Wicked Vampire Prince by Bella Klaus

Chapter Eight

Sweat beaded on my brow, and every ounce of moisture evaporated from my throat. I tore my gaze away from the vampire’s furious red irises and clamped my eyes shut, but his large hands clamped around my face.

“Look at me,” he growled.

“I’m going to scream.”

His harsh laugh hit me like a lash. “Don’t you think I would have commissioned the imps to soundproof the room?”

“You’re diabolical,” I snarled.

He placed the pads of his fingers on the skin around my eye sockets and gently pulled them open. “Yana,” he said, his voice hypnotic. “I tried to reason with you, but you are too willful. Now, you will submit.”

My stomach clenched, and I braced myself for a repeat of our very first encounter years ago, when he had ordered my abduction and broken through my protective contact lenses. Not only had it bloody hurt, but the disgusting fiend had made me remove my enchanted habit and offer him my neck.

“Don’t do this.” My voice shook.

“You have given me no choice.”

“Listen.” I placed a hand on his hard chest. “Whatever you want, I’ll do it. Just please don’t take away my free will.”

Prince Draconius narrowed his eyes. “Will you feed me from the vein?”

“Of course not, you greedy bastard,” I blurted. “You stole enough blood to keep you in iron for at least three months.”

He hissed through his teeth. “It’s supposed to be a demonstration of your submission and trust.”

“In that case, my answer is definitely no.”

“Then the mind magic will begin.”

His pupils widened, and my insides lurched with the sensation of jumping off a dive board. It was like being sucked into a void against my will. I threw my consciousness backward, and broke free from his hold.

My eyes widened, and I curled my fingers into his chest.

Wait a second.

The last time he ensnared me, his power had been absolute, and it had been like fighting against a hurricane with my bare fist. Now, he was stronger than the average vampire, but not enough to overcome our protections.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

He bared his fangs. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re different.” I wasn’t about to say the word weak. It was a trigger to all men, regardless of species.

Prince Draconius released his grip. “Am I?” he said in a voice of acid. “Pray, tell.”

“You look better than before.”

His lip curled. “How so?”

I pressed my back against the wall, trying to create some distance, which was pointless, considering he held my head in his hands. “Well, when we first met, you were more of a statue.”

He flared his nostrils, and his lips pressed into a thin line. Since he didn’t order me to be silent, I continued talking.

“How on earth does an ancient vampire lose all his power?”

His eyes flashed. “I’m not—”

“You were running from somewhere, hungry, half-naked, and penniless. That’s why you stole the blood.”

Prince Draconius jerked his head to the side.

“You’re in trouble, right?”

A muscle in his jaw flexed, and he remained silent for several moments. My gaze darted to the exit. If I made my move, he would snatch me, try to overpower my mind again, or find some other way to keep me subdued. If I was reading him right, Prince Draconius was friendless and desperate enough to turn to me for help.

“You gathered all that from my inability to break through your mind?” he said.

“That and the fact that you seem eager to leave Logris,” I replied.

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “What will you do with this information?”

“That depends on what you want from me?”

“Just your assistance.”

“Alright, but why did you have to come here?” I asked.

He didn’t reply.

I rolled my eyes. “Free accommodation, right?”

“Do you know how difficult it is to find gold in a virtually cashless society?” he said, his voice tight. “I was born into royalty, yet I have been reduced to a pickpocket.”

“Could you release your grip on me, please?” I said in a voice I might use to calm a rabid dog.

“Will you attempt to escape?” he asked.

“No.”

“Don’t forget that I have enough dirt on you to secure the execution of you and your fellow Sisters.”

“I told you I wouldn’t escape,” I snapped.

His eyes narrowed. “Will you attempt to make another doll?”

I shook my head.

“I need a verbal answer,” he growled.

“No,” I said. “Are you satisfied?”

Prince Draconius let go of my head. “Let’s have an early night. By tomorrow, I will have heard from my operatives in the Enforcer Division, and you will help me arrange passage through the wards.”

“Why do you need to leave the city so badly?” I asked.

Ignoring me, he stalked to the bed and pulled back the coverlet, exposing its silk sheets. “You need not worry about nosey nuns while we slumber. The imps installed a security system keyed to your magical signature.”

I gaped. “How did you get my—” My mouth clicked shut. “Of course. Samples of magic are everywhere in this room.”

He undid the silk tie of his gown, and let it fall to the floor. The silk fabric slipped a slow path down his muscular back, laying him bare inch by mesmerizing inch until my eyes reached his silk boxers. Saliva flooded my mouth, and I slid halfway down the wall. I had never thought this about a person in my entire life, but this vampire was edible.

My lips parted. “You can’t flaunt yourself like a…”

As he turned to face me and revealed his front, all the words on my tongue dried. The gown fell open revealing sculpted pectoral muscles covered in rich brown skin, along with a pair of tight nipples the color of chocolate.

I forced my gaze to the ceiling. “Prince—”

“Call me Draco.”

“No.” I shook my head from side to side, squeezed my eyes shut. But part of me, the deepest, darkest kernel of wickedness, forced them open.

Prince Draconius stood beside the bed and stared at me with his brow raised. “Do you find my new appearance pleasing?”

“Cover up,” I squeaked.

“Explain why the capillaries under your skin are dilating,” he said.

“Maybe because I’m wearing my winter habit indoors?”

“Even with that monstrosity covering everything but your face, I can tell you’re aroused.” His voice was full of accusation.

“No.” Maybe it wasn’t too late to confess everything I’d done to Mother Hecate because anything was better than being stuck in a room with a vampire who knew I found him attractive.

“Why didn’t you want me when I first approached you?”

My eyes widened, my jaw dropped, and my lungs released an incredulous laugh. How could he be so arrogant? I swept my gaze down the vampire’s muscular torso, over his tight abs, the tent in his black boxer shorts, and his strong thighs. “What makes you think I want you now?”

“Answer my question,” he snarled with a ferocity that made my pulse quicken.

A response spilled from my lips. “The first time we met, you were a monster.”

He rushed off the bed and crossed the room, his eyes flashing. “An ancient,” he hissed. “One of the oldest vampires in existence, and now…”

His nostrils flared, and his face tightened into a mask of control. An ache formed in my heart and radiated agony across my chest. This wasn’t my pain. I didn’t give a shit about this annoying blood sucker apart from wanting him out of my life. Whatever happened to Prince Draconius affected him so much that his agony leached across our connection to me.

Bloody hell. Sometimes, I wished I hadn’t spent my entire life being trained to minister to those in pain. I pushed myself off the wall and straightened. “Your Highness?”

“Draco.”

“What?”

“You may as well use my diminutive,” he said, sounding bitter. “I no longer measure up to the grandeur of Prince Draconius.”

I placed a trembling hand on his shoulder. His skin was as warm as a normal person’s and yielded under my touch. The last time, he had felt like stone. Something had happened to him to completely change his physical makeup.

Years of helping others made me ask him, “Do you want to talk about it?”

He scooped me up into his arms. “I would rather go to bed with my mate.”

“Hey.” I slapped his chest. “Since when did I agree to sleep with you?”

Prince Draconius deposited me on a mattress that felt like it contained something fluffy, like goose down.

“You ran and could have stayed away. Why did you return where I could find you if you didn’t want to be with me?” he asked.

“Blackmail, remember?” I scrambled off the mattress and gave him a hard prod on his pec. “You’re the one who won’t shut up about having enough dirt to have me executed for black magic.”

He rose off the bed and nodded. “Not just you—”

“And the other nuns,” I snarled, my hands tightening into fists.

“Then you will get into bed with me.” He lowered his lashes, and I swore he was staring at my wimple.

I backed toward the window and resisted the urge to cover my chest. “And?”

His lip curled. “What kind of man do you think I am?”

“A vampire.” I walked to the other side of the bed and leaned against the wall, trying to place a barrier between myself and this wretched creature. “One who got his minion to snatch me off the street, broke through the magic protecting my mind, and forced me to strip.”

The fury in his eyes burned hot enough to warm my skin. Any other time, I would ready myself for a fight, but the knowledge he held was too damaging to risk his wrath. I pulled my gaze from the half-naked vampire and stared at the floor, wishing I hadn’t used up all that bloodbane.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Thinking through my options.”

“You have none.” The mockery in his voice raked across my nerves. “Now, get into bed.”

“I can sleep on the floor.”

“Nonsense.” In a rush of vampire speed, he appeared in front of me and rapped his arms around my waist. A second later, I was lying on the mattress encased within his large, half-naked male body. He nuzzled my neck through multiple layers of cloth. “You see, it’s not so bad.”

“Yes, it is.” I elbowed him in the chest, but he didn’t even flinch. “Will you let go of me?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for fate to match me with a suitable mate?” he murmured into my veil.

“A nun?”

“A cunning, devious wench, who makes the most of her magical abilities.” His hard body pressed against my back. “Thanks to your ensorcellment, I can barely recall the image of how you looked without all that fabric. All I remember is that you were breathtaking.”

“Is that why you attacked me with your fangs?” I snarled.

He wrapped his arms around my waist. “A mating bite.”

“You drank my blood, you asshole.”

He loosened his grip. “Most witches of dubious pedigree would be honored to be mated with a prince.”

The words trickled through my confusion and hit me with a slap. I twisted around, meeting his furious turquoise eyes. “What did you call me?”

Prince Draconius sat up, tightened his jaw, and stared down his wrinkled nose at me, as though my mild insult had caused him offense. “I remember having my assistant pull up your records. You were left at the Temple of Light’s orphanage, meaning that the circumstances of your birth were less than respectable.”

“Or my parents loved the goddess so much that they donated a child to her service,” I said. “Mother Hecate is that inspirational.”

He huffed a laugh. “A second-tier deity who lives among mortals? If it wasn’t for the male sycophants who fawn over virgins, your goddess would be little more powerful than the average witch.”

I gave him a hard shove in the chest and launched myself to the other side of the mattress, where I rolled off and landed on the floor.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“You can blackmail me, get me into debt with faeries, and threaten to expose my black magic to the Supernatural Council, but I won’t have you disparage my goddess.”

“Come back to bed,” he said.

“I’ll help you leave Logris, but don’t expect anything else.” I stepped into the wet room, which was little more than a washroom with its own shower, and I slammed the door shut.

Prince Draconius growled, but he didn’t tear open the door.

I sat on the toilet seat and rested my head in my hands. How on earth was I going to get out of this situation? Anyone with an ounce of sense could tell that the vampire haunting my cell was in trouble. I couldn’t afford to get entangled in whatever had stripped him of thousands of years of power.

Even if the enforcers called with a route out of Logris, he would still leave me with a debt to the faeries I had no way of repaying.

“Yana?” he said from the bedroom.

“Can’t a nun piss in peace?” I snapped.

He was probably wrinkling his perfect nose.

I leaned forward and stared at what used to be a concrete floor. Prince Draconius had had it replaced with silver-and-white mosaic tiles. What a complete and utter bastard.

Minutes passed in silence, and I hoped that the vampire who had invaded my cell had fallen asleep. I didn’t dare venture out to check in case he was sleeping naked. There was no escape, and I probably couldn’t get away with making another doll.

Eventually, my eyes grew heavy, and I slumped against the cistern. As sleep dragged me into unconsciousness, I sent out a silent prayer that the Supernatural Council would soon open the wards, and Prince Draconius would leave my life forever.

Hours later, I rose from the most refreshing sleep I’d had since my first abduction. Sunlight shone through my eyelids, indicating that I had overslept. I was past caring because my body felt like it was floating on a bed of clouds and wrapped in a protective cocoon.

Warm breaths fanned across my cheek, and I raised a hand toward my face, only for it to slide against stubbled skin.

My eyes snapped open.

Prince Draconius lay with his face inches away from mine, eyes closed, features serene, with no hint of any fangs. A light dusting of stubble covered the lower half of his face that gave him a rugged look that added to his masculine charm. When he wasn’t sneering or scowling or coloring his eyes, it was hard to tell that he drank blood.

Light streamed down, warming the side of his face. I turned to the window to check that it really came from the sun and ran the pads of my fingers down his stubbly cheek. “So, you’re not a preternatural.”

“Now, do you believe me?” he said.

I jerked away. “You’re awake?”

“It’s difficult to sleep with all that scratchy wool grating against my skin,” he slurred.

“A nun’s habit is her ultimate protection in the field,” I parroted words Sister Mariah taught us at our little academy.

“What nonsense,” he said. “I overpowered you easily enough when we first met.”

“Yet I managed to escape.”

Prince Draconius opened his eyes. I used to think his irises were glacial. Glinting blue orbs that haunted my dreams and chased me through months of nightmares until I had overcome the withdrawal symptoms of thrall.

They were much warmer in the sunlight. Deep indigo at the edges that reminded me of Mother Hecate’s eyes, but they faded into a paler blue with tiny flecks of gold and white. The overall effect wasn’t unpleasant.

His deep chuckle sent tingles across my skin.

“When I discovered my fated mate was a novice from the Temple of Light, I didn’t imagine she would be as wily and resourceful as any vampire noblewoman.”

“Don’t compare me to a blood sucker,” I snapped.

“That was a compliment,” he replied with a sneer.

I pushed myself off the mattress and headed to the wet room. “Not to me.”

“Citizens of Logris, thank you for your patience.” The Angel King’s voice boomed from behind me.

I turned to the wall behind me, where he appeared in the wall-mounted television set, clad in a white suit. Beside him was the silver-haired Fae King, and a youthful-looking Demon King minus his usual goatee.

“Why are all these ancient supernatural men suddenly making themselves look young?” I muttered under my breath.

“We, the Council, have neutralized the threat to Logris,” said the Demon King. “I presided over the execution of the individual who uncovered our location to the humans.”

I placed a hand over my mouth, wondering if the Überwald driver had been lying that the culprit was Kresnik.

“Thank you, King Hades,” the Angel King said with an appreciative nod. “Unfortunately, it is too early to rejoice. Our exact coordinates were broadcasted across all manner of human media, and it is time for us to vacate Richmond Park.”

I whirled around and stared at Prince Draconius, who grunted his agreement.

“Why should we run when we can add more wards?” I asked.

“Secrecy is our biggest protection, and their weapons could flatten this city, with or without magical protection.”

“But I thought Logris existed in a parallel realm?” I asked.

“Not exactly.”

The monarchs outlined an evacuation plan that involved each village within Logris moving to a different location across London. Witches would move to Hampstead Heath with vampires in Hyde Park. Meanwhile, Prince Draconius explained how the wards created a rift that would allow humans to pass from one end of our border to another without noticing they’d traveled a distance.

“Prince Draconius is believed to be armed and dangerous.” The Demon King’s voice pulled my attention back to the television.

“What?” I spun around toward the television set.

An official image of how he looked appeared, which may as well have been a statue with eyes and hair. He wore a black Napoleon-style jacket with horizontal strips of gold brocade down the chest, on its epaulettes, and around the cuffs. A red sash draped around the ensemble, which was studded with medals.

At the bottom of the screen were the following words: WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING, CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER, ACTS OF TERRORISM AGAINST THE SUPERNATURAL COUNCIL.

My jaw dropped.

“The prince was last seen escaping the dungeons of Lamia Palace,” said the Demon King. “He is believed to have been assisted by an accomplice.”

Blurry footage of a shirtless man crawling out from a grate filled the screen, followed by shots of him escaping through the grounds of what looked to be the palace gardens.

The Demon King’s voice continued over the videos. “Anyone found harboring this fugitive, including their closest associates, will face the fullest extent of the law.”

An imaginary noose tightened around my neck. I clutched at my throat, not daring to turn around. This was the worst of all possibilities.

“King Valentine has issued a reward for his capture of a thousand gold crowns,” the Demon King narrated over a video clip of a figure dressed in a gold jacket strolling through hallways in the dark.

The camera cut back to a close-up of the three monarchs, and the Angel King smiled at the audience. “Because of the threat Prince Draconius poses, we will extend the lockdown for another seventy-two hours.”

Prince Draconius showed no sign of leaving. He sat on my bed, his eyes flashing crimson, his hands curled into fists. “Those traitorous bastards.”

“We, the Council, are offering an additional reward for whoever comes forward.” The Angel King placed his hands together. “In exchange for information that leads to the prince’s capture, any crime committed by you or your kin will be pardoned.”

“Bring him back alive or on the brink of death,” said the Fae King with a smirk.

The screen went blank.

My breaths turned shallow and my mind whirred with possibilities. Now, the vampire’s threat to report me to the Supernatural Council for black magic didn’t seem to hold so much power. Not when three of the monarchs wanted him enough to pardon my crimes.

I bit down on my bottom lip and tried not to let the fuming vampire know I was scheming.

Reporting him would be the answer to all my problems. Not only would he be out of my life, but King Valentine’s reward money would more than pay off my debts.