Chapter 6

My breathing clasped when he braced, almost slammed me against the wall right beside the door. His fists were balled on either side of my head. His arm grabbed onto my waist and pulled me closer to him while at the same moment his other hand went to the back of my neck only to gather a fistful of my hairs in his hand, making me cry as he hauled my face closer to his. My breaths came out quick and short, I could not breathe.

To say I was terrified would be less than true, I was beyond panic-stricken. I couldn't describe the turmoil that was slowly and painfully overrunning my body.

And I didn't know what came into me when I slowly looked up at him. And lamented it immediately as I shockingly yet terrifyingly gasped loudly, when I saw his eyes flickering.

His pupils were dilated, the whites of his eyes were covered with blue veins, his blue irises were surrounded by blood redlining that was slowly eating the blues of his eyes.

At this time I was shaking with not only dismay, but I was paranoid. My hands were trembling uncontrollably whilst my legs went numb. I didn't realize that I was breathing heavily. I could feel his rage and resentment, the dissatisfaction I provided him. My eyes darted from his face and fell on his arm slowly afraid of what I might say, that was pinning me against the wall.

The veins of his arms were darker than blue, one could easily mistake it for black. They were spread throughout his arms like roots.

I couldn't breathe after what I saw. He looked like a terrifying creature who didn't belong to this world. A terrifying creature of the night, of the dark.

Only one thought was dominating all others in my head.

He would kill me.

I would be dead.

"Don't test my patience," he growled at me.

When I say growled, it meant growled like an actual beast, a real monster. Whatever he was, I didn't wish to know. The grip he had on me was beyond painful but this pain was less than what I was going to withstand.

I did a foolish thing and tried my luck to shove him away but it only made him more frantic as he roared.

I thought he was going to hit me or something but he got some other plans for me.

Enormous pain reverberated from my back as he slammed me against the wall with a force I wasn't used to. The back of my head hit the strong wall with a loud thud.

I groaned in pain. He slammed me so hard that I felt my head pounding from the impact. A dull sciatic ache had settled into my head. It felt like a sharp-toothed creature was eating me from inside.

"Try that again and you'll end up hurting yourself," he grumbled. I was just at a loss for words. I didn't know what to say or what to expect anymore.

His voice alone sends trembles down my spine. His voice made me feel more scared than I already was. The depth of his words and threat left an imprint of his anger on me.

I was beyond petrified. Terror thundered down on me. The color drained from my face.

He leaned forward and closed his eyes before pushing his face in my hair and inhaling deeply. I heard him inhaling my scent as he breathed out. It strangely felt like he was trying to control himself.

Why would he do that?

"I am not completely human, remember that when next time you try to run away from me," he muttered rather softly but the threat was apparent in his voice.

Not human.

I already knew that.

But him telling me this again was alarming. It felt so heart clasping.

I nodded my head unintentionally. I didn't want to die. Not now at least.

He stayed like that for another few moments. I could have been convinced that only the sound of my unequal breathing could be heard in this horrible calm room. I wanted to scream but I was too frightened to cry out. Anxiety eclipsed my thoughts.

"Words, beloved," he said.

"I-I w-won't." I stuttered out the words. I could have bet that he didn't hear me.

"Won't what?" I felt him muttering against the skin of my neck and the worst scenarios played in my mind. I could feel his nose trailing down the length of my neck making me fear the worst.

"I w-won't try to r-run." I stammered again. This was what fear was doing to me. It was making me weak and indisposed.

Physically.

Mentally.

And emotionally.

I felt drained of my courage.

His grip was tightening on my waist and neck. I could feel my body going numb slowly and painfully.

By this time I wondered if it was because of fear or his iron-like grip.

Or maybe both.

He leaned further and embedded his head in the crook of my neck. I shivered from sudden contact. He inhaled deeply and something wet and slippery touched my skin making me jump in his arms.

Wh-what was he doing?

I was already scared as hell. Now I? didn't know how to express how I was feeling.

Scared?

Terrified?

Panicked?

Anxious?

Confused?

Well, let's just say I was feeling all of them.

"Y-you are hurting me." I couldn't feel my body anymore.

Something must have snapped in him because the blue veins of his arms slowly began to vanish replacing normal skin color. He loosened his hold slightly but still kept me walled in between his arms.

His head was still embedded in my neck. I could feel his warm breath all over my neck. He was just sniffing me and licking me there. And some weird sensations were overwhelming me.

I was afraid if I tried to push him again, what would he do? Throw me across the room? Or worse would he kill me? I knew he was capable of doing that.

"You must be hungry," he said as he pulled away from me but kept his hold on my waist. His eyes were back to their calm depths of the ocean. No more red eyes, no more blue or black veins. And with this close priority, I could see specks of grey in his blue irises.

"O-okay," I said trying badly not to stutter. But guess what, I ended up stuttering.

He backed away from me entirely. As he get his hands off me, I sighed in relief. But as I tried to walk I ended up falling on my knees. Guess my body was still numb.

My legs were numb I couldn't feel them anymore and slipped on the ground on my knees. My breathing was uneven. I felt something wet trailing down my face.

Tears.

I was crying.

Why?

Because I was scared. No, because I was more than scared of this man standing in front of me.

He was completely unfazed like nothing happened moments ago. He stood there still with his arms crossed over his chest. He had a frown covering his forehead like he wasn't understanding why was I scared. He must be wondering why I couldn't stand up.

Well, all appreciation to him.

I wiped my eyes immediately and tried to stand but my legs were just like jelly. I forfeited my balance again and waited for the ground to come in contact with my unstable body. But rather than hitting my head on the ground, I was picked up by the devil in front of me. I squirmed in his hold but one look from him and I was back to being a scared girl.

He moved towards the table and made me sit at the table. Then he pulled out the chair in front of me and again picked me up and placed me on a chair. I didn't dare to look up at him.

I was afraid of what he might do next.

By this time I was scared, terrified, embarrassed, and...

Hungry.

****

"SANDRA!" he roared enough to make the chandelier hanging above us shake. What was he? An animal? The fact that he was not human was still unsettling to me and my heart. One could easily get scared only by hearing his voice. Every time he spoke, every single fiber in my body screamed at me to run for the hills, to hide away from him and never look back. I would have been shaking by hearing his voice but guess what, I already was shaking from our previous disagreement.

I stayed quiet like I was not even in this room, like he was not a human, pretending that I couldn't hear him. I didn't want him to grace me with his unwanted attention. I didn't wantis hands around my neck or worse, I didn't want him to kill me.

My train of thoughts came to an end when I glanced towards the entrance as a middle-aged woman came to view. She had those darker than coal hairs tied nicely up in a sleek bun, wearing a long white skirt with ng apron and an ack turtle neck underneath. I watched as she carried a cart towards the table. The cart was filled with delicious-looking food, with sweetly scented jugs of juice and many other delicious appetizers. And while walking towards the table her eyes were downcast.

She might be Sandra.

She stopped near the end of the table and placed everything elegantly on the table. After setting everything, she took an empty plate from the carriage and arranged some pancakes and some juicy-looking fruits in it. The mere thought of food made my taste buds pop.

I groaned inwardly. I was hungry as hell!

She took me by surprise when she positioned the plate in front of me and she plopped a glass full of fruit juice in front of me.

I smiled and mumbled a small thank you. The smile could barely reach my eyes for I was still shaking like a leaf.

She looked startled for a second but soon recovered herself. She gave me a little smile and bowed. I thought some people here were not familiar with thankyous.

"Leave," he said. The aggravated tone of his voice made me look at him. He could make people obey him with his voice alone.

"Your highness." she bowed down her head and exited the room or hall I must say.

I immediately looked up at him.

Your highness?

Who was he?

I was so deep in my emotions that I didn't even realize that he was looking at me. His sharp cerulean blue eyes pierced deep into my soul. His intense gaze was making my insides quiver with something I wasn't familiar with.

He turned towards me.

"Eat," he said when he found me staring at him.

"Who are you?" I asked proudly of myself for not stuttering. He glared at me. I glared back. Human or not, he had to give answers to my questions.

'It is so brave of you, Sarah. My subconscious mocked me.

I needed to knew why I was here. I was already kept in dark for too long.

His gaze was making me nervous but that didn't stop me from glaring at him. We stared at each other for a minute. I was getting uncomfortable. And finally, I averted my eyes from him. But I could still feel his eyes digging holes into my head.

"I know you, you...." I took a deep breath. "You were the one who saved me that night, right?" I asked again reasonably, knowing that the answer would be yes. And just because I didn't want him to flip again, my eyes were everywhere but him.

"Eat your fucking food." he gritted. He was getting angry, I could tell by the way he was grinding his teeth and fisting his hands, but I wouldn't do anything till he provide me the answers I needed.

I was scared of him, I acknowledged but I wouldn't let him manipulate me not now not ever.

"No. I w-won't unless you tell me who are you?" I rehearsed my questions. He looked at me coldly and took a predatory step towards me with a dangerously slow pace.

I didn't get time when his hand was wrapped around my throat and the next thing I knew my lungs were deprived of air.

He pulled me up by my throat and made me stand in front of him. I wrapped my fingers around his large hand, desperate to get out of his compact grip but he didn't budge. I didn't look up at him. I didn't want to show him my fear.

My fear of him.

When I started seeing black dots at the back of my head, he loosened his grip.

My eyes were watery at this time.

Before I had a chance to back away and breathe, his free hand connected to my face with a force I never encountered.

He slapped me across the face. It rocked me back and I fell on the floor with my hand on the carpet, either side of my body.

My eyes were on the ground. Powerless to meet his gaze. I was never slapped by anyone. No one ever raised a hand on me. I placed my hand on my burning cheek.

D-did he j-just slapped me?

Something watery descended my face.

Tears.

Once that fresh first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream with hundreds of pearls of my emotions.

I stayed like that. My mind was processing what had just happened. I was beyond shocked to interpret anything. I never in my entire life thought that someone would hit me.

I gasped loudly when he grabbed me by my hair and banged my head against the table. My head started throbbing from the impact.

He didn't even give me time to breathe in an ounce of oxygen when he tightened his hold on my hair and threw me on the chair on his right. I fell on the chair and the chair fell from the effect.

My head hurts too much. My body hurt too much. It seemed that everything hurt too much. Slowly, my senses started to send reports back to my brain. There were going to be bruises on my arms and legs and those upcoming ugly blue-black bruises were only fueling my anger and fear.

And fear was dominating my anger.

I kept my eyes closed not because I didn't want to see anything but because I didn't want to know what he would do further.

"Get up," he said.

I made no move to get up. It's not like I wanted to defy him but my body was not allowing me to do so. My whole body was aching.

Why was he doing this?!

I wanted to scream.

"NOW!" he growled. I immediately stood up on my feet with wobbly legs. I gripped the table for support. I knew I would feel if I would keep standing. I kept looking down. I could feel his anger radiating through him.

Was it just I or the room was getting colder too!

He moved towards me with threatening steps making me take a step back away from him. His one step, my two. But I was out of luck when I gasped as my back hit the edge of the table. He let out an amused yet sinister chuckle. And following moment he wasted no time and caged me between the table and his muscular body. His movements were very sharp that I barely had time to react before he grabbed me roughly by the arm and pulled me towards him.

"P-please!" I started but he promptly shoved me against the table. The fear was engulfing me. He was too close for my liking. I pressed my hands against his chest to push him away. But he swiftly grabbed my wrists, held them behind my back, and pulled? me closer towards his chest.

He leaned forward and positioned his head in the valley of my neck and inhaled deeply.

"Now, you will think twice before disobeying me." His harsh voice rang through my ears like alarm bells and I saw black dots in front of my eyes from all the exhaustion, my eyes rolled to the back of my head, and then I felt myself fall into a comfortable numbness.

****