Chapter 7:

• Trisha’s P.O.V:
• I blinked several times to get adjusted to the blinding lights coming from in front of me as the bag was lifted from my head. But as soon as my eyes adjusted to the harsh lighting, I began searching for Neema. He’d been ripped from my arms when those men had brought me inside a building. I’d been able to hear him near me, hear his heartbeat, until a few seconds ago.
• “The boy’s safe. You're the real threat here.” I instantly recognized Lucas’s voice. How could I not? No vampire had such a warm, husky voice.
• “I've agreed to help you.” I turned to face him on the other side of the desk from me. “I took a huge leap of faith coming here when Damien would've been the known enemy.You should've put more faith in me.” I motioned with my head at the two wolves at my back.
• Lucas narrowed his eyes at me, bright topaz rather than the hazel I’d seen earlier; but then the wolves at my back started to retreat until the door shut behind them with a soft click. “It's not personal, I hope you understand that Trisha.”
• The room wasn't too small but it hardly held anything of value. Plain white walls, four couches in front of an old mahogany desk and Lucas’s chair on the other side of it. Two large windows sat just behind Lucas and above them was a bright light, which had been the reason for my temporary blindness. The blinds were closed so I couldn't see anything outside it, but my senses were on high alert and I could sense hundreds of people moving around. Werewolves most probably. The scent didn’t help me identify them because all werewolves had an earthy scent to them, a scent that I could now link with the forest. I seem to be in the middle of all the commotion with no room for escape.
• “I would know.” I smiled humorlessly at him. “After all, I'm trusting the species that annihilate my entire village with my life and that of the boy I’m protecting.”
• “Right...” Lucas ran a hand through his dark brown locks, messing them up further. “I’m going to ask you a few questions Trisha. I need you to answer them truthfully...as much as possible.” He added at the end.
• “Beggars can’t be choosers I guess. Shoot.” I leaned my hands on the table.
• “Do you have a telepathic link with Damien?” He asked.
• Now that was personal. You only have a telepathic link with people you've had physical contact with. And Damien and I have never crossed that line. “No.” I answered truthfully.
• My answer seemed to have taken Lucas aback, but he recovered his composure shortly and fired his next question. “Can any vampire track you down to this place? Or do you have anyone that'll be desperate enough to track you to this place?”
• “My father might...” But I wasn't sure he'd go against Damien or risk starting a war with the werewolves. Other than that, I was pretty much alone. “No. I guess no one would be that desperate to start a war. And no, trackers are sent out only on very special cases. I highly doubt they'll show up here...wherever here is.”
• Lucas looked thoughtful, however. “I highly doubt anyone won’t. What about Damien? Word on the street's that he can go anywhere he pleases.”
• I sucked in a surprised breath, all the while trying to appear as expressionless as I could. Damien’s gift of teleportation wasn’t highly confidential but the details about his ability were. Lucas’s sources had to be someone within Damien’s inner circle if he could guess as much. But there was no point denying the fact since I too was one of the inner circle members in Damien’s court. “So we've heard. But that's as far as our knowledge goes. I'm not sure anyone knows how he does what he does and I have absolutely no idea if he can teleport directly to me. Anything else?” I attempted to divert Lucas into another topic.
• “Yes. What's your special ability?” He leaned back in his chair, the black t-shirt he wore stretching over taunt muscles.
• I raised an eyebrow, the term almost causing me to laugh. “My special ability?”
• “Superpowers? Whatever you guys call it...” Lucas shrugged wearily.
• “Well...I’ll have to disappoint you there. I seem to be one of those unfortunate one's who ended up not having any sort of ability.” Which was true...for the most part. I seem to have gained an ability to run faster than any other vampire. But you really can't call it an ability. Damien seems to be the only other vampire faster than me. But that's all he'll need to know right now.
• “Nothing? Not even a minor healing ability?” Lucas asked suspiciously.
• “I didn’t know you were hiring Doctors.” I told him sourly. “No. And it's not something I like to be reminded about.”
• “Fair enough.” Lucas stood from his chair and just like earlier this afternoon, the room suddenly felt too small, too suffocating. “Come. I'll show you to your room. The boy, Neema, seems to be too afraid of my men so we’ve put him in the same room as you. You'll have fresh clothes delivered to you by tomorrow morning. But for now you'll have to wear borrowed stuff.”
• “That's fine wi-OW!” I stood up too fast, forgetting that there was a gaping hole in my leg which wasn’t yet filled/healed. Lucas rushed to my side that instant, grabbing me around the waist before I could hit the ground.
• “Why aren’t you healed yet?” He set me down on the chair and knelt on the ground in front of me to inspect my leg. “It's been an hour; it should've been a lot better by now.” He removed the bandage from my leg despite my hiss of protest and winced. “My God! How can you even sit still with this?”
• “I can’t feel my leg anymore.” I showed him my hands where the blood had clotted and the skin was mending together much slower than it should've. “The stake was laced with poison, I'm afraid.”
• “How is it going to heal? I'm sorry I don’t think I have any medication for vampires-“
• “It's alright, Lucas.” I told him calmly. “You live near the woods, right? Can you get someone to fetch some Calendula, Lavender and Yarrow flowers from the forest? Or any two of them would do.”
• “Right…I'll send someone right away. Why don’t you use the washroom to freshen up and change while my healer prepares the medicine?” He said and without giving me a chance to reply, picked me up into his arms.
• “What are you doing?” I asked alarmed as I tried to wiggle out of his grasp. “Lucas, put me down!”
• “Sorry, Trisha.” He said in a voice that indicated that he wasn’t sorry at all. “But I wasn’t taught to sit back and enjoy myself while a woman suffers, no matter what species she belongs to.”
• I don’t know why but my heart almost skipped a beat at his comment. It's been ages since I heard someone say something like this to me. And although I knew Lucas would've done the same for any woman he found injured, it still made me feel special. It was funny actually. On one hand there was Lucas, who was only helping me in order to get an audience with Damien, but he still cared enough to ease my pain. And then on the other hand there was Damien, for whom I’d been working for about a hundred and fifty nine years now, yet he was the one inflicting the pain just to teach me a lesson.
• Lucas carried me to the door which was then pulled open by one of the guards outside and then we were walking down a hallway to a room on the far corner. The whole building was painted white with artificial light sources and the windows were either closed or the blinds had been drawn. And not to mention, there were guards in every nook and corner, observing me with narrowed eyes.
• “I’m setting you down now.” Lucas warned as he set me down on the ground gently and stood up to his full height. “This is the bathroom you’ll be using, for now. Get cleaned up and change.” A guard came forward with a few folded pieces of clothing which Lucas handed over to me. “I’ll come visit in a few hours, but till then Mark will show you to the healing ward.” A black haired wolf with bright golden eyes gave me a curt nod and stepped back into the shadows of the hallway where he’d appeared from a few moments ago.
• “Okay.” I nodded at Lucas as he stepped back and gave me a nod before walking back the way we came. So I opened the door to the bathroom and stepped in, closing it behind me and locking the door shut.