||Chapter Ten||
Empty Hell PtII||
*Ting*
I quickly took a step back pushing Damonous away as if I've been burned after the elevator doors had opened.
What was that?
I did not dare to look at Damonous as I scrambled out of the elevators. I quickly rushed my way past the halls, my feet making prints behind me over the velvet red carpets. I continued to walk speedily until I was met by the last door just like Madeline had promised.
I timidly knocked on the door, my hands still weak and slightly trembling at the incident that had occurred in the elevator.
I stiffened once I heard Damonous' footsteps come closer.
I closed my eyes tightly.
God, Please open before he gets here, please, please, please, please please-
"Come in!" I heard a male voice call out. My eyes shot open before I look up at the ceiling smiling.
"See you on Sunday!" I promised in thought then rushed inside.
The room smelled of roasted marshmallows and vanilla.
My eyes widened once I stepped inside the room.
If classy were a place it would have been this very room.
Inside the room my feet were welcomed with white marble floors as there were four pillars in the room. Two at the front of the room and two at the back. What was beautiful was the view of the school's garden in the window on the far back.
However what seemed to confuse me was that even though this room was just a room itself it seemed to have been cut in half… It was rather strange. In the middle of the room was a large carpet, wide and spacious as it rests under the large desk which was at the very back of the room where there were two seats in front of it and behind that desk was a seat the size of a throne right in front of the glass window which showcased the view of the garden.
The carpet was not of one shade, but on the left side was the color hunter green. The color on the right was the shade of Royal blue. Both sides of the room had glass cupboard chambers which beheld many trophies, medals and awards.
I looked at my left then looked at my right.
I was standing right in between the two colors.
"You are late."
I snapped my head to where the sound came from, and once I did my mouth went dry.
I expected some kind of old hag or an eighty year old man to be the so-called 'principal' but no this man was no old 'hag'.
He was a fine specimen. He had dirty diamond blonde hair which was lazily styled to the side. Piercing aqua blue eyes, locked with my own from under their dark lashes.
Walking away from the place he was standing in of which I had not noticed he walked towards his desk and sat behind the seat.
"I am assuming that you are the new student?" His voice was smooth as it beheld it's french accent. Unlike Daivat his voice was not rough and rugged, but it was smooth. Smooth but so masculine.
My heart fluttered.
I then heard a growl which interrupted my moment of admiration. The stranger's eyes followed mine only to see Damonous standing at the door.
His wild gaze fixated on me.
His eyes flared with anger.
He was angry at me but the question was,
What did I do?
D A M O N O U S||
"Damonous," Pierre acknowledged.
I gave him silence in return.
My eyes remained on Talia as she looked at me in confusion. As though she did not know why I was angry.
She was looking at him with the spark of admiration in her eyes. I did not know whether I wanted to tear Pierre to shreds for it, or to make Talia leave the room and stay by my side for the rest of the day.
I could hear her heartbeat quicken at the sight of him.
How could she eye another male when I am her rightful mate!
'Now he admits she is ours… only when he is jealous' Asmodeus grunts.
He too found the attraction in her eyes irksome and simply unacceptable.
"Kill him," Asmodeus commands me, clawing out for control. I only shoved him to the back of my mind as well as the very temptation of granting his wish.
Pierre's attention then returned to Talia who looked back at him once feeling his stare.
"Come, take a seat" He invites.
'In your lap? Sure!' I heard her voice say.
Within an instant my eyes snapped at her direction as I felt my eyes burn in their shade of violet. The strangest part however was that she did not move her mouth once saying those words.
There was also an echo that lingered as she had spoken, as though her voice was lucid.
Thoughts…
Could I hear her thoughts?
Before I could even continue my train of thought Asmodeus let out a furious roar which rippled throughout the room.
It was darker. Deadlier.
I felt the temperature of the room drop.
I heard Talia's heartbeat quicken. Her emotions morphed into horrified confusion.
However unlike all those times before this time I had really not cared for her fear.
I felt the possessiveness of the mate bond take its toll on me as I thought of doing unspeakable things to the human girl to prove that she was mine. Pierre was a waste of my time.
He was lucky that I cared for the human girl's innocence at least.
Else his blood would have been spilled on the floors in seconds.
My glare landed on a confused pair of chocolate brown eyes.
I felt Pierre's unease. He felt my power radiate throughout the room. I felt his beast from within submit to me, in fear of my capability of what I could do to him.
"My name is Pierre, I am the principal's son, Here is your schedule and just as promised to his Highness the King your classes are all shared with Elisé" He said as he clasped his hands together on the desk.
Daivat had a death wish.
Of course he would do this. Just to get under my skin. He knew Elisé loathed Talia. He heard of the attacks. So he put her in all of her classes to get a reaction out of me. My father came running with his tail between his legs once feeling my Alpha authority intensify. He knew something had activated that power. That very thing was the brunette who stood before me in this room.
Daivat wanted proof, and I wasn't going to give it to him.
Although I'd rather face death itself than too have admit it, my father was quite wise.
"E-Excuse me sir, can you repeat that?" Talia stuttered.
The stuttering. She was nervous.
"I'm the principal's son-"
Bloody idiot.
"No, the other thing" She corrected. " Elise-"
"Change her classes" I interrupt.
Both heads turned to look at me as I towered right behind Talia. What would Elisé do if Talia talked back to her? Talia was no submissive maid or student; she was a firecracker and had the tongue of a dragon.
I dreaded the thought.
Never have I ever thought that I could ever feel fear. This unknown feeling of dread...
Above all, I never thought I'd ever worry about losing someone. My eyes flickered to Talia. Her eyes were already on me. Her doe-like eyes spiralled with wonder. I knew she could feel my emotions. It was part of the mate bond. A very unfortunate power. However my face was a void of mystery. Never leaking out a hint of emotion.
"I am afraid I can't do anything, my Prince," Pierre said. "It is not in my hands, when his majesty says something there is no turning it" He said.
I imagined her on the floor that dreadful day. The day her neck was drenched inn her own blood as she laid unconscious. I remembered her in the living room as glass had stabbed against her skin as blood matted against her hair, face and hands.
I looked at the wound which was still healing on her neck.
I imagined the worst.
What could happen if she was inn a room with Elisé or worse.
In a room where Elisé had the control and power to have people do as she says. She would be attacked by each and every side.
A wave of awful dread clutched at my chest at the thought.
I slammed both my hands on his desk with a loud, *BANG!*
"The fuck you can't-" I seethed my anger building up.
I was ready to put up a fight. Asmodeus growled in the back of my mind, awakening from his slumber, ready to tear this place to shreds if it confirmed the human girl's safety.
Pierre raised his hands up in defence as though to prove his innocence.
But before the fight could go on her small voice broke away my anger and only replaced it with shock and disbelief.
"I'll go with Elisé,"
I remained frozen as my back was still turned to her. My hands which rested on top of Pierre's desk had balled into fists as I felt her train of thought.
I tried to listen into what her mind was thinking but I was blocked. Unlike the time I had heard a slip of her thoughts I heard nothing.
Swallowing my shock I shot her a hard glare.
She looked back at me in nonchalance. Completely unfazed and seemingly careless of what I thought. She then turned her attention back to the Blonde Pierre.
"You don't want me to change your classes?" He pressed.
"Yes" She deadpanned, nodding her head. I just stared at her as if she'd just grown another head.
She on the other hand just shrugged it off.
My eyes narrowed to slits.
Was she mental?
Or was she just plain stupid?
Didn't she see what happened the last time Elisé attacked her? Not once but twice! I wondered what was going through that stubborn head of hers. I felt her resolve as she stared at the distance. She was thinking.
Hard.
"Is that all?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Pierre looked taken back at her sudden boldness but nodded his head nonetheless.
I couldn't help but admire it.
"Thank you" She said and got up and left the room.
I never gave the blonde fool another glance as I followed behind her.
"Are you serious?" I hissed.
She continued to walk ahead of me, completely unfazed as she entered the elevator doors.
Talia ignoring me wasn't a pleasant feeling for me.
The Elevator doors were seconds in on closing. Before it did I pushed my hand through as she quickly hit the close button hard enough for her finger to hurt.
Everything slowed within my eyes as I watched the elevator doors slowly close on my hands. Having my werewolf genes of an Alpha it would feel no more than a tiny tap.
But I quickly faked a small grunt of pain.
It was as if I pressed a button. Faster than I thought a human could possibly ever move she opened the elevator and dragged me inside. Once the elevator doors had closed she took my hand in her smaller ones and examined my hand as though I were a wounded puppy.
I could feel her soft heartbeats quicken within its cage as I felt her guilt and worried dread radiate through her body.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt? W-where does it hurt?" She spluttered as panic was evident in her voice and frantic worry dawned to her pretty features.
I admired her concern. It showed that she was just as affected as I was within the bond, and that I was not suffering alone. An uncontrollable smile made its way to my face. She looked up, putting two in two together. She stared at my unharmed hand then peered back at me with her mouth slightly parting.
Her beautiful brown brows flickered in disbelief.
"I-I...You-"
The elevator doors had opened.
"Liar" She hissed before turning and leaving me laughing behind her.
Hearing my laugh she had turned and glared into my eyes, but deep within them I saw fascination.
This was the first time she had seen me laugh, and quite honestly I was just as surprised.
I had never felt this genuinely content in eons, and the first time I had ever laughed in decades… was the time I had first seen her within the walls of the palace. Mopping the floors, ignorant to the danger around her. Oblivious that the world had so much more than her human mind could even imagine.
"Have you ever heard of the tale of the boy who cried wolf?" She then suddenly asked.
I couldn't help but chuckle softly at the irony of it.
Here a human was, scolding about the tale of a boy who cried wolf. Never knowing that she was speaking to one herself.
T A L I A||
Looking into his eyes I had come to realize that telling him the story my mother had told me the first time I had lied would bring me nowhere.
I left feeling annoyance and embarrassment seeping through my entire body.
I loathed the way I cared for that foolish and arrogant boy. It was impulsive. Caring for him was impulsive, once he had faked his cry of anguish I was instantly alerted, the same way a mother would panic once hearing her child cry out in pain. I've barley known him for the past two days and yet here I was losing my sanity little by little.
Obsessing over his name the day I first said it, then saying it over and over again.
Taking the advantage of saying his name whenever I can.
Possessing over him as though I had the right to. I remembered the day I first met Elisé. She had said his name and I lost all sense of logic.
Caring for him, the same way I did only moments ago in the elevator.
I could hear him following me.
He was getting closer. My feet pushed harder as I walked, making my strides longer and faster.
I hated it.
Why did the people here think it was okay to play with me as if I was their own entertainment? Why did Daivat even bring me here in the first place? Why does Elisé loathe me so much?
I then asked myself the biggest question of all, what the hell happened to me and Damonous?
No correction-
What the hell happened to me?
I never cared for a guy like this before.
Ever.
I thought of the way I felt his emotions, I also thought of the way I'd think something and he'd react as though I had said it out loud.
It happened twice today...
*Step*
*Step*
"Talia!"
I thought of the way he had such a high authority over the people that were here. An authority so large he could make people bow down to their knees before him.
Was it because he was well… who he was?
I remembered the way he controlled the people in that hall when they were looking at me was… alarming. With just a glance they all looked away in respect but it was not for me... it was for him.
Hierarchy may have played a part in it. I did not think it was his inheritance.
Was it because of his name? Perhaps because he was a Medici.
No.
It felt as though I was missing a bigger picture. As though I was missing something huge.
Damonous Medici... Damonous Medici....
What was the price of his name?
What was the price one must bear to live as a Medici? To have this much authority over others?
I felt a slight headache from all the hard thinking I was doing. I was missing something.
I'mI was certain that I was missing something but what the hell was I missing here?
Wait.
His eye color.
His beautiful blue eyes shift color from time to time. To this strange violet shade. It had happened the first time I had met him as I was bandaging his hand. It happened the first time he had kissed me.
That wasn't normal was it?
My mind then drifted to the moment in the elevator...
"Talia answer me!"
He was unlike anything I've ever seen. It was as if he was a whole different person. He seemed more animalistic.
Both wild and dangerous. The way his voice lowered in octaves, deeper and darker than it already was.
The way his power radiated throughout the room the same way a golden light would shine around the sun. Bringing light to the world.
The only difference was that he brought darkness. Not light.
In every room he walked into people fell silent like the time he had entered the school… or even the time he had entered the kitchen and met his own father.
The people here respected him. The people at home respected him.
His own father feared him...
Just… who was he to everyone?..
"Talia!"
Zoning back in, I peered back at those beautiful sapphire blue eyes.
I blinked twice.
Where was I?
I turned around to see that I was in a giant hall.
"H-huh?" I was dumbstruck in confusion.
Damonous sighed, running his hand through his already messy hair. The dark locks had ruffled before falling over his eyes.
"I've been calling you for the past five minutes." He told me.
Oh.
" Are you alright?" He murmured… he looked… genuinely…. concerned.
My heart fluttered at his question.
"I'm fine," I answer him in indifference. He stared back at me trying to see through me, trying to understand what was going through my mind.
Who are you to them?
What are you to them?
"I'm going to class" I said looking deeply into his eyes not knowing what exactly I was searching for. Damonous rose a dark brow. His blue eyes were both calculative and curious.
"You don't know where to go," He said.
"I'll find my way." I answered.
I turned to walk before I looked over my shoulder.
"Alone" I deadpanned.
I waited for him not to listen and follow me like the brat that he was but to my surprise, he actually listened.
He let me walk alone.
I don't know why I felt so disappointed about it.
A F T E R S O M E T I M E...||
After what seemed like hours I finally found my way to my first class.
Literature.
I walked inside noticing that everyone was already in their seats. They all sat unbothered by my presence. Not even a glance was looked in my direction.
Not until my eyes locked with two of the coldest blue eyes of which I had come to loathe. Her eyes were already on me before I had looked at her. Her long dark locks framed her pretty face, but to my surprise she wasn't glaring at me, nor was she sneering. No, this was something that terrified me much more.
She twirled the dark strands of her hair with her one finger, her pale leg was crossed over the other as her pink lips were tugged upwards.
She was smiling.
I did not know if it was genuine or not but the malice in her eyes was impossible to miss.
I didn't know what she had in store for me. This was the girl who used my face like a mop to wipe off blood from the floors. She was the girl who clawed my neck hard enough for blood to seep out of it.
This was the girl who wished for my mother's death right before me with no shame...
"Do smile Human," She told me. "You look like a lamb who was put in a cage with a wolf" She adds, her lips widening all the more once saying the word, 'wolf.'
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why did people refer to me with that word?
'Human'
Rolling my eyes and finding my intimidation absurd, I walked inside the class room making sure I showed no emotion on my face.
This girl wanted a fight? I'd say I'd give her war but that would just entertain her.
I'll just give her a wall.
I sat in a seat which was located somewhere in the front. All the seats in the back were taken. I sit leaning on the chair and placing my hands on the desk and sighed. Once the teacher walked inside the classroom all conversations were hushed into silence. He was a young man, most probably in his late twenties
I didn't understand why everyone in here was so young and beautiful. He had toffee brown hair and bright green eyes.
They say that only 2% of the world had owned green eyes, but it seemed so common in this school.
"Good morning Class" He greeted.
"As some of you may not know-" He said his eyes locked on mine once he said 'some.'
"My name is Mr Adam Luiž. I will be your Literature teacher this Semester and as you may know the classes shall change during the second semester" He explained. "Now I hate to do this but it's part of our Curriculum." He tells us all.
His eyes then fall on mine.
"New Girl-" He called.
My heart dropped to my knees.
"Please stand up-"
Not this! No!
"-and Introduce yourself to the class" He said.
Sighing in defeat I stood up and peered at all the beautiful faces of this class.
"Talia De Mara, 17 from France," I introduce myself without much explanation.
Some of the kids furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.
"From which pack?" Someone had asked.
Pack?
Was that slang for family?
I turned to the student and replied.
"De Mara"
He had dark mysterious eyes, pitch black as his skin was rich in it's dark color. His hair was cut in a buzz cut.
He was attractive as well.
"Never heard of them" He spoke his back falling back to his chair as he crossed his muscular arms cover one another.
"She has no pack," I hear a feminine voice declare.
I turned my head to see Elisé. Her chair was tilted backwards leaning to the back of the wall as she twirled a lock of her hair in her manicured finger. She stared at me in amusement, as she had grinned.
"She's a human," She revealed as though it was something big.
I stared at her in confusion.
"I do realize that I'm human thanks, but just because you're the definition of a bitch does not mean you can't try to act human too Elisé" I said sarcasm seeping through my tone.
Some of the students snickered as others coughed to hide their laughter. I watched Elisé stared at me, her lips still tugged upwards as though she were unfazed.
In fact my comment seemed to amuse her all the more.
"Maybe I am a bitch" She said with a sly grin.
"But don't forget your job and what you are to me Talia" She said staring right back at me. I rolled my eyes.
Dangling my job and place within her home right at my face.
Two can play this game.
"And don't forget who got slapped by my hand" I blurted out.
"Okay class!" Mr 'Adam' said breaking the building tension. "Now, now Talia that's enough today were going to start-"
He started with the lesson, but I swore that I saw a glimmer of amusement flickering through his bright blue green eyes as his lips twitched to a smirk once his eyes met with mine. I couldn't help but grin back.
L A T E R...||
Lessons after lesson after lesson.
Time bled so slowly. It was agonizing.
The day dragged on.
No wonder people loathed school. This place was a hellhole and the people who lurked within it's halls were demons. Many of the students here stared at me as though I was something alien.
I felt alien.
It was not only the students but also the teachers, some even looked at me as if they could not believe that I was actually here.
Mr Adam wasn't so bad though, he was nice.
Blinking out of my thoughts I found the cafeteria all by myself. Clearly seeing as I haven't found a friend here I walked past all the tall and beautiful people and made walked past the crowd and stepped into the line.
The food looked amazing. The main served dishes here revolved around proteins.
There served mountains of steak, chicken, fish and more steak.
There were some vegetables and fruit but the amount was so measly compared to the meat menu.
Weren't any of the students here vegan?
I was a meat lover, so I did not mind.
Grabbing my portion of food I turned and made my way to the very antisocial corner.
However to my dismay there was no such place as an empty seat in this hell hole. It was packed and I didn't want to be seen eating alone.
Besides, this place was divided in hierarchies,but it wasn't the type in those cliche movies where there were the nerds who were covered in acne, or the jocks who were rowdy and loud. It didn't have the mean girls either.
They had them all but not in the way one would imagine.
There were nerds but they were not covered behind their thick and black rimed glasses, acne, braces and plaid button up shirts.
They were beautiful. They had high cheekbones, consisting of a number of brunettes and blondes and some red heads.
Some had glasses, none had braces, some had freckles and some didn't but they were still so… flawless, the nerd guys weren't short or tiny, they were ripped as they wore collared shirts, with toned muscles.
The jocks, were huge. They looked like mountains which made me feel so tiny in comparison.
The table which was in the middle of them all was where Elisé had sat.
I couldn't help but notice the two people that sat by her sides. Elise conversed and laughed with everyone in that table, she even smiled and waved at people who weren't on her table. She socialized well with everyone, but the people who sat by her side seemed different. Closer.
The woman who sat on her right was a blonde. She sat smiling showing off her two dimples. Her green eyes shimmered with jubilance but it wasn't her that caught my eye.
It was the dark beauty on her left. He sat beside her as his arm rested behind her chair in a lazy manner.
He sat in nonchalance, his long dark locks tied up in a messy man bun which had locks that fell to shape his masculine face. He had owned silver eyes which contrasted the girl on the right greatly.
In fact they both contrasted one another. It looked like if the sun and moon had human forms they would be seated right before me right now.
They were beautiful.
It was then I noticed it.
Elise's eyes flickered to the dark haired boy's lip. Desire twinkled within her eyes as she watched him talk, her teeth bit her lip before she quickly looked away, her cheeks flushed.
Feeling my eyes on her she had turned her head to my direction. She stared at me blankly before her lips twitched into a small smirk. She said something then gestured the two people who sat by her side to come closer.
Once they did she whispered something to both the blonde and the brunette's ears, it was then they both looked at me. The blonde stared at me in piqued interest as the other held an emotionless face.
I looked away.
I didn't have time for this. I had food in my hands that deserved to be eaten.
With a tired sigh, I grabbed my tray of food which was mostly filled with meat and walked my way to sit under a tree or somewhere far, but right when I was going to walk past their table I bumped into someone and their food fell all over my white uniform shirt.
I then heard everyone begin to laugh. I sighed in annoyance and rolled my eyes. I looked up to see the person who did this only to find a beautiful red head who peered down at me with a satisfied smile coaxing her red lips.
"Oopsies, I'm such a clutz my bad!" She exclaimed.
My food…
Oh hell no-
My eyes flickered to Elise who only looked at what had happened in amusement, like she was a part of this.
How?
She was all the way there to her seat, how could they have communicated?
Turning my gaze away from her I looked at my opponent. She was muffling her giggles as she looked at my stained shirt. Everyone fell silent waiting to see my response.
This was it.
They were testing me.
Checking to see if I was a little pushover who would run out of the cafeteria like a little girl in tears, or if I was one that was not to be messed with.
I was definitely no little girl.
"If you are so blind then get your eyes fixed." I told her sweetly. I turned to leave but I realized that I was not done yet, adrenaline burst within my veins.
I turned to look at her who still stood where she was. Looking at me through calculative eyes.
"Lucky it fell on me…" I said, my voice echoed through the silent cafeteria.
I took a couple of steps close to her until I stood on my tippy toes to whisper to her ear.
"We wouldn't want anyone to expose those fake push up bras or ruin your full face makeup hm?" I mocked in a hushed whisper. I stared at her in amusement and pride as her eyes widened, but to my surprise I heard laughter.
Others eyes went wide , the jocks cackled, the nerds snickered and her table remained hushed in silent shock.
I looked at them in confusion.
How could they all have heard me?...
My amusement was cut short and was replaced with guilt once I saw her eyes glaze with unshed tears and her pale arms came to cover her body.
I took one step close to her in hopes to comfort her but stopped mid-way once I looked at my wasted food which laid on the floor.
There goes a beautiful meal...
It was at that one moment I had pitied the devil. As I stared at everyone who looked back at me through their beautiful eyes I wondered how lonely he must have been since hell was so empty.
It was empty because all his demons were here in this school standing before me in all their pride.