Chapter 43 — Byron’s Fate
Vanessa’s POV:
Vanessa woke up in a chair, a gag in her mouth, hands tied behind her back, and a very thirsty Byron chained up in front of her. He looked at her, growling, reaching for her. He looked like a zombie. She looked at him and she wasn’t afraid. She was just sad. To see Byron reduced to this. Were they too late? She couldn’t stop her tears from coming out her eyes.
We’re going to fix this, By. She thought to herself. “You’re awake…” a smooth voice spoke from across the room. Alfred. Of course, it was him. She turned to look at him, her eyes projecting what she could not say. “Just look at how pathetic he is.” Alfred said as he stepped closer into the room. He walked up to Byron and stood in front of his face. Byron bore his fangs, trying to bite Alfred. And Alfred stood there, teasing and taunting him. “You might be too late, Miss Owens.” Vanessa screamed against her gag and wiggled against her restraints. Alfred turned to look at her with a mocking pout on his face, “Awe, something you want to say?”
Alfred went over and got down to her face level, “You’re going to listen very carefully. I want you to kill Malik Cromwell within twenty-four hours or Byron here is gone for good.” He then reached up and took the gag off her. “Your turn to speak. Repeat what I just said.”
Vanessa shot him a death glare and spit some lint out of her mouth, “You want me to kill Malik within twenty-four hours or Byron’s gone. However, we have a problem. Byron already looks beyond repair, and that gun you gave me, it doesn’t work.”
Alfred furrowed his brows, “What do you mean it doesn’t work? And Byron still has time. But not much.”
“He better have time or so help me…” Vanessa hissed.
“It’s up to you whether he is saved or not. Now back to the gun, what do you mean that it doesn’t work?”
“I already tried to shoot it. It’s empty.”
“What’s delayed you from coming to me about it?”
“You know, between your charms and those cookies you brought to the last meeting, I can honestly say I don’t know what kept me from coming to you.” She spat sarcastically.
Alfred reared his hand back and slapped her across the face. Hard. Blood began to pour from Vanessa’s lower lip. He then grabbed her face and forced him to look at her, “You did something with the gun, didn’t you?”
Vanessa looked up at him, “Yeah I did, I pulled the trigger, and nothing came out.”
Alfred released her face and licked the blood off his fingers. “You almost taste like her…Katrina.”
“Isn’t that the tits.” Vanessa sneered.
Alfred wasn’t listening to her, he seemed fixated on the taste of Vanessa’s blood. “Why didn’t the gun work?” he asked himself as he began pacing. “It should have worked Katrina was the last to use it. All the serum should have come back in it. Unless it didn’t…” he rambled as he continued to pace.
Alec came into the room, “The gun didn’t work?”
Alfred shook his head, “According to Vanessa, it was empty.”
“What? The serum is spelled to return the weapon after it’s blasted into its victim.”
“Well, it didn’t. If the gun was empty, that means we have to figure out where the serum is. It can’t just not exist anymore.”
“Hey dipshits, why don’t you let Byron go, feed him some of your blood, and go kill Malik yourself.” Vanessa said as she spit blood out.
Alec turned to look at her with a confused expression on his face, “How are you still human?”
“You mean after you bit me?” Vanessa asked with a bloody-toothy grin. “Yeah, about that, somehow my body rejected the venom. Thanks for the tar sensation coming back up my throat and making me look like a horror icon. That was fantastic of you. Speaking of biting me, why the hell did you do that? Were you trying to turn me?”
Alec shrugged, “I knew your body would reject the venom. Once it killed the baby inside you.”
Vanessa felt her heart sink to the floor, “You knew I was pregnant?”
“I could hear its little heartbeat while we were at the restaurant. I needed to prevent its very existence.”
“You tried to kill my baby…” Vanessa said as he eyes turned cold, dark, and that of a hunter.
Alec clapped his hands together and pointed at her eyes, “Yes! That look, right there! That’s the hunger to kill that we need to see from you.”
“This isn’t theatre, if you killed my baby, I’m going to kill you.”
Alfred clicked his tongue and shook his head, “You do that, and Byron’s gone forever. You need us.”
Vanessa looked up at them and shook her head. These vampires were truly monsters, who played games for the sake of their own entertainment. They were perfectly capable of killing Malik themselves, yet because her ancestor was killed by Malik, now she has to kill him. She was no more than a puppet to settle their grievances. If her baby was dead which…she didn’t believe it was. Maybe Alec was bluffing to get her to cooperate with them. She looked at poor Byron who just wanted some blood. And then something hit her. Two…or three could play at this game of leverage and manipulation.
Byron is suffering because she has to kill Malik and she doesn’t want him to suffer. That is what Alec and Alfred know. She now knew what she needed to do to spare some time. If they didn’t have Byron to hold over her head, they had nothing. She looked up at them, blood still dripping from her lip as she flashed a devious smile at them. Her eyes no longer dark but remained cold as ice. “You know what? Let Byron die. As a matter of fact, I’ll just kill him myself.”