MARIA
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
BRAN If the man’s aim had been to pique Bran’s interest, then he had succeeded and that was the only reason he was still breathing right now.Bran’s heart raced in his chest in hope, but his instincts told him that he should be careful. He knew better than to easily believe this strange man. For all he knew, the man could be lying to him.And Bran was in the absolute worst mood to deal with a liar.“My sister?” Bran asked, releasing the pressure on the man’s neck in order for him to speak.“Yes.” The man gasped, choking. “Princess Iris.”Bran’s face tightened in anger at the mention of his sister’s name and pain lanced through his heart. Without knowing that he was doing it, his fingers tightened around the man’s neck to the point of constriction and the man’s eyes bulged out so much that he thought they were going to pop out.He dropped his hands and the man staggered back several steps, clutching his neck as he dragged in breaths both through his nose and his mouth. Bran didn’t spa