“Impossible!” She shot to her feet, but hands pushed her back down. The snarls targeted at her, the exhaustion she felt, and the surrounding guards all dimmed out of her senses as she focused only on one male.
He was the shadow that stood tall, surrounded by the entourage. He sauntered in, wearing an expression that he did not care about anything or anybody by his side. The dignified manner was more pronounced and somehow different in him than the male she had known although they looked exactly the same.
He hadn’t spared a glance at the disturbance she had caused as he continued his way to the throne-like seat in the middle of the room, which might be where the count usually accepted his guests, but now it belonged to him.
He was in all crisp white, from his tie and vest to his leather shoes. As he
The noises of vampires and humans alike roared and screamed as the guards brought her along the dark passage. Just like her way in, the human prisoners’ cries for mercy—to their vampire cellmates—disturbed her like no other, she wanted to kill every vampire guard around her.“So inhuman!” she shrieked, for the lack of a better word.“Guess what! We aren’t human,” answered one guard.The laughter followed.Like some rag-doll, they dragged her into the light, into the courtyard. “Of course, he is fine with this,” she spat out bitterly.“What the hell is she talking about?”“About him, probably. She seemed to have a thing for him.”The guards mocked.“He is fine, obviously. He’d be there soon to whip them himself.”She struggled again, raising her knees up. Before her effort took any effect, they sped up, the grass and flower beds turned shadow around her. Sharp stones scratched her exposed legs. Seconds later, her ankles touched the steps out of the back door. She was bleeding all over,
She punched him in the face and he dodged, but her fist still scratched his temple, which was as hard as steel. Red tinged in his eyes; a flicker of surprise flashed across his beautiful face.“You thought I couldn’t hit you, and here we are.”He regained his composure and muttered two words. “Of course.”“What do you mean, “of course”?”He said nothing for several unnerving seconds before he curled his lips into a mocking smile. “Of course, you’re a hunter. That’s what I meant. You ‘were’ a hunter. You are my blood slave from this point onward.”That said, his eyes roamed down her body, and this time, his expression suggeste
Danica closed her eyes to concentrate on her hearing. She tried to make out what they were saying from bits and pieces.“Why? Was that really necessary, my lord?”“Perhaps not.”“Perhaps not,” the sentinel echoed between sobs. “It pains me to see–” She opened her eyes because she could only hear leaves rustling, birds chirping, and footsteps in the distance after a while. The following events almost made her wish she hadn’t left her room. One minute she was peeking at him lounging there like he hadn’t a bother in the entire world and the next he uttered two words flatly, “Get them.”Her heart leaped to her throat. Instantly, human guards from all directions were sprinting over, separating into two directions. One was towards her undoubtedly. She raced to the back gate for her life. Two: she wasn’t sure and couldn’t care less.A couple of trees and less than ten meters sat between her and the opened gate. The entire estate was in turbulence. Shouts and screams were flying around alon
“What are you doing here? Get–get out!” She lay back down in a hurry. Water splashed. Most bubbles had popped, leaving a thin layer only. She faced the ceiling instead of him.“You were taking such a long time.” His lazy drawl made her body warmer than what the water—which was no longer warm—could have ever done. She crossed her arms to cover her chest, feeling his eyes on her. “I don’t care. Get out! I—” She got flustered.Hearing a whirl, she jerked up, exposing herself again. In the corner of her eyes, the black and slate-gray of his suit formed out of seemingly nothing. The motion had caused the illusion.He had crossed the distance between them, instead of obeying or replying to her demands. She looked up at him towering over her bathtub. His eyes were so hooded they were almost a slit, making him appear cunning. And cruel. Like a snake.“I asked, “what are you doing here?”,” she said sharply.“I owe you no answer. You’re going to serve me.”“You son of a—Ugh!” She yelped as sh
“I did nothing wrong! Please!” A voice screeched somewhere outside. “Let me go. Please. No. Fuck you!”The familiar nasal tone made her immediately rush to the nearest window. She put her hands on the glass panels. The scene in the garden confirmed her thought: it was Monica, in two pieces of clothes that barely cover anything, twisting wildly in two guards’ grips who were hauling her along. “Do you see that?” The sudden breath into her ear nearly made her jump out of her skin. “Imagine the hell she’d have to go through…” His lazy drawl suggested he didn’t have a care in the world. “If only you are not so stubborn…” Monica continued to struggle. They were sending her to the dungeon. This shouldn’t be happening. “Leave my friend alone. She has nothing to do with this.” She slammed the glass panel in frustration. This was her fault.“Why?”She spun around and ended up in his arms. He had been standing too close. She took a step back, which only sent her up against the glass panels. T
She nestled her head into his short, jet-black hair. He had taken away her dignity step by step. She had nothing now. “Ma-master,” she stuttered. “That’s good. Say that again,” he encouraged softly. “Master,” she repeated. This was where she had truly lost her sense of identity. His hand cradled the back of her head. She felt her being pulled away from him, just enough she could see his face. His lips were red and shiny, painted with her blood. Combined with the pale skin, he looked utterly terrifying, but that face and that body would never lose the seduction they held. Her eyelids became so heavy. Still, she was well aware of his devouring gaze that trailed her face down to her waist, where the robe hung loose. When his eyes returned to her face, she wondered if he was going to tear her apart down to her soul. “To answer your question,” he rumbled. “You may go. You need rest. Before we depart.” Rest. That felt like a command. She yawned, and the world faded away before sh
Within two short days, since she signed the slave contract, she might have lost her senses. His hushed warning sounded ominous, dangerous, and seductive. She leaned into his touch instead of pulling away when he flopped her down on the leather seat.Her brain still felt foggy when she saw him sitting up and alert across the seat. His fangs protruded along with his claws. His eyes glowed fiercer than ever. A predator encountering something that challenged his power, his stance suggested, and he would be merciless, destroying the rivalry.“What’s wrong?” she asked.His glowing eyes leaped to her sharply as though the answer was within her. “Me? Or are you suggesting I’m in danger?” She couldn’t believe she giggled.It was just a weird idea growing in her. Her life was over since she had met Reign. She had ended it for good when she drugged him and put the horrendous spell on him. She had become a criminal, then a blood slave. There was nothing she could do, or rather she would want to
This was nothing to her. Throughout her life, she had unavoidably hurt herself. She even missed those times as odd as it sounded; fighting, hunting, and everything about it. A sadness flicked through her.On his end, his eyes were full of intent—dark and palpable—as he watched her pick up the knife without much hesitation. There was more to this demand of his, wasn’t there? As much as she wasn’t afraid of this amount of pain, she struggled with her earlier idea, again.Sadness and anger battled in her heart. He had handed her an actual weapon, on his own accord. The hilt of the knife in her grip liberated her from the haze of desire and lust he had wrapped her in. She tried to hide the grisly hope so that it would show on her face.She placed the sharp end of the blade on her palm, with
When he led her down the stairs, she eyed Marie, who was biting her lips and giving her a conspiratory look. An hour later, she was in his mansion, having lost the crowd at last. Marc and Loyd arrived with Marie, Both whining they would have come sooner if they had known. In the garden, they sat down for dinner, five of them. Reign asked Mr. Hacke to join and the old man cried before he took a seat at the table. “You’re coming with me back to the kingdom, my darling,” he announced, in the middle of their noisy chats.“Am I? Why?” she set down her fork. “Are you…giving me orders? Already?”He tilted his head, candle lights half-shadowing his face. “If you’d love to stay behind, of course you can. I’m not giving you an order. Chaos could break out soon without me or you with the remnants of…” he halted as though searching for words, “my enemy. I simply thought you’d agree with me to come along.”She looked down at her plate.“I’m sorry I brought this up at our engagement dinner.” He k
“Cut!” the director’s voice boomed. Nova slumped her shoulders and dared a peek at his direction. This was the 51st take of one single scene and the sunlight was burning her in her voluptuous Snow White costume. This was how a vampire would feel under the sun, she thought sarcastically. “Snow White’s supposed to be sad thinking about her late mother.” he shook his head. “You looked freaked the hell out. This is her birthday. She is ‘lonely’. Again!” Her jaws felt so stiff, almost paralyzed with trying to get into that sad smile the director wanted for hours straight. Before she was ready, the director shouted, “Action!” She looked at the giant birthday cake and sighed. “Happy 16th Birthday, Princess,” said the co-actress. She smiled wryly, or tried to. Thankfully, it worked! “Cut.” Director Clark rose from the chair. “Good job, everyone.” She exhaled in relief, before slumping down into a nearby chair. For today’s scenes which started at six am in the morning, she had to wake
“Wait, Your Highness! Your outfit! How silly of me.”The woman gestured to her assistants, who gingerly carried what she was going to wear for this evening over to her. She stared at her dress in a daze; it was easily the most beautiful gown she had ever seen. The sleeveless, low-cut dress was neither black nor silver, or both perhaps. It shone whenever it moved in their hands. Delicate forest green laces were sprinkled with…diamonds.She swallowed the urge to refuse it, biting down on her lips not to slip that it was too expensive and she couldn’t accept it. Unlike the other dresses she had received from him, this felt so different. This gorgeous dress was full of his adoration for her; she looked away, blushing at her thought.After she put that on with their help, she stood before the mirror they had removed from her wall. Her lips were a few shades darker than her red hair; her cheeks appeared naturally flushed; and her eyes looked glittering, just like all the jewels over her bod
“What is it?” she questioned, pretending to be angry. “You have nothing to be jealous of, do you?”“I wouldn’t dare, Your Royal Highness,” Marc joked. “It’s just, you guys were not even kissing, but the tension was so high. We were afraid you guys might burn down the building.”“Yep. Yep,” Marie agreed vehemently.“You guys trust him now?” interrupted Sage. “Stop, Sage,” protested Marc, but the other one continued, “And you, you don’t care about her. Why are you even here?”Danica was worried Reign would do something to him and prepared to stand between them.But, he merely responded, “I am starting to regret that I healed you. I probably should’ve let you crippled for your entire life.”She spun around and faced him. “You healed him?!”“Yes, my darling,” he smiled, lighting up the entire apartment, or the entire building perhaps.“The vampire prince—sorry—king could smile?” Loyd remarked, sounding dumbstruck.“I’ve seen him smile,” retorted Marc.“I’ve seen it on the net too. But, i
Patrons went back to their noisy selves although several were still staring at her. “Who cares if you’re someone’s fiancee or not?” he grinned. “By the way, did he tell you? That I saved his life.”“Yeah, Marc is a hero,” said Loyd, looking at him fondly. “He saved the vampire king’s life.”She took the glass Marie was handing her. “Now that I think about it, yeah, he almost told me about you. I think he was saying, “Your friend...” when I started screaming about going back.”“You shouted at him. Now you’re a hero,” Loyd pitched in. She noticed some tables went silent around her. She ignored them and swallowed. The scene in the throne-room from five months ago replayed in her mind.“Thank you, Marc,” she said seriously. “What did you do?”“It’s nothing,” he sighed. “Compared to what he had suffered. I’ve never met someone like… your boyfriend. He’s your boyfriend, right? Excluding Loyd obviously; he is the most amazing. Anyway, I was at the palace gate when the evil vampire king was
After a long, frustrating flight and drive, Danica was finally back in Brickland, Umbre. Along the way, she had yet to meet a single person who did not recognize her as an alleged-criminal-turned-princess. Some stared at her, whispering between one another, and others–especially teenage girls–would surround her and try to take photographs with her, and of her.“I don’t want you to take my pictures. Please. Please!”Nobody gave a damn. They would press their faces next to hers and would take selfies while her face ended up grimacing or contorting. A few would caption their photos and upload them to their social media accounts, right under her eyes.Their hashtags, #withcc, #ccandme #atairport, #milestonemoment, etc., etc. CC meant Cinderella Convict, apparently to someone who practically shouted that to her face. One group of teenage boys even asked her, “Are you hungry now? Do you want to bite me?”“No. I don’t have bloodlusts.”“Really?”They looked disappointed while some girls gav
In the wind, his sentinel cloak was flapping. It tickled her calves below her nightdress. The garden below was in pandemonium just like in the tower. She registered all those noises vaguely while she was too aware of the single presence, the male holding her.“We’re going back in,” he warned.In one swift movement, he lifted both of them back into the tower. Once their feet touched the bathroom floor, he stood face to face with her and leaned down gently, cornering her against the half-broken window. Along the ragged window frame, he placed his hands, seemingly unaware the sun was hurting them.She stared when he spoke, unable to take her eyes off of him.“I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight. It was my fault,” he murmu
That did not surprise her. All of Fragor’s followers hardly consider her a princess anymore since they realized what she was for their king: a device. This sentinel must think the same. He must not feel the need to grace her with a response.She left the chair and went to the wardrobes where she had found the blanket, all along feeling a hawk-like gaze on her back. It seemed her remaining few days would be even more suffocating than her previous days. While Eirene hadn’t given a damn about her well-being, she had kept her good company most days.This new person… she sighed, placing the blanket in the far corner where she had found it. She went to the bed and sat down in the middle. There was no scenery to look out. No sunlight. She had wondered how the sun would feel against her skin since the seal on her arm was gone and she was a hybrid. Hours must have passed while she was sitting on the bed and the person at the door had yet to move at all. She got down from the bed to take a bath
Danica did not blink at the word, ‘the ritual’. She did not care what he was going to do with her. Footsteps retreated and footsteps entered while she did not bother getting up from the floor. Pulling up her hood, her new attendant stopped by the bedside; she did not look like an attendant at all.“You know…” said Eirene. “I came here to kill you.”“I know,” she mumbled. “How do you know?!” her eyes widened.Danica got up, holding onto the edge of the bed to support herself. Her limbs felt heavy after days of no movement. “I saw you in the crowd the other day.”“You couldn’t have possibly known my—”“Here…” she looked at her in his glowing eyes. “I’ve been a hunter for years. I could at least spot someone who wants to kill me. You probably thought I was a dumb bitch, didn’t you? How convenient you want to kill me. Do it now.”Eirene showed her fangs. “No. I changed my mind. You deserve to live suffering.”“Oh…” she breathed, disappointed. “Your father let me in even though he knew I