"I…" fear was not the word to describe her feelings, not it was pain. For she felt nothing of it but desperation.
"Please.. I have talked to them. He told me that he could sniff witches." she offered them a sweet whisper but it only sounded like a siren's bell to them.
For them, Bella was a plague, a warning that the devil had marked her and this vile creature took birth from her womb. She was the constant reminder of her failure as a witch! Julia gritted her teeth with hatred and abhor filling her eyes.
"Did she say she met a vampire?
"It seems so and she had shared her insight with them?"
"What if she told them about our hideout? We could get killed because of her!'' The panic rose and she turned to look at them.
They looked away as if she held a contagious disease and one would be affected just by a mere look into her eyes.
"They took away two witches. If we did not save them, would they die?" did it not matter to them at all? She had repeated herself many times but they were not paying attention. Luhan came closer and placed his hand on her shoulder. Only then did she realize that she was trembling.
"Luhan!"
"Stay away from him!" She felt a strong push from the other side as a girl came running forward and pulled Luhan from her.
"Layla.." Luhan called her but she did not look at him. She glared at Bella with hatred and contempt.
"I could not believe that you are here despite being uninvited and now you are using the abduction of witches as your lame excuse. They were getting abducted daily, every passing second, one of us died. Even when you are trying to win our hearts by your fake concern, one of the witches must be dying from the hands of the vampires. But what of it?" Layla tilted her head as if she wanted to show that she did not fear Bella's dark eyes that looked like two vortexes. Strong vortex that could suck every light from their life and turned them into an abyss.
"Do you think we can save them? We all will die too if we follow your reckless demand of saving them. Or do you think we are stronger than those vampires? Or… you are stronger than those vampires. Ha!"
Bella could hear the whispers coming closer. She was sure she would see them snicker, sneer or scorn at her if she turned but Layla's words tied her hard. She felt they did not listen to her? They were so concentrated on her presence that her pleas went unnoticed but now she realize, it was not that they did not hear her but they wanted to ignore it.
"Then why are you all here?" Bella spat those words, baffled, "you all behave high and mighty. Arrange meetings and roar loud about saving witches, saving your kind. But when it comes to sacrifice, you all are too afraid and busy in saving your lives.
I have come here because I thought we share brotherhood. I thought that we will not think twice before fighting from those blood demons to save our sisters. But all I see is hollow promises, weak spines and… ahh." she covered her cheeks again instinctively when another slap landed there.
It was by her grandmother, the high priestess of their coven.
"You are here to break our spirits. Like the serpent who tempted our ancestors to ruin. Take her away in the repentance room. She needed to learn." The voice was low but it had authority that demanded obedience and Bella was too shocked to care at this moment.
She looked for her father in the crowd but when he looked away it was not worth fighting. Ana would be happier without her and her mother.. She never wanted her anyway.
"Wait, what are you going to do with her?" Luhan ran behind her but she shook her head, refusing to owe him. She had already owed him enough. "I will not be able to clear more debts."
He paused, widening his eyes then a dry laugh escaped his lips. "You have never understood me. Do you?" he whispered but Bella was already far away to listen to his whispers.
"They would not kill her. If they wanted to do that, they would have killed her long ago." Cameron came forward and held Luhan, afraid that he would commit another sin. "She is the granddaughter of the high priestess, we are not." he warned but Luhan jerked his hands away.
"I am not going to follow her." That surprised Cameron because Luhan's face was red with anger as if he would burn this whole place just to get his girl back. He wanted to tell his friend that it was not worth it. Bella might be beautiful but she was cursed. No one would ever accept her as one of them. But Luhan continued, "because I know that she is strong enough to free herself and run away from this damned place. Something I could never do! If only…"
Luhan paused and looked back to the direction where Bella was taken. I have the courage of liberation like her. The words died in his mouth before it could leave his lips and he closed his eyes.
Many started to whisper but Luhan's eyes were fixed on Damon. Should a father not be struggling to get his daughter free? They said only Damon cared for his daughter but what Luhan saw was a spineless man hiding in the shadow of his mother and did not have the courage to speak a single word.
His eyes closed in disappointment. It would be better if she ran away. For she did not have anything to hold here.
"You will be better without this family, Bella. I just hope that one day we will meet again."