An Unpaid Debt

                       'The King Of Darkness Or A King Hiding In The Dark.'

Vladimir was the most cunning, vicious, and oldest Vampire to ever roam the earth.

The lethal killing machine~ That's what they called him. But Vladimir was just a coward who had been running from those he had betrayed for his Bride.

His conscience constantly told him that he needed to look, search for the hidden and unspoken. That was what his bride was.

Hidden and Unspoken. . .

Hell! Even her parents were not aware of her existence and Vladimir was the only one to be blamed for that. . .

The King of Vampires stared at the burning timber in the fireplace as a gust of breath left his lips.

There was a time when his soul had burnt like the woods. A time when he had searched the deadly wastelands, a place that can even kill an immortal like him but he hadn’t cared. Like a man possessed he had roamed those land to search for a girl who was his destiny.

Like a madman possessed by darkness, he had fought with tooth and claws with the creatures residing in the wastelands just to get to her.

She had been there... Vladimir had felt her presence in his bones. She had been there.

So close yet so far. . .

Why does it seem like with each passing second he was losing her? When he didn't even found her? Sometimes Vladimir could feel as if the girl was in front of him. The girl had itched herself in his soul in a way that Vladimir can never save himself from her clutches.

Vladimir knew that she was gone and he could do nothing about it but his conscience won't believe it. A part of him was sure that someday he was going to find her. One day she will be in his arms and he will hold on to her tightly, he won't let go. Because losing her once was enough for this lifetime.

Vladimir won't lose her again. . .

Standing up from his chair Vladimir walked towards the wall-length mirror. Standing in front of the mirror he let the black red silk robe covering his body drop at his feet. Leaving him standing there exposed.

The Vampire King was completely smitten over a female he had never met. A female that hadn't even said a single word to him to make him hope or wait but here he was. Time had stopped for him. Everyone around him was unaware that his heart had been waiting for his bride. He wanted to get over her, he wanted to make this pain stop but he didn't know how to. . .

Vladimir stood there bare as he stared at the mark on his torso.

Her mark~

A burning butterfly~

Fierce yet soft at the same time.

A perfect blend of violet and jet-black color engulfed by angry flames. The mark was uncanny, one could even think that it was a real butterfly sitting on his torso.

The mark was the only thing he had left of his bride. She had marked him as hers but he hadn’t been able to protect her. He wasn't worthy of her mark.

Vladimir gazed at the darkness outside from the open windows while caressing the butterfly.

It was not just her mark, it was the reason Vladimir was still alive. It was a mark of hope that she was out there. There was still a chance Vladimir will have her under his protection. The mark was the only hope that was keeping him from falling into the darkness completely.

Vladimir was only a shell of the person he used to be. His heart was filled with suffering, heartache, and loss.

The King of Vampires loved his bride as certain dark things were to be loved, in secret while hiding in the shadows of his chamber, behind the closed doors.

Vladimir was a man who had cut off his arms. No one knew how hard he was trying to keep himself from falling apart. He was to be blamed for his miseries and for the pain of those who don't even know yet that what they had lost.

His eyes had run out of tears yet Vladimir felt like he still hadn't cried enough for the treasure he had lost.

The King was at war with himself~

“For how long are you going to punish yourself?” Mercy’s voice pulled Vladimir out of his thoughts.

“For as long as I carry her mark. A constant reminder for what I have lost." His words were softly spoken yet they didn't hide the fierce longing behind them.

Tracing the mark with his fingers Vladimir whispered almost to himself, his voice breaking at the end. “Sometimes it burns as if compelling me to go after her. Pushing me to find her... Sometimes it sets my soul on fire, a constant reminder of what belongs to me but I can't have.”

When he looked up his eyes collided with Mercy’s eyes in the mirror. Her eyes held warmth in them for a cold and cruel bastard like him.

Mercy stared at the King of Vampires, a man who was known to slit his enemies throat with a smile on his face was yearning for his bride behind the closed doors of his chamber.

Taking a step closer Mercy hugged him from behind, resting her face against his bareback. ”Maybe it burns to make you let it go. You haven’t even met her maybe it’s time to move on. It has been more than 16 years, my King.”

Mercy was right he had never met her but he had felt her presence deep into his bones. He had been there when she was born. Years ago only the feel of being on the same ground as his bride had nearly bought Vladimir to his knees.

What would have happened if he had met her?

"How can I fall in love with someone I had never met?" Vladimir's voice was barely above a whisper. Mercy swallowed hard at his declaration of love for his bride.

Mercy understood Vladimir because she was swimming in the same waters that were drowning the Vampire King. She longed for his love that wasn't meant for her while he yearned for a woman who wasn't in his reach.

”It has been only 17 years, 11 months, eight days, four minutes and twenty seconds since I lost her yet my heart is ready to wait for an eternity if I have to.” Vladimir sighed.

Stepping back from Vladimir Mercy blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes. She can't understand what did that woman had that Mercy lacked. She can't understand why the King yearned for a woman who he had never met yet can't see the affections and love in Mercy's eyes for him.

Why do we always have to long for what we had lost and can't appreciate what we have. . .?

How long will it take for him to let go of his Lost Bride and make Mercy his woman, not just a bed companion?

Swallowing the lump formed in her throat Mercy changed the subject. "The Royal Ball is a week away. The invitations had been sent. Do you want me to add any acquaintance of yours on the list?"

"No just stick to the old drill." Vladimir's answer was short and stiff as he turned away from the mirror and started walking towards the bathroom. The vulnerable side he had shown a few moments ago was long gone replaced by a lethal merciless killing machine the supernatural world feared the wrath of.

"You have received another Royal letter from the Queen of Wastelands." At the mention of Queen Amber Vladimir's breaths quicked and his shoulders stiffened.

Seeming to be getting a hold of his emotions he spoke after a few moments. "Burn it.” And then he was gone.

Mercy couldn't help but wonder what had happened between Queen Amber and King Vladimir. It had been more than 17 years since the last time King Vladimir visited the mysterious Queen also known as the Breaker of Unwanted mate bonds.

It was the same time Vladimir had lost his bride. Mercy doubted that somehow these two incidents were related.

Vladimir had never told Mercy how he lost his bride and Mercy had never dared to ask. It was an off-limits subject. Mercy only knew the bits and pieces that King Vladimir had shared with her in the moment of weakness.

Walking out of Vladimir's chamber Mercy absentmindedly walked through the corridors of the Royal Castle.

The Vampires bowed respectfully as she walked past them. No one was aware of the fact that the Vampire King had lost his bride except Mercy. Mercy's position in the Kingdom of Vampires was the King's mistress and personal guard.

She was respected as a Queen but she wasn't one. . .

Entering her chamber she held the Royal letter of Queen Amber in her hand. She walked towards the fireplace and threw the royal letter in it. No matter how much she was tempted to read it she wasn't going to defy her King.

Yet another letter she had burnt over the past years of a Queen that was known to be a fearsome being with an alliance of a Goddess.

A Queen who was the daughter of the Lycan King Aric & Fey Princess who was the successor to the Fey throne.

Queen Amber from the House of Untouchables, also known as the Cold Queen. Who was as cold as the wastelands that surrounded her, as lethal as the poisonous snow covering those wastelands.

The crowned Queen of witches who had a Queendom of her own. And there were rumors that she was a being with the powers of a Goddess.

A Queen who had abducted the Vampire King right from his own castle. From his Royal chamber when he had been sleeping without a care.

Mercy couldn't help herself as she stared at the burning words of the Cold Queen while wondering. 'What had happened between the Cold Queen & the Vampire King that the mere mention of her name distressed Vladimir?'

'Was the Cold Queen and King Vladimir's Bride was somewhat connected?'

'Who was his Bride? If he had never met her then how did he know that he had lost her?' 'And how did he recognized her as his woman without meeting her?'

These were the questions only Vladimir had the answers to and Mercy wasn't strong enough to question her King. No matter the bond they shared, Vladimir won't hesitate to end Mercy's life if she stepped out of her line. That was who the King of Vampire was. . .

Cold and Ruthless. . .

Yet he was also a man who sobbed for a woman he yearned for in the confinement of his chamber when he thinks no one was around.

Mercy did know which side of him had she fallen for. . .