“LIKE WHAT?!” he exploded. “I don’t know what I did and I don’t know where to go. You might as well just leave. I’m going to be killed anyway for failing. I must have pissed off somebody and now I’m dead. I’m surprised they didn’t kick me out of my house. I’ll be homeless in a few hours, just wait and see.” He folded his arms across his chest, closed his eyes, and breathed heavily through his nose, throwing his head back against the couch.
“If you really have given up then let me leave. I won’t be with someone who just gives up,” Ansuya said.
Alexander opened his eyes, “I haven’t ‘given up’ on anything,” he said petulantly.
“Then act like it,” Ansuya demanded. “Would taking down a member of a rival House be enough to bring you back in the good graces of your own?” Ansuya asked sternly.
Alexander looked up at her, “I guess, what are you even talking about? What are you saying?”
Ansuya raised herself to her full height, “I’m offering you a path to not only restore your station in House Brandt, but to surpass your peers and competition.” Ansuya’s eyes bored into his. “I’m offering you a way to take back what you lost.”
“Who are you talking about?” Alexander asked desperately.
“Kenneth,” she replied quietly.
The blood immediately left Alexander’s face and he swallowed reflexively. “Kenneth…that’s not possible,” he said shaking his head.
“So, now you’re afraid of doing what needs to be done?” Ansuya scoffed at him, “So much for the famed strength of House Brandt, the fearless warrior House that knows no equal in any fight.” She laughed coldly, “I guess my people overestimated your strength and courage.”
“We are the strongest,” Alexander replied quietly, “but Kenneth is a favored member of House Dukart. If I was to attack him, which is close to impossible anyway, then House Brandt would draw the fervor of all House Dukart and lose whatever protection we have from our alliance. We would be attacked by House Dukart and House Himura and the Duces would bring down their wrath on us as well.” He shook his head, “Then my death would be a guarantee.”
“Then we would have to make it look like something other than a rival vampire attack,” Ansuya said soothingly. “You have me and I was there for over a year. I know things about him that few could know. We could get in, kill who we wish, and leave. The only traces would be the ones that we left, pointing to a gang fight, nothing more. Surely nothing that would link back to you.” Ansuya smiled, “Or better yet, let me do it and rend his life from him. Then it would appear as if my people led the attack. Only you and Wolfgang would know what really happened and you would reap the reward for his death.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Alexander looked up at her, “Do you really think we could get away with it?”
The brown woman smiled sweetly at him, her voice took on a rich honeyed texture as she intoned hypnotically, “Alexander all things are possible beneath the moon. I would need to gather my strength, but if we work together, we could take down Kenneth, deal a vicious blow to House Dukart and raise you in your own house. Help me to help you. As your station improves then so does mine. I want to help you, Alexander.”
The blue-eyed man looked bewildered and skeptical at best, “Do you really think we can do this? Kill Kenneth?”
She knelt down at his feet and looked up at him, “I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t, baby. There are preparations to make and I will need time to gather my strength.” She stood up and nodded to the door. “This means I will need more food. You left the other day without leaving me anyway to feed myself. Do you want me to starve?”
He scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly, “Yeah, sorry about that I guess I just forgot.”
Ansuya grabbed his chin and tilted his head up so that his eyes met hers, “I should never be forgotten about, do you understand? I am your most prized possession and you should treat me as such.”
He nodded awkwardly in her grip, “Yes, I should have thought about you first.”
She smiled and patted his cheek, “Good boy, you’re learning.” She stood up and turned her back on him, “Do you know where Kenneth lives? His address?”
She heard him shift around on the couch behind her, “No, and I never bothered to go find him. As long as he stayed in his territory and left me alone than I was ok with that.”
She turned around and gazed at him, “Are you afraid of him, Alexander?”
The man looked up suddenly with anger in his eyes, but with something else too. He stood up slowly and pointed a finger in her face, “Don’t ever say anything like that to me again.”
Ansuya smirked, “Why? Because it’s the truth?”
Alexander swung his hand so fast it caught her square across the face, sending her careening into the lazy boy chair. “Don’t EVER say anything like that to me AGAIN!” He screamed hysterically.
Ansuya pushed herself up from the chair, wiping away a small trickle of blood that was dripping down her lip. She knew that now was not the time to push him. She may have pushed a little too hard already. She nodded toward him, “I’m sorry baby, please forgive me.”
The man stood there, seething. His fists were clenched and his eyes were red, “Don’t ever call me a coward again!”
“I’m sorry, baby please can we just forget about what I said? I…I didn’t mean it.”
He stared at her for a few minutes before he finally unclenched his fists and nodded heavily. “Don’t ever forget it, bitch! Unless you want another one,” he sat down on the sofa again.
Ansuya decided to shift directions a bit to keep him off balance. “Baby, I am really hungry. I need food to be of any help to you. May you please go get me something to eat? Please baby? I’ll be so good to you. Please?” She was kneeling at his feet, massaging his leg with one hand. The taste of bile was rising in her throat and it was all she could do to not gag.