L I S A

Arrow. It must've been unquestionably the doing of an arrow.

My back still hurt as I tried to adjust with lamplight above my head, jerking left and right like the bed I was on. At first the light had made me squint but then I quickly adjusted with it. I'd tried to wake up and sit but it just gave me more pain and sore so I let that thought slip away and just lay there, immobilized as a corpse focusing on the light as it nearly blinded me.

All that I'd learnt in the past few minutes, ever since I came back to life from my temporary purgatory in my deep subconscious, was that I was in a ship and in a room, alone. However I didn't have the energy to wake up and investigate so I just waited for my abductor to come and pay me a visit and deeply wished that it was Edward otherwise I'd have killed myself—probably.

The room was no big; it was as small as a cabin. There was a door which was probably the entrance and the exit, a cupboard right across the small sofa-length bed I was lying on and a small door beside it which I hoped was the bathroom. The room was made out of bark and wood and the only source of light was the lamp blazing six feet above my head. No windows, nothing whatsoever.

There was no warning before the door unbolted and a manly figure came into my perception. His shoulders were wide and he was wearing a black oxford shirt, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and the top few bottoms of his shirt were undone, giving a good view of his muscular chest.

He walked into the room towards me and with a gentle smile sat on the edge of my bed. His hands quickly found mine and his fingers entangled with my own. I forced a weak smile to comfort him back as his light brown eyes searched mine for a hint of pain or misery.

"How do you feel?" Edward asked.

"It hurts but fine." I replied honestly drawing all the energy in my body to sit up straight.

He didn't say anything back but his eyes told me that he was guilty. Usually he'd just apologize if he was unable to save me from pain but right now he was hesitating. I didn't dwell on that thought much and swiftly asked what had been in my mind for too long.

"Are they . . . okay back at the village?" I asked biting my tongue to not cry as the memory of Julie made its appearance into my mind.

"I haven't gotten much news but to my guess the vampires will win, they always have." He whispered with proud lingering in his tone and the guilt he'd held before promptly moved out.

I might be wrong but something about his style and posture not to mention his aura was incredibly disturbing. However, I couldn't seem to find out how and why I felt like the way I did when his hands went up to caress my cheek. He was extremely cold and brawny like made of steel. And his touch, in a way, was different, more careless maybe.

"What's wrong love?" My eyes shot towards at his side.

Did he just call me love?

"Where are we going?" I tried to shift the tension that lurked in my eyes and now in the room.

He seemed to be in a thought before he stood up and opened his mouth to speak but just as soon shut it up as if he was annoyed by something or someone.

My eyes traveled to the door where there was a knock and a man slid inside the room. My breath caught at my throat as my eyes took in the familiar features of the man. He was a blonde but tall and lean like every other vampire I'd encountered this month; although the thought that troubled me the most was that he was one of the vampires sent by Mason for my abduction. Jenna was his victim.

I felt myself sliding back in bed as I held the mattress so tight in my grasp that my hands had gone red. I held onto it like it was sweeter than life itself. I didn't feel safe anymore, not even with Edward's company. The moment I recalled Edward's presence in the room, I turned to see him and why he wasn't doing anything about this. He was letting this vampire near the room. Why?

"He won't hurt you little Beth, he can't." Edward turned and put one of his hands on the vampire's shoulder that seemed to be much affected by the gesture and flinched back a little in fear and his eyes began searching the depth of the ground. He was not meeting his eyes as if he was someone of the higher rank and then it clicked.

"You're not Edward." I stated. He'd just called me . . .

A vicious smirk spread across his face and my heart skipped a bit at the evil sound he made. His laugh resonated around the small room and I had nowhere left to hide. When his laugh suppressed and his smirk died down a little, a vice and mischievous smile came onto his lips and he flashed his fangs at me.

"I cannot deny I'd expected you to figure this out a lot sooner." He was nearing the bed now and I shifted uncomfortably, scared even. He was staring down at me attentively, almost as if I had piqued his unwavering attention and interest.

"When did you possess him?" I asked my voice sounding a lot stronger than my appearance but I knew he was well familiar to the rhythmic contractions and relaxations of my ever so stridently pulsating heart.

"When that girl died." I hiccupped at his ruthless statement. He spat it out like it was nothing—it may be nothing to him but she was my friend!

He turned towards the vampire in the room and looked at him intently for a moment before waving him off. His attention was now focused on me as he opened one of the small cupboards and took out a grey sweat shirt and jeans. He threw them at me as I looked at him in disbelief.

"We'll be in the castle in the next few minutes. Get dressed unless you want to be met by hundreds of hungry fangs looking like that." He pointed towards my tattered dress from the last night. The sweetness in his voice was gone and it held nothing more than annoyance and want, want for my blood.

He left without another word and shut the door behind him.

I was in too much pain to move yet I held the courage and got on my two slim, shaking feet. It was hard for me to accept that Edward was gone—temporarily and I was still a bit shaken from his appearance. He whose name I still hadn't come to know and he wasn't very keen on telling me either. I was a dead beat even after a long nap and had no intention of going anywhere but being stubborn wasn’t a choice—at least not with him.

I slipped out of my ragged dress and slid on the oversized sweat shirt that had definitely belonged to a man along with the jeans. My hair was loose curls resting on my shoulders and back and I planned to keep them that way. I hurriedly wore the socks he’d left there for me and slipped my feet into the high length boots. I was nearly done and my stomach shockingly was wrapped in a white bandage.

At least he was kind enough to treat my wounds.

Just as I was about to twist the doorknob there was a knock and the door swung open, almost hitting me in the head. And not astoundingly, he was the vampire from earlier, the same blonde. From the scene I'd witnessed a couple of minutes ago, I didn't fear him just as much anymore and the fact that he'd kept his gaze low most of the times, helped. He was here to escort me to his master, his real master.

He led the way through the narrow hallway to a staircase as I followed him from a two feet distance. It was dead silent on our way to upstairs but it wasn’t the kind to bother someone. And most of the while, I concentrated on matching his pace to avoid the unnecessary annoyance from his side. It was a wide ship and an old one even though it was as strong as something newly built.

When we reached to the end of the staircase he motioned me to go ahead first and I obeyed without reprimanding.

As soon as the staircase ended and I reached the top, brush of wind caressed my skin sending chills down my spine. It was awfully cold out there and I was thankful for the sweat shirt I was wearing. I rubbed my palms to gain some heat whilst all the other ten vampires stood completely unaffected by the cold and the now possessed Edward was one of them. It was night, a foggy one and I could barely see through it.

Stumbling I made my way to the railings where the scent was impending from. I didn’t know why but being next to that vampire felt like my safest option. As I dawdled beside him he wasn’t looking at me but trying to bypass the mist surrounding the ship though his vision. His eyes were stubborn and stern in the direction he was gazing roughly as if he wanted to put all his anger onto that place.

Before he could get through with it, the fog faded and as it did a huge gilded castle came into view little by little. It was gigantic and ancient, like the ones dedicated to kings and queens in the history. It was frantically huge and slowly covering with snow. It was winter here. I could see multiple mountains behind the castle’s conical ends and many more veiled by the mist extending everywhere in the sky.

It was awfully cold here. I was now shaking lightly as I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ignore the foreign upsetting feeling in my stomach at the look of that castle. I could tell by a feeling that it was cursed, cursed with hundreds and thousands of dreadful memories, lies and sins.

But my opinions didn’t match this imposter’s whose chest was swollen some more with pride at the view of that castle. It was overwhelming and unsettling as I stood my ground near my so-called little knight. He could've possessed anyone why him? It was appalling to look at this hateful soul of a vampire and yet couldn’t hate him because of the face he possessed!

"Because you trust him easily." He answered my unasked question.

"Almost forgot you can snoop in my head" I retorted. He gave her a side-glance before several whispers started to run about in the air and the vampires were swift to take control of the ship. I perceived that we’re approaching the land but what awaited on the other side of the sea gave me terrible creeps.

With his gesture, they docked the ship near the land where more vampires were waiting for us. I couldn’t help the throbbing feeling in my chest and horrifically hoped I wouldn’t swoon over by just a glance. I had to be stronger than that now that I was on my own.

One of my arms was forcefully in between possessed Edward’s fist as he dragged me down the stairs alongside his torso. It was almost not possible for me to not let out a momentary shriek or even to not try and wriggle away from his grip. He was ruthless with his way with me and I could only imagine why. What did I possibly do to hit his nerve?

The door which was apparently the last exit from this ship was opened vast and a thick way of bark was laid in front of his royalty to walk on. Just like before he didn’t show any mercy on me as he hauled me alongside himself, completely clueless to any of my misery. I was sure his hand was going to leave an imprint for several days to come.

As we neared the land more and more the panic started building up inside me. There were not one or two or tens of vampires or even the population of a whole village but it was a whole state of vampires!

And in front of them all stood the one and only I guessed, the almighty Lord Mason Marino. He was the one radiating more power than anyone else. He was in the front, tall and lean and muscular. When his eyes met mine he quickly snapped to meet Edwards as if troubled by my sight.

I was close behind the possessed Edward and the blonde was behind me, probably keeping an eye on me. Edward’s thick muscular frame had veiled every face from my vision but I could listen to the whispers going on in the background.

The vampire Mason was quick to pay his respects to his Lord and bowed down to peck on Edward’s hand but he wasn’t showing much affection towards the gesture. His stare was stone-cold and starved blood—even I could tell that.

“What can I do for you your majesty?” Mason asked in the sweetest and the most self-effacing tone I’d ever heard.

“First get a room for my dear guest.” Edward gestured towards me and softly perched my hand in Mason’s in a way as if he was trusting Mason with his most precious belonging.

Mason gave me a warm smile and called to one of his guards who didn’t look at me in the same heart-melting way. His stare was cold and rude and prying as he obeyed his master’s orders and I was sent away with almost four vampires who were looking at me like I was a deer trapped in a lion’s den. And maybe I was, perhaps I was no better than the dear.