Claimed by the Prince of Darkness

Chapter 42: Alone and abandoned

Night had fallen over Sexton, accompanied by the faint rumble of thunder whispering of an approaching storm. Inside one of the abandoned classrooms, an unconscious Ruelle lay on the cold, dusty floor.

"Why isn’t she awake yet?" demanded an impatient Alanna, her eyes narrowed at Ruelle, who continued to lie motionless. An hour had passed, but the human beneath them had not woken up.

"Maybe she’s pretending to be unconscious," one of her Halfling lackeys suggested, tossing water on Ruelle’s face—but she remained unresponsive.

Alanna wanted to inflict pain and humiliation to this stupid human immediately, not expecting she’d have to wait. She hissed, "This was supposed to be a little punishment, not a coma. I even went through the trouble of stealing the Dreamweaver. How much did you use?"

There were three Halflings in total; one crouched next to Ruelle, another standing nearby, and the third stationed outside the door as a guard. The standing Halfling vampiress held up the empty vial. The Dreamweaver potion, used to render a person unconscious, now lingered heavily around Ruelle’s face in a faint, silvery mist—a clear sign of the vial’s hasty overuse.

"You used the entire vial..." Alanna whispered in shock.

"I—I thought it was better to use enough to keep her down so that she wouldn’t cause trouble, milady," the Halfling stammered.

"You fool!" Alanna snapped at her. "This is why you’ll never be an Elite. You don’t even know how much you were supposed to use!" The Halfling shrank at her words.

She had eagerly anticipated returning to Sexton after the weekend, ready to see this Groundling grovel. But for some reason, this one stopped working for Gwendolyn. "I wanted to show what terror is. Now what am I supposed to do when she can’t even hear or see?!" she fumed.

"She should wake up soon... milady," another Halfling assured her.

"She’d better. I don’t have all night," Alanna spat at them. But five minutes later, the spoiled vampiress said, "So what if she’s not awake yet? Surely, we still can prepare her for her humiliation, so that she understands the mistake she made when she dared to stab me. Take off her clothes. Let me see how she plans to return to her room then. Hurry!"

would be provoked, believing this lousy human was trying

their mistake. One of them began by removing Ruelle’s shoes, while the other started unbuttoning

the room, pushed the door

outside, faint but growing closer. Alanna’s head snapped towards the door. To think her plan hadn’t

this, milady? Or hide?" one of the Halflings

looking around before her red eyes fell on a tall cupboard in the corner of the room. A cruel smile slowly spread her

inside the cupboard and

at the idea, then grabbed Ruelle’s limp body and shoved her inside the dusty, cramped

when you mess with me," Alanna murmured to herself with a

cupboard, Alanna walked towards the door, with her lackeys following behind. They slipped out

stretched into three

furrowed as consciousness crept back. Her eyes fluttered open, but only darkness awaited her—pressing in from all sides. Confusion washed over her, swiftly followed by

recall how she

there?

with silence, the faint rumble of thunder from outside swallowing her words. Frantically, her mind retraced her last steps—the hallway from Headmaster Oak’s office. She remembered walking alone along the dim corridor, and then—a hand clamping over her

She had been stuffed in here and

never coped well during storms; it was the season that unsettled her the most. During those times, she would light candles around

drift back to the past. She could almost feel herself shrinking, regressing

more than five years old, now stood in

you do anything right, you little nuisance?" her father spat, his

Father..." little Ruelle whispered, her voice barely audible, trembling as much as her hands, her small