Prisoner

Chapter 1

"Ooh, look! Noelle's back!" The man with doll eyes says, leaning against the bars. "Long time no see, babe."

I roll my eyes. "You saw me yesterday. And don't call me babe!" I scowl and shake my fist at him. "And quit leaning against the bars!"

"I love it when you tell me what to do," he murmurs, slouching away from the door. "My kind lives only to serve."

"Serve. Huh." I wrinkle my nose. "You have done nothing but creep me out from day one." I shudder--he's still staring at me. "Why are your eyes like that?"

"I remember day one," the blonde-haired boy from the gang says, curving his lips into a cunning, sly smile. He tilts his head just like he had when I first saw him. "You were so small and young, clinging to your uncle's leg."

"Shut up, Kris," I mutter. 

"Now you're all tough and mean," Doll-eyes says with an odd smile.

"You guys haven't changed at all," I comment drily. "You're still annoying."

He puts his hand over his heart. "You wound me, Noelle."

"Good. Your ego needed to deflate a bit, anyway."

"Don't we get a recess or something?" Another gang member named Kai asks. "Don't prisoners usually get breaks outside?"

"Only humans get recesses," a quiet voice says from a different vault. I glance at Leo. His hair is tied back away from his face. His black, narrow eyes meet mine. "Right, Warden?"

"Right," I mumble, looking away. "Sheesh, Leo. I've been here for years, yet you still give me the heebie-jeebies."

It had been more than a decade since I'd come here with my uncle. I understood now what he had meant back then. This extremely secure, impossibly safe prison was a ward for monsters, and--lucky me--I am the new Warden. I have to make sure nothing ever gets in or out of the prison. I am also stuck babysitting the delinquents in the maximum vaults.

One of the first things they had made me do was guess what sort of creatures they are. It hadn't taken me long to find out what the 'gang' was. Not a gang--Kris, Kai, Sehun, and Baekhyun were all members of one of the most vicious pack of werewolves that ever existed. Kris was the alpha, a scary, cold guy with a split personality. Every once in a while, the pack would shake the bars and make such a racket that no other inmate could sleep. We call it their 'time of the month.'

Leo was a quiet introvert who kept mostly to himself. He followed orders very well and had an extremely bad habit of freaking me out. He was a dark, suspicious character. I didn't trust him any more than I knew what he was. Because of his brooding, mysterious behavior, I had him pinned as some kind of demon.

As for Doll-eyes in the corner--I don't think he even knows what he is.

Doll-eyes groans and flops onto his bed. "Ugh! I'm bored!" He raises his head. "Noelle, will you play with me?"

"No," I say firmly. I shudder as he starts to stare at me again. "Sheesh, will you quit that? Your eyes are creepy enough without you not blinking. Stop staring at me!"

"We've been cooped up here for centuries," Baekhyun grumbles. "Can't you get us a deck of cards or something to play with?"

"Like what?" Doll-eyes says, tilting his head and turning his gaze on the wolves. "A chew toy?"

Kris growls, his eyes flashing red. "We're not pets."

I huff. "I bet you guys never bothered Uncle for anything."

"Of course not. He was frightening," Doll-eyes chirps. "We were scared of him."

"Speak for yourself," Leo says softly.

I raise an eyebrow. "And you're not scared of me?"

Kai snorts. "Of course not. You're just a girl."

I lunge and grab his collar, yanking him hard towards me. He yelps as his body slams against the bars. I don't let go. My eyes bore into his. "Just a girl?" My voice is cool and controlled. "Say it agin, dog breath. I dare you. You'll be neutered before you make a sound."

Kris steps forward and looks down at me. His eyes are glowing red. His hand touches mine, and he starts to pry my fingers from Kai's shirt. I shove the pup back, releasing him, and he tumbles into Kris. 

I glare at the pack. My hand tingles from whree Kris touched me. "I'm going to check the other vault."

Doll-eyes reaches through the bars, extending his hand towards me. "Noelle--"

I close the door on Doll-eyes' voice.

She shuts the door. Doll-eyes slides to the floor and leans back, stretching his legs out. He watches the door and waits. She'll be back soon...he thinks.

"Noelle," he murmurs to himself. Her name was like a song on his lips.

He had been in the prison for a very long time--even longer than the werewolf pack. Each human Warden had always been male; it was a tradition. When the last Warden died, however, he had no son, but a neice. She was the only one who could carry on the bloodline.

Doll-eyes chuckles to himself. After such a long line of male Wardens, I am surprised I even remembered what female humans looked like. Noelle had only been five when she first visited the prison. So small and cute and helpless...Now she's beautiful, fearless, and feisty...But Noelle was still human. She was still vulnerable.

"Noelle," he purrs again, loving the melody of her name. "I didn't lie. My kind only lives to serve..."

"Are you talking to yourself again?" The alpha interrupts with a smirk. 

"Yes, of course," Doll-eyes replies, unblinking.

"Well, stop. It's annoying."

Doll-eyes tilts his head and frowns at the alpha. "What? I wasn't talking to you." The wolf snorts and turns away, muttering to himself.

Doll-eyes closes his eyes. Beautiful, fearless, feisty...vulnerable. My Noelle, I will protect you with my life. My kind lives only to serve, and I shall serve no one but you.