(Faye)

  This was something Faye could do without.

  Not only had Adrian beat him within an inch of his life tonight, but the damn vampire had also made him late in returning to the shelter again. Lena always forgave Faye for his occasional tardiness, but with the way Adrian had been taking his frustration out on the human lately, even Lena’s kindness had its limits. He was already lucky that she was letting him stay at her shelter, as there was little room for humans in Dephus, and Pavivani City especially. For some reason, the princess wanted to use the building as a way to help humans and turned stuck in this place, but most distrusted born vampires too much to take advantage of her offer.

  "Also, this place is a bit too fancy to be a shelter," Faye mumbled to himself, making his way up the stairs. He was fairly certain the building had once been a mansion, but the princess was as out of touch as her idea. Faye sighed, sliding into his room as he forced himself not to slam the door open as he dragged his bruised body into the space.

  Faye bit his lip as he moved, wincing as he stripped himself out of the skimpy dress Adrian had forced him to wear for the evening, not that the dress could ever be worn again. Faye sighed heavily as he looked at the torn and bloody fabric; he knew it had been a trick when Adrian had allowed him to buy such a nice dress, but he hadn’t expected this. Faye dropped the remnants to the floor, inspecting his wounds in the mirror, twisting and bending as much as his body would allow.

  No bruises or marks to his face this time, as Adrian wanted him for an event and, for the most part, his medium white-blond hair had been left alone. No, all the marks were on places that could be covered up and Faye winced as he touched the wounds in his back, where Adrian had stomped his heel into the human. As if kicking him in the gut hadn’t been enough, and the vampire had even tried to break Faye’s arm when the human dared to try and protect himself.

  “Fuck, this shit sucks,” Faye complained, sitting down heavily at his desk, covering his face with his hands as he sighed. He reached into one of the drawers as he dug around for his bandages, grunting softly as he finally found them. The work he could put up with, smile through being on Adrian’s arm, but this… this he couldn’t deal with. The abuse. The feedings. And at the end of it all, Adrian would merely go on about how much he “loved” the human and how this was “for his own good.” Yeah, screw that: more like he was pissed Sybil had broken up with him again and he was taking that frustration out on Faye as usual.

  Faye would never understand why Adrian would keep taking Sybil back. He didn’t quite understand their relationship dynamic, but he knew that Sybil never stayed with the vampire long. She would always come back to Adrian, eyes full of tears and apologize for leaving him and the vampire would take her back. They would stay together for a couple of months, and then Sybil would break things off again, complaining that Adrian would never be enough for her. Adrian would always then turn his attention to his favorite punching bag, and Faye felt the tears building in his eyes as he finished wrapping his back and midsection, hoping that whatever Adrian expected him to wear would hide them.

  “Learn to close your stupid door,” Faye looked up as Ruben walked by, bottle of booze in hand as he shuffled off back to his room. Faye flicked off the empty doorway, annoyed by the drunk man as Ruben continued down the hallway. Well, Ruben wasn’t the one who just got the crap beat out of him, was he? Faye finished bandaging himself and stood to close his room door and as he looked out into the hallway, he was struck by another thought.

  “Wait, did I close the front door?” Faye quickly dashed into his room, throwing on a large shirt as he ran back down to the first floor. The last thing he needed was for Zélia to get on his back for leaving the door open again and he knew it would only make Lena harder to win over. He was already skating on thin ice, and he didn’t need to make it any thinner. As Faye walked briskly through the lobby, he was surprised to see that the door was already closed and his heart pounded with worry. Who had closed it? Surely not Ruben; he had never closed it any of the other times Faye had left it open. Roma usually wasn’t concerned unless something came in the door and Lena and Zélia rarely woke up in the middle of the night. Meaning…

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “If you’ve come back to fix your apparent error, don’t bother,” Faye groaned internally as he heard Addis’s voice behind him, closing his eyes. Fan-fucking-tastic. The human slowly turned around to see the high vampire standing outside his office, giving him an annoyed look. Addis’s red hair was smoothed back from his face for once and his frown only accented his crimson eyes framed by those dark glasses. His dark suit was as sharp and pointed as it always was and Faye couldn’t help his fear as he waited. “I have already corrected it for you.”

  “I would say thanks but-”

  “I don’t want it anyway,” Addis interrupted, and Faye sighed, holding himself tightly as the vampire began to walk toward him. Another high vampire was the last thing he wanted to deal with tonight, but at least this time it was his own negligence that had gotten him into trouble. “Do I want to know why you were out past curfew again?”

  “Adrian had me stay late entertaining a customer, private party,” Faye lied, holding his hand over his bandaged arm to hide it from Addis. Better if he thought it was just work; Faye didn’t even want Addis’s attention right now, much less his pity. “Can’t say no when it’s the boss.”

  “Then perhaps Adrian should be more respectful of your curfew here, considering you haven’t been on time at all in the past week,” Addis reminded the human and Faye flinched at the sharp tone in the vampire’s voice. Faye fought the urge to spit something back, swallowing his rising frustration and anger. After all, what good would it do to get into it with Addis? Addis wasn’t the one Faye was angry and frustrated with and so Faye remained silent as the vampire continued. “Otherwise, one might get the notion that you don’t care either.”

  “Shut it. What I care about doesn’t mean shit here,” Faye spat, unable to help his tone as the words flew from his mouth. He flinched again as Addis raised his eyebrows, his annoyed frown quickly shifting into something far more dangerous. Faye looked away again, not wanting to meet Addis’s gaze. “You and that princess may pretend otherwise, but I’m not that stupid.”

  “Oh? And what is it you care about, Faye? Besides getting fed from? What else is more important to you than being the candy on a vampire’s arm?” Addis cooed, his voice breaking and crackling with power. Faye was tempted to speak again, but he merely bit his lip, looking to the floor as the vampire laughed. "That's what I thought."

  "Ain't no point in telling the likes of you. All you high vampires are the same," Faye muttered under his breath, still refusing to look at Addis as he heard the vampire stop right over him. He hated how short he was, how tiny he was compared to all the vampires around him. Dammit, he had never wanted any of this, and yet, here he was. “Fucking selfish, piece of shit bastards.”

  "Then go on back to your room, little human," Addis finally chuckled and Faye chanced a glance up to meet those crimson eyes. Addis was grinning, but it was a dangerous smile, one that said darker things. "I'm not the one you need to win over."

  Faye said nothing as he turned away from the vampire, doing his best not to run as he headed back to the stairs. His pink eyes burned with tears, but he refused to show such weakness in front of Addis. Hell, in front of any vampire.

  The climb back up the stairs was agonizing, but Faye made sure to slam his door closed as he returned to his small sanctuary. Although he knew Addis had not done him a favor by closing the door, he couldn’t help but be a little grateful that he would likely be able to stay at the shelter. It would make Zélia and Lena slightly easier to deal with in the morning, and he closed his eyes, the tears finally starting to stream down his cheeks as he sank to the floor.

  It really sucked being a human in Dephus.