The Vampires Pet

Chapter 31

A few days passed by uneventfully. Clara came every afternoon to help me work on my mind strengthening and seeming Nicholas was working most days it was nice to have the company. Clara was impressed at how quickly I was progressing, though there were still some things I was completely stumped with and thought I'd never get. 

I was getting quicker at sensing a general location Clara would be in when she connected to my mind but was yet to be able to find her exact spot. I was grateful that Clara was helping me everyday but it also made my nerves rise, if Nicholas thought it was this urgent to train my mind before we go to whatever contact he has then I wasn't sure I wanted to meet them. 

"Faye?" I snapped out of my mind and stared at Clara. "You okay?" 

I nodded my head. "Yes, sorry." 

She smiled warmly. "If this is getting too much just tell me and we can stop for today." 

I shook my head. "No." I answered quickly. "I am fine." 

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she studied me, before she pursed her lips and nodded her head. "Blindfold on then." She said. 

I tied the blindfold over my eyes and closed my eyes, the blindfold was only there to insure that I didn't accidently peak if I got frustrated. Opening my eyes could be too tempting and my body sometimes would act on its own. 

I heard her move around the room before everything stilled around me. I took a deep breath and opened my mind for the connection until I felt the intrusion. I focused my mind to that only but not too hard, just so I was aware of the connection and only that. My concentration didn't last long as a loud bang brought my focus from my mind to the real world. 

I snapped my eyes open and whipped around to see Nicholas standing at the door, he slammed it behind him, his eyes dead set on Claras. He did not look impressed at all. 

"Nic? Faye was practicing." Clara said with a frown. 

He obviously didn't care as he trudged forward until he was a few steps away from Clara. Clara seeing the irritation etched on his face, stood up from the chair she was sitting in and gave him a questioning look. 

"I have just been with Cason." He said, studying Claras expression. "We talked and well now I'm wondering who on earth could've told him that you were helping Faye strengthen her mind." 

Claras mouth formed an O as she took in the words, before a sheepish smile covered her face. She glanced at me, before looking back at Nicholas. I had no idea who this Cason was and no idea if him knowing about my mind was a good thing or not, though if he is a vampire as I suspect then I am personally betting on the latter. 

"Oh come on Nic." She started, "It's Cason, I couldn't help it. I was just raving about how fast she is learning, I didn't even think he was listening, you know how he is." 

Claras reasoning didn't seem to cool Nicholas's irritation the least bit, his eyes were still blazing and even Clara was beginning to become uncomfortable under his relentless stare. 

"Cason is one sly bastard, you know that." He grumbled. "Because of your little slip up, we have to attend a ball." 

Her eyebrows furrowed. "And why exactly is that a bad thing? And what does it have to do with Faye?" 

Both pairs of eyes turned to me and suddenly made me feel like hiding in a corner. I stared into Nicholas's eyes, also wondering how Clara telling Cason about my mind training had led to Nicholas having to attend a ball. 

"Cason has been hunting a witch for the past months." Nicholas said as he walked passed me and grabbed out his whiskey. "The witch is an expert in mind magic and they've been attending any and every ball or gathering. They've been picking a vampire or five off at each event and murdering them. He hasn't been able to catch the witch and has no idea what they might look like." 

I stared at Nicholas as he stared at me, before he poured himself a drink and drank it in one go. He turned and stared at Clara who was processing the information. 

"So he wants you to go and hunt it?" She asked carefully. 

"Us." Nicholas said, his gaze returning to mine. "He wants us to hunt it." 

"Me too?" My eyes widened slightly. 

Nicholas nodded his head. "The way the witch was able to kill the vampires at such busy events was because they would enter the minds of their targets company, whether they were supernatural or not. Then use magic to control the company to bring the target to a desolate place, before they would kill the target and sometimes the company." 

The room was silent, a pin drop could be heard as everyone was letting the information sink in. The air was fairly tense, Nicholas clearly wasn't pleased with his new mission. Clara stepped forward, breaking the silence and drawing my attention to her. 

"He wants Faye to be bait?" She asked, staring directly into Nicholas's eyes. 

My eyes widened and my head snapped around to Nicholas. 

"He did some digging and it seems the witch has a certain type he goes after, Faye fits the bill." Nicholas said as he poured himself another drink. "After he heard from you of Fayes mind skill, he believes we could finally catch this witch." 

"I'll speak to him Nic." Clara said. "Faye is not ready for that." 

They shared some silent words through their eyes before I stepped forward, sucking in a shaky breath. I didn't know what was pulling me forward, but I felt the need to do this. Perhaps it was because of the last vampire murder scene I was at, maybe the animalistic evil in those murders was driving me forward to stop the witch. 

"I'll do it." I said, though I was afraid my voice didn't shake like I thought it would. 

They simultaneously snapped their heads around to me, Nicholas's red eyes drilled into mine. 

"No Faye. You don't have to." Clara said stepping towards me and grabbing my hand. 

"This might be your only chance to catch this witch." I said. "I can do it." 

Nicholas's face was passive, his eyes hard and narrowed on mine. He was searching for any bit of reluctance. 

"We can find another way." Clara pushed. "Nicholas tell her." 

She turned to Nicholas but his focus remained on me. "She will do it." He said, slowly dragging his eyes to meet Claras. 

"Nic." She furrowed her brows, staring at her indifferent cousin. 

"The deal is done Clara. We have to do this." 

"Deal? Is that what its about? You made a deal with Cason?" 

Nicholas didn't agree nor disagree, he ignored Clara and drank the last of his whiskey from his cup. 

"The ball is tonight, Clara you and Cason will go together. Faye and I will meet you there. If the witch tries to enter your mind, you need to try your hardest to sense where it is. The minute we can identify who they are, your job will be done and we can capture them." Nicholas spoke in a convincing voice and I wondered who exactly he was convincing, Clara and I or himself?

Clara sighed, staring at me with a weak smile. "Okay." She pursed her lips. "You can do it, you've amazed us thus far I am sure you can do this." 

"Though I would prefer Faye had training up until the last minute, we can't have her mind exhausted so your work is done today cousin. Go do girly things and prep for the ball." He said staring at Clara. 

She rolled her eyes at her cousin. "What about Faye? She'll need a dress, isn't it best if I stay and help her." 

Nicholas smirked and shook his head. "I have got that sorted." 

"Nic." 

"We will see you later Clara." 

With an annoyed defeated look, Clara left the room. The weight of this 'operation' hadn't yet got to me but I was sure in due time it would come crashing down and suffocate me, but until then I had to remain clear minded. After all everyone was depending on my mind to catch this witch. 

I glanced at Nicholas who was already staring at me, his face was void of the smirk that was there only moments ago. His eyes appeared inscrutable against his straight-faced features. I wondered what he was thinking and wished Phantom was here to tell me. 

Nicholas pushed himself off the desk. "We have approximately three hours." He said. "Follow me." 

Nicholas walked past me and opened the bedroom door, I followed behind him as we turned down the hall in a direction I had never been in before. Though it was a new part of the house, it was identically similar to the rest of it. Nicholas stopped outside of a door before grabbing a key from his pocket and unlocking it. 

I wasn't sure what I was expecting in the room, but it wasn't what I saw. It seemed to be some sort of storage room, there was a vanity table in one corner, the mirror was covered by a sheet and there were jewelry cases that had gathered dust on the top. There were shelves that were littered with boxes containing god knows what, and a closet that had a lock on it. 

Nicholas took a minute to stare around the room, taking it in. I studied him silently before he walked to the closet and unlocked it. In there were impeccably well kept dresses and I wondered why he had them in there, were they perhaps things of the female he had mentioned. 

He didn't falter as he reached to one dress in particular and pulled it out, staring down at it as he turned towards me. 

"This should fit you." 

I gawked at the light purple fabric, the dress looked far too nice to be worn by someone like me. Nicholas turned back around and grabbed a box from the bottom of the closet before locking it. He took one last long glance at the room before leading me back to his. 

Nicholas lay the dress out on the bed along with the box. He opened the box and pulled out a pair of heeled silver shoes. They sparkled in the light flooding through the windows. I stared at them in awe, my eyes only leaving when Nicholas turned to me.

"Can you walk in these?" He asked.

"I am not sure Master."

He ushered me over and made me sit on his bed. I stared at him as he kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my ankle, I flinched back remembering the day I first saw Nicholas. He grabbed my ankles and I thought he was going to hurt me, but he cut the rope binding them together. Nicholas slipped the shoes on my feet and helped me stand, it was a weird feeling being taller.

"Try to walk." He said.

I slowly started to walk forward, my ankles wobbling slightly but Nicholas remained by my side to steady me. I wasn't sure I was fond of them, I was use to wearing flat shoes or no shoes at all. It was far easier running without shoes and going to a ball with multiple vampires and a witch I was to bait, I was sure I would end up running away at some point.

I practiced walking in the shoes until I was able to walk in a straight line without almost falling on my face, by then it was time to wash up and start preparing for the ball. The nerves were slowly beginning to roll in as the time passed. I was to be bait for a witch who had killed potentially hundreds of vampires, I was a measly human, my survival rate was well below the line.

I bathed quickly, my body feeling jittery and unable to relax in the water as it usually does. I took a deep breath, my hands mixing around the water gently. I exhaled shakily as I whispered with closed eyes, my hands still dancing through the water. 

"Father forgive me for my reckless behaviour. Give me strength for the battles that are predestined to come." 

Shivers ran through my body, raising goosebumps along my arms. A calm washed over me, relaxing my mind and body. Wind crept through the window bringing the whispers of the dead with it, wrapping around me like a comforting blanket. 

Warmth spread through my body, my soul was quelled from the fear as if he whispered. "You already have the strength."