Desire To Love (#2 in The Hybrid Wars series)

Chapter 17 ~ Betrayals

trigger warning: more violent than usual

© 2017 by Authorninja. All rights reserved.

Chapter 17 ~ Betrayals

I woke up in a room and was instantly hit with an intoxicating scent. I coughed, practically choking on the fumes. I blinked, clearing the bright vision to see I was in a brightly lit square room tied to a chair in the centre.

The room was empty, apart from a table directly in front of me.

The table had a circular tray of herbs that I assumed where the smell came from, the strange violet herbs had smoke lifting off of it as if it were burning. It let off a scent that both disgusted and intrigued me, but what confused me the most was the black tray had a pool of dark, almost black - blood underneath the herbs.

I shut my eyes to focus on the smell, blocking out the sensory overload in the room. I recognised quickly what the blood was, Vampire.

Before I could even ponder on the thought the door that wasn't even noticeable opposite me opened. Chris entered the room with a woman in the same attire I saw him when he took us, so I assumed I wasn't out for long. Or Chis had a bad sense of outfit arrangements. The side of his face was bandaged up and showed hints of dampness from blood, which made me smile in pride.

"What are you smiling at, my sweet niece?"

I scoffed, "I was just admiring my handiwork, my bitter uncle."

He growled before he collected himself. "This is Doctor Ana, she will help you recover from your recent mission. Let me remind you as your Emperor that we are grateful for the work you have done for us, and you accomplished a mission I am sure was extremely difficult. It isn't your fault that the leeches led you astray, they are cunning and manipulative monsters. Ana will help you return to your normal self before you were corrupted, trust that you are in great hands."

"You mean you're going to spellbind me again into being one of your zombie army weapons?"

"Believe what you want to believe, but this practice was only created to help. You see, lower shapeshifters and hybrids will never live up to our level of capability. Our influence on the hybrids as a whole is a power that is not to be taken for advantage, and we ensure that hybrids and humans alike have people they can rely on to protect and serve them."

"AKA murder and despise innocent people?"

"Think what you want, but vampires have been killing innocents since the beginning. They have always been evil, it's just our duty to ensure that we have people who can focus on keeping this evil at bay. You saw yourself the things the leeches could do."

"Of course I saw some horrible things that some of them did, but that doesn't represent all of them." My breath was shaking, but I stayed rigid as ever. "But I also met vampires who were kind and loyal, and a lesser evil than you. Yes, I saw a lot do bad things, but if you persist on calling a kettle black one day maybe they will think so too. It's all that they know, and we're making it harder and harder for them to survive therefore making people more of a target."

Chris was quiet for a moment, before smiling. "I love your passion, even if I disagree. You will make a great Empress one day, but for now, we must remind you of what that role demands."

He left the room, leaving me with the strange lady in a white coat who stared down at me with interest. She had blonde greying hair and a wrinkled yet happy face. I wondered why a woman who looked so normal and positive landed in a job where she'd indoctrinate people.