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Chapter 7

Willow

“I need to go…. Please don’t leave the side of your escorts.” Said Kaizen. He pulled me into a hug… it felt nice, warm, but I didn’t know him…. “Let me put my scent on you.” He mumbled before I could protest.

“Okay.” I said suddenly shy at this closeness, I could feel how strong he was through his thin shirt…. His voice was husky and loving, as if I was his wife and we were about to part for a long time…. The bite on my neck tingled… it was like it was affecting the Right response…

I Should be trying to get out of his hold, yet, I didn’t want to… I hugged him back… he was tense. When he let go, I was escorted by men who looked cold as ice once we were out of Kaizen’s reach.

There’s no telling how I’d be treated if they didn’t see that hug now that I thought of it… It told them without words I meant Something to him….

“Walk faster. Don’t look.” Said the man who walked in front of me. The long white halls had glass on the other side…. I saw, but couldn’t really remember what I what I was looking at.

I had trouble keeping up, looking at the floor, briefly glancing up every so often now as I walked. But my mouth was a little slack since it was open. This really was something I wasn’t meant to see. I walked past cages filled with 5 people a piece, while on the left wall, there were rooms for killing… they wore white prison clothes…. They had them hooked up to machines, draining them like they were juice boxes….

It dawned on me how much danger I was in, but when I slowed down, my hand was grabbed. “Walk faster mortal.” he hissed. “You Breathe because you are his majesty’s Pet. Be a good pet and see nothing, hear nothing, and Do nothing.”

The head vampire nearly dragged me down the hall, and in the last room, I was plopped in a chair as if I were an old backpack at the end of a long day.

“Sit and say nothing.” Hissed the vampire, and I could see his fangs…

I nodded…. I don’t understand why I did as he said… it was almost as if I were in a daze for a second.

He looked like he wanted to eat me, but I assume he didn’t because of Kaizen… even though he wasn’t a prince anymore, he still held enough of a name that I wasn’t treated the complete way they wanted….

I waited on the exam table, and I was quiet. I could hear faint crying and pleas from one woman… it made me wish Kaizen was here… He was one of them… but I know he wouldn’t treat me like that… I trusted him…

“No! I don’t want to go in there! Please! I didn’t do anything wrong!” She yelled, but I could hear the vampire.

“How did she get scissors?” Growled one man animalistically….

“You’re Fine. Imagine you’re at the park.” A man said soothingly.

“I don’t know what that is sir…” Admitted the girl.

She screamed in terror, but I heard the original vampire…. I think he slapped the scissors out her hand and she screamed in pain. The sound of metal sliding across the floors was unmistakable.

“Then you’re doing something Peaceful. Deal with this Mess!” He growled aggressively, and I didn’t hear her anymore…

“Forgive me lord-” whoever it was, was cut off, and slapped.

“Clean this MESS before the Master’s Fucking Nephew Sees It!” he shouted.

“I can still harvest her entirely since you only took the hand. Give me a minute.” Said someone else, completely calm…

They were killing people, and the doctor that came in was covered in blood. He looked of Asian descent, being almost as tall as Kaizen but not quite. He also had his mostly white hair in a bun, though the black stripes were dark and distinct… you could tell that it was either dyed like that, or it was his natural hair tone, as there was not a single gray to be seen.

He also looked pretty busy, holding a blood splattered clip board, pulling a pen out from behind his ear. As mortified as I was, it was just another day for him… It made me hesitate to extend my hand to shake, but he didn’t return it…

“You must be Willow. Let me see the leg.” He said sitting in a stool with wheels, sliding across the room.

I silently glared at him, because my hesitation was warranted. “It’s nice to meet you, What’s your name doctor…?” I was in this sterile place…. but even with the air so dry, the metallic smell of blood wafted around as if it were part of the walls themselves…

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that, but please, tell me more about your injury.”

“It’s broken, but I can still put weight on it.” I said politely. “Kaizen saved me…. But I fell and did this.” I kept it vague….

“Ah. His majesty is very merciful.” He said with a small smile. I gave my best fake one…. As it was, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, being so close to the doctor.

Kaizen wasn’t here… I would have to be careful. I felt like if I angered him, he’d add to the blood collected on his jacket… He also had claws. As he wrote what I said down, he hummed with a nod. They were out and pointed… as if it were a silent threat to behave.

“Don’t worry. I’m a panda shifter; we’re vegan.” He chuckled… but he was the doctor involved with killing that woman… he was the one talking about the harvesting…. “I know you’re a little ‘shaken’ but no one will harm his majesty’s pet.” He said soothingly…

I wasn’t a damn pet… but snapping at him wasn’t a good idea. I remained silent….

I hesitantly lifted my leg, and he used a claw to gently cut the fabric. It wiggled side to side… as if it were shattered. It felt so numb there was no pain from him doing that… I was Horrified, but I tried my best to be smart about this…. I chose to try and get the awkward out the air by joking.

“It’s nice to know you’re a panda… that’s like one of my favorite animals.” I said to make small talk, and he frowned.

“That’s Cute, but if you want to keep your legs, I suggest you never say that to any other shifter. It’s much More of an insult than you know.” He warned. “This is a compound fracture, but now my question for you, is would you like to heal the old fashioned way, or through unicorn tears?”

“Um… what happens if I take the tears?” I asked.

“You’ll heal instantly, but be sad the rest of the day. It’s a deep, lethargic unhappiness that may linger until you eat a lot of sweets.” He said truthfully. “This option isn’t really available to the rest of the stock, since it leaves an off taste to the blood for a month or so.” He said this as if I should be Proud that I wasn’t …. ‘stock’….

“…How do you even Get unicorn tears?” I asked.

“You tell your boss that he can’t have ginger snaps.” He chuckled. “It really isn’t that hard to be fair, jokes aside. They can cry at will, since the healing properties are so strong. Their blood, horns, tears, even their bones are made of concentrated purity. They’re the only creatures you can truly trust, that and your mate.” He smiled. “Forgive me if I mistook you for a pet.”

“Mate?” I asked. I played dumb to see what he would say.

“Half the soul and all the heart… an unbreakable bond gifted on the whim of the Moon Goddess….” He said looking up at nothing. He smiled, as if he were thinking of some fond, but distant memory.

I wanted to be Kaizen’s fond memory….

He didn’t let me get a word in, continuing to talk….

“… For you to not have any other major bruises, you must be a well-behaved pet. Keep it that way. The Horned Wolves are the sons of the Beast… and worse still… literal grandchildren of the King of Hell.”

I would have corrected him, but he left no room for it. He got materials out of a cabinet, as he’d began to prep the magical components.

Kaizen admitted to being the only person he could be with… but maybe it would give him less trouble if they just assumed I wasn’t his mate…. The way they saw people was atrocious…. Knowing them, it was against the law to be with him…

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said as I watched his smile leave as if I were wasting his time….

He put a vile of glowing blue liquid into a syringe and got me to sit still. I hated needles, but if it meant that I would be better in one day, so be it. I didn’t feel the poke, but I did feel my leg become strong again…. And the bite on my neck too… But to be fair, I didn’t feel anything from it.

I stood, and I tried to shake his hand again, but he didn’t extend his.

“Have a good day.” He said aptly leaving. There was no more smile, nor kindness in his voice…

It made me wonder was his kindness a farse…

“Come mortal.” Said the vampire, coming to fetch me. “You will enter the young master’s car without issue. You Will do as his majesty says, no matter what it is. You will be a good pet for the Realm King’s nephew. You will call your master his station, and you will not make a fuss.” He commanded, and I felt my will leave me…

I don’t know what he’d did, but I felt calm… like I was under some kind of mind control.

“You ready?” Asked Kaizen. He had a fairly large cooler in his left hand…. It was big enough to hold at Least 20 pounds of food….

“Yeah.” I said looking at the cooler.

“There’s man’s meat in here.” He said, confirming my suspicion.

I said nothing… I didn’t want to get in the car, not with someone like that… I felt the danger of this man radiating off him like waves, but I silently sat while he drove off. I cursed myself. Why couldn’t I walk away? Why couldn’t I do anything other than shut up and sit down literally?

“You’ve been Mesmerized by the vampires. It’ll ware off in 12 to 24 hours.” He said simply. “I didn’t want them to do that, but he must have felt that you wouldn’t make a scene otherwise.”

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