The Alpha's Doll || #wattys2023

Chapter 44

Damon was gone by the time I woke up and I found immediate joy in that. Could that mean that he would not be around long enough to drink the potion? Perhaps he will take our conversation last night seriously.
I shuffled out of bed and after a shower and a change, I headed towards the library. I ignored the grumbles of hunger that came from my stomach, I needed to clear my head for just a few hours, to get lost in a piece of literature or ten. I remembered when I was halfway to the library that Damon had banned me, thus locking it. I let out a sigh of frustration and spun on my heels to head back when I caught sight of a human boy that nodded at me as he rushed down the hall. In his hands was a chain heavy with dozens of ancient looking keys.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked the hurried boy as he whipped past me.

"Uh, the library," he seemed nervous.

"Are you unlocking it?"

"Yes. Master D-Damon asked me to unlock it."

"Did he say why?"

The boy shrugged. He disappeared down the hall and I followed. I watched as he unlocked the massive chain on the door and left it open and even watched as he headed back downstairs in silence.
Had Damon unlocked the library for me?

Does it matter? He also banned you, I reminded.

I was about to walk into the library when I heard Maria's forceful tone from all the way across the hall.

"Where in the hell do you think you're going?"

I whipped around and felt her hand slap my shoulders.

"How did you get here so fast-"

"Did you forget about our talk? I've been looking all over for you! Come!" she dug her nails into my wrist and dragged me down the hall.

"What's going on, what's happening?" I tried to get out as my feet struggled to catch up with hers.

"Damon is downstairs, he's having his breakfast!"

I felt a thousand bricks fall atop my head.

"Wait, what? Didn't he leave already?"

"No! He didn't, you're going to ruin everything-"

"Are we actually doing this?"

Maria halted and peered at me with eyes wide open. She grabbed both sides of my face with her hands," this is it. This is our only chance, Ana. We're going to do it. We're going to save mankind!"

She pushed me forward and I could see the dining room. I took deep breaths, my legs felt like jelly. It was almost like my body had suddenly forgotten to communicate with itself. There were no signals being sent out to my brain. I could see Damon now, he was seated at the head of the table, phone in hand, yelling at someone on the other end. I plummeted atop a chair and chugged the glass of ice water.

"How the hell have the Emantors not been fixed yet!" Damon roared," every day is a risk for another attack! Gas the village in Burlington while the Emantors there are working, we'll deal with Akbur Hills later!"

He slammed the phone down and dug into his plate. He chewed on a steak, his plate had a mountain of potatoes and eggs. By his left wrist, there was an empty glass that had once been filled with coffee.
She hadn't given him the potion yet-

"Are you gonna watch me all day or are you gonna eat?"

I was brought back to the moment. Damon's face had softened since the phone call, he looked more amused and even settled. For the first time, I noticed the plate in front of me. Identical to Damon's, but half of the portion. I forced a smile," yes. I'm starving."

"How did you sleep?" I asked. I feared that in the midst of the silence, Damon could smell my fear.

"I didn't realize one of Laurent's guys got me in the back, I woke up around five or six in the morning cause the pain became unbearable."

"Why didn't you wake me?" I didn't mean to whisper. I cleared my throat.

He shrugged and chewed off another massive piece of meat off his fork," didn't wanna wake you."

I paused before asking," have you thought about our conversation at all?"

Maria suddenly burst in with a tray that had two glasses of coffee on it. I felt my stomach drop.

"I'm sorry, Master. I should have brought you this earlier-"

"Don't apologize."

We both paused to look at Damon.
Since when had he spoken to the staff with manners?
Maria was only fazed for a moment. She set his glass down and widened her eyes at me as she gave me mine. She disappeared back into the kitchen and I watched his glass like a hawk.

"Well?" I said, finally looking away.

"There's a council meeting tonight. I plan to bring it up to them-"

"But the village in Burlington, is it necessary to gas them?"

"The mortals in Burlington are half dead. There's no bringing them back, even if we tried. The vampires in that area have sucked them dry, would you rather they suffer more?"

"But-"

"We might as well cut off the blood supply for the vampires now. It will only be a week or so before they wipe out Burlingonton. That way, our hybrids can corner them on their way to the next town over and kill them all."

Logically, the plan made sense. Realistically , he was still murdering thousands of humans. This can't be right.

"Don't worry. Your father will live, and Akbur Hills will see another day-"

He picked the coffee mug off the table and brought it to his lips," your plan, it's a good one. In theory, it's worth it to save mortals, mortals mean Hybrids."

He was about to sip the coffee and I could almost feel my heart tearing into a thousand shreds. I could picture him now, coughing whilst shaking, collapsing onto the hard ground, bleeding from his mouth and open wounds....
I couldn't do this.

"Wait!" I suddenly burst. I stood to my feet and grabbed the mug from his hands. I set it back on the edge of the table and picked up the table cloth. I dapped it onto his forehead," you're bleeding again."

I hadn't realized how close I was to him, practically in between his legs. I felt my breathing quicken to match the pace of my heart. I could feel Damon's eyes on me. I felt his hands on my thighs that wore silk house pants. I pulled back and tucked the tablecloth into itself to mask that there was no blood whilst trying to control my breathing. I let my elbow hit the coffee mug that plummeted onto the marble ground and shattered into a million pieces. Hot coffee stung my feet and I cursed out. Damon pushed me away from the glass and kicked it so it was nowhere near me.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" I fake panicked and dabbed the tablecloth onto his soaked jeans," I didn't mean to do that-"

"It's alright," Damon stood up and began to unbutton his dirty shirt," Maria?"

Maria was already there. She watched with horror as the poisoned fluid went to waste.

"Maria! I'm talking to you!" Damon yelled, bringing her back from her trance.

"Y-yes master?"

"Clean this up."

***
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