14__Deep, dark secrets

Viktor had hardly reacted before Kamilla stepped out from behind him with a clap of her hands.
“Oh, that’s why!” she exclaimed happily, putting her hands on her hips.

“That’s why what?” Viktor demanded. “And may I say that, with that grin on your face, you’re looking awfully cheerful for this situation.”
Kamilla waved a hand as if to clear the air of Viktor’s words and he looked at her in shock. She dared to wave away the words of the King of Onyx?!
Kamilla stepped forward, ignoring Viktor’s glare.
“I remember the other night around four in the morning,” she said to Damon. “I saw blood on your mouth.”
“You two were together at four in the morning?” Viktor asked, his eyes narrowed to suspicious slits.

Kamilla glanced at him with a curve of her lips. “Oh, yeah. We counted the stars and spoke of life’s mysteries. Utterly romantic.”
Damon rolled his eyes. “We were hardly together, it was a passing in the corridor. And, yes, Kamilla. That night, I had gone to see Grace in the forest.”

Viktor was about to question Damon further when Grace hissed in pain.
Kamilla glanced at Damon. “You should help her before you say any more, Damon, she’s hurting! You vampires might not know this, but pain is a real bitch.”
Damon turned to Grace with a determined stance and when she began to protest, hiding her arm in fear, he merely leaned down to look into her eyes, dlowly lifting a hand to gently caress her face and Kamilla saw Grace become as still as a statue, her eyes distant.

Kamilla gasped, nudging Viktor roughly in the arm. “He hypnotized her! Oh, that’s so cool! Teach me, teach me!”
“No!” Viktor said, leaning away from her nudging elbow. “I refuse to teach you things that you may use in a barbaric manner.”
“What?” Kamilla huffed. “Barbaric? Me?”
“Yes. You’ve proven that by skulking about the kingdom like a common criminal and using foul language.”
Kamilla made a face. “You use foul language too!”
Viktor shrugged one broad shoulder. “That’s different. I’m Viktor, King of Onyx, my Kingdom."

Kamilla was about to tell him where he could shove his Kingdom when Damon cleared his throat.
“I’ve popped the shoulder back in and put her to sleep.” He glanced back at Grace. “She’s been through a lot of pain.”
Viktor put his hands into his pockets and regarded Damon.
“Why is she your business, Damon?”
“You like her, don’t you?” Kamilla asked.
“Sshh,” said Viktor.
She scowled up at him.

Damon sighed. “It just ended up that way. I went into the forest a week ago to feed. I found her there, bleeding against a tree. Ah… the scent of her blood…”
Damon groaned and let his head fall back. Kamilla was amazed to see his eyes glow at the mere memory of a human’s blood scent.

“Anyway… I was going to return her to her home, but… she wouldn’t let me. She said if I was a Vampire… she said I should feed on her instead and turn her.”

“What?” Viktor demanded. Kamilla glanced up at his surprised expression. “You’re telling me that this human specifically asked you to turn her?”

Kamilla understood and gasped. The woman was crazy! Here Kamilla was cursing her fate of being a half-Vamp and this woman was begging to be a full one?!
“Perhaps you shouldn’t,” Kamilla told Damon, her eyes widened in worry. “The way I see it, anybody who willingly asks to be turned isn’t in their right mind. She might have been hit on the head—”

“You know,” said Viktor through gritted teeth. He turned to her, staring with an intensity that made Kamilla's breath catch. “Being a Vamp isn’t as lowly as you may think, Kamilla. It’s powerful. You’re stronger, fearless, faster, and more dangerous. Far more attractive. Powerful.”

Kamilla swallowed, blinking at him. A delicious heat made its way through her body and she slowly pulled off her cloak to avoid overheating. “Geez… t-talk about tooting your own horn,” she mumbled.
Damon nodded. “Viktor’s right. Grace knew her only chance at survival would be to turn. She begged me. I just couldn’t… I couldn’t ignore her. So I’ve been feeding on her. Slowly and painlessly.”
Kamilla couldn’t believe it. “So… you’re saying that she’s becoming a vampire as we speak?” she asked, fanning herself.
Damon nodded. “Yes. I have to keep her a secret. The elders won’t like this.”
“They sure as hell won’t,” said Viktor. “But they’ll like it if I tell them to. So don’t worry. Just don’t do it again.”
Damon nodded his thanks.
Kamilla dropped her cloak on an armchair and crossed her arms.
“But why were you behaving so suspiciously that night?” she asked Damon.
He frowned. “Well, I could hardly say ‘Guess what, my queen. I’ve just had myself a great big helping of human. Want some?’ could I?”
She nodded with a clap of her hand. “Great sarcasm, I’ll give you that. But what I mean is, Viktor was in my room that night. He’d slept in my bed and when I ran into you, I wanted to tell you that, but—”
“But, I jumped to conclusions and lied, saying he was in his own bed,” Damon completed with a grimace. “I thought you wanted to ask me where he was.”

“Okay, hold on,” ordered Viktor with a raised hand. “What’s this? Talking about me like I’m not here."
“Wait a minute, Viktor,” Kamilla said, grabbing his hand to hold it in hers. She turned to Damon. “Why would you lie to me about Viktor’s whereabouts? I mean, I am his…”

Viktor’s brow rose and he tightened his grip around her hand. “You are my what?”

Kamilla gulped and shrugged, pulling her hand away. “Never mind. Forget it.”

Viktor scoffed, his eyes mocking her.
Kamilla crossed her arms as Viktor turned to Damon. “In my office.”
With that he turned and disappeared out the open doors.
Damon cleared his throat and went to follow Viktor but Kamilla stood in his path, eyes narrowed in resolve.
“So, Damon? Why lie?”

Damon ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. “Kamilla… Viktor goes missing like that when… it happens. I’d decided that I wouldn’t trust you when it came to Charming, so I didn’t want to tell you that it was possibly happening at that moment.”
“Funny you mention that because he was actually in my room. He came to me,” said Kamilla. “Charming trusts me.”

Damon studied her with a gaze so intense, Kamilla knew he had to be trying to read her.
The silence stretched on for a moment.

“Damon, tell me what happened. What made Viktor like this? What created Charming?” Kamilla looked up at him, her green eyes clear as day, hiding not a thing from him. Damon could see it, even if it was hard to believe. He could see Kamilla wanted to help heal Viktor.
He cleared his throat and looked at her. “As I said before, that information is known by myself and Charming only and I do not yet trust you enough to let you in on it. Not since I found out you were in the company of Rogan.”

Kamilla groaned. “That was one time! Also, it was only because I wanted to escape.”

“And you don’t want to escape anymore?” Damon challenged.

Kamilla gave him a bored look. “If I did, I wouldn’t be here. Yes, I ran earlier today, but I came back. Well, I was coming back when Viktor found me. I gave up the chance to be free because I… I felt… I just felt that Viktor needed me. I think that earns me some damn trust, doesn’t it?”
Kamilla clenched her jaw, her skin chilling at the memory of that scary vamp in the alley. He’d been more than ready to rip her neck apart.
If Viktor hadn’t shown up…
Damon silently raised a brow. “Well… you wouldn’t have gotten away anyway.” He pointed at her head. “That hair is as red as a flame. If Viktor couldn’t sense you, he’d have seen you from miles away.”
Kamilla pursed her lips at him when Damon’s lips twitched with humor. She waved a hand at him. “You’re one to talk! Your hair’s white! It’s like a damn torchlight.”
“Platinum blonde.”
“Whatever. Tell me what made Charming.”
Damon sobered at the sudden change of topic and regarded Kamilla seriously.
“When Viktor was a child… before his father, Darius, the late King of Onyx, had brought me in to be Viktor’s best companion… something happened.”
Kamilla bit the inside of her cheek. “If… if it happened before you and Viktor met, how do you know about it?”
“Charming told me,” Damon said simply. “I found out about him just the way you did. For a second, I thought Viktor was pretending, being an ass to scare me off because he really hated the thought of having anything even remotely close to a friend back then. He kind of hated me, so I thought it was his usual pranking.”

Kamilla frowned. “Viktor hated you?”

“He hated everyone.”

She sighed and crossed her arms. “Don’t you think we should tell Viktor about Charming? He needs to know—”

“No! Don’t tell him, Kamilla. The trauma Viktor suffered in the past… what made Charming… Viktor doesn’t remember it. He lost his memory of the years when he was around twelve years old. If he suddenly remembers, it could cause irreparable damage.”

A feeling of dread crept into Kamilla’s gut. “What… Damon, what exactly happened to him?”
Damon slowly lifted his gaze to hers and Kamilla tensed.

“Kamilla, Charming appeared because… Viktor killed someone. A human girl.”