Chapter 133-A cruel reminder (2)

Chapter 133: 133-A cruel reminder (2)

"Addessa?"

Maisa’s voice pulled her attention back. Concern had replaced confusion in her expression.

She had been watching Addessa’s sudden change with growing unease. At this point, she was beginning to wonder if Addessa had some kind of split personality.

One moment she was threatening her. The next, she was asking if Maisa found her attractive. Then she was acting as though she had been struck by something invisible.

Before Maisa could say anything else, Addessa’s blood mirror suddenly illuminated beneath the water.

Addessa froze. She swam toward it, unlocked the mirror, and stared at the message that appeared.

Her stomach sank as she saw that her mother had sent her a string of messages. But it wasn’t merely a message because there was a photograph attached in the chat.

Addessa’s blood ran cold. The image showed her and Maisa dressed in almost identical color-coded outfits, walking hand in hand into the blood pool.

It looked intimate. Far more intimate than Addessa wanted it to look, the messages appeared beneath the image.

[You are supposed to be ruining the redblood. What the hell are you doing?]

Addessa’s face went pale. All blood drained from her face and her soul. She felt like she had peeled her skin and exposed her insides to the sun. Another message appeared.

[I hope for your sake that you took Maisa there to strangle her to death!]

Her fingers tightened around the blood mirror until her knuckles turned pale. Addessa felt as though the walls around her were slowly closing in.

The pressure of the Challan name, her mother’s expectations, her brother’s death and the mission she had been carrying for so long echoed louder than ever before.

For a brief moment in the blood pool, she had forgotten all of it. She had forgotten the anger she was expected to carry, the grief of losing the golden boy and she had simply existed.

And now it all came crashing back onto her shoulders at once. The weight was heavier than she remembered, far heavier.

It pressed against her chest until breathing became difficult. Her throat tightened, and she struggled to draw air into her lungs as though she were drowning despite being surrounded by blood that was supposed to nourish her.

Another black tear slipped from the corner of her eye. ’Hold it in...’ She struggled to get her mind, body abd soul to respond to her.

Among natural-born vampires, tears did not change color without reason. Their tears remained clear unless their soul had been deeply wounded.

When that happened, the tears took on the color of their blood as it streamed out of their eyes. A blackblood’s tears became black and the same applied to other bloods, and those tears were said to come directly from the soul.

Addessa quickly turned her face away, but she could not stop them. She was choking on her own breath, drowning in the very blood that was supposed to make her stronger that ran in her veins.

Was being born high-born truly worth this? Was the prestige of the Challan name worth carrying a cross that had never belonged to her in the first place?

She hadn’t killed her brother, she hadn’t chosen his fate yet somehow, she had been made responsible for avenging it.

For years, she had allowed her mother’s grief to become her burden. She had accepted every command, every expectation, every reminder of what she owed their family.

But for once, Addessa wished her mother would look at her and see something other than a weapon. For Adelaide Challan to see her daughter, just her daughter.

Did her mother ever stop to remember that Addessa Challan was her child too? That she had feelings? That she could hurt? That she deserved to be loved without having to earn it through obedience?

She deserved to be treated like a person not a tool forged for revenge. Addessa stared at the blood mirror through blurred vision.

Then the final message appeared.

[I’ve carved your brother’s name onto your arm to remind you of your mission and why you are doing this. The mark will not disappear until you do right by his grievance. Consider yourself warned.]

Addessa’s lips parted, but no words came. Her gaze fell slowly toward the arm bearing her brother’s name, Asher.

For years, that name had been used to fuel her anger. Now, it felt like a chain wrapped around her neck, choking evert ounce of fresh breath that she managed to inhale.

And for the first time, Addessa wondered whether she had ever been allowed to grieve for her brother as a sister or whether she had only ever been expected to avenge him as a Challan and fill the shoes he left behind.

Addessa stared at the name of her late brother, the confidence she’d carried into the pool completely vanished.

She wanted to disappear, she wanted the blood to swallow her whole because somewhere, somehow, her mother had been watching and now she knew that she had taken a momentary break.

Addessa slowly looked around the blood pool, her eyes narrowing as suspicion replaced humiliation.

"Who sent her the photo?"

There weren’t many vampires staying at the hacienda. Addessa quickly ran through the list in her mind. The vampires presents were Maisa, Zolani, Lumi, Varitreya, Kayden, Taratoya and Katrina.

Among them, Varitreya and Maisa could immediately be crossed off the list. Maisa was with her and she couldn’t have taken or sent that photo.

Varitreya would never betray Addessa to her mother. If anything, Varitreya despised the way Adelaide treated her and would never willingly give Adelaide another reason to tighten the leash around her neck.

Kayden was out as well. The male hated Addessa, that much was obvious, but he wouldn’t hurt her like this. First, he wouldn’t waste his time scheming against someone he barely tolerated. Second, he wouldn’t do anything that might give Varitreya another reason to worry.

As for Lumi, the blueblood wasn’t the type to tell on anyone. She was probably the most understanding vampire among them, and even if she had discovered what was happening, Addessa couldn’t imagine her deliberately helping Adelaide.

Zolani was even less likely. She didn’t have Adelaide’s blood-mirror contact information and even if she wanted to send her anything, she couldn’t.

That left only two possibilities, Taratoya and Katrina. Addessa’s expression darkened at the thought of those two.

Taratoya was selfish to her very core. She would throw anyone to a pack of wild animals if doing so benefited her. And Katrina? Katrina followed Taratoya like a loyal hound.

If Taratoya had devised a scheme, Katrina would have been more than willing to help carry it out.

Addessa’s hand curled into a fist. ’Teetee!’ Her jaw tightened. ’You’re going to regret doing this to me.’

She climbed out of the blood pool without another word. She had no bone to pick with an evil vampire and doing so was the only way she could think of to breath more easily.

"Addessa!"

Maisa immediately followed. She had noticed the sudden change in Addessa’s demeanor. The tension in her shoulders, the rigid set of her back, the way she hadn’t looked at Maisa since reading the message.

Something was wrong but Addessa wasn’t about to explain anything to her. She reached the chamber door, pulled it open, and stepped outside.

Maisa hurried after her, pausing only long enough to lock the door behind them. That single second was all Addessa needed as she took off and disappeared.

By the time Maisa turned around, Addessa had already disappeared down the corridor.

"Addessa?"

Maisa looked around. The blackblood was gone and there wasn’t even a trail to follow.

As a fire practitioner, Addessa had dried herself almost immediately after leaving the blood pool chamber. The heat of her magic had evaporated every trace of crimson water from her body and clothes before her feet had touched the floor. So there was no bloody water on the ground to follow.

Maisa stared down the empty corridor. "What happened to her all of a sudden?"

She didn’t linger. Whatever had frightened Addessa badly enough to make her flee, Maisa intended to find out what it was. She hurried after her but went the wrong way.

Only after Maisa had disappeared around the corner did someone emerge from the shadows.

Zolani stepped out from behind the pillar beside the blood pool chamber. She remained perfectly still, watching Maisa’s retreating back.

Then her eyes shifted toward the opposite corridor, the direction Addessa had taken off towards.

Zolani’s lips pressed into a thin line. A tear slid silently down her cheek as she lowered her gaze to the blood mirror in her hand.

A chat window was still open and at the top of the conversation was a photograph of Addessa leading Maisa into the blood pool chamber.

The same photograph Addessa had received from her mother. Zolani stared at it for several seconds, her fingers trembling slightly around the mirror.

"Sorry, Addie," she whispered. Her voice was barely audible. "But... Maisa... she... Zoe..."

Another tear slipped down her cheek. "I have to get my revenge on her. I can’t see you get closer to her."

Her eyes closed. When they opened again, the warmth in them was gone. "You’re just collateral damage."

And with that, Zolani lowered the blood mirror and disappeared back into the shadows.