don’t lash out, I let them believe they have finally tamed me. Tamed the madness they created.
“You are on your knees, fallen, but I don’t know if we can trust you. You have been vocal in your disdain for the council and our people, your people. You are too mad, like a wild animal, how do we ensure you do not attack us, turn on us?” Amos challenges, always the smart one.
I raise my gaze, which is shimmering with the mist of my madness. “You don’t. Prove to your people how strong you are by controlling me. The mad fallen, the strongest of his kind under your orders, it will send them a message. It’s a chance to prove your powers and inspire fear and loyalty again.”
“Again?” Derrin repeats, narrowing his eyes.
“Our people are loyal!” Amos snaps, leaning forward. “They know of our great powers, that we lead them for their best future.”
“Do they?” I taunt bitterly, and my lips tip up in a mocking smirk as Amos’s eyes narrow on me. “You have me out there, among the sheep, doing whatever I want, and they see that. They think that makes you weak, that you can’t control your own servants.”
“He’s right,” Titus chimes in, and then covers a yawn.
“Put him in the barracks, have the other...experiments watch him. If he steps out of line, let them punish him, they hate him enough. We can use him like a lap dog. String him in chains in here for the next ball, let them see our fallen decoration, a mere toy for us, someone so powerful worshipping at our feet,” Gina adds, watching me with that same snake-like expression, ready to strike.
“Hmm, that does have its merits. Veyo, for now take him to the barracks, let the others keep a close eye on him. If he so much as looks at them wrong, they are allowed to punish him as they see fit,” Amos calls, and looks at me with an evil grin on his face. “You can be their whipping boy, fallen. Let’s see how that stubbornness keeps you alive now. Get used to being on your knees, you will be living like this now.”
I grit my teeth, not responding because I’ll say something that will blow my cover, until finally, they dismiss me. I get to my feet and follow Veyo from the room, his mocking laughter wrapping around me as he leads me through the servants’ corridor, out of the back of the mansion, and across the lawn to the barracks hidden behind a maze of flowers—they can’t have such hideous creatures and servants be seen, after all.
I prepare myself for what’s to come, this won’t be easy. They will use any excuse to hurt me, punish me, but I will endure it. For her. For her I would survive anything. I’m led through the flowers to the hidden building there. It looks like an army barracks with an assault course and a training area for the nephilim out back, it even has a gym building attached. Inside is a long room filled with beds where they sleep. They aren’t given rooms or possessions, just the essentials. They don’t need anything else as servants. It chafes against me, how everything is controlled. The nephilim have no life, they are just here for the council’s use.
Yet they don’t care, they covet the attention, proud of what they are and who they fight for. I wonder if they know the true depth of the corruption?
The door is yanked open. I would expect noise, rowdiness, laughing, and teasing since that’s what the sheep are like, but it’s deadly silent as we step through. They are here though, some sleeping, some cleaning, some reading...they are all just waiting. Like good little servants, they make no noise, waiting to be called to duty.
They turn my way when the door slams shut, every golden eye locking on me, and suddenly there’s an uproar as their anger...their hate is thrown my way. They slowly get to their feet and Veyo turns to me with a laugh. “Hope you are ready for a world of pain, fallen.”
“I was born into it,” I snap back, standing tall, Dawn’s face flashing in my mind.
You better be fucking ready for me, Vasculo, because I’m coming...if they don’t kill me first.
“Well?” I whisper, trailing my fingers across his chest, watching the muscles jump from my touch. I love how my mates react to me, how easy it is to tease