Page 85 of Stalked

He snickered. “Surprisingly, most come here of their own free will. Not every human lives in fear of the undead. Many of them enjoy the lifestyle we give them and are so willing to donate their blood to satisfy their masters. And, in other ways.”

Everything that had just come out of his mouth was vile. And wrong. Why would anyone sacrifice themselves to be fed upon and imprisoned like this? Why would they give their bodies to fucking monsters?

“Yeah, sounds like a blast with you psychopaths,” I said, but pressed my lips together, instantly regretting those words. I closed my eyes tightly, anticipating a hard blow. When it didn’t come, I opened my eyes to see an amused smirk on Maurice’s face.

“Get some sleep,” he ordered. “Kyoko will be at your door later in the day with breakfast.”

Maurice leaned in and kissed me on the forehead, and my body stiffened.

Suppose he believes we’re going to have that kind of relationship. Maurice will have to fight me in that case because I’d never willingly give it.

I held back the urge to quiver, focusing on my breathing so he didn’t sense my fear. He was a killer, a sadistic predator who was keeping me against my will and had plans to feed on me, or worse. He enjoyed every fucking moment of how terrified he could make me.

“Goodnight, Akasha. I’ll see you soon.” Maurice shut and locked the door behind him; the sound of the lock sliding into place was the last straw, and I dropped to my knees. My mind was a mess, but I didn’t even try to figure anything out because I needed to sleep. I told myself it was okay to cry, and I needed to, but I couldn’t. I eyed the clock, groaning when I saw the time. It was eight in the morning, so I threw the ridiculous number of pillows off the bed and drifted asleep.

CHAPTER 25

I WASN’T SUREhow long I had been out before I heard a knock at the door. Assuming it was Maurice’s right hand, I rolled over and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was two in the afternoon.

“Come in,” I called through the door.

I heard the door unlock, and a woman with long black hair, slightly tanned skin, and dark eyes, entered the room. She carried a serving tray with two bowls of fruit and a plate of hotcakes. “Good morning, Akasha. I have your breakfast,” she announced. “My name is Kyoko; I hope you like the clothes I bought for you.” She opened the armoire next to the bed. “You should wear this black strapless dress today, with your hair down with that red clip in your hair.” She pointed to the dresser. “Maurice will love that,” she said as she walked back toward the door. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“I don’t care what he likes,” I snapped.

“That’s bold to say in his own home. I’d be careful with that tongue. It’s far better that you comply, believe me.” She placed her hand on the door handle, but her eyes stayed on mine. “He’ll make the process less painful if he likes you.”

“What do you mean byprocess?” I asked. “Like when he drinks from me?”

“It’ll only hurt if you fight it.” She winked and then shut the door behind her before I could get in another word.

Is she a prisoner, too, or completely delusional?

Now, alone in the room, I thought about my friends and family. Were they safe? A part of me wanted them to bust down the door and help me take down these evil bastards, but that would just put them in danger. Besides, they had no idea where I was. I needed to find out as much information as possible about this clan, find a way to escape, and then use that information to bring them down with the help of my coven. We didn’t think when we ran from the safe house. We had no plan on what to do because we didn’t know what we were up against. I now knew, and I truly believed with my coven, Lily, Joel, and the werewolf pack, we could take them out.

My thoughts turned to Dorian. Would he come with me when I escaped from here? Or was I kidding myself into thinking we could once again have what we had all those years ago?

After I ate and showered, I opened the armoire to pick out my outfit for the day. I decided against the black dress and chose a blue spaghetti strap tank with black jeans, then pulled my hair up and put on some light makeup they left me in the bathroom. I didn’t want to be punished for not looking somewhat presentable. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I waited for someone to get me. After an hour, nobody came, so I walked up to the speaker and pressed the button.

“Hello? Um … Kyoko?”

“Heading back up.”

Ten minutes later, I heard a knock at the door before Kyoko came in. She sized me up and shook her head, clearly annoyed with what I had picked out to wear. “I said to wear the black dress, Akasha.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I guess that’ll do,” she said dryly. “But I’m going to warn you again. You don’t want Maurice as an enemy. It’s best you cooperate and make the best of a shitty situation.”

I gave her a stern look. “Maurice is already my enemy, Kyoko. And you obviously don’t know much about me if you think I will let him do whatever he wants with me.”

Her eye twitched, but she sucked in a breath, most likely her way of stopping herself from saying something she’d be punished for later. “He’s waiting for us. Come on.”

We headed downstairs, and I had to ask her the question lingering in my mind since I’d met her. “So, Kyoko. How long have you been a—”

“Vampire?” She smiled for the first time since she came to the room. “Longer than you’ve been a witch.”

I shrugged. “Well, I don’t know about that. My soul has been around for centuries.”

“Yes, I guess you’re right,” she said, followed by a quiet chuckle. “I was a human over a hundred and fifty years ago. My family and I had settled in California from Japan in the late eighteen hundreds, my father taking a job working on the railroads. We wanted to have a fresh start in America. But it was not meant to be. Ten years later, a vampire from this clan killed my parents in front of me and then fed on me. I still remember the pain I felt while I was being drained. It didn’t hurt if I lay still, but when I struggled, I wanted to rip my heart out. He took so much blood from me that he could either kill or turn me. So, he turned me, and brought me back to the clan. He thought he could control me and make me a loyal servant. Unfortunately for him, I couldn’t forgive him for what he had done to my parents, so I drove a stake through his heart. Maurice found it admirable of me, so he asked me to oversee the clan when he could not.

“And then you had your own human to feed on?”I asked.

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