Unexpected Help

Victoria struggled against the bonds over her wrists. She sat on the dirt ridden floor of a dungeon in an old keep. The cell was cold and damp, the air too thick. Her feet and hands were bound with mystically enforced chains. The metal cut into her skin and her fingers had gone numb.

Across the cell at a small table sat the werewolf. Vincent watched her arrogantly, his dark eyes gleaming in the light of a few candles.

She glared angrily at the wolf as he drank deeply from a bottle of whiskey. He slammed the bottle down onto the table, splashing the amber liquid.

Wiping a hand over his mouth he leered at Victoria. "Come now she-elf, do not look at me like that."

Victoria resisted the urge to spit at his feet. "You didn't need to tie me up. I said I would go willingly."

Vincent snorted. "Do you think me fool? You and I both know at the first chance you'll try to escape."

She winced. "Why are you doing this? Just let me go, Vincent." She needed to escape, needed to get back to Sebastian. Being away from her demon felt as if a massive hole had been ripped into her chest. She struggled just to breathe.

Vincent rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "So eager for your cursed demon?" He rubbed the sleeve of his shirt over his sweating forehead.

Victoria scowled as she inspected his features. Something was wrong with him. The wolf's eyes were blood-shot and his usually clean-shaven face looked as if he hadn't shaved in weeks. The arm that Sebastian had clawed was heavily bandaged, blood still seeping from the wound.

Wouldn't that have healed by now? Werewolves were immortal and fast healers.

Victoria could smell the wound on his arm and knew it was infected but could form no sympathy for the man before her. "What's wrong with you?"

He glared at her sideways. "Nothing is wrong with me."

"Why do you want me, Vincent? What could you possibly want with me!?" she cried, tears of frustration welling in her eyes.

"You'll find out soon enough," he remarked absently.

Her lower lip trembled. "Please just let me go. I won't tell-"

He cut her off with a growl. "So eager to return? Don't tell me you're in love with that demon?"

She was. Deeply. And it was written all over her face.

Vincent gave a shallow laugh. "You are! My god." He shook his head. "You pick a cursed demon over me?"

"Go to hell, Vincent!" Victoria shouted. "You sicken me!"

Vincent's dark eyes narrowed. Standing up he approached her. She cringed as he kneeled in front of her, slamming his hand against the wall over her head. "Silence woman. If it were not for this wound and my inebriated state I would be fucking you over that table and claiming you as mine right now." He reached forward, tugging at a lock of her hair.

She jerked away from him. "Don't touch me!"

"You let that monster touch you. You let him fuck you too, didn't you?" Vincent yanked on her hair, forcing her head back. "But your demon failed to claim you fully. You don't bear his mark. Perhaps he doesn't want you as much as you thought."

That hurt. It felt as if he'd just stabbed a knife into her heart. "I don't care. I will always belong to him."

"Apparently your demon doesn't feel the same. Why has he not come for you?"

Tears threatened but she refused to let them fall. "He will come for me. And when he does you're dead."

Vincent laughed bitterly, giving her hair another yank. "We'll see. I'm not so keen to let you go halfling. After all I've done, all the time I've waited. He stole you from me and I will make him regret it." With a look of disgust he released her hair.

Victoria stilled at his words. "What do you mean after all you've done?"

Vincent's face broke into an evil grin. "My dear Victoria, who do you think encouraged the vampire to keep raising your father's debts? Whose idea do you think it was to threaten your father with torture and death unless the debt was paid?" He leered down at her.

Victoria's jaw grew slack with shock. "You didn't." She had seriously underestimated this man.

He laughed, the sound laced with malice. "Did you really think me a fool, Victoria?" He walked away from her and sat back down in his chair. "It is because of people like you always underestimating me that I've progressed so far in this world."

"What do you want with me?" she asked again harshly. "Why me!?"

"Because you are a part of my endgame." Vincent picked up his ale with apparent boredom.

"What endgame?" Victoria demanded through clenched teeth.

"My endgame," Vincent snapped, clearly done with this conversation.

Victoria decided to try a different tactic. "Listen Vincent...you're sick. Your wound is infected. You're not thinking clearly. If you just let me go-"

Vincent jumped to his feet and bellowed, "Silence!"

She jumped, pressing back against the wall. He looked feral and completely deranged.

With a snarl Vincent stormed over to her. Victoria flinched, expecting him to hit her. Instead he stood over her, his breathing labored. "I've grown tired of your babble. Let's see what a few days in this dungeon will do for you."

With a sneer he stomped out of the cell, slamming the door behind him. Victoria winced as she heard a large dead bolt click into place.

Her heart slamming in her chest she tried to think. Vincent's words had cut her deeply.

It wasn't true. Sebastian did care for her. He loved her, she was sure of it. Maybe he'd never said the words but she knew he did. He will come for me.

Except she'd left willingly. She did the one thing he'd feared the most. What would Sebastian think? Was he hurt over her betrayal?

Grunting she twisted against her chains, only causing them to tighten further. Her eyes pricked with tears but she forced them back.

She just wanted to go home. She wanted her demon.

I love him.

******

She's left me...

Sebastian clutched Victoria's amulet in his hand. His despair was more than he could stand. She'd just left, with that fucking dog.

Why? Why would she do that?

It felt as if she'd ripped his fucking heart out. He wanted Victoria with him so badly. He yearned for her touch, to hear her soothing voice.

Even the demon within mourned for his female and refused to rise, refused to replace his grief with familiar rage. He wanted to wish he'd never met her but couldn't. Despite it all he was grateful for the little time she'd given him.

I love her. The emotion weighed heavy in his chest.

His hackles rose and his skin pricked as he detected a presence he had not known for seven centuries. "Come to gloat?" he growled roughly.

"My dear Sebastian, you look miserable," the mystic's feminine voice drifted to him like a caress.

Sebastian turned, eyeing the beautiful woman with malice. In all this time Levina hadn't changed. Her soft blonde hair and white gown had an ethereal glow in the moonlight. Red pouty lips were curved into a soft smile as she watched him with eyes the color of cold steel.

There was a time when he'd been stunned nearly speechless by her beauty. Now he couldn't stand the sight of her. "What do you want?"

"Such anger." She approached him, watching him closely. "I should think you would be thanking me."

"Thanking you?" He had to resist the urge to tear her apart. "For what? This hell you've placed me in!?" he shouted, not caring if he enraged her. What more could she do? Kill him?

He would welcome it.

She raised two shapely eyebrows and her smile widened. "Ah, but if not for this you would never have met your precious Victoria."

"Do not fucking speak her name to me!" Sebastian roared in her face.

She remained unfazed. "I see your temper is still intact. Why is she not here with you now?"

He was taken slightly aback by the question. With a growl he turned away from her. "She's left me."

"I see," her tone implied she was not surprised. "And you will not go after her?"

"What's the point? She doesn't want to be with me." Sebastian wanted to roar his anguish to the sky but the sound was more of a whine deep in his chest.

"You love her?" the sorceress asked softly.

"Yes," he admitted roughly. "Are you happy?"

"Actually yes!" she chirped. "It's about time. Does she not love you?"

"How could she?" Sebastian glared at her. "Look at me!" Why was she tormenting him like this?

She sighed, "You were always so stubborn. Perhaps you should look at yourself first."

He scowled at her, wishing she would just leave. He didn't want her privy to this, to when he lost everything. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means you should look at yourself." She nodded towards a full length mirror.

"Why?"

Levina sighed with exasperation. "Sebastian really, you've been so focused on wallowing in your own misery you haven't even noticed. Just go look."

"Then will you bloody fucking leave, woman?"

"If that is what you want."

Gritting his teeth he rose and stood before the mirror. His eyes went wide at the reflection staring back at him. Snarling he grabbed the top of the mirror and peered closer. This wasn't real. "This is a trick."

"It's not."

But that meant..."She loves me."

"She does. So what are you going to do now, demon king?"

He turned towards her with a snarl, his intent clear.

"Excellent!" she clapped her hands together excitedly. "And I just so happen to know exactly where your little halfling is."