Horatio and the blonde, whose name I still did not know, shared a look, before Horatio spoke.
"We did not know she was your mate, master Alec." He held up his hands in a defensive gesture, "We merely thought that she was a maid, escaping her duty by sitting in a windowsill."
"Yes," he blonde confirmed, eagerly jumping at the excuse, "We thought it would not hurt to get rid of a useless, lazy maid. Her blood smelt rather tempting..." Wrong move. Alec snarled viciously, sending them back a few steps in fear, before Demetri halted them by grabbing their shoulders and pushing them forward.
"Of course, had we known that she was in any way bounded to you, we would have brought her back to your chambers, master Alec, where she was obviously meant to be." Horatio took over from his friend, obviously annoyed at his friend for screwing this up. Alec seemed incredibly frustrated, his hand digging into the table next to my leg.
"You are lying," I spoke before Alec could say anything. His eyes immediately shot to my face. "You said you smelt Alec on me. You knew." Horatio and the blonde shot me a look that was both angry and terrified in equal measures. Alec's hand moved to my leg, caressing it softly, before walking up to them.
"Not only do you attack my mate, you also dare lie to my face." His voice was demanding and authoritative and I could not blame the others for looking like they were going to pee their pants, if they had actually been able to do that.
"Master Alec..." Alec's growl broke off whatever Horatio was planning on saying.
"I will enjoy ripping you to pieces and burning you to ash..." He moved forward, Demetri once again restraining them from moving away. I knew he was serious. He was dead serious. Was this okay? Was it okay to simply kill them? "I'll make sure you feel all of it." He was almost upon them, moving slowly on purpose, perhaps to scare them even further.
"Alec." I interrupted, apparently having made up my mind about whether it was okay to kill them. Within a second, he turned to me, his anger evident in his pitch black eyes. "Is that not a bit excessive." I dared to say, wrapping the cloaks tighter around me in an attempt to protect myself from his murderous gaze. Even if it wasn't directed at me, it made fear settle in my stomach regardless. Shock crossed Alec's face. From the corner of my eye, I could also see the surprise on the faces of the other two vampires. Only Demetri did not seem too surprised.
"You would spare them?" He almost growled. I shrugged my shoulders, pretending to be much more confident than I was currently feeling.
"I'm not saying they shouldn't be punished, just that death is quite... unreasonable?" Alec scoffed, walking closer to me. I had to force myself not to cower underneath his pitch black eyes.
"They would have killed you." Alec emphasized every word in that sentence.
"So would you, if I wasn't your mate." I forced myself to say, knowing it was very true. It was their instinct, was it not? Regardless of my own nausea at thinking it, I was their prey. Nothing more, nothing less. It was the way of the world: although I would always feel some sadness when the lion caught the gazelle in nature documentaries, there would also be some kind of acceptance. I suppose this was similar. Only I wasn't the apex predator in this case. Alec simply cocked his eyebrow. I was unsure whether it was at my acknowledging the bond he claimed we had, or my accusing him of being willing to kill me. "I do not mean any offence with it, it is just in your nature."
"By law, I have the right to kill them for trying to hurt you."
"I'm fine." He scoffed, his fingers tracing the deeper wound on my leg. His eyes told me he did not believe me. Neither would I, if I was being honest. My body was still trembling and, even though I felt much better, I still felt like an abused barbie doll.
"That was my own fault, I slipped and my leg got dragged across one of the stones in the chimney." I met his eyes with as much determination as possible. Alec sighed, his anger and frustration very evident on his face.
"Why do you defend them?"
"I believe they should be punished, I was just never a big supported of the death penalty," I held his gaze, "The law of an eye for an eye only leaves the world blind," I quoted Gandhi, remembering it from a discussion we had once had in our class. Alec simply looked at me, still very close, his hand moving to brush the hair from my face and trace the wound at my jawline. I know he noticed that they had done that. It was too finger-shaped not to be.
"Fine." He finally said, and I released a breath that I did not know I was holding. Alec looked over me once more, before turning to Demetri and the two -now very relieved- vampires.
"You do not deserve this kindness" he moved closer to them, "But do not think escaping death today means you are safe." He grabbed Horatio by his throat, increasing the pressure to an extent that cracks started to appear.
"Take them to the dungeons." He spoke to Demetri, who simply nodded.
"Until when."
"Until I deem it fit to release them." With that, they were dragged off. Alec once again sighed deeply, before visibly calming himself and moving over to me again. His eyes were still a very dark red, but much less menacing than a few seconds ago. He picked up the rag from the table and spread my legs again to stand in between them. He seemed to be in thought as he caressed my left leg mindlessly and continued cleaning the rest of my wounds. I didn't know what to say.