3. Nice to meet you

The morning had been unusual. I had woken up on Callisto’s bed after crying for hours. It’s enough to make me wonder if he ever returned and watched me sleep.

As hateful as the idea was. I had hoped he did.

I realize that anything that happened last night between us only makes things worse. I had a similar experience, not with a vampire, but with my fiancée who would sometimes leave while I was asleep.

I sigh, rubbing my forehead.

“Stop thinking whatever you are thinking in that thick head of yours.” Careful. So, fucking careful, I raise my eyes.

“Why are you here?”

“Phi.”

“Yophiel.” I match his tone. “How many times do I have to remind you what my name is?”

“As many times as you want.”

His sigh is barely a distraction from what I am actually seeing.

Callisto was bare chest.

“Your room is getting reorganized. So I advise you to stay in my bedroom for the time being,” he confirms. “You like what you see?”

Oh gods.

He’s still liked the rest of vampires guarding me. Waiting for me to run so they can hunt me down.

“Of course not.”

He gives me a slow grin that has my stomach doing flips. It was crazy how he made me feel. Absurd if I could yell it.

With a wave of his finger, Callisto summons a maid who carries a tray with a decanter of blood and a cup. He grabs the decanter instead of the cup and gulps it completely down.

The breakfast I just ate, make somersaults, warning me I could throw up any moment.

“The doctor should be here any moment, Phi.” Callisto sits the opposite way.

“Yes.” I tried to look anywhere it wasn’t him, but as easy as it might seem, I was having a difficult time focusing on anything else, even from the presence of another vampire in the room.

I release a gasp as a flicker of movement directly towards me raises the hairs of my neck.

“Mm.” A voice quite seductive hum. “I suppose I don’t get an introduction?”

A glare from Callisto has the other vampire laughing.

I catch sight of the vein thrumming in his forehead. It’s scary.

“Come on friend, it is not like we won’t meet her one day.” He reaches for my loosen hair and resumes his hum.

“Hands off.” Callisto’s tone is dry. “I won’t repeat.”

I curl my hands on my lap, frustration getting the better part of me.

“I don’t have a choice then?” the stranger hissed. “I won’t bite.”

I whimper, head down. While the stranger stares at me from above.

“Callisto.”

His eyes veer to me. He hesitates for so long; I think he might just let this monster drink from me. But before I can say anything, a shift from behind me makes me scream. At the same time, Callisto blurs and slams the vampire against one of the decorative tables.

I get to move out of the way on time and then my vision blurs, darkness washing over as I stumble backwards. Not before a set of arms catches me.

I lift my heavy head and groan. Maybe I need a moment.

“What a little weakling.” The comment should make me mad. Yet, I find myself ignoring him instead.

“Let me go.”

“You are pale as us. So don’t move, you might pass out.” Was I hearing worry from Callisto?

I stare at the other vampire. “You fucker.”

He could kill me so easily, all without raising a finger.

Somehow, in the midst of all this, I forget Callisto is holding me. Now that I felt better, it’s impossible for me not to keep my attention in his muscular arms. Though he is built leaner, Callisto has plenty of muscles.

“I can see the beauty now.” His amusement is bothersome. “With a little of work, she could be… better. Maybe some immortality, or experimenting—”

“Do you want to die?”

He laughs at Callisto.

“Not even a little.” The stranger pauses, eyes red as the blood, lock with me. “But it would help her, heal her scarred body.”

What is it with him?

Uncomfortable around him, I mistakenly clutch on Callisto’s arms. I can’t pretend this monster isn’t making me feel like crying. If he even utters another word, or says a comment again, I will bawl my eyes out in front of them.

A shame for me if that happens.

“Fun to see how much I affect her,” his grin widening. “Do you know I can make you beautiful once again?”

I frown.

Isn’t that what someone like…

“Enough Darcy.”

I shake my head slowly. The vampire is Darcy.

I swallow hard.

“Phi.”

“Darcy Tudor?” my voice breaks. I was with another Bloodline.

The thought blows my mind.

A wicked smile stretches on his pale face, showing his long, and sharp fangs that touched his chin. His eyes glowed crimson red, as if delighted I knew who he was.

“Dr. Darcy Tudor at your service, Yophiel,” he crouches and swiftly grasps my hand to kiss it.

I watch their interaction. Apparently, that makes Callisto angry. Through some unspoken words, they both stand. A smile was still on Darcy’s lips.

“Let’s get done with this.” Callisto turns with me in his arms. “I am supposed to have my time with her after this.”

Darcy chuckles, a soft chuckle that tingles my skin in a way that makes me aware that Callisto notices it.

I barely register we’re in the hallway until I look around and realize we are alone again. Callisto only stares the way he used to stare at me last night. With emotions that make me confuse.

He pulls me closer, so I am wrapped in his scent. That scent that I like, lavender.

“Darcy will do your checkup. After he is done, I will bring you to do some exercise.”

I don’t have a chance to argue. I am already seated on a stretcher in another room when Darcy walks in, silent as the predator he was. All his attention is focused on me.

“Sorry for what I did back there. Now that you are one of us, I had to take out that microchip in your spine.”

I blink.

I am damn sure; I didn’t hear wrong.

“I’m not one of you.” My eyes dart to the side. Where is Callisto?

“Let’s begin.” He ignores me and pulls some gloves out of his pocket.

Something like panic flutters in my throat.

“What will you do to me?” My words were a trembling mess.

Darcy picks a tablet from the table and starts typing on it. His red eyes focused on it.

Am I supposed to undress like they always force us to do?

I can’t help but look at the strange objects laid on the table. They all looked clean and new. Even odd.

I don’t know how to explain what I am feeling. But I feel the shift in the room before Darcy even moves.

It’s more like an aura of danger.

“We’re going to run some tests. I would need you to undress now.” He still hasn’t taken his eyes away from the tablet.

Every instinct in me demands for me obey or prepare for the consequences.

I slowly nod and then turn to undress. I don’t think all this light pouring from outside can hide the fact I am ugly. Removing the dress carefully, I had on, I placed it on the stretcher.

A few feet behind me, I feel movement from Darcy.

“Turn.” His masculine voice orders. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t be positive things will actually go smoothly.

I sit up on the stretcher when he grasps my elbow and pulls me against him.

“Good girl,” Darcy smiles. I open my mouth to protest, but Darcy beats me to it. “Turn around. I need to check your wound.”

The command is so harsh, I cowardly turn without a second thought. Putting my hands over the stretcher so I can stay still.

My naivety in all this forces me to just submit. There’s no way to tell what he will do to me. But I am sure of one thing. Callisto won’t allow him to hurt me.

I am so lost in my thoughts; I wince when I feel a small sting on my back.

“I might have been too harsh with you. The wound isn’t closing that easily.”

“What?” I asked over my shoulder. I still had my underwear on, so it’s not like I was completely naked. Though I felt conscious of how my skin looks with the bandages wrapped around it.

“Turn and sit.” Darcy hastily picks me up and sits me on the stretcher, leaving me all flustered.

He shifts away a bit and picks up a long syringe from the table. I think I might black out. I loathe needles.

I’m so scared, I almost don’t feel Darcy grabbing my arm and drawing my blood. His crimson eyes glint with mischief as he finally notices my face.

“If you pass out here, Callisto will blame me.”

“It would be your fault,” I choke, feeling nauseous.

“I won’t hurt you. I am a doctor—”

“A monster.” My voice quivers. “You are not human.”

Darcy stops.

It doesn’t take a genius to know I might just have crossed a line.

“Ah, but I once was a human,” he gives me that smile that made me unnerved.

“That means nothing.” Something feels strange in my chest.

“Probably.” He loosens his hand and turns his back. I can only listen to the clank noise of what he is doing.

I stared at his back. The white, tight medical coat he had on stretched against his broad shoulders, which flexed with each movement. I gulped, aware that he was making me feel things like Callisto.

It had to be some vampire thing.

Movement on the other side of the door distracts me. It seems something was happening.

I dug my hands into the stretcher when Darcy turned. His crimson eyes no longer glinting.

“Lift your chin.”

“Who, me?” I ask like an idiot.

Darcy burst into laughter. “I see no one else here but you and me. But if you wish for me to show you how is done, I wouldn’t mind.”

As tempting as it sounds, I have no need for that.

I nervously lift my face when his icy fingers softly grasp my chin and move my face to the side, baring my neck.

“Last night, you seemed so different without these gauzes.” His comment makes me frown. “Last night, in the dining room?”

“I don’t know…” I shut my mouth, recalling the vampire I saw last night with the maid. “It was you?”

The horror.

For a moment, my vision blurs and I groan, reaching for my forehead.

“You haven’t been resting well, have you?”

Is the question supposed to be answered?

I met his eyes. The dangerous way he was looking made me uneasy.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Is Callisto fucking you a lot?” My face heats in embarrassment. “I’m half sure he can be an animal when in need. I can be different.”

How dare he say that?

“If I were to fuck her, she wouldn’t be out of my bed so fast.” We both turn to find Callisto now dressed in black, standing elegantly near the door. “She is not ready for that, Darcy.”

As much as tempting that sounds, I have no plans of having sex with him, ever.

“I don’t know, just saying,” Darcy shrugs. “I will run some blood test. Her wound on the back should heal with the medicine and the small gauze I place on it will make sure not to leave another scar. She also needs to eat more and rest.”

Callisto arches a brow. “Rest?”

“Yes,” Darcy answers. “If you want her to be ready, then have her rest first. You will kill her before she even gets to be one of us.”

Another comment that leaves me confound. Anyone hearing that will think it’s true.

“Why do you keep saying I will be one of you?” I ask, feeling their deadly glares cut through me.

Darcy is the first to smile. Then, with no warning, I’m pinned on the stretcher. His built body, pressing me.

“You are one of us.”

The question makes me laugh. The sound comes out almost like a maniac laugh.

“I already told you; I will never be one of you. Nor am I like you!” I stare at Callisto, who just looks at us with his cold and fathomless eyes. “I will never be!”

My lower lip quivers.

Of all the things that have happened the last week, the only thing that bothers me the most is the way they keep saying I am one of them. They are crazy.

My efforts to stay strong waver as Callisto turns away from us. Once again, I am being left alone, but this time with another monster.

“Shouldn’t you be looking at me?” Darcy hisses near my ear.

I gasped as claws slid down my arm.

“There’s no rush for you to decide, Yophiel, but I suggest that for your own good you say yes, and soon.” Darcy pushes away, scratching me.

If anyone asked me right now what I wanted, my answer would be simple: death.

---

Darcy left after treating my wounds that he made personally on my arm. I didn’t understand what their intentions were, but with every passing second, I felt that answer come closer.

As per orders from Dr. Darcy, I am to rest and that’s what I have been doing the entire day. Callisto was against it, but he had no other choice. He had ordered his servants to bring my food to his room, where I rested right now since my bedroom was still getting fixed.

I closed my eyes, hiding the fact I felt tired and in need of sleep. Maybe it was the events from last night or everything, but I’ve been trashing in bed, uncomfortable and worried sick of my parents.

I want to blame myself for everything. Surely, I was at fault for being a coward and my family disgrace. Unfortunately for me, there was nothing I could do now. They got sent away to that hideous place.

Callisto assured me they were doing fine. But what can you believe from someone like him?

He is a monster, a cursed being, a creation made by other humans.

The thought makes me shiver. How could someone create something like them? What were they even thinking?

“I thought you would be asleep,” Callisto says, as I turn my head to face him. He stood near the door as if waiting for my permission. “Are you not tired?”

I stare.

I hate him.

Just like that, I turn away from him. The small gust of wind behind me makes me aware he is standing there.

We’re so close, sharing the same air. Well, just me. He is a dead person.

“I don’t know what I have to do for you to look at me.” He voices. “Your fear makes me both excited and… sad.”

I jerk my head.

Callisto seizes my arm on time, stopping me from backing away.

I yank, but he is holding me too firmly. Yet it doesn’t hurt.

“I…”

“Come with me.” He declares, making me blink. “I will show you around.”

I don’t ask why he is suggesting that. The least I want is to have him close to me.

“Phi?”

Apparently, I am capable of restraint because right now the face he is making, which has been the most I’ve seen from him, tells me I might get under his skin.

“Phi,” he whispers.

I should stop, but for the first time, I feel stubborn.

“Yophiel.” The tone in his voice shocks me. But I’m more shocked by the fact he just called my name the correct way and I like how it sounds.

“Yes?”

Callisto blinks. Those fathomless eyes looked for a moment, surprised.

We both stood shock of the things that just happened when he grabbed my elbow again.

Callisto doesn’t give me another glance, nor does he make any comment. He simply drags me out of his bedroom.

I follow him down the house until we are on opposite sides. There were a couple of doors, all locked and vampire servants roaming the place in their silent steps.

None of them glanced at us even once. Instead, they all seemed to ignore us.

I shift my eyes back to Callisto’s tall, lean figure. I waste no time watching him. My eyes scanning every nook of his body. Even that blue pendant that hangs from his ear.

I won’t lie, from behind he looks like a normal human, except he was cold as the ice and pale as a ghost. And let’s not forget he doesn’t have a heart and doesn’t breathe.

“Here,” his soothing voice mumbles as he pushes on the last door of the hall.

It’s only when we enter, I notice we are alone. Everyone we have encountered was gone, which just makes me the more nervous.

I hated being alone with him. Callisto was a predator; I was the prey and knowing how deadly of a monster they made him made me imagine many things.

And not the good ones I liked.

His shoulders drop as we come to a stop. Swift as always, he turns, hand dropping its hold. Maybe it was my imagination, but something seemed different from him.

“Do you like it?” His question gets me off guard.

“What?”

“The place. It’s for you,” he gives me a crook smile. A dimple formed on his left cheek.

I feel my face flush.

“Beautiful,” he whispers. Just like that, I am staring into his dark almond eyes.

“Excuse me?”

Callisto leans closer, pushing me back until I feel the wall behind me. My knees tremble.

He is pretty. But he’s the most dangerous being here and I’m like a rabbit, cornered.

I flinch at his touch.

“Beautiful.”

The monster doesn’t move, but he seems closer now. Almost pinning me with his body.

He inhales slowly and closes his eyes. When he opens them back, they are all black.

“Those eyes are breathtaking.” I raised my hands in fear that he might bite me.

“Stay back,” I choke. “Don’t get closer to me.”

“You always get scared easily.” I met his eyes. Dark and cold. “Can you stop it?”

“Stop what?” I ask to confuse.

“Stop looking at me like that, damn it!” he hisses and his hand slams next to my face. “I… I don’t want you to fucking be scared of me. You are not to be afraid of me.”

“You are so silly in thinking I would never be afraid of you. You monster!” I stutter, the words which make a heavy rock fall in the pit of my stomach.

Callisto bares his fangs.

I whimper as he presses his body so hard it feels like a rock.

“Monster, monster. I am not just a monster, Phi. I was, no, I am human. Can’t you see?”

“I only see a monster.” Where was I getting this courage from? “An awful being who has killed everyone, including my family.”

The room turns cold. My body is shaking at the feeling.

Callisto snarls loudly, making the glass window rattle. I bite on my lip to prevent a sob from escaping.

“You want to see a monster?” Callisto says, and suddenly yanks me hard that I fall on my knees. Tears already running down my cheeks. “If you so badly want to see the monster I am, then I will show you.”

He snaps a finger, and a servant appears with a human maid. My eyes grow like a saucer as she falls on her knees in front of me, her clothes torn.

Callisto grasps a sizeable chunk of her hair and forces her to look up. He flashes me a smile that could charm someone.

“The monster you ask for is in front of you,” he hisses. His fangs wound the maid’s neck as she whimpered in fear. “This is the monster. Not my race or I.”

I confusedly look at him.

“The humans are the monsters.” He tugs on her hair as she begs in tears. “You see this, all frail and delicate. Well, these are the same monsters that created me. Humans like you!” A shriek from her makes me stumble in breathless fear as he sinks his fangs on her neck and drinks her up as a bag of juice.

A scream leaves my mouth as her eyes roll back.

With a loud thud, Callisto drops the body and walks over to me. I scurry away from him, but he reaches me. Reaching for my arm and yanking me up.

“I can as well show you who I truly am, but I won’t please you.” He pushes me back, letting me fall on my bum. “You can call me a monster all you want, Yophiel, but I am not like the monsters who made me into this.”

There’s no way to tell what he would do to me. But the way he was staring at me pained me awfully. I didn’t understand why.

“I’m the devil, Yophiel, anyone’s worst nightmare. The abomination, the cursed one of those legends and myths. But for you, I shouldn’t be this…”

My brows inch together. What?

I am so scared, that I don’t feel his thumb stroking my face where my tears are falling.

“You don’t remember… do you?”

I open my mouth to speak when the door from the room opens again and Darcy is standing with a deadly glare. His eyes focused on Callisto.

“Come now.” His order is harsh. I expect Callisto to tell him something, but he obliges.

“Go back to the room, and stay there,” Callisto tells me before he walks out, leaving just Darcy standing in the door.

I lower my eyes at the maid’s torn neck, then I look up at Darcy, who has a stoic face.

“Here’s an advice, Yophiel. Don’t piss, Callisto. He won’t mind punishing you. No matter who you are to him or what you even mean to him.” I gulp and stand back with trembling legs. “He won’t hesitate in killing you.”

I lower my eyes in submission, taking into account the words he just utters. He won’t hesitate in killing me.

Oh Darcy, if only he knew all I want is for my death.