Page 64 of Potion of Deception (Potion of Deception #1)

LIKE A BIRD IN A CAGE

V iolette remained on the bed for what felt like an eternity, her body refused to get up.

The soft glow of the moonlight streamed through the window.

She lay like that for a few hours, thinking and…

waiting. Would Dante return? And if so, did she really want to see him?

She remembered Caidas' words and they sent a pulsation down her arms. She glanced at her hands – they trembled just at the thought of him.

She appeared to be on the edge without a choice, alone.

She always feared to be alone and now it was her reality.

There was nobody who could comfort her, to give her advice.

No. There was only her and the terrible monster she was left with.

She buried her face in her hands, succumbing to the sobs.

The knock on the door broke the peace of the room. The sound felt threatening to her existence, even the shadows seemed to stagger. She lifted, clenching the bedsheet with her hands, staring at the door.

“Yes?” she almost whispered.

The door creaked, a thin line of the light began to spread on the floor. A male silhouette appeared in the doorway. Dante.

She leaped from the bed. His figure leaned on the door frame, the light from the hallway catching in his inky hair, then his face.

The bright red flashed, dripping from his mouth.

His blood. One of his sleeves was torn, a wound near his neck, a cut.

But he didn't look scary or threatening. Her brows arched down.

“Are you alright?” The question slipped from his lips, unusually raspy.

Violette gazed at him for a minute and then her expression changed – the anger inundated her. Not only did he turn out to be a terrible monster but now because of him other vampires wanted her dead. Although she miraculously escaped this time, she wasn't really sure if she was safe here. With him.

“I can't believe Caidas wanted to kill me,” she grunted. “Do you understand that all of it wasn't in our agreement? You lied to me. Again!”

He'd been looking at her from above, still standing at the door frame. His body moved forward, half-step and he flew with his face down.

Violette held a breath. Her eyes widened in horror – all his back was teared up, the blood streamed like a river down his muscles. Two daggers stuck out, deep to the hilt from the remainder of his shirt, now soaked with blood.

Violette froze, her legs glued to the floor.

She could leave him like this, it's not like he wasn't immortal.

Maybe, it would be even better if he wasn't and he would die.

She had no reason to help, to feel sympathy for him after all she knew about him and what he did.

About the monster he was. And yet this monster was her only protection, the only living soul who could save her from other vampires.

Her hand trembled, clenching into a fist. She had to do something. After all, she wasn't heartless.

She teetered closer and tried to turn him over.

A moan of pain shattered the silence before Dante opened his eyes only halfway.

“What now? I can no longer lie quietly on the floor?” He breathed heavily.

It wasn't funny and only made Violette scowl. “Do you want to bleed on the floor?”

“It's less painful if not moving, however I'll be honest – your touches are quite pleasant,” he murmured.

“I am not going to explain to the inn's owner why there are dark stains on the floor,” she grumbled, helping him to get up.

Dante could barely stand on his feet, his body was shaking.

“Should have left me on the” –he released a quiet groan– “floor.”

“I should have,” she confirmed, sitting him on the bed.

She quickly found some towels and got them wet.

A deep breath was needed to gather strength before she could do something.

Before she could touch him again. She was scared, completely terrified, from him, from other vampires, from everything.

She always knew how to collect herself in hard moments, but not now.

She didn't know how to react other than being completely frightened.

She couldn't just hide it, put it somewhere in the farthest corner of her mind.

She turned to Dante again – he was unbuttoning his shirt. The loud hiss released in the air .

Violette came closer, her fingers shakingly reached to the buttons and she gently moved his hands away.

He raised his eyes to her face.

“You can leave me,” his voice came out raspy.

She hardly swallowed but continued undoing his shirt. His chest and stomach looked better than the back but it still was covered in cuts and some bite marks on the shoulder. A first touch of the towel on his torso made him press his lips in the thinnest line and close eyes.

The tears welled up in Violette's eyes as she focused on the wound.

She felt like she was touching the flesh of a ruthless monster.

After all she knew about him, how could she just look in his eyes like nothing happened?

He saved her today but only because he needed her.

But what will be after? What will be when she releases the monster out of his cage?

He was studying her, without even hiding. He knew he shouldn't, he knew she needed time but he also wanted her to talk to him. Just one word. Anything .

Dante stopped her hand with his. “You don't have to do it.”

Something blocked her throat. She pressed her lips together, continuing to wipe the blood from his skin. A tremor traveled through her hands, and her entire body quivered.

Dante pulled away.

“Little Witch,” he said, his voice unusually gentle. “Stop.”

He seemed to want to grab her by the hand but hesitated to touch her – he remembered how she winced at his touch before. Despite her words in front of Caidas, he knew exactly what she felt.

Her hand stopped on the clean spot under his chest. But her eyes didn't dare to lift.

“Are you scared of me?” His voice low.

Violette didn't remove her hand, instead she washed his shoulder.

“Why do you think so?” she said coldly, as she thought, but her voice cracked midway.

She lied. She wasn't even scared to death – she was completely fear-struck, fully seized with this feeling.

The truth that was hidden behind his mask just broke everything in her faith.

She was scared of him, of his actions and she was in the arms of horror just being that close to him.

She'd known he did something bad but she'd never realized how horrible his story could be…

how horrible he could be. All she could see was a monster.

Instead of the mask she saw blood all over his mouth, his hands painted in burgundy and his shirt stained with dark spots.

Everything in him seemed so dark after what she heard, after what she imagined.

“You have nothing to be worried about,” he said, his eyes lowered to her hand on his chest. “I am not a threat to you. ”

Violette's brows pulled together, the corners of her eyes crinkled as she settled her gaze on the same spot, not ready to meet his gaze yet. But she felt anger rumbling under her skin. How could she not be worried? What does he think she has to do – just forget this night?

The pinch between her brows twitched.

“What about other vampires? They want to kill me, Dante. And I am helpless, my magic is not working against them. I have nothing,” she grumbled, swiping another drop of blood.

“You have me,” he said mildly. “I won't leave you and I won't let anyone hurt you. Truly.”

“And what if they–What if you won't be able to save me?”

“I'm much stronger than you think,” he rasped. “Little Witch, when I promised to bring you back home I was honest with you. I intend to keep this promise.”

“And what are your words worth?” Her hand froze.

“I know you have no reason to believe me but I've never lied to you. I kept back, didn't reveal to you some things or twisted the truth, I admit it, but I've never lied to you and I'm not going to lie to you now. You have nothing to worry about because I won't let them even get close to you.”

Violette sighed and then ran her hand over her face, feeling like the tears would release at any moment but she didn't have strength for crying.

She was tired. She just wanted to close her eyes and then wake up, wishing all of it was a bad dream and what it takes to make all this disappear it's just for her to wake up. One simple thing.

Dante slowly pulled forward his body but she harshly flinched away as if it was a threatening move. And then he pulled back again.

The silence reigned over them.

“I didn't want this,” tumbled up from Dante’s mouth.

She finally raised her eyes to him, before quickly looking away.

“I didn't want to become… this ,” he said, turning his gaze to something else.

Violette slowly wiped another bloodstain, her gaze locked on the same spot where the blood was a second ago.

“You said you've never lied to me…” she started, her voice deepened.

“Yes, I did not.”

“Then tell me…what did Caidas mean when he said you didn't listen?”

He let out a deep breath. “Caidas claims I've never really tried to tame my–” he swallowed “—urges.

But it's not true. I've never meant to kill anyone, to become what I became.

I am disgusted by everything I did back then.

The truth is – my urge was unbearable. I couldn't get to used to it, I couldn't stop hearing the rush of blood, seeing people was a torture and I didn't have time to come to my senses as I…”

He raised his eyes to her face, finding it hard to tell the next word in her presence. The line of his jaw tugged .

“Caidas doesn't believe me, he thinks I didn't want to listen to him and was just stubborn but it's not true. I tried…I tried my best, Violette.”

Violette.

Violette…

He'd never called her by her name. She bit her lower lip before she dragged her eyes to him. The look on his face was strange, she couldn't say which emotion he tried to show or to hide. Perhaps that's what she saw earlier this night when she flinched away – he looked hurt.

She wet a towel again, carefully listening.

“If I could change everything – I would,” he said, his voice unusually gentle.

“I'd been trying to run away from home as far as I could but no matter how hard I'd tried every time I kept waking up in a strange place with my hands covered in blood. I am a monster and I would never deny it but I didn’t want it.”

“What changed now? Why do you think this time will be different?” She raised her eyes to him for a split second.

“Since I was imprisoned almost three centuries have passed.

It's not a lot for a vampire but I've tried to learn, I've lived among people and tried to bear with my thoughts and curb them.

There was a time when all I could think about was blood and hunger but it changed – I'm fully conscious, I cleared the thoughts and don't have irrepressible urges anymore.

I couldn't bear with my own mind and it was driving me insane, making me do horrendous things but I am no longer in that fatal state.

I don't want to hurt anyone. I've already done enough. I just want to be free.”

Her brows lowered. Something inside her wanted to believe his words, despite her common sense screaming how dangerous and stupid it was.

Something in his look, his voice made her believe he regretted his past, he always avoided conversation about it, after all.

She could feel the woe lingering in his heart, even if it didn't change the fact that he was a murderer.

“I don't want you to think I've never tried,” he nearly whispered. She felt his breath against her nose as she cleaned a cut on his collarbone.

“Why?” Her lashes felt too heavy to raise them up.

The words fell from his mouth like a stone, “I just don't want you to think about me this way. I don't want your attitude towards me to change.”

“But it already did,” she breathed and shut her eyes. “We can't go back, pretending it didn't happen.” Her head shook as she withdrew from him.

“I know. But I don't want you to hate me for something I did hundreds of years ago that I'd never meant to do. I don't want you to hate me, at least, not for this. You have plenty of other reasons to do so.”

She looked to the side. There was a truth in his words and she hated it'd been making her feel sorry for him, however he seemed to be so sincere. Her eyes raised, lips pressed together .

“I just want you to know, you shouldn't be scared, I will not cause you pain and I will not let anyone else do it.”

For unexplainable reasons she trusted his words. Maybe, she just didn't want to believe that he is a pure monster, that a guy she spent time with was a soulless murderer. It didn't mean she could trust him unconditionally. No. But she wanted to believe him.

“What are we going to do now?” she asked.

“We can't stay here for long. I know you're tired,” he said. “But we need to go somewhere else, far.”

Violette's brows arched down, a vertical line formed on her forehead.

She didn't want to go somewhere. Not with him, and yet it seemed like she had nothing else to do. Her eyes didn’t dare to look in his.

She didn't want to. Her fingers, her whole body, every muscle were tense and any words couldn't make it disappear.

She helped him to get rid of the daggers from his back, despite how terrible the sight was.

Dante stood up, his legs seemed to listen to him again. She remembered how fast he healed after the meeting with the robbers almost two weeks ago, it probably was in the vampire’s nature.

“I'm not done with your wounds,” she stumbled .

“It doesn't matter. We should go,” he protested. “Get all your stuff as quickly as you can.”

He left her room in seconds, leaving Violette staring at the closed door.

A lonely tear ran down her cheek.