I turned away from him. "What did you bring me up here for?" I asked.

"Right." He said, growing serious. "You will live in the basement, but every so often, I'll call you up here for-"

"Hold on, how long is every so often?" I interrupted.

"Don't interrupt," he said lightly, reaching over and flicking my arm. Like we were friends or something. I pulled away. "Every so often is whenever I'm hungry. Now, as I was saying-"

"How often do you get hungry?" I interrupted again. I knew I was pushing my luck, but he'd wanted me to talk, right?

"My goodness, can I finish?" Liam asked, flicking me on the cheek that time. I turned my nose up haughtily.

"You said you wanted banter, right? This is banter." I said, shrugging.

The vampire rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll bring you up about four or five times a month. Happy?" He asked, clearly a little annoyed.

I was pleased that I'd managed to get on his nerves, though I didn't think I should push him further than that. "Yeah. Continue."

"I don't need your permission," Liam said, just as haughtily as I had. "I'll call you up here about five times a month to...well, you know." I wrinkled my nose, but stayed quiet. "Got it?"

"I'm allowed to talk up here, but not down there, right?"

Liam thought for a minute, then shrugged. "Pretty much. Unless I don't want to hear your voice, then I'll tell you not to talk."

"uNlEsS i DoN't WaNt To HeAr YoUr VoIcE," I mocked under my breath, all notion of being a model prisoner thrown out the window.

"You seem very desperate to annoy me," Liam said, eyeing me pointedly. I shrugged. "I almost wish I hadn't told you to speak."

"Again, I'm just giving you the banter you asked for," I said. He frowned slightly, like he was inspecting me.

Suddenly, his face was right next to mine. "I've got it! You need to be shown exactly what I'll have you doing here."

Scowling, I pulled away. "What the hell? What do you mean?"

I asked this, though I had a bad feeling I already knew the answer.

"First lesson: Don't sit so far away from me. I can't reach your arm that way now can I?"

Confused, I held out my right arm. "My arm? What do you need my arm for?"

He took it, then yanked me closer, so that my wrist was right in front of his face. I tensed, trying to pull away. "Second lesson: Don't tense up. It makes things harder for me."

"Wait, stop-" I couldn't finish.

Liam sank two sharp teeth right into my wrist. I shrieked, wildly trying to pull away. The bite hadn't hurt too badly-it was like two big splinters in my arm. No, the worst part of that moment was the helpless feeling of having my life literally drained out of me. Like I was nothing more than a mouse in the jaws of a lion.

"Get....get your teeth out of my arm!" I screamed, holding back tears.

Liam did take my wrist out for a second, still keeping the vice-like grip on my forearm. "Lessons three and four: Don't try to pull away, it only makes things uglier for both of us. I'm trying to keep you as intact as possible, and I don't think you want to make it harder for me by wiggling around." He shook my arm for emphasis. "Also, don't talk while I'm eating. It takes me out of the moment. Do you understand?"

I searched for words. Something to show him that I didn't care, that he could take as much blood from me as he wanted and I still wouldn't care, but I couldn't. I didn't even know if that was true anymore. I just nodded.

"Good. I suppose we're done here," Liam said, releasing my arm carelessly and standing up. It flopped down into my lap, and I stared down at it. The two small holes right in the center of my wrist made it seem alien, like it wasn't even mine anymore. Part of me believed that if I tried to use it, it would just fly off into the arms of a new master.

Blood trickled out of one of the holes, dirtying my sweatpants. I just watched it pool, the small stain getting slowly larger, larger, larger.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, so I looked up.

"Didn't you hear me? Back to the basement." Liam said, almost gently. I saw it in his eyes again, that bit of compassion. Just like last night, in front of my building.

"Are you going to slap me again?" I asked, my voice hoarse and dull and not my own.

He blinked, confusion turning his face more human than I'd ever seen it. "No...why would you think that?"I didn't feel like explaining, and I didn't want to hear my own voice. I shrugged. My eyes went back to my wrist.

Liam put a finger on my chin, tilting my face back toward his. "Come on, Blythe. Get up. You can walk, can't you?"

I nodded, using my left arm to hoist myself into a standing position. My right arm hung by my side, steadily dripping blood onto the carpet. The nice, soft carpet that I'd ruined with my blood.

"I'm sorry," I said, staring at the spot of dark red blood on the scarlet carpet.

"What...are you sorry for?" Liam asked, still sounding confused and a little wary. I pointed to the stain I'd made.

"Oh!" Liam quickly held up my arm to stop the dripping. "That's fine. We're used to blood stains around here. My secretary will get you a Band-Aid. For now, hold your arm horizontally, like this." He let go, and my arm flopped back down by my side. We both looked at it.

"Can you...hold up your arm, Blythe?" Liam asked, gentle concern in his voice.

"It's not mine anymore," I said. "It's yours."

Liam shook his head, actually messing up his perfectly mussed hair. "No! Your arm belongs to you. You know that, Blythe. Okay?"

I shook my head. He was obviously wrong. If it were mine, then I would have been able to use it.

"Jesus fu-" Liam closed his eyes, holding the rest of the curse back. I realized I'd never heard him curse before. "Let's get you to my secretary, Lucca. He'll know what to do. He'll, uh, fix you," Liam said, gently pushing me out of the door and down the hallway.

"I've never heard you curse," I told him.

"That's because I never do," he said, guiding me along the too-long hallway.

"You were going to," I reminded him. He scowled, grip on my shoulders tightening.

"Shut up. No I wasn't." He grumbled. I didn't say anything. Better not anger the person in charge of my arm.

Liam sighed, and his grip relaxed. "I didn't mean that. Don't listen to me." We were both quiet for a while. The hallway seemed endless.

"I don't curse because I'm always calm. I'm never angry, never scared, never in need of words to express frustration. If I really have to, I burn that frustration in...another way. But only when no one can see it." He said, voice different in a way I couldn't place. Quieter, maybe, or less exaggerated.

I nodded, and we finally stopped in front of a door. Liam opened it.

"After you," he said, bowing and grinning. Dramatic as ever.