Chapter 9

Three years later… 2017

"What is it, Sam?" I asked, looking up at the closed door with a groan, putting my head down onto my hands as I heard his footfalls coming up the stairs and towards the study where I was trying to work on a case. 'This girl will be the death of me.' I thought as I heard him reach the door to the study, taking a deep breath before holding my hand out, knowing exactly how the next few hours of my day would be going. 'Sam comes in, shows me a text from the guards on that brat of a girl, and I have to leave my work again to tend to the brat.'

"Lucifer, she snuck out of the house," Sam said with a sigh as he walked into my office, tossing his phone across the room and into my outstretched hand, holding my jacket out to me with a knowing snort.

"Of course, she has," I growled under my breath, looking down at the text messages from the guard. There was a picture attached of the black-haired girl who made my life a living hell, every waking moment of her existence, through the window of someone's house, drinking. "Stay and finish the Vince case, Sam," I said as I stood a bit too quickly, causing my chair to go hurtling through the window behind my desk.

"You sure have a thing with busting out windows, don't you? Try to remember; she is a human," Sam warned faintly as I ran past him; dodging the phone, I hurtled at the back of his head with a chuckle.

"Couldn't take a single weekend off, could you?" I mumbled as I jumped into my car and slammed it into drive, speeding down the driveway as quickly as the car could accelerate, heading towards Bast's house as quickly as I could. "Every fucking weekend with you!" I growled, punching the steering wheel, as it was the only thing I could do to stop myself from running all the way to her house, as I hated being confined in the car, especially when I was in a less than pleasant mood.

After taking a few moments to calm myself down, I pulled out my phone and dialed Bast's number, taking calm and calculated breaths as I listened to the line ringing. 'She better not-' I started to think but cut myself off with a laugh when the line disconnected, telling me that she'd seen my call and purposely declined it.

Just as I started to open the app to track her phone, her phone number flashed across my screen, signaling the incoming call. I waited until I could make sure I was calm before hitting accept, sighing when I heard the muffled sounds of a party ongoing in the background.

"At a party, Bastet?" I asked her coldly, making sure not to let any emotion seep out through my voice, keeping it as stern and sober as I could muster.

"Yes, Damien, I am at a party. I'm fifteen years old, not five, okay? Teenagers go to parties! Just... Leave me alone." Bast's sweet as honey voice said through the speaker, breaking down my every border the moment she spoke. 'Why does she have this power over me?'

"Bastet, if you were at a party that I would approve of, you wouldn't have snuck out of your house," I said as I pulled into the driveway of the boy's house that she was at, looking around the yard at all of the hundreds of illegal deeds and substances I saw being done all around me. 'Why must you attend parties with such delinquents?' I thought with a scowl as I walked to the front door.

"You're here, aren't you?" Bast mumbled softly, then remained silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Lucifer, if I only went places that you approve of, I wouldn't have a life. Kind of like the life I'll have when you kidnap me. You already bought my future, Lucifer; the least you could do is let me have my present." She added before ending the phone call.

I looked down at the phone in my right hand, then to the doorknob in my left hand, considering for a long few moments which I should choose. 'She's right. I will be her future.' I thought, then nodded as I released the doorknob and walked back to the car. Rather than getting in and leaving, I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning on the hood of the vehicle. 'I only wish she would understand that I will not force anything upon her that she does not wish. She will be living in the house of a multi-billionaire, only seconds away from anything she could wish to have. I cannot think of a single soul who wouldn't jump at that chance, other than Bast, that is.'

"Hey, you look lonely. I could help with that." A teenage girl said with a giggle as she and her friend walked up the driveway past the car, stopping in front of the garage doors to gawk at me.

I eyed the two girls with a scowl, taking in their much too short skin-tight dresses and their much too tall platform heels with a look nothing short of disdain painted on my face.

"Your flesh holds no appeal to me, teenage whores, be gone with you," I responded with a glare and a dismissing wave, but much to my chagrin, the girl didn't seem to have any intentions of taking no for an answer.

"I saw the way you were looking at me, and I love older men." The girl gasped as she threw herself towards me, trying to jump into my arms, but couldn't as I side-stepped her and let her run into the car instead.

"Leave, little girl. I've no time for your drunken stupor." I said with a sigh, shaking my head as she started to walk towards me. 'These are the type of people Bast spends her time with? Girls with no sense of self-worth, willing to throw themselves at a random man because he owns an expensive car?'

"Come on, Val, get away from that guy!" Her friend gasped from up the driveway; her eyes widened like a doe in headlights as she watched me.

"Yes, listen to your friend, Valerie," I said, side-stepping her once more, watching her as she reluctantly gave up her futile chase and walked up the driveway with her friend, blowing me a kiss with a wink as she closed the front door.

"Shameless harlot," I growled as I pulled a cigarette out of my pack and lit it, leaning against the car once more with a sigh. 'I should be working, but as always, Bast is being rebellious, and it's up to me to clean the mess before it begins.'

"Really, Damien?" Bast gasped, making me toss my cigarette out before looking up to the front door where Bast was standing; her emerald green eyes locked onto me with such intense hatred; I felt a chill crawling through my spine when I looked into her eyes.

"Is it Damien, now?" I asked with a chuckle as I pushed myself off the hood of my car, watching her as she came stumbling towards me; her green eyes hazed over, telling me that she'd done exactly what I was worried about. "What did you take, Bast?"

"Hmm? I dunno," She responded with a shrug, then grinned as she jumped into my arms, wrapping her arms and legs around me as she pressed her body against mine.

"Bast, get off of me," I warned her softly, gritting my teeth as I felt her soft flesh through her shirt, nearly driving me insane at the simple thought of what lay beneath her thin clothing. 'Wait, thin clothing? What the hell does she think she's wearing?' I thought as I pulled her off of me and sat her down on the hood of the car. Bast was wearing a very flimsy pair of leggings and an oversized hoodie, but nothing beneath them, from what I could tell. "What, pray tell, is that?" I growled, pointing out the mark on her wrist.

"It's a fake tattoo, Damien; calm down." Bast groaned with a roll of her eyes as she readjusted the way she was sitting, then held her hand out to me, watching me curiously as she waited.

"I will not calm down, Bast. It's September! It is much too cold out to wear so little. Why are you not wearing your undergarments while outside of your home?" I asked her, crossing my arms over my chest, glaring at her hand until she put it back by her side.

"Whatever," She sighed with a roll of her eyes, then smiled as she looked up at the starry sky, putting her hands in the air as she laid back on the hood.

"Bast, what did you take?" I asked her as I took her face between my hands, pulling her to sit back up, searching her hazy eyes for an answer I already knew I wouldn't find. "Hey, Bast!" I gasped as she passed out, her eyes rolling back into her head as she went limp in my arms.

"Calm down, Jesus." Bast groaned as she slapped my hands away, pushing me to move away from her as she laid back down on the hood, smiling as she waved her hand slowly in the air.

"I am taking you to the hospital, flush that poison out of your system," I said after watching her for a few moments, my lip twitching in disgust when I saw the way she was acting. 'Has she no respect for her body? How could she put such filth into a body she had any respect for?' I thought as I lifted her into my arms, ignoring her as she tried to wriggle free, setting her in the passenger seat before grabbing her seatbelt to fasten it into the holster. As I leaned over her to clip her seatbelt into place, she took my face between her hands and pulled me to her, moaning out against my lips as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, pressing herself against me. "Bastet, stop."

"Don't act like you actually want me to stop," She smiled against my lips, gasping out with a pout as I put a hand on her shoulder and shoved her as softly as I could, pushing her back into her seat before clipping the belt into place, and closing her door as quickly as I could.

I walked around the car as slowly as I could, taking the time to gather myself before confining myself in a car with her, as I could not fully trust myself not to say something I'd regret.

"What's the point in buying someone if you don't even get what you paid for?" Bast asked after waiting for me to reverse down the driveway, just as I was switching the car into first gear, causing me to slam my foot down onto the accelerator much harder than initially intended, causing the car to go hurtling forward.

"Never speak of yourself in such ways," I growled softly, gripping the steering wheel as I turned the next corner, shaking my head. "I did not purchase you for my needs."

"Oh, so why did you purchase me, Damien? A rich vampire guy like you doesn't have many uses for a human, so other than a blood-bag whore, why else would you have purchased me?"

"Blood-bag whore, huh?" I repeated with a snort, sinking my fangs into my tongue, using the pain to stop myself from reacting adversely, as I knew she was under the influence of an unknown drug, so I did not know if this drug was to blame for her attacks. 'I did it to protect you, Bastet. There are those who will do anything they can to bring me down, including hunting down my bloodline, to remove me from my position. I can't very well tell you any of that, can I? No, I can't. It may just be better to allow her to think I purchased her to make her my bride.'

"Where are you taking me?" Bast asked suddenly, bringing my attention out of my thoughts and back to her.

"The hospital, as I said previously."

"Don't take me to the hospital!"

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't exactly take legal drugs, Damien. Not to mention, it's a serious waste of the two hundred dollars I spent buying them. Just take me home. Drugs wear off on their own."

I started laughing when she said this, as it was the only thing I could do without killing or seriously injuring multiple people. "Two hundred dollars’ worth, huh? I am not going to let you sit under the influence of drugs just because you wish to get your money's worth." I finally responded with a snort of amusement as I pulled into the parking lot of the ER entrance, slamming the car into park before turning to look at her.

"Come on, please?" She begged, her green eyes widening into twin saucers, her lips forming a pout as she clasped her hands together in a show of plea.

"Pout all you wish, Bastet, but I will not allow such things. Not while I have a say in it."

"Okay, but you don't have a say in it. I already took the drugs, and an IV drip won't negate the effects, anyway."

"That is precisely the point in an IV drip, Bast!" I laughed out, shaking my head as I got out of the car and walked around to her side, opening the door for her. "I know you can walk, and so you will do so."

"Damien, please. You aren't my legal guardian, which means they'll call my parents. The entire point in sneaking out is so that my parents don't know. You can get the bags and self-medicate me at home. Please! Don't take me into the hospital, Damien. You don't have to live with my parents; I do."

I kneeled next to the passenger seat, searching her eyes for a long few moments, trying to find any signs of deception, but found none, which only worried me more. "What do you mean, Bast? What do your parents do to you when you get into trouble?" I forced out through gritted teeth, as the longer I searched her eyes, the more pain, and fear I found in them.

"Please, just... don't make me go in there!"

"You will allow me to give you an IV?" I asked her after a few moments of hesitance. I didn't very much like the idea of doing it, but it seemed preferable to forcing her to go into the hospital. She always acted out, but when I pissed her off, she could make today seem like a pleasant stroll in the park, compared to what she could do if she wanted to.

"Yes, I'll be good!" Bast pleaded, nodding her head vigorously in agreement as she watched me, searching my eyes as if she thought I would change my mind.

'I cannot believe I'm agreeing to this,' I thought as I nodded and took a step back, waiting for her to fasten her seatbelt before closing the door and walking into the hospital. I looked around for a few moments before finding an IV bag, a needle, and a stand to put it on. Though theft wasn't a part of the plan, it seemed as though the nurses and doctors bustling around me were too busy to notice what I was doing, and so rather than bothering them, I shrugged and left the emergency room to head back to the car.

"Bastet!" I called out as I got to the car, looking around the parking lot when I saw that she wasn't in the car anymore and had instead walked a few car lengths away, sitting on a parking block, smoking a cigarette. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Smoking a cigarette. What does it look like I'm doing? I figured you'd flip your lid if I smoked in your car, so I came over here." Bast responded with a nonchalant shrug without looking up from her phone, which she was scrolling on mindlessly.

"Is that from my pack? Great, now I'm supplying a minor. Put it out, Bast, and get back in the car."

"Supplying a minor? That's what you're worried about right now, Damien? Jeez, you should get your priorities in order."

"I am not the one with mixed priorities, Bast. I would say you win that cake, seeing as how you are currently under the influence of an unknown substance. Not only did you sneak out, but you got caught." I retorted with a chuckle of amusement as I drove back towards her house, watching her out of the corner of my eye.

"It's not unknown to me, just you." She mumbled almost inaudibly, telling me that she didn't intend for me to hear it, but seemingly forgot that I could hear her in any case.

"Is that supposed to make it better?" I asked her, then sighed as she rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, refusing to so much as look at me, let alone respond. "If you do not wish your parents to know, how did you plan on getting back into the house?"

"Same way that I got out of it, obviously," Bast said with a sigh, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe that I felt the need to ask such a question, then led me around to the back of the house, scaling a tree to climb into her bedroom window.

"Yes, obviously." I gasped out, feigning shock before walking back to the car to gather the equipment, then carried them upstairs and into Bast's room, where I nearly burst out laughing when I saw the way she was gawking wide-eyed and horrified up at me.

"What was the point in making me climb the tree if you were going to just waltz in through the front door?" Bast gasped out, motioning to her bedroom door as I closed it.

"You wanted to sneak out of the house; you can sneak back into it. Not to mention, you said that you didn't want your parents to know that you'd snuck out, correct?"

"If I walked into the front door with you, they'd be too scared to say a single thing about it."

"Perhaps, but it is too late now, isn't it?" I responded with a shrug as I set everything up around the bed, then motioned for Bast to lie down. 'Wait a second, no, something is different.' I thought, narrowing my eyes as I watched her, searching her face to try and figure out what was different. It took me a few seconds before I realized that her eyes seemed more glazed than previously, telling me that somehow, I hadn't known that she had any substances on her. "You took more? Are you- Seriously, Bastet, why?"

"Because I can," Bast sneered in response, her light green eyes gleaming with laughter that I didn't particularly appreciate seeing.