MEET?
1550 Words
Josh is at the counter, counting cash. Alexander already paid. Didn’t even check the price.
“Get in,” Alexander says.
Grace looks at the limo. Looks at the shop. Looks at Emily’s empty cage. Then she steps into the sunlight and walks to the car.
Alexander opens the back door for her. She slides in, the leather cold against her torn thighs. It smells like money and something metallic. He gets in after her and shuts the door. The sound seals them in.
The driver doesn’t turn around. Doesn’t speak. The car starts moving.
Grace presses her back to the door, as far from him as she can get. She watches him. Watches his hands. Watches his throat. Watches for the moment he tries to touch her so she can break his fingers.
Alexander doesn’t touch her. He just looks out the window for a long minute. Then he turns.
His green mossy eyes drag over her face. Her matted fire ginger hair. The blood dried on her cheek. The collar around her neck. The scars on her wrists.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
His voice is low. Calm. Like he’s asking about the weather.
Grace stares at him.
She doesn’t answer.
Alexander tilts his head. “You do have one. Josh said it. I want to hear you say it.”
Grace keeps her mouth shut. Her name is hers. The last thing her mother gave her. She doesn’t give it to vampires. Not to Josh. Not to the six dead masters. Not to him.
Alexander waits.
The limo keeps driving.
She doesn’t answer.
He smiles then. Not nice. All teeth.
“Good,” he says. “I like it better when they don’t talk.”
Grace’s jaw clenches.
The car turns a corner, and she has no idea where they’re going.
They proceed to the living room.
It’s bigger than the whole pet shop. Marble floors. Ceilings so high her neck hurts looking up. A fireplace she could stand in. And sitting on a couch that costs more than a human life are two people.
Alexander’s parents.
The man looks like an older version of Alexander. Same jaw. Same dark hair, just with silver at the temples. Same green eyes. But his aren’t cold. They’re warm. Crinkled at the corners like he laughs a lot. He’s wearing a soft sweater and reading glasses are perched on his nose.
The woman is beautiful, but not icy. Blonde hair pulled up in a messy bun. No makeup. She’s got a book in her lap and a mug that says WORLD’S OKAYEST MOM. She looks up when they walk in and her whole face lights up.
Josh called Alexander ancient. These two don’t look ancient. They look like someone’s parents.
Alexander stops in the middle of the room. He doesn’t bow. He just sighs like a teenager who got dragged to dinner. “Mother. Father.”
Grace stays behind him. Her back is screaming. Her face is swelling. She can feel blood drying on her chin. She’s waiting for the inspection. For the comments about how feral she is. How dirty.
The man stands. He’s taller than Alexander, but his smile is easy. He walks over, not in a circle, just straight to them. “So you’re the one,” he says. He’s looking at Grace, not at Alexander.
The woman is already up too. She sets her book down and comes over. She doesn’t look at Grace like she’s mud. She looks at her like she’s a kid who fell off a bike. “Oh honey,” she says. “Your face.”
Grace blinks.
"Nice vampire?" A joke.
Alexander rolls his eyes. “Don’t start, Mother.”
“Start what?” she says, already reaching out. She stops before she touches Grace, hands hovering. “May I?” she asks Grace. Not Alexander. Grace.
Grace doesn’t know what to do. No one asks. No one says please. She just nods once, stiff.
The woman’s fingers are gentle when they brush Grace’s swollen cheek. Cold, but not cruel. “This needs ice,” she says to Alexander. “And a wash. And real food. Did you even feed her?”
“She spit at Josh,” Alexander says, like that explains it.
The man, his father, snorts. “Good for her. Josh is an ass.” He sticks his hand out to Grace. “I’m Elias. This is my wife, Vivian.”
Grace stares at his hand. A handshake. For her.
She doesn’t take it. She doesn’t trust it.
Elias doesn’t get offended. He just drops his hand and shoves it in his pocket. “Fair enough,” he says. “You’ve had a day.”
Vivian is already moving. “I’ll get the first aid kit. And soup. You like soup, sweetheart?”
Grace doesn’t answer. She’s too busy trying to process it. Nice. They’re nice. Her head is short-circuiting. _Nice vampire. That’s a joke, right?
Alexander groans. “She’s not a guest, Mother. She’s a pet.”
“Everything’s a pet to you,” Vivian calls from the doorway. “This one’s bleeding on my rug. I’m making soup.”
Elias claps Alexander on the shoulder. “Your mother makes good soup. You should try being nice for once. Might learn something.”
Alexander looks at Grace. His jaw ticks. “Don’t get comfortable,” he tells her.
Grace finally finds her voice. It’s hoarse. “Wasn’t planning to.”
Elias laughs. Loud and real. “I like her.”
Grace doesn’t know what’s happening. The punishment room made sense. Josh made sense. This doesn’t.
*Continuing Chapter Two*
---
Vivian disappears down the hall calling for soup and the first aid kit. Elias gives Grace one last look, something almost like pity, and goes back to his book.
“Come on,” Alexander says. He doesn’t grab her this time. Just starts walking deeper into the house.
Grace follows. Her options are follow or get dragged, and her ribs already hurt.
They turn a corner and there’s a hallway with tall windows. Sunlight pours in. It’s too clean. Too bright. It makes her eyes sting.
Then she stops.
A tall man is leaning against the wall. Arms crossed. Waiting.
Grace looks up at him and her stomach drops.
She knows that face.
It’s the man from the pet shop. The one who bought Emily. The one who waved her off when she said pick me instead.
Liam.
He smirks at her. Slow. Recognizing.
Grace growls. Low in her throat. She doesn’t care that Alexander is right there. Doesn’t care that his parents are in the other room with their soup and their smiles.
Emily. He took Emily.
Liam pushes off the wall. “Well,” he says. His voice is smooth. Amused. “Look who it is. The rabid one.”
Grace steps forward before she can stop herself. Her hands are fists. “Where is she,” she snaps. “Where’s Emily.”
Alexander catches her arm before she can swing. His grip is iron. “Enough,” he says to her.
he looks down at grace
Liam’s smirk gets wider.. "She’s safe. For now.” He looks Grace up and down, at the blood on her chin, the way she’s shaking with rage. “She asks about you, you know. Cries your name at night.”
Grace tries to lunge again. Alexander yanks her back.
“Brother?” Grace says. The word tastes like poison. She looks between them. Same height. Same build. Same way of owning the air around them.
Alexander’s jaw is tight.
Liam . “Heard you bought a new toy. Wanted to see if she’d last longer than a week.” His eyes flick to Grace. “She looks worse than when I saw her last.”
Grace is breathing hard. Emily. He has Emily. Emily who whispered sorry. Emily who shared her bread. Emily who screamed when they dragged her out.
“You touch her,” Grace says. Her voice shakes. “You hurt her and I’ll”
“You’ll what?” Liam cuts in. He steps closer. Too close. He smells like cologne and blood. “You’re In my family’s house. Collared. Bleeding. What exactly are you going to do, little Grace?”
Alexander shoves Grace behind him. “f**k, just let her go"
Liam laughs.He backs up, hands raised like he’s innocent. “I’ll be around, Grace. Give Emily your regards.”
He turns and walks down the hall. Whistling.
Grace is shaking. From rage. From the slap in the car. From seeing him. She rounds on Alexander. “You. You'! Why didn't you let me kill him”
Alexander’s green eyes are flat. “Dumb little pet..”
“You f*****g monster,” Grace says
Alexander studies her for a long second. Then he says, “let's go. ”
Something in Grace’s chest unlocks. Just a little.
“Where,” she says.
Alexander doesn’t answer. He just starts walking again.
Grace follows. Not behind him not bowing her head down but right beside him which was wrong in the vampire colony. Because Emily is here. Somewhere in this castle. She just has to be patient.
And Grace hasn’t lost a fight since she was eight.
- Writer
