I awoke to Radu standing at the foot of my bed.
He was watching me. His icy blue eyes were narrowed and his perfect porcelain features were marred with a frown. His dark glossy hair gleamed, reflecting the light, and he was dressed for the day. He wore his usual impeccable red velvet shirt and dark leather pants. I wondered why he was awake so early.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked with genuine concern.
I had not slept well since I left Darren. I answered Radu with a shake of my head.
His frown deepened.
There was distance between us. Before Darren, we had been close. Radu was my world. And now, I wasn’t sure how I felt about him.
I was afraid I may be growing to resent him.
We stared at each other across the distance between me in the bed and him standing at the foot of it. I wondered if from now on it would always be like this. Words heavy between us, unsaid. Feelings that couldn’t be explained or expressed.
I came to Helanna two years ago, confused and afraid. I had nothing and I had no one.
Like many of the others who found themselves in the chaos capital of the Dream Planes, where I came from and how I got here was a complete mystery. I had no recollection, no memory of anything that had happened in my life before that day. All I had in my head was a name, and a vague sense of who I thought I was.
Like any big city, you need money and friends to survive. I had neither. My options were limited. I could die of cold or starvation. Wander the streets until I wasted away. Or I could sell myself into slavery.
Slavery seemed like my best option.
Helanna’s slave system is the backbone of the city. It is essential to the economy and is beneficial to all citizens.
The majority of slaves are owned with their own consent.
With slave labor being so crucial to how the city functions, it is in everyone’s best interest that the slaves are kept happy. By law, owners are expected to protect, feed, and care for their slaves. If an owner fails to provide, there are severe legal consequences.
Most who enter the slave system do so by contract. A term is set, five years being the standard, but there are many who extend to ten. After the terms of the contract have been met, most former slaves move on to become owners themselves.
Thus the cycle begins again.
Slaves can be contracted to provide a variety of services that range from basic, manual labor to being a personal companion.
I was in negotiation with a pleasant enough man when Radu found me.
I can remember little of the man who I was going to sell myself to. I remember vaguely that he was a bit overweight, wore simple clothes, and seemed friendly.
Radu, on the other hand, was breathtaking. I remember clearly how his ethereal beauty drew my eyes to him through the crowded press of the bustling market. I marveled at his flawless, ivory flesh and was instantly envious of his inky black, glossy hair. Damn, I was jealous. From his icy blue eyes, fluid catlike movements, and his expensive attire, I thought him too perfect. Like the popular girl in school. She was everything you wanted to be, you could admire her bitchy ass from afar, but you also hated her for it.
Then his voice filled my head, “Do not sell yourself to him.”
I didn’t know what was going on at first. It didn’t seem possible that my inner monologue could be interrupted by an intruder. I thought, surely I had confused it. That he had spoken the words out loud, not in my mind.
He spoke to me again, “Do not sell yourself to him. Tell him you have changed your mind and then walk over to me.”
I had not imagined it! The realization that someone was in my mind, a stranger violating my most private place chilled my blood and paralyzed me with worry.
“Who are you? Why are you in my head?”
Radu stood behind the man that I was negotiating with. For the life of me I could not recall his name. The man was speaking but I no longer heard him. His lips flapped, he was moving air, but the words didn’t connect with me. All of my attention was focused on Radu.
Radu’s icy gaze speared me, trapping me in its intensity, compelling me to do something. But I felt stuck in place.
“Come to me,” he commanded.
Something small inside me twitched, wanting to obey him. I ignored it.
“Why? What do you want from me?”
“Come to me,” he repeated with urgency.
Who did this guy think he was? Sure, he was the most beautiful person I had laid eyes on, but I wasn’t the kind of girl to lose my shit over a pretty face. Not that day at least.
“No, go away.”
Radu laughed.
My prospective owner stopped talking and turned to see who was laughing behind him. I watched all the color drain from his face. Whoever Radu was, he frightened the man, and that worried me. I needed this deal.
“I’m sorry,” the man stammered, “I forgot I have somewhere else to be.”
“No, wait!” I said but it was too late.
Portly took off running.
I was on the verge of tears as I watched the man flee the market. He had been my only hope of a hot meal. And he seemed kind, too kind now that I think about it, and I thought I could handle him. I hadn’t eaten in over a day. We were working on a deal of me joining his housecleaning company. All the other prospective owners were only interested in using me for sex.
“Don’t cry, little one,” Radu said and glided towards me.
I clenched my eyes shut, blocking back the tears, and willed my bottom lip to quit quivering.
“I’ll take care of you. You’re better off with me.”
And ever since that day, I truly had been better off with him.
Until I met Darren.
Now, as I stared at Radu and he stared at me, I wondered for the first time if I should have fled like that man did. Would I have been better off? Would I have found my way to Moon Alley?
“There have been complaints,” Radu said coldly, breaking the silence.
“So?” I answered, my voice a little more defiant than I intended. “Why do I care?”
On a normal day, Radu would have taken offense to my attitude. Today, he chose to ignore it, for the moment at least.
“You should care, my Childe, because the complaints are about you and the wolf. Soon, what happens will be out of my hands.”
“What could happen?” I asked warily.
I didn’t want to panic and jump to conclusions but Radu never made idle threats. If he threatened you, you could be damn sure he meant it.
Radu smiled but the smile held no joy. It was a twisting of the lips that was forced and empty.
“Two things will happen. The first will be the eradication of the wolf if he returns to our walls again and pesters us with his whining.”
He let that sink in, closely observing my reaction before he continued.
I did my best to keep my calm but just the thought of a group of vampires going after Darren sent me spiraling towards panic. I knew he would return, damn him. And I knew against the vampires he was no match.
“The second is that I turn you and we be done with all of this once and for all.”
I had been expecting this. When I first returned from Moon Alley, I expected Radu to do it then. And I worried when he had not.
It made the most sense. If he turned me, the wolf would no longer want me, and thus there would be no point of contention between the two Alleys. On one hand, I wanted to be turned. I wanted to sever the tie that bound me to Darren, to end the misery. On the other hand, I was terribly frightened, and I feared that if I was turned, I would still love the wolf, and would suffer even a greater misery.
“I’m not ready,” I admitted, and for a heartbeat Radu actually appeared disappointed.
It was the first time I had ever felt as if I had let him down or didn’t meet an expectation. I didn’t like it.
“It matters not if you are ready,” he snapped, his voice becoming cold, his eyes hard and now angry. “I have deemed it is time and thus it is.”
“But…” I started and the words hung in the air as I struggled to put my tumultuous feelings into verbal coherence.
The problem was I didn’t know what I wanted. No, the problem was I couldn’t have what I wanted.
If it was my choice, I would be with Radu, be his Childe but also be with Darren.
If I turned, whatever was between Darren and I wouldn’t survive it.
“It’s so fast, so sudden,” I finally finished and Radu seemed relieved.
He had been tense, I didn’t understand it. He let go of the metal bar that made up the footboard of my bed. I pretended not to notice how he had dented it with the vice of his grip.
“Tonight, my Childe, tonight.” he said and his lips returned to that empty, joyless smile. “We shall put all of this behind us. We will begin again.”
And then he turned and left.
Shit.