The Vampires Pet - Chapter 3

"Psst, wake up." He says. I stir and we touch down onto the ground. Whoa. We were flying. My first time flying and I slept through most of it. The sky was grey now instead of pitch black. It must be nearing dawn. He sets me on my feet and I look around. Nothing to see but forest, and I was too tired to take much of that in.
"Walk behind me." Says the man, and I follow him for a little while.

Into a small clearing, where two other people sat. One was a man with brown dreadlocks and the other was a blonde woman. They both jump up when they see the man. I realised then that he was hiding me behind him.
"We were waiting for you! We feared the worst!"
"No. All is well, I-" They spot me.
"Who is that?" Asks the man, more shocked than anything else. I poke my head around my rescuer and see the woman is furious.
"We said no side missions! This was meant to be a straight in and out!" She says, walking forward.

"How could I leave her there?" He says, sounding sad.
"Easy. Keep walking! The powers could be angry with you!"
"Well I wasn’t struck by lightning on the way here so it mustn’t be that bad!" He snaps back. I keep cowering behind him. This was weird. Then I look at the woman again and realize something, taking a step back.
"You’re not vampires." I say in surprise, backing away from the man as if that fact made him more dangerous instead of less. He turns to look at me.
"No. Of course not."
"You’re not human." I continue.
"No…I’m not." He says slowly, watching me with wary eyes. I see him now, he has blonde wavy hair and silver eyes. The others approach his side while I back away and suddenly I feel very alone in the world. And cold.
"What are you?" I ask in barely more than a whisper. He doesn’t reply, just keeps watching me. Were they demons? I didn’t know how to kill demons. Could I kill the thing that just saved my life? I thought so.

I felt like I was going to faint, but instead I sink to the ground, refusing to close my eyes in case these…things were dangerous.
"She’s got bite marks." The dread locked man notes.
"On both sides." My rescuer informs him.
"Pet?" Asks the woman, sneering. I quickly button up the top, all the way up to my neck. Then start to cover up my stomach.
"What happened to you?" My rescuer asks softly. I jump. He was closer now. He started to kneel in front of me. I felt tears fill my eyes but refused to let them spill over.
"Nothing." I say, focusing on the shirt buttons.

I could hear my breath raggedly coming into my mouth, then going out. I swallow.
"I don’t feel so good." I say quietly, putting a hand on the ground so I don’t fall sideways.
"You don’t look so good." Says the dread locked man, kneeling next to my rescuer man. I blush and look down, dirty hair falling around me. I felt like a zoo exhibit. The blonde haired man reaches out for my shoulder.
"Don’t touch me!" I gasp, jumping up suddenly. Both men slowly stand, looking at me cautiously again. I probably looked crazy.
"We’re here to help. What’s you’re name?" I couldn’t find my voice.
"It’s ok. We’re here to help."
"It is not ok!" I was shaking violently. He reaches for me again, more quickly this time I dodge him. Then the dread locked man grabs me, holding my arms behind my back.
"Let me go! Let me go!" I beg them. The blonde woman comes up, as if they have choreographed this. I couldn’t even fight back, my hands were being held. Not to mention I wasn’t in any condition to.

She punches me, it wasn’t that hard compared to the punches I had received in previous days, but it was all it took, to send me unconscious and to the ground.

I wake up very slowly. I was in a tent. Events come rushing back and I want to puke. It seemed early morning, I didn’t think I had been out that long. Silently, I sit up, the blankets falling off me. I look under my shirt, the word PET had barely started to scab over, dried blood still made trails from it. Several burn marks, and my red leather bra. I swallow, letting my shirt fall down again. It had several buttons missing near the bottom and had lots of blood on it from when I had a blood nose. I felt my face, it was bruised and swollen. I must have looked hideous. I sigh, and as I do I become aware of the voices.
"Why did you even stop?"
"Because she asked me to."
"She asked you to."
"Yes. She asked me to help her."
"Escape."

"She just said ‘help me’." I stiffen when I realize they are talking about me.
"And you did?" There was an impatient sigh.
"Obviously."
"It’s hard to comprehend, you’re usually the good one."
"As if I could possibly leave her. I got a good look at her face. It would have haunted me for the rest of my days. You would have done the same."
"I would have." Agrees a voice.
"Pet?"
"Pet."
"What’s ‘pet’ mean?" There was a pause, I try to make my breathing quieter.
"That she was their pet? Their slave? I don’t know."
"That’s…disgusting."
"I don’t think she asked for it." The voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.
"No! No of course not! And they bit her."
"Several times."
"On both sides. You know what that means."
"The princes. Or at least one prince."
"‘A Prince never uses another vampires puncture wounds.’"
"Filthy creatures."

"Where’s Lucy?"
"Getting the truck. Pet awake yet?"
"No, I don’t think so…and she probably won’t like you calling her that."
"Well I ain’t gonna say it to her face, am I?" I hear footsteps coming in my direction so I quickly lie down and feign sleep. I hear the zip of the tent slide open. Someone comes in, pauses, then continues to rummage around in a bag that I apparently had no noticed.

I roll over and pretend to wake up. Then pretend to jump when I see the blonde man. He watches me.
"Hello." He says cautiously. I say the first words that sprung to my lips. Guess what they were.
"Let me go." I say in a shaky voice. He glances at the closed tent door then back to me.
"I don’t think you can go very far." He says slowly, obviously he didn’t want to let me go. I feel my eyes fill but bite my lip to stop them. I pull the thin blanket to my chin, cringing away from him. He looks offended.
"Now don’t go getting the wrong idea. I helped you." He says, holding up his hands to indicate innocence. I was not very good at dramatic silences, I could never hold my tongue.
"You knocked me out." I say quietly, right hand automatically stretching up to feel my head.

"Lucy." He says. I get confused.
"My names Kasey." His lips twitched.
"Sorry, Lucy is the lady who punched you."
"How humble." I mumble, his lips twitched again.
"Kasey, my name is Cole."
"Hello, Cole." I whisper. Like I said, word diarrhoea. He smiles this time.
"Hello Kasey." There was a silence and his smile fades. He sits down and slides closer. I back away hesitantly.
"It’s ok, I won’t hurt you." I immediately didn’t trust him.
"You knocked me out."
"I told you, Lucy did." He says, sounding impatient.
"But you held me."
"That was Damian."
"Damian." I say flatly.
"Yes."

"Well Damian held me and Lucy knocked me out, they are your friends. I don’t trust them and I don’t trust you." I say, breathing heavily though I couldn’t imagine why. I still felt tired. He looked surprised to see me use so many words. He looks me over, though he could only see the blanket I was still holding.
"You’re strong." I look away.
"No I’m not." I say flatly, eyes filling again. I push down the memories and feel my face go hard. Then I remember something.
"What day is it?" I ask, he jumps slightly, obviously not expecting me to speak so suddenly. He pauses a few moments.
"It’s Saturday." I suck in a deep breath. I had been there longer than I thought, I guessed maybe five days? Obviously I was a little off. But I had been unconscious too…I let the breath I had sucked in out while he watches me carefully.
"My parents are going to be freaking." I say out of no where. His lip twitched again but he had the sense to stay serious.

"How long have they had you, Kasey?" I think back.
"It was a Friday. Not yesterday. Last week." He leans back a little. Was he expecting it to be longer or shorter? I don’t meet his eyes until he speaks again. But he had barely opened his mouth before the zip on the tent moves. We both jump at the sound, having been so engrossed in our conversation we hadn’t heard the approaching footsteps.
"Cole, man, Lucy’s here with the pick-up. How’s-" He stops when his head was in the tent and he saw us facing each other.
"Damian this is Kasey." Damien’s eyes flicker to Cole before returning to me and smiling.
"Hey Kasey. I’m Damien." His voice was soft, purring. He was being careful around me. I smile a little but drop my gaze to the thin tent floor.
"Is there somewhere I can wash my face, a stream or something?" Both men looked at me in shock, as if surprised I could be capable of such…normal thought.
"Um, yeah. Come on, I’ll show you." Cole says, kneeling in the small tent and making his way out of it. I crawl out behind him and Damien steps back to let us past.

I wrap my arms around myself and follow Cole nervously. My feet were bare and rocks stuck into them but that was the last thing on my mind. I scan for the lady, Lucy, and find Damien talking to her beside a white four wheel drive. Then I lose sight of them as we walk into the scrub. We didn’t walk far. There was a stream, it only went up to my knees or so. I walk to the edge and step in gingerly, before looking back at Cole. He smiles, but looks nervous.
"Uh, don’t run away ok? I don’t want you getting lost in these woods." Then he tactfully turns away from me. I was grateful. I wash as much blood and dirt off me as I can. The cold water stung in my burns and cuts so I was careful. I drink a lot of the water as well. It was a cool, clear and bubbling stream and the stones on the bottom were smooth and felt good against my feet. I rinse my hair out as best as I could, which wasn’t very good. And I scrub every inch of my I could reach. I inspect my ankle, it was bad. I had a little of a limp, not so bad, but the ankle itself was swollen and cut. Overall, I felt better when I got out. I dare say I looked better to, not that I had a mirror near by anyway.

I walk up to Cole and tap him on the shoulder. He jumps and spins around, obviously lost in thought. I look at the ground, not knowing what to say.
"Oh, you’re done. Good. Let’s go." He turns and I follow him again, picking my way through the undergrowth gingerly, lagging behind a little.

In the clearing the tent was gone and the white four wheel drive was packed and waiting. The other two fall silent as they see me draw nearer, and I look at the ground nervously, and wrap my arms around myself. The lady got in the driver seat, and the dread locked man, Damien, waited for us to walk over to it.

Cole holds a door open for me.
"Hop on in, Kasey." He puts on a cheery voice and smiles. I don’t get in. I just stand in front of it.
"Where are we going?" His cheery face disappears.
"What do you mean?"
"Where are we now?" I ask, looking around. An odd expression crosses his face.
"You don’t know?" Damien asks from behind me, I turn to him.
"She didn’t know what day it was." Cole says in a undertone, though I could hear it clearly. I kick the ground.
"Geez, forget about it." I climb into the truck and Cole closes the door behind me before appearing at the other side. Damien rides shotgun.

As we drive off, over a rocky and bumpy track, I purposefully stare out the window and ignore the car full of people. Cole rummages around behind him for something, Lucy was concentrating on the road and Damien was concentrating on hanging on. Cole comes out with a blanket and holds it out to me. I turn and take it automatically.
"Thank you." I say, surprised. He smiles and turns to do up his seatbelt. Upon seeing him do that I copy. It felt like years since I had been in a car. I wrap the blanket around me and pull my feet up onto the seat.

I stare at Cole, who was facing forwards, for a long time. Letting his handsome features sink in, committing him to memory. My hero. My savoir. After maybe ten minutes he sighs and turns to look me dead in the eye.
"Stop staring at me, you’re making me nervous." Oops.
"Are you a demon?" I blurt out. The car lurches. Oops again. Cole grabs the seat but has time to look disgusted.
"God no, of course not!"
"Oh." I say, looking away. I feel him watching me.
"What are you?"
"Nothing." I say quickly, anticipating his question.
"You can’t be nothing. Or if you are, you must have done something really bad, otherwise they wouldn’t have bound you there. Not to mention the shackle and cage." My breathing came heavy as I remember the cage. It had not been so long ago, I had just been trying not to think about it. Damien turns around.
"She was bound…?" He trails off when he looks at Cole and turns back to face the front, pretending he hadn’t said anything. Cole turns back to me, eyes blazing with certainty.
"So, what did you do?"
"I didn’t do anything." I snap.
"Then what are you?" I did owe him, he saved my life…I take a deep breath.
"I’m a vampire slayer."
This time the whole car comes to a sudden halt.
All of them stare at me.
Uh oh.

I gulp.
"No." Says Cole, staring at me. My hands start shaking. Oh god. I bet you slayers were like really bad people or something. Or evil or….
"Is that bad?" My voice was a whisper.
"No, you’re not a slayer." He says, almost laughing.
"Aren’t I?"
"No."
"Then why do I kill vampires?" He laughs again.
"You don’t." I frown, completely confused.
"I would know if you were a vampire slayer. Lucy, keep driving." The car begins lurching forward again.
"Why?"
"Because I am a Named." Hmmm, now why does that ring a bell?
"What’s a named?" He grins.
"If you were a slayer you would know that a Named is a known person fighting for our side. If you were a slayer you would either be a Named or you would be trained by a Named. Either way, I would know you."

"And you know every single named person in this world, do you?"
"Yes." He says simply.
"Then why do I bother killing vampires?" I mutter, looking out the window.
"You don’t." Cole sighs.
"No, I’m pretty sure I did up until about a week ago. Derrick thought so too." Damien’s head whips around.
"How do you know of Prince Derrick?" He asks in a sharp tone.
"He…" I begin, then trail off and, tears prickling my eyes, look out the window and away into the scrub.
"He what?" Asks Cole. I shake my head. Don’t think about it. I say firmly. I keep staring out the window.
"If you are a slayer, who trained you?" I shake my head again, I didn’t want to talk any more. Silence stretches out and the road evens out.
After a while I fall asleep.

I wake a while later, after we hit a particularly bad pot hole, and the terrain had hanged a bit. The land was beginning to flatten out and the bush look a little less wild. I sat staring out the window, I didn’t want to face their questions. Not now, not likely ever. We drove for hours more before fields started appearing around us. And a while after that, houses and towns. I felt myself relax a little, though I still had no idea where we were. I didn’t recognize anything. Unbelievably, I still felt tired.

The buildings grow taller and closer together, and eventually we pull over at a hotel where I am quickly ushered through a side door. It look expensive, I wonder vaguely what we are doing here.

Then I find myself standing in the middle of a clean and bright hotel room, looking around myself, wondering dimly how I got here. I really have to start paying more attention. Cole, Lucy and Damien were all walking in behind me, bags in hands. Once Cole had dumped the heavy looking bags on the floor he turns to me.
"Would you like a shower?" I nod slowly.
"If you like, I can lend you some clothes. I think I’ve got some that will fit you." Everyone turns to Lucy, and by her tone I take the offer as her kind of an apology, and nod again. Lucy grabs my hand and leads me into a bedroom with a double bed. I was right, this place had to be expensive.

Lucy heaves a large suitcase onto the bed and starts unzipping it. My stomach was cramping so painfully I had to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Are you ok?" Asks Lucy softly.
"I don’t feel so good."
"When was the last time you ate?" I close my eyes. When was the last time I ate?
"About...a week ago?" Well, Lucy just about fell of the edge of the bed.
"Oh my god, are you serious?" I don’t reply, just sit there with my eyes clothes. She gets up and sticks her head out the door.
"Cole! Order some food!" Then she closes the door again and comes back
"You can eat first, then have a shower later if you like." I shake my head.
"No, I really want a shower."

"Ok." She says slowly, then continues ruffling through her bags. She produces a pair of track suit pants and a t-shirt and hands them to me, as well as clean underwear and a bra.
"Not sure if…all of that will fit, but I’ll take you shopping tomorrow, ok?"
"You’re awfully kind." She laughs. Her eyes sparkle kindly when she laughs. Her eyes were grey. That’s when I realized all of their eyes were grey. I wondered why.
"I’m trying to make it up to you. Come on, showers this way." She leads me out, through the living room where Damien was sitting on the couch and Cole was standing next to it. Lucy doesn’t spare either of them a glance, but struts purposefully towards the bathroom and leads me in.
"There’s everything you need here, and seriously, take your time. It’s a hotel, the water won’t run out. Take as long as you need. Be careful." Hurting myself in the shower, now that sounds like something I would do.

I slip the clothes she leant me onto the bench and cast a nervous glance at the door. I start the water and steam starts pouring out. I strip off quickly and step in. I was about to close the glass door behind me when I catch site of myself in the mirror, I freeze. Oh. My. God!

My face was bruised, but the worst of the swelling gone. My hair was a rats nest of nots, I wondered if I would ever be able to untangle it again. Maybe I would save myself the time and just cut it all off. My stomach and chest looked…disgusting. The burns looked terrible. PET. I start to cry, though I promised myself I wouldn’t. I looked like shit. I slam the glass door shut, but it doesn’t make much noise, it has rubber things on the edge.

Oh, the shower was so good. I scrub every inch of my body twice, wash my hair twice, shave, then scrub my body again and again. I lathered my hair in conditioner and let it sat while I shaved and got all of the knots out. I felt so much better.

I get out, pat myself down with a fluffy towel and pull on Lucy’s clothes. I had been in the shower about half an hour. I usually didn’t take showers that long. I dry my hair with a towel then spot my old clothes. The red leather bra and g-string, and Bax’s bloody white shirt and black shorts. I grab them and stuff them into the bathroom bin. Then grab the plastic bag out of that and head out into the lounge room.

Cole, Damien and Lucy were all waiting.
"Sorry I took so long." I say, shy again. I notice them all look me over, obviously nothing the dramatic difference.
"I’m gay." Lucy blurts out before I had barely stepped into the lounge room.
"I’m straight." I say instantly. Damien stifles laughter. Lucy was nervous.
"Ha. But seriously, I like girls."
"Cool. I got a mate who’s gay. Maybe I’ll introduce you one time." I start to head to the kitchen where I had spotted another bin.
"Kasey, we need to talk. We have some questions for you." Says Cole. I stop in my tracks, then continue at a slower pace, keeping my head low.
"I have some questions too." I say slowly, then Damien interrupts.
"What’s in the bag?"
"Clothes." I say, then shove the bag into the bin with a little more force then necessary. I turn around, leaning against the kitchen bench for support.
"Shoot." I say, bracing myself.
"How long were you in the castle for?"
"Since last Friday." I say straight away, answering without thinking. That’s how I would get through this.

"Why did they take you?"
"Because I’m a vampire slayer." There was a pause.
"Who took you?"
"Derrick."
"How."
"He kissed me."
"He-what?" I take a deep breath, looking at the carpet.
"He kissed me." I say slowly.
"I don’t think she got the question." Lucy whispers, loud enough for me to hear. I sigh and look up.
"That’s Derrick’s power, or one of them. Every time he kissed me I passed out."
"Oh." Was all they could say. Then Cole clears his throat.
"Did you see the King?"
"Yes."
"What happened?" I frown, thinking back.
"Derrick took me to him, to let him know that he had got me. He’d been following me for days. They talked, about a ceremony. And then he might have been at the ceremony, I’m not sure."

"Ceremony?" Asks Damien. I nod, looking at him but not seeing him.
"They were all dark robes, they all looked the same, and I got dizzy…" I trail off. The room was silent.
"Ceremony?" Damien repeats, my eyes focus on him again and I nod.
"They bound me, to the castle. It was like an invisible wall." My voice sounded far away, even to me.
"Then what happened?"
"Huh?"
"After the ceremony."
"Oh. Um, I don’t know I woke up in…" I look at Cole, his eyes seem to bore into mine. "A cell?" He nods once, and I nod.
"A cell." I repeat with more certainty, turning back to Damien who looks at me.
"You were in a cell?"
"Yeah."
"Describe it to me." I bite my lip.

"Well…three walls were just stone, so was the floor and the roof. The other wall was metal bars, about two inches thick each. It was in some kind of hallway. And they key was on a hook on the opposite wall, they were just out of my reach. It was so dark I couldn’t tell if it was day or night, except I think it usually got colder at night, because it was freezing. And I was in there until Cole got me out. Want to know how many bars there were?" I smile weakly at Damien, feeling slightly dizzy. He gulps.

"No, no, I think that’s ok." I nod, because I hadn’t really been about to tell him that, though I had counted them out of boredom.
"Then what happened?"
"Well…Justin came to visit me." My lip wobbles.
"What did Justin do?"
"He hit me…a lot. He burnt me." I swallow.
"What did Justin say?" I close my eyes.
"No, I need a break." I say, sinking into a chair. I put my head in my arms so they couldn’t see me when I scrunched up my face to fight off the tears. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door and a call following it.
"Room service!" Cole crosses to the door and opens it wide enough for a uniformed man to wheel a tray in.

"Afternoon, sir." He says to Cole. Cole nods at him, the previous conversation too serious for him to even manage a smile. Cole tips the man and he leaves without another word.
"Are you hungry Kasey?" Damien says in his too soft voice, lifting the lids of the trays.
"Starving." I say, smiling bleakly at the irony of it being so true. He hands me a massive plate of chops and vegetables.

I start at it hungrily…and don’t finish a half of it. Damien looked over when I push it away.
"I thought you said you were hungry."
"And now I’m full." I say, he just rolls his eyes.
"Maybe your stomach shrunk." Lucy says, taking away my plate.
"What? Why, how much did they feed you?" Damien asks.
"Err…" I say. The room went silent again.
"Oh." Says Damien.
"No, they fed me once." I say, remembering the nice meal Bax had sent to me room.

"Once?"
"Uh-huh."
"In a week?" I swallow.
"Are they freakin’ mad?" Damien blurts out, suddenly angry.
"Gotta pee." I mumble, escaping to the bathroom and closing the door behind me. I lean against the refreshingly cool tiles and take some deep breaths. When I was calm I emerge out of the bathroom and into a tense atmosphere.
"I never asked any of my questions." I blurt out. Cole’s head turns to me.
"Like?"
"Like what are you?" I ask, acting cool and collected as I seat myself on the couch. Cole opens his mouth, a frown on his face, obviously about to object.
"We should tell her." Lucy interrupts, they share a long and communities glance which I hastily look away from, making myself more comfy on the couch. There was a long sigh. And then all their eyes seem to pierce me at once.
"We are angels."

***********
And then BAM! the chapter ends!!!
Got y'all hooked, did I?
Hope so
I know this chapter was a little slow, but the plot I have in mind is going to be real good

Please comment
I still need some suggestions to develop this further!!!

And a few people said I needed to get chapters out faster, which I am trying to do
but I can't have long chapters AND get them out fast!!!
Between school and sports and that, I just don't have the time
Please be patient.

COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! (gotta beat 21)