Bound By Blood Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

 

Lauren crawled through the darkened trees, keeping low to the ground and keeping quiet. She emerged from the trees mouth; scratches graced her hard face, intensifying the strength that hid beneath her skin. Her eyes scanned the ground, searching for a small opening in the earth. It was going on midnight, but Lauren didn’t care, tonight was her night. She had waited an hour before she was sure Damien and Roxanne were both asleep before taking off into the dark of the night.

She hated secrets and keeping them, but this was one that no one could know about. Her feet swept over the ground, searching for her hole. One foot sank two feet into the ground, making Lauren scream, but she quickly recovered and bit her lip to keep from making anymore noise. Squatting low, Lauren reached out and grasped a branch and slowly eased her body into the hole. She slid down a natural slide, enjoying the ride until a branch poked her backside, making her cringe. Her feet finally touched the stone below her and she slithered out of the hole.

Before her was a vast underground cave, with walls that stretched for a half a mile and ceilings that reached three stories into the air. Lauren had found this cavern when walking through the forest earlier and stepped into the hole on accident and crashed through, tumbling down the slide and landing on her butt at the very end.

A small fire burned dimly in the very heart of the room, emitting a soft glow, illuminating the vast walls, and showing their history. This was her room, her own paradise. It was here where she came to get away from it all, it was here where she felt truly free. She dropped a bundle that she brought with her by the mouth of the hole, looking around her. Lauren walked towards the fire, basking in its glow and warmth. Her fangs started to grow immensely, protruding from her mouth, reflecting in the light of the fire. She could feel her power pulsating throughout her body, the awesome power sent shivers down her spine. A faint rustling could be heard and wings burst forth from her shirt, shredding it, leaving it to hang across her bare back. Glistening scales started to spread across her back, replacing the naked skin with the ruby scales. Her arms started to bulge through the shredded shirt and the battered shirt slipped down her arms, revealing the underbelly of the dragon. Where a young woman once stood, now an onyx dragon loomed over torn clothes and the small fire. Small puffs of smoke streamed out of the slit-like nostrils of Lauren. Her wings lay folded neatly against her scaly back, hiding the small ridges of bone that resembled small spikes that lined her spine.

A clawed foot stepped forward making a clicking sound of bone against stone. Lauren felt unusually warm and concluded it must be of the fire harboring deep within her belly. For three nights she had been trying to conjure up fire but only piping hot smoke would stream out, but tonight was different, tonight was her night. She positioned herself in the very center of the room, straightening her posture. Her neck arched with practice precision and she could feel the raging inferno deep in her abdomen. Taking a deep breath, Lauren slightly opened her mouth and belched forth a tremendous amount of smoke.

Damn, she muttered inside her head. She readied herself for another attempt at the fire spitting. Neck arching, lungs taking in as much oxygen as possible, Lauren sent a stream of fire fifty feet into the air, scorching the roof of her vast cabin. Happiness seeped into her scales, lighting up her face and setting a glow about her. She just made fire! She, only a dragon of five days, made fire, and not just some petty little match flame, but a raging, burning, scorching fire! Her heart skipped a beat and she felt like soaring. And then a thought popped into her mind. Why couldn’t she soar? She had wings; why not use them to their full potential? Lauren loosened the bonds of the dragon from her mind and slowly transformed back into her vampire state. Taking off at a run, she crossed the distance from the fire to the slide in no time. She kept hitching her torn pants up her waist, but she allowed them to fall when she stepped out of them and into new pants and a new shirt.

It took Lauren a while to crawl back up the slide, but she made it in good timing. She shimmied out of the hole, crawling to her feet and brushing the dirt off of her. Lauren started to walk quietly through the underbrush, careful of unexpected holes. She walked nimbly by a drop off, glancing down at the base of the small cliff, hoping she wouldn’t fall. Her feet shuffled along the ground, but her foot entangled with a tree root and she was sent cascading down the side of the drop off. A searing pain shot through her shoulder and she cried out in pain. She landed in a tangle of limbs, not attempting to move until she could feel someone jump on top of her.

“Where have you been?” Roxanne’s shrill voice rang in Lauren’s ear. Roxanne had her knee in the very center of Lauren’s back, pinning her to the ground, and she had Lauren’s wrists in her hands.

“Ge’ off me-ya,” Lauren groaned into the leaves, a twig poking her in the nose. She sneezed and a flame shot out of her mouth, setting fire to the ground right in front of her face. Roxanne, never missing a beat, twisted over Lauren’s body, stomping the fire out with her foot.

“Care to explain what that was?” Roxanne growled applying more pressure to Lauren’s back.

“Ow, ow, ow, OW, will you stop that!” Lauren tried to roll them over, but Roxanne had the advantage in this situation.

“What was that?” Roxanne repeated herself, letting up on the pressure.

“What? You don’t know what fire is?” She could feel Roxanne’s knee again.

“Ouch! Stop it! I’m already in enough pain, no thanks to you!”

“When were you going to let me on your little secret?” Roxanne calmly asked.

“What secret? You already knew I was a Fusion!” Lauren cried into the leaves, wary of twigs.

“The fire, since when could you do that? Answer me that,” Roxanne asked coldly.

“What is your issue? And the answer is just like ten minutes ago! What is wrong with you?” Lauren asked, trying to look at Roxanne. Roxanne leaned in close to Lauren’s ear, whispering in her ear.

“The great thing about being a powerful vampire like me,” her voice grew deeper, “is that you can impersonate anyone,” by the time Roxanne finished speaking her voice transformed into Darius’ voice.

“Get off me!” Lauren screamed, struggling and writhing underneath Darius. The weight instantly vanished and it felt like someone was shaking Lauren, calling her name.

“Lauren! Wake up!” Lauren slowly opened her eyes, focusing on the blurry object in front of her.

“Roxanne?” she asked groggily. Lauren’s head throbbed, the venom thundering in her ears. She raised a shaky hand to touch her head and she soon regretted it. Her shoulder screamed its protest of movement and seized up, and Lauren screamed along with it. Venom seeped through Lauren’s cloak, staining the ground below her.

“Are you ok?” Roxanne murmured, ripping the part of the cloak that hid Lauren’s wound. She hissed when she saw the deep slash along Lauren’s shoulder that almost reached her neck.

“Mmm, I don’t really remember. What happened?” Lauren asked groggily, gritting her teeth when Roxanne touched her shoulder.

“Well I think you fell off that ridge up there,” Roxanne pointed above them, “and I think you smashed your shoulder on one of those of rocks, and a piece is stuck in your shoulder,”

“Lovely,” Lauren groaned, moving to sit up but she could feel a strong arm push her back down. She cocked her head to the side to see Damien looming over her. He had placed his hand on her other shoulder, applying little pressure to keep her down, but the way he was looking at her, she wasn’t going anywhere soon. Her legs melted into jelly and her heart plummeted to her stomach, she was hopeless, but she shouldn’t be feeling this, she had Van. Or did she have Van? She hadn’t heard from him in over four months, and nobody knew where he was.

“Don’t move, just relax,” Damien mumbled, keeping his hand on her shoulder, his scent invading Lauren’s senses. Keep touching me and I’ll be more than relaxed. Bad Boo Bear! Stop that, behave young lady! Great, I’m fighting with myself in my thoughts. Shut up! No you shut up! Not until you shut up!

“Are you ok, Lauren?” Damien’s voice pulled her away from her dueling thoughts. Lauren nodded her head and kept her eyes pierced on his, searching their glowing depths for what she did not know. His fingers gave her shoulder a small squeeze and she hissed between clinched teeth when Roxanne prodded her shoulder too hard.

“Easy woman, I like that shoulder!” Lauren grumbled while slapping at Roxanne’s hand, barely missing, resulting in Roxanne sticking her tongue out at Lauren. Damien smirked at Roxanne and her childish ways and looked back down at Lauren, his smirk forming into a gentle smile.

“Damien, I’m going to need you to hold Lauren down,” Roxanne said, casting a look at Damien.

“What? Why?” Lauren cried, looking to her right to stare at Roxanne and then twisted her neck to look at Damien, who nodded. He moved to his body so he was straddling her, pinning her down to the ground and he covered her upper body with his arms, trying not to hurt her. Lauren could feel the color draining from her face and could feel the venom replacing her color. Roxanne stared at Damien, he nodded, and she yanked at the piece of rock that was stuck in her shoulder. Lauren screamed an earsplitting scream and jerked her hips, trying to move away from the pain and trying to throw Damien off her, but Damien was not letting them move.

 Tears streamed out of her eyes and she continued to scream. Damien became frantic, lowered his head to hers, and kissed her, her scream muffled by his lips. Roxanne was on her butt, holding the jagged piece of stone in her hand and looking shell-shocked at Damien who was smothering Lauren’s scream with his lips. How gross. Lauren relaxed a little bit and Damien lifted his head breathing franticly, Lauren’s own breathing ragged.

“S-sorry about that, I didn’t mean to,” Damien mumbled quietly, staring at Lauren. The venom poured freely from Lauren’s shoulder, pooling around on the ground. Roxanne came to her senses and knelt by Lauren, applying pressure to Lauren’s shoulder, trying to subside the bleeding. Lauren groaned in pain and Damien slid her hand into his, squeezing her fingers, trying to avert her attention away from the pain. She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking of anything and everything except for the searing pain shooting through her shoulder. It felt as if someone had stabbed her with a white-hot poker in her shoulder and just left it in her shoulder. She squirmed under Roxanne’s touch trying to get away, but Damien kept a strong hold on her.

“P-p-please stop!” Lauren cried with tears streaming down her pale face. She could see the dark abyss creeping into her eyesight and her heartbeat started to slow down. The last thing she could feel were cold hands cupping her face, gently slapping her cheeks, trying to get her to wake up.

 

Caitlin murmured in her sleep, turning over in the bed she was in, throwing an arm precariously over the side of the bed. Lara watched the new girl sleeping perched from her chair, her knees drawn up, making her feel somewhat safe. This girl was one of Darius’ new creations, a young one too, but not as young as Lara had been when she became a vampire. This one only had to be fifteen, and even at that age she was much too young to be thrown into this life of solitude. Lara slowly stood up and walked around the bed towards the window that over looked the lake. She placed both of her hands on the windowsill, leaning towards the window, her forehead pressing against the cool glass. How she wanted to be out of this country and back into her own house, safe in her own bed, the bed she hadn’t seen since she was seven, nearly ten years ago. She could see some of the servants enjoying themselves by ice-skating, some of them doing a lot better than others. A giggle sounded deep in the back of Lara’s throat, the cold glass fogging up in front of her mouth.

Caitlin grumbled, saying something along the lines of home, which made Lara think more of home. She stepped back from the window and walked quietly out of the room and started to head down to the courtyard. Snow still blanketed the earth in a thick sheet of wonder, but that did not stop this vampire from taking a turn about the world. She walked by the lake and stopped to watch the performance before her. Lily threw her head back, laughing at her husband who had just fallen flat on his face. A smile curved Lara’s lips and she continued to walk throw the snow, watching and listening to splendor before her. Her mind kept drifting off to the new addition, Caitlin, a young girl, apparently from Lauren’s school. There was something familiar about her. Lara couldn’t quite put her finger on it but it was something strangely similar to someone she knew.

A snowball hit Lara in the middle of her back, Lily started to shriek with laughter, and Lara turned around, playfully glaring at Lily.

“Want to play dirty do we?” Lara asked coldly, forming a snowball while never taking her eyes off of Lily. She hurled the ball at Lily where it hit her in the leg.

“Why touché, Miss Lara!” Lily threw another snowball at Lara, this time hitting her in the chest. Lara cried in mock pain, clutching her at her cloak, and she dropped to her knees, feigning death. Lily laughed even harder and Lara started to laugh and threw a snowball at Lily’s head. This game continued well into the afternoon, snowballs flying in all directions, hitting people and missing people.

Caitlin woke up, groaning as her stiff joints started to pop in their protest of moving. She slowly sat up in her bed, pressing a soft hand to her neck, feeling for the puncture wounds. The thoughts raced and grinded in her head, replaying the previous night’s ministrations, Caitlin tried to remember everything. She remembered someone cackling.

“Why hello my dear,” a low voice cackled, “out a bit late, aren’t we?”

Caitlin jumped from the bus bench and turned around, staring at a man dressed in all black. Her heart skipped a beat as he smiled at her, fangs glinting in the light and silver eyes staring at her.

“Who are you?” She asked shakily. He smiled a sly smile, and took a step closer to her.

“Darius, my love, ruler of all the vampires,” Darius dipped into a bow, his hand smoothly removing his black Fedora from his head. Caitlin bit back a shriek as she tried to walk backwards out of this situation.

“Where are you going, dear?” Darius asked, placing his hat back on his head.

“Home,” Caitlin squeaked, stumbling off the curb, nearly falling into the street.

“Fantastic, because I have a new home for you.”

After that, everything was fuzzy; maybe it was because Caitlin had squeezed her eyes shut, listening to her own screams of help. She could feel two lumps on the right side of her neck, softly rubbing the ache out of them. She shifted in her bed, letting her legs dangle from the edge, gazing down at her feet. A knock sounded at her door and a friendly face slipped from the side of the door.

“Oh, you’re awake. May I come in?” The stranger asked. She seemed friendly enough so Caitlin gave her answer with a slight dip of her head. The young woman walked into the room, closing the door softly behind her, and then sat at the edge of the bed. The stranger extended her hand in affection, hoping Caitlin would take it.

“Hi, I’m Lara,” Lara said warmly, gently shaking Caitlin’s hand with both of hers. Caitlin smiled and returned the handshake.

“Hi, I’m Caitlin. Um, where are we?” She asked quietly. Lara smiled at her again.

“We are in Romania, at Lamia Manor,” Lara answered, a bit of know-it-all in her voice. Caitlin arched a brow and stared at Lara.

“What?” Lara asked.

“Ok, I know what manor means, but what is ‘lamia’?” Caitlin asked, puzzled.

“Oh, it means vampire in Latin. Darius seemed it to fit since everyone who resides in this God forsaken place is a vampire,” Lara chuckled. Pain enveloped Caitlin’s eyes and she turned her head away, afraid to look at Lara. Lara watched Caitlin’s reaction.

“So…I’m a…oh dear,” she passed out, falling backwards onto the bed. Lara snickered into the arm of her cloak and started to walk out of the room. She quietly opened the door, closed it behind her, and started to walk down the hallway. Her footsteps echoed off of the walls, reverberating throughout the vast halls. There was a spring in her step that had never been there before, lighting up her features, making her seem as giddy as a schoolgirl. She bounced down the stairs, her slender hand gliding down the railing, growing colder under touch. She leapt over the last three remaining steps, landing gracefully at the bottom of the stairwell, turning swiftly into the kitchen. She started to rummage through the cabinets, until Lily stopped her.

“Don’t worry, Miss Lara, I’ll make your plate,” Lily said, beaming up at her missus.

“Oh no worries, Lily, I don’t mind at all. I actually want to make my own plate,” Lara replied warmly, continuing to sift through the cabinet, locating the plates with her hands. She walked across the kitchen to the stoves, and heaped on mountains of food.

“Goodness, Miss Lara, either you are very hungry or you are very happy about something, may I ask, if the second, what you are so happy about?” Lily questioned, laughter in her voice.

“I am extremely happy my dear Lily and I haven’t the faintest clue why! I just seem really happy, maybe it was because of that dream I had last night,” Lara mumbled the last part into her hand, her other hand clutching the plate. Lily arched a brow and stared at Lara. Lara looked at Lily before turning beet red.

“No! Not like that kind of dream! No, I had a dream last night that I made Darius shave his legs and his underarms and enter a beauty pageant. Oh, he was such an ugly woman,” Lara said dreamily. Lily busted into fits of laughter, clutching at her apron, fisting it into tight little knots. Lara smiled at herself and patted Lily lightly on the back and started off towards the table, picking the seat at the head of the table, the spot reserved for Darius only.

“Grr, I am Darius hear me roar, grr. I am the head honcho, you, my minions will do my bidding and kiss my a─” Lara stopped short when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs and she hastily bolted from her seat and jumped into a seat five seats away. Darius walked into the dining hall and eyed Lara suspiciously. He took his seat at the head of the table and rested his chin on his entwined fingers. Lara kept her head bowed while eating her dinner, careful not to let her smile to show on her face.

“Have you been sitting in my seat?” Darius asked coolly, eyeing Lara carefully. Lara brought her head up to stare at Darius with an arched brow.

“Does it look like I’m sitting in your seat? Good Lord, you sound like a kindergartener,” Lara muttered before sticking her fork into her mouth. She could see his jaw muscles clenching with rage, his eyes transforming into silver ponds. She smiled inwardly at her accomplishments and continued to eat.

“Oh, very funny, I’m going for a swim,” Darius said flatly.

“Lake’s frozen over,” Lara said, sticking another fork load into her mouth.

“Fine, then I’ll go for a walk,” Darius spat, scooting back from the table forcefully, nearly upsetting the chair. Lara continued eating while Darius made his way out of the dining hall. She eyed her next bite of food carefully.

Lily stood in the shadows of the kitchen door laughing into the chest of her co-worker, who obviously had no objection of holding her in his arms. Lara could hear Lily’s horrible attempts of suppressed laughter and just smiled and kept eating. She finished her plate and stood up, gathering her utensils and her glass when Lily came bustling into the room.

“Allow me, Miss Lara, you have given me quite the laugh tonight, so I must repay you.”

“Lily, you owe me nothing, you know that,” Lara said sweetly while allowing Lily to take her plate away, balancing Lara’s leaning tower of utensils and goblet. Lara walked up the stares, grinning malevolently to herself, thinking about her project waiting in her room. She pushed herself through multiple doors, walking down sun-lit hallways, relishing in the warmness of the rays. Finally reaching her destination, Lara slipped through her door quickly, shutting it when her foot passed through. She jumped onto her bed, grabbing one of her pillows and giving it a good squeeze. Lara rolled across her bed, slipping her hand into her bookcase, pushing aside a couple of books to pull out a small looking pot and setting it softly on her bed. She stared into the icy blue liquid, her eyes growing dark with vengeance. It was finally complete. She reached under her mattress, groping for the ladle she nicked from the kitchens earlier that week.

Anticipation laced her heart and stabbed at her lungs, making it very hard for Lara to breathe. She dipped the ladle into the blue liquid, marveling at its texture. Her eyes opened wide, the sinister smile splaying across her face, darkening her eyes with a raw hunger of power. Droplets lingered on the ladle for a moment before falling back into the icy lake. Meticulously, she poured the potion into a flask fastened at her hip, careful not to misplace a drop. Every drop fell into the flask with a small pop, the smile on her face growing.

Caitlin hesitantly knocked on Lara’s door, causing Lara to nearly drop the flask onto her legs, and making her hiss out colorful words. She carefully placed the flask back onto her hip, stowed away the contents of her sinister doings and jumped up from the bed, striding across the room towards the door. She opened the door, pausing for a moment before casting her eyes down at the blonde headed girl.

“Ah, so you’ve found me. Come in,” Lara said warmly, despite what was said earlier. Caitlin smiled gratefully at her and slipped past Lara, heading straight for the bed. Lara closed the door behind her and crawled onto the bed beside Caitlin.

“So what’s up?” Lara asked, laying down, propping herself up on one of her elbows.

“Not much, I was just really bored and you’re like the only nice person in this place so I thought I would come and talk to you,” Caitlin mumbled quietly before taking Lara’s example and lying across the bed, her arms folded under her chin, her knees sticking in the air. She turned her head to gaze at Lara who was looking at her.

“What?” Caitlin questioned. Lara smiled and shook her head.

“Nothing, it’s just really good to have someone to talk to, a horrible way to obtain a friendship though,” Lara finished, staring at Caitlin’s hands, which were fidgeting against her arms.

“So how long have you been here?” Caitlin asked, glancing at her dancing fingers. Lara hadn’t really thought about that before.

“Umm, I guess, almost twelve years?” Lara answered off handedly. Caitlin snapped her head around to stare at Lara almost as if she had sprouted a third head.

“What?” Lara asked nonchalantly, casting a lazy glance at Caitlin.

“You’ve been here that long? How old are you?” Caitlin asked, her voice growing higher with amazement.

“Yes and seventeen,” Lara replied, “Why do you ask?”

“No reason, that’s just a long time to be locked up in here,” Caitlin said while looking around the room and using her hand to motion to the dim walls.

“Time flies when one is dead,” Lara said staring at the same walls she had since she was six years old.