Love Bites (Book one)

Chapter twenty eight

*Sven*

I watched as Yamin ran out of my office, doing as I told her to but not what I wanted her to. I wanted her to stay, fight, tell me what it would take for her to agree to joining my harem. I knew she wanted to, I could tell my the urgency of which she kissed me with, the feel of her body against my own. She wanted me, she wanted us, and for a moment, I thought that I would be able to have everything. But instead, she was running away from me, and I did not know if I would ever be able to get her back.

I slumped against my desk, my anger at myself, at her maker, at her father. I didn’t blame her. I didn’t think she was wrong for one second to say no to me. I understood then why she was so strong. She had to be. My human life had been easy. I was revered, loved. My family was proud of me, of my strength. Yasmin had been through so much, too much for one person, for more than one lifetime.

I turned around, my chest rising and falling drastically with my anger, a bolt of lightning leaving my fist as it slammed into the desk, splitting the hard wood in two. Did the others know about this? Did they know what Yasmin had been through and allowed me to promote that son of a b***h Antonio to leader od a f*****g district? I used my connection to my children, summoning them to the hall. I didn’t care that it was almost dawn, I needed answers and I needed them now.

I stormed out of my office, using my enhanced speed to make it to the hall in record time. I used that as an opportunity to pace, trying to reign in my anger but only managing to make it spiral further. It took a few minutes for Drex to arrive, but I did not even turn to recognise his arrival. I didn’t trust that I would be able to keep my mouth shut if I looked at him. I remembered his anger towards Antonio, his annoyance at his attitude when he was here. He had to have known and yet he said nothing.

Finally my other children came, sitting around the table, waiting for me to form the words that I needed. “Did you know?” I asked, looking around the table at the five confused faces that stared back at me. “Did you know about Yasmin?”

Frankie looked worried, her body shaking slightly. “W-what has happened to her?” She asked, her voice laced with worry.

“I am asking the questions!” I yelled. “Did you know about her maker, about her father?” I asked again, looking around the table.

Frankie’s face paled slightly, her hand moving to cover her mouth but it was Drex who stood up. “When I went to get Yasmin and bring her here, her maker had her pushed against a wall. She looked like she was on the verge of tears as he kissed down her neck, but she didn’t fight him off, making me think that it was not the first time he had done that.” Drex’s voice was cold and harsh, his hand tightening to a fist at his side.

“What do you mean?” Charles asked, not seeming to understand what Drex was saying.

“It wasn’t.” Frankie breathed out. All eyes then moved to her, a tear rolling down her cheek. “Yasmin asked me once if you made me sleep with you, I told her no, you were like my father.” She shook her head, trying to stop the quiver of her bottom lip. “After what happened with Nelson, she told me.” Her eyes moved to look around the table before they looked at me, her brown orbs staring at me with pain. “Her sire forced her to sleep with him, manipulating her emotions to think that she wanted him. Her father used to beat on her and her mum, he didn’t give a s**t about them.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I hissed, looking between her and Drex.

“Why? Why would it have mattered?” Frankie yelled, getting to her feet. “That was Yasmin’s story to tell, it was her life that she had to live. I am not going to broadcast it to everyone.” She pushed away from the table, looking at the stunned looks on her brother’s faces. “None of you are any better. You all happily treated women as second class citizens, even after I was turned. You all looked away to the terror that the female vampires had to live with every night and day. Would any of you have fought for change if Nelson didn’t attack Yasmin? Would any of you have cared if she had not managed to fight him off and he had done what he wanted with her?”

Her brothers, like me, hung their heads. We had done so much wrong, and Frankie had just had to sit through it all. So many times I had personally knocked her back when she tried to come and speak to me about it. She was right. I never gave Frankie the opportunity to speak to me, about this or anything else. We were the closest that we had ever been right now and still it felt like there was a void between us.

“I’m going to check on Yasmin.” She hissed, storming past me and out the door.

I looked up then, seeing Drex slump back in his seat while his brother’s shook their heads. Hell, even Phillippe seemed shocked by Frankie’s confession about what Yasmin had been through. “I had no idea it was that bad.” Drex breathed out after a few minutes of silence.

“I had no idea she had been through anything like that.” Martyn shook his head. “I should have fought against you when you wanted to pair her with Nelson. It was not right.”

“You asked for her to be with that ass hole?” Phillippe gritted out. “He treated her like s**t, you should have heard how he spoke to her.”

“I had my reasons.” I told them calmly.

“Like what sire?” Charles asked, leaning forward. I looked away, knowing he knew. Somehow, he knew. “She turned you down, didn’t she?” He laughed slightly. I looked at him, my anger pulsating through me at the thought that he was watching her so closely. “What did you expect? You thought she would just spread her legs for you.”

“Do you want her?” I gritted out.

“No, I don’t want her.” He sighed. “I saw how you looked at her, how she looked at you. I thought she would be good for you, I thought that she may be able to crack through that f*****g shell you have around you that does not let anyone, including us, in.”

“He’s right.” Drex nodded his head, making my eyes move to him. “Yasmin has so much humanity left in her, it shines through like a f*****g ray of sunshine. All any of us wanted was for you to go back to being who you were, the man who convinced me to turn, who got Phillippe his revenge without being overcome with the blood lust that you slaughtered innocent people.”

Phillippe stood looking around the table. His face was hard, his posture stoic. “I may be one of the oldest amongst us, and I will be the first to admit that I was wrong.” His eyes then landed on me. “They are right. You are cold, unfeeling, about everything in this life except her. But you are an i***t if you thought that you could have her and have the others as well.”

With that he walked out, my body slumping slightly as I thought about how right he was. How right they all were. Did I expect for Yasmin to agree to join my harem? I mean, I knew she wanted me and I wanted her, but like that? I heard as the others got up and left, not lifting my eyes from the knot in the wood of the table. I had cheapened her, made her feel as worthless as her father had, as her maker had.

I wanted to see her, needed to see her. There was no excuse for my actions, but if she felt half as bad as I did right now, then I needed to make sure that she was okay. I left the hall, taking the steps two at a time until I got to the corridor where her room was. Frankie was leaning against the wall, her legs held to her and her body shaking as if she was crying. I picked up the pace, worried that something had happened to Yasmin.

I stooped down, trying to get Frankie to look at me, to tell me what the hell had happened. She pulled away from me, tears in her eyes and running down her face. “You broke her. I warned her about you and still you managed to get under her skin and broke her. I will never be able to forgive you for this.”

Before I could ask or say anything, she pushed to her feet and ran down the corridor out of sight. What had happened? I reached out, ready to turn the handle on the door when it opened and out stepped Angel, one of the groups. I looked past him, seeing the chaos on the other side of the door as he closed the door, trying not to make a sound. “What were you doing in there?” I asked, trying to get past him.

“I am in the room next door, I heard what sounded like a struggle so I went to see if Yasmin was okay.” Angel told me calmly, but I did not miss the slight curtness to his voice.

“Is she?” I whispered, my voice strained at the thought of her in pain.

“No.” He told me frankly. “She is scared out of her mind that she is going to be sent away because she refused to sleep with you.” This time he didn’t even bother to hide his disdain in his voice. Usually, I would not stand for anyone speaking to me like that, but right then, I felt like I deserved that and worse.

I stepped back, not knowing what I would do or say even if I was to push past him and into her room. I shook my head, knowing that I had pushed her too far already. I gave Angel a small nod, knowing that all in all he was a decent guy. “Tell her to take tomorrow night off.” I told him, before turning on my heels and heading back to my office.

As I walked in, I looked at the mess I had left behind, leaning against the door. I needed to find a way to make this right. Even if she would never be with me the way that I wanted her to be, I needed to find a way to let her know that I would not send her back to her maker, not for anything. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let that slimball have what he wanted without even questioning it?

The thought of him laughing at me, smiling at how stupid I had been to give him the district without even thinking about it. I pushed off the door, walking over to the mess and fishing out a piece of paper, signalling for Drex to come to me. It was past dawn now, but this needed to be done, now. He knocked on the door as I finished writing my note, signalling for him to come in.

“Sire.” He greeted me, sounding tired and fed up, which I understood.

“I need you to find someone else to run Antonio’s district. Anyone with the backbone to stand up to that bastard, I want them in place as soon as possible.” I gritted out, passing him the signed letter.

“He won’t like it.” Drex sighed. “Antonio seems like the type to fight against being pushed out.”

“I don’t give a s**t what he likes. I should have him staked for what he did to Yasmin.” I yelled, feeling the electric pulse through my veins. “If I thought I could without hurting Yasmin…” I trailed off, remembering the pain I had felt when my own maker died. “Just get it done.” I told him, watching as he nodded his head, looking as determined as I was to see the fucker gone, before teleporting out of my office.