Chapter Twenty-One

A Slave's Purpose

It was set. When Evanen was not in his prime of death sleep, I wouldn't have a chance to so much as say hello to Mikel. If he hadn't had that ability to sleep, I'd never be able to see Mikel, but just this limited amount of time without him was hard enough. And if you asked me, I'd say my depression during Evanen's waking time pleased him to some extent. He had his slave back for himself... to suffer, but as long as I voiced my suffering with Evanen and not Mikel, he was happy.

I tried sneaking out of the room at some point without Evanen's supervision, but when Evanen left the room, he locked it behind him. Then he kept a close eye on Mikel so that he wouldn't try to help me run off with him. So I had to call upon Evanen when I couldn't stand being stranded in one room for too long. Now, for example, I had called on him -- which is easy when you have the ultimate calling necklace around your neck -- and forced him (if you want to call it that) to allow me to stroll down to the living room. As it turned out, Mikel wasn't there. Lame. But better than being stuck in that room.

I laid across the couch, stretching my legs over Evanen's lap. In bitter thought, I asked, "How do you kill a vampire?"

Evanen didn't seem to have any concern that a silly, weak girl like me would succeed in killing him, much less attempt, so he didn't even hesitate before saying, "Sunlight mainly, but if you wanted to do it manually, you'd have to use solid silver to the heart or head... or if you want it plain messy, chop off their heads. If you want it slow, drain and starve them. Slowest way would be to feed them, and then starve them, no draining necessary." He smiled at my expression of distaste.

"Is solid silver hard to come by," I asked curiously.

Evanen raised a brow, "Not too hard. Got a good, silver dagger myself in one of my drawers upstairs." He paused, peering at me closely, "Just in case I need to use it; being around all these different vampires. To be more specific, it's the third one down on the left of the maple dresser." I scoffed. As if I'd have the guts to stab him in the heart while he slept. He'd probably stop me in a heart beat before doing God knows what in rage.

I bit my bottom lip, wondering if I should continue my questioning. Then I decided nothing too bad could come of it. "Have you ever killed a vampire," I inquired slowly. Evanen started tracing the skin of my lower leg thoughtfully. It was pretty warm today, so I was dressed loosely; capri, tanktop, and barefooted. Not that I had much to fear now that I was constantly guarded with Evanen's presense and otherwise isolated.

"I used to kill everything in sight," Evanen suddenly admitted, "That included humans, animals, and vampires. Except with vampires, I didn't know about any silver stabbings... I just drained them and ripped their heads off." I felt suddenly slightly sick. "I mean, that was before I started gaining sense and learned to cover my trails more. Then Drewdon found me and convinced me to stay with him... that he'd be able to protect me, and teach me control."

I hesitated. "So you would've been just a kid, then? When you were killing off everything, vampires included?"

He smiled, "Yes, and kids tend to want a lot more than they need."

"And you drained vampires, too?"

"I told you before," Evanen stated, "I'm not some ordinary vampire. I've got a bunch of differences, and one of them is that vampires don't taste too bad to me. But normal vampires don't like other vampire's blood. It would be like a normal human's view on the taste of other human's blood. Except worse, seeing as some humans are weird enough to like blood. No vampire likes vampire blood." He paused for a moment. "But don't worry, human blood tastes better. It's like choosing between chicken and chocolate... except when some people find a day when they decide they want chicken instead of chocolate , the vampires here prefer me to stick to a strictly-desert diet."

I just looked at him blankly. And then I said, "That's just gross." Evanen laughed, and was about to respond when there was a knock on the door. He suddenly tensed and became utterly serious. I looked behind me towards the front door, curiously as to who it was in the middle of the night. Well, I mean, besides another vampire. As far as I knew, everyone who lived here was here, and otherwise, they never knocked for permission to enter their home. Not even I did that.

"Stay here," Evanen said to me moving my legs off his lap and heading to answer the door. I rolled over onto my stomach to watch his progress to the silenced knocking. He opened the door, and I held in a gasp of displeasure when I saw a familiar man... vampire standing at the door. Who could forget one of the few unattractive vampires I'd ever seen, with his long, gray hair and suit?

"Sir Trenton," Evanen greeted, and I could trace a bit of confusion as to why this man was here. I glanced behind him a younger girl around a couple of years older than me, but still quite young. She looked a bit bored, and flawed. So I assumed she wasn't a vampire. Still, I didn't know if I liked her based on first impression. She was wearing the shortest shorts ever known to women kind, and her shirt served only a purpose of basically covering her breasts, and barely at that. Her black hair was up in a ponytail, and her dark brown eyes peered around boredly. She was repulsive to me on sight, but she'd be beautiful if she wasn't so vulgar in her appearance.

"Mr. Draele.. Evanen, I presume," Trenton asked, and he glanced in my direction with pleasure before turning to Evanen, who nodded. "I'd like to have a serious word with you, please. Alone." Evanen moved his gaze in my direction, and then looked at the girl behind Trenton.

"Okay, follow me, then," Evanen said, moving towards the back rooms. He paused and looked at me again. "The girl can stay here with Hailence over there. You two stay put." And Evanen led Trenton out of sight towards some unknown room for a chat. The girl walked into the house dully, closing the door behind her, and moved over towards me. She would've sat on my legs if I hadn't sat up real quick, and suddenly I was cursed with her presence.

For a moment, it was awkward silence. Then the girl looked at me, moving her gaze up and down my body, and settled the silence with, "I'm Dylan, one of Sir Trenton's slave girls. You must be the one and only Hailence, slave girl of Evanen's, who is causing such a fuss with all the vampire world."

I frowned, "Why?"

She smiled as though she was twenty years older than me... like a older sister would smile at a naive little sibling. It annoyed me, but I didn't let that show. "Why? Because you just happened to show up at the wrong time. Everyone had a plan for little Evanen since they found him, and no one thought he'd be distracted by some human girl. Too stupid to assume he'd want a lifemate of his own. Isn't it what every vampire wants at some point in life? Humans even?"

I scoffed, "Like I'd become Evanen's lifemate.. no way."

Dylan continued that all-knowing smirk, "Oh, I'm sure if he really wanted you, he'd convince you eventually. I mean, it's not hard to tell he is working to steal your heart already."

"Where do you get that notion from," I asked, confused. I couldn't recall Evanen giving me flowers or saying sweet, loving words to me. Unless... well, I mean, for a person who has no idea the concepts of human techniques... maybe he may find a dead friend's hair pin as flowers, and orders of complete slavery and devotion to his presence as loving words. No. Not possible.

"Let's put it this way," Dylan said, moving closer to me. What's with these people and lack of personal space. "Has he taken you?" I paused. Maybe I am a bit naive, because this question made no sense to me.

"What do you mean," I inquired.

She rolled her eyes, "Has he taken you... you know... bumping around in the night.. a little one-on-one in the night, even if you didn't want it? Some major physical..." I didn't respond. "Sex. Has he practically been raping you at all times of the day?"

"Oooooh," I said, realizing how stupid I seemed just now. "Oh, no. No, he hasn't laid a finger on me."

"Not even to hit you around," Dylan asked, "Maybe taken bites out of you for some snack time?"

"No... well, he nicked my finger not too long ago, but that was nothing. And before he had taken me to claim as his, he did try to kill me a couple of times, but that was when I was food, not company," I admitted. "But how is that trying to steal my heart for eternal love?" Dylan leaned back, obviously assured in whatever notion it was in her head. I suddenly noticed a black, dog-like collar around her neck, which was surrounded by bite marks. In fact, a majority of her skin was covered with bite marks.

"Darling, being a slave isn't suppose to be just lazing around, it's suppose to be a time to be a human toy for the vampire to play with and feed on... to do whatever they feel like doing before being disposed of," Dylan said shortly, "And if that's not what Evanen wants with you, then he obviously wants something more..."

"And is being a slave also include having a collar, or am I missing that, too," I inquired in annoyance.

"Oh, the collar you do have, even if it is pretty," Dylan said, indicating to the necklace around my neck. I looked down, feeling sick suddenly by the thought of some necklace being replaced as a prettier version of some dog collar. I didn't like the thought of being a dog to some vampire. I felt like ripping it off suddenly.

"What are you doing here," I asked suddenly, no longer interested in this conversation.

"Oh, well," Dylan said with such humor, "Sir Trenton finds you immensely appealing, and seeing as everyone else in the vampire world would like nothing more than your removal, he's here to strike a deal with your vampire boyfriend. Sir Trenton's willing to give up over half of his slaves for you, but he's hoping Evanen will just take a couple, or just me."

I scoffed, and moved closer to my own side of the couch, waiting for the verdict. It's not like I suspected Evanen to give me up for some trampy slave, but just the thought of going home with "Sir" Trenton sickened me. To become some meat doll for fun. In fact, it struck fear in me. I may end up with all those bites on me, vulgarly dressed, and with a dog collar to boot. Maybe even become as cold as Dylan over there. No, I didn't like any of those thoughts. But Evanen wouldn't just hand me over, would he? Then again, what if Trenton offered money.. lots of it... or something better. What's better? I don't know. Maybe he'd offer something that only vampires find appealing. Some artifact or something. Would he give me up? Maybe he's not attached to me enough to just hand me over.

Their little chat seemed to be taking forever, and I was getting more nervous by the moment. I considered getting up and running. At some point, even Dylan got bored enough to pass out on her side of the couch. I jumped suddenly when a cool hand brushed against my cheek from behind me, expecting it to be Trenton about to tell me I'm going to a new home. My eyes flitted back quickly to see Mikel just behind me assuringly. He was looking in the direction that Evanen had headed off to talk to Trenton. I glanced over at Dylan to see she seemed to be safely secured in dreamland. I looked back over to Mikel, and he moved his eyes from the back rooms and smiled at me.

"Am I going to die," I asked sincerely, assuming his super hearing would warn me ahead of time.

"No," Mikel said quietly, "You're safe. Trenton thinks he can convince Evanen to give you up, but nothing he says will make Evanen feel a notion to hand you over. Plus, he even got his type wrong. Revealing girls aren't too desirable to him, and she's not even close to being one of those disturbed, emo kids."

I scoffed, "I'm not a disturbed, emo kid."

"You are on the inside," Mikel responded humorously. I smiled in response.

"I was looking for you," I said quietly, "But it's hard to find you when there's someone tagging along like a little brother."

"I try to stay away from your sight when Evanen's around so he doesn't freak out on me," Mikel resonded, and he bent down to press his lips over mine sweetly before saying, "And I'd say it'd be more than a little brother type of tag-along." I peered at Mikel closely to see that he looked more tired than he had the night before last. There was a sudden click of a door opening in the back room, and when I looked back over to Mikel, he was gone as though I had merely dreamed of him being there. Then I nearly jumped when I looked over to find Dylan wide awake, peering at me as though I were her favorite candy she hadn't had in weeks. I wondered if she had been awake the whole time and faking it, but before I could try to decipher anything from her expression, Evanen appeared around the corner with Sir Trenton, who looked a bit let down.

"Thanks for the offer anyway," Evanen said with his teeth clenched.

"Yes, but I'm not finished yet. One day I'll figure out what you'd want more than her," Sir Trenton responded with ease, as though everything went as planned. Then he moved across the room towards me and with a flick of his hand, Dylan was standing in preparation to follow him everywhere. I figured that was it, but suddenly he was bent in front of me, gripping my hand lightly. He traced the back of it briefly, and I looked over at Evanen in order to reassure myself that Trenton wasn't going to kill me right there. Evanen didn't look happy that Trenton had ahold of any part of me, but he seemed relaxed in the order of my death. So I looked back to Trenton to wait for him to go away.

"What makes you so special, love," Trenton asked absently, locking his gaze to my eyes as though searching for something. It made me uncomfortable, but I held his gaze.

"I think it's my lack of charisma.. and my dull humor could be the thing topping it off," I responded without a smile.

Trenton's lips spread only a bit in a half-smile, and he said, "I'll be looking forward to the day when I have you for myself. Sleep deeply, my love." And he was up and leaving. Was that last bit a threat or was he really just hoping me for good dreams? I hate that 'love' bit. I'm not cupid, and I'm definitely not his love. I looked at Dylan to see her smiling at me as though she knew a secret, and she waved lightly before heading out the door behind Trenton.

Suddenly, Evanen was beside me, grabbing my hand that Trenton had ahold of and looked at it as though he suspected Trenton had injected some poison or something into my bloodstream. Then he lightly grabbed the sides of my head to have me look up into his face seriously. "Did he say anything in your head? Got any order that you don't really want to follow and you have to? Or was there an order to tell you not to tell me," he asked suspiciously, and I smiled.

"Nope, nothing," I responded, pretty sure that there was any words of Trenton latching onto my thoughts and controlling my body. Still not assured, Evanen pressed his forehead against mine, and I closed my eyes as I felt him flitting through my mind for any presence. Instead of hands that I had felt the last time he did this, it seemed more like his eyes were with me. But it wasn't long until Evanen was assured that I was not being controlled, and he exited my mind, but didn't take his forehead from mine. Oh great, another moment where he's wishing he was my outer layer of skin.

Now I was a bit worried that he was planning on kissing me, which was not a very good image in my head, and in order to try to fend that thought from his head, I kept my eyes closed and I sucked in my lips between my teeth, keeping them nice and shut and out of sight. I hoped that would work, and not too long later, Evanen pulled away from me and said, "I'll never let Trenton get ahold of you, Hailence, so don't trouble yourself with that thought, okay?" I nodded, opening my eyes to see him smirking at me. "So how'd you like that girl of his?"

I shrugged, "She was a real charmer. You should've kept her."

"Oh, it was tempting," Evanen replied sarcastically. I suddenly had a thought in my mind, and it was a question I was a bit afraid of asking Evanen in order to ease my thought. But then again, he doesn't seem to get mad about any questions I've been asking lately. I believe he'd been getting used to my curiousity, but this one I was afraid of asking because I was afraid of the answer. At the thought, I opened my mouth to ask it anyway, but then bit my lip uncertainly. Evanen noticed, and he asked, "What is it?"

I hesitated, knowing I would ask it, just trying to stall the time. I sat down on the couch, and Evanen followed suit next to me, waiting for my words. Then I built up the courage and said, "So girls like that... umm... I mean... I talked to her a bit, and I noticed some things about her... I, um... Like the, uh, bites all over her... and.. and she said some things... about slaves, you know... their purpose and..."

"I don't understand what you're asking," Evanen said with an expression of confusion while trying to figure out what my question is.

"What exactly is a normal purpose of a human slave," I asked, looking him dead in the eyes. He didn't look away, but just seemed to be watching my expression to see if it gave away anything myself. I kept to the apathetic face, though.

"The normal purpose of a slave is pleasure for its master," Evanen responded darkly, "Mostly it's blood... sex. Then sometimes there are sadistic vampires who like to use their slaves for experiments or torture. But the purpose of all slaves is to keep their master from boredom." He didn't seem guilty about any of those explainations, but then again, he never did.

I frowned a bit, then said darkly, "So if I'm a slave, why don't you tell me to refer to you as my master if that's the normal way?"

Evanen moved closer to me, probably feeling that bit of space between us as a whole ocean apart, and he smiled. "Because why would I want a normal slave if I'm not a normal vampire? It kind of cancels out all the fun in it all, right?" That or he's trying to get me to fall in love with him and starting out by satisfying his hunger wouldn't have been a good start. I sighed.

"So how many slaves have you had, or am I your first," I asked curiously.

He now hesitated for a split second, and I was sharp in narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously. Not because I was jealous or anything, but there was something in that sudden pause that made me know that he was going to say something he knew I wouldn't like. But he recovered quickly, which made me think he had thought of a way around that bit that wouldn't go well with me, and he said, "Only about 8, actually. You'd be my 9th." I tried to think how he'd figure any of that information to bother me.

"But I think you'd be his first slave in not actually being a normal slave," I suddenly heard Katha say from the entrance of the living room. "Maybe you should tell her what you did with the other eight slaves you had.. you know, the ones that you didn't suck up to like a sick puppy." She scoffed in disgust and I looked at Evanen to see him glaring at her in such rage that it scared me. Plus, I wondered if what Katha was indicating was true, but then why wouldn't it be if everyone seems to think that I'm special. What would make me special if he had been a lenient towards the other eight girls he had. Still, I didn't want to believe anything of that sort, and so I waited for Evanen to say he didn't do anything of the sort.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to discuss that," Evanen said shortly, on the verge of blowing up with rage.

"Oh, why not," Katha counter attacked, now gleeful in the anger she'd boiled from Evanen without actually breaking his rules. "Let's start with the first one, who he refused to feed while he ripped her to peices and she died of starvation, no longer even looking human. Then the second one, he liked to see how weird it looked when he broke her bones until bone marrow got into her blood stream and killed her. And the third, after he got bored of raping her, he cut her open alive in order to see what the insides of a human looked like. The fourth, he--" In a sudden movement, Evanen had leaped from the couch and had lunged at Katha, who was now gripping me around the neck dangerously with deep gashes on her neck. "Attack me one more time and I'll kill her. I don't care if you do the Rising or not, you asshole. And you can kill me all you want afterward, but it won't bring her back!"

Evanen moved slightly towards her, and she tightened her grip on my neck so that I gasped for air and gripped my hands around hers to fail at trying to get her off of me. At this sight, Evanen backed up a bit, and Katha laughed evilly. "Yes, he raped all of them continuously, fed off of them, played with them, did all types of sick things, and then he either killed them by doing those things or he got bored of them and killed them himself. That's what we all expected of him with you, but not this time. No, he hasn't even touched you wrong in all the time you've been here. But the moment you're not interesting to him, and he doesn't even like you anymore, he'll go crazy on you, too." And with a snicker, she was gone. I gasped in air, gripping ahold of my neck and swallowing with pain.

While I was preoccupied in trying to mentally produce endorphins, Evanen moved to the couch and bent down in front of me. "Let me see it," He said, reaching for my hands. I could suddenly visualize him breaking the bones of a girl my age or possibly even younger, ripping the flesh from a girl as she screamed in pain, and just the thought that he had done those things scared me. It reminded me that he was a monster, and those were the hands that had grabbed Kyler around the head and twisted her around until the bones of her neck snapped. It refreshed the memory of his fangs as he had growled at me at that store, before my life was changed. And with these reminders, I forgot why he was reaching for my neck, and I took in a deep breath and full out... screamed. It was a terrified and utterly crazed scream that I believe a person across the world would have no problem hearing. And it startled Evanen for a moment.

He reached up and grabbed my wrists, and I struggled furiously to get him to let me go before letting out another scream. Evanen moved closer to me, and I screeched, "Get away! NO, Go away!" And when he didn't go away, I started crying and begged instead, "Please, please leave me alone. Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry I screamed, please don't kill me."

"I'm not going to hurt you," Evanen said sadly, and he wiped the tears from my cheek with his thumbs. "I'll never hurt you, Hailence. If I knew that doing those things would've affected you, I wouldn't have ever done them. Ever. Please don't be scared of me. You can hate me all you want, but please don't be afraid of me." I took a deep breath, calming down, but I didn't respond because I couldn't help but be afraid of Evanen. He could turn on me whenever he wanted to, and I'm just a weak human while he could snap me in half with a finger. But I got control of myself, and continued to let him look at the bruising effect appearing on my neck due to the lovely Katha.