9. VANYA: LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

I could hear one of them moving around, but I had no idea who it was. From my hiding spot, I couldn’t see them, but I knew that the light had been switched off.
It was pitch black.
I tried to keep my breathing under control as not to give my position away but it was getting harder to do because being surrounded by darkness was reminding me of being locked up in that container.
Shouldn’t they have been back by now?
I squeezed my eyes closed and bit my lips when something clattered to the floor only a few feet in front of me. The low growl that followed made goose bumps break out over my skin. My hold on the knife tightened when it fell silent again.
For a moment I held on to the hope that they had left but I knew better. It had been made perfectly clear that they weren’t planning on leaving without me dead.
Something brushed my legs and I reacted without thinking things through. The knife easily sunk into flesh as it made contact with whoever was next to me. My stomach clenched as the warm blood started soaking my skin. Tear filled my eyes and spilled over as I pulled the blade free and then immediately plunged it into the body again.
Over and over until the heavy body dropped to the floor, unmoving.
I was soaked in blood. It clung to my hands, my clothes, my hair and face just as it pooled on the floor around us.
Later, the reality of what I had done would hit me, but at the moment, I refused to think about the fact that I had just killed a shifter.
I sucked in a sharp breath when the man called out.
The danger wasn’t over yet.
Reaching out, I searched blindly for the second knife I had dropped but I couldn’t find it, so I reached for the one I had used to kill the panther. My hand brushed air for a few seconds before it located the knife. I wrapped my fingers around the slippery handle and swallowed before I pulled it free.
The light suddenly flicked on, blinding me momentarily. Once my eyes adjusted, I realized with a shock that we had moved a few feet away from the spot I had been hiding from. My eyes dropped to the body at my side, making bile rise. Crawling backwards, I tried to get back to the dark corner but the man suddenly stepped into few. I froze and blinked up at him. His eyes darkened as he stared down at the body. A second later, his dark eyes snapped over to me and his lips parted to let out a roar.
Whimpering, I pressed my palms to my aching ears.
His roar was cut off abruptly when he lunged at me. I screamed, trying to get to my feet but I ended up slipping in the blood. Struggling to my hands and knees I tried crawling away. A hand wrapped around my ankle, claws digging into my skin, as I was jerked backward. The pain made my vision darken for a moment before I managed to push it from my mind. My fingers clenched and with a start I realized that I still had the knife in my hand.
I twisted around and slammed the knife into his arm. Another roar fell from his lips but his hold didn’t loosen, instead his claws only dug deeper.
My head dropped back, banging against the floor as I screamed.
The man suddenly stilled and it took me a moment to realize why. My scream had been answered by a roar I knew all too well.
A sob fell from my lips as all the fight left my body. I wasn’t going to die today because my rescuer had come to save me.
Ripping his claws from my skin, the man turned away just as a panther jumped on him. Sharp teeth sunk into his neck and claws dug into skin before they hit the ground.
Their low growls and hisses of pain echoed around the basement as the fought. The sight of them was even scarier when they appeared in my line of vision before disappearing from sight again.
I had no idea how long the fight lasted. Between the pain and the fear, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I knew that shock was starting to set in.
“Vanya.”
The voice didn’t immediately register but when it did, I forced my eyes open and blinked up at the face hovering inches above my own.
“Y-you came,” I breathed. “I knew you would.”
“I’ll always come for you, sweets.”

***

Obsidian held me close to his body as he pulled what was left of my bloodied clothes off. He dropped to the floor before he climbed into the shower and reached out to open the tap.
I flinched when icy water blasted my skin. The temperature didn’t remain that way for long though, after a few minutes he opened the warm water and fiddled with the taps until the water was the perfect temperature.
Reaching up, he unhooked the showerhead and slowly lowered us to the floor. The moment we were seated, he shifted me on his lap and then started washing away the blood from my skin. I was thankful that I wasn’t the one doing it because it only made me feel sicker. Keeping my eyes squeezed closed, I allowed him to manoeuvre my body the way he wanted until his firm grip on my chin forced me to open my eyes.
His golden cat eyes silently darted between mine like he was searching for something.
“Are you going to kill me?” I whispered. “You said you will if I ever harm your pride.”
His brows dipped into a frown. “There’s a difference between deliberately harming someone and doing it in order to defend yourself.”
“I killed. . .” I blinked up at him. “I killed just like my father.”
“Don’t,” he growled. “You are nothing like your fucking father. Do you hear me, sweets? If I ever fucking hear you say that again, I’m going to blister your ass.”
“Kinky.”
Obsidian smirked but it instantly faded. His hold on my chin slipped away. Fingertips brushed along my jaw and over my neck before they disappeared into my hair.
“I’m proud of you,” he rasped.
My chest tightened as his words washed over me. It was the first time he had praised me and it filled me with a lot of unknown feelings, but it also made me want to cry. I didn’t want to cry in front of him so I forced a smile onto my lips and tried to act like I wasn’t being affected by what just happened.
“I never expected someone to pat me on the back and tell me how proud they are of me for becoming a m-murderer.”
“You’re too soft-hearted to become a killer,” he muttered. “You did what you had to in order to survive. That’s how it works out here, Vanya. If you’re weak you get pried on until they finally decide to take you out. If you’re a fighter then your chances of surviving are stronger.” Obsidian reached up with his other hand and slid a claw across his skin just beneath his collarbone. “Drink mate. You need to heal.”
He lifted me closer and because I had no strength left to fight him, I did as he ordered. My lips parted and my mouth closed over the bleeding wound. I sighed as I started sucking on the skin to draw out his blood.
It reminded me of the first time he had fed me his blood. Things had been so different then.
Obsidian’s cock jerked against my thigh but unlike the last time, he made no move to take things further. He just cradled the back of my head as he kept reopening his wound for me to drink his blood.
After the second time, I couldn’t drink anymore. My stomach was already a mess because of. . .I shook my head unwilling to think of it.
Obsidian didn’t look very happy when I told him that I couldn’t take anymore, but he didn’t push. He helped me sit up and then grabbed the soap and washed my body again.
“I need to call Devrim,” he said.
In my panic I reached out and wrapped my arms around his waist, completely forgetting his no-touching rule. His body tensed and his chest rumbled, making me jerk my arms away.
“Please don’t leave me.”
Pushing me from his lap, he gracefully got to his feet but crouched in front of me. Obsidian hesitated. “I need to focus on your safety, Vanya,” he said softly. “I promise that you’ll have my full attention when Dev and Ezra are back here and the threat has been taken care of.”
As badly as I wanted him to stay with me, I understood.