“We took over your world, Helina. We control everything you ever knew. I was there to do what I was dispatched to, eliminate or capture the lesser beings. I felt your sister’s sadness like a beacon of light. Your sister’s essence called to me, pulled me toward her. She has a strong soul.”
“Had.” She murmured that one word.
“What?”
“You said she has a strong soul. Don’t you mean she had a strong soul?”
He looked at her with surprise before shaking his head and looking down again. “Yes. I meant she had a strong soul and that was why I was drawn to her.”
Helina ran her hands over her face, trying to get a grasp of everything he was telling her. She let out a sigh and looked at the hardwood floor, trying to get her thoughts together. Lizzy was something she didn’t want to talk about. She didn’t want to picture her sister’s lifeless body across the hard, cold, ground.
“What is happening with Gaijryc?” In her heart she didn’t want to hear what Ryce was going to tell her about him, but she knew she needed to know. Maybe it was for the best—maybe she truly didn’t belong in this new world, in a world where humans were cattle, playthings. “Maybe it’s for the best.” She looked into Ryce’s eyes. He shook his head and stood, holding his hand out to her. Glancing down at her, Helina stared at it for several suspended moments before finally placing her much smaller one into his.
“I know you don’t mean that, Helina. I can look into your face and see how much you love him, how you would do anything for him. I’m not wrong, am I?”
Wrapping her arms around herself, she thought about what he’d said. It was true, everything he said was true. Nodding, she kept her face averted as she thought about Gaijryc. She would do anything for him, do anything to keep what they had alive.
“A ball is being held for him tonight. It is a celebration that is meant for a mating, for Gaijryc to find a female to rule by his side.”
She stared at him in shock. “What? Was I nothing to him?”
Ryce shook his head, his expression serious. “It isn’t like that, Helina. He is doing this to protect you.”
“Protect me? I don’t see how you can even say that. Please, just leave.” She didn’t know how she even had the courage to tell a vampire, a creature double her size, that he needed to go. His hand landed on her shoulder and she swallowed, her courage starting to falter. His grip was gentle yet firm as he turned her around.
“He loves you, Helina. Your life was threatened and the only way he could safely protect you was to mate with Iena.”
“We could run away together. We could—”
Ryce shook his head before she even finished her sentence. “They will find you. Maybe not away, but eventually they will.” He lowered his head and lowered his hand from her shoulder. “It is forbidden to mate a human. Gaijryc is the high ranking prince and he is expected to mate a female of our kind, a female of a high ranking.”
“Because I’m a human I can’t be with one of your kind?”
“No. You can be with my kind, but not mate with them. You can be a pet.”
“A pet?” She spoke softly as she looked into his face. His jaw was clenched tightly and she could tell he touched a chord in him.
“Listen, he needs you. He needs you to show him what he’ll be losing. Only you can save what is left inside of him.”
They were both quiet for a long time, the clock on the wall ticking by the minutes as she thought about what Ryce had said. “What should I do?” She knew that she would do anything to keep Gaijryc, even if that meant standing before a whole ball full of vampires and profess her love to him. Ryce smiled, his face instantly brightening before her. He walked toward the front door, opened it, and bent down to pick up a large box from the porch. He walked back toward her, the big smile still on his face. He set the box on the counter and gestured for her to come over. She walked toward him at the same time he opened the box. When she looked inside she gasped at the dress that was inside. For the first time since her life had been destroyed by the world around her, she felt like maybe things would be okay. It didn’t have to do with the things Gaijryc gave her, but of this man letting her live her life again.
The Ball
Gaijryc looked at himself in the mirror, the image staring back at him a humorless joke. The pressed white shirt under the equally pressed tuxedo looked wrong on him. His platinum cufflinks shone under the bright lights of his office, his black shoes equally shining under their beam. His collar seemed too tight on his neck, his airway constricted from the fabric and suffocating him. He heard a light tap on his door but didn’t bother going toward it. He knew who it was even before he saw who was on the other side. The door slowly opened and he could see his mother’s reflection in the mirror. She walked up behind him, her white silk gown moving fluidly across her body. Her pale hair was pinned up, no strand falling from the diamond clips that held them in place.