Wicked Vampire Prince by Bella Klaus

Chapter Four

Before I could take my next breath to form a scream, the vampire clamped a hand around my mouth. Pushing my magic into my glove, I grabbed his arm and tried setting it alight with holy fire, but I only managed a few sparks. Damn it. I’d exhausted my magic from maintaining the flames over Caliban’s crotch.

I threw my head back, landing the base of my skull square on the vampire’s face, but he didn’t even flinch.

“That’s right, Yana,” he growled. “Struggle all you like. Perhaps then, you’ll know how it feels to suffer under the grip of a curse.”

“No.” I tried to speak, but the hand over my mouth muffled the sound.

I kicked out, hitting his shin, but it had no effect. I reached for the spare wand I kept beneath my wimple, but the vampire tossed it across the room with his power.

A door further down the hallway creaked open, and the vampire stilled.

“Time to leave.” Clutching me to his chest, he spun around, flung open the door, and sped through the hallway, down the stairs, and out through the side door.

He moved so quickly that my stomach lurched, my eyes watered, and everything became a blur of darkness and light. I struggled in the vampire’s grip, but I already knew the effort would be futile.

The wind rushed through my ears, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember all the things I said I would do if ever I got abducted by a vampire again. Questions tumbled through my mind, mostly centering on the creature that was taking me away from my home.

Could he really be Prince Draconius? Prince Draconius had been a vampire so old that his features had hardened to stone. He had been barely more than a statue and had radiated enough power to make me choke. This vampire couldn’t be much older than King Valentine, who was eleven hundred years of age.

The vampire slowed, and our surroundings came into focus. We were no longer in Striga, the village within Logris run by the witches, nor were we in Lamia, the territory of the vampires. From the amount of high-rise buildings we passed, it looked like we were in Natura, where the mages lived.

“I don’t want any trouble from you,” he hissed into my ear.

“Let go,” I said into the hand clamped around my mouth.

He chuckled, but the sound carried no warmth. “Do you know how much I want to punish you?”

I stamped on his foot, trying to activate my boot studs, but they failed to produce the desired blades. Damnit. That stupid spell I’d cast earlier had drained my entire habit, including the footwear.

The vampire glanced over his shoulder before speeding toward the courtyard of a U-shaped hotel, one of the few buildings in the area that was less than six stories tall. He leaped onto a top-floor balcony, making my stomach lurch.

The movement was so quick, I didn’t even have time to retch. At that moment, I wished I’d been able to vomit so the bastard would remove his bloody hand. He reached into his pocket and extracted a bone, and placed it on the door, which opened with a click.

My breath caught. This was dark magic.

He stepped into a room that stank of incense and burned offerings, making my nose wrinkle. I cringed in his arms, trying to wriggle free, but his grip was absolute.

“You’re not getting away from me this time.” With movements too fast for my brain to process, he tied up my wrists with some kind of silk rope before hoisting it on a metal loop suspended from the room’s cracked ceiling.

The door slammed shut behind us with a magic that made my ears pop. I screamed but it only made him grin. Amusement glinted in eyes as sharp as polished turquoise, and he walked around me, humming with admiration at his handiwork.

“I should have done this to you the day I summoned you to my presence,” he said.

“Who are you?” I asked.

He appeared before me, his features a rictus of rage. “Who do you think, mate?”

“You’re not him,” I whispered.

His brows rose. “Who?”

I clenched my teeth. Was this some form of mental entrapment? If I admitted to having once been abducted by Prince Draconius, would he then hold me for ransom?

This wasn’t the prince. He couldn’t be. I studied his face. His skin was too dark, his features too expressive and handsome, too rugged, with a five o’clock shadow that accentuated his high cheekbones, wide mouth, and strong chin. Sure, there was something regal about the vampire, but that was a characteristic shared by most blood suckers.

The only similarity between him and the prince was their eyes, but what on earth did that prove? That they were of the same species? This abductor could be a distant relation of the Royal House of Sargon with a grudge against Prince Draconius.

I nodded to myself. This had to be it.

“Listen,” I said. “This is a terrible mistake.”

He held up the voodoo doll. “Is this where you tell me you have never met His Royal Highness Prince Draconius and therefore never got the chance to bewitch him with this disgusting effigy?”

Every muscle in my body went still. The bastard had guessed what I would say next. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He bared his fangs. “Do you know what it’s like to live under a curse? To feel a deep yearning in one’s soul and not understand or remember why?”

My eyes widened. He wasn’t supposed to have even known the difference. I had specifically enchanted him to act like he did before he discovered we were mates. My brow furrowed. What was I thinking? This vampire wasn’t even Prince Draconius.

“Answer me,” he growled.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t know what it’s like.”

“Why did you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?”

He held the voodoo doll to my face. “Stop this pretense of innocence. Despite your holy attire, you are a devious and cunning wench willing to resort to the darkest of magic to enslave the most powerful of men.”

My lips parted. “You make me sound like a femme fatale.”

“That’s exactly what you are.” He reached up and ran his fingers over my hands, sending pleasant tingles down my arms. They settled on my nipples, making them tighten. “Will you continue to play dumb, Yana? If you apologize for your transgressions and submit to me, I can assure you that your punishment will be less severe.”

I clenched my teeth. “What do you want from me?”

“Everything.” His voice echoed in my skull. “But first, you will give me your password for the Hatch.”

“What for?” I said with a splutter. “If you’re really a big fancy prince, then you’ll have your own account.”

His features tightened. “All my accounts have been frozen.”

“Why?”

He flared his nostrils. “My Royal House has declared me dead.”

My gaze skimmed down the column of his neck, and over his muscular chest, which rose and fell with his breaths. Supernatural vampires were living, breathing creatures… until they were not.

I wasn’t completely sure about the ins and outs of how the process worked, but certain practitioners of dark magic could enchant a vampire, kill them, and bring them back to life as a preternatural. Preternatural vampires were the living dead, and they needed copious amounts of blood to survive.

The legends said that if a preternatural vampire glutted himself with enough of the substance, no one could tell that he’d ever died. But it would also make him deadly.

Panic blazed across my chest, causing it to constrict to the size of my fist. “Are you a—”

“Do not call me a preternatural,” he roared.

I flinched, my heart stuttering. “Then what are you? If you’re really Prince Draconius, why do you look so young?”

“That’s none of your business,” he snapped. “Now, give me the password to your Hatch account or I will commence your punishment.”

My hands curled into fists, and I used the momentum of the rope to deliver a roundhouse kick. The vampire disappeared and reappeared behind my back.

“It looks like you enjoy pain.” He slid an arm around my waist and pulled me into his chest.

My nostrils filled with the scent of freshly roasted coffee, followed by dark chocolate, and patchouli. It was rich and bitter and earthy, and reminded me nothing of the ancient vampire who had once claimed to be my mate. Heat radiated from his body, seeping through my habit and warming my skin.

I felt him in my veins, my heart, my very soul, and the pulse between my thighs pounded. Despair washed through my conscience like a tidal wave. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t react to the touch of a vampire.

“Hecate99,” I blurted.

“What?”

“My password is Hecate99.”

He released me and stepped back, depriving me of his warmth.

I turned to find him heading to the far wall, where an oven-sized door hung on the wall above a table. The Hatch was the Supernatural World’s online shopping network, where you could order food, clothing, medicine, small appliances, and get it delivered within minutes. The vampire opened the door and tapped in a few commands.

He squawked at the display. “Do you spend all your gold on fripperies? Your cash balance is next to nil.”

“Excuse me for not being wealthy,” I snapped. “But if you haven’t gathered from the uniform and from having abducted me from the Temple of Light, I’m a bloody nun.”

The vampire shot me a disparaging glare. “Isn’t one of your temple’s principles charity? A beauty like you should have a hundred wealthy patrons filling your account with gold.”

Heat rose to my cheeks and spread down my chest. I made a concerted effort to ignore the sensations taking place lower down. “Novices don’t accept direct donations. We get a stipend from the treasury priestess.”

He snorted. “One would have thought that a cunning creature such as yourself would have climbed the ranks and usurped her Goddess Superior.”

“You make me sound evil,” I said.

“Fine words for a cruel temptress who conducted the most heinous of black magic.” He turned back to the Hatch’s display, tapped in some more commands, and closed the door with a click.

“It’s not like you gave me any choice.” My gaze dropped to my boots. I would not let this monster make me feel remorse.

“Women your age and with your lack of scruples would gut their peers to become the consort of a rich and handsome prince.” The vampire strode to the other side of the room, opened a door, and stepped inside.

Something metallic squeaked like the turning of a rusty wheel, followed by the surge of water from a shower. I pushed my magic into the ropes, trying to work them loose, but my power misfired due to stress and hunger and overwork.

The Hatch pinged, and he walked out of the bathroom, approached the table, and opened the little door. Inside lay an eight-inch-long white box. I couldn’t see what was inside, but moments later, he turned around and held up a smartphone. Its camera flashed, filling the room with silver light.

I blinked away the glare. “So, I’m your hostage?”

“More or less.” He stared down at the screen and smiled. Smiled, as though he enjoyed the sight of a frightened nun tied up with her hands suspended over her head.

A burst of rage concentrated my power to the precision of a blunt instrument. I growled low in my throat. This level of magic was fine if I needed to bludgeon someone over the head, but the only thing that would help me right now was the ability to slice through ropes.

“You’re making a big mistake,” I hissed. “Because if you think I’m in any way connected to someone with money—”

“Do you want to know how I know you’re the fated mate of His Royal Highness Prince Draconius?” he said, his eyes flashing.

I clamped my mouth shut.

“Because,” he answered his question directly into my mind. “I am Prince Draconius.”

My gaze dropped to the threadbare carpet. Powerful vampires could reach into a person’s mind, but they needed eye contact. Unscrupulous ones could even twist their victim’s thoughts and implant them with dangerous ideas.

“Yana.”His voice curled around my skull. “Speak to me through our bond.”

I closed my eyes and tried not to hyperventilate. Maybe this really was Prince Draconius. There were a dozen ways a supernatural could change their appearance. Light magic, glamours, potions, faerie magic, shapeshifting…

But why would an ancient vampire of such power and prestige have been wandering the streets without a shirt? Why would he have stolen bottles of blood?

The last time I saw Prince Draconius, he’d had an entourage of servants, sycophants, and security guards. And even a beautiful limousine. A vampire like him didn’t need to use the Hatch account of an impoverished nun to purchase a phone.

My stomach rumbled, making me cringe.

“Yana,” he said out loud.

My head snapped up. “Yes?”

“You must eat.”

I glowered up at my bound wrists. “That’s going to be difficult without the use of my hands.”

With a flick of his finger, Prince Draconius untied my arms and floated me across the room to the bed. I kicked against his power, but it was as useless as Dorothy trying to battle it out against the tornado. As my back sank into a lumpy mattress, the ropes around my wrists separated.

Once more, I pulled against his power and tried to break free, but he secured my right arm to the headboard.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

His brows rose. “You’re left-handed, are you not?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then I will order something suitable for consumption with one hand.” Without further explanation, he stalked across the room, opened up the Hatch and scrolled through its options.

“Are you really Prince Draconius?” I asked.

He huffed. “If you weren’t so busy pretending our bond didn’t exist, you would already know I was your mate.”

I bit down on my bottom lip. What on earth did I say to a comment like that? He had already caught me with the voodoo doll and he’d worked out how I had made him forget that we were mated for the past few years. He was extremely calm for someone whose curse just got broken, but then older vampires were particularly cold-blooded.

“May I ask another question?” I asked.

“No,” he muttered.

“Are you a preternatural?” My voice trembled.

He closed the door and turned around, fixing me with his malevolent glower. “Because my Royal House declared me dead, yet I am still alive?”

I gave him a shaky nod.

“If you’re worried about me draining your blood, you’re perfectly safe, thanks to my half-dozen bottles of the Temple of Light’s O Neutral.” he said as he stalked toward me. The muscles of his shoulders and arms and chest rippled with his movements, mesmerizing me into a stupor. “However, I cannot make such guarantees for your virtue.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them, trying to reset my vision. What was wrong with me? I was in the worst trouble of my life, and my stupid brain was checking out a half-naked predator who delighted in my suffering.

“Stay back.” I held out my left palm.

He stared at my hand and raised a brow. “Or else?”

“I’m more powerful than I look.”

Prince Draconius rubbed his chin. “And apparently, infinitely more cunning. I suppose this is where you declare that you allowed me to abduct you from your bedroom and are lulling me into a false sense of security before you strike back?”

My throat spasmed. Sometimes, it was difficult to put into words how much I despised vampires.

“There’s no need to be such a sarcastic dick,” I snapped.

“Actually, there is.” He walked to the side of the bed, knelt on the mattress, and grabbed a handful of my wimple. “What kind of punishment does Logris give for robbing a person of their free will?”

I shook my head, even though I already knew the answer.

Flecks of red appeared across his turquoise irises. “Practitioners of dark magic who attack important members of our society are almost always sentenced to death.”

“But—”

“A forensic examination of the voodoo doll would find traces of my body parts mingled with your magic,” he said in a low voice. “I presided over dozens of these cases when I was the Vampire Regent of Logris.”

I shook my head. “No you weren’t—”

“After the death of my brother, King Antonius, and the demise of his first and second heirs, I ruled in the place of his eldest surviving child, the king you all know as Valentine.”

My breath turned shallow. All this time, I thought he was a distant relative—a foreign prince from a faraway land who had stumbled across his fated mate while on a visit. But he was our Vampire King’s uncle, a former ruler, and a man who held a lot of influence.

I leaned back into the headboard and frowned. “But if you’re so important, why are you wandering around town with no entourage? Why don’t you even have a shirt?”

“Stop asking pointless questions,” he hissed.

A fog of confusion cleared at his defensiveness. The vampire had a secret. If my suspicions were correct, it was probably worse than mine. I sat straighter, pulled back my shoulders, and forced an air of confidence.

“The last time you abducted me, you took me to a fancy boudoir and had a servant bring me food. Now, we’re in a filthy hovel, and you’ve already robbed me twice.”

His eyes turned from pale to dark to the exact shade of freshly spilled blood.

A boulder of terror dropped into my stomach, making its acidic contents splatter against the back of my throat. I had faced off against dozens of vampires, but none had ever been so furious.

“Do I need to tell you one more time to be silent?” he said in a voice of ice.

I shook my head. Right now, I needed to survive. Survive and escape and forget about whatever he was trying to hide.

Prince Draconius held my gaze for several moments with a penetrating stare that seemed to search my soul, my memories, my entire being. His eyes darkened, and at that moment, I fully believed that this was a man who was used to being in command of creatures more powerful than I could fathom. A man of wealth and power and privilege.

A shiver trickled down my spine. Damn him and damn the bastard who got the humans to attack our city’s wards. If it hadn’t been for that magical disturbance, Prince Draconius would have continued not knowing that his fated mate was living a vampire-free life in Logris.

Shit, it had been a miracle that I’d held him at bay for so long.

The Hatch pinged, breaking the tension.

He handed me the phone. “Call for an Überwald.”

I was about to ask why he couldn’t do it himself, but I shut my mouth. Clearly, he didn’t want anyone to know his location. The fingers of my left hand tapped the screen of my new phone, and I fired up the Überwald app.

When my thumb hovered over the option for Überwald Economy, he said, “Choose Achtung.”

My head snapped up, and I stared at him through wide eyes. “Why?”

“Because what we’re about to do will be dangerous.”

“We?”

“You and I,” he said with a cruel smirk.

I selected the most expensive service, hoping that I’d run out of credit. Hoping someone in the temple had noticed I was missing, raised the alarm, and gotten my accounts frozen. Prince Draconius cleared his throat, indicating for me to get moving.

The bloody app worked.

“It wants to know your destination,” I muttered.

“London Central Supernatural Railway Station.”

I tapped it in, and an error message popped up on the screen. “The wards of Logris have been sealed by the Supernatural Council,” I read. “Überwald has temporarily discontinued its cross-border services.”

“Shit,” he hissed.

My stomach rumbled again, and an idea tumbled into the forefront of my mind. Best-case scenario, Prince Draconius needed me—even if it was to order things for him with my identity. Worst case, he wanted to transport me out of Logris somewhere he would dish out my punishment in comfort and privacy. Either way, he wanted me alive and in good health.

“Oh,” I said with a pained moan. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

His brows drew together. “Sustenance awaits you in the Hatch.”

I placed a hand on my stomach and made a show of licking my lips.

The look of longing he gave me was one I’d seen often when I was growing up in the temple. Sister Mariah, the high priestess who ran our little academy, only allowed us chocolate during religious festivals. At lunchtime the other girls and I would stare at the dessert table and salivate.

I tore my gaze away from the hungry vampire’s and waited for him to walk back to the Hatch. A romantic fool might have thought he desired me, but vampires like him only thought about one thing.

Prince Draconius stepped back and walked toward the little door. “I tend to find that steak au poivre brings a spicy edge to the blood.”

My nostrils flared. Did he really think I would eat something to make me a tastier snack?

I reached beneath the wimple on my chest. The magic securing my habit crackled, letting me unlatched a packet of bloodbane. After tearing it open with my teeth, I shook its contents into my palm. If he could inhale a few particles, it would disable him long enough for me to break free and escape.

Prince Draconius turned around, holding a plate containing a large slab of meat, smothered in a brown sauce with peppercorns, and served with string beans, rosemary potatoes, and roasted tomatoes.

“If you want to eat, you’ll remove your headgear,” he said with a smirk.

I raised my chin, giving him what I hoped was a look of defiance. “Why don’t you come here and tear off my clothes?”

The vampire’s eyes flashed. “And trigger the chastity curse on your habit, so you can escape?”

“No.” I dipped my head.

Not even an idiot like Caliban would try to undress a nun without her consent. Every garment we wore was enchanted to protect our virtue. Pressing my lips together, I hid a smile. Prince Draconius had no idea that I’d already set up a different trap.

He closed the distance between us and placed the plate on my lap.

“I’m a vegetarian,” I muttered.

“And I prefer a diet of iron-rich blood.” He cut a chunk of steak, speared it with the fork, and brought it to my lips. “Open wide for your master.”

I threw the bloodbane powder in his face, but Prince Draconius jumped back and hissed.

“You treacherous little wench.” His turquoise eyes turned black. “Prepare for your punishment.”