Blood Debt

Pierce

I sat alone, knees curled to my chest, in the massive bedroom the butler, Urvic, brought me to. He and I had climbed the flights of stairs and passed three doors, before making it to a second staircase. I assumed that they were the boy’s rooms as Carlo promised.

I had tried to take in any details as we walked, but my tired brain had been shutting down. The shock that threatened to overtake my body downstairs was finally taking hold of me.

Up the second flight of stairs, Urvic had opened a door and ushered me inside before closing and locking it behind me. My room back at Daniel’s one bedroom apartment was a converted closet, because he hadn’t expected a teen moving in with him.

I was used to my living space being closer in size to the dungeon set up downstairs. Yet, here I sat in a bedroom that was large enough to comfortably fit a California king, a writing desk complete with a CEO looking chair, and an armoire.

The other side of the room had a full sitting area complete with a love seat, oak table and arm chair that overlooked the balcony doors. The heavy curtains that framed the glass doors matched the cream color of the furniture.

They were the first thing I had noticed when I walked into the room. The curtains. Maybe it was the shock that I was, but I thought that the curtains looked like they could block out sunlight well.

Why wouldn’t they be able to do that? They are in a house built for vampires, I thought.

Then another question popped into my head. How the hell does Pierce go to school if he’s. f*****g vampire? I had seen him outside in gym class for goodness sake. Maybe this was all just a terrible prank gone wrong. But what about Pierce's teeth? I saw them change.

Before I could really start spiraling, someone knocked on my door. My eyes snapped to it, and I heard the lock click open. Pierce opened the door with a tray of food in his hands.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, but didn’t make any move towards me. He took in my form on the bed as he entered and cursed quietly to himself. I just stared back, taking him in.

His black sweatshirt stretched across his wide chest. Even covered up in lose clothing, I could make out his muscular form. The body of a hunter. His navy blue eyes were filled with several undisclosed emotions, but the most prominent was anger.

After a moment, he broke the silence. “I brought you something to eat. We didn’t take enough blood for you to… I brought you dinner. I don’t think you’ve eaten in a while.”

I just kept staring at him. My poor brain was really working overtime tonight. He was offering me food, but he came in here looking like he wanted to rip my head off.

He must have realized he wasn’t holding his emotions back because I blinked and his demeanor was calm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m dealing with this probably as well as you are.”

This was becoming almost as hysterical as I was. Pierce Aldelean was serving me breakfast in bed (kinda), after being kidnapped and learning that vampires exist because he and his brothers drank my blood. Yet, he thought he understood what I was going through.

I nearly laughed at the absurdity of all of this. I was pretty sure I was living the fantasies of 99% of the straight girls at school. Being held captive by him and his two gorgeous brothers, being cared for like this.

Well I guess I was part of the one percent, because all I wanted to do was get the hell out of this house. I knew the secret that changed the fantasy into a nightmare. He was far from the teenage heart throb everyone thought.

So when he started approaching me, I knew better, and my fight or flight finally kicked in. I hated that I’d fallen for his persona at school like all the other girls.

I jumped off the bed, still wrapped in my black robe, and slowly put some distance between us. I was moving towards the right side of the room, hoping the furniture could act as obstacles for him to get to me.

“Get back. I’m serious.” I said shaking. At that, his raised a thick eyebrow at me before making it to the bed and putting the tray down.

“Ana, your being ridiculous. I’m not going to hurt you.” His deep voice caused a shiver to run up my spine, but it was different from the fear I was experiencing.

But then he started took a step towards me, and the panic came back. “You already did! I’m here, and you and your crazy family drank my blood. My f*****g blood Pierce!”

I was next to the loveseat and maybe five steps away from the balcony door. Maybe I could get outside and threaten to jump so he’d leave. They clearly needed me alive. I was breakfast after all.

“Hey, hey” He brought his hands up in a pacifying manner, taking slow steps towards me as if he were approaching a scared animal in the wild. “Come on Ana, I promise I’m not trying anything. I’m just trying to talk to you.”

All of a sudden, his warning earlier at school sprang into the forefront of my mind. The control I was fighting to have dissolved and my anger took over.

“Really? Well maybe you could start with why the hell you didn’t warn me at school today. Yesterday? I don’t even know what day it is Pierce. They drugged me!”

“Ana, I-“ I didn’t give him a chance to answer even though he looked pissed again.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was going to be taken? Were you targeting me from the beginning? Is that why you started at school this year?” The grasp I had on my anger slipped and panic replaced it

“Am I ever going back to school? Am I ever going home? I-“. Heavy sobs stopped me from speaking.

I was gasping for air, but it was like my lungs forgot how to do their job. The room began to spin, and I heard Pierce talking to me in the distance.

His eyes weren’t filled with anger anymore. Only concern, but as he tried to speak to me, I couldn’t hear him clearly. It was like being deep underwater, where you can feel the weight of the ocean on you.

The room began spinning, and I prepared hit the floor. Pierce’s arm snaked around my waist and anchored me to him. His arms were heavy but not crushing as they hugged me into him.

I didn’t care who it was in the moment. I needed support, and he was offering it. So I let him hold me as I cried into his chest. He held me respectfully, keeping one arm wrapped around my waist, while the other rubbed soothing circles on my upper back.

My hands were tucked in between us and they ended up gripping onto his sweatshirt, looking for a life line. My world was falling apart at the hands of this man’s dad, and I was reaching to him for comfort. I tucked that away for later, not looking to confuse myself more.

I felt us shifting, and then I found myself straddled on his lap at the edge of the bed. I readjusted so my face was in his shoulder and cried about what happened tonight. At some point it shifted to the overall state of my life.

My only family didn’t want me and sold me to pay off a debt. I didn’t really have anything going for me at life either. No friends, poor grades since I couldn’t muster the motivation to try after mom’s death, and no direction in life.

When had everything gotten so bad?

It felt like hours since Pierce moved us to the bed, and every time I tried to pull away while crying, he wouldn’t budge. He just whispered that he was here with me and that he wasn’t going letting me go.

It was infuriating, because while I knew he was the enemy, the comfort he offered me helped me more than any self soothing I’d done the last year. I had become accustomed to self soothing myself since mom died. And yet, here I was thinking how easy it could be to cry on him.

I pulled away from his shoulder and looked over the the clock in the nightstand. It was a little past 3am. He noticed me shift, so he pulled back to look at me.

His gaze was too intense for me at the moment, so I looked down at my hands that were still holding onto his sweatshirt. I released my death grip on him, apologizing sheepishly.

The hand rubbing circles stopped, and he took my chin between his fingers. He forced our eyes to meet before he started speaking. “Ana, I need you to listen to me. I didn’t know my dad was going after you.

His eyes flashed with anger for a brief second before collected himself “I just knew that your Uncle was in a lot of trouble with him, and that my father was looking for payment this week. I thought he was going to have men break into your home and take him. If I’d known it was you he was after you, I would have… just say you believe that I never would have willingly participated in this.”

I stared at him for a moment and searched his eyes. He looked so sincere and so lost. I almost thought that he was as much as a prisoner as I. That I may have had a comrade in this.

The twins seemed to be as bad as their dad, but Pierce had seemed so reluctant earlier. Pierce could be a valuable allie in my escape. Maybe I just needed to show him he could trust me.

“Ok I do.” I answered him finally.

“Wait, what?” Clearly, he was surprised by my willingness to take on a friend.

“I don’t know why I’m about to be so honest with you, but I am really scared to go through this alone.” His face changed when he heard my words and dejected tone.

His features softened and the hard predator turned into a beautiful boy. His fingers moved from my chin to my cheek and he cradled my face. “No one is going to hurt you again. Now while I with you.”

My heart started racing. Maybe I did have an Allie here after all! “If that’s true, then I think we need to leave. Like now. You and your brothers drank my blood hours ago. Do you still feel it?

“I uh no but that not-“

I cut him off, my excitement getting the best of me “Really?! That’s awesome! We could run-“

“Ana.” He didn’t tell but his voice held a command in it. I shut my mouth.

“We will be staying here. My brothers aren’t so bad once you get to know them, I swear. And father is never around. You’re our responsibility so he has no reason to check on you.” And just like that, all my hope was swiped in one go.

“Pierce I don’t trust your dad to leave me alone. He wants something with my blood. The thing I need to live, you know? I may not walk out of here alive.” He wasn’t getting it.

“I’m going to protect you-“ I cut him off

“Pierce, we both know that I’m not safe here ever. I think if we set up a plan for me to get out of —“

“No.” He said firmly.

Oh no, no no. No I was losing him. “Wait just hear me out, I think if we can-“ I was begging at this point, but I had nothing else. No friend to rely on.

“No Ana, I said no” He cut me off, and he let me pull my face out of his hold. The daydream of escape was slowly dwindling away.

“Why?” I screamed. Did me. It understand that my life was on the line?

“Because until my father says otherwise, my brothers and I can’t feed without you. I hate my father, but I wouldn’t do anything to put my brothers in harms way.” He pleaded with me to understand his point. Like he was the victim.

His answer made me hate my self instantly for putting my hope in him. He was part of my problem, and only I would be my solution. I didn’t want to be on his lap anymore.

I didn’t want to be around him. I pushed against Pierce’s large body, but his arm tightened around my waist, crushing me to him.

“Stop fighting me, Ana! We will figure something that works within-“

“Then you aren’t on my side! Let me go!” I pushed against his chest again and he finally let me get off him.

“Go f**k yourself Pierce. Leave me alone, and tell your creep brothers to do the same. I’ll lock the door and barricade it if I have to.” Clearly in this round of fight or flight, I was fighting. I should have been running.

I took a few steps towards the door to put some space between us as he answered “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You shouldn’t go provoking predators like that.” He stood at his full height and his beautiful face morphed into something more feral.

It’s not that I forgot how overpowering his presence was in a room, but he was significantly more imposing towering over me.

I refused to back down though. If he wasn’t going to help me, he was going to get out of my way.

Seeing the clear determination on my face, he broke out a sinister smile that sent a shiver up my spine.

“Challenge accepted”