Defiance: The Hybrid's Tale

Cassandra Pope.

Bursting through the doors of the living room, I rushed over to the fireplace. I clasped onto the overhead shelf, rocking back and forth on the heels of my shoes. I glared into the crackling fire. Fuck my father! How could he?! Playing with my life as if he owned it. How could I have been so naïve? I should have expected this from him. I whipped around. A young maid, no older than my nephew, scurried wide-eyed toward me when I snapped my fingers at her.

“Y-Yes mistress?” she asked in a voice reminiscent of a frightened mouse. Her eyes darted to the nearest exit, no doubt scared out of her wits. I couldn’t blame her. My father had the temper of a viper and would strike the nearest victim in a fit of rage. But I wasn’t my father.

“Don’t worry, dear. I will not harm you and you’re not in trouble.” Her shoulder slumped as a soft sigh escaped her mouth. “I want you to pour me a triple scotch on the rocks, please.” The young girl quickly scampered off, fulfilling my request.

I returned to the fireplace, lapping up the warmth from the fire. After a few minutes of silence, the young girl walked over toward me with a silver tray in her hands. I took the glass of Scotch from her and gulped it down in two swigs. I savored the burning smoky flavor of the scotch that lingered on my tongue.

Just then, the devil waltzed into the living room, accompanied by his hellhound. I shoed off the young girl before she got bit by my father’s temper. I watched as she disappeared out into the foyer. The instant my deranged brother started smirking, I threw the empty glass at him. The glass collided with his nose before it shattered to pieces on the ground. Ethan yelled in anger, gripping his nose. Blood seeped through his fingers and onto the wooden floor.

“Fuck! You bitch!” he shouted.

I pointed to the living room door. “Get the hell out of here!” I hissed at Ethan. “I don’t have the stomach to see your face.”

Before Ethan could retaliate with another slew of colorful words, my father raised his hand to silence him. “Get out.”

My brother’s beady eyes flickered between us before he huffed and stomped out of the room, with his walking corpse following behind him. She tried to coo him up the stairs. I internally snickered. Aveny would never have given a rat’s ass about him.

After their voices faded from my ears, I glanced over at my father. He stood behind the bar counter, pouring a drink. He hummed a jovial tune as if he had no problems in the world, or if he caused none. My nails dug into the palms of my hands. The bastard didn’t care. I sighed and retreated to the door. There was no way that I was willing to spend another moment in the same room as my father. If I had the power, I would have ended him there, right on the spot, but reality stared me in the face. He was more powerful than me. I had to suck it up. Pretend to follow along with my father’s wishes until I could act on my plans. If I couldn’t beat him with sheer force, I would undo him with my mind.

“Where are you going?” my father asked.

I turned around and said, “I’m heading to bed. I had enough of this evening.”

“You’re not going to talk about what happened tonight. I can see the fury of my decision flickering behind those pretty eyes of yours.” My father smirked.

I replied, “What would my outburst achieve? Absolutely nothing.” I had a better chance of forcing a dragon into submission than convincing my father to dissolve the marriage arrangement. “It doesn’t matter how much I complain or fight father on this, we both know it won’t change your mind. I had hoped that I was more than just a pawn in your game... but I see I was wrong.”

Maybe it was the anger at my father or the frustrations that my plans didn’t work out as I had hoped, but I never blatantly challenged my father. Doing so wasn’t conducive to one’s health; however, at this moment I didn’t care. If my father thought I was about to play the obedient little wife role to that asshole, he could choke on his dick for all I cared. Before I could storm out of the room, my father grabbed my upper arm.

“Do not think for one minute I don’t care about you, my daughter. True. I’m not the perfect example of a parent, but I’ve always sought to show you all the true colors of life. Life is sometimes cruel and unforgiving, and sugarcoating it would have left you weak and defenseless.”

He turned from me and then sauntered up to the fireplace, swirling the brandy around in his glass.

“You’re angry, and a lightning bolt would have struck me if you weren’t. Believe me, daughter, when I say that I didn’t throw you onto Victor and his pathetic little family just for the sake of seeing you squirm.”

“Then why? You know I can’t stand the snake. And now you want me to marry him and pretend—”

My father laughed. “I don’t care, daughter.” He took a swig of his brandy. “You don’t have to pretend to love him or tolerate him. This marriage is a business agreement and nothing else.”

Yes, and I was the convenient asset sacrificed for his ambitions.

“What does father want to achieve exactly?” I asked.

“The same that I wanted with Aveny and your brother... to coil my fingers around the chains that will bind the Von Drakes to my will.”

How cryptic and theatrical. I mentally scoffed. “And how do I accomplish it?”

My father gulped down the last of his drink and then walked past me toward the door. But before he walked out of the room, he turned to me and smirked. “It’s simple, my daughter... open your legs and give Victor an heir.”

***

I flung my bed chamber’s door wide open with a deafening slam as it collided with the wall. The bang echoed out into the bowels of the mansion, sending several of the servants racing for cover. I couldn’t give a damn! The shoes I clutched in my hands, I flung into the corner of my room. Then I began ripping off the goddamn dress. I walked into the walk-in closet and threw on a pair of sweatpants and a top.

“I heard,” Aveny’s voice echoed out into the room.

I walked out of the closet and turned to Aveny. “Of course you did!” She flinched at my bite. “Sorry, Aveny. I didn’t mean to snap at you, of all people.” I slumped onto my bed and sighed.

With a flick of my index finger, the bedroom door slammed shut.

“You don’t have to apologize. I was also in your shoes once...”

I sat up in my bed. “Do you regret your marriage to my brother?”

Aveny threw her head back and laughed. “Every day of my life. But the only thing I don’t regret is my son. If I had to do it all over again, I would, but only for the sake of giving birth to Alex again.” She gave me a slight smile.

And I believed her. After all that my father and my brother did to her, she remained strong until this point. Many times I imagined myself in her shoes, trapped in a mirror. In all honesty, I would have become mad by now. However, the possibility of holding her son in her arms again gave Aveny the determination to stay sane. I wished I had her determination. However, even thinking about being married to that miscreant made me want to throw open my bedroom window and jump out of it to my death.

“What do you plan on doing? Are you willing to follow your father’s plans?”

Shaking my head, I said, “Never going to happen. I plan on leaving this hellhole as soon as possible. That is why I need Alex’s help. The sooner the better.”

“Very well,” she sighed and rubbed her forehead, “I’ll talk to Celeste tomorrow while you entertain your future husband and parents-in-law.”

Just the words that spilled from her mouth left a bitter taste in my mouth. Goddess, give me strength!

***

A couple of loud, incessant knocks on my door jolted me from my slumber. It had taken me a while to calm down to where my fatigue had won the war against my racing mind. Who was so stupid to wake me up so early? The clock on my bedside table flashed six-thirty-three AM.

You got to be kidding me!

I threw the duvet off me and burst out of bed. The knocking continued. There was only one person in the mansion who was this obnoxious. I growled under my breath as I rushed over to the door. I yanked the door open. Before my brother could open his maw, I pulled back and then socked him in the throat. With a wheeze, he fell backwards on his ass. He held onto his neck with both his hands while glaring at me.

“What the hell! You crazy bitch!” He coughed between each word.

I smirked and replied, “This will teach you to stop fucking with me. What do you want?”

He struggled to his feet. “Father requests your presence at breakfast.”

That was new. I scoffed, rolling my eyes. My father never cared about having breakfast with any of his children. The only explanation that I could come up with was that my father was trying to suck up to the Von Drakes with me as his bargaining chip. He was trying to play the role of father of the year. Give me a break.

“Tell father I’m not hungry,” I said, trying to close the door in his face, but the irritant shoved his feet into the path of the door.

“Not so fast, sister.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his overcoat’s pocket and began wiping the spit from his mouth. “Father didn’t give you a choice. You’ll be there if you know what’s good for you.” A glint of amusement flashed across his pale face. “And besides, you don’t want your fiancé waiting.”

Another threat with a lame touch of humor. Goddess, my brother needed another hobby other than to screw corpses and suck my father’s—

“Tell father I’ll be there,” I said. “Get the fuck out of my face.”

I swung the door and slammed it into his foot. He yelled out in pain as he hopped on one leg into the middle of the hallway. I then slammed the door shut, getting ready for breakfast.