Chapter 146

"She is going to die."

Delice shook off her confusion at Nicholas' previous words, and against her better judgment, she slit her palm open with a broken wine glass.

It had been a long time since she had felt pain from simple cuts like this one, watched her blood flow, and felt drained.

That was what little Mira did when she had her cold lips fastened against the cut, and soon enough fangs.

Delice's eyes went wide, so it was true.

She was indeed a vampire.

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Of all the things Zezi could have thought of coming back to, never could she have imagined it to be her daughter being a vampire.

It was a bizarre thing to even suggest and had she not seen Mira being fed blood and accepting it even in her unconscious state, she wouldn't have believed it.

Last night was by far the longest night of Zezi's life. This morning, in this quiet room of her Mira, George, and Aunt Alice, was starting to feel like the longest morning of her life too.

Time just seemed to crawl by and the rising sun brought no comfort.

"They are trying to brainwash us." George's voice finally cut through the silence in the room.

For him, he had woken up to this news, all strapped with bandages from the cuts that had put him to unconsciousness faster than any vampire, as if that wasn't already terrible enough.

He had barely been able to get the bearing of where he was before they had slammed him with it.

He had woken up to this!

George's eyes didn't leave Mira from where he stood against the wall, his daughter who hadn't as much as blinked or moved away from the bed she had been laid upon. All she had been doing ever since she had been moved to this room was drinking more and more blood!

By the Moon! Like all those fucking Bloodsuckers!

Still, she looked so pale. Although, Mira was always sick and never healthy, she had never been this pale!

Or had she?

Her wound was still wrapped securely with bandages, but it didn't smell like it was getting better. Was this blood-drinking feast even doing anything?

Of course not, his lovely Mira couldn't be one of the monsters he had hated his entire life.

They were lying, George was sure of it!

How they were able to make this possible, he didn't know and he didn't need to. He already knew all he needed to know concerning this and it was that they were lying.

"This cannot be true. If she was a vampire, we would have known all these years. I mean Mira is going to be seven." He chuckled dryly as he limped towards the bed, taking in a deep rough, breath.

There was someone different about the way Mira smelt, something lifeless, but that must just be because of the attack of those crazy things.

Volakys, they had called them.

Monsters, all of them!

He knelt next to Zezi, who hadn't said a word since she had been informed of Mira's state, he could smell that Bloodsucker King all over her, it irritated him, absolutely repulsed by it.

His hand reached for hers that was interlocked with Mira's but that lifeless aura hit him again, and placed his hand on Zezi's shoulder instead.

"Let us run away now that we can. They are all too busy, it will take time for them to notice we are gone, even him. He is not here." He paused for a breath. "We will put all this behind us and we can be the family we used to be. Right, Mum?" He looked at Aunt Alice for validation, instead, the woman sank further into her lonely sofa, her arms across her chest and tears in her eyes.

The only thing she was worried about was Mira coming back to life.

"I tucked her into bed," her voice trembled. "Just five minutes. I went to use the bathroom for five minutes, if only I had just stayed for a few more moments, maybe this would have happened. I would have tucked her right back into bed and maybe by then, it would have been safe." Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sleepwalking was something Mira had developed after Zezi had been taken away from them. Aunt Alice believed that it had happened because she felt it in her soul that she was searching for her mother, now it seemed the pup had been searching for something else.

"My love," George whispered, burying his face against her neck and pulling away immediately when that scent that irritated him the most poured into his lungs. "We can fix this. We can fix everything, just come with me. For the sake of our daughter, my love."

Zezi's eyes which were red with tears and sleep deprivation, slowly turned to him.

George loved to live in a lie, using it as a coping mechanism for the harsh truth.

It was a fearful way to live, it had no peace and she had no business doing that.

She wasn't like him.

Silent words slipped through his lips at the look she gave him. "I am sorry, I really am. For lying to you, I am so sorry. I did it to protect you, to prevent this." He gestured only for a moment before his hand returned to her shoulder. "Please, don't doubt that I love you. You were not a duty to me, you have never been. Maybe at the beginning, but please, Zezi I love you. I choose you and you choose me---"

"George," her lips trembled as tears welled up in her eyes. "Our daughter is dying in this bed, and that is all you can think about?"

Eyeballs moved from side to side in a crazy manner, it looked like he was losing his mind.

"I'm thinking of a way out. This place is killing us. Once we escape, our lives will go back to normal. We won't go back to Teeland. No, we will get on a ship and sail away silently. I have made arrangements."

She shrugged off his hand.

"I am not going anywhere with you! Face the truth!"

"My daughter is not a monster." He gritted each word between his teeth and rose to his feet threateningly slow.

Former Zezi would have been afraid of his flashing red eyes, but that wasn't what made her worried. It was the jerky movements his head made as he spoke, that had her wrapped in confusion.

What was that?

"They have done something to her, just as they did to Alpha Grey and Luna Sky. Just as they have done to me!"

Zezi's hands tightened around Mira's hand gently.

No.

Not again, her mind repeated.

Not another mind-numbing truth to shatter her again.

Ah, by the Moon, maybe she wasn't so different from George after all. Wanting to run away from the harsh truth.

"Luna Sky is dead. Her wolf rejected the process, and Alpha Grey survived it, but I don't think it will be for long. The process isn't safe at all. It is killing us, I can feel it. They brought him here for the Bloodsucker King to access and approve so they may begin the operation on a full scale." The head jerking made him pause. "That was why we were late, it was almost impossible for them to bring him here." It made him pause again. "If he dies they will attribute it to his mate's death instead of the process, but that is what is killing him and killing us all." A pause, it wasn't the jerking this time. "I was trying to break him out last night, when I stumbled into that hall. He is here, in this castle and he is dying."

He nodded and stepped back.

"Do you know why my head is shaven completely, the process has begun for me and I am in the fourth stage. Once he shoots his approval, they will shift me into the fifth stage and I am here which makes it easier for them. I knew all these risks yet here I am instead of escaping." He gestured to himself, his eyes red with tears. "Here I am, my Love, because of you."

No response came from her.

"Zezi."

She still kept that blank look and his gaze lit with rage.

"Why aren't you fighting for us?" His voice was low, seething. "No, this is not the Zezi I know. What have they done to you? Who are you? Who have you become?"

After the series of questions and not having any reaction from her, he responded, disappointed.

"He has tamed you."