“But…this is not possible…” My thoughts were spinning. How could I not have noticed? I can almost always tell, without my bracelet, but even so, I always wore it and it always warned me of every undead. “You can’t be. I have a—” Shit—should I really be telling him about my bracelet?
“You have a bracelet…I know. I figured, which was why I wore a disguising spell every time I was with you, Caylee,” Braxton said.
“But not even empyreal vampires wear those…and you’re a royal vampire. This is not making any sense… And why were they calling you ‘Calogero,’ when your name is Braxton?” I asked.
“To answer your first question, being a royal is what gave me the ability to have a spell that would work past your bracelet. I had to go through a lot of trouble to get it, actually. It cost me six territories—to a royal witch—for the damn thing, and another five for her to keep her mouth shut.” He grunted. I stared at him, still dumbfounded. “To answer your second question, I didn’t lie to you. My first name is Braxton, but it is only proper to call a royal by his surname, and mine happens to be Calogero, not Caloman. I used something similar so that I would respond to it, but that was why I wanted to get a first-name basis with you so quickly. I couldn’t stand the fact that you called me by my false name. I understand why you’re still confused…so maybe I should start at the beginning…
“You see, I actually wasn’t wearing a spell the first time I had met you—the night you had killed the gang that left Lyal’s place. I was with them at the beginning of the meeting. They were actually my scouting gang who I was forced to come with to this city. We all had a meeting with Lyal, who was supposed to inform us of any hunters or possible threats in the area. Everything was fine, but I could tell that something was off about Lyal, even though the others didn’t seem to notice. I knew he was related to the panther chick though, and something was off about her since we had got into the city. I sent the others to go ahead of me and went back into Lyal’s place to get the real story.”
I took a deep breath. It was my plain ignorance that I hadn’t noticed him the night I waited outside of Lyal’s. I remembered checking my bracelet with each of them, and there was one I didn’t get, because I had thought it was just Lyal going back into his home…it must have been Braxton. God, I was such an idiot. Why was he telling me all of this? Why was I still alive? My brain rattled on, trying to make sense of what he was telling me. Basically, he had kept me alive all this time…
“Are you okay?” he asked, probably noticing that I was thinking deeply about something.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but it still makes no sense…” I said honestly, hoping to wake up from this nightmare at any time. Please tell me I’m dreaming. Please tell me I didn’t screw a vampire.
“Well, I should go on then. When I went back into Lyal’s, I forced him to tell me what was really going on.” I wondered how he had done that…probably some crazy mind-control shit. “It took a while to get it out of him, because he had so many mind-blocking wards up, but when I finally got it out of Lyal, I wiped his mind clean, because I didn’t want him to warn the hunter or the witch that he was working with.
“That was when the complications started. Since I’d gotten there later than expected, when I’d arrived, you were just starting the attack. I watched as you kicked the werewolf in the face with your boot—it was something I hadn’t seen before. Most hunters just go straight for the kill, but it seemed you had known you had to get him unconscious first, because he would take the longest to kill and you still had two other vamps to kill. I should have stepped in, right then and there, but it was so interesting to watch you fight—so much different than other hunters I’ve watched. It was like you knew they underestimated you and you used this to your advantage. The way you staked both of the vamps at the same time had me sold. I couldn’t step in then, because you were almost completed in your task. Even though it was wrong of me, I wanted you to succeed. I have to admit, I always root for the underdog, so I watched as you continued.
“The only mistake I saw was that you had forgotten how quickly werewolves can come out of unconsciousness. It actually quite saddened me to see him jump atop you, because I thought it was surely over, but you amazed me once again, with that random knife-poke in the eye. It was dirty, but it got the job done. The strength you had—even though you had lost so much blood—to be able to finally grab your stake and then kill him off, was beautiful. I was then confused as I watched you scramble all around, looking for something, as the blood drained from your body. Surely, you were going to die soon, but a death with dignity, I had thought, because you had completed your task. You then finally found your vile and slammed it back. It made me chuckle, because you, again, surprised me with one more trick in your sleeve.” I’m glad my near-death made this guy chuckle.
“I had hoped that it would be enough, but as I saw your eyes begin to roll to the back of your head, I knew you had lost too much blood. I caught you just in time, so you didn’t hit the ground, and was amazed at how your eyes were still fighting so hard to remain open. They looked at ease, like they knew and accepted what was coming. So many people are so frightened at the idea of their own death that their eyes only display horror or regret, but yours were so blue and calm, accepting. That made me think: anyone who could fight like that and was ready to accept death could be valuable. The strength I smelt coming from your blood was intoxicating.” Valuable and strong blood. Those were the words I needed to finally realize what this monster’s plan was. He wanted me to be his blood slave. That was the only conclusion I could come to. He was a royal, the most evil and powerful of the vampires, they must have a specific appetite. I’d heard stories of how they liked to only feed off the purest and bitter, strong-tasting blood, I must fit this guy’s grocery list.
“So there you were, about to die, and I didn’t want that to happen. I gave you just enough of me so you could live.” Awesome. He gave me his own blood so that I could live to be his blood slave—how nice of him. “After that, I found out where you worked and it was merely fate that my corporation was already looking into your company. I then pushed them into picking your proposal. That way I could get to know your habits and a bit more of what you were about.” In other words, so you could scout me to make sure I would make a great slave. “And then, after the other night, after I got a taste of you, I knew I had to make you mine.” Well, at least now I knew why I had felt dizzy after I had left his apartment…he had drank from me when we were, ugh…disgusting.
Everything was going fine, until I got called back to my council to resolve a stupid issue. When I came back from a two-day trip—” He grunted and rolled his eyes. “—I foolishly didn’t check the surrounding cities, because I wanted to get back to you quickly. Because I didn’t scout, I didn’t know they were here, and those fools found you leaving my place.
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for panther’s stupid ass getting caught again. I can’t believe she even threw you under the bus, after what you had done for her. Disgusting—that’s why I killed her first, before she could try and give an explanation. The others I actually felt slightly bad about killing, because they were just doing their job. But they had all become liabilities and I cannot afford to have any of those at the moment.” He was worried about the liabilities of people knowing he wanted to make me a blood slave? Seriously… How could I have been that stupid? All the signs were there, and now I would have to face the consequences of being naïve. I couldn’t be his blood slave; I needed to get out of here. I tried ignoring the fact that this would be impossible, since he was a royal. There always was a chance, a way out. I could not live as a slave. “Please tell me what you’re thinking of all this. Are you at all still confused?” Not anymore, but maybe I could play on that.
“I’m still slightly confused. It’s just that my hands and legs hurt bad from being bound and that is all I’m concentrating on,” I said, trying to sound as sore and in pain as possible.
&nb
sp; He seemed to take a moment to think it over. “Okay, well, I’ll unbind you, but, Caylee, I am not stupid, and please do not try to fight me; I do not want to kill you.” Kill me, ha. Of course he didn’t want to kill me, only make me his blood slave so that I would die slowly and hate my life forever. Fuck not fighting—it was fight or die. He had fooled me once; never again would I listen to a word that came out of his mouth. I had once said that there was only one thing over which I would openly walk into my own suicide… I knew what I had to do. He was the most vicious of vampires that existed and something that I fought for a living. They were incapable of moral thought or having a conscience. I was not going to willingly turn myself over to him, to feed off me for months until he got sick of my blood and disposed of me. Either I would get away from this or I would die trying. I looked around for my stake. It was in a pile of ashes. This thing had to be a monster. He killed his company, just for holding a little event without him.
Braxton walked over to me and slowly unbound my hands and legs. He did it with caution though, like he was expecting me to immediately start fighting. I was not stupid. I would at least wait until I could stand up. I didn’t want him to have the advantage of already being over me. I carefully stood up and looked up at Braxton. His eyes really fit him better than the grey ones did. It made sense now why grey eyes had looked wrong on his face. Nothing but these ruby-black eyes could fit a face that beautiful. Not that it mattered, because I would more than likely be killed by those eyes in two seconds. I acted like I was stretching my legs and arms as I slowly inched myself closer to where my stake lay. A glimpse of hope flowed threw me as I became only a foot away from it. That was shattered in seconds though.
“Caylee, I’m telling you, please do not do it. I’ve tried trusting you, but I can’t help but notice what you’re inching towards.” Shit…I jumped for it and gasped as my fingers gripped themselves around it. Yes—I had it. I waited for him to strike me, but when I felt no impact, I stood back up, stake in hand. He was gone. Had he left so I wouldn’t stake him? I looked around and saw nothing. Maybe I had a chance. See—there was always a…
“You could never kill me as a human,” Braxton said, with his teeth at my throat, ending any thought of hope I had, because he was now holding me from behind, with one arm wrapped tightly around my body that I couldn’t move. I felt him open his mouth and dig his canines into my neck. Huge gasps left my mouth, as I felt him extracting the blood from my neck. Where the hell had he even come from? I felt my body begin to numb and relax as he continued to drink from me. I had to get out of this. I couldn’t let him control me like this. Think, mind, think…gain back control. But my arms wouldn’t respond. They still held the stake, but it was pointless, because they couldn’t move. I was going to be a blood slave—the one thing I was afraid of. Why was my body reacting like this? I should have more control, but my muscles continued to un-tense as I felt my mind wander off. I would love to say that it hurt like hell and I hated it, but honestly, it was like a high. A high that made your body feel amazing, that a single touch could send you screaming out in orgasm.
After what I thought was five minutes of this, I felt him begin to remove his mouth from my throat, and I could feel the numbness begin to leave my hand, but it left a weakness, like I had all my muscles removed. I think this was what brought me back—slightly—to reality. I had to remember what I needed to do…ahh, yes…I just got drank from; I needed to try and get away. But god, my whole body hurt. I attempted to move my arm, but only got a single twitch. Come on, Caylee, I yelled to myself. All I needed was one motion. I had to hold true to my statement, that I would rather commit suicide than become a blood slave. He was still holding me from behind—so tightly that our bodies felt as if they were molded into one. This would be my only chance. I had to, before he moved from behind me.
“When I’m done, I will give you my…what are you doing?” he asked, because he must have felt my arms move to position my stake, pointing upwards at my own heart. “No…” he began to say, but was cut off by my stake passing through my heart and into his. He was too late. I’d already positioned the stake and pushed the magic little button that made my stake extend to a three-foot lance. The only downside of this being that I had to stake myself to be able to get to him. We were now going to die the same death that I had given weeks earlier to two vamps.
Thinking back, I would never have guessed it would end this way. That my life, along with his, would be taken by the same connecting three-foot stake. But I had completed my task. I wouldn’t be a blood slave, and I had saved the world from one less royal. A life for an undead life—that was a good trade-off, right?
“I will never be a blood slave!” I mumbled as I felt the blood rushing from my heart. He screamed again and I felt us fall backwards. As we hit the ground, I felt the stake ache in my chest, which gave me my final reminder of the death that was about to come. There was no getting out of this one. I took my final breath of life.
Chapter 17
The End
Confused? Yeah, me too, but probably not about the same thing. You might be asking yourself: how, then, am I writing this to you? Well, let me explain…You see, that ache I had felt in my chest when Braxton and I hit the floor wasn’t my ‘final reminder of my death.’ It was actually the stake protruding upwards. You see, when we hit the floor, my stake—being three feet long—was long enough to be sticking out of his back. When we hit the ground, the impact from the concrete floor made the stake come out of his chest, but still remain in mine. Now, I’ve probably really got your mind rambling thoughts like: how or why am I alive?
Well, to answer that question simply: I am not alive. This brings me to my final confession to you of why I have written this diary about the last year of my life. You see, I need you—whoever you are—to come and complete the one task that I failed to complete: to come find me and kill me. For, if you haven’t figured it out, I am the disgrace I had once hunted. How? Well, you see, like I’ve already told you, the impact of our fall made the stake come out of Braxton’s chest. Because it came out of his chest so quickly after I had staked us, it wasn’t in him long enough to kill him. He then pulled the remainder of the stake from my heart, and must have injected or force-fed me his blood. I had already lost enough blood from him drinking from me earlier, and from staking myself, that I was practically drained of all my human blood. All he had to do was get enough of his venom-blood into my veins to replace some of what I’d lost, and his poisonous venom would take care of the rest.
Which is how I am what I am today…Caylee, the once secret undead slayer, is now a vampire. All I have to say is, Braxton is lucky he wasn’t there when I first awakened, because surely, I would have had enough rage to kill even a royal. Hell, I still want to kill him and ask him why, especially since all he left me was a stupid note: When you’re ready.
Fucking asshole. I know you’re probably thinking: What the hell? You just told me about how awful all these creatures are, blah, blah, and if I was not a poser, I would just kill myself. Well, quite frankly, I once said I would kill myself in only one situation and, well, I failed when I attempted it. I’m giving you the opportunity to come and find me, and kill me, because that is what I would have wanted.
Just remember though, it won’t be easy, and thinking about it now, I might even be writing this for someone to come to add a little excitement to my life, because I haven’t been able to hunt yet, considering that I am now what I used to hunt. I really have no idea. I’m not clear on anything much anymore…all this ‘new vampire’ shit is driving me nuts. I can’t even tell which thoughts/emotions I have are from my previous human life and which ones are from my new vamp side. Basically, I am a mess, and I need your help.
I asked Claire—who thought it was hilarious, by the way—and she said nothing else could be done, and I shouldn’t dare go to Shad, because I would be giving him the satisfaction of being right. That’s why I need you. I need you to study my past life, so you might
be able to complete the one task I could not. I’ve given you enough clues—but not exact descriptions—of where I lived and worked. I would love to make it that easy for you, but honestly, I love a challenge.
One more thing before I go: I know you have just read about my life and think I might be okay, but I guarantee you that I am evil. Don’t let my life’s writings fool you, because it’s been months since I’ve been human, and considering that vampires can only survive off one thing…I’ll let you connect the dots.
Caylee's Confessions (Caylee's Confessions Series) Page 12