Annabelle sat at a round coffee table with a steaming cup of tea in front of her. I was shoved opposite her and tried my best to put as much contempt in my eyes as I could. She sputtered and almost spit out her tea with a laugh as she looked me over in approval, nodding her head as if I was an expensive porcelain doll dressed in all the right clothes.
There was a large, green, lacey doily covering the whole table with smaller circular ones placed at each seat for a teacup and a plate. In the center of the table was a pile of delectable cakes and cookies, and around it were teapots and teacups placed in a mannerly fashion.
Annabelle clapped her hands and whispered something into Grey’s ear. He untied the bit from around my mouth, and I gagged to get that metallic taste from my mouth. My hands were free to do as I liked, and I poured myself a cup of tea and gulped it down in the most “unmannerly” way that I could.
“You look lovely,” the vampiress commented, taking another sip of her tea.
I grumbled, “Thanks, I guess. Where’s Sang?”
She set her teacup onto the table, and it clattered rather loudly. “Oh, you mean Chester. He’s in the torture chamber as he disobeyed me last night.”
I balled my hands into fists and let them go. “What are your plans, Annabelle? Why did you bathe me and dress me in this extravagant dress, and now have me over for tea? You know all I want to do is punch that pretty little mouth of yours and take Sang back to Darius’ mansion.”
She chuckled a high, melodious laugh that sent shivers down my spine. “Oh, my sweet, don’t you think I already know that? I’m torturing you right now by separating you from your precious Sang and making you have tea with me, your enemy. Isn’t it just beautiful?”
I crossed my arms, shook my head, and then took another sip of tea. It was Earl Grey and was very sugary, but it had some weird taste I couldn’t shake off, that I craved. I poured myself another cup and swallowed it down and then another and another as Annabelle watched with keen interest. I’d drink all her goddamn tea.
I ended up grabbing the whole teapot and drinking from it until the very last drop. Annabelle said, “You know why you enjoyed the taste of that tea so much?”
The color drained on my face, and I became stiff. “No.”
“Because I laced it with Sang’s blood and my blood.” She giggled and combed a hand through her long ebony locks.
I took my tongue and swiped the inside of my mouth, and it tasted so good, so sweet. I couldn’t make out the difference between Sang and Annabelle’s blood and that disturbed me. Was it because they were blood-mother and child that their blood was so similar? I didn’t know the answer, but I felt stupid for drinking the tea without even suspecting that it might’ve been poisoned or something. Ugh, sometimes I was such an idiot.
“Can I see Sang?” I asked in the most innocent of tones.
Annabelle titled her head in contemplation and replied with a giggle, “Sure, why not. I’m sure you’ll be so angry at the state he’s in that steam will spew out of your ears.”
She sounded just like one of the prissy cheerleaders I went to high school with.
I bit my bottom lip as she snapped her fingers, and Grey bound my hands behind my back. Annabelle led the way through a long corridor and down a flight of steps. It was eerily dark and quiet as I descended the steps. I heard the lash of a whip, and a person whimpered. When we made it to the floor, I saw Sang naked, back pressed to the wall, hands nailed down, and legs strapped wide apart on the floor. A large burly man flogged him with a whip, and I flinched as Sang cried out as it hit his chest and blood streamed down his torso.
“Stop it. Make it stop!” I begged. Annabelle smiled cruelly from ear to ear, and she got onto her knees and crawled to Sang, blood wetting the ends of her good dress as she did so.
“Oh, my poor, poor Chester,” she cooed and kissed his forehead. I wanted to hit her so bad at that moment! Just sucker-punch her right in that grimy mouth and knock a few teeth out for eternity.
The bitch. How could she do this to Sang? What had he done to deserve this?
“Bathe him and prepare him for my bedchambers tonight,” she said to the man that held the whip.
To Lord Grey she whispered, “Take Lily to my bedchambers right now and place her at the foot of my bed.”
She then went up the steps in a whirlwind of green fabric and high-heels clinking. Grey shoved me after her. I stared into Sang’s bloody eyes, and he stared back and gave me a smile before I was forced to turn around and continue upward.
Lord Grey covered my eyes with his hands as he pushed me along, and finally he let me go, mounted me on the bed, and tied my hands and legs spread-eagle at the foot and left me alone. My feet barely touched the blanket, and my arms were up above my head uncomfortably.
The bed was extraordinary. It was larger than a king-sized and had a soft blanket with red roses decorating it and plush pillows with golden fringes and silk cases piled by the headboard. The nightstands had dozens of vases of multi-colored roses and different types of flowers. Her wallpaper was black with lithe dragons flying across it, and at the head of the bed was a great mahogany board with a painted lion lunging out from the drawing. Her dressers were all decorated with scarlet cloth and were made of the finest wooded craftsmanship, the handles curling into claws and snakes. There was a great black filmy canopy over her bed in which I rubbed my head against and impatiently waited for someone to come into the room.
The arched window in the corner of the room by a red velvet couch was shaded by a midnight blue blind, and I didn’t know what time of day of it was; only it was late in the morning.
I sagged against my bonds and moved my wrist, an ankle, but that was it. Nothing else. Birds chirped their songs outside. One kept repeating itself which grew irritating. I kept my gaze rested on the bed, waiting for someone to come in. I didn’t know how long I stayed in that position, only that I nodded off a few times and my thoughts were focused solely on Sang and how I could get him and myself out of this mess.
Finally, the doorknob turned in the corner of my eye, and I saw Annabelle stride in with Sang beside her. He was dressed in a simple brown shirt with leggings and bare feet which were bandaged. Annabelle gently shut the door and came in beside me.
“My, my, what a trophy I have here tonight.” She sniggered and twirled around, dress flaring out like a fan before walking up to me and lifting my chin to look into my eyes.
“Your eyes are so defiant. I love that in a person’s eyes. It makes me want to break them even more,” she murmured.
“You’re a real nutcase, you know that, right?”
“Now, untie her and bring her to me,” she commanded, and Sang immediately unbound me, took me bridle-style in his arms, and gave me to Annabelle so that I was laid across her lap on my back. It was an extremely awkward position, and I scrambled to get off, but her right hand enclosed around my neck. She forced my chin up so that I could see her dazzling emerald eyes and cherry red lips. Her obsidian hair brushed against me as she moved her head to the side to get a good view of my face.
Okay, I admit she was pretty. But that was all she had going for her.
“You are beautiful,” she said while caressing my cheek. I wanted to turn the other way, but Sang now held my arms down, and I didn’t want to kick him.
But I just could not stand being on Annabelle anymore, in her bed, so I breathed, “Sorry, Sang.” And I used all my strength to fling my legs at him, but instead, I just flopped back onto the bitch, and a screaming migraine thundered in my head.
“Ah, I see that my blood is finally beginning to take effect,” she breathed.
I choked out, “What do you mean?”
“I put my blood and Sang’s in the tea you drank earlier. For now, since you have your blood in your system, you belong to me, but only temporary. Your head will hurt…a lot if you don’t do as I want.”
I wanted to smack myself in the face, but Sang squeezed my hands tenderly, tears glossing his eyes.
Why couldn’t he break away from her control? Darius was his master now, and she wasn’t. So why was she able to manipulate him like a marionette? Ow. My head felt as if it split open like an ax to a wedge of firewood.
“I can see why Darius wanted you so much. Your skin is so supple and soft,” she said as she trailed her slender fingers down my left cheek to my collarbone. I cringed.
Sang’s energy, spiked with anger, coiled and lashed from him, a deep crimson wavering as if the heat from a flame. Annabelle’s cool green aura shot out and overpowered Sang’s. It came over him like a waterfall. She calmed him and cradled him like a parent would a child. Sang’s eyes lulled, and he swayed where he sat.
“Sang.” Annabelle’s voice was crisp and clear. “Take Lily to her chambers and do what you want with her. I am retiring for the night.”
Sang bowed. “Yes, mistress.” He stood up and scooped me into his arms. My neck rolled to the side with fatigue, and he carried me to my room and closed the door behind him, set me on my bed, and sighed in relief.
“Hey, wake up.” I clapped my hands, and his zombie-like gaze immediately snapped back to his regular self.
“Lily.” He lay next to me on the bed. “Thanks. I don’t know how you released me, but you did. Maybe it’s your powers. Maybe they’re growing. I don’t know, but anyway, she really likes you. I mean, really, really likes you. I can tell by the way she feels all gooey inside when she sees you. Dammit, now I don’t know how we’re ever going to escape.”
“Tomorrow night,” I whispered.
“What?”
I placed my mouth right inside his ear. “Tomorrow night. Let’s try. Meet me outside my room, and we’ll leave. I’ll think of a way to somehow escape. Don’t worry.” I don’t know how or why the thought came into my head, but it did, and I had told Sang, and now I would have to carry this plan out.
I had no fucking clue how, though. I could be rash at times. There was less than a ten percent chance this might work, but I thought what the hell, we can try, right?
“All right. I trust you,” he said and kissed my cheek.
“On the cheek? Seriously?” I grumbled and locked my hands behind his head and pulled him into me so that our lips melded together. He moaned and slapped my ass, and I squeaked in surprise. The kiss broke as we both laughed, and I ruffled his hair while he planted feathery kisses of passion, from my ear to my shoulder.
We hugged and just stood there, the moonlight swathing the room in silver rays.
I asked, “How does she have so much control over you when Darius is your master now? I thought that she had jack-shit on you now.”
He turned his face away from me. “I’m still connected to her, Lil. Her blood is still inside me, no matter what I do. But I do know one thing. I love you. I love you and Darius so much and that will never change.” He grinned happily.
“We’ll get through this. If we can get away then that’ll buy us time for Darius to get here, I think.”
“Yeah. Good thinking.” He yawned. “I’m gonna go to bed.” He pecked me on the forehead. “Goodnight, sweet princess.”
He untangled his arms from mine and shut the door as I sank to the floor and began to cry.