WILD

DANTE

''Did I kill her?''

''Of course not, brother,'' she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone of voice. ''You only milked her like a cow.''

''This is no time to joke, Emily. She has been asleep for two days. You're a witch so do something.'' She narrowed her eyes at me and touched the forehead of my newest pet and shook her head. ''I'll try my best but her pulse is very faint.''

''Shit,'' I cursed. “I  can't believe I lost control. I never lose control like that.''

I would admit, I went a little overboard when I had drank from Kira.

“A little?” Emily mused.

“Get out of my head,” I seethed. Emily is a witch with the annoying ability of reading people’s minds, among other things. It's rather unfortunate that she is my sister- unfortunate for me beck I'm always at the receiving end of her many tricks and experiments. Taught by the best instructors of magic in North America, dare I say she is on her way to becoming a very powerful witch.

“She’s burning up,” Emily’s tan hands moved to Kira’s forehead. “And she’s a little sweaty too but I guarantee she’d be fine. I gave her this healing serum recommended by the Diafor mages, so next time, try not to kill her.”

I nodded wordlessly

Usually, I would never drain the entire blood of a human. I drink just enough for me to be satisfied and for them to be alive by the time I'm through. It wasn't my intention to kill her. Just a little taste, that was all it was meant to be.

''It has been 500 years, brother. One would think you would have mastered the art of controlling your bloodlust.''

She's right.

It had been 500 years since I became a monster, 500 years since King Ambrose sired me and made me Dante Rosetti- an original Pureblood and Prince of the North American coven.

A member of the Malvado.

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration, looking at my frail pet. I could hear her heartbeat. It was faint but her breathing was even which indicated she was alive. ''I don't have time to deal with this right now.''

''The wolves are still causing problems?"' Emily asked as she applied the healing serum on the forehead of my pet.

''Unfortunately. Thinking about them gives me a headache. Those fuckers killed one of my guards while he was out on patrol. They are defying the pact that was reached with father and it's maddening to see that I can't do shit to them until he approves.''

I won’t mind tearing them limb from limb because they fucked with one of my own.

Vampires and Werewolves had never been friends. Our feud dated back to the sixteenth century, during the Riolli Era, when an abomination happened-  a vampire and a werewolf fell in love. It was detestable back then, still is now, but I’ve seen a few creatures defy the inter species code.

If anyone got wind of their affair, they would have been publicly executed, but the lovers didn't care. Soon, they were with child but were advised to abort it by the oracle. Why? The oracle had prophesied that if the hybrid child were to be born, it could mean the permanent elimination of both races.

The clandestine lovers, after hearing the prophecy, planned their escape to another town. However, on the night they were meant to escape, the vampire was mauled to death by a werewolf.

Not being able to bare the loss of her beloved, the werewolf stabbed herself with a dagger, ending her life and that of her unborn child.

This led to intense hostility between the two clans and there had been mass killings of both species. 400 years later however, King Ambrose made a pact with Sebastian, Alpha of the North American Werewolves, proposing an end to the bloodshed. They both agreed to not invade their respective territories and respect the constitution which they had drawn up. To solidify this pact, a barrier was put up by Dahlia, the most powerful witch in North America. We stay on our side and they stay on theirs.

Usually, witches don’t meddle in the affairs of vampires and werewolves, no matter how gruesome the situation, but the constant hostility had affected the witch coven as a few of them were used as collateral damage.

''Have you talked to the King?''

''I did. He said he'd talk to Sebastian and get back to me.''

''Have you talked to Dahlia?''

I shook my head in the negative. Dahlia and I are currently not on speaking terms, and for good reason.

''I've done all I can for now.'' Emily said with resignation. She recited a spell and rubbed the healing serum on her forehead again. ''Again, she’s alive, however she would awaken when her body recuperates fully.''

“That’s a relief.”

“I have never seen you care this much about a human before,” Emily observed. “You’re definitely not as cold as Andre, but then again, sometimes it’s hard to read you.”

“You invade my head space yet I’m hard to read?” I joked.

“That’s not the point. The point is, I know you better than you know yourself. If you care so much about this human pet, then there must be something about her, something that tickled your fancy.”

Sometimes I hate how observant she is.

I looked down at Kira lying on my bed. She looked young, almost too young to be at the shop I bought her from. Her auburn hair sprawled on the pillow like daises in the garden, her lips tinted to match the colour of the red heels that fit her so perfectly. One look at her and I immediately felt a strange sense of guilt overwhelm me.

I'm no saint and I don’t particularly care about humans. I've killed a lot of them back when I was a young and reckless vampire who was unable to control his bloodlust. I fed from every human in sight, regardless of their age and gender. The more I drained humans, the more I craved the metallic taste of their delectable blood. It was like that for the first 100 years of my transformation until I was able to gain mastery over it.

“She is a Negative O.”

Emily gasped. “No fucking way. She’s a witch?”

“That is what I’m trying to figure out.”

When the auctioneer mentioned that Kira was a Negative O, it peaked my curiosity a bit. Negative O type blood is only prominent among the witches of North America. It doesn’t  make sense for a witch from my kingdom to  be found in an establishment where they sold humans, unless she was stripped of her powers. Even that is highly unlikely because I'd never heard of a witch like that. The witches of North America are among the strongest in the world and a very formidable force. If Kira is a witch, why was she at the Pet Shop? What’s her story? That was what prompted me to purchase her two days ago. I needed to find out more about her.

Another thing that caught my attention was the blood flowing in her veins. I could smell it when she was standing at the podium and I was thrown off balance. A lot of the Purebloods were. The scent of her blood casted some sort of spell on us judging by how our eyes immediately turned black upon seeing her.

I had attended many auctions at the shop for formality sake, but I’ve never smelt blood so….sweet yet intoxicating at the same time.

It’s no wonder the management at the shop were keeping her. She was their ‘rare gem’ and made them a lot of money in one day.

In the vehicle, once I got a taste of her blood,  it sent the control I had worked very hard to maintain straight to hell. It was addictive, like my own personal, branded bag of nicotine wrapped in a five-foot two, auburn-haired  woman. If she hadn't called my name and told me to stop, I really would have killed her before I got a chance to investigate her. 

''You would've killed her, huh?'' Emily snickered.

'Can you stop reading my mind? It's creepy.''

She stuck her tongue out childishly. ''I can't help it. Your mind is an interesting place.''

''Don't you have school work to do or something?''

''I do actually. I still can’t believe she’s a human with a Negative O type blood. That makes no sense. Again, I would suggest you seek counsel from Dahlia. She usually has the solution to everything.”

 I grimaced. “I would keep that in mind.”

She rose up to leave, tying her white fur coat with a leather belt. ''Hey, Dante, can I ask you something?''

''Shoot.''

''By any chance, do you happen to have the sapphire ring with you?''

I raised an eyebrow. ''No. Why do you want it?''

''Oh nothing,'' she waved her hands dismissively. ''Just wanted to use it for an experiment.”

Weird.

''Well, it's with father.''

She nodded. “I see. Call me when she wakes up.''

With that, she disappeared in front of my eyes, leaving me alone with my beauty of a pet.

Who are you, Kira?