Amaranthine

20: Gravity

WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TODAY OF ALL DAYS? I disobeyed Dio's orders about not going in the dungeons as well as broke my word about staying in bed today. I guess this was some sort of karma.

"Hold on," I told the woman carefully. "We can talk about this."

"I don't want to talk. I want to get out of here!" The woman exclaimed.

I sighed. "Well then let's talk about ways to get you out of here that don't involve murder. How does that sound?"

The zombie outside yawned loudly. "Sounds boooring!"

I ignored him. "I don't think I caught your name. What was it?" I asked the woman. I was attempting to gain some level of trust with her, but she wasn't having it.

"Why should I tell my name to someone I'm going to kill?" She glared.

Fair enough, I suppose. I was trying to make her feel at ease so I was less likely to get stabbed somewhere, but I guess she knew that already and didn't want to give me any chances.

I sighed. "I know I tricked you before," I began. "I didn't want to, it's just . . . I can't let you leave here since you saw Dio and the zombies. If you escaped and people believed what you said, the people sent here to investigate or 'bring Dio to justice' would certainly be killed. Even if you tell them what they'll be facing, humans are still little match for the power of vampires." God, I sounded like Dio. But it was true. "Do you really want to cause so much death and panic? It's better if you stay here for now. At least until I can figure something out."

"Dio can't get away with this," the woman said. "How can you side with him?! There's already death and panic in town with Jack the Ripper on the loose. At least if I caused a panic over Dio, I would have more information about the killer. We could stop him."

I frowned. "I can't let you leave if you're planning to hurt Dio or bring others here to be hurt. We can find a solution that would keep all of us safe. I'm sure of it."

The woman scoffed. "A solution for everyone, huh?" She looked down at her knife. "There's not always a solution for everyone. And sometimes, there's not any goodness inside people. Whatever you see in Dio . . . I don't think it's real. You're just ignoring the evil right in front of you."

I frowned. "You don't know him like I do," I said. "Dio and I have been friends since childhood. Even if he's . . . different now, our connection remains the same. I'm not going to leave his side, even after everything he's done. I still want to stay with him."

I wasn't ignoring the evil around me, but I also knew I wasn't confronting it, either. I could feel the cold aura of death that surrounded me like water. The only thing keeping me away from it was the safe bubble of Dio's protection. But the boundaries he'd set and the strict orders he'd given his servants couldn't protect me all the time. Right now, I had no choice but to confront the darkness on my own.

The woman sighed. "When I first saw you, I thought you were a good person. I don't think I was mistaken, but I think you're misguided. Just because you knew Dio when he was human doesn't mean he's the same now that he's a vampire. You keep saying no one needs to die, but you're just going to let Dio kill people so he can stay alive?"

"He's not killing people," I defended. Well, not anymore.

The woman squinted at me in obvious disbelief. "Do you know that for a fact?"

"Well . . ." I frowned. I actually didn't. But Dio had been feeding off of me, so why would he need to kill someone else for blood? It seemed like my blood was strong enough to support him, right? "I don't think he needs the blood of others anymore. He has me," I said.