BRAN
“You have a call from Corey.”
Bran turned towards the sound of the voice. Edgar stood a few feet away from him, cradling a phone a phone in his hand.
Bran’s phone that was currently lighting up with a call from Corey.
He sighed, walking over to Edgar and collecting the phone from him. He had wanted to call Corey and let him know the status of things after the first interrogation, but apparently, the son of a bitch was turning out to be even more hot-blooded than Bran.
He wanted his own share of the Maria Hatzi. And he was going to get it.
If only the fucker could just wait and let him have his own piece first.
Bran had barely lifted the phone to his ear when Corey spoke.
“How’s the witch?”
“Still alive.”
“Is she still in one piece?”
“Yes, although not for long.”
There was a pause. Then, “You sick fuck. What exactly do you plan to do to her?”
“Hell if I know. What I do know, is that there’s going to be a lot more torture, and a lot less chit-chat.” Bran decided to answer truthfully.
Corey inhaled audibly. “We can work with that.” As if he had a choice. “Tell me how it goes.”
A beep sounded, singling the end of the call.
Bran shook out his hand, avoiding Edgar’s look as he tossed the phone back to him.
Torturing women had never been his forte, but for this woman, he would make an exception. She deserved every hurtful thing they would do to her. He planned on summoning the most experienced torturers just for her.
He loathed her with a vengeance that he hadn’t known was possible and she was going to know what it felt like to be on the receiving end of his wrath. She had brought it upon herself the moment she decided to even come within six feet of a Karras. Anyone he cared about, even.
What a coincidence it had been that she was also the one that had wiped out Corey’s entire household. She had blood hanging over her head.
And she was going to pay for them with her’s. But first, she was going to tell him where she kept his sister.
Determination fuelled his steps as he stormed down the hallways towards her cell. With each step he took, he tried to shed off the guilt he felt. He was not going to feel guilty for doing something that needed to be done.
He was not going to feel guilty for doing everything within—and outside—his powers to make sure that he got his sister back. Even if it meant going against everything he stood for.
Even if it meant hurting a woman.
He pulled the door open, damn near ripping it off its hinges in his anger. The damn thing needed to be changed anyway. It wasn’t his intention to alert people whenever he walked into the cells and that was exactly what the door did. Groaning like it was in fucking pain.
This time when he walked in, he flipped the switch, turning the light on. The last time he was down here, he had not bothered to turn them on because they hadn’t been important. They were now. He needed her to see his face and to know that he wasn’t here to fuck around.
Not like last time when it had seemed like he was humouring her, answering her questions like he was on her payroll.
Light filled the room, drawing his eyes to the little lump on the cot.
He frowned as he walked closer to her cell. He had purposely deposited her in one of the cells with shorter beds just so that she would have to suffer and bitch about the bed being too short for her. So, how was it possible that her entire body fit into the cot?
She was tall. Almost nearing six feet, if not more. The bed was not up to six feet long. It didn’t add up.
The lump shifted and slowly, she sat up on the cot, facing the other side of the cell. Bran couldn’t see her face, but he knew that she was definitely pissed as hell. Over the pasty few days, meals had been given to her only once a day. Not that were actually meals when you thought about it. They barely took up half of the plate.
Edgar, his right hand man, and the person responsible for her feeding, had told him that she asked for a bath, which he had flat out laughed at. He wasn’t here to take care of her.
The only reason he was feeding her in the first place, was because she needed to stay alive for the questioning. After that, he didn’t give a fuck what happened to her.
“Hey, Princess.” He mocked. “Care to tell me how you’ve been faring so far?”
When she didn’t say anything and just kept on staring at the other side of the cell, his control snapped. “Answer me!”
“Go away.” She finally said weakly. “I don’t want to speak to you.”
Her voice was husky, probably from crying.
“Good thing you don’t have a fucking choice, then.” He snapped. “Here’s how its going to go, Princess. You’re going to turn the fuck around and answer all my questions.”
A minute passed, and just when it seemed like she was going to ignore him, she climbed off the cot and stood. He frowned, but before he could say anything, she turned around and faced him, effectively knocking the breath from his lungs.
Many things weren’t right.
For one, she wasn’t six feet tall anymore. She now stood at five and a half foot.
Second, she wasn’t a redhead anymore. In fact, there was not a single red on her body apart from the cloak she was wearing. She had dark hair, perhaps even as dark as his.
Third…
Third, was that the woman standing in front of him as a fucking knockout. And she was younger than the redhead he had initially abducted.
“Take off your cloak.” His voice sounded hoarse even to his own ears.
She hesitated, before silently reaching for the clasp at her neck and freeing it, letting the cloak fall around her feet. And, God save him, the moment she became bared to him under the light from the bulb, his knees weakened, threatening to buckle.
Full wavy black hair cascaded down her back, some spilling to her front and stopping at her stomach. She had pouty pink lips, the kind that promised to ruin a man, and a body that was made just to bring a man to his knees. In fact, had it not been for sheer will, he would have dropped to his knees and crawled to her already.
Bran’s eyes trailed down her spell-binding face, her elegant neck, her full breasts straining against the T-shirt she wore that had his palms fisting and opening unconsciously, her taut stomach, wide hips, bare thighs in the shorts she was wearing and finally, her pink painted toenails. Then back up.
Involuntarily, he took a step closer to the bars. He wanted to know what colour this version’s eyes were. Before, they had been blue.
Dazedly, he realised that they were a mesmerising grey.
She stuck her small upturned nose in the air, staring down it at him. He was taller than her by far and yet, she still managed to look down at him. Did she think that presenting him with a body that looked like it had walked right out of his dreams was going to distract him from what he really came here for?
Forcing himself to regain his control—which proved almost impossible, Bran cleared his throat. “What do you think you’re going to achieve with this?”
When she merely gazed at him in confusion, he fought the urge to throttle her.
“Do you usually change bodies like costumes, trying to find the one that works for you?” He couldn’t hide the anger in his voice even if he tried. “Or did you do it because you thought that you could seduce me into letting you go?”
“I—Change bodies?” She stared at him incredulously. “This is me.”
He scoffed. Did she honestly think he was that stupid?
“Of course, it is. And the redhead? Who was that?” He cocked a brow. “Your sister?”
She shook her head. “Look, I’m not wearing anyone else’s….” She trailed off. “What are your questions?”
As if he could concentrate with a body like that in front of him.
“Not until you change back.”
“I can’t!”
“Well, then, you’re only prolonging your stay here.” He was already turning away and walking towards the door. He couldn’t look at her for a second longer. “Whenever you’re ready to change and answer my questions, call for me.”
With those last words, Bran fled.
MARIAA rat scurried over to the crumbs on the plate. Maria tensed, making sure not to move a muscle, so as not to chase the rat away. She waited until it had grabbed a piece of the food before she moved, then the rat ran away. Today was her fifth day in this cell. Her fifth day away from the palace, her fifth day away from Ariti and her fifth day away from her mother. She was in this dungeon left with nothing to do, but stare at the window, watching as the sun faded away, giving way to night and then morning again. It was a cycle that never ended and the longer she sat in the cell, the longer she believed that she was going to continue watching the sunrise and fall every single day of her life. At least until she died. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to die. She just simply couldn't believe it. She couldn't accept it. Maria Hatzi did not just go from being the most powerful sorceress in this world to being a common man's capture. And then to think that he had p
MARIA She wasn’t even exaggerating when she said that she was too tired to deal with him. The meal she had eaten—if it could be called that—was something she wasn’t even sure the servants back at the palace ate. But she guessed it was better than nothing. After all, the worms eating at her stomach walls has ceased for now. “Stand up.” He commanded. She would have rolled her eyes had she found the strength. “You realise I don’t have to stand for my mouth to work, right?” He squinted as if she had sprouted a second head within the space of five seconds. “You realise I’m the one doing the questioning here, right?” This time, she did roll her eyes. As if she didn’t know that. “So ask your questions.” He looked like he wanted to bite her head off, but then he exhaled and he returned to looking like his usual hot, annoying self. She absolutely detested how much she found him attractive. It was simply a fact, staring back at her everytime she saw him that he was good-looking. What sh
BRAN“Where’s my sister?” Bran barked. He did not come here to watch her have an internal debate with herself. It pissed him off because he knew that her delayed replies only meant that she was thinking about lying to him, and he wasn’t going to have that.“Your sister?” She had the audacity to look confused.“Yes,” He snapped impatiently. “My sister.”“I’ve never met your sister in my life.”“Funny. It definitely wasn’t a meet and greet when you and your father decided to come into my realm and kill every single one of my family members, save for my sister whom you guys took with you.”He watched confusion give way to understanding on her face. So she had actually been confused, not knowing who his sister was. How many people exactly had she killed for her to have to struggle to remember who he was talking about?He watched her throat work around a swallow, her eyes trained on a spot on the ground. “T-t-this is the vampire realm?”He didn’t answer her, and that was a reply in itself.
BRAN He would go to the horses, but he was too miserable to get himself to move. And that was saying a lot.Bran was a vampire. All he ate or drank, was blood, but sometimes, when he was pushed to it or when the occasion called for it, he drank wine. It was something only the oldest of vampires could do.He grabbed the bottle of whiskey, refilling his glass as he stared at the rich brown liquid absently. Filled with the feeling of helplessness, he had resorted to drinking himself into a stupor. It was the only option that had seemed the most pleasing at the time. One of those options was going down to the cells to have another round of questioning with Maria.All of them had proved futile so far. What was the point in going?She was intent on keeping her secret. Keeping his sister’s whereabouts from him. Everyday, when he thought that maybe he would get a bite closer to an answer, she proved him wrong by telling him that she didn’t know, taking him all the way back to the start.He h
MARIA Maria jerked up from her bed when she heard the sound of the door being opened. She couldn’t believe that she was actually thinking it, but damn, she was excited to see him. She was actually anticipating this round of questioning.He had not been here in the past four days and although Edgar had been giving her her regular meals, she still felt restless. She wondered if maybe her captor was starting to get frustrated by her answers and had decided to stop questioning her altogether.She wondered if maybe he had decided to kill her seeing as she was of no use to him. But he wouldn’t feed her if he planned on killing her, would he?But then when the door slid open, it wasn’t him that walked through it, neither was it Edgar—although she had not been expecting him. The point was that, it wasn’t anyone she knew.They weren’t people she knew.Two leanly built men traipsed into the cell, both blondes, and the looks on their faces told her that they hadn’t come to chat with her.She sa
MARIA It was in that moment that Maria realised she might actually deserve what was coming for her. Was this how her victims felt when she was about to take their lives? They had to feel even worse than this because it was her hand that was going to be chopped off. Not her life.How many times had she stood before her victims with her arms raised ready to unleash hell on them?Just last week, that teenage girl had sat on the floor of the palace courtroom with her head held high ready to receive her death blow. Why couldn't Maria find that boldness now? Why was she shaking life a leaf as she watched the blade inch closer to her skin? Before today, somehow, at the back of her mind, Maria had conceded that she did evil things to people. But not once had she actually seen herself as evil. Now that she was in this position, a position even more preferable to the ones she had put people in several times, she realised that she was an evil person. Any person who could make another person f
MARIA“What?”“Give me your hand, Maria.”“Why?”“Why else would I be asking for your hand?”She didn’t know why she was arguing, really. The only reason he would be asking for her hand would be to help her treat her injuries—or to inflict more, but from the look on his face, she was leaning towards the former.The question was; why did he want to help her? Wasn’t he the same person that hard ordered the man to cut her hand?Nevertheless, she couldn’t refuse him. Not because she particularly wanted to, but because she had no choice. She really needed it to be treated. Even if it meant being civil with the one man she couldn’t stand right now. Even if it meant that he would do the treating.Why hadn’t he just asked Edgar to do it? That man treated her better than any other person on this damn realm.Gingerly, she extended her hand to him, expecting him to smirk at her cruelly and mock her. Maybe she would find out that he didn’t really want to help her. Maybe he would throw her into he
BRANThe vampire realm, unlike many of the other realms—for instance, the realm of Sorceri and the realm of Valkyrie who frowned upon the entrance of creatures that weren't of their kind—was one in which creatures of different species co-existed. Most of them didn't even live in this realm. They were either passing by and had decided to camp here for a few days before continuing on their journey and some had somehow crashlanded in the wrong realm and didn't know their way out. The Sorceri weren't friends of the Vampires, so there was no way a portal opener could be found amongst us which was why many of them that had landed here against their will, had simply started living here. Seeing as a considerate number of other species had started living here, few bars and restaurants had been established around the kingdom. Bran, when he sometimes felt like it—which was extremely rare—, visited one of the bars. He wasn't one of those uptight kings that wanted their ass worshipped whenever