Fangs

Chapter T|H|R|E|E

Alaric returns from whatever he was doing. His clothes are stained with blood, his eyes are bloodshot, but still that haunting bright red. I have been in the cage this whole time. My hair is knotted slightly, and I am trying to untangle it with my fingers. When Alaric spots me struggling in the corner, he throws a hairbrush onto the floor of the cage. Tentatively, I reach for it. I grab it and start attacking the knot that my fingers have been struggling with. Alaric watches me with a hint of something unreadable in his eyes. I eventually untangle my hair and carefully place the brush back on the cage floor.

Someone knocks on the door, Alaric opens it. It's a female vampire. She walks inside like she owns the place. Her hips sway, and she's dressed slightly revealingly.

"Celeste, what a surprise," Alaric takes her hand and brushes his lips against it. She smiles at him, adoration and pleasure showing through.

"Alaric, have you been hunting when you have a perfectly good pet right here?" she asks disapprovingly. Her lips purse.

"She has a rare blood type, I do not want to waste it," Alaric replies. He sounds almost protective.

"Fair enough," she sniffs. "What is its name?"

I internally scoff. I can talk, thank you very much. She runs her own red eyes over me, and I realize I don't really want to talk to her.

"Grace," Alaric answers. He turns his head slightly, so he can see me better. Celeste notices, and frustration flickers through her gaze.

"That's nice. Have you thought about my offer?" she says, trying her best to hide whatever is going on in her head.

Alaric turns his head to the side. He stuffs his hands in his pant pockets. "Which one?"

"Both," Celeste says and turns to study me again. Her gaze almost seems to remove my clothes.

"It is a no to selling my pet to be used as a breeding machine," Alaric says, looking at me. I'm not sure why he's protecting me.

"But Lucas and her offspring would be worth a lot," Celeste complains. Her voice sounds whiny, like a child getting its toys taken away.

"Hey, I never said they couldn't breed, just that I'm not selling her," Alaric holds his hands up, in surrender.

"So, can they?" Celeste is obviously motivated by money. Maybe also by the prospect of being associated with the crown prince.

"I'm going to let her settle in first," Alaric says. I silently thank him.

***

I don't like Celeste. She wants to introduce me to Lucas in a couple of days. I don't think I'm ready, but since I don't have a say in the matter, I can't complain.

"Give her a bath though," Celeste wrinkles her nose as if she can smell the human in me.

"I will," Alaric says, and Celeste leaves. I relax, just a bit, and Alaric goes back to his work. I don't know what he does for a living. Probably something to do with making seven cities into eight. Or the war on humans.

"Pet, come here and draw," he commands.

I get out of the cage and walk over to him. I take my usual place on the floor, and he passes me some paper, a pencil and the measurements of what he wants to be drawn. Today he wants a picture of a stable. It has living quarters on the top and stalls on the bottom. I draw what he wants, using different paper for the top and bottom layers. When I finish, I hand it up to him, along with the pencil and measurements.

"Well done, pet," he says after studying it for a minute. I lower my head in an attempt to hide my blushing. Alaric returns to his city planning, and we sit in silence.