Page 22 of My Master
In that moment, Isis tried to make herself look as small as possible. She pitied the girl, pitied her for wanting so badly to please this monster. Isis did everything she could possibly do to displease him and yet, she still came out on top—forever his.
Caesareon looked from vampire to vampire and smiled. “How about,” he said, “you duel for favoritism?”
Demetria’s eyes went wide. “My Master?”
“Yes, it’s a splendid idea!” He clapped his hands together and looked excitedly from girl to girl. “It will also be a way to test out your new training. You two will fight, the one left standing will become my new favorite!”
Demetria showed her fangs in a smile, obviously thrilled by the idea of getting to beat Isis around a bit. Isis didn’t mind too much either. She wasn’t really fond of Demetria—at all—but she’d let the girl beat her, perhaps kill her, and two people would come out winning. Demetria would win his favoritism and Isis would die.
Isis nodded, so did Demetria.
“Excellent!” He called for his other servants, all whom cleared out the furniture and built a crowd around the two vampires. Caesareon stood off the side, crossing his arms against his chest and observing them now with no emotion on his face.
They stood lengths apart from each other, Isis immobile, Demetria giddy with excitement. Isis found Caesareon’s eyes and held them. They were that steady yellow, reminding her all too well of a rattle snake. Like he would attack at any moment, and you wouldn’t even see it coming.
He broke his gaze from hers and turned to the vampire next to him, whispering something in his ear. The vampire inclined his head and left the room, making Isis wonder what was going on. He came back a moment later, holding a human girl in his arms. Isis sucked in a breath. The girl looked to be about eleven years old, small, in the vampire’s arms. She had a long blonde braid, hanging down her side, her eyes were wide and terrified, yet she stayed unmoving.
Caesareon nodded then stepped forward in between Isis and Demetria, holding Isis’s stare for a moment before turning his attention to the mall crowd. “In order to gain my favoritism, Isis and Demetria have agreed to a challenge.” He turned to Demetria, who smiled confidently at him. He turned back to the crowd and continued, “Using their new skills, they will fight until only one remains standing.” He then motioned for the vampire carrying the human to step forward as well.
He did and dropped the human girl to the ground, where she stayed in the fetal position. The vampire retreated. Caesareon reached down and gripped her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. The poor creature was trembling, averting her gaze from everyone in the room, burying her face in her shoulder. “As we know, Isis has deep compassion for the humans.”
Whistles and cries of disgust rang around the room, Isis felt their disapproving stares on her, but she kept her steady gaze focused on the girl, ignoring each and every one of them.
“Yes, yes, I’m aware of her disgusting habits.” Everyone silenced immediately. “And I know that Isis will not want to fight Demetria fairly, so I have decided to make a deal.” He turned to Isis, pulling the child with him; he gripped the little girl by the cheeks and forced her to look at Isis. Isis stared back, her heart palpitating rapidly. The human’s eyes were a bright greenish blue, tears streamed down her face, and it reminded Isis of her brother. “Fight Demetria fairly, Isis, for if you do not I will kill this human child.”
The snake had struck.
The battle began, and Isis didn’t need to think twice about it. She lunged for Demetria, everything that had been taught to her overriding her instincts. All she could think about was her anger, her fear, her compassion for this human girl. Caesareon was threatening to kill her if she didn’t fight fair. Basically, he had known she was going to let Demetria win and kill her and he had taken her weakest point and used it against her.
This would be the last time, she thought savagely as she collided with Demetria in midair, the force of their contact bouncing them back. Isis landed on her feet while Demetria fell backwards, her back making an awful sound against the hard floor. Isis didn’t wait for her to recover, she attacked again, jumping onto her and slamming her knee into Demetria’s stomach with jarring impact.
Demetria retaliated by gripping Isis’s wrist and twisting it, a loud crack in her bones made Isis cry out. She bit her lip, extracting blood and wriggled her wrist away; with her undamaged hand, she backhanded Demetria in the face. Her head snapped to the side in a jerking motion, Isis tried gripping her neck with her unbroken hand but felt Demetria’s legs go around her waist and push Isis off of her.
She fell on her back, cradling her wrist against her chest so as to not damage it even further. Jumping to her feet, Isis backed away from Demetria, who was also standing, wiping away the blood at the corner of her mouth. She smiled demonically and opened her hands out, as if to say ‘come and get me.’
Isis regarded her carefully with all of her senses. She had done no damage except for the little cut on her lip, her breathing was rapid but she was otherwise calm. There was a small scream around her. Isis turned to the sound and saw that the human girl was on her knees, Caesareon had her hair gripped in his hand and he was tugging at it. She was clawing at his hand but his grip remained tight.
He grinned and with his finger, cut just beneath the girl’s collarbone, a thin line of blood ran down the front of her. She cried out louder now and struggled against him. A cold fury swept itself into Isis’s veins; she immediately thought of her brother, his neck cut just like that.
Anger welled and even though it pained her to do so, she held her injured wrist out, and beckoned her forward with her fingers. Demetria frowned, her face becoming a mask of fury. It had the effect that Isis thought it would. Demetria hated to be taunted, and it coming from Isis was even worse. She charged for her, her claws bared in front of her.
Isis dodged her in a twirl, ending up behind her. With her good hand, she cracked it down against Demetria’s back, causing her to fall face first. As soon as she hit the ground, Isis brought her foot back and kicked her in the stomach. Demetria clutched at it in pain then Isis bent down and held onto her forearm, bending it sideways as easily as if she were snapping a twig.
Demetria cried out in agony. She knew her bones would grow back, but it would be painful and it would be a long process. “A bone for a bone,” Isis said, loud enough for Caesareon to hear. And then, in one quick motion, Isis lashed out with her fingers, digging them an inch deep into Demetria’s neck, leaving her immobile and barely breathing on the floor.
Isis stood up and turned to face Caesareon, he was smiling, as he always was, and had released the human girl. She was huddled at his feet, shaking in fear. “Well done, Isis,” he marveled. “I find I quite enjoyed your method. You observed her weakness and used it against her, what predators should do. Although it is quite unfortunate that you let yourself be played in such a way.” He indicated at her broken floppy wrist, which had already begun to heal, the bones mending together. Caesareon snapped his fingers and vampires immediately went to Demetria, picking her up and dragging her away to the medication room, where she would be healed, and greatly shamed.
Isis looked at the human girl. “Let her go,” she commanded through her clenched teeth. Caesareon looked down at the girl and chuckled.
“Yes, I did say that if you didn’t fight fairly I’d kill her, didn’t I?” He lifted the girl up and stood her in front of him. Isis stared at her, and she stared back, making full eye contact for once. Her eyes pleaded Isis to save her, to get her out of there. Isis stepped forward to grab her but Caesareon pulled her back. “Though you did fight fairly, your nasty habit of loving humans has got to be overcome. Think of this as a lesson.” And without batting an eye, Caesareon twisted the girl’s neck, killing her instantly.
* * *
“Is what she says true?”Demetria burst through her Master’s door. He was naked and dripping water onto the floor. Any other day the sight would have made Demetria turn her head, blushing, but her anger kept her eyes focused on his own. Her Master raised his eyebrows at her entrance.
“I’m afraid I do not know what you speak of.” He shook his dark hair out, scattering water across the room, and turned, pulling off clothes from the bed.
“Don’t play coy with me!” she shrieked. It wasn’t like her to ever yell at her Master, fear and adoration for him kept her from doing so, but she was too angry to think, too shaken up byherarrival—Isis.
