Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)
4. Captive

Kaylin’s POV

Ow, my poor head... How much did I drink yesterday? I try to open my eyes but shut them just as quickly again when the light from the window blinds me. Ugh, it should be illegal to be this hungover. Instead of opening both eyes simultaneously, I choose to open one eye at a time by squinting. Finally, I succeed and slowly sit up in an attempt not to vomit up all the liquid I drank yesterday. The room I’m in isn’t mine; where the hell am I? It has dark red walls, a high ceiling, and an umber-colored parquet floor. The bed I lie in is king-size with black silk sheets, and opposite the bed, I see my reflection in the mirror hanging above the dresser.

To the left of me is a large window with thick black curtains that aren’t closed all the way, hence my temporary blindness. In the corner, obliquely to the right of me, a small couch stands with a TV on a shiny living room table and three doors. I get up slowly and open the first door that turns out to be a closet. The next door is a bathroom, which can only mean that the third leads out of here. The only question is, where “here” is exactly? I pick up my heels lying on the floor and hold them in my hands while looking for my handbag, which is nowhere in the room.

My hair stands in all directions, and my makeup is all over my face; I look like a zombie. Even so, I open the third door and, indeed, it’s the way out of the room. I come out in a cedar-colored corridor with doors on all sides, not a sound beyond my breathing. My head moves to the right and then left; which path leads me to the exit? I finally decide to go to the right, quietly like a little mouse; I move through the long corridor until I get to a staircase. Voices are coming from downstairs, some serious and others cheerful. I decide to follow the sound and descend the stairs.

When my bare feet meet the cold stone floor, it becomes silent, and five pairs of eyes look directly at me. No one says anything, and I try to remember whether I know these people or not.

“Um... Sorry to bother you, I’m just wondering where the exit is?” I quietly ask and rub my arm with the other to warm myself; it doesn’t seem like anyone paid the electric bill; it’s shit cold in this house!

Four unknown men and a woman stand in front of me with their gazes on me. What the hell is going on? I know I look like a circus freak but come on!

“Okay, sorry. I’ll replace it myself,” I answer, feeling confused, and begin to walk another way to try to figure out the door to my freedom.

“Hey, wait!” the woman cries out behind me, and I turn around confused when she suddenly stands right in front of me. “My name is Vivienne.”

“Kaylin,” I answer, shaking hands with the woman.

“Well, Kaylin, it seems like it became one hell of a birthday party for you yesterday,” she says, grinning, making me even more confused than I already was. Were these people there with me yesterday? “Given that I can practically see the gears turning in your head, I guess you don’t remember much?”

I slowly shake my head and look down at the floor with burning cheeks. This is why I don’t party, there’s always too much alcohol, and I get a blackout. Vivienne laughs, but thankfully not in a mocking way; I don’t think I can handle more embarrassment at the moment.

“You’re adorable!” she exclaims like a schoolgirl and hugs me. “Since you don’t remember, I’m going to explain it to you. Those idiots over there were at the bar last night; my brother William brought you home.”

Wait... What!?

“Oh my God, what did I do!?” I exclaim in panic with wide eyes, which makes Vivienne laugh while one of the men says “ouch,” resulting in the same man getting a slap on the arm.

“No, he didn’t take you home like that, honey,” she replies, smiling. “You were very drunk, and he felt it would be a danger to leave you alone.”

“I wasn’t alone; my cousin was with - Damn it! Britney!” I exclaim and start pacing. “Do you have a phone that I can borrow quickly? I can’t replace my bag.”

“Absolutely!” she hands out her phone to me.

“Viv...,” one of the men growls.

“Oh, come on! She’s unmistakably worried about what her cousin has to think; let her make the call and then go home,” Vivienne replies with extended arms.

I dial the number to Britney and wait while the signals pass. One signal, two signals, three... I’m about to hang up when I hear her voice.

“What!?”

Damn, she’s mad.

“Um ... Britney, it’s Kaylin,” I say cautiously even though I know the third world war is starting now, holding the phone several inches away from my ear.

“Kaylin! Where the hell has you been!?” she screams; yep, she’s pissed. “Uncle Carl and Chris are out looking for you! Where the hell are you!? You can’t just disappear like that. Do you know how worried we’ve been!?”

I sigh and try to be patient, waiting for her to stop screaming. My temper isn’t the best, and when I notice that she doesn’t intend to calm down, it’s my turn to get pissed.

“Shut the fuck up and listen!” I scream back. “You were the one who left me all alone! Remember that? Even though you promised not to! You know about my problems!”

I’m breathing heavily, and if she were here now, then I would honestly have slapped her.

“Kay, I-.”

“No, you know what? You promised not to leave me, and you did anyway. The only reason I walked off the bar yesterday at all was that you left me, again! Tell dad and Chris that I’m okay. I’ll get home when I feel better. Return to your own state; I’m sick of this...”

I hang up and give back the phone to Vivienne while the others look at me with eyes wide open in surprise.

“Thanks for the loan; where’s the door?” I ask and rub my temples.

“Hey, you don’t seem to be okay. Why don’t you stay a little longer?” she asks with a soft tone. “I can get you some food, painkillers, and a cup of coffee. How about that?”

I genuinely want to go home, but on the other hand, if I do, I’ll have to see Britney, and I don’t want to do that yet. You may think I’m hard on her, but I don’t take broken promises lightly; she’s aware of that. Besides, this isn’t the first time she has done this either. She knows I’m uncomfortable alone in crowds when I get panic attacks, yet she does it time and time again... I sigh and nod.

“Perfect, come on,” she blissfully exclaims and takes my hand to drag me into the kitchen.

I practically fly after her; damn it, this girl has one hell of a grip! A loud “BAM” sounds when my head meets the refrigerator. I fall on the floor and leave behind a massive dent in the refrigerator door. My head is pounding, and blood is rushing down over my face. As if it wasn’t enough with a hangover, now I probably have a concussion to have fun with.

“Viv! God damn it!” the emerald man exclaims and hurries up to me; I heard his name yesterday but can’t remember what it was. “You can’t throw her around like a doll!”

“Oh, my god, I’m sorry, Kaylin! I don’t think about my strength and that you’re just a human,” she says sadly, handing out papers to me.

Wait, huh? What does she mean I’m “just human”? What else would I be? A cheese cube? The rest of the men come into the room with puzzled faces when they first see the refrigerator and then my bleeding head. My head continues to swell, and it’s hard to keep my eyes open; my body rocks back and forth.

“Shit! Viv, she’ll fai-.”

“How beautiful she is,” an unknown woman’s voice says.

“I know, and she would’ve been even more beautiful if Vivienne hadn’t thrown around with her like a rag doll!” a familiar voice growls.

“Hey! I didn’t mean to, okay!? Moreover, your beloved is a tough bastard for being human,” Vivienne says.

“What is a beloved?” I ask groggily.

“Kaylin! Kaylin, how are you?” the emerald guy asks anxiously and helps me sit up.

It’s still spinning a bit, but I manage to clarify that I’m in the same room I woke up in earlier. Beyond the eye man, which name I still don’t know, there is an unknown woman in the room. She has dark brown curly hair, basil-green eyes, and a small but at the same time muscular body.

“Damn, girl, what are you guys? A secret superhero family?” I ask and hiss from the pain in my head that now has a bandage over it.

Vivienne begins to laugh, and the unknown woman gives her an angry look.

“Vivienne Everton! How dare you laugh under the circumstances like this!?” she thunders. “This girl could’ve been seriously injured!”

The woman’s gaze softens when she turns to me. She strolls towards me and then sits down next to me on the edge of the bed.

“Hello Kaylin, my name is Ozzandra Everton, but you can call me Ozzie,” she says, smiling. “Those two are, unfortunately, my children. You’ve met Vivienne, and the other one’s name is William. But I guess he had no way of introducing himself before that big mouth over there ripped you away.”

“Hey! It wasn’t that bad!” Vivienne exclaims, clearly offended by her mother’s words.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Everton,” I say, shaking her hand.

“Oh my, what a well-mannered girl you got, William,” she says and smiles significantly to her son before returning her attention to me. “But you don’t have to call me that; Ozzie is fine.”

“Nice to meet you, Ozzie,” I say, smiling a little; silence spreads in the room after that. “So... What’s a beloved?”

If it was quiet before, it’s dead silent now; not a single sound. Vivienne and Ozzandra are looking at William, who hasn’t stopped looking at me a single time since I woke up.

“Um, I think it’s a conversation you should have with William in private,” Ozzandra says, getting up.

“Hell no! I want to hear him stutter and make a fool of himself!” Vivienne exclaims excitedly, and Ozzandra takes her daughter by the ear to pull her out of the room.

The door closes, and we sit in silence; he stares at me, and I stare back. William is a handsome man; you can’t escape that. But this whole staring game is honestly creepy.

“Why are you staring at me so unpleasantly?” I ask him, and he breaks the stare by looking in a different direction.

“You’re beautiful,” he says after some minute of silence, looking at me.

His hand caresses my cheek, and it feels strange when skin meets skin. Kind of like when the leg is about to fall asleep, and it buzzes? That’s how it feels, but it’s not unpleasant.

“How much do you know about the supernatural world,” he asks without letting go of me with his eyes.

“Um, you mean like werewolves and stuff?” I ask stupidly.

“Ugh, don’t mention those flee-carrying dogs,” he replies, making a disgusted face. “In response to your question, yes.”

“Well, I’ve seen “Twilight” and “Teen Wolf.” I also remember some creatures from the Greek mythology. Why?”

“Have you ever met a supernatural creature?” he asks, and what do I do? I start to laugh.

“If I have met...?” I laugh so much that I have to hold onto my stomach. “Of course not; it’s not real!”

While I laugh, he just sits there and looks at me seriously. As if he doesn’t understand how ludicrous his statement is. Everyone knows that supernatural beings only exist in books and movies.

“What would you say if I told you they’re real? That you’re a soulmate of such a being and that you can never leave him after you’ve seen him?”

“I’d answer that you’re full of shit, and then I’d leave,” I answer and giggle, but stop right away when he growls at me.

I get up quickly from the bed and move away from it. William’s eyes shift from the beautiful green color to a reddish hue.

“Don’t ever say that again!” he growls. “If you haven’t met supernatural beings before, you’ve certainly done so now. You replace yourself in a house full of vampires, and you, you’re my soul beloved. There’s no way you’re going to be able to leave me now.”

I’m not laughing anymore; he’s not kidding. Okay, this guy is unmistakably mental. This is one hundred percent reality, and my heart almost jumps out of my chest. He sighs and walks up to the window to look outside. None of us say anything, and I glance at the door. When he does nothing more but just stares out, I take the opportunity to run across the bed and pop the door open to run away. I run with all the power I’ve got in my body, jumping down the stairs.

“Shit! It seems she knows and that the conversation didn’t go very well,” I hear someone say from the kitchen but ignore it to keep running.

Thankfully, I replace the front door quickly and manage to get out, slamming the door open on my way. I run across the cold, damp lawn and hear footsteps behind me. There’s a large iron gate at the end of the property, and when I’m about to throw myself over it, someone grabs me and thrust me back on the ground. I lose my breath from the impact and feel my head pounding again. The footsteps stop, and I quickly crawl to the fence to use it as support. I lean against it, and only now do I notice that I’m crying. I haven’t done that since... Well, when was the last time, honestly?

It must’ve been when I took an overdose and ended up in hospital a few years ago. My dad was crying in my arms; that was the last time. Now the tears aren’t due to grief but to sheer fear. I look up through my tears, and everyone I’ve met stands a few feet away from me. William is taking a step towards me, but I’m taking a stride back.

“Please, Kaylin, don’t be afraid. Forgive me,” he says, looking at me helplessly while I continue to cry audibly.

“Shit William, what the hell did you do to scare her this way!?” Ozzandra exclaims angrily.

“I lost control, okay!?” he exclaims back in annoyance.

“So you’re saying she saw...”

“Yup, fangs, growling, and the rest of the package.”

“It’s no fucking wonder she’s frightened! You’ve practically scared the shit out of her!” Ozzandra exclaims furiously and tries to walk towards me while I back away even more. “Wait... Why is she afraid of me?”

“I may have told her that the whole house is full of us...”

Ozzandra gasp and walks up to William to then give him a hard slap.

“It wasn’t enough to scare the shit out of your beloved and make her afraid of you, but you had to make the situation even worse by making her frightened of all of us!? Didn’t I raise you better than this!? How are you going to convince her to stay here voluntarily now?” she asks indignantly.

“It doesn’t matter if she stays voluntarily,” he replies as if it’s the most normal thing to say in the whole world.

“Of course, it matters! She has to accept you for not wanting to go home again and-.”

“It doesn’t matter because I intend to keep her here neither she wants nor not,” he says, and before I have time to react, I hang over his shoulder, screaming.

“William Everton, let the girl down right now! You can’t hold her here against her will simply because you feel like it!”

“Oh, yes, I can, and I can prove it.”

Suddenly I lie in his arms, and his fangs penetrate my skin, causing a scream from me because of the pain. He drinks my blood and doesn’t stop until I’m barely conscious.

“William, my boy... What did you do?” is the last thing I hear before darkness takes over me for the third time this day.

A/N:

Hello everyone!

William is obviously protective of his clan and can’t stand the thought of his beloved returning to her life, resulting in his clan’s suffering.

❀ But to force his mark on his beloved? That’s not okay in any way.

✿ What are your thoughts so far?

❀ Do you like the characters?

✿ Which one is your current favorite?

Please let me know your thoughts since they help me develop in my creative process! Thank you for reading, lots of love.<3