Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Fifteen - A Painful Realisation

"But Xander, he has made sure that you weren't handed over to Central Control. Don't you realise that you would be dead by now if he had handed you over?"

Selene forced herself to ask the question, to talk about something else, but all she really wanted to know was who the Vampire was that Hector had fucked on the stage. For some reason it was the only thing that had really affected her, and despite the gruesome story Xander had told, it was foremost in her thoughts. She was consumed with jealousy, and it ate away at her as she sat looking at Xander, gnawing at a consciousness that was buried deep within. She knew she couldn't ask who the woman was, what she had looked like, whether he knew her name. She knew she couldn't expose herself to Xander by doing so. Instead, she twisted the fingers of her free hand around in patterns on the red velvet bedspread, seeing it turn different shades depending on which direction she pushed the threads.

"I don't think he's done that out of the goodness of his heart. He wants something from me. I am valuable to him for some reason. And I'm sure I would be valuable to Central Control too, if they knew I was here."

Selene paused to think about this, unnerved by Xander's hatred. She stopped stroking the velvet and pinched it hard beneath her fingers.

"I don't think he's a bad man, Xander."

"He's not a man, Selene. He's a Vampire. And how can you say that? This is a Vampire who has made his fortune from turning human executions into entertainment."

"They would die anyway, whether it were in the theatres or not."

Even as Selene spoke the words she realised she didn't agree with them. There was no need for the Bleedings; no need for the torture to be dramatised, drawn out and performed to music. Xander was right.

He let go of her hand, which until then had still held his; a stickiness between their skins unwilling to release.

"I can't believe you're saying that. I can't believe you're defending him! He's evil and cruel, Selene, and he's got you brainwashed. Can't you see that? If he had any humanity left he would stop the Bleedings. He's powerful enough. He probably has enough sway to convince the Grand Chamber that they don't need Bleedings to control the human population."

"He's good to me."

"Is he? Is he really?"

Instantly she began to doubt it, thinking of how he had pushed her to the ground, and nearly bitten her neck.

"For a Vampire..."

"Exactly." Xander appeared satisfied that he had dragged the right answer out of her, and she was annoyed by it. "And you should have seen those Vampires in the theatre that night. They were terrified of him. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know the half of what he gets up to. And the way they fucked right there on the stage-"

"Stop it."

"What?"

"I don't want to hear about it."

Xander looked at her, and she could see him thinking so clearly that it seemed his thoughts were scribbled on his forehead in a disappearing scrawl, only to be replaced by yet more revealing inspirations. Realisation flashed in his eyes, and his features contorted into a disturbing vision of disbelief. Selene felt violated; he had seen right through her like a sheet of glass. She braced herself for his next words.

"You didn't think he was...waiting for you, did you? Keeping himself pure and chaste?"

Selene looked down at her hands, now clasped tightly in her lap. She picked at her thumbnail, hearing the tick, tick, tick as she flicked at it; not because the nail in any way needed pruning, but rather to give herself something to focus on.