"Ahh… good to see you've come."
Edward and Jacob stood in the middle of a clearing. Carmille stood on a tree again, one hand on the trunk, looking like a red-haired pirate looking down at them. A few feet below her was Leila, her body bound against the tree, her hands and neck bleeding. Jacob squinted at Leila's hands, only to see that giant nails were embedded on them, locking her against the tree. She raised her eyes to him, tears of blood falling from one eye. She mouthed his name.
LEILA! Jacob screamed in his thoughts, HANG ON!
"My, my… isn't this romantic?" Carmille said, walking along the branch she stood on, before lightly coming down the tree beside Leila. "A mutt falling for a mutt. How charming." She laughed, "It seems such a waste now to kill you… I am an advocate of love, you know."
Edward's brows furrowed, "Then let her go. She means nothing to you. You wanted us, not her."
Carmille looked at him, "Oh, but my dear… dear Edward… I am also an advocate of tragedy." Then she suddenly reached up, enclosed her hand on Leila's throat and choked her. "Werewolf and vampire try to save the werewolf's girl and vampire's daughter. Antagonist vampire kills girl. Werewolf and vampire try to kill antagonist in revenge but was unable to do so. Antagonist vampire kills family of both heroes in a fountain of bloodshed." She laughed, "Oh wouldn't that be marvelous."
Why are you doing this?! Jacob thought, baring his fangs.
She glared at Jacob, "Honestly, mutts like you are so stupid." She began walking around the tree slowly, her sharp nails clawing at Leila and the tree, so that four stripes of wounds appeared on her flesh and the tree's bark. Jacob's eyes flared as he watched Leila grit her teeth in pain, "Because you killed my family, of course. It's only fitting I give back the deed."
"Your three children were monsters." Edward said, his fist balling at his sides, "They killed and murdered innocents."
"They were taught that way."
Edward and Jacob scowled as Carmille grinned at them from behind the tree, peeking teasingly at them.
"Would you boys like to hear a story? It'll be an interesting one, I promise. Not to mention it'll keep your friend alive for a few more minutes."
"You see, I wasn't always a vampire. Oh no, I was mortal once. About 550 years ago to be exact." She smiled at them, "I was a prostitute, owned by a brothel, in old England. Every night I was on my back, men grunting and thrusting above me, after which bills will be smacked on my face as payment for flesh." She leaned on the tree, twirling her hair as if deep in thought, "It wasn't a bad living, really. It kept me alive. I had money for food and clothing, but of course my lodgings were the same stained and smelly room I laid my back on for men. But, in those days, it was a good life. But I hated it."
"Then he came to me. My creator. He had no interest in flesh, unlike any other men, but he said he was searching for something. But for what, he didn't know. He came to me for a whole week, paying my brothel mistress my fee, then locking the door. We would chat all night, about anything all the way 'til dawn. I'd fall asleep talking to him, and then when I'd wake he'd be gone. But he never drank from me. Never"
"But one night, some men rushed into our brothel, locked us down and raped us all. For a whole night, our doors were locked from the outside, all our windows were barred, every matter of escape diminished. All of our women, myself included, tied to the beds, and raped by men. It turned out they were soldiers, drunk with alcohol, and stormed our brothel for release."
"My mistress complained against them all, but the law only laughed. 'A bunch of whores', they said, 'doing what they were supposed to do, that's all it is.' In the end, the brothel closed, as many of our women grieved over the desecration of our livelihood. And I was alone."
"I tried to live by myself, but soon my money dwindled into nothingness. I lived on the streets, eating rotten food from the trash, that sort of thing. Sometimes, I'd try and steal things, but as always, the money would always run out."
"Then by fortunate accident, I stole from a rich aristocrat, who caught me and beat me to death with his stick for stealing his gold watch. He left me to die in an alley, bleeding and bruised. I cried for help, but then, no one really pays attention to poor unfortunate souls like mine."
"But the vampire came. He heard me call… he knew my voice. I recognized him immediate. He held me up and I said, 'Help me sir, do not let me die.' He looked at me like he finally understood what he wanted… companionship. And so he bit me and a few days later, I was his."
"He taught me to feed on animals, or men who have done evil. But I didn't care. The blood of the innocent was always more appetizing to me. When he hunted by himself, I hunted too, feeding on children and virgins and people who have done nothing wrong."
Edward and Jacob scowled in disgust at her. Edward's hands remaining clenched, while Jacob continued to growl beside him. He stole a look at Leila, who was still nailed by her hands on the tree, her eyes closed, but her chest breathing shallow breaths. He calculated she only had a few more minutes to live when Carmille spoke again.
"Of course in a few years, he found out what I did. We got into an argument. And… I killed him."
Edward couldn't help but gasp, "You killed your own Creator?!"
Carmille shrugged nonchalantly, "Yes. Mind you, it was very hard. The poor bastard didn't want to go. I bit his head off, ripped him limb to limb, and burned him." She scowled angrily at the two of them, "Kind of like what you two did with my children."
"Actually, I do not care much for Laurent. He's a weakling… pathetic even for a vampire. He kept himself hidden, tried to drink on animals too. But James and Victoria, ahhh… they were my pride and joy."
Jacob barked, Yeah, and look where they ended up.
Carmille stared hard at Jacob, "Yeah, they're dead. But soon, you'll be too."