Hunted

Thirteen: A Proposal

Daphne had made up her mind. It was terrible, she knew, but she had to be the parent in the situation and stop allowing her grandchildren to act so rashly. She rolled one of her heavy rings around her finger, the gold biting into her soft flesh. She didn't really have a problem with Charlotte, though the girl had been in a petulant mood since arriving, completely insensitive to how she was affecting Mattie. Daphne shook her head. He was as much the fool for putting up with her pouting, but for her to act so ungrateful after what her kind-hearted grandson had done for her, well that was... frustrating, to say the least.

For Matt, Daphne had tried to see the goodness in Charlotte, to see what he saw, but even now she could only see the damage she was doing and the potential threat she was creating. She admitted there was some change for the better in recent days, obviously hunger had finally trumped her little tantrum, or maybe she was trying a different tact in order to carve out a place among them, but it wasn't Charlotte that Daphne was ever concerned about.

Matt seemed to be spiralling into darkness, swamped by exhaustion, obsessed with her health and paranoid that his father or Elmhirst were going to come knocking on the door any day now. The latter was the true cause of his miserable state. He appeared almost as unhealthy as Freddie, and that boy was recovering from near-death. It was unacceptable. She wondered, as she often had of late, if Charlotte had more of a hand in his worries than she let on. Matt didn't sleep much, he jumped every time the phone chimed, or every time that there was a caller at the door. It was only beginning, but his fear was getting out of hand; it was eating away at him. Daphne wondered, if the little monster sleeping under her roof could be feeding his fears, or rather, feeding on them.

Daphne frowned. She was being ridiculous. Charlotte wasn't a monster, but Daphne was beginning to resent her stay with them. It wasn't Charlotte's fault she was the way she was. She hadn't chosen her life, and neither could she be blamed for what Elmhirst had made her, but that did not make her any less dangerous, any less of a threat. No – she had to make the decision, she had to protect her grandson.

Daphne gazed at the old analogue phone, clicking her tongue. If she did this, there would be no returning, and if Matt ever found out that she had taken these steps, he would never forgive her. She picked up the receiver, inwardly hating herself for becoming like the others, but she needed to protect her family. She turned the dial, easily recalling the number she had been staring at for days.

It was after two in the morning, but she didn't care.

The ringing tone chimed twice in her ear, before an answer came.

"Hello Daphne Haskins," a male voice, breathed from the ear piece. Caller id, she thought rolling her eyes. Damn modern technology!

"Good morning..." she half-smiled, suddenly confident in what she was doing. "I have a little proposition for you".

Daphne could feel her half-smile twisting into a grotesque, hungry grin, pulling across her wide face.

And she hated herself for it.

Hi, thanks so much for continuing with Altered! I know this is a short update - and that's why I am not putting it up as my official update this week (it's just a bonus, a teaser, if you will)! I promise that on Wednesday I will have a lovely long update for my up-to-date readers! As for now, please vote and let me know what you think. Can anybody figure out what Daphne is up to? Thanks so much for reading and I promise for a much longer update on Wednesday! Sorcha x