Vampire s Pet

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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“Hope you’re ready for tonight, Seline?” Jax whispered lowly, his voice distorted by the throngs of enslaved wolves and their masters getting ready for the auction show. I wrenched my gaze from the pristine stage and turned to look at him with a sigh.

“To be honest, Jax, I’d have said yes I’m ready a few hours before. But now…I don’t know. How many hours do we have left?”

He consulted his watch, a glittering Rolex, and shook his head. “Barely an hour. Come on then, let’s get you dressed up and ready. You must look your absolute best tonight, Seline. That’s the only way to get his attention.”

I strode with him into the dressing rooms at the back, pulling off the thin slave dress I was wearing. When I first got captured by the Vampire Hunters Academy and introduced to Jax, I hated the material. But not as much as I hated my new life or the beast that ended my old one. Here now, in the dressing room, the murmur of the audience is distinct and fuels my nerve endings to short-circuit even more. I rubbed my sweaty palms together, inhaling and exhaling in an attempt to steady my heartbeat.

You can do this, Seline. You’ve trained years for this night. Get it right.

Jax pulled out a shimmering red dress from the battered wooden closet and pressed it lightly against my bosom. “You can never get it wrong with red. Such a beautiful color. Like blood.” He smirked, his pointed fangs shooting out a bit. I nodded in agreement, even though I disagreed. I saw nothing special about the color red and it reminded me of that night I sat on the floor of my dusty Packhouse, surrounded by the crimson pool of my dead family.

The memories just don’t stop coming no matter how much I tried to avoid them.

Jax noticed my change in mood and snapped. “I understand how you must be feeling, Seline. Believe me, I felt bitter and vengeful when I lost my own family as well, thirteen years ago. Ferrara DeMarco is the enemy,” his eyes darkened, an unearthly growl rising from the back of his throat. “He killed our loved ones. Ruined our childhoods. This is your chance to make it right. No forgiveness.”

I swallowed hard, nodding. I hated the word forgiveness. It was a trap employed by bad people to escape justice. Please forgive us. Spare us. They always whined.

Pfft. Like my family was spared. I didn’t even let them say a word more after that before driving my claws into the hollows of their throats. It eased my pain to see the blood gushing forth, their eyes going white and their bodies limp. Satisfaction at its peak.

“No forgiveness,” I repeated. “I’m ready.”

“Good girl.” He pecked me lightly on the cheek and left the room so I could get dressed. I slipped the silky dress on slowly, loving the way it draped over my breasts and hips, molding to them with a nod to modesty. It stopped just before my knees, the wide slit allowing air in my privates. I decided not to wear panties. Ferrara might check to ascertain if I was truly a virgin, and if found otherwise he might not be willing to buy me for the right price. The downside about the dress is, that I can’t hide my two-inch blade like I use to. It had no pockets and was thinner than the white slave material I often wore. I couldn’t go to a battle without weapons. At least I needed a stake to drive it into his neck at the first opportunity I got.

Maybe that’s what made this battle different from the rest. Ferrara was a smart king – ruled over the vampires for at least a hundred years going. I heard that he had a son and wife before but they died in a clash with the Lycans. Perhaps this would’ve lessened my thirst for vengeance a bit. He knew pain. He was already broken just like me. But that only explained why he went about killing the Packs around him. Smothering families. I’d have died if I hadn’t been away that day.

He didn’t deserve pity but death. A slow, painful death.

“Are you ready?” Jax walked in, disrupting my thoughts. I turn around so he could see how well the dress fitted me. “Beautiful,” he muttered, reaching out to squeeze my breasts. I winced at how hard his hands felt. “Beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“Ten minutes left!” A black-clad backstage hand strutted in, her eyes flitting between Jax and me. I cautiously moved away from him, clearing my throat. “Your leash is ready Seline. Good day, Sir Jax.”

Jax waves a hand, his expression dismissive. She didn’t notice though for she’d already walked away.

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