Pawn's Game

Chapter Two

Lux bolted upright, covered in a cold sweat as the memory slowly dissipated and an uneasiness settled In the pit of her stomach as she anxiously looked around her, though there wasn't much to see thanks to the darkness surrounding her. There were no voices, or sounds, no sign that anyone else was with her, had she been left alone?

"You know, that was the moment we knew you were special,"

Startled, Lux jumped as she peered into the darkness of the room, already knowing who the voice belonged to, but unable to see him.

"It's rude to hide on someone, especially after you've kidnapped them,"

A light chuckle filled the room and Lux could feel the goosebumps on her arms beginning to form, of course, he hadn't left her alone, what a stupid thought. 

"That moment, that was the one we knew you would be special," Sally said, repeating himself. "How old were you again? Six? Seven?"

"How would you know? You weren't even there,"

This time a more sinister laugh filled the room, followed by a sudden flash of light that filled the space around the pair. Lux looked around taking in her surroundings for the first time since being awake, small circler windows, large white leather seats, soft gold carpeting a table of refreshments with a dark red liquid in a bottle that was too thick to be wine. Moving closer to one of the windows Lux was surprised to see they were flying through a sea of clouds.

"Are we in an airplane?"

"Private jet if you wish to be technical,"

"What happened to horses and buggies? No one to get the blood out of the wood, or did you finally drink the horses dry," 

Salvator gave a dry laugh, "A lot has changed since you abandoned us,"

Lux couldn't tell If she was impressed the old ways had finally changed or annoyed because she was clearly nowhere near her small brick house. Either way, there wasn't a lot she could do thousands of feet in the air, except maybe jump.

"So tell me something," Salvatore said, as he brought a glass to his lips, "why won't you use your powers?"

Lux hesitated, Sally seemed to be genuinely curious about her choice, but there was an underlying tone to his voice that made her feel like it would be dangerous to answer him. Lux was also surprised Sally was asking, which made her think there was something more going on that she was unaware of.

"Does it really matter? That's like asking why you only feed on animal blood despite the stores of human blood buried in the wine cellar,"

"Mine is a lifestyle choice," Sally said

"So is mine,"

"No, yours is ludicrous,"

"So is yours, animal blood weakens your powers," Lux said, not backing down from the argument as she casually leaned back in her chair.

Salvatore gave a gentle, dry laugh, his features drawn tight and an unamused look clouded his eyes.

"Times have changed, and although animal blood once weakened our powers we have singled out the key component and have removed it, making the animal blood just as effective as human blood,"

Lux narrowed her eyes at Salvatore, it was true their ways had seemed to have changed, given their current mode of transportation, but it was unlikely to have progressed so much in such a scientific way. Everyone in her former clan had been hell-bent on doing things in a traditional way from how to act, to what was appropriate attire. There was one day, in particular, Lux remembered, a few weeks after being turned, she had worn her hair lose opposed to the style of a five stranded pilate braid, her clan leader at the time beat her publicly in the centre of the room until she had put it up. Those around her had snickered and done nothing to stop it or help her, of course, Lux hadn't really understood until that moment what it was her life had turned into, and although she tried leaving shortly after the incident, she quickly returned, unable to control her rapidly developing hunger and the constant fear she would hurt someone. Her clan welcomed her back with open arms, another wolf in sheep's clothing to add to their ranks, but little did they know she tried leaving many times after they accepted her back and she was able to control herself for a time, but Lux was never able to last longer than a few days. Her clan thought nothing of it, hunting parties would often select newborns to hunt and learn, and it wasn't uncommon for some of the newly turned fledgelings to go missing now and then, more often then not they returned to the clan within a couple days.