The Prey and the Predator

“Foolish child.” Alistair said unemotionally and turned around.
Without him to hold her, she fell to her knees.
She could do nothing but watch as Alistair walked over to who was once her father. She saw him raise his arm, hand open, and then bring it down upon the man’s face with enough force to break diamonds. She watched as his head snapped to one side and blood spattered from his already torn neck.
She had his final blood splattered onto her face.

“Evoni? Evoni! Can you hear me?”
Evoni looked up, Alistair was kneeling in front of her, his hands on either of her shoulders. When she turned her face up to him he gasped quietly.
“No! I never meant to get blood on you…” he wiped at it frantically with two of his fingers, but he smudged more on to her, he looked at his hand and saw it drenched in it.
“Evoni, you were not meant to see this.”
But she couldn’t say anything, she stared up into his eyes. His face was splattered with blood. She slowly lifted her hand up to her face and touched the liquid there that was still warm. She stared at the crimson on the tips of her fingers. She couldn’t make sense of it.
“Where’s…” She looked up at Alistair. “Where’s father?”
Pain crossed Alistair’s face.
“Child…” he murmured, pulling her into his embrace.
And when they touched, everything came flooding back to her.
“NO!” she screamed, writhing beneath his arms. “NO!”
“Evoni, calm down.” He said in a sad, detached tone. He was too strong, he effortlessly held her under his control.
“LET GO OF ME!” she screamed in terror and agony.
“And then what?” he asked quietly. “Where will you go, little Evoni?”
“Anywhere!” she screamed. “I’ll…I’ll find Tom!”
Alistair was silent as he watched her.
“Tom is dead. I killed him too.”
Evoni paused as what he said sank in.
“No…” She shook her head “NO!”
He let her go.
“If you must see for yourself to believe it, Child - Go.”
Evoni ran. She found Tom’s room and there he was, lying on the bed. His eyes were colorless, staring at the ceiling in horror, his throat torn out.
“You’re a fool; you should have obeyed me and stayed within the castle. And none of this would have happened.” Alistair was standing behind her.
Evoni turned around.
“ALISTAIR! Hurry! We have to get out of here! Something killed Father and Brother! We have to get out of here before it will kill us-!”
Alistair was holding her again, gently stroking her hair.
“Hush, Evoni. Its all right, you are safe now. I would never hurt you.”
And Evoni finally understood, accepted everything that had happened. Her voice became dark.
“Why did you lock me up for so long?” She pushed herself away from him. “You drove me to near MADNESS!” She screamed at him.
“Lock you up?” He honestly looked shocked. “Evoni, I wouldn’t do such a thing. I just didn’t want you leaving the castle walls-”
“Oh, that would explain why I was locked in one room and not allowed to leave!” she yelled. “You left me there for weeks! Months!”
“Evoni…” Alistair said gently. “I have only been gone for two days.”
“You’re lying!” Tears streaked down her cheeks.
“No, don’t cry.” He said quickly, he reached to wipe those tears but she slapped his hand away.
“Did you even know his name!?” She demanded.
“What?” Asked Alistair off guard.
“MY FATHER! Did you even know his name!?”
Evoni ran, leaving Alistair in silence. She ran out the house and into the forest. Angry hot tears flying from her face. She suddenly turned around and began running back.
She had to get Alistair out of there! Something was in there that will kill him as it had her family! She stopped, halfway between her house and the forest. She lifted her hands to her head in confusion. Her head was aching painfully.
No…no, Alistair killed her family. No, that cannot be true! Something else had done it! Then how would that explain Alistair snapping her father’s neck?
Half her mind tried to force her to believe what had happened, the other half tried to remain ignorant.
“NO!” she screamed. She turned and ran into the forest and did not look back.
***

“Hmm…? What is this?”
Evoni felt something grab hold of her shoulder and shake her slightly.
“Are you ill, little girl?” Asked a kind voice.
Evoni was lying on the ground on her side, staring at the water of a running river. She was covered in cuts and bruises. Dirt smudged all over, her hair tangled. She stared unseeing. She did not care anymore…
“Come on. Let’s get you warm.” The voice said, hoisting her up into their arms.

The next thing she saw was a beautiful youth looking down at her smiling. A rich fire crackled beside her and heated the blankets around her until they were toasty warm. All she could remember before him fining her was running, for a very long, long time.
“I’m glad you have awoken. I was afraid you might have been too ill to regain consciousness.” He picked up a bowl and cloth beside him and edged towards her. She suddenly drew back from him with startling fast reflexes, as though she had broken out of a trance.
“Careful, child. You don’t want to hurt yourself.”
“W-what are you doing?” she asked.
“Cleaning you, of course.” He wiped and dabbed at the scratches and mud on her face. “Do you mind telling me what happened to you?”
She did not answer at first.
“I…I can’t remember…” she said slowly. He paused, looking at her, and then smiled kindly. “Try.” He said.
Evoni did not know why, but she trusted him. Something about him reminded her of someone else. Someone who had cared for her very much. Whom she had cared for very much, and still did. Something about him was very familiar.
“I…ah…” red flashed across her vision. “I…” she watched her father’s neck snap. “…Bloo…d…” She felt something liquid and warm on her face.
She screamed in terror and pushed his hand away.
“Hush, little girl. It’s alright.” He said. “Its just warm water.”
She slowly let go of his wrist and let him continue wiping her face. Evoni looked down at the ground, unemotional.
“You said ‘blood’, right? What does that mean?” He asked.
Evoni said nothing.
“It’s true that you have a lot of blood on your face, but you don’t seem to be hurt…”
“That’s because it isn’t mine.” She said quietly.
He was silent for a moment.
“Oh, I see…” It shocked her that he did not sound surprised. “Whose blood is it?”
When she did not answer, she felt a firm hand on her chin lifting his face up to hers.
“Come now, you can tell me.” He smiled at her softly.
Something, something about him was screaming at her. Something was so familiar in him that she trusted him completely. He had silky soft hair of light brown. His features were perfect and his skin looked like pale honey in this light. With kind chestnut brown eyes.
“My…” she began, and then lowered her eyes. “My father’s.”
“That’s a tragic story, little one.” He said solemnly.
Something about the way he even spoke was familiar, as though he were very old. In addition, he was very beautiful, just like…
“You’re a vampire.” She said softly.
He chuckled kindly. “Are you scared?”
She shook her head in resignation. “No…there’s no one else left close to me that you could kill.” The truth was, one of the reasons why she was not scared of Alistair was because even then she had no one close to her that he could threaten her with.
But, then why did she feel so upset now that her father and brother were gone if she didn’t care for them?
Evoni did not see it, but a dark smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
He lifted his hand to her cheek and pushed her hair behind her ear. She realized that he had brushed it.
“Who killed your father?” He asked.
Evoni’s eyes widened as though she had just realized it for the first time.
“A-Alistair…” she said quietly, then she broke. “Alistair killed them!” tears cascaded down her cheeks and she covered her eyes with her hands as she sobbed.
She felt warm arms wrap around her softly, and Evoni threw herself into him, clutching her arms around him as though hanging on for life. She cried into him.
“It’s all right…You’re safe with me.” He said smiling at her. “It’s all right, Evoni. He is not here to hurt you anymore. I’m here now.”
Through her tears, Evoni asked him. “H-how do you know my name?”
“You told me it, remember?”
Evoni shook her head. No, she didn’t remember.
“Well, you must be very tired. Try to sleep, little one. I’ll keep you warm.”
“You…haven’t told me your name yet…”
“Sleep.” He commanded.
***

“Master. Please, I meant no disrespect.”
“NO DISRESPECT!” Alistair yelled. “You treated her like a prisoner! She is terrified of me because of you-!”
“No, Alistair.” Said Conan quietly, intervening. “YOU made her terrified of you.”
Alistair whirled around, letting go of Sebastian’s shirt.
“YOU!” Alistair raged, turning on him. “You disobeyed me! Yet again! If you had not defied me and taken her out of the castle grounds, she would not have even seen me! She would not be lost within the forest right now!”
Conan looked completely untouched. “Alistair, you seem to me as though you’re desperately trying to place the blame onto anybody but yourself.”
“How DARE you!”
“I believe, Master – if I can be quiet frank, Master Conan may have a point.”
Alistair turned around and slashed at Sebastian’s face with his fingernail-like-claws. Sebastian remained perfectly silent as his cuts healed themselves within seconds.
“Sebastian.” Alistair said in a chilling voice. “I’ am ashamed to have you as my servant. How could you have possibly misinterpreted my orders? I told you to let Evoni wonder through the castle as she pleased, to play in the gardens, to look after her. And you locked her inside a room? How dare you have treated her so shamefully! AND you placed a spell on the room to make time slow for her. You should have seen her face, Sebastian. The torment in her eyes as she told me that it felt like months and more had passed waiting in that room.”
Sebastian stared at his master, defiance in his eyes.
“I would have thought that you, master, would have had a better taste in women-”
“Get out.” Alistair said plainly.
Sebastian froze. “What?”
“I told you; get out. As the last command as your master, I never want you to come anywhere near me or Evoni again.” Alistair spoke unemotionally, but with a dark fury burning within his eyes.
“No!” Sebastian said – any part of him that was once calm and refined had gone now. “No, Master, please…I only meant to share my concern-”
“By speaking as though Evoni is not worthy or my care?” Alistair snapped darkly.
“Master…she’s not.”
“WHY!? Because she is human!?”
Sebastian paused. “…Yes.”
Alistair glared at Sebastian. “Is that why you have treated her so poorly?” Alistair hissed. “Because she was a human child? Let me tell you, Sebastian. I would not care less if she were a human or an Icarus* spawned from the devil. Oh…and just so you know – the child you treated so badly wasn’t human.”
(*Readers note: A demon with wings – Greek mythology)
Sebastian looked up at Alistair, his mouth slightly agape. “But she had no aura of a daemon.”
“No; she wouldn’t.” Alistair said quietly. “That would be because…she is an Eribus child.”
Sebastian froze, uncomprehending in his eyes. He fell to the floor in front of Alistair, begging, pleading forgiveness.
“Master…I-I never knew…”
“You know what angers me most about all this, Sebastian? It’s not your ill treatment of my child, but-” He kneeled down as he stared darkly into Sebastian’s eyes. “-but the fact that you suddenly ask forgiveness when you find out that Evoni isn’t human. She is still the same person, no matter what she is. You had no right to treat her as you did, whether you thought she was human or otherwise. I discharge you from your duty as my servant.”
Alistair stood, turned and began to walk away. For a servant to be discharged by their master was one of the most humiliating insults to take. It was a disgrace, a loss of honor for one to be deemed to not be good enough for even serving another. Especially for one who had served their master as long as Sebastian had: Over 100 000 years…
“Master! Forgive me!” he pleaded.
However, Alistair merely motioned to two other servants who were watching, and told them to take Sebastian off the premises if he did not go willingly. Conan followed Alistair and their argument continued.
In the end, as always, Alistair took command. He ordered every one of his servants, all 700 of them, to go out and find Evoni with all their power. However, what surprised his servants the most was not the fact that he used all the lengths he had to try find this child – but the fact that he joined the search too.
***

He put her still sleeping body on the top of the sheets of the bed. He sat down beside her, watching her with intense eyes as he waited for her to awaken. All sense of the kindness Evoni had seen was no longer in him. Now he was just a dark and hollow creature, an animal…
He traced the curves of her pale exposed neck with two fingers. The warmth, the beating of her heart and her vulnerability when she was asleep excited him. His breath came out in a hiss as he bared his fangs, leaning over her, eager for that blood, eager for that innocent heart of hers to falter as he drank from her…as he crushed her in his hands.
He cursed, drawing back from her.
Drinking her blood would not do any good now. Argh, but she smelt so bloody good! No pun intended.
He crossed his arms tightly across his chest in restraint and closed his eyes as he waited for her to wake up.

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