Tainted Soul {Formerly Fallen} (Book 3) (Completed)

Chapter 14

Melanie POV

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Rosa's statement made me think a little. Why was she giving me a choice? Strigoi usually turned their victims without giving them an option. How much did she really change? Was all this just an act to get me to buy into her deal? It was obvious she was good at acting based on her performance when she made her ex-husband human again. With Rosa, you never knew anymore. It used to be that you knew just what she meant and just what she wanted. Now, everything was different. She looked like Rosa, but she wasn't Rosa. It was beyond difficult for me to comprehend that she was now a monster. One part of me kept telling me that it's not her, but another kept telling me that it was still her. I wished Rosa would give me a phone of some sort. I missed talking to Vince and my kids. I missed hearing their voices, I missed seeing them, I missed everything that my life used to be before the whole mess with Rosa came up. I almost began to wonder if I really should have left to kill Rosa in the first place. I'd failed dearly at my attempt and now that she had me held at whatever this Strigoi pen was called, there was no way I could ever get out and find any way to fulfill my original goal of killing her.

Kait POV

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I didn't consider Melanie a friend anymore, I considered her an ally. That was all she was to me. I had to use the "best friends for eternity" card to get her to buy into my deal. I didn't want her Strigoi so she could be my best friend for all of eternity, I wanted her because she was the only one who could kill me and I was the only one who could kill her. We knew all of each other's moves. With her by my side, we would be the two most powerful Strigoi the world had ever seen. We could take down anyone who got in the way of my plan for the two of us. I knew seeing me like this caused her emotional pain, but I really didn't care. I enjoyed seeing her hurt like that. I enjoyed seeing her hurt like I did all those years before in high school where she was the only one there for me when I needed someone the most. God, would she ever learn? It was one of my first lessons: break all emotional attatchment. This was her first real test of my teachings and she'd failed and she'd failed dearly. She was weak. Not only had she failed herself, but failed me as well. I would be forever disappointed in her for that.

I didn't have forever to wait for her decision on joining me in this life. I only had one more week before I'd made the decision for her. I needed her in order to gain the kind of power I desired. I had to get rid of Jordi to get it and Melanie was going to help me. Jordi may have been my boss, but he was in my way to gaining this power. I hated his guts and wanted him killed. I was about ready to get Melanie's stake from the vault and have her kill him. However, I also knew that would be a bad idea because that would give her a chance to kill me. I couldn't let that happen. I knew she wouldn't hesitate if given another chance. I couldn't let her get that chance. She would be too valuable of an asset to give her another chance to kill me. She got one and failed and because of that, she would never get another one.

I decided to take a shower for the first time in a week. I reeked of blood and sweat. I may have been Strigoi, but I still had a strange issue with smelling funny and looking like crap. Old habits die hard, I guess. Afterward, I put on black dress pants, a red cap-sleeved, V-neck, silk top, and a pair of red stilettos. This time, rather than straightening my hair, I managed to curl it into Victoria's Secret waves. I was on my way to Melanie's room when someone told me that Juanito, Jordi, and Esperanza had gotten into her room. I did the one thing that I knew would be best. I ran to the vault and grabbed Melanie's stake.

Melanie POV

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Rosa hadn't been to my room in a few days and to be honest, I had trouble occupying myself. I'd do the most random things in desperate attempts to occupy myself. One day, I took a bubble bath and pampered myself. Another day, I found some office supplies and began drawing for the entire day. The day after that, I decided to come up with a theoretical plan to break out of here and began trying to put that plan into action. I broke the leg off of a chair Rosa tossed around the first day I awoke here and used a nail file to form it into a stake-type shape. I knew that if someone found it I'd probably be killed, so I hid it under my pillow. Later the next day, I heard the door of my room open while I was in the bathroom, but I didn't hear Rosa's heels on the floor.

Immediately I began panicking, thinking I was caught with the stake under the pillow and was going to be killed or turned. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I saw two Strigoi and Esperanza. One of the Strigoi I recognized as Juanito, but the other I didn't recognize.

"You've cause a lot of trouble around here." The unfamiliar one said, with a Spanish accent.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"First, you come into Madrid and begin picking off Strigoi left and right. Some were so scared that they went into hiding. Second, you make Kait go nuts with how big of an asset you'll be." The unfamiliar Strigoi said.

"Third, because of you, Kait moves up in the ranks faster than anyone else. You need to either be Awakened, or die. One or the other. You don't get to choose. We choose for you." Juanito said.

"Didn't Kait say that if you did so much as put a finger on me that she'd kill you?" I said, praying that Rosa would somehow get the memo that these two were in here and go all ape-shit on them.

"It'll be worth it to you out of here!" Juanito spat.

"Why is she in here? What does she have to do with all this?" I asked.

"She doesn't exactly like you, either. She wanted to watch your demise." The unfamiliar Strigoi spat.

At this point I was actually freaking out. Somehow, I managed to keep a straight face. I guess that was the Guardian training coming out again.

"This time, don't hesitate." a voice somewhere in my head mentioned.

It was time to amend my plan and put it into action. I decided to catch them off guard and grab the wooden stake from my pillow. This was just like dealing with the Strigoi at the bars, except my stake was made of wood, not charmed silver. I made my attack just as I was told. Make no noise, act fast. I took out Juanito first, seeing as he'd be the easiest to take out. I ran over to the bed and took my stake out from under the pillow when no one was looking, then charged at Juanito's back. He was an easy stake. The unfamiliar Strigoi, however, was not.

As soon as Juanito dropped to the ground, "dead" temporarily, the other Strigoi turned around. I got the bloody, wooden stake out of the Juanito's heart just before he attacked me. His first move was an attempt to kick my legs out from under me. I quickly dodged that and landed a pretty harsh blow to his abdomen, causing him to falter. I saw this as an opportunity to pin him against the wall using my trusty fire magic and shove the wooden stake through his heart. Just then, I heard a sound that scared me, yet was the sound I had hoping to hear.