Chapter 2: I'm Your Master

-Arabella-

How could I have messed everything up so badly?

My hands tremble as I make my way to the office where a few minutes ago, I offered up my life in exchange for my family's future.

I want this. I need this.

And yet, I'd behaved like a brat in the interview, which only guarantees that no one would ever take me.

It just feels so… unfair. It's unfair that the only way to fix the mess my late father got us into is for me to give up twenty years of my life. It's unfair that this system even exists.

Thankfully, the room is empty when I come in. The cold air flowing from the vents in the ceiling sends a shiver down my spine.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Wait to be told that I'm not welcome back? I think about leaving to expedite the process, and the door suddenly opens.

"Arabella Hamilton?" A woman pokes her head in. "Will you come with me, please?"

I follow her out down more pristine corridors until we reach a sparsely decorated office.

"I'm happy to inform you that despite the terrible behavior you displayed during the interview, you've been selected by a very prominent member of the vampire community." The woman sits behind her desk and gestures for me to take a seat in front of her.

It takes me a few seconds to process what she's just said, and I start shivering for real now. "I… Does this mean it's done? The debt will be paid in full? Right now?"

"When you sign the contract, the thirty five million dollars you requested will be transferred to the accounts you specified. And the trust you set up for Grace Hamilton. Your sister, I presume?"

"Yes." Tears well in my eyes. "Can I say goodbye to them?"

"Your new master said he'd pick you up in two hours, so you have until then. Please go over the contract one last time. You can still amend the glamor clause."

I still can't believe someone wants me after my first interview, especially given how I curt my answers were and the fact that I chose not to be glamored.

"I will keep the clause," I say, wiping my wet cheeks. "I thought it would be a deal breaker."

"Most vampires don't take attendants who refuse to be glamored. But it seems it's your lucky day." The woman slides the contract over to my side of the desk. "Read it over one last time and sign your name on every sheet. We'll send over a copy along with the medical records we have in a few days."

Now that this is happening, and it's not just an idea, I realize I may have been subconsciously sabotaging it.

But it's a reality now. I've done it, and once I sign the contract, there's no turning back.

The words on the paper are a blur, and my hand mechanically grips the pen as I sign every sheet. I take a brief pause before writing my name on the last one.

Twenty years.

I'm giving up twenty years of my life for someone else's mistakes. And even so, the pain of losing my father still perforates my heart as if he had died yesterday. I can't hate him for the bad decisions that led to all the debts my family has. I'm just glad he isn't alive to see what I'm doing.

What I've become.

I sign the last sheet and hand over the stack of papers to the woman.

"You can always make a formal request to be glamored later on. We don't deny the option to anyone, at any point in time. It can't be reversed, though. You can't make that decision under a glamor, for obvious reasons."

I know why she's being so insistent. There's a reason most attendants take the offer to be glamored.

It's so much easier to forget that you've sold yourself to what is a sugar coated form of slavery. One day you wake up and years have gone by. You're older, the world around you has changed, and yet the last thing you remember clearly is signing a contract. You're oblivious to everything they've done to you and everything you've done.

But I can't do that. I've already given up my body and my time. I can't let them have my mind as well.

I believe I thank the lady before leaving, though I'm not even sure what I mumble as she exits the room and I follow her out. When I'm on the bus that's taking me home for the last time, I realize I haven't even asked who bought me. Right now they're a nameless, faceless master whom I've never even seen.

It takes all the strength I have left not to break down in tears when I hop off the bus and turn the corner. My home comes into view. Its stately trees lining up the driveway threaten to make my knees crumble.

My father planted them with his father, ages ago. The hammock he installed for me when I was a kid still swings there, though the wooden beam is barely holding it together.

When I reach the overgrown front lawn, I see that it's worse than how Grace described it the last time we talked. Paint is peeling from several corners, and the once dark green window sills have faded into a muted brownish color.

The second I input my code at the door, Grace opens it.

"Ara!" Her arms wrap around me in a tight, unexpected hug. "I saw you from upstairs! What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I just thought you are still in Atlanta."

I pull away to fully take her in. She's grown several inches since I last saw her, and her lanky figure now has some curves.

"There's a few things I want to talk to you about. You and mom. Is she home?"

Grace rolls her eyes.

"Yes, though she's in a mood. She went to the country club, and they didn't let her in. Unpaid fees, and all that. You know how she is."

Yes, I know perfectly well.

"Don't mention the packed boxes, please." She opens the door for me and steps into the house. "She's actually trying, Ara. Last night I saw her highlighting job offers in the paper. I don't know who might hire her, but we'll see. And I've applied for a job at the library and Joe's Cafe. Part-time, of course. With violin practice and school, I don't have too much time."

My heart sinks once I take in the living room. There are piles of boxes where there used to be furniture. Most of my grandmother's gorgeous paintings and vases have long been sold, but her fancy European sofas had been her pride and joy.

"And Nana? Is she well?"

"Oh, she'll be so happy you're here. You've always been her favorite."

I can't tell my grandmother the truth. No one can. I have to make sure of that.

"What are you doing here?" My mother steps in from the patio. The white wisps of her hair sliding out from under her hat surprise me. Things must really be bad if Henrietta Hamilton has let her grays grow out.

"I need the two of you to sit down. I have an announcement to make."

"Please don't tell me you're pregnant," my mother says, removing her boots and gloves. It's clear she had been working on the yard.

"Mom!" Grace snaps at her.

My mother sits down in a plastic chair. "What is it? I really don't have time for this unless you have somehow come up with millions of dollars. We're busy with finding a new place to live and trying to sell the house, which you'd know about if you actually cared. Though I doubt it will take too long, even in the state it's in, with those miserable vampires buying up everything."

"Actually…" I begin, and all hell breaks loose once I'm done telling them the truth.

Grace is crying silently and my mother is hyperventilating, screaming that I've ruined the family name, disgraced my father's memory, and brought shame upon everything the Hamiltons stand for.

"What am I supposed to tell everyone?!"

"I don't care what you tell people, as long as Nana never finds out. That is all I ask of you," I say calmly, trying to keep it together.

I give Grace a kiss on her forehead and walk out to the pool house, or rather, my grandmother's place. My heart shatters a little when I see the empty pool with its shattered tiles.

"Nana?" I call out, just in case she doesn't hear me enter and I accidentally startle her, but I soon see that she's fast asleep in her chair, with a finger inside a book that's about to fall off her lap.

I sigh and close her door, choosing not to wake her.

***

When I hear a car pull up the driveway, I let go of Grace and I hand her a letter in which I've explained what I've done in more detail.

I hope she can forgive me and that her life is everything mine couldn't be.

The driver asks me my name and tells me to get in, and two hours later, we pull up to an enormous estate on the outskirts of Savannah. I'm thankful that it's far from where I might run into anyone I know, though vampires rarely walk around the streets or frequent the same places as humans.

We stop in front of a white stucco mansion with an impeccable garden, and the driver lets me out and opens the front door. A lavish, opulent foyer greets us, as well as the sweet smell of flowers. The driver doesn't stop, but heads over to an adjacent set of sliding doors and opens them.

And there he is, the vampire, standing next to a red-headed woman who looks terrified of him.

"Oh, it's you," the vampire says. "I'm Desmond. What was your name?"

"Arabella," I say, frozen by his bright green eyes.

So many people find vampires attractive despite the messes they cause, and I honestly can't fathom what they see in them. They're beautiful creatures, yes, but it's very hard for me to appreciate them in a good light knowing exactly what they are.

He's paler than marble, with even whiter sharp teeth peeking from his slightly reddish lips.

I have to admit that he's an imposing figure, with his wide chest and impossibly long frame.

He stoops down and grabs the woman's chin, forcing her to face him. "I am Desmond Stewart and I am your master. From now on, until I free you from this bind, your will is no longer your own. You will forget everything that happens and your mind will be clear of any words, thoughts, desires, or feelings."

He is glamoring her, and I am very confused. Aren't vampires limited to one attendant each by law?

The woman's eyes seem to focus and unfocus, and a few seconds later, she smiles at him.

"That was easy," he says, taking a sip from his whiskey. "Red, come here."

Desmond sits on the couch and pats his leg, and the woman obediently sits on top of him. He pulls her hair out of the way and bites into her neck. Blood trickles down to her chest, staining her white blouse. He licks her off, and gives her a loud, sucking kiss on the tiny holes he's left on her skin.

"Delicious."

He moves the woman aside and turns to face me.

"It'll be so much easier for you if you accept the glamor. Trust me. If you want…"

"She said she doesn't want to be glamored." A deep voice coming from behind me cuts him off.

Startled, I back up and slam into this person, and I turn to find myself face to face with the most handsome vampire I've seen in my life.

Yes, I'm usually not attracted to them. But his man...this blood-sucking creature is unlike anyone I've ever seen.

His long dark hair is tied neatly into a bun, and his caramel eyes seem to burn into my soul as he stares at me with an unreadable expression. He looks curious and surprised to see me there, but also angry, or annoyed.

"I'm Ronan, your master," he says.

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