Page 18 of My Master
Isis looked down at it, positioned just beneath her collarbones, then looked back up into Caesareon’s eyes. They were sparkling that thick yellow color, bright, like a flame of a yellow fire. She could feel the jealous eyes of the other vampires around her and finally, she had grown sick of it.
Isis hadn’t asked to be Caesareon’s favorite. She hadn’t asked to be changed into what she was. She hadn’t asked to kill her family. Caesareon made all of those things happen himself, forcing her to be something that never in her life she thought she would be. A killer. A bloodthirsty killer that sucked her victims dry, with no control over her urges.
She looked Caesareon in the eyes, and could only see the face of her brother. Tilting her chin up defiantly, Isis said, “I will not accept this.” His smile faded into a frown, the whole room had gone silent. She could hear the vampires suck in a breath and hold it, waiting…
“You will refuse my gift?”
“Yes. I want nothing you have to offer me.” Isis made a move to stand, to remove herself from his hold but he had gripped her arm tightly in one hand, holding the necklace in the other. She tried pulling away from his iron grip, but the struggling only made it hurt more.
“You are foolish, Isis,” Caesareon murmured. “You dare disobey your Master?”
“I have no master…”
Caesareon wrapped his fingers around her neck and squeezed; the tips of his razor nails dug into her tender flesh, closing off her air supply. The calm demeanor had left his eyes; they now flared that deathly red, just like all of the rest, consuming his vision in a devil fire that turned the blood in her veins to ice.
With her hands, she clawed at his hand and then thought better of it. He was trying to kill her, and she didn’t even care. If he wanted her gone, she welcomed the idea of dying, she welcomed death. If it only meant that she would never hurt anyone she cared about again. Assuming she ever grew to care for anyone ever again. She closed her eyes, and waited for Caesareon to rip her throat out…
Instead, he released her, pushing her from his lap. She fell from him onto the ground, hitting her head on the hard floor. Gasping for breath, Isis sat up and put her hands against the spot he had touched. It was dripping in blood.
When she looked back up into his eyes, the red flare had diminished into yellow, his pupils had become mere slits and it was as if she could read exactly what he was thinking. ‘If I am going to kill you, I want to do it slowly, torturing you first.’
He stood up, still clutching the necklace in his hand. Without making a sound, he moved behind her and, without protest, she allowed him to place it around her neck, tying it in a strong knot. The coldness of the jewelry pressed against her, heavy; she swallowed the lump in her throat and pressed her fingers to the golden stones.
Caesareon’s voice whispered richly into her ear. “You do look beautiful in it, my little warrior.”
* * *
“I see you put up a struggle.”Caesareon slapped Isis’s cheeks lightly. She winced at the pain it caused on her wounds and rubbed her eyes, as if that could wipe away the memory of the dream she had just had. She was still lying in the corner and hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep until Caesareon had shaken her awake.
“I see you put up all and any means necessary to keep me trapped in here.” Isis yawned and stretched her hands over her head casually, trying to pretend that his presence didn’t bother her, though they both knew it did and she was kidding no one.
“Yes, necessary, as you said.” He leaned forward, his thick eyebrows pulled together tightly as he examined her wounds, brushing his thumbs across them so lightly Isis might have thought it was a feather. “You’ll be needing medication.” He finally decided, leaning back with a sigh.
“I could have figured that out on my own, thank you very much,” she muttered, avoiding his gaze.
“No one told you to try and escape your fate, Isis.” He said this the way someone might lecture a dog for biting him after torturing it. “You were always so stubborn, strange how you haven’t changed, even after all of these years…”
“You’re one to talk!” Isis spat back at him. “You raging douche!”
He let out a sound that sounded somewhat like a restrained chuckle. She looked up in semi-surprise. He was trying not to laugh? It was odd, since she was so used to seeing him so serious all of the damn time.
“What’s so funny?” Isis demanded.
“I just find it comical that you insult me in such a mundane way. It seems that your fraternizing with humans all of this time has made your vocabulary more atrocious than it used to be. Such a pity…” Shaking his head back and forth like he had just discovered a cosmic joke, Caesareon stood and clapped his hands together and changed the subject. “Now, we have to get you prepared. We will be very much occupied today.”
“Occupied with what?”
“First you need to be bathed, you smell like death, and then we must meet with the troops and tell them of our plans!”
“Okay.” Isis stood up and dusted her hands off on her pants. “What plans, exactly?”
Caesareon smiled full fanged at her and held his hand out, beckoning her with his fingers. She stepped forward and placed her hand on his. He entwined their fingers together and gripped her tight. “I suppose you’ll have to wait and see now.”
* * *
“So what arewe going to do?” Esmeralda hopped around on one foot, pulling on her Converse. Antonio was pulling on his own boots, tying them up in double knots, his curls falling into his eyes. He straightened out and slipped into his leather jacket, running a hand across his face.
“First, we need to go find Isis and talk to her.”
