Demon in Town (Book 2)

Chapter 13

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”-Oscar Wilde.

Chapter 13

-Victor-

I counted every single second that went by as I sat on the sofa with Karen who was acting as Sleeping Beauty at my side. The werewolf boys weren’t still back. I was afraid if Nathan was caught. He wouldn’t be able to save himself from a rabid dog without having his arm torn off.

If he hadn’t wasted his time kissing Karen, he could have become stronger.

No, I was not jealous.

We were in a room which had dark blue wallpapers. I could tell that it was a sitting room as it had nothing but sofas. Lamar had ordered us to stay in the room till the pack got back. After they would come back, he was going to look upon the deal.

“Do you need something, Victor Devries?” A sweet but venomous voice asked.

I looked up and my eyes locked up with the dark-eyed girl. Her lips were twitched in a tight side smile. Even though she was hot and all I couldn’t let my guards down.

“Oh hey,” I licked my lips. “Missed me?”

“Of course, I did.” She smiled and it wasn’t nice. “What are you exactly doing here?”

The look she was giving me, told me that she was suspecting that something was off about me and my arrival in the manor.

“That’s none of your business, Melanie,” I said.

“I never thought you’d remember my name. Your vampire memory is a little foggy, isn’t it?” She asked through gritted teeth. “My name isn’t Melanie. It’s Ember.”

“Nice name. I’m just bad at remembering names. Sometimes I even forget my own.” I frowned. “Vampire memory isn’t much of a help here.”

She tilted her head sideways and I could see that she was getting angrier by every passing second.

“Isn’t it really cool for you to forget me after what we had between us?” She asked. Her voice went down by a notch, getting soft and sad. “I was hoping for you to feel the same for me what I felt for you. But you’re incapable of love, Devries.”

That hurt me more than a stake would when it went through an undead heart. Her eyes were moist, full of pain and regret. I couldn’t say anything. I was speechless at this moment. The cheeky Victor couldn’t answer her back.

“You would never know what it feels to have a broken heart by somebody you love.” She went on. I looked down, hardly breathing. “Knowing that you were ready to give everything to them and they won’t ever return your feelings, it kills. After that day, I never knew I’d meet you but now that I have, I don’t expect you to understand anything. I’m saying this all because I don’t want to blame myself forever.”

I clicked my tongue.

“Ember, I’m sorry.” My jaw went tight, “The mistakes that I made in the past cannot be undone but I’m sorry for whatever I…”

“There is no need to be sorry, Victor.” Ember shook her head. “I’m happy that I met you again. I had been regretting everything for so long that I forgot that I had a life. There was a phase in my life when I was so angry with you, I wanted nothing but revenge. Now, it sounds so useless. The damage was done years ago. Now you’re here, I can’t even slap you.”

“You can do that if it makes you feel better.”

“That won’t do it.” She smiled sadly. “Nothing can change the person you are.”

“I have changed, Ember,” I said softly.

“I can see that.” She replied quickly. “But I can’t say that you’ve changed for good.”

“I know you hate me.” I exhaled. “I know you want me to go through the same hurting.”

“Maybe,” She whispered, nodding. “But I hope it doesn’t last for long.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. She was right. We all had to go through what others had already been through to understand their situation at that time. I remembered Ember laughing at the things I had said. I remembered her staring at me with that look on her face which screamed love for me. I remembered her now. Clearly.

It was my fault. Yes, I was incapable of falling in love. I never thought it would lead someone to regret it for so long.

“Why are you here, Victor?” She asked, breaking the chain of my thoughts.

“I need to free the human guy who is here.” I opened my eyes and stared at her. Reading her mind was as easy as seeing right through the glass. She had no intention to kill me or Karen. She was only thinking about our time together in the past. “Can you help me?”

I waited for an answer. I had broken her heart and I still expected her to help me. The loser was a small word for me.

“They are keeping the boy in the basement down here, chained with the young werewolves who are on the verge of turning.” She said quietly. “The witch is the one who is to be traded with the boy, right?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Well, you do care for her.”

“Yes, what—no.” I shook my head quickly. “She is his best friend who is ready to die for him so; I just took her here for the trade.”

“You were never this bad at lying.” Ember smiled knowingly. “She is conscious. I know.”

“How do you know?”

“She is listening to our conversation.” She grinned. “I knew something was wrong from the moment you entered this manor, Victor.”

“Are you going to expose us to Lamar?” I asked.

“He is my father. There is no way I will be able to keep this from him. He will get this truth out of me anytime.” She looked up at the ceiling and chuckled. “But I won’t betray the person I’ve loved my whole life. How are you planning to get him out?”

I felt that uneasy jerk on my heart once more. I knew she did not have a great relationship with her father. She had talked to me about it. Her father treated her like trash. And I had done the same.

“I don’t know yet,” I replied. “Are the werewolf boys back?”

“Yes, they are, indeed.”

“Did they find anything?”

“Nope,” She shrugged. “Do you have someone outside?”

I started to shake my head when her eyes widened with surprise.

“You brought someone to help you, didn’t you?” She hissed.

“You’re better at this mind-reading thing than I am.”

“They didn’t find anyone but I’m positive that Lamar won’t let you get out of the manor alive.” She became nervous. “They will kill you. You are so stupid to get into a werewolf house.”

“Can’t you help me with this?” I asked her. “We can trick Lamar and get out of here.”

“Don’t use ‘we’.” She made air quotes. “I can’t get out of this ever. My father had tried to kill me when he heard that I was in love with a vampire. As if it wasn’t enough that he beat me every day. If he comes to know, that vampire is you, he will kill both of us.”

“You have to get out of here too, Ember.” I insisted. “I know the kind of fatherly love Lamar has shown you for years.”

“You didn’t care then. Why care now?” She asked looking me in the eyes.

“Because I want to save you,” I said slowly. “This is the only way I will feel less guilty.”

“You can’t save me, Victor. She smiled. “But you can get out of here with that poor boy.”

“I won’t leave you here to die.”

“You’ve taken enough care of our guest, Ember.” Lamar entered the room with two of his werewolf guards. They were young boys but I couldn’t tell their age as they were aging slower than humans. “Let’s talk business, Victor.”

“I’m always ready for that.” I grinned. Ember nodded her head and walked away from me.

“So, you want that boy for this witch?” Lamar asked, sitting down on the sofa in front of me.

“Yes, that’s what I’m here for.”

“Why are you interested in that boy?” He sneered. “Does he have some supernatural capability that I’ve missed?”

“No, he is completely human. He just a friend of mine, so, I need to save him.” I said.

“Friendship with a human, huh?” Lamar looked at his guard and they both smiled. “The prince of darkness is begging for a human’s life. How can it be possible?”

“Can you stop this and get to the real point?” He was irritating me.

“You’re surrounded by werewolves and do you really think I’ll let you get out of here alive?” Lamar growled, standing up suddenly. “Thank you for bringing the witch. I owe you, Victor but your kind owes me much more.”

Before I could understand what he meant, he gestured his guards to attack me.

“Karen! Now!” I screamed.

Karen moved fast, jumping on her feet and throwing a ball of green energy outside the open window. That was our cue for Nathan to rush inside the manor.

The sudden outburst terrified Lamar. I saw fear in his eyes as he looked at Karen. The werewolf boys drew their steps back too. They were afraid of the witch. Cool, at least I wasn’t the only bad guy here.

“Turn,” Lamar shouted.

It wasn’t glorious to watch the boys turn into hideous big dogs. I’d rather skip the details. They turned and attacked us. Karen was in her attacking form. She created an energy wall between me and a werewolf when he tried to crush my head.

Time to stop thinking.

I moved swiftly, punching in the stomach of the big creature. He howled and stumbled back.

“You made a mistake, Victor.” Lamar thundered. “You both will die.”

Lamar took Ember’s hand in his and pulled her out of the room with him. He was escaping the manor for sure. Five more werewolves entered the room, turning into their real forms.

“Karen,” I heard Nathan’s voice.

He came into the room through the window.

As a team, we fought the animals but they didn’t seem to give up. We couldn’t fight these werewolves forever. We had to go to the basement and save Jon. If we wasted our time fighting these beasts, the night would end without any outcome.

I looked at Karen who was busy fighting with a werewolf. Oh, how beautiful she looked when she had those green lights covering her. Like an angel of light, she was fighting them.

“Karen,” I whispered out loud.

She looked at me. Her eyes were burning green.

“He is in the basement!” I screamed.

A werewolf scratched at my face. I kicked him in the knee and bit him in the neck. I tore off one of the veins in his neck and watched him cry out in pain as he turned into his human self. I huffed and touched the wound on my face. Blood oozed out of it until the wound disappeared.

Four out of seven werewolves were down. I ran near the werewolf whom Nathan was fighting. I punched him on the face and Nathan held him from the back. He broke his ribs without any effort. The werewolf let out a howl and puddled on the floor.

Karen was indulged in fighting two werewolves. And man, she could handle them well. They couldn’t even get near her. She was so fast and powerful. They both attacked her from a different direction but she moved quickly out of the way and the two werewolves collided with each other.

It was fun watching her like this.

“We should help her,” Nathan said.

I nodded and we charged towards the werewolves.

“Lamar will keep sending more. We have to get to the basement.” I said to Karen. “Jon is chained with the other werewolves.”

“Let’s go.” Her voice was completely different. It was more…seductive.

She saw the look on my face. If vampires could blush, I would be blushing right now. “What?”

“Nothing,” I replied.

We made our way to the hall and then found the staircase to the basement. Suddenly, the ground beneath us shook and the howls came underneath us. There had to be more than one werewolf.

“Open the door, Nathan,” I said.

He opened the door.

The young werewolves were screaming and crying in pain. All of them had already gone through the full conversion. They were howling and trying to break the chains. There was a lot of blood and I had to control myself from getting carried away.

“I can see Jon,” Karen said in her new voice. “He is chained at the end of the room and he is still alive.”

“How are we going to pass these sick people?” I asked.

“There has to be another way,” Nathan looked up and down. “Can you fly, Victor?”

“I haven’t done that for ages,” I Said.

“Maybe we can just run in the straight line that’s between them,” Karen suggested. “The chains look pretty solid. They won’t be able to break them and attack us.”

“We can only try,” Nathan said.

So, we ran between the scratching and howling werewolves. Some of them extended their hands to get hold of us but we were fast enough to avoid their grasps. We got to the end of the room without any trouble.

“Jon,” Karen’s eyes changed back to their normal colour. The green energy that had been surrounding her died quickly. “Jon, get up.”

“We have to get out of here soon.” Nathan looked around.

“He isn’t responding,” Karen said. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “God! There is so much blood on him.”