Ruby

CHAPTER XXXII

EMILY'S POV

JANUARY 5
1:59 p.m

ACCORDING TO Natalia, Jackson wants to lynch them. She's giving me a play by play since I can't see anything from where I sit in the coach. She insisted I come sit down in here, but told me she'd stay outside to get all the information.

She doesn't exactly need to fill me in on the conversation Xander and Jackson have outside the storefront.

"We oughta hack their goddamn heads off." Jackson growls.

Jackson had run off shaking from the alley, I didn't get to see why before I was rushed into the coach. But Natalia tells me he went back to the boutique and explained the situation, asking them for an axe.

It's scary to think the store has an axe that's probably often used for lynchings.

"Authorities have already been notified, they'll handle it." Xander raises his voice to match Jackson's volume, but his tone is calm.

"But we could handle it now."

"Emily is a soon to be member of the court and practically a member of the royal family. This will go straight to the highest court, and I do not think the royal family will take lightly to this, especially not Adalia." Xander's voice never sounds angry like Jackson's. "I don't think they'll be lenient enough to spare their lives."

"Well maybe I wanna do it myself. Ever think of that?"

"Put that damn axe down Jackson, you look like a mad fool."

The noise dies down and I can't hear anymore. 

After a moment, Natalia comes inside the coach with our shopping bag and sits down. We start moving and I shoot her a confused look, peeking out the window.

Jackson and Xander are still outside the store.

"What's going on?"

"Our lovely mates have ordered we go home. I told them it would be wise to keep you at the scene because the guards will definitely want to ask you what happened but they insisted I take you home and fix you up."

I nod, my face hurting too much to talk more. I've been holding Xander's handkerchief to my cheek to stop the blood, but it isn't helping much.

I'm glad I don't have to talk to the guards, at least right now, because I barely understand what happened.

One second me and Natalia we're walking along the sides of the stores and when I looked her way to say something, I saw that she had wandered off.

But it was my mistake to keep walking along the side of the stores. Before I knew it, I had been snatched up, a hand slapped over my mouth.

The three carried me all the way to a side alley and threw me in the snow, which at least gave me an opportunity to scream as loud as I could before my mouth was quickly covered back up as they taunted me, grabbing me roughly enough to bruise and leaving a large cut along my cheek with the stake.

Natalia must've found the alley right in time because I saw her like an Angel from heaven right as my life flashed before my eyes, the man with the stake pulling his arm back over his head, getting ready to dive it straight down into my chest.

Natalia gets up and sits next to me, embracing me.

"I shouldn't have left you like that. I know better."

"Does that happen a lot?"

"To normal vampires? No I'm assuming." She chuckles darkly. "But the Reeds make a lot of enemies and even though it's never our fault, we're usually a target in a wild revenge scheme."

"That's ridiculous."

"Yeah, but effective I imagine." She shrugs. "If a vampire's mate dies, it sends them spiraling into a lifelong depression, a void they'll never be able to fill no matter how many other lovers they have afterwards. That's why most vampires opt for death after their mate dies. If someone were to kill you, it be as effective as killing Jackson himself because he'd feel pretty dead, and that's if he chose to live without you."

"Can't they like, go to therapy?"

She smiles. "It's more than just mental. It's physical. Going to therapy would never make the constant aches and fatigue go away. Those little whiners aren't kidding when they say they need us."

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore, I wanna focus on something happy." I try to think of a story Natalia could tell me, cause once she starts she sure won't stop. "Tell me about when you and Xander met."

She chuckles. "That probably isn't the tone of story you want right now. Perhaps another time though." She pats my head, almost in a motherly way. "How about you tell me how you and Jackson met, huh?"

I smile at the thought. "It's really brief."

"That's okay."

"So basically, I was at the castle with Christos for his idea of a date and Jackson happen to have come over to see him. They talked for a while before Christos introduced us. I didn't really get to talk to him though until this one day, Christos told me he was sending someone to give me something and it was Jackson delivering some flowers Christos got me. He practically begged me to let him come inside to use the bathroom and I finally let him in after a debate of whether or not he was gonna like murder me or something."

"Bad choice of words considering the circumstances." She chirps.

"Yeah kinda." I laugh.

We arrive at the manor and Natalia rushes me inside so my face can be treated.