Kyla

I haven't moved from my spot in the corner farthest away from the door. I sit here holding my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth to help calm my nerves. I can't believe I am stuck here in this place, with no weapon, no known escape route, and with a vampire that surely wants to do incredibly dreadful things to me.

What those entail I have no idea, but it's as though my body does. It thrums with anticipation, and my woman hood is more wet than it has ever been. I'm not used to these feelings stirring inside of me. These foreign feelings terrify me more than anything I have come across in my young eighteen years of life.

I have searched high and low for anything I may be able to use against him when he arrives, but it's as though the royal family takes precaution because all I find is furniture with metal or steal for the legs. There is glass or knives of course, but the most that will do is put him in pain for a second and furthermore piss him off.

I really don't like my odds if he quickly becomes enraged. I have special abilities myself, but I doubt even those will help me against the eldest son in the royal family if he's infuriated. So, I must use my intelligence, and play it smart. Save my strength for when he has a weak moment. A time where he will be off guard and I can make my move to run as fast as my legs will take me.

Until then, I must be a compliant 'little human' as Darius has enjoyed calling me the short amount of time we conversed. I will answer certain questions he may have. I will not give up the rebel's location or tell him anything about our training. Those issues are off the table. I will die a most painful death before I allow that to happen.

If he wants to know anything about me, I will gladly tell him. Maybe if he finds out I'm the rebel leaders' niece he will think of me as despicable and want nothing to do with me. He may then torture me, and it'll be quite painful if any of the stories of what he is capable of are true. However, I'm willing to go through that if I must.

If he has any questions about my abilities, I'm afraid I can't even help him with that. No one in the rebels, other than my uncle, cousins, Isabella, and her sister Lilly know about my abilities. My uncle never found out how I'm able to touch people and know their life story, or how I can feel what people are feeling. Sometimes the emotions evading my heart are so strong it makes me fall to my knees in tears.

I haven't a clue how I am able to run faster than any other human, or jump from high distances without breaking a bone. We didn't know about my physical abilities until the day my cousin Lucas, our friend Isabella, and I were playing among the trees. We knew we weren't supposed to until we were older, but when do young children listen?

Lucas' foot was caught on a branch, and he started to fall headfirst from the top of the tree. I jumped down about thirty feet from the top of the tree I was standing on without even thinking. There were three trees between us, but I had made it to the bottom of his tree in time to catch him. I wasn't harmed at all.

My uncle told me I needed to keep these things to myself. He feared what the other rebels would do with such knowledge. "People fear what they don't understand Kyla, so we must keep this between our family, Lily, and Isabella. No one else must know. No one!"

We all kept it a secret from that day foreword. I always wondered why I was so different. How could I do all these things that no one else could?

All these questions and still no answers. Eighteen years, I still haven't a clue. Sometimes I think it may have to do with who my father is, but my mother never told her own brother about him. She just came back to the camp one night, with a round belly, and no explanation of what had happened to her. Where she had been for close to a year, or how she escaped the vampire's clutches.

Whenever I brought it up as a girl, my uncle would brush me off, and change the subject. One time, he got so frustrated with me he slapped my face. Then, he told me I was to never ask questions about who my father was again. I was five years old. After that, I stopped with the questions, and I never mentioned him again.

It was as though my uncle was afraid of something. I just remember thinking what could a strong, leader such as him be afraid of? I still have no idea where his fear comes from.

We all look up to him, his children, me, and the others of our small group of people alike. He's the leader of the Rebels, one of the bravest, and fiercest men I know. The look in his eyes, the day he just couldn't take me asking anymore, I saw real fear for the first time staring back at me.

That was both the first, and last day I ever saw the wild look in his eyes. It was out of the ordinary, and it frightened me. I think that was the real reason I let it go. I never wanted to see that much confusion, fear, and heartache in my uncles' eyes ever again.

Voices on the other side of the door draw my attention back to present day and out of my thoughts. I huddle into myself more as I hear the lock on the door disengage.

"This is it, he's finally here. I'm going to have to come face to face with the one vampire that confuses my body and looks at me like I'm someone his next meal." Only the look he gives me tells me it's much more than that. I know from his good looks, his charisma, and charm he can have any woman kneeling before him. When he looks at me, it's as though I'm the only woman he sees.

The sound of dress shoes clanking against the wooden floor brings me out of my thoughts. Who walks in and stands before me surprises me entirely. It's a small human girl. Who has curly brown hair that reaches her shoulders. She has freckles along her nose. The unfortunate thing has a body made of nothing but skin and bones, looking at her she can't be any older than fifteen years of age.

She gives me a small smile and holds out her hands. I see she has clothing held out in her palm. What she expects me to do with them I don't know, nor do I care. Ignoring her completely, I place my head on top of my knees, and close my eyes. She doesn't say anything, but I know she is still there. I can hear her walking along the wooden floor.

A part of me wants to ask her who she is, why she is here, and has anyone ever tried to escape? However, I know all my questions will be ignored. She's one of them. The humans that willingly work for the vampires and allow them to feed from them. I refuse to ask her a thing.

Suddenly, I feel a palm on my arm. I move so fast with fear and disgust it takes me a moment to realize I have her by her throat, and against the wall I was just leaning on moments ago. Looking into her eyes I see true fear, and I must force myself to let her go. I may not agree with her choices, but I'll be damned if I turn into a monster like the ones I fight against.

She places her hand on her throat, and looks like she is trying to cough, but no noise comes out. Her hand keeps rubbing the area I had my hand around, and her tears have faded along her cheeks. In a few moments, I can see she has calmed down, and is taking deep breaths.

"Who are you?" I cross my arms over my chest, practically shooting daggers out of my eyes. Instead of answering me she cowers in the corner I was just in. What is wrong with her?

"She can't talk to you, Alaric, my older cousin, and most psycho thought it'd be fun to cut out her tongue." I turn at the voice behind me. The sight of Satine has the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. "Just because she refused to kneel before him", she shrugs her shoulders as though she has no care for the poor girl. "He's Diedrek's youngest brother, but the evilest out of them all."

"The door is wide open; I can make a run for it".

Satine looks from me to the door, "I wouldn't even think about it if I were you." She places her hand on her hip, and juts it out just a bit, "Even if you could make it past me, which you can't," She adds with a downright devious smile, "there are guards in every place on the East Wing now. My cousin is going through great lengths to be sure he gets to keep you." She tilts her head to the side, studying me.

"I wasn't thinking of running." The lie feels like acid in my mouth. She scoffs and closes the door. Locking us all inside.