I watched in horror as his face came into the light. Well, at least I didn’t have to worry about Braxton being killed by the royal, because he was the fucking Calogero. I did see a difference in Calogero, from the Braxton I knew. This guy had the dark-red, ruby eyes and two sharp fangs coming from his upper lip. It was definitely Braxton though—he had the same beautiful body and face that I knew.
Caylee's Confessions (Caylee's Confessions Series) Page 11