Ella's P.O.V.Later that day, I met Daniel and Jai for dinner.Daniel cooked a delicious pot of mac and cheese, per my request, and Jai and myself made sandwiches to go along with It."You know something," I said eating a spoonful of the mac and cheese, "as big as this place is, I'm surprised there aren't more people in the kitchen around dinner time."It was prime eating time for most people, yet we were the only ones in the kitchen that evening."There are six kitchens in this castle," Daniel said. "I'm sure we're not the only ones eating right now.""Six?!" I asked. "Why the hell does Cain need six kitchens?"Jai chimed in."The castle is really old. Back in the day, there had to be a lot of kitchens throughout the castle for a few of reasons. One of them was because of the volume of people that lived here. But, the other reason was because there wasn't any electricity to reheatthings, so the cooks had to make the food and then take it to whoever it was for in as little time as
"Ella, let me explain."Cain took a step towards me and I took two steps backwards. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jai reach out to place his hand on my shoulder."Don't touch me!" I said, backing away from them both. I looked at Jai."Are you one too?" I asked him."One what?" He asked.I scoffed in disbelief. "Don't play me like an idiot," I told him firmly.I looked to Cain, who had slowly been moving towards me. I backed away and went around the couch, putting more space between myself and the two men, if one could even call them that."I heard what your dad said," I told Cain.Leaning down, I picked the book up off the couch and held it in one hand."You're a Lycanthrope," I said.Saying it out loud made it all click inside my headThe whole bit about Cain telling me they were their own undercover organization; that had to be what the book referenced when it said that Lycans all lived together in secret.And the sub-human strength the book talked about would explain why Cain wa
Narrative P.O.V.A crystal glass flew across the room and shattered against the wall beside Daniel's face as he entered the room."I take it she found out," Daniel said, looking nervously at Jai. Jai nodded, his arms crossed.Cain stormed across his office and grabbed Daniel by the shirt collar. Picking him up, he slammed him against the wall. Daniel's feet dangled as he made direct eye contact with Cain."You told her about the tunnels, didn't you?" Cain asked, his eyes darkening."She was bound to find out about you sooner or later," Daniel said slowly. "You can't blame me for this.""I was the one who was supposed to tell her," Cain growled, squeezing Daniel's neck tighter."When did you plan on doing that?" Daniel breathed out, struggling for air."Cain, you're going to kill him," Jai said.Cain let go of Daniel's neck and watched him slide down the wall onto the floor, coughing and gasping for air."You can't take it back," Jai said to Cain. "What's done is done. We're taking h
We arrived back at the castle very late into the night.Daniel took the bag of folders and assured me he would leave it on Cain's desk for me to look over in the morning.As someone who hadn't slept the night before, I was grateful for the opportunity to rest before digging into the mess I was sure to uncover.I walked slowly back up all those flights of stairs, lugging my suitcase with me.By the time I reached my room, I was more than exhausted I opened the door to see the fireplace lit and the bathroom door open with the light on inside.Shit, I thought. I forgot this was Cain's room.He walked out of the bathroom, a towel hanging low on his hips. Clearly, he'd just gotten out of the shower."Sorry," I said quickly. "I'Il go find somewhere else to sleep." "I didn't expect to see you again," he said, stopping me as I turned to leave. I turned back around slowly, looking for a way to explain why I'd stayed.I was silent. No words would come to me.I couldn't tell if this was becau
Narrative P.O.V.Daniel and Jai walked in a drowsy daze down the stairs to the basement. Earlier, at around three in the morning, each of their phones lit up on their nightstands, summoning then down to thebasement.They walked into the cold autopsy room where Cain stood between two metal examination tables. The two men on the examination tables had been cut into, their chests open and ventral sections of their rib cages removed to reveal dead organs.Daniel and Jai both recognized the men as the one Jai had killed at Otto Müller's funeral and the other as the man who had broken into the castle, nearly killing Ella."What do you want, Cain?" Daniel sighed, rubbing his eyes."What do you see when you look at these men?" Cain asked them.Cain speaking in a normal speaking voice in the small, metal room made an echo that rung in Jai and Daniel's tired ears."I see corpses who are getting more sleep than I am," Jai muttered."You're looking at Vampires who had once been human," Cain said
Ella's P.O.V.I woke up the next morning feeling like a giddy high schooler. After barely getting five hours of sleep, I had expected to be sleepy the next morning but I woke up bright-eyed and ready to g.After changing and brushing my hair and teeth, I went upstairs to Cain's office.I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I walked up the staircase and heard him talking in his office. As I entered the office I noticed that things had been cleaned up and organized since I'd last been up there.All of the lamps were on, offering ample light to read and look around Cain heard me coming and turned around before ending the conversation with whoever he'd been talking to on the phone."Good morning," he said, turning his attention back to what was on his desk."You cleaned up here," I said. "It looks nice.""Perks of not sleeping," he said. "You get to stay up and do important things.""Have you been having trouble sleeping?" I asked him. I saw a corner of Cain's mouth perk up slightly i
"Soulmates? Really?"I couldn't help but laugh at Cain's ridiculous statement."I'm being serious," he said, remaining straight-faced.I shook my head."It's a little bold to say that to someone you've only known for a few weeks," I said, trying not to smile."I knew when I met you, Ella."I sighed. "When I told you I thought we were more than friends, soulmates wasn't exactly the first thing that came to mind. I think maybe we should do dinner first or something," I said honestly.I could've sworn he rolled his eyes as he pushed himself away from the desk.Cain walked over to one of the many bookshelves that lined his office and picked a book off the top shelf before opening it and flipping through it.After finding the page he'd been looking for, he walked over to me."Read this," he said, handing me the book.I looked at him warily before sitting down in the chair across from his desk. I began to read the passage he'd pointed to. During the time when Lycanthropes were being hunted
Narrative P.O.V."You didn't tell her?!"Cain stared at Daniel, trying to regain some semblance of patience."She left the office before I had the chance to," he said."You couldn't just bring it up?"Jai took a deep breath, wondering when the day would come that Daniel would find a way to keep everything he was thinking inside his mind and not let it roll off of his tongue."All of her questions were about me, I wasn't going to bring up her grandfather until I had answered them. Any more issues about my personal life that we need to resolve before we discuss what you called me down here for?"Daniel huffed and crossed his arms.Jai threw the two files across the freshly-sanitized steel medical examination table. Cain reached across and grabbed them both, eyeing Jai warily ashe read the contents of the folders under the harsh, bright lighting of the autopsy room.Cain took a deep breath as he read the line that had been highlighted by Jai. He closed the first folder and opened the ot