Colourless Skies

17. Deal

Leah felt as if she was trapped in an inevitable forthcoming sequence in her life. She could choose to live with happiness but forced guilt, or in pain but meek relief.

What could she really do?
What could she really choose?

Her thoughts were disturbed by his words.
"I plan on killing that sick father of yours tonight, if you don't decide soon."

Something in Leah awoke, more precisely, a feeling. A feeling she couldn't describe in words because she had long thought of herself incapable of feeling it. Before he could even take a step away from her, she shouted out, " No wait! P-please don't."

He turned his head towards her and asked, "Don't what?"
And Leah mouthed those oh so simple, so naive words, that made him grit his teeth in profound anger.

"P-please don't k-kill them, kill m-me instead."

He broke into bitter laughter, the octave dropping every time he took a breath.

He walked towards her at what seemed to her the speed of lightning, his eyes now a pure red, and his hands finding their way around Leah's soft neck, and tightening slowly and painfully every second.

"Why... why do you care about them, after all they do to you?"

She desperately tried to claw his hands away, but his grip was strong, almost inhumanly.

Only when she could feel herself getting light-headed, her grip on his hands weakening was when he let her go and she immediately dropped to the ground, coughing and gasping for air as tears escaped her eyes.

Minutes passed what felt like hours, and as she looked up, Leah could still see the reddish glint in his eyes. If this is how he turns out when he's angry, then she needed to calm him down, for her own good.

She had to answer his question.
And she did, but not how she intended to.

"P-please... just don't kill t-them... I..I will do whatever you say."

Even though she was stuttering badly, her words got through to him, and seemingly did the trick. The tense atmosphere assimilated as his shoulders relaxed and eyes turned slowly faded back to the oblique blue. He smiled languidly; what she didn't know was she had dug her own grave.

"If you say so."
She was terrified.

"I will offer you a deal, listen very carefully."

He circled her, indicating indiscreetly how well he had her caged.

"Since you proposed it, either I finish off your parents, or,

you will do as I say for the rest of your sad life."

She froze, cursing herself in her head for being so credulous to have offered that in the first place.

"P-please... that is- n-no."
His smile grew wider.
"You have to choose one, I'll give you five minutes.

And don't even try to offer any other alternatives. I keep my words and make others keep theirs, by force if necessary."

Leah mentally prepared herself for what was to come. She knew that it wasn't a choice, and she was certain he knew that too. She knew he was merely making it a life or death situation, and pushing her further into the nightmare she already lived.
But she could not fight back, not yet.

"Time's up."
He got up from the couch he was sitting on the edge of and walked towards her shrunken self in the corner of the basement.
She sucked in a heavy breath before speaking shakily.
"I will do what y-you want."

'Excellent. It worked.', he thought as his lips pulled into a smile once again.

"An unwise choice, but all the same, it is what you chose."
Leah raised her gaze to see him looking down at her with what looked like pity disguised behind amusement, as he ran his hand through his black locks to smooth them out.

"But...

p-please, at-least tell me who you are and... a-and why are you doing this?"
Leah had mustered up a fragment of courage, the only feeling she could feel proud of right now.

He remained nonchalant, as if expecting the question.

But then he sighed, as if fighting himself internally over what to tell her, where to start, and how to make it sound at the very least believable.

"Guess you deserve that much.

All I can tell you is I was sent to kill you by someone I know. He goes by the name Aiden. But now that you have agreed to a deal, I can't harm you, and that makes us fugitives."

He had slowly made her way towards her and was now looking directly in Leah's eyes.

"I am what people call a half breed. My father was a vampire and my mother a witch. I inherit powers from them both."

She was shocked to her core, not even daring to let out a word, afraid she'd say something so incredulous it would be funny.

He continued,

"And as for you,

I know all about you Leah James."

If you are reading this, thank you so much for giving this book a chance.
Hope we stay till the end.🖤