Nervously scanning her surroundings for an escape plan, a familiar face came into Eliana's view. It was Sophie, her nemesis from the orphanage, who was smiling at her devilishly, indicating that she had ratted Eliana out to the officials. Eliana froze in her place and could only stare back at Sophie, unsure what to do next. With Sophie watching her, running was not an option. Maybe she could speak to Sophie and convince her to let her go – she thought when two hands grabbed each of her arms. The two guards who had been in the orphanage were now standing on her side, looking at her angrily.
"There you are bitch!" one of them hissed at her. "Did you think we wouldn't find you?" Eliana's pupils dilated in fear as she looked up at his displeased expression. 'Oh god, it's over. There is no way out of this. At least Georgina will have a chance to stay hidden. I need to keep my mouth shut.'
The two guards dragged her toward the exam building while all the other students standing around watched and gossiped. Sophie was one of the spectators and didn't hide her satisfaction about the current outcome. In her mind, Eliana would finally get what she deserved.
The hallways in the building were empty, relieving some of Eliana's discomfort since there was no one to glare at her. Suddenly, the two guards pushed her through a door into one of the rooms and closed the door behind her. She barely kept her balance and, when she looked up, found The Ambassador sitting before her with a calm face observing her from head to toe and smiling pleased. She felt his inappropriate look irritating her again like the last time she had met him.
"I am happy we finally could find you, Eliana. You almost slipped through my fingers, though, I must congratulate you on that." Eliana was speechless.
"Please take a seat, Eliana. There is much to discuss." Eliana reluctantly obliged and sat on one of the chairs across from him.
"First, I want you to stop lying and give me the necessary information. My investigation has confirmed my suspicions that you were in contact with those two werewolves, which leads me to believe that you conspired with them or at least know who they are. I would like you to tell me everything you know about them." He took a minute to let the things he said sink in.
"Second, your sentence might be lessened if you tell me where Georgina is. And third, luckily for you, no matter how long your sentence ends up being, you will spend it in my residence, working for me." His eyes sparkled dangerously at his last remark.
Eliana could feel her stomach churn, and her eyes filled with tears. It was obvious to her what his intentions were, and she could do nothing. Would she have to endure his torture? Maybe this was her fate, to become a sex slave to a vampire like him?
She would not be able to fight him since she was almost as weak as a human at this point. Vampires could live without drinking human or animal blood but would lose their supernatural strength. That was why it had been easy for Eliana to pretend to be a human. Unfortunately, these conditions made her easy prey even though she could have protected herself otherwise. Not wanting The Ambassador to feel satisfied by intimidating her, she tried to keep her façade and pushed back her tears. Once she collected her thoughts, she retorted back.
"As a human, I have a right to a trial, and only then would a sentence be decided upon. Furthermore, I don't know how you conducted your research, but I don't know those two werewolves. We only bumped into them by accident, and I didn't think that was worth mentioning last time since it isn't relevant to what they did afterward."
"You are not the one who decides what is relevant and what isn't, Eliana. I am. Last time I told you that you had nothing to worry about if you told me the truth. To my disappointment, you disregarded my warning and kept important details to yourself. That alone is worth punishment." He took a deep breath before continuing to keep his anger at bay.
"And yes, you might be a human and have certain rights, but what the werewolves did was one of the worst crimes we have seen in Paxos for years. Helping them will make you an accomplice, making you part of their society, taking away your precious rights."
"But we didn't help them. We only bumped into them, and that was the first time we saw them, and we didn't even see where they went. There is no additional information I could give you to help you find them."
The Ambassador stood up from his seat and strolled toward Eliana, circling her and making her feel utterly uncomfortable. Once he reached a spot behind her, he stopped and stilled for a moment breathing in her scent. - It reminded him of someone he had known and lost long ago. The last time they met, he had been too overwhelmed to realize it, but after some time to think and do more research on the girls, he had certain assumptions about who Eliana was. If he were right, this would change everything and make her incredibly valuable, giving him a great bargaining chip.
She kept looking ahead, having goosebumps all over. Scared that he would do something if she moved, she stiffened. Seconds became minutes until he reached for her hair and neck from behind. Taking a fist full of her black locks, he pulled her head back so that she had to crane her head up not to feel the pain of the pull, looking into his dull eyes. His other hand slightly strangled her, making her lose her breath. He bent to whisper into her ear, sending a chill down Eliana's spine. "I know that you are hiding something. A little bird from your orphanage certified my doubt regarding your story. According to her, you have met one of the werewolves regularly and probably were lovers."
Eliana's brain froze. She couldn't understand what was happening. Did Sophie lie about her nonexistent relationship with that stranger? How far did her cruelty go? Testifying such a thing and putting her in an awful position was despicable. They hadn't been friends for years, but the betrayal still stung in Eliana's heart.
Letting go of her hair and neck made her grasp for air and bent forward to look away and create a little distance between them. Sitting back down, he patiently waited for her to recover and react to his last statement. This time Eliana couldn't keep the tears back as they silently fell down her cheeks. "He is not my lover, and I DID NOT help him do anything. We only bumped into them and saw them again in the tent. That was it. But you don't WANT to believe me, so there is nothing more to discuss." Eliana crossed her arms before her chest and turned to the side to show him she was done with his games.
What Eliana didn't know was that he was indeed unwilling to listen because he had alternative motives and didn't really believe in what Sophie had told him. But Eliana thinking otherwise helped him achieve his initial plan of getting her on his premises so that he could use her for his negotiations with the royal family.
The Ambassador narrowed his eyes at her. "Let me tell you that I am not a patient man. If you refuse to cooperate, we must do this the hard way." He got up and called the guards back inside, ordering them to take her to his carriage, where she would wait for him to wrap up.
The two men grabbed Eliana, pulling her around to exit the building through the backdoor and walk toward the carriage parked behind the building. They had just gotten out of the building when a large, hooded figure appeared out of nowhere and knocked them out with swift movements. It all happened so fast that before Eliana could grasp what was going on, was hit over her head, making her faint. The man caught her just in time, put her over his shoulder, and carried her away.