63 -- Revelations

Laura shook in her seat. Her head was bowed and she tried not to listen to the sound of slapping flesh, but that was all she could hear. It filled this room and it made her chest to hurt.
She had rushed for him when he bent over Mary but two guards restrained her to her seat, using like the same chain that was tied around Mary's wrist to bind her hands to the chair and even her feet.
That didn't deter her though because she kept struggling. The only reason she stopped was because Mary had whimpered, her eyes cutting across to Laura. Vacant.
That was the only sign of life coming from henr since and Laura knew it was one of pain. So she sat silently, her eyes away from what was happening before her.
King Eric grunted loudly, the sound making Laura to quake and then he was done, buttoning himself and sitting on his chair. Mary dropped like a rag to the floor and Laura screams, scared that her friend had closed her eyes forever.
"Relax, she's not dead. Just tired." He smirked, pleased with himself and motioned the guards forward. They drew close to Mary and pulled her up, dragging her out of the room.
Laura could taste bile rising up her throat but she tamped it down, not wanting to give away her disgust or any emotion at all.
King Eric stared at her, twirling his wine in his wine glass. Laura focused on how the red liquid kissed the walls of the glass and left a mark on it. Frowning, she realized that wine didn't leave such a distinct mark and that this liquid was viscous.
She blanched and King Eric laughed at her shocked expression. He was drinking blood in her presence, like a true vampire would, damning who saw them or what they thought.
Laura questioned how he had gotten the blood and somehow, something in her told her that it had been Mary's. She hated him all the more then. She had always been a calm and peaceful person but at the moment, she hated King Eric so much. She had never had so much hate or dislike for a person before and the vigor with which she despised him shocked her.
"Relax, dear. It's just sustenance. Like how you take your food, or drinks even." He took a sip again and Laura watched how it left a red stain on his lips.
"What did you do to my friend?" King Eric paused with his swirling abruptly, the red liquid sloshing over the rim of the glass. He stared at her like she had lost her mind.
"What?"
"What did you do to my friend?" She repeated again. She knew that he understood what she was talking about, but he decided to play the fool.
"Are you seriously asking me that or are you just dumb?" She bristled at his insult and opened her mouth, a sharp retort in sight, when he continued speaking, "You didn't have your wedding night with my son, it seems. Such incompetence from that boy."
He leaned forward on his seat. "It'll be a pleasure helping him to do his work. Don't you worry, I'll help him."
He looked up at her and she froze, staggered at the heat in his gaze. He stood and walked towards her, bending and taking the chains off her.
He leaned into her and she was sure that he sniffed her hair at that moment. "Run from me, Little girl."
He let up and walked back to his seat, taking his glass in his hands again. He resumed the swirling and Laura was left rooted to her seat.
"Don't be stupid, girl. If you stay in this room for more than a minute, I'd make sure to cash in my promise now."
With that, Laura rushed out of the dinning, up the stairs and into her room. She shut the door, taking down her hair and removing her clothes. She needed to breathe...
She needed to breathe.
Laura faced her windows, naked, and did what she hadn't done in forever. She turned.
_____________________
She had just snuck back into her room and she closed the window firmly, wincing when she saw that the heavy wind that had just finished blowing, had swept the papers on her desk to the floor.
She bent to pick them, stopping with a frown when she realized that she had not laced anything on her tables and that these weren't the cut of the papers she used.
She spread the papers out on her table and lit a lamp, squinting to read what was written.
The first thing she noticed was that her signature was on it. She looked further and saw that this was the parchment she had signed, a deal she had brokered that sealed her people's fate and wove them into the leading strings of the vampires.
She was enraged. Who had done such a thing? Who had brought this to her room? Was it to taunt her or tease her? She already knew that she could never do anything to gain back her people's trust, but this just sealed the fact. Her own people were letting her know that they knew what she had done.
Laura squeezed the parchment into a tight ball and decided that she was going to ask her guards who had entered her rooms. She spun around and gave a shout, her hand to her chest.
Sitting on her bed and watching her calmly was King Eric. He had his hand on a walking stick while the other was on his knee, as he scrutinized her.
His lips quirked into a smile and Laura froze. She remembered what he had told her and she hoped that he hadn't come to make good on his words. Her eyes roved over his attire and she relaxed a bit when she saw that he was fully clothed.
"What do you have there, my dear girl?" Laura had forgotten that she still had the parchment in her fist and she placed it behind her, feeling it drop to the floor, instead of the table that she was aiming for.
"What are you doing here?" She knew that he would beat around the bush and not tell her, so she bent to pick the parchment, busying herself with getting ready for bed.
She flushed when she saw that a leaf was stuck in her hair and she worked to get it out, her attention still on the silent King.
"I thought it'll be a sensible thing to do, to tell you that I no longer wish to carry out with my plans."
Laura stared at King Eric in shock. If there was anything that she'd come to learn about him during his time here, it was that he always kept his word and never went back on his given word. She had learnt that lesson early on the first day, when he had slapped her so hard, because she had continued to question his presence in the werewolf kingdom.
"I don't get you." She smoothened out the parchment and placed it on the table, putting the lamp as a hold for it, so it won't fall off again.
"I'm relieving you of your duties. Somehow." His head cocked and he stared at her. Laura was amazed on how insane he acted most times.
"My duties? What duties, if I may ask? Is it the one were in actuality, I'm the ruler of this kingdom and you, the obstacle in my way?"
Maybe she shouldn't have said that. She stood stock still as soon as the words left her mouth. His countenance darkened and he stood from the bed, slowly prowling closer to her.
He let his shoes touch her mud caked toes and said, "No. It's the one where you do what all women do. Provide an heir to your ruler when asked." He had leaned into her and he whispered the words in her ear, his breath ghosting her cheek and causing goosebumps to rise on her skin.
She shrank back, not liking how his breaths quickened besides her and how he didn't pull back.
She dashed around him and walked closer to the door.
"I really don't understand, King Eric. And I'm very sleepy, as you can see."
His eyes ran over her and he nodded, his attention now on the window she had climbed through. "Yes, I do. You know I made a declaration that no one should leave the castle grounds."
"The forest behind is still part of the castle, irrespective of the fence built. But you won't know that, would you? Seeing as you're actually not meant to be in control or giving declarations."
She put her hand on the door knob when it felt like he'd rush for her. It was a stupid thing to do, really. Because if he wanted, he could do whatever he wanted to do to her in the presence of all her people and even her father and nothing would be done. Because everyone feared this cruel man.
"Don't push me, girl. I'm trying hard to be civil with you and I deserve the cooperation." He sat on her bed and crossed his legs, his walking stick in front of him. "Come here and sit. We need to talk."
He had lost the informal tone in his voice and Laura could see that whatever he was about to share with her should be taken wit utmost seriousness. She pulled open the door, before walking back to him and sitting on her chair.
"As I said, there's a proposal for you. No, you do not have any say in it." He chuckled when he said this, finding joy in the fact that he now had every say in anything concerning her people.
"Well, I suppose no one fully understood what Nicholas's plans were when he carried out the mating ritual, but it'd let you in on the secret. Because you're his wife and because all of it wouldn't have been possible without your help."
His eyes were on her table and Laura remembered that she had kept the parchment there. He was definitely the one who placed it there, seeing as he was referring to it and how he was the only who might've come to her room and also the fact that he was in her room when she came.
"Thank you for assisting my incompetent bastard." Laura jerked in shock. Why would King Eric say such a thing about Nicholas? Yes, Nicholas had many faults and was evil through and through, but wasn't it his Father's place to love him despite that? Was his Father not meant to be proud of the havoc he had caused?
"You're shocked. Well, I'll get down to it." He adjusted himself, sitting more comfortably till he almost sagged against the air, nothing but his hands on his walking stick, keeping him upright.
"Nicholas wanted to build a nation of hybrids. Werewolf and Vampire children. Do you understand what that means?" He spoke to her but she couldn't register the words apart from the first sentence he had spoken.
That was what Nicholas had been planning? To breed and get hybrids? He had destroyed the faith of her people in her and he had raped women just so he could get hybrids? She grew red in the face, her anger clouding her sensibilities.
"Good. I see you understand. Children with your strength and our stealth, just imagine the power we'd hold. We would rule the world." Laura wanted to turn right then and tear him to pieces, chomping on every bite, as he had taken a piece of her people. Of Mary.
"And I don't plan to stop. In fact, I have people working for me right now, inseminating their seed into your women. I don't really approve of Nicholas's methods, you see. It's more messy and annoying." He sat back with a sigh but Laura couldn't meet his eyes.
They wanted to use her women as breeders for their hybrid babies? No way in hell!