Chapter 20 - A Visit

She motioned towards the phone," Call him, tell him to meet me at Building thirteen at two pm, tell him to make sure he has the instructions for the recipe."

I nodded, trembling almost from excitement. Reaching for the phone that made my nerves tingle, I punched in his number. Evan responded really quickly.
"Ana-"

"Go to building thirteen at two pm tomorrow, Maria is head of the staff here, she'll bring you back to the mansion-"

"How? I can't, I'm sorry. Not only have I not disclosed anything to my family, but I have also not yet received the poison's recipe."

I turned to face Maria, who had clearly heard all of this.

"Inform him it's either tomorrow or never. We never know when we'll need more employees—I last employed one two years ago," she growled.

"We have tomorrow to complete this, she says. You must have the recipe."

"Listen to me, there isn't enough time!"

"Listen Evan, it was you who told me about his plan and we can't take him down without you or that recipe!"

Via the phone, Evan sighed.

"I've been taking care of your dad, Ana, so I can't go. Mason can barely feed himself these days, and he is ill."

My chest stopped, and I felt my hands become numb.
How come? Why, what's the matter with him?"

"There was a plague here recently, no one knows how it came about but it was deathly, it took out more than fifty people and your dad, he's barely holding on."
I noticed Maria had a glint in her eye.

"If Evan doesn't help us, your father's death is guaranteed anyway," she said quietly. I tasted the salt on my lip and realized that tears had welled up down my cheeks. I nodded and grabbed the phone before my shaky hand let go.

"Have someone else care for him, the fate of all humans lies in our hands now."

"Ana-"

I quickly put down the phone before he could say anything to make me reconsider. "Building thirteen, two pm tomorrow," I said. Looking up, I met Maria's dejected stare.

"You did the right thing."

My heart started to constrict, saying, "It doesn't feel like it."

Before she could say anything further to me, I turned around and hurried to my bedroom. By the time I got to bed, I was completely disorganized. I felt helpless and in pain as I sobbed into the pillows. I was ready to leave this place, to put this nightmare and this reality behind me. What good would it do to murder Damon and restore some hope for humanity if my father were to be abruptly wiped out by this plague? Then I'd be alone once more.

I was startled to discover Damon had staggered in when I heard the door suddenly open. He was wearing the same clothes from yesterday night. Not only did he not appear to be hurt, but he appeared to be in excellent health. I tried to look normal, rubbing my eyes, but it was obvious he had seen me cry.

What is the issue with you? "You were acting like a slut last night, and I'm the one who almost died as a result," he spat in contempt and wrath.
What I was hearing was so unbelievable.

"No one asked you to step in and save me-"

"Do you think that if I let that go on for a minute longer, you'd be here breathing right now?"

"I had it handled-"

He gave me a sarcastic laugh and put his fingers on my face.

"You may be beautiful but you're the dumbest thing that I have ever met."

My jaw ached from his grip on my cheeks, so I wanted to spit in his face. I gave him the utmost look I was capable of producing. He threw me back, shaking his head.

Without hesitation, I sat up and said, "I wish he killed you, I wish you were dead so I can finally be free from you!"

"Princess, you would mate with him if he killed me. By midnight tonight, you would be shattered in his cellar."

"I'd rather that fate than to spend another minute with you!"

"AND YOU THINK I LIKE THIS?"
I was positive the doors would fall off their hinges from the volume of his shouting. Wherever they were, the house staff must have been paralyzed by shock.
"Having some weak disgusting mortal living in my house, I can't even touch you without you bruising like some fruit, you're pathetic and useless and if it wasn't for the hybrids, I would have had you all slaughtered years ago!"

I didn't receive a response. I kept thinking to myself that Evan was going to bring the recipe to murder him and that everything would end very soon.
Damon looked at me for a time, as if he was waiting for me to break. Eventually, he moved passed the bed and vanished into the restroom. Shortly after, I heard the water running, so I hastily stood up and exited the room.
Tessa was speeding down the corridor, holding a phone, and I was going to follow her to the library.

"There's a call for you."

"What, me?"

"That's what I said, wasn't it?" she replied, rolling her eyes as she came to a stop in front of me.
Is Evan making a follow-up call?

"Who is it?"

"Why don't you take the phone and ask like a regular person?" She thrust it into my grasp and then went back down the hallway to get it. I raised it to my ears with trepidation.

"Listen, I told you, we have no time-"

"Hello? "Ava?" a female voice with a harsh tone entered the call.

"H-hi, who's this?"

"You moron, it's me! The Daphine."

Who is Daphine, anyway?
It dawned on me at that moment. She was the girl from last night who was pregnant. I no longer had her phone number, which she had given me.

"Daphine, hi." I wonder how she found my contact information.
"What are you doing tonight?"

"Um, I'm not sure-"

"Fantastic! Do you want to come over to Tiffany's place at around seven o'clock?"
Can I go ahead and?

"Sure, I'd love to."

"Fantastic! Does sending my driver over seem necessary?"

"Um..." I had no idea how to respond. "I think I'll be okay," I said. "Where is it?"

"Just tell the driver you're heading to the Beta's house, he'll know!"

"Okay-" Clunk!"
It was a dead line.