This Is My Town

Chapter Thirteen ~ Pandora

Pandora narrowed her eyes. Now that the girl knew that someone was coming for her, everything else had to happen quickly. Travelling with her condition meant that she would have to have stopped at eight in the evening, so in the time it took her to travel to wherever she was now, the Prince could move at night in the hopes of reaching exactly where she got, as long as he moved sooner rather than later. She could only hope that he was avoiding as many distractions as he could.

Of course, there would be the incident of the three bandits that had been sent on Rye's trail. They were not Pandora's own doing, but they could be proven as a test to the Prince. If he got rid of the bandits for the blacksmith, Pandora wouldn't know until Kiara's next encounter with him, and if he would come with the blacksmith, Pandora knew that her deal with him would be off and someone else would have to be sent in his place. But someone that could finish the job without getting side-tracked with family reunions.

More like something.

A Nonsept or two would be happy to oblige; they would stick to the shadows right up until the moment they saw the girl, where they would take her in the night without interference.

Pandora shook her head. She was jumping to conclusions. The Prince would do as she instructed, because she could give him everything that he could ever dream of, plus more. He wouldn't go back on an offer that sweet. He just couldn't; it would be inhumane.

But, then again, none of them were really human in the first place. So what did he have to lose?

Pandora pursed her lips and lifted her right leg up over her other leg, tapping her long, red nails on the hollow bones beneath her hands. She knew she was missing something here, and she wouldn't know what that was until the Prince arrived at Kiara's destination. She knew that something wasn't right; maybe the bandits had managed to kill the Prince? But that couldn't be right; the Prince was basically a master swordsman. That would be an impossible feat. She knew that the boys could not have gotten along, either; they didn't know each other since they were mortal and they were both Vampires now.

So what was it?

She let out a frustrated growl and stood from her throne, swinging around and smacking it to pieces, the bones flying and clattering around her as they landed. Pandora clenched her fists together, closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Just because Vampires were dead, didn't mean they didn't need oxygen to survive. Killing a Vampire was as easy as killing a mortal; including Pandora. She could be killed as easily as a librarian. But she had the Nonsept, and everyone else knew this.

There was a loud crash from beneath her, and Pandora's eyes flashed open. She felt the presence of Jaspar, returning from his job. The Prince should be almost twenty minutes away from the girl, and whether or not he will be continuing with their deal or not, Pandora would not know until the girl wakes up. The wretched condition was beginning to annoy her, and the fact that Pandora had to wait for it to be eight each morning for her to lock into the body for a while again made Pandora mad. Maybe she should just kill the girl and get someone else that didn't have a condition like that.

No.

She was needed.

The double doors that led into Pandora's throne room swung open, and in strutted Jaspar, a cut on his left cheekbone. He looked unhappy, yet triumphant. He had succeeded.

Pandora looked over Jaspar's shoulder and her long, hard gaze settled on the woman struggling between two Nonsept, despite her situation. She knew that no one got out of this palace alive - the exception being the Prince, of course - so why wasn't she giving up already?

Because she also knew that Pandora wasn't going to kill her just yet. If she had wanted to, Jaspar would not have been the one to get her.

"Hmm," Pandora murmured, abandoning the pile of bones that used to be her throne to pace forward slowly, her feet cold against the ground.

"Where is Kiara?" the woman spat, and Pandora narrowed her eyes.

"Coming," she answered, turning to pace the floors again. "Of course, you helped with such a feat. Jaspar, here, did not know his way to Crinya so you led the way; very kind, by the way. For this, I thank you."

Kallee Dred let out a low growl and jerked her arms away from the Nonsept, but they held on tight.

"You evil, manipulating b-"

"Uh, uh, uh," Pandora murmured, holding a finger up and wagging it sceptically from side to side. "I would not do that if I were you. You see, you are here for one reason and one reason only. Kiara will not come willingly, so when the Prince comes for her, I will be using you as a lure, just to assure her that she has no choice. You will not be harmed unless you make a move, and if you are so stupid so as to telling the girl that it is a trap - although she knows this - then I will make no hesitation in killing you where you stand. Do I make myself clear?"

Dred spat on the floor with a scowl on her face. "Crystal," she muttered, and Pandora lifted her chin higher.

"Good," she said. "Now. Where were we? Ah, yes; contacting Kiara."

Dred sighed. "She will not hear you," she called. "It is night; she will be sleeping."

"Oh, it's not night time," Pandora assured the woman. "Noon, if I recall correctly."

Dred frowned. "But I thought you only act during night time," she stated dumbly, and Pandora chuckled.

"Oh, darling," she laughed. "That does not mean that I do not exist in the day at all."

Dred sneered but said no more as Pandora knelt down where she was standing, bringing her legs up so that she was crossing them beneath her, sitting perfectly straight on the floor amongst the still-scattered bones of her throne. She would have preferred to be seated upon that, but it didn't seem to be an option.

"You do not say a single word while I am doing this," Pandora murmured. "I need complete silence. She hears everything from now on."

Pandora closed her bright red eyes off from the world and concentrated. It took great power to transfer thoughts from one Vampire's head to another's, but because both Pandora and Kiara were greatly powerful beings, the allocation was completely possible, yet slightly painful.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly and her head twitched from one side to the other as her frown deepened. She replayed the words through to Kiara's mind, and she could feel the silence. She could feel the pain and remorse, and the fact that she couldn't help any of it just made Pandora smile. Until she heard the shout.

"Kiara, do not come!" Dred shouted. "It is a-"

Pandora's eyes flashed open after no less than five minutes of silence when Dred spoke, and she rose to her feet smoothly and gracefully, flicking her wrist towards Dred as soon as she heard the first word. The Nonsept had broken her neck before the sentence could be finished.

Pandora growled as she saw the dead body on the ground and gestured for the Nonsept to leave. They scurried out, and Pandora put a hand on her forehead to calm herself before lifting her head slowly but surely.

"What did she say?" Jaspar asked after a few moments of silence, and Pandora rolled her eyes.

"She does not reply to me anymore," she admitted, then smirked. "But now that this Dred girl is dead, she will come. I am sure of it. These 'vampires' make friends rather quickly; even the ones that try to kill them when they first meet. She will want revenge; vengeance. And what better way to do it than doing what I want and double-crossing me before the end?"

"It is a pity the girl will not be here for the end," Jaspar mused, and Pandora smirked.

"Her sacrifice will be remembered as the marker for the greatest change in history," Pandora agreed. "We have yet to experience true pleasure, and when it comes, not even the one who will have caused it will be here to see it."

Pity.