Turned

Bonus Chapter

(Caleb's POV)

There it stood, in the court room for a few moments, my end of the agreement kept. I got to turn her in for my freedom, how sweet the revenge, after all those years, to get something I never thought possible, sure I'd be flayed alive before I hit my hundredth birthday but gratefully, I stood, as well as to be expected... alive, somewhat.

Jack was free, something I was grateful for but as the guards led her away, I felt something unexpected... some kind of insane emotion I never expected to ever feel... sympathy, compassion. The poor creature had lost her mind, perhaps through no fault of her own.

I had to wait, following her down would only get me locked up, forced to listen to several complaints from disgruntled guards, listening to the councillors bang on and on about how it was distasteful, probably guessing I was going to kill her. I wasn't, much to my own surprise. 

As the sun rose, I found myself awake, drawn still to her. Perhaps it was our connection, sealed with her blood the night she made me, perhaps it was something else, guilt or shame, I wasn't sure. Perhaps if I faced her, looked upon that face, I'd see it, I'd be able to name the emotion. It wasn't anger, it wasn't love, it was something worse. 

I snuck down to her prison, the torches whooshing as they lit, notifying anyone of a presence there but I didn't think anyone would investigate it too much, care enough to.

She lay down on her mattress, looking up at the ceiling, staring at nothing. She caught my presence, rolling over, her curls almost doll like as they covered her face. She was paler than usual but that didn't bother me too much.

"Have you come to chitchat before they sentence me?" she asked with a sense of sorrow.

"I don't even know why I'm here... did you call for me? Is this it, what it'll be from now on?"

She just laughed as she wrapped her hands around the bars of her small cage. "Would you like the truth or a lie? One is much more painful"

"The truth, not that you have any clue what that is"

"I didn't call" she admitted.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what? Why did I make him?"

"Yes"

"Which one pissed you off, Jack or Leo?"

"Pardon?" I questioned, taken aback.

"You did many things in life, Caleb, you were like me once, weren't you?"

"No" I snapped aggressively.

"Many things we did together, many things we were but you... you would never help those children out... did she corrupt you? Did she change you? Did she worm her way into your heart, after all these years?"

"You're grasping at straws" I replied calmly.

"So, it isn't her, the boy's mother? I'm surprised, she was once your type... is it him, the boy?"

"I made a promise" I replied.

"So, to keep it, you corrupt yourself, become something I didn't recognise? You changed, Caleb, so you want everyone to believe... I don't, I see it, I see you and I know you're planning something... I can sense it"

I grabbed her suddenly by the throat, looking her in the eye but I couldn't squeeze, I just couldn't. "What fate did you have planned for me?"

"You were my favourite, until you helped him... that was cruel of you, you've set him up to fail. But what of your own fate, Caleb? The hunters will come for you now... where will you go?"

"Don't concern yourself about me"

"You're still going to keep an eye on the boy? Why? He is nothing to you"

"He looks just like his grandfather, do you remember him, Sapphire?"

"No, should I?" she asked as I squeezed.

"You killed him, when you made me. That night, you made me a slave, I made him a promise, and I'll keep it, I failed him, and I failed to see Jack's father for what he was but rest assured, I won't fail either of them now" I promised as I let her go, walking back up the stairs to my freedom.