“The reason we keep your daughter is because she is already bonded to Jeremy Xiu, and to server that bond would cause a great harm to her and she would never be able to find someone for herself for the rest of her life. And for all the grace we have shown to her over the years, she still refuses to learn. This time her errors will not be allowed to skip over us.”
In the deepest part of the house built underneath the Xiu mansion, a meeting was well on the way and the topic of discussion was Cheryl. A meeting of the Aberus was reserved for important matters and tonight Cheryl had managed to become the center piece once again.
Jeremy sat at the far end of the table, directly opposite his father, Ebeneezer Xiu, lord over Aberus. only the Aberus men were allowed in here and every man here was a vampire. It was a society hidden from the world and they were not the only ones but they were the most powerful and the most influential.
There were twenty three men present in the meeting and each one seated according to ranking except for Jeremy whose rightful place should be at the right hand of his father, but the topic of discussion also centered around him somewhat.
“You have been too lenient with the girl, Ebeneezer.” A man chipped in, he relined on his seat while he spoke with an air of insolence, not to Ebeneezer but to William Declan, Cheryl’s father.
“Your mercies should have an end, after all she serves no serious purpose to the Xiu house as she has failed to give what you desire the most.”
Ebeneezer shut his eyes and fisted his palm, everyone here knew about his wife’s unfortunate death and what had led to it, the fact that Cheryl was still alive after pulling a stunt like that was because of her father’s sacrifice and the debt Ebeneezer once owed him.
“The news had been fatal and the most shattering.”
“How well you have raised your child, Declan.” another said sarcastically.
William sat quietly, he knew he had no right to try and defend his daughter, he had lost that right a long time ago after the dare devil stunt she had pulled that had resulted in the death of Mrs Xiu and Ebeneezer being in a wheel chair presently. He could only sit with his head down, grateful that they still considered him to be an Aberus had had not kicked him to the curb already. Cheryl had brought him shame and he had concluded that the next time she would pull a stunt to embarrass him, he would disown her. And a vampire with no home nor family was free for the picking.
She would serve as somebody’s dinner the day she would be kicked out of the house, he knew this because she had pissed off so many people while living under the shadow of his protection. If the Declan family lost the protection of the Aberus, it would be the end for them. He would never allow Cheryl’s temper and bad habit bring his family to run. He would cut her out before then.
“I say she be defanged.” One spoke up and many of them agreed as they voiced their support. But Ebeneezer could not allow that, a defanged vampire could no longer be considered a vampire and for the fact that she was still a Xiu, married to Jeremy, he could not allow her be defanged.
“Let her be drained.” Ebeneezer said as a final word and the room fell silent. He beckoned to a man standing by the door and he tapped on it three times. The door was pushed open from the outside and a whimpering Cheryl was forced in, the man who held her was bigger, he held both her hand behind her with one hand and his other hand grabbed her neck. He was anything but gentle in his handling of her.
“Drain her, but not to the point of death.” his father gave his approval before he turned away and left the room with every other person who had been present. Including Cheryl’s father who knew draining her was the most merciful Ebeneezer could be given what she had done. He looked at his daughter sadly, frowned and then exited the room.
The man holding down Cheryl dipped his hand into his pockets and brought out a small pocket knife and stabbed Cheryl in the shoulder. She winced and cried our in pain when he pulled out the knife and left her. She placed her palm over the wound, being a vampire she knew she would heal without a scar but this stab was awfully painful.
The familiar smell of blood reached Jeremy’s nose and his fangs dropped, he licked them once with the tip of his tongue as he anticipated the drink. He had never drunk from Cheryl before, never in their six years of marriage because to him such gesture was either to feed, for intimacy or to punish as he was about to do now. He approached her slowly.
Cheryl backed away from him slowly, she began to feel weak and her fangs would not drop, she suspected there had been a kind of drug in the knife that had gotten into her blood stream to prevent her from fighting back. She staggered.
“Jeremy, babe, you really don’t want to do this.”
He smirked. “How are you so sure I won’t be enjoying it Cheryl?”
“Jeremy you can’t!” she yelled. The room was spacious but she felt trapped and constricted, she began to hyperventilate. “What if I die? Don’t you care about me?”
He chuckled. “If you die Cheryl, then I’d have you off my hands easily.” He got to where she stood with her back pressed into the wall. His finger stroked her face and he leaned in closer so that his breath fanned her cheeks. “Sadly that’ll be a loss only to your father, he might even loose his standings in the Aberus, so dear Cheryl, for your sake and your family’s sake, I’d say try not to die.”
She cried and her body trembled, his fingers felt cold on her face, she turned her face away and placed her palm on his chest to push him away but he was strong, even if she had not been given the drug to weaken her, he would still be stronger. She closed her eyes when she felt his cold lips on her neck and sucked in a breath, her fingers fisted around his shirt and she held on to him tightly in preparation.
His hands held the back of her neck and the small of her back, pressing her into himself as his fangs broke through her skin. Cheryl gasped and her eyes shot open, his grip on her neck tightened and his fangs sunk even deeper. He drew blood from her like a starved man, grunting with every swallow.
“Jay…” she moaned out in pain, she could feel her life force leaving her and she was already struggling to remain standing. Her knees wobbled and gave way but he held her upright and in place, seemingly determined to drain her of every drop of blood she had left in her.
She pushed him with whatever strength she could muster, her nails scratched his skin through the shirt he had on and that caught his attention but he didn’t stop like she had hoped he would, instead he let go of her neck, grabbed both her hands and pinned them to the wall behind her, his fangs never broke free of her body. He pinned both her hands with one of his and his other hand came to rest on her stomach, pressing against it and causing her to moan again.
His hand squeezed her waist, her moans of pain was getting to him and caused him to stir, not in pity but in pleasure. His hand slid up and groped her boobs, squeezing with just as much need as he drank from her. His hand reached up behind her and he pulled on her hair so that her head fell backward and then he pressed his body into hers so that his hardened groin imprinted on her stomach.
“Jeremy… I can’t…” she begged. Her head was becoming woozy and her vision was beginning to fail her. She closed her eyes when her eyelids became too heavy to keep open and sleep wrapped her. She fell into him.
Jeremy stopped when he felt her weight on him, her body had gone limp and her breathing was very shallow. He retracted his fangs and let go of her, allowing her body fall to the floor. For a moment there he had zoned out, he had completely been carried away by the taste of her blood, so much so that it had made him hard, he never knew she tasted like this.
He cleaned his fangs with the tip of his tongue and licked his lips. He stood a while just watching her, she was alive but severely drained and it might take days before she would get back on her feet, he knew he could extend that to weeks by limiting her feeding and intake of blood but as he turned away and walked out of the room, somewhere in the back of his head he knew he would want to taste her again and soon.
She would have to be made to recover fast.