Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 558: Disentangled

It was a little later in the morning that Zarah came with the task of dragging Arabella out in mind.

She was made to crawl behind the hag who quickened her pace while tugging at the leash, causing the young woman to scrape her hands and knees against the floor.

The fact that the flooring was cold, solid and smooth did not help much considering the already high sensitivity of her skin.

"I do not know what he finds in a filthy whore such as you, but I suppose you were trained well," she spat without ever turning around, "His highness holds a lot of respect for General Atticus, so be sure to please him and know that if he is ever to express the slightest displeasure with your service... There will be hell for you to pay. Understood, whore?"

At the very least, she said nothing about the early morning incident with Ada and Luiza. Although the way no more questions were asked did leave the young woman’s stomach a little perched in the air.

"Yes, mistress," Arabella squeaked.

Oddly enough, upon stopping in front of their destination, Zarah merely knocked and stepped back before allowing the end of the leash to fall to the floor, "I will be back for you later,"

Without another word, she left her there alone to wait for an answer.

The response came a few seconds later as the door slowly cracked open on Atticus’ figure.

"I am sorry for making you wait. I needed her gone before opening the door," he bent and grasped Arabella by the arms to haul her back onto her feet.

His first target once inside was the collar which he unclasped from around her neck. The same, thick cloak that had been wrapped around her body the previous day returned, sheltering her forms once anew.

"Thank you," she murmured, but kept her eyes on the floor.

"Have you eaten yet this morning?" he asked, a gentle hand on her lower back, guiding her towards the bed.

"I have not," her head shook slowly.

Much like the previous day as well, another beautifully garnished breakfast table waited by the bed.

"Well, then be my guest and eat to your heart’s desire," he gestured towards the delicious looking food.

In his company, Arabella lived with the constant dread, an everlasting knot among her guts, the unease and terror while waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He hadn’t yet been violent with her, but when was it coming? He had to be hiding something else, didn’t he?

Even though Atticus claimed he wanted her by his side, the General was bound to become disappointed throughout time upon finally realizing she was never going to give him her heart or even respect for that matter...

Arabella took as little space on the edge of the bed as possible, barely sitting half of her butt in front of the table before picking a little grape from the bowl nearby.

"I have noticed that when given the choice, you always go for the grapes. Is it your favorite fruit?"

It wasn’t at all. It was merely the quickest to chew, swallow and be done with. Especially when expected to hold a conversation at the same time.

It seemed very trivial, ridiculous even, but eating at something for more than a minute in front of someone had the odd talent of infuriating some people. So, grapes were the better choice to be on the safe side.

"Yes, they are my favorites," she nodded with the lie.

"I’ll make sure they will always have space on the table,"

Whether he believed her or not, Atticus wasn’t showing it.

But he allowed her no time to ponder things any further as his hand went for her neck at first, caressing up to her cheek before softly pushing her hair out of the way.

His mouth came next, allowing his breath to fall against her tender skin.

"That was how he used to take your blood, wasn’t it?" he whispered, his lips wrenching shudders out of her every time they brushed against her flesh.

Similarly to Luiza, Atticus ought to know about the effects of the Mirari. Unless he knew about the miracle effects of Silas’ blood.

Lying about it could lead to much harsher consequences. Even though something told her Cedric was not big on sharing and would, null doubt, keep the treasure for himself...

That wasn’t what prompted her to lie, however. No. Instead, it was the fact that his teeth connected with her neck as his jaws gradually clenched together.

The pain started small, then came the spasms that overtook her body and the horrifying realization that, once again, he was trying to recreate everything that Silas did to her, down to the ’z’.

Her wincing too began small, growing to moans of despair as he went further.

Her muscles froze completely, hanging her to dry, hands on his chest without any strength to push back.

"Please... Stop," finally her jaws managed to articulate through her cries, "Please,"

Atticus stopped immediately, leaning back to get a full look at her crumpled face, a dubious look on him. His arms went around, pulling her body closer to himself before leaning in towards her neck again.

However, as Arabella braced herself for the agony to come... Nothing of that sort happened.

His tongue connected with her skin instead of his teeth, lulling her muscles to mellow in his hold.

Her heart continued to flutter. The bitter taste at the back of her throat remained, but at the very least, he stopped trying to kill her by ripping her throat open. At the very least, the torture had ceased.

Once done, his finger went to massage the abused area as her body still shivered, "Did he care for your neck after using it like so?" he whispered again.

"Yes," she cried while forcing her head to nod.

"Soon, I promise you, you will have nothing to cry about,"

Was that supposed to be reassuring? Or was it a disguised threat?

"Soon, you will go back to just living, disentangled from everything that ties you in place," his finger trailed up and down her neck as his eyes followed its journey.