Sickly, Sweet - Book One

Ch. 30 - Captive

'Love is an unconditional affair created in the fires of our fate.'

***

It's hard to trust people and it's even harder to trust vampires. That's why I avoided them for so long and even took orders to kill them. I won't hesitate to kill though, if someone deserves it, they will find their own head rolling into a six foot crevice in the ground. Normally, I would know if someone was double crossing me but for some reason all of my skills have waned and I am not as good as I once was.

From the minute I saw him, Sebastian appeared to have hidden intentions and secret motives - I don't doubt that he, too, would like to see us suffer. With him being King it makes him dangerous, he can have anything in a blink of an eye, including hiring a shifter to kill me.

I keep a suspicious gaze at Sebastian who looked back with a placid expression. He wants me to come to him, away from the guards. I take a quick glance at Valentine's back and I begin walking towards him. The room was cold and basically lifeless, it was fitting for prisoners. As I walk I look left and right and notice creatures hidden in their cells, sulking in corners and contemplating their miserable lives.

"I take it you know some of these convicts," Sebastian says, breaking the hollow silence in the air. He's trying to make me feel comfortable and unfortunately for him, it's not working.

I narrow my eyes at him and answer his question. "No. I'm an assassin not a bounty hunter," I reply with ice on my tongue, instantly regretting it.

"Assassins share a similar fate as these convicts, do they not?" He returns with a strong throw.

"Yes."

I was now a meter away from him and I can see the devilish glint in his green eyes. The same green eyes that I saw just before I blacked out. "Then why are you not in a cell yourself?"

"Sebastian, I think Saphira is exempt from law, after all, she is the best."

"Best," he enunciates with doubt, "how are you so sure?"

"Why, your Highness, I suggest asking your council members. She's killed for several of them."

He smirks, knowing exactly what he means. It wasn't uncommon for a council to suddenly lose members and gain them within a fortnight. Kingdoms always have corruptions no matter how high in the government.

"Indeed," he says with a tight lipped smile, "Vampire's are notorious for murdering their own kind."

I nod stiffly and glanced quickly at Valentine who seems to be looking at me with very protective eyes. I don't think he is very fond of Sebastian but he isn't against him either.

"They are also notorious for getting away with it," I press through my teeth.

"How right you are." Sebastian looks back at me with mischievous eyes. "But unlike you, these men and women were caught."

Valentine has sensed the negative tense in the air and has subtly positioned himself between us. We are now all facing a large glass wall that slightly reflected our faces. I look inside the window and see a man with spiky black hair looking down at the ground without any expression on his face. Just like the rest of the other prisoners, he has a metallic collar placed around his neck, much like the one we removed from Chelsea's neck.

He looked neither comfortable nor disturbed and it made me feel like jumping out of my skin. There is something rather odd about him, like he is just an image on a television screen.

"Saphira, I'd like you to meet Timothy, also known at 'Echo,'" Sebastian nods towards the rogue vampire and starts to speak. "He's the Kingdom's first and only shifter and is known only to Numidia's underground community."