Wicked Vampire Prince by Bella Klaus

Chapter Twenty-One

My spine stiffened, and I stepped back, my gaze locked in Draco’s glare. He knew. Knew I had returned to the temple and met his enemy. Knew I was setting him up. Knew the building was surrounded by dozens of enforcers and mercenaries, ready to cart him to jail.

All thoughts of the doll vanished into the ether, replaced with a sense of creeping dread. It spread across my skin like frost, making it tighten into goosebumps. What was the point of resentment when he could punish me in an instant for my betrayal?

How long ago had he noticed I was gone? Why hadn’t he reached out to me through our mental bonds? Questions like that tumbled through my mind with the speed of an avalanche.

Draco stood with the same eerie stillness from the day we first met. His mind brushed mine with tendrils of smoke, but he remained silent. Pressure built up between my ears, urging me to say something, anything to distract his attention from my treachery.

He raised his brows. “Is your elevated heart rate an indication of panic, or are you just pleased to see me?”

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Long enough.” His voice was a low growl.

“Something terrible has happened,” I blurted.

His eyes narrowed. “Speak.”

“The landlord broke into our suite and attacked me.”

Draco swept his gaze down my form before glancing at the door, which showed no signs of being forced open. He turned back to me, his features expressionless.

“You say that while standing before me, a picture of radiant health.”

Every ounce of moisture escaped my throat, but the little voice in the back of my mind urged me to speak. For once, I wasn’t lying. “He had keys.” I placed my hands on his chest. “And when he cracked my skull—”

“What?” Draco hissed.

I bowed my head and rested it against his shoulder. “The landlord dragged me to the basement and tried to make me undress.” My voice shook with the remembered terror. “I refused, and he threw me against the wall. That’s how I got the fracture.”

Draco cupped my cheeks, tilted my head, and gazed deep into my eyes. “You’re telling the truth.”

I swallowed hard. “I used a secret entrance to the temple and got one of the healers to tend to my wounds, but then I came straight back.”

“Are you alright?” he asked in a voice as soft as a caress. “How did you survive?”

“You’re going to hate me when I tell you.” I lowered my lashes, unable to withstand the concern in his eyes.

“Yana?” His voice halted. “Where is the landlord?”

“I killed him.”

He blinked, his eyes widening. “How?”

I bowed my head, my breath becoming ragged. Everything I said would be streaming straight to King Valentine. How on earth would he react when he discovered I’d tricked him into getting me a pardon for the murder of one of his subjects?

“Yana,” Draco said with a sharp command.

“Please, don’t ask.”

“Then show me.”

With a nod, I walked to the door. Draco kept in pace with my strides, his heated gaze burning the side of my face. I gulped mouthful after mouthful of air, trying to remain calm, trying to act like the worst thing I’d done today was kill a vampire in self-defense.

As we continued through the hallway, I wondered why none of the mercenaries had made their move. Perhaps King Valentine’s description of Draco’s immense power had made them cautious. Nobody but me knew how much Draco had lost when the phoenix burned his body into ashes. But then, I hadn’t yet seen Draco fight.

“Did you secure a wardbreaker?” I asked.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. “I should have brought you with me to the black zone.”

My gaze snapped up to meet his eyes. “Why?”

The heat in his gaze warmed my heart. “You’re the most precious thing I own.”

Thing. Own. Precious. I clenched my teeth. Most people would refer to me as a person, not a possession. “Is that what I am to you?” I said, my voice tight. “Will I one day end up in a cage or a vault like that golden tortoise?”

He gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I only saw one of your vaults, but that creature looked alive.”

Draco rubbed his chin. “I must admit to collecting rare and precious objects. Many of them are gathering dust, but I would never keep one as exquisite as you in a vault.”

My jaw tightened, as did every other muscle in my face. I tore my gaze away from the irritating creature and huffed. Why was I getting angry when King Valentine was going to arrange for someone to sever our bond?

All I needed to do was convince Draco that I wasn’t trying to betray him, then I’d goad him into tasting my blood. After that, I could return to the temple and never have to worry about vampires.

As we continued down the stairs, the temperature dropped, and the fine hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. My breaths turned shallow, and trepidation wrapped around my neck like a garrote. I rubbed the base of my throat. Shouldn’t it be getting warmer as we moved closer to the furnace?

The basement was dark, and the only source of illumination came from the furnace at the end of the hallway. My heart thrashed in my chest like an injured bird, and my limbs trembled in sync with the rapid beats. I leaned against Draco’s side and tried not to retch at the sensation of my stomach trailing over the uneven floor.

“Your heart is beating faster,” Draco said, his voice sharp enough to slit throats. “If you’re leading me into a trap—”

“This is the scene of my first murder,” I snapped. “So, forgive me if my sympathetic nervous system is malfunctioning.”

He gave me a gentle squeeze. “It gets better after the third.”

“How many people have you killed?” My voice raised several octaves.

“I stopped counting after a hundred,” he said, sounding casual.

My lips parted, but the words wouldn’t rise to my throat. Draco had mentioned having commanded armies over the millennia, but I would bet every scrap of gold in Draco’s vault that some of those victims were innocent people like I had been before he corrupted me with his fangs.

Every muscle in my body froze at the door of the boiler room, and my feet rooted to the floor. Flames danced and crackled in the copper furnace, lighting up the surrounding pipes, which gurgled with the sound of rushing water. I stared at the floor, into the fire, anywhere else but where I had dragged Caliban’s corpse.

“Where’s the body?” Draco asked.

“Over there.” I pointed at the general direction of the crates.

He leaped across the room and stood on a container’s rim. “They’re empty.”

I shook my head, keeping my eyes fixed on Draco. “He was too heavy for me to lift, so I put him beneath the boxes on the right.”

He flicked his wrist, and the cardboard packages flew to the other side of the room. My breath caught, but I still couldn’t look at what I had done.

“Why is his skin blackened?” Draco asked.

I swallowed hard. “Now, do you believe me?”

“You killed the landlord with your magic?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

In an instant, he appeared before me, his large hands cupping my face. His eyes were glossy and bright, his beautiful and cruel mouth curled into a soft smile. “My beautiful, resourceful, and deadly mate.”

I flinched. “What?”

Draco pulled me into a tight embrace. “I knew you were special, devious, even, but you have the makings of an assassin.”

I stepped out of his grip and gave him a shove in the chest. “That’s all you have to say?”

He frowned. “Your wounds have healed, and you clearly took care of the threat yourself. Bask in my admiration. You’ve made me very proud.”

“Draco—”

He silenced me with a kiss that sent sparks of passion dancing across my skin. Everything went silent—the furnace, the pipes, the nagging voice in my head. At the touch and taste and feel of my mate, my blood roared for more.

“Forget about the dead landlord.”His voice filled my head like a command.

His words brought me back to reality, and my muscles tensed. Was Draco really trying to use a voodoo doll to control my trauma?

“Kiss me back,” he said.

Right now, I wanted to bite his tongue, but that would risk my becoming intoxified by vampire blood and potentially blurting out the truth of the dozens of mercenaries and enforcers surrounding the building.

Draco scooped me into his arms and carried me out of the basement, up the stairs, and through the hallway. “We have until four o’clock this morning to meet the wardbreaker,” he said between hot kisses. “I intend to use that time debauching my deadly and beautiful mate.”

I tuned out his words and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He lowered me onto one of the larger sofas and stared down at me, his eyes burning like crimson suns. As he settled between my parted legs, my dress rode up to my hips, exposing my thighs. He lowered himself on top of me, so his erection lay flush against my aching sex.

My insides exploded with pleasure, and I stifled a moan. The mercenaries, the enforcers, the Vampire King were listening in on the devices embedded in my clothes, and they were waiting for the right moment to storm the room. And Draco was making my spine tingle.

I had to get him to drink my blood before I lost control. Before he realized this was a trap.

“I want to taste you,”he growled into the kiss.

“Where?”I replied.

“Your nipples, your thighs, your pussy.”His deep voice echoed across my skull. “I want to run my tongue over your delectable curves and pleasure you until you shatter.”

A little voice in the back of my head screamed at me to break the kiss. Vampire saliva carried traces of thrall—not enough to get a person addicted, but it was enough to crank my libido to eleven.

Draco settled me against the sofa cushions, his arms wrapped around my back. He pressed hot kisses across my jawline, down the column of my neck. Molten ecstasy surged through my veins, setting every nerve ending alight. He nipped, he sucked, he licked, he ground his length against my clit, but he didn’t bite.

“Where else do you want to taste me?”I murmured through our shared link, hoping to prompt him into mentioning my blood.

“Every inch of your sweet body.” He sucked my earlobe between his lips.

Pleasure swirled around my clit, and the muscles of my core clenched, aching for more. I couldn’t continue like this. Not with so many people surrounding the building and waiting for me to incapacitate Draco.

“Bite me,” I said out loud.

He ran his tongue up the shell of my ear, sending a pleasant shiver down my spine. “Not yet.”

I reached between our bodies, slid my hand down his tight abs, and fumbled with his belt. “Why not?”

Draco pulled my hand away and snarled. “Our first time together should be in one of my properties outside Logris with guards armed with weapons and Inferno hounds at the perimeter.”

My brows furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

He drew back and looked at me through crimson eyes. “It’s not safe here. This body is new, and its abilities are unknown. I don’t know how much thrall I’ll inject if I bite you, and I need you at full alert in case we’re discovered by our enemies.”

I swallowed and forced myself to continue meeting his gaze. Spoken like someone with a healthy amount of paranoia. I trailed my hand down his hard chest, over his abs, his waistband, and cupped his huge erection.

“The landlord isn’t telling anyone he’s harboring a dangerous fugitive,” I murmured. “And I’ve waited my entire life to be fulfilled.”

Draco grinned, revealing fangs sharp enough to make my heart want to jump through my throat and sprint out of the door. “Are you sure you want this? In another forty-eight hours, we’ll be on the Phileas Express—”

“Do you know what I was thinking when Caliban was trying to choke me to death?”

His smile morphed into a growl. “Murder was too good for the bastard. The moment we’re behind the secure wards of one of my homes, I will summon a demon to track his soul to Hell and have him tortured for a century.”

My breath hitched. Was such a thing even possible? I shoved that thought aside and focused on what really mattered: Getting Draco to drink my blood. I ran my hand over his broad shoulder and threaded it through his hair.

“When Caliban was trying to kill me, I thought I would die before getting a chance to make love with my mate.”

His eyes darkened. “You thought of me?”

I nodded and focussed on a half-truth. “I called your name over and over.”

“Forgive me.” He pressed a soft kiss on my lips. “I should have been there to protect you.”

My thumb brushed over his sharp cheekbone. “You were out there securing our future. Now that we’re together, I want to know what it’s like to be penetrated by your fangs.”

Draco traced a line of soft kisses on my jaw, each touch of his lips a gentle caress. If he hadn’t tried to take control of me with a voodoo doll, I might have considered the gestures affectionate.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

I tilted my head to the side and nodded. “Make it over the last mark. This time, when I look at the scar, I’ll know it’s something I wanted.”

He stilled. “Yana.”

“What’s wrong?”

Draco drew back, his eyes shining. From the pain etched in his features, I would have interpreted his emotion as regret. I held my breath, waiting to hear what he would say. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes and jerked his head away.

“Draco?” I reached out and ran my hand down the back of his neck. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

His chest heaved. “Is this really you?”

I blinked, wondering if he was alluding to the doll he’d used to control my free will, or my attempt at being a honey trap. My behavior hadn’t changed all that much since I had drunk his blood, nor had it altered since I’d woken. Perhaps that was the problem. I had no idea how he had programmed the voodoo doll to act.

“What do you mean?” I gave his erection an encouraging squeeze. “Of course, it’s me.”

He shook his head. “Then I have no regrets in molding you into a lustful creature who hungers for my fangs and cock.”

My jaw clenched. The nerve of that blood sucker to boast about what he had done. It took every ounce of willpower not to kick the manipulative vampire in the balls.

“I’m ready for your fangs,” I whispered.

Draco’s eyes glowed red, and my adrenaline spiked. My spine stiffened, and every inch of my skin tightened into goosebumps. Of all the ways I could subdue an ancient vampire who may or may not have retained his immense powers, why had I chosen for him to bite my neck?

Because my blood was the only advantage I had against someone as deadly as Draco.

His warm fingers slid over the sensitive skin on my neck, making my traitorous nipples tighten. Without meaning to, I arched my back, and pressed our chests together.

Draco ran his hot tongue over my skin and moaned. “I wager you’ll taste as good as you smell,” he said with a low moan. “Your bouquet is more fragrant than vanilla and as sweet as orange blossoms, with the promise of immense satisfaction.”

I ground my teeth. Was he really describing me like wine? With a tight smile, I murmured, “You’ve already tasted me before.”

“My memory of our first night together is a blur,” he said without a trace of accusation.

I paused, waiting to feel any trace of guilt, for having poisoned Draco all those years ago, for the voodoo doll I’d made from his blood and semen and hair. I waited for my conscience to reprimand me for trying the same trick again or for the agreement I’d made with King Valentine to capture my mate.

Nothing.

I felt absolutely nothing apart from the lips on my neck, the tongue stroking my nerves to breaking point, and the fangs mere millimeters away from my jugular.

The pulse between my legs pounded even harder than my heart. Damn this vampire for awakening my sense of lust.

“Yana.” His hot breath fanned across my skin. “If I inadvertently give you too much thrall—”

“Then you’ll take care of me,” I said.

He chuckled. “From this moment onward, I will endeavor to watch over your delightful body.”

His fangs pierced my skin and lightning bolts of pleasure spread across my nerve endings. I parted my lips to moan and bucked my hips to grind my clit against his erection.

“You taste like heaven,” he said from between mouthfuls. “I’ll try not to take too much.”

I pushed his head down and cried, “Keep drinking.”

He swallowed mouthful after mouthful of my essence, and I ground against his hard body, my eyes rolling to the back of my head. This was so different from our first time. Back then, I had been frozen, terrified, powerless, and alone. Now, I felt in control.

Draco’s fangs slid out of my neck. He drew back and ran his tongue over his lips. “Sweet Tartarus, I’ve never tasted anything so divine. I’ll bet your pussy is even sweeter.”

My heart fluttered, my cheeks became hot, and I almost regretted taking three times the normal dose of bloodbane.

The poison worked against vampires in different ways, sometimes rendering them unconscious in an instant, while other times, they would only become woozy enough to allow the victim to escape. Draco was showing no signs of being affected, but it was only a matter of time before he collapsed.

He moved off my body and lowered himself between my legs. His nostrils flared. “The scent of your arousal makes my head spin. I can’t wait to lose myself in your tight heat.”

I ran my hands up and down his bulging pecs, waiting for the poison to take effect. Draco stared down at me, his eyes half-lidded and glazed with lust.

“What will you do next?” I asked.

His lips parted, his breaths quickened. “Yana, I…”

“What’s wrong?” I raised myself onto my elbows, my pulse quickening.

“Everything seems so—” He shook his head from side to side, frowned, and then rubbed his temple. “Did you take something?”

I gave Draco a hard shove backward. When he moved off me, I swung my legs off the sofa, walked backward around the coffee table and stood behind it to create a barrier.

“Yana.” He tried to rise off the seat and slumped down into the cushions. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I found the voodoo doll you made with my hair and blood and goddess knows what else.” I folded my arms across my chest and stared down at the drowsy vampire.

He shook his head but couldn’t meet my eyes. “You’re mistaken—”

“Don’t lie to me,” I snapped. “It was there when I was packing our bags. After all that bullshit about not wanting to touch me while I was under the influence of vampire blood, you put me to sleep and created an effigy to fake a bunch of emotions.”

Draco bared his teeth. “I didn’t command you to feel anything. The purpose of the doll was to make you obey.”

My nostrils flared. “Is that supposed to be any better?”

His chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. I couldn’t tell if he was furious at what I’d done to him or trying to work the bloodbane from his system. Either way, I needed answers.

“You haven’t changed one bit,” I snapped. “All you ever wanted was a subservient blood cow.”

“Before you had my blood, you nearly killed yourself trying to escape,” he growled, his fingers digging into the blue upholstery. “How else was I going to stop you from annihilating yourself while I was in the black zone?”

I shook my head. “Admit it. You liked how I was under the influence of your blood, and you wanted to keep me that way.”

“No.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled a weary breath. “If you would be quiet and listen—”

“Too late.”

“What?” he hissed.

I raised my head, addressing whoever was listening. “Prince Draconius drank the tainted blood, and he’s now subdued. It’s safe to come in and get him.”

“What have you done?” Draco pushed himself off the sofa, his eyes flashing a dangerous shade of crimson.

My heart skittered toward my spine, and I stepped back several paces with my hand over my chest. “What did you think I would do when I found out about the doll?”

“You viper.” He bared his teeth and extended his fangs. “When I get hold of you—”

“Too bad this is the last time you’ll ever see me,” I snapped. “Don’t resist arrest. It will be less painful for you and everyone else.”

He stumbled forward, knocking aside my Louis Valmont case, and spreading all the purchases across the floor. “You treacherous little minx.”

“Treachery would imply we had a relationship of trust.”

“We’re mates,” he snarled.

“No.” I stepped back. “I’m just one of your possessions. Do you know the worst thing? I thought I was falling for you until you violated my mind.”

Draco’s eyes blazed. He lurched toward me, but the doors slammed open, and mercenaries in gray armor raced into the suite, followed by enforcers in black. He staggered from side to side, his fangs bared, his arms swinging.

A whirlwind of magic spun around the room, lifting the invaders several feet in the air. Somehow, even in his drugged state, his power only hit me as a gentle breeze. Furniture rose, paintings flew off the wall, and all manner of objects smashed against the mercenaries and enforcers.

I placed a hand over my mouth, my eyes widening, and wedged myself into a corner. How much more powerful would Draco have been without ingesting all that bloodbane?

The air stilled, then the invaders floated down to the floor and landed on their feet.

“You,” Draco snarled at a point over my shoulder.

King Valentine strolled in with a hand raised and lifted Draco into the air. “So, this is where you’re hiding, Uncle,” he said, his voice smug. “I thought you would have moved underground.”

“That’s the first place you would look,” Draco snarled from halfway up to the ceiling.

“Say goodbye to your mate,” Valentine said. “Once I’ve severed your bond, you and I will take a trip to Tartarus.”

My mouth dropped open. If that story about sacrificing Draco’s soul was true, what about the rest of what he’d told me? Was King Valentine really under the control of a phoenix?

I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart clenching with guilt. If only Draco hadn’t used the doll against me. If only he hadn’t used such underhanded methods to make me leave the temple to join him as his vampire mate. I might have let him escape Logris in peace.

“Yana,” Draco said, his words choked. “Look at me.”

I shook my head, and cringed at my own cowardice.

“Look at the mate you condemned,”he roared through our bond.

Our eyes locked. What I saw on his face wasn’t anguish or fury or betrayal but determination.

I stiffened.

Determination to do what?

His gaze bore into mine with an intensity that would have shattered my protective contact lenses if I had worn them, and my surroundings spun in a kaleidoscope of silvers and blacks and muted blues.

My heart thudded once, twice, three times, before I lost track of its rhythms, and my spirit rose from my body. For a few moments, I was disembodied and spinning like a sycamore seed in a cyclone, hurtling out of control to the unknown.

If I had a heart, it would have exploded, but I was just a wisp of consciousness.

How had Draco extracted my soul?

Then with an agonized thump, I landed to find myself suspended halfway to the ceiling, staring down at a woman who could have been my identical twin.

She stared up at me with an enigmatic smile I’d only ever seen on paintings, the corners of her lips slightly raised. I blinked over and over, trying to work out what had happened, but stopped when she raised her brows in challenge.

“What did you do?” I rasped.

My doppelgänger turned to King Valentine. “Your Majesty,” she said in a voice full of honey. “Please silence this brute before he starts shouting about all the perverted things he made me do while I was his captive.”

The Vampire King nodded.

“No.” I tried to fling out an arm, but the magic encasing me tightened.

“You will not continue besmirching an innocent young woman,” he growled.

“That’s not—”

A bolt of magic shot into my throat, cutting off my sound, and more of that power restraining my body clamped my jaws shut.

“Thank you.” The monster in my body sauntered over to King Valentine, rose on tiptoes and pressed a kiss on his cheek.

“Draco,” I snarled into our shared bond.

He turned to me and smirked. “Confused?”

“What did you do?”I asked.

“You’ll need to live another few millennia to outsmart me, my devious, little mate,”he said, his voice giddy with mirth. “Take care of my body while you’re in prison. I’m going to need it after I have fun with yours.”

END OF BOOK ONE

READ BOOK TWO