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

William’s POV

Damn it! Of all the creatures in the universe, the goddess choose me to have a beloved, hell no! I neither want nor will have one. The only reason Kaylin isn’t drained of blood, lying in front of my feet lifeless, is because even though she’s now my weakness, she’s also my strength. That’s how the beloved bond works. She’ll stay here neither she wants or not; I can’t risk another of my enemies getting hold of her and killing her to weaken me; it won’t happen. Kaylin stays here, and I continue to be the strong clan leader I am; everyone’s happy.

Except Kaylin, my brain tells me. She used to be afraid of me, but now that she’s been here for two days, that fear has turned into anger without equal. If she’d been a vampire, then I would’ve honestly been afraid of her now. Anger is one of the intense emotions that all beings can feel, contributing to an unbeatable strength, both bodily and mental. Sooner or later, I have to turn her into one of us because she’s human; she’s much weaker than we are. She can get sick, and she ages; we don’t, at least not in the same way. I can’t keep being strong unless she is; it’s as simple as that.

But it doesn’t feel like it’s the right time right now; even though I’m a monster, I’m not heartless. Anyone would break down and become offensive when they suddenly replace out that the world they live in isn’t what it seems. That’s why I give Kaylin room to digest what she’s found out, but not even I’ve got the willpower enough to stay away from her for days. At night when she sleeps, I always lie there next to her and watch her sleeping figure, studying her beauty. Bothersome, I know. My brother, friends, and even Vivienne have tried to talk to Kaylin, but she refuses to listen.

The only one who gets through to her is my mother, Ozzandra. And it’s for this reason that we sit in the living room, waiting for my mother. She’s inside Kaylin’s room talking to her; we need to know how she handles the whole situation.

“Do you think she hates us?” Oliver asks silently, and I look up at him.

Well, what should I answer to that? Probably? Maybe? Who wouldn’t hate us in this situation? Even though I don’t want a beloved, it stings in my heart when I think that Kaylin might hate me, her other half. I don’t blame her in such cases; I haven’t directly treated her as my second half and the love of my life.

“I don’t think she hates mom and me,” Vivienne says, looking very pleased.

“What about the rest of us?” Elijah asks.

“No, I don’t think so either,” Vivienne replies, then looks at me. “If she hates anyone, then it’s “Mr. force-myself-on-her” over there.”

I’m just about to argue back when my mom walks into the room with a sad and distressed grimace over her face. She says nothing when she walks up to the couch and sits down. My mother is a loving, motherly, and protective person; hence I understand her anger towards me now. After all, I’ve broken down her daughter-in-law into pieces and forced her not only into a world she doesn’t belong to but also into my trainwreck of a life.

“Well?” my brother Benjamin asks, who has been silent until now.

“Yes, I honestly don’t know what to say,” she begins. “This girl was broken long before you found her, and she has lived a life that’s been anything but easy.”

“What do you mean?” Vivienne asks.

“Her mother died when she gave birth to Kaylin, and her father has secretly hated her since that day,” mom replies.

“What? Why does he hate Kaylin for that?” Elijah asks confusedly.

“Because her father, Carl, thinks it’s Kaylin’s fault that his love died and put the blame on her in secret, he doesn’t know that Kaylin knows about it,” mom replies.

“But it’s a terrible burden to put on his only child!” Oliver exclaims.

“Sure it is, but that still doesn’t change that it’s a burden that Kaylin has lived with all her life. It was also the burden that led her into a life that nearly killed her. She began to over-consume alcohol and took drugs to ease the pain she carries around somehow, but it became too much one day. Kaylin overdosed and ended up in hospital; since that day, when she had her crying father in her lap, she hasn’t touched any drugs.”

“That explains why she doesn’t often drink...,” my brother mumbles.

“When you forced her into this, William...,” mom says and looks me in the eyes. “Then, you put an end to her lifelong dream, and honestly, I don’t think she can forgive you for it.”

“What dream?” I ask, suddenly feeling ashamed.

“She wanted to leave all this behind; all the pain, anxiety, and isolation. Kaylin wanted to get out of here to be able to start living and not just survive. She works in two places to save up for that dream that she won’t reach now. But don’t take for granted that she’s weak; Kaylin is stronger and can do more than you think,” she mysteriously replies and grins.

“Maybe I should apologize and then-,” I start but get interrupted by the goddess herself.

“Don’t bother,” my beloved says behind me, and I turn towards her. “Because I won’t forgive you, and I’m already dead anyway.”

She walks towards the kitchen, and the others look sadly after her; they can feel her crushed aura, even me, which shouldn’t be possible. I look at my brother, who stares at me indignantly before he slaps me on the arm and indicates that I should follow her, which I do.

“Kaylin, listen-.”

She interrupts me with a mighty fist blow to the nasal bone that cracks by the impact. I fall to the floor and hold my cracked nose while watching the blood flow. To say I’m surprised would be an understatement; my beloved is no weak little girl after all. She bends down, grabs my hair, and whispers in my ear;

“Listen and listen carefully, beloved,” she says with extra weight behind the last word as if it’s dirty to say. “I’m no one you can play around with when you feel like it; you get it? You forced me into something that I never wanted anything to do with; you thought that blow hurt, then wait until I have your heart in my hand and break it before your eyes.”

She pushes me down to the floor and gets up before walking out of the kitchen. The others prepare the way for her as she walks by, and only when we hear her bedroom door slamming upstairs do they react.

“Damn, she have one hell of a fucking swing,” I mumble to myself when my friends help me up.

“What did I tell you?” my mother asks and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t underestimate your beloved, especially not a woman whose world has been torn apart before her eyes.”

I hear how she puts on music upstairs, “Cool me Down,” by Margaret pounds in the whole house, and I sigh when I realize that the text is to me from her. My little spitfire. The others also listen, and when they understand what I just understand, Benjamin laughs.

“Oh, dear brother,” he begins. “Your woman is absolutely pissed off!”

“Talk about taking liberties; who gave her permission to turn on music and behave like a little brat in my home!?” I growl, and that results in my mother slapping me in the back of my head.

“That’s your beloved! Besides, I gave her permission to do what she wants in this house because she still can’t go outside,” she replies in an annoyed tone.

I’m the leader, but even I don’t dare to argue with my mother. She’s the reason I’m alive, and if anyone deserves respect, then it’s her. I understand what she’s trying to show. She feels just like those in the movies, “The purge”, whose homes get invaded against their will, and they have to fight for their lives; she’s now one of them, and I’m the reason.

Since our previous meeting in the kitchen when Kaylin beat me up, none of us have seen her, and I’m honestly starting to get worried. Oliver left a tray of food outside her room; maybe I should ask someone to check it out...

“Elijah, can you go upstairs and see if she’s eaten?” I ask, and he nods.

We don’t know what to say or do; more precisely, none of us have said anything in hours. There’s not much more we can do now than keep an eye on Kaylin to avoid her doing anything stupid that results in my weakening, which is why I’ve ordered them all to stay here. Suddenly Elijah comes down again with the tray untouched in his hands. I’m just about to ask him if he heard her when a scream echoes throughout the house. We’re upstairs and outside her bedroom door in a second. I kick the door open and meet a man I recognize all too well, standing grinning in front of us with Kaylin’s neck between his arms.

“Joseph,” I growl.

“Ah, the whole Everton clan is here, I see,” he grins before caressing Kaylin’s cheek. “My oh my, what a nice shape on your human, William.”

“Don’t. Touch. Her,“ I growl even louder.

“Oh, but little William,” he says, laughing. “You know the rules of what happens if you force yourself on your beloved to mark them.”

I stop, and so do the rest of us. Now I understand what mom meant a few days ago when she wondered if I really realized what it was I was doing. You see, there’s a council that takes care of our race, the vampires, since we don’t have any living royal at the moment. If someone forces themselves on their beloved with their mark when they’re a different race and unaware of our world, it violates the law. But instead of the one who marks getting punished, it’s the other part.

“I hope you’ll enjoy watching this as much as I do,” he grins before biting holes in his wrist, forcing blood into her mouth.

“No!” Benjamin growls.

He picks up a weapon before any of us react and shoots Kaylin, who falls lifeless on the floor with tears falling. She’s not really dead, I know that, but she won’t be alive when she comes back. Kaylin will be a newborn vampire, and they’re violent. Since they’re untrained, they can’t withstand the blood lust, and temporarily they’re stronger than most. Only people like my family and me have a chance, given our long bloodline.

“Nice to see you, and believe me, we’ll soon see each other again,” Joseph grins and throws himself out the open window and then disappears without a trace.

I lift Kaylin in my arms and carry her bridal style downstairs. The feeling of panic within me can’t be described unless she doesn’t already hate me; she’ll certainly do when she wakes up. How long it takes before she revives isn’t possible to answer, it’s very individual and can take anywhere from one minute to twelve hours. I put her gently on the couch and pull down the dress to be able to pick out the bullet before she comes back. However, my gaze remains on the black lace bra that teases me and begs me to touch her.

“Get out of the way; you obviously can’t do it without risking a boner among your family members. Move!” Vivienne says and cuts into the skin around the bullet hole and then inserts a pair of tweezers.

She digs around and finally replaces the bullet. It’s a good thing we’re taking it out now because it’s drenched in werewolf venom that their fangs produce when they bite. It’s just vampires affected by the poison, and Kaylin would’ve died just as fast again when she woke up if we hadn’t taken it out. When she finishes, she licks up the blood from her hands while the rest of us look disgusted at her.

“What?” she asks, confused.

“Do you know how disgusting you are!?” Oliver exclaims.

“Oh, it’s just a little cold and not one hundred percent human anymore.”

“How much difference do you feel?” Elijah asks.

“She’s only half-vampire; the first part always goes fast, a couple more hours, and we have Dracula’s bride back,” she says, laughing at her joke.

I stop listening to their conversation and look down at my beloved; a small teardrop still wets her cheek. Without thinking, I wipe it off. The moment I do, she grabs my hand and throws me out in the kitchen. She’s up on her feet in a second, and she reveals her fangs at me. Damn, that was a quick recovery; this isn’t normal!

“Kaylin, it’s me, William,” I say softly, trying to calm her down.

“I don’t know any ‘William,’” she replies, growling, and then I make the big mistake.

“Your beloved.”

The moment the words leave my mouth, she takes a firm grip around my neck and pushes me up high above herself against the wall. Her teeth are razor-sharp, and technically she can kill me in this position if she wants to. In the corner of my eye, I see my family and friends come into the room to look at us with open mouths in amazement.

“Call me your beloved one more time, and I’ll break your neck,” she says in a toxic tone before throwing me away.

My brother tries to grab her, and she answers it by grabbing his leg. He ends up in a pile next to me on the floor, and none of us understand what’s going on right now; I look back at the place she was standing at but now realize she’s gone. We all hear when the front door slams open and hurries there just to face the darkness; Kaylin’s gone.

“Find her!” I command and send a message in the mindlink to the others in the clan.

There’s so much Kaylin doesn’t know about; we’ve got to replace her before she does anything she shouldn’t do. As I mentioned before, even we vampires have some rules to relate to, and my dear beloved doesn’t know them yet. It’s my job as a clan leader to “raise” the newborns in my vicinity, and since Kaylin is also to make me stronger, I can’t risk getting rid of her because she’s uncontrollable. I’m using my vampire speed, and I’m feverishly looking for her. Suddenly I come across the first sign that she’s been here; a man completely drained of blood in the middle of the street.

It’s one of the rules not to leave the corpses behind; it causes uproar among the humans who’ll begin to invade our side of the world. After a few minutes, I replace two more corpses on a park bench; I send out a description of how she looks to the members and destinations I see the bodies in before returning home.

“Did you replace anything?” I ask the others, who shake their heads.

We discuss possible places she can be and waiting for over an hour before a knock comes from the door. Outside stands four strong men from my clan with an unbalanced Kaylin between them; her former black dress is drenched in blood and now looks wet instead.

“Damn it, Kaylin,” I say, taking a firm grip on her arm before tearing her inside. “How many?”

“So far, twenty-four, boss,” one of the men responds, and I look confused at my beloved.

How the hell did she manage to drain and kill twenty-four people in the short time she was gone!? Vivienne suddenly gives Kaylin a blow in the back of the head with a frying pan, and my beauty falls on the floor, unconscious.

“Viv! What the hell!?” I exclaim and bend down to make sure my beloved is okay.

“She was becoming feral. We’ll never manage to teach her control if she doesn’t at least can be talked to,” she replies, and I realize she’s right.

I caress my beloved’s cheek and sigh. Beloved Kaylin, I’m sorry about how much I’ll have to torment you in the coming week, just know with you that it’s for your own good...

A/N:

Hello everyone!

So... Kaylin got turned in a very unusual way.

❀ Who do you think this Joseph character is?

✿ Why does Kaylin transform much faster than usual?

❀ Who’s your favorite character so far?

✿ Do you believe Kaylin will get control or lose it all?

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