MARIA A loud crash rang through the room.At first, no one knew how to react. Where had the noise come from? What was the source and most importantly, what the hell was happening?Distracted, Maria’s hand dropped as she whirled around, causing the blade that had been suspending over the teenage girl’s neck to clutter to the ground with a clang.At the back of her mind, she was relieved that this disturbance had taken their main focus off the girl, even if it was just temporarily. Maria could work with that. Hopefully, she would be assigned to detect the source of the disturbance and put a stop to it.And then if the killing would still take place, Maria wouldn’t be in charge of it anymore.She wasn’t sure that she could stomach it.At the forefront of her mind, however, was the cause of the crash. The palace workers weren’t known to cause a nuisance when Ariti was having one of his sessions. At least not anywhere near the courtroom anyway. They stayed as far away from it as they coul

BRAN “You have a call from Corey.”Bran turned towards the sound of the voice. Edgar stood a few feet away from him, cradling a phone a phone in his hand.Bran’s phone that was currently lighting up with a call from Corey.He sighed, walking over to Edgar and collecting the phone from him. He had wanted to call Corey and let him know the status of things after the first interrogation, but apparently, the son of a bitch was turning out to be even more hot-blooded than Bran.He wanted his own share of the Maria Hatzi. And he was going to get it.If only the fucker could just wait and let him have his own piece first.Bran had barely lifted the phone to his ear when Corey spoke.“How’s the witch?”“Still alive.”“Is she still in one piece?”“Yes, although not for long.”There was a pause. Then, “You sick fuck. What exactly do you plan to do to her?”“Hell if I know. What I do know, is that there’s going to be a lot more torture, and a lot less chit-chat.” Bran decided to answer truthful

MARIA She wasn’t even exaggerating when she said that she was too tired to deal with him. The meal she had eaten—if it could be called that—was something she wasn’t even sure the servants back at the palace ate. But she guessed it was better than nothing. After all, the worms eating at her stomach walls has ceased for now. “Stand up.” He commanded. She would have rolled her eyes had she found the strength. “You realise I don’t have to stand for my mouth to work, right?” He squinted as if she had sprouted a second head within the space of five seconds. “You realise I’m the one doing the questioning here, right?” This time, she did roll her eyes. As if she didn’t know that. “So ask your questions.” He looked like he wanted to bite her head off, but then he exhaled and he returned to looking like his usual hot, annoying self. She absolutely detested how much she found him attractive. It was simply a fact, staring back at her everytime she saw him that he was good-looking. What sh

BRAN He would go to the horses, but he was too miserable to get himself to move. And that was saying a lot.Bran was a vampire. All he ate or drank, was blood, but sometimes, when he was pushed to it or when the occasion called for it, he drank wine. It was something only the oldest of vampires could do.He grabbed the bottle of whiskey, refilling his glass as he stared at the rich brown liquid absently. Filled with the feeling of helplessness, he had resorted to drinking himself into a stupor. It was the only option that had seemed the most pleasing at the time. One of those options was going down to the cells to have another round of questioning with Maria.All of them had proved futile so far. What was the point in going?She was intent on keeping her secret. Keeping his sister’s whereabouts from him. Everyday, when he thought that maybe he would get a bite closer to an answer, she proved him wrong by telling him that she didn’t know, taking him all the way back to the start.He h

MARIA It was in that moment that Maria realised she might actually deserve what was coming for her. Was this how her victims felt when she was about to take their lives? They had to feel even worse than this because it was her hand that was going to be chopped off. Not her life.How many times had she stood before her victims with her arms raised ready to unleash hell on them?Just last week, that teenage girl had sat on the floor of the palace courtroom with her head held high ready to receive her death blow. Why couldn't Maria find that boldness now? Why was she shaking life a leaf as she watched the blade inch closer to her skin? Before today, somehow, at the back of her mind, Maria had conceded that she did evil things to people. But not once had she actually seen herself as evil. Now that she was in this position, a position even more preferable to the ones she had put people in several times, she realised that she was an evil person. Any person who could make another person f