Book I: Near Death Experience (18+) ✔️

39.

Elijah's sinister gaze bore into me, his words dripping with malice. "Such a shame a pretty face like yours will go to waste," he sneered, a twisted smile playing on his lips.

I felt my back against the carriage I was dragged into, confronting him with a mixture of fear and defiance. "Why are you doing this?" I demanded, my voice wavering but determined.

Elijah, revelling in the psychological game, leaned in closer. "And you know what I like more than a feisty little woman like yourself?" he taunted. "Power," he declared, emphasizing the word with a predatory gleam in his eyes. "And baby, you are swimming in it and still drowning."

A flicker of realization crossed my eyes. Elijah, sensing my vulnerability, continued with his dark proposition. "So let me do you a favor," he cooed, a false kindness masking his true intentions. "It'll take it away from you. You never wanted this anyways; you didn't want this life. You said it yourself."

He paused, savouring the moment before dropping his final, chilling revelation. "I'll take it all away for you, Adelaide."

My eyes widened a mix of horror and disbelief etched on my face. "But...it'll kill me if you do," I whispered, my vulnerability laid bare as I faced the cruel ultimatum Elijah had laid before me.

"Precisely," Elijah responded with a sinister calmness, his eyes narrowing as if revelling in the impending manipulation.

"Let me free you, Adelaide. Let me help you," Elijah continued, his tone almost hypnotic, attempting to lure me into his web of deceit.

I, however, recoiled, shaking my head vehemently. "No...no," I stammered, my resistance firm despite the palpable tension in the room.

Elijah, undeterred, hushed me with a chilling "Sh, sh, sh, sh..." as if trying to silence the nagging voice of reason within me.

In a moment of desperate revelation, I uttered, "Xander was right about you..."

Elijah, feigning innocence, inquired, "What's that?"

A bitter smile formed on my lips. "You really are a Puppet Master," I accused, my words laden with a mix of realization and disdain.

"The one and only," Elijah admitted, his tone dripping with pride. The revelation hung in the air, casting a shadow over our tense exchange, as the Puppet Master revelled in the acknowledgment of his manipulative prowess.

My eyes widened in horror and disbelief as the pieces of the twisted puzzle fell into place. "You were controlling her, weren't you? Cassandra in the dungeon? She didn't want to kill me!" I accused, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and despair.

Elijah, maintaining his cold composure, explained with a detached calmness, "You see, when you hold something so dear over the head of someone, there is nothing they wouldn't do to protect it."

"Love is truly the weakness," he added, a cynical smile playing on his lips as if revelling in the perceived fragility of human emotions.

Desperate for answers, I pressed further, "What did you do to her?"

Elijah's response was chillingly straightforward. "Simple. My men in America scouted her old farm; her sisters are still alive and now children of their own. Such puny humans, so fragile," he scoffed, displaying a callous disregard for the lives he manipulated.

"I held their lives over her head," he continued without a hint of remorse, "if she didn't do as I said... I would have had them slaughtered, all of them. The end of bloodlines, truly," Elijah declared, exposing the ruthless extent of his power and the depths of his cruelty.

My voice trembled with a mix of fear and disbelief as I pressed on, "A-And Harold?"

Elijah, showing no remorse, explained matter-of-factly, "New recruit, hadn't gone through the blood loyalty test. It was honestly chance and luck for that, plus his mind was so weak it was too easy."