A vampire.
Maeve had thought this might be the case back when she didn't see Luke's reflection at the supermarket. She hadn't dared process the thought right then, but now, she had no choice.
The smell of blood, wine and wood.
The shimmering of these men's eyes in the dark.
Luke's strength, which easily overpowered hers even when she was having one of her 'fits'.
It all added up. These men were vampires.
Tony moaned in pleasure as he pulled his face away from the giggling girl. He had drained her so thoroughly that Maeve imagined she was dead. Her limp body falling to the floor with a log-like thud seemed to validate her theory.
Maeve took a sharp breath.
She didn't have the grace to battle against the existential turmoil the look of the corpse brought upon her. Instead…
'How do I get out of this? What are they going to do to me? If… if it's the same as in the movies, then I'm their enemy, right?' Maeve thought, her eyes bulged and pinned on Tony.
There was no answer.
She tried to struggle against her bonds again, but to no avail.
'Shit!' she thought. Would she walk out of this alive?
"She's livelier than the others, isn't she?" Tony said and he leapt onto the platform next to the other vampire with the grey eyes. "The others would have been cursing or squealing by now especially after we told them we'd be killing them."
As Tony approached, Maeve almost found it hard to breathe. The smell on him was suffocating. It wasn't all the vampiric scent, however. There was cologne and sweat too.
Tony wasn't as tame as the others. He didn't flirt with Maeve – he didn't compliment her beauty. He grabbed Maeve by the waist; he felt her tense up, but was unbothered. His fingers tickled her sides but no mirth rang from Maeve's lips. Tony brought his face close to hers and sniffed at her chin, then her hair.
"Hmmm," he hummed with what might have been intrigue. Maeve felt the blood on his mouth smear on her shirt and face. She tried her best to turn away, but he was persistent. He seemed to like that she didn't submit to fear or something more enjoyable.
"There's nothing more attractive," Tony said as he buried his nose in Maeve's dark hair, "than a woman who doesn't fall for my eyes. That is probably the only redeeming trait of wolven women like yourself. I can't compel you to bump uglies with me. I have to… PUT. IN. THE. WORK."
And tony licked Maeve's neck. She squirmed like a fish, uncomfortable. His tongue was like the eel Bridget had forced Maeve to eat at a local Chinese food joint months ago. It was wet, vivacious and… thick. The points of Tony's fangs scratched against Maeve's skin. It was as ticklish as it was painful.
Maeve grit her teeth. She teetered between fear and fury.
Tony held her shoulders, impressing a shocking amount of strength to hold her in place. His tongue slid from the base of her neck to just under her ear. When it started tickling her earlobe, Maeve couldn't take it anymore. Strength surged through her and in the next instant, she found herself headbutting Tony.
The vampire drew back with a grunt. He staggered.
And then he laughed.
He clutched his forehead.
Maeve was surprised with herself. She had not meant to hit Tony, but also, she had. She gulped. Her forehead stung badly. She was surprised she had conjured enough strength to overwhelm the vampire.
Tony whooped in his mirth. He shook the other vampire on the platform.
"Hmm! Doesn't that get your blood bumping, Jake?" he cried. "I like this one. How about we keep her for a bit. No one would mind as long as we got rid of her afterwards, right?"
The other vampire, Jake, did not like the idea.
"We're already cutting it close. We were supposed to be done with all these wolf chicks a week ago, before the Day of Moon and Blood was even this close at hand. The wolves are catching on to our plan. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not get caught by the Alphas," he said.
Tony was not dismayed.
"You give the Alphas too much credit," he said and fixed his gaze on Maeve again. "Most of them haven't even arrived in Glendale for the ceremony. Where's your sense of fun?"
Luke, who was behind the two, sitting on one of the chairs on the tier below, scoffed.
"Only a spirit as free as you wouldn't fear getting ripped up by the Alphas," he said before pointing at Maeve. "Look at that bitch. With how pretty she is, she's probably got some crazy powerful Alpha vying for her. Let's kill her already."
Maeve's blood turned colder and colder as she heard the men speak.
It was as she had feared.
They wanted to kill her.
The why wasn't clear to her at all, nor was it important. All her heart feared for at the moment was her life.
Her breathing hastened all the more but she did her best to stifle it.
'What now? What's the deal with this? Why do I have to die?' she thought, and her throat felt strangely dry.
All of a sudden, she thought of the Pages. She thought of Bridget. Was she going to die without seeing her again? Was she going to be slaughtered right after she had decided to change her life and allow the Pages to be her new family?
Maeve suddenly thought about Jimmy Michelle.
Was she going to die without seeing him again and having a proper chat with him?
It was the prospect of leaving this world, however vile it had proven itself against her, and leaving behind loved ones that brought fear to Maeve's heart. She could have sworn her heart turned into a block of ice when Tony chuckled, walked up to her and said:
"Well, I won't argue then, I guess. This has better long-term benefits anyway."
Death was here, Maeve thought, and she found the strength to open her mouth and speak.
"Why do you want to kill me?" she asked.
Tony was amused.
"Too late to be asking, don't you think?" he said and then he grabbed her neck. His grip was like five nooses squeezing against Maeve's neck. Breath no longer funnelled into the girl's lungs. She felt Tony's other hand grasp the back of her head. "I'll have your pretty head facing the reason why you have to die. Don't worry."
Maeve would have screamed, but she couldn't.
This maniac was going to rip her head off!
Maeve felt her face swell and heat up. Her eyes seemed to bulge as if to pop out of her head. She tried to struggle free from her bonds again. It was no use. Just what were they made of?
She tried to kick Tony, but it produced no result.
Maeve could see the vampire's sick grin even in the deep purple neon light. He was enjoying the process. He could probably make it quicker, but perhaps he wanted to punish her for headbutting him.
This was it.
This was it…
But the door suddenly squealed open.
Everyone turned to it.
Two men were standing in the doorway, their silhouettes embossed by the dull light coming from the hallway outside.
There was the click of a switch and all of a sudden, the deep purple room turned dark.