Chapter 16: Captive

“Sage!” Sage rolled her eyes at the fifth call from Clara. She wasn’t in the mood for the twins’ drama tonight. Ignoring the call, Sage twirled Bruno’s fur around her finger while he lay asleep on her lap.

“Sage,” Clara barked again, but this time the name didn’t come from Clara’s room. The annoyed Clara had run downstairs to meet Sage.

“Shh, you’ll wake the dog,” Sage stated as she looked up to see Clara.

Clara was holding a laundry basket in her hand, and it was the same with Jane who was coming after her.

‘Something doesn’t look right,’ Sage thought, squinting her eyes to look at the twins. ‘Oh, it’s the hair and the makeup. Is that a fringe? And that makeup looks so ridiculous,’ Sage chuckled to herself.

Clara and Jane had given themselves a new haircut, but they were inexperienced and they cut the fringe at the front shorter than normal. Also, they were wearing bright makeup, with heavy blue eye shadow, eyeliner like that of an Egyptian queen, and bright red lipstick. Sage didn’t say anything regarding their makeup; instead, she analyzed them from the short fringe to the weird-looking makeup and skimpy dresses. ‘They wouldn’t be dressing this way if Ericka was home.’

“Here, do our laundry,” Clara commanded as she dumped the basket on Sage. A part of it hit Bruno, and the dog woke up and ran somewhere safe.

“If I may ask, why?”

“Because we’re older than you are, and you’ll do as we say.”

“Please give me a break with our age difference. You’re only three months older than I am—”

“I don’t care,” Clara snapped. “Three months, three weeks, three days, even three seconds, there’s still a time gap, so do th—”

“When you’re done talking, you’ll tell me where you’re going dressed like that,” Sage said the way Ericka would if she were present.

“We’re going to Ray’s house; he’s having a party.”

Clara face-palmed herself as Jane gave Sage details of their hangout. “Where we’re going is none of your business. What I asked you to do was the laun

—”

“And why do you think you can go to Ray’s party?” Sage asked, cutting Clara off from completing her sentence. “If you think Mum isn’t coming back tonight, you’ll be in for a big surprise by the time you’re back from that party.” Sage said in a matter-of-fact tone as she got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen.

“SAGE!!!” Clara was boiling with anger. Sage used to cower at her feet, but now she was talking like she owned this house.

“Clara, we’re only inches away, so would you please stop barking my name like a dog.”

“Ahh, make sure you do my laundry,” Clara stomped upstairs with plans of the parties canceled.

‘I’ll do your laundry alright,’ Sage said with an evil look on her face.

****

Clark’s eyes were dizzy; he had been hit in the head when he was having dinner with his parents, and now he found himself in a room with barely enough light that he couldn’t make out anything in it.

Tears, coupled with water that had been splashed on him to wake him up, were dripping down his head.

“I’ve told you, I don’t know anything about a hybrid,” Clark screamed at the lady whose face was inches away from him. She had tied him to a chair and splashed water on him earlier. Since then, she had been asking questions about a hybrid and asking him to admit he was it. The room was dim; Clark was trying to make out where he had seen the face before. He knew the face; he just didn’t know from where.

“I don’t know why I waste time trying to demand answers from you,” Venzy frowned. “I’ll just hand you over to our lord.” With that, Venzy went over to where she had tied his mother and father down, with gags in their mouths.

“Wait! What are you going to do to them?” Clark cried.

“If you wait a little, you’ll find out, ha-ha,” Venzy said with an evil grin.

“No! No!” Clark screamed and shook violently on his chair in an attempt to break free. “Please don’t hurt them.”

“Why do you even care about them? They are not your real parents.”

“What are you talking about? Those are my real parents.”

“Huh? You mean you weren’t adopted?” The reason why Venzy asked this question was that it was a known fact that the hybrid had lost her parent and was being taken care of by someone else, but Clark here was saying these have been his parents from birth. “That means you’re not the hybrid.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to get into that slow brain of yours.” Clark huffed; he was glad that the lady now understood that there was a mix-up somewhere.

“But you had so much energy around you today,” Venzy muttered to herself, trying to think of what must have happened. “If you’re not the hybrid. Then someone close to you is.”

‘Oh no. Does she mean Sage?’

Venzy let go of Clark’s parent and swiftly ran towards him and gripped his neck tightly. “I need you to give me all the names of your friends now!” Venzy demanded in a desperate tone.

“I…I don’t have any friends. You see I’m a weirdo, and people don’t like me.” While Clark was talking, Venzy walked away from him and turned on the light switch in the room. Clark closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he could see who his captor was.

“You…” Clark could see clearly who it was. It was the janitor who banged into their classroom today. She had on a black leather jumpsuit that hugged her body tightly.

“Since you are not willing to give me what I want,” Venzy said as she picked up Clark’s father. “Then I’ll have to do things my way.” Venzy placed a thin sharp blade on the neck of Clark’s father as he struggled.

“No, wait!”

****

Xavier paced back and forth in his living room. His brother Ian had returned home, and they both stayed up waiting for their mum to come back. Xavier was worried sick as she was not back yet.

“Can you stand still? Walking around will not bring her home quicker,” Ian stated.

“What if they got to her?” Xavier knew the woods were dangerous, and his mother out there alone was risky. The vampires could also be out there, and that was what he couldn’t stop worrying about. His mother could fend off any other creature alone, but if the vampires attacked in a group, he doubted she would stand a chance against them.

“They won’t; keep calm. They wouldn’t be so reckless as to attack one of our own in our territory.”

“Xia! Valarie’s back,” Red yelled from outside. Xavier stopped pacing and walked out of his house quickly to meet with everyone.

They had all gathered in Valarie’s room and were watching silently as Valarie examined both powders that Red had brought back with her.

“So, what is it?” Red questioned.

“Powder, obviously,” Valarie replied without taking her eyes away from the powders.

“We know that it’s powder, Valarie,” Xavier snapped.

“Don’t yell at me, Romeo. I had a pretty exhausting day,” Valarie said, tucking her blond bob away from her face so she could work properly.

Valarie had accidentally called Xavier Romeo. This was a title she normally called those who had found their mate. It was a special talent of hers. She could tell when one had found their mate by just looking into their eyes.

She had noticed this for some time now, but she kept shut about it since Xavier had not told them himself.