Chapter 11 - Akbur Hills

It was hours later, just as the sun was setting, that we left The Stationary and rode the short twenty-minute distance to the gates of Akbur Hills. Electric fences were encircled by thick metal chains adorned with spikes. The entrance was securely shut. Akbur Hills Penitentiary was written on a depressingly half-chopped wooden sign. This is it, I thought to myself, feeling my heart drop to my knees.


Damon said, "Stay in the car," but I was already out.


"No way," I said.


With a groan of frustration, he slammed his door shut and said, "Get back inside, now."


"No." I shot him a cold look. I could no longer be afraid of him. I wasn't going to let him know how afraid I was of him.


With his face inches from mine, he hurried to stand in front of me and asked, "Do you know who I am?" He seemed to shake in anger, as though he had never been forced to repeat himself.


"I don't care who you are," I pressed. "You said it yourself; you're going to ship me off here after the baby is born, shouldn't I at least get to see my future home?"


"Maybe I should just kill you instead."
His tone was so serious that I felt shivers down my spine.

I put on my poker face and said, "Well, it looks like it might take a while since you haven't even fucked me yet."


His big eyes widened at the intrusion, and I paused to wonder if this was the first time he had ever heard someone speak to him in this manner.


"Do not challenge my authority and get back into the car."


"I'm coming inside until you decide what the hell you plan on doing with me," I said, pushing past him and heading for the gates.


He gave a fierce snarl and pressed a bell that was affixed to a wall on the side as if he had finally given up. I looked past the front doors, up to one of the six towers, and met the eyes of a werewolf patrol. The doors opened on their own and a chain of dilapidated apartment buildings and a dirty dirt road were seen. The streets were littered with mortals they stared at Damon with hatred and revulsion, as though he were the cause of their misery.


Damon peered back with equal distaste and said, "Ungrateful filth. Every mortal would have been killed by the downworlders if it weren't for the werewolves. Werewolves established prisons like Akbur Hills to house humans until their deaths."


*To take their daughters and use them as baby-making machines, and to kill them according to your own will and plan, I thought.*
Werewolves patrol at guarded positions every half a mile or so. Three children were playing a game in a grassy area up ahead of me. More memories of the village where my father and I had lived came back to me. The streets exuded a tense atmosphere of terror and survival, which was reminiscent of my own experiences. When other people turned away from Damon, they glanced at me. I wondered whether some of them recognized me, as similar to Maria.


*They appeared jealous, and they knew that I was his doll, I reasoned. Perhaps they wouldn't be if they realized what a horrible person Damon is.*
After reaching apartment complex number 19, we turned to face the guard. It was a dilapidated building.


"Alpha," he nodded to Damon, maintaining his show of non-existence towards me


"Where is she?"


"She's just returned," he replied. "She's upstairs in her apartment."


With a nod, he opened the complex's doors, dashed through the hallways, and up the stairs, pausing to knock on door number 6.

A few moments afterwards, the door stood unlocked, and a middle-aged brunette woman with wide eyes met ours. She was youthful, attractive, and a human.

"Emily-" Damon started.


"What are you doing here?"


"I came to tell you that he's dead."


She didn't say anything for what felt like a minute. She finally moved aside to allow us to enter. Her gaze fixed me for a moment, her facial expression reminiscent of Maria's.


Measuring no more than three hundred square feet, the apartment featured a kitchen that served as both the living area and the corridor, where she stored a twin bed. I closed my eyes and saw a flashing picture of my village apartment. They were very similar to one another.
She quickly joined us as we sat down on the couch.


Her look was blank as if she didn't know how to feel when she asked, "When did it happen?"


"A few weeks ago, some vampires attacked him." Two days from now, there will be a funeral."


"I assume that becoming the alpha was what you had always desired. I doubt you'll surpass your father in any way."


"I came to tell you as a kindness."


She spat, "What the hell do you know about kindness? Is this one yours?" she asked, glancing at me.


Damon halted, then said, "Yes."


"I was a doll like you, for his father, except I was sterile, I couldn't have babies-"