When Aric witnessed the magnitude of the harm that she had caused to her hand while attempting to assist him, he couldn't help but feel awful for her.While resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together, he sat at his coffee table.Aric simply sighed and continued to look at her in silence since he was at a loss for words.He scrutinized her face, taking note of the delicate scattering of freckles on her nose and cheeks, the fullness of her lips, despite their dryness, and the flecks of gold in the iris' of her terror-filled eyes with the red rims."Again releasing a heavy sigh, he said, "Well, I guess we should start with the basics." My name is Aric, with an "A" at the beginning. What do you have?"She spoke gently, scarcely detectable even to his vampire hearing, and whispered, "Liberty, Liberty Hope, but my mum names me Bertie." Her voice was barely heard even to him."Hope for Liberty?" Aric questioned with a smirk on his face, clearly thinking the option to be

Aric could not take his eyes off his hands as he thought about the blood, her blood, that was trickling from his fingertips.I had no intention of causing her any harm.Angel was her name, he replied, his voice cracking with the emotion he was feeling. Since she was thirteen years old, I'd kept her, and she was more than just a pet to me; she was my closest friend.As he continued, he moved to sit cross-legged on the floor. "You see," he said, "when slaves reach the age of twenty-eight, our regulations stipulate that they must be disposed of in one of two ways." They are either delivered to a facility where they will be bled to death, and their blood will be added to our supply, or they are transported to a breeding clinic where they will be artificially inseminated an excessive number of times until they are unable to have children.He sniffed, unable to look at Liberty as he continued, "Angel was scheduled for the clinic." When she found out, she begged me to help her end her life o

Aric worked through the night without being conscious that he had done so until he felt the daylight approaching. When he looked at the clock, he realized that he still had time to consume some meals and provide some nourishment for his pet before he was required to take a break.Before gazing across at Liberty, he stood and stretched out the muscle cramps that had plagued him for the previous day.Even though she didn't say a thing, he could still tell that she was unfeeling. Her lips and nail beds had a bluish tinge, and she kept rubbing her arms and legs to warm them up. Her skin was pale.After spending the entire day ignoring her, he began to feel bad and decided to feed her and then focus on buying her more suitable apparel.He continued to glance at her while he questioned, "Hungry?"Liberty did little more than nod while expending all of her strength to conceal the fact that she was trembling.Aric's voice can be heard on the phone saying, "Dinner, a negative, and something wa

Aric sat back and observed Liberty eat her meal while she cleaned her mouth with the roll she had found and the remaining.After she had finished, Aric stood there waiting for her to perform the same thing he had just done.Liberty stood up as soon as she caught a glimpse of impatience in his gaze.While he was looking at her from below, he remarked, "Do you need to use the bathroom before bed?"She shook her head and moved towards her cage as she did so.Aric observed as she entered the building, her body visibly contracting in on itself as she took a momentary pause and drew a deep breath before continuing.As he pulled the door shut behind her, he gave some thought to whether or not it was necessary for him to really lock it.After coming to a conclusion, he chose to abandon the idea.Aric walked around the enclosure until he was standing in front of her, and then he waited for her to look directly into his eyes.He heaved a sigh and said, "I'm not going to lock you in," thinking t

When Aric's icy hand came down on my knee, I was startled and couldn't help but jump backward.After observing my response, he apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to startle you." You just looked unhappy."She sighed and wiped a tear from her pale face before saying, "I'm OK."Aric removed his hand and said, "You know," before adding, "you're a terrible liar."Liberty sniffed as she looked at him and apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, I was thinking about my mom." The past few days have been consumed by her concern for my well-being. I only wished there was a way to get the message across to her."When we get to town," he added, immediately taking his eyes off the road to gaze at her, "I will arrange for you to give her word that you are safe if you like." He continued by saying that he would do this for her if they reached their destination."Really?" I inquired, well aware of how my expression brightened.He nodded in agreement and turned his attention back to the road before