The Mark of Voltaire

Part 7

TW: more kidnapping content. read at your own risk.

My whole body felt cold at his words, and not because of the chill in the room.

"H-he what?" I stammered.

"Yes, Y/N. he slaughtered the entire Voltaire clan."

"H-he must have had a good reason, right?" I said. "And that still doesn't explain why you're so mad at him."

"I'm getting there. Be patient sweetheart," he said.

"Don't call me sweetheart," I told him.

"I'll call you whatever I damn well please. I am in charge here, not you." he took a deep breath, and then continued. "Danny slaughtered the entire Voltaire clan one night. The Voltaire clan was the most powerful vampire clan in existence. Now, Danny is the only one left."

"Why did he kill them all?" I asked softly, scared of the answer.

"Power," Leon answered. "He wanted all of the power for himself, so he slaughtered the entire clan in order to become the head, and then he could create his own underlings."

"If he wanted to create underlings, why hasn't he done so already? Why not turn me?" Leon smiled.

"You've been marked by the catchers. Turning you would most likely kill you, and Danny seems to have taken quite a liking to you."

"That still doesn't explain why he hasn't turned others," I said. "And it definitely still doesn't explain why you're so pissed at him."

"Well, one of the clan members Danny murdered was a woman named Natalia Voltaire. She and I were engaged."

"You were engaged?"

"Yes. she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and Danny ripped her away from me. Burned her to ash. Now, I want revenge."

"I have a hard time believing Danny would slaughter an innocent woman," I answered, although I wasn't so sure of my own words.

"How well do you know Danny?" Leon asked. "Really think. How well do you know him?"

"Well enough," I answered. He nodded.

"Right. Well, trust me. You don't know him as well as you think you do." I was silent for a long while. He stood up. "That's enough talking," he said. "I have business to attend to. Now, sleep."

When I woke up again, I was in a different room. Not the cold and dark room Leon had been keeping me in. This one was considerably warmer, and had rich purple wallpaper. I was no longer tied to a chair, but laying on the floor. I could feel the cool metal of a cuff around my ankle, and upon investigation, I could see that it was connected to a chain, which was connected to a loop in the rich mahogany floorboards. I heard a door open, and I looked up. In walked Leon, accompanied by two remarkably pretty women. They both had dark hair and deep indigo eyes. The one on the left had her dark hair loose, falling in gentle waves down her back. Her features were gentler than the other woman's. Softer looking eyes, lips that looked as though she was on the verge of smiling at all times. The other woman had her dark hair curled up in a tight bun. Her features were far more severe than the woman on the left. Her eyes looked sharper, and her mouth was thinner, more pinched. The family resemblance was uncanny. Clearly, they had been actual sisters before they had been turned.

"Well well, look who's finally awake," the one on the left said. I recognized her voice from the auction house. Irene Morvant. That means that the other woman must be Julia. I tried to stand, but whatever sleeping spell Leon had used clearly hadn't fully worn off. Leon chuckled at my attempt to stand. Irene smiled, the gentle features twisting into something cruel. No matter how kind she looked, she was rotten to the core.

"Excellent work, Leon," Irene said. She turned to her sister.

"Do you like my gift, Julia?" she asked. Julia nodded, smiling.

"I do. How thoughtful of you." she walked over to me, crouching down and grabbing my face. "You look delicious," she said. "I can't wait to drain you dry." she smiled wider, before releasing my face and standing up. "I'll be back for them later," she said. "I have some business." she left the room. Irene turned to Leon.

"You held up your end of the bargain," she said. "So I'll hold up mine." she held out her hand. Leon held up his own. There was a deep scar over a tattoo. I was just barely able to make it out. An inky black wolf with yellow eyes. Irene placed her hand over the mangled tattoo. Her indigo eyes glowed brighter, and Leon winced in pain. After a moment, Irene let go, and Leon stepped away. The scar was gone now, as was the wolf tattoo. In it's place was a black cat with indigo eyes. It matched the one on Irene's wrist.

"Now remember Leon. I brought you into this family, which means you are my responsibility. If you do anything that shames this family and I will burn you to ash myself," she hissed dangerously. Then she turned and left the room, long dark hair flowing behind her like a regal cape. Leon followed behind her, turning to face me with a smirk before shutting the door.

I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I wanted to so badly, I really did. I was terrified that if I fell asleep, I wouldn't wake up. I curled into a small ball on the floor. I could smell Danny's scent on his shirt. It was comforting. I hoped so badly that he would come for me. I ran my hand over the raven on my wrist. The ink hadn't faded. That meant that Danny was still alive, at least for now. I wondered when Leon was going to enact his revenge plan on Danny. I remembered what he had said to me, about how Danny had slaughtered his entire clan. Maybe I didn't really want Danny to come for me. Leon was right. I didn't really know Danny. I'd only met him, what, a little over two weeks ago? And he worked with magic. It wasn't outrageous to think that he could have used a spell to manipulate my feelings towards him. Maybe I wasn't truly safe anywhere. But he hadn't tried to hurt me. Then again, I hadn't exactly been there long. My feelings were so confused. On the bright side, overthinking helped to keep me from falling asleep. I heard the door open. I looked up to see Danny standing in the doorway.

"I'm here to rescue you, Y/N," he said, hurrying in. I sat up.

"Danny!" I whispered. "Thank god! Please get me out of here!" I could feel tears in my eyes as he crouched down beside me. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.

"Don't worry, you're safe now, my love," he whispered in my ear. Something was wrong.

"You've never called me that before," I said.

"What?" he asked.

"'My love'. You've never called me that before." I tried to pull away from his embrace, but he kept his arms tightly around me. "Danny, let go of me," I said. He didn't. Then I felt fangs in my neck. I cried out loudly. The bite only lasted a moment, before he- or rather she- pulled away. There were those indigo eyes gazing back at me. Julia.

"Did you know that the Morvant's are experts in illusion magic?" she asked, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. "We can look like almost anyone, or anything. Well, natural born Morvants at least. Leon wasn't turned by a member of this family, so he has none of our powers. The Moreaus are experts in tracking, both magical and not. His talents will come in very useful to us, I'm sure." She sat back, smiling. "The arrangement my sister made will work very well in my favor."

"W-what are you going to do to me?" I asked.

"I'm going to kill you," she said with a smile. "And I'm going to force Danny Voltaire to watch every second of it. Irene and Leon are retrieving him now. It shouldn't be long." she ran a finger down my neck. "And I, for one, can't wait."