8
Piper
The look on Morpheus’s face was priceless. If I could bottle up this moment and keep it forever, I would have in an instant., Unfortunately, I only had this moment and I was going to enjoy it while I could.
“Kill me?” Morpheus choked out, grabbing at his face and neck. “Please…your excellencies, I have been nothing but a faithful servant to the council for many many years.” He lowered himself down to his knees, his voice becoming cracked and pained. “You would kill me while you would let these t…traitors go?”
Tuma jerked to his feet. “You would dare question the council’s decisions?”
Morpheus held his hands up, his eyes wide. “No, no. Of course not. I am simply wishing to know what grievance I have committed to cause my sentence to be so…permanent?”
Tuma walked toward Morpheus, his cane clacking on the floor with each step. “Not only have you betrayed your own kind by passing information about one to the other, but you have on more than one occasion been reported to have been conducting illegal blood activities here at your club.”
The club owner’s mouth dropped open.
Illegal blood activities? I couldn’t fathom what that could be. Knowing Morpheus, it was probably worse than anything I could imagine.
“Furthermore,“ Tuma continued.
SPLAT.
I blinked at the thick chunks that were once Morpheus’s brain as it slid down my face. I swiped a hand over my face trying to clear as much of it off all the while thinking, “Don’t freak out, don’t freak out.”
The others were hardly bothered by the sudden explosion of Morpheus’s head, each of them shifting away with distaste while Odette giggled and clapped her hands. Tuma sighed begrudgingly and turned to Caleb.
“You could have at least let me finish.”
Caleb angled his head to the side. “Why? You need not explain yourself to him. And besides the vote was two to one as it were. He was going to die either way. I simply sped things along.”
“Still there is an order to these things you cannot simply…”
While Tuma and the other council members argued over how long to wait to kill someone when they have been sentenced, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the headless body of Morpheus.
Blood and gore shouldn’t bother me. It wasn’t exactly anything new. I’d cause quite a bit of it myself. Except for some reason having someone I knew - even if it was someone I hated - killed just like that without moving a muscle made my stomach roll.
Tuma said my name but it was as if it were muffled. I could barely hear it over the thundering of my own heart. The room felt hot and I feared I’d sweat through my clothes once again. How embarrassing.
“Miss Piper,” Tuma’s voice came through more this time. I blinked up at the vampire who seemed quite concerned.
I blinked a bit more, turning my head from side to side to see everyone staring at me. The guys had moved in close to me but not touching me while Odette stared curiously at me. Caleb didn’t seem to give two shits about me. Not that I expected him to.
“I’m alright, thank you.” The guys weren’t so convinced. I waved them off as Tuma moved back to his seat.
“My apologies for the mess,” Tuma grimaced at the remains of Morpheus as if it hadn’t just been one of them. “Where were we?”
I licked my lips, my mouth felt like I’d swallowed Cotton balls. “Discussing our punishment?”
“Ah, yes,” Tuma breathed, crossing his legs once more. “What do we do about you seven?”
“I like them,” Odette piped in with a gleam in her eyes. “I want to keep them.”
“Now, now, Odette,” Tuma clicked his tongue. “They are people not dolls.”
“I am curious to how this arrangement works.” Caleb circled his fingers before him, staring at all of us in a kind of deranged manner. As if we were some kind of circus freaks.
“I do not understand what you don’t understand about it.” Antoine finally graced us with something helpful to say. “She belongs to us and we to her.”
“And you love her?” Caleb asked, his head tilting even further to the side. “How curious.”