“Tell me, what is it that you desire? I will make it yours.” He said, cupping his palm over mine on his cheek.
“My desire, huh? I’m a complicated girl, Vampy. What I desire you can’t buy in the prison gift shop.”
“Well then, tell me of its location and I will retrieve it.”
This was a terrible idea, and I knew it before I even said the words. Trusting a man I barely knew, let alone a vampire, was fucking insanity. But there was something deep inside of me that told me I could trust him.
“And what if I want a prison gate key?”
His eyes flared open in surprise and his hand fell to his side, his eyes falling to the floor in contemplation. He considered my request for a moment before returning his gaze to me.
“A keycard, huh? You are every bit the woman I know you to be and more… More crazy that is,” laughter lacing his voice. “What do you want it for?”
“That’s not part of the deal. Now will you help me or not?” I folded my arms.
“Okay.” He cupped his chin seeming to think it over. And why wouldn’t he, this would be the third favor he’d done me since we met.
“I will help you with this, on one condition.” He held his finger up to my face. I drew my head back quickly, not believing my ears. Was he actually thinking about doing this for me?
“Name it.” I blurted out, joy shining bright on my face.
“Let’s play a little game.” He said bluntly.
A game? I knew it would come at a cost.
“Hmm, does this game involve biting?”
He shot me a fangful smile at the question. I should have been terrified by the sight of those long, monstrous teeth of his. But instead, I was a bit turned on by them. There was just something so sensual about a man whose bite was worse than his bark.
“Jessica, there is nothing in this world I would rather do than to sink my teeth deep into that beautiful neck of yours... I can already imagine the sweet thickness of your blood.” He closed his eyes as if imagining my taste, the tone of his voice was as ravenous as it was seductive. It was as if each syllable were on a mission of seduce and destroy.
He opened his eyes and continued, “But I have something a bit more fun in mind. Something we will both enjoy.”
I tilted my head to one side in contemplation then gave a reluctant nod. If he planned to help me, it was worth seeing just what this game of his entailed, if he tried any funny business with those fangs of his however, he’d be eating the underside of my shoes for dinner.
His lips curled up into a devilish grin that showed every sinister inch of his long white fangs and without another word he wrapped his arm around my waist and bustled me out the door.
***
We left my cell and made our way across the prison and up a series of long staircases. He seemed to lead me deeper and deeper into the prison’s interior, and further into areas I’d never been before. I should have been more hesitant to follow this vampire. He was a stranger and a total psycho at that. But as we passed through the halls, they were filled with men who shot me murderous glances and mean glares. In the past, I’d felt threatened by this but right now I felt safe.
I was a fighter and excellent one at that. But just having Alexandros beside me made me feel so secure, like I didn’t have to fight. How was it that he made me feel this way? Why did he somehow make me feel so at home?
We approached a big white door at the end of the hallway with a big wooden sign overhead that read, ‘Recreational room’.
“Wait. You mean you dragged me halfway across the prison, and all the way up to the rec room? What for?”
He gripped the doorknob and opened it. Once the door was opened, he looked back at me and said, “we’re here to play truth or dare.”
Interesting. When he said he wanted to play a game, I didn’t think he meant it so literally.
The rec room was massive, with unique areas for different activities. There was a large elemental basketball court to one side. It had players running about, using whatever magic they could muster to help them get the ball in the hope.
Beside the court were few fireball table tennis tables filled with players batting a flaming ball from one end of the table to the other.
A witch’s circle took up half of the space at the opposite end of the room. All the witches sat with their legs folded, chanting something. Throughout the rest of the room tables upon tables were scattered far and wide, with people doing everything from eating blue breaded sandwiches, to playing tarot card strip poker on them.
Scurrying past the witches, Alexandros and I took a seat at an empty table on the outskirts of their circle. He sat opposite me, his eyes peering into mine.
“So, truth or dare? Isn’t that a bit too childish for a centuries old vampire?”
A playful smile tugged at his cheek from the accusation.
“Don’t tell me the big, bad pack leader is too grown up to have a little fun?”
“Wait, how did you know I’m a pack leader? You looking into me, Vampy?”
He frowned slightly, as if worried that I’d caught him. He raised his palms in surrender.
“Okay maybe I did a bit of asking around. But you are the talk of the town here. It wasn’t hard to get information on you.”
The dark hue of his eyes told me his ‘asking around’ involved more than just a friendly line of questioning, he probably broke a few dozen arms and drank more than a few pints to get his intel. It certainly was curious that he was interested in knowing so much about me. But ‘why’ was the actual question.
He laced his hands together, resting his elbows on the table.
“Well then, I’ll start the game. Now tell me, Jessica. Truth or Dare?” The words rolled off his tongue like a sensual challenge. There was no doubt about it. This one had a hidden agenda behind his games. And I was about to find out what that agenda was.
The last thing I needed was him prying too deep into my plans, so I said ‘dare’.
“Fine then,” he said, his eyes now exploring the room. “I dare you to walk over to that lich and tell him you think he’s hot.”
I froze in surprise at the request. Then my eyes trailed over to the horrifying sight of a black-cloaked monster walking in through the door. His skin looked half decomposed with a bit of bone peeking out through his mangled flesh. He had two long dark horns and shark-like teeth that could send grown men running.
Liches were malevolent creatures that were foretold to bring an end to the world as we knew it, and he sure as hell looked the part.
“Seriously?”
He folded his arms and shot me a questioning grin as if he were sure I would refuse. He was enjoying playing around with me, and he looked like he could barely contain the laughter that was building up inside.
Well, might as well give my new vampire friend a show.
I rose to my feet and traipsed over to the creature, swaying my hips seductively from side to side all the way there. I was a few feet away when the lich caught me in his gaze. He slowed his walk and his head turned to fix his grisly gaze on me.
“Hey there, big boy.” I cooed, shooting him a playful wink. “Has anyone ever told you how hot you are?”
His eyes flew open in shock and he accidentally tripped over a witch who sat in the circle on the floor. The witch fell forward flat on her face, her long, blond hair coating the ground. All of her coven mates glared and glowered at the lich as they thought he’d attacked her on purpose.
One by one the witches rose to their feet, their savage eyes trained on the lich. His eyes flashed from one witch to the next as he stepped away from them. They charged for him, sliding off their shoes and proceeding to pummel the lich with the shoes. It wasn’t magic but I guess it was the best they could do with the poison.
He cried out, cursing them for the attack. The shoe beating continued as he tried in vain to swat them off.
Then, having enough, he gave out a deathly howl that sounded like a cat fight involving a
thousand felines. From a close distance, hearing that had to hurt. Every witch in the circle scurried away and out the door terrified by the ear shattering screech. Victorious, the lich then rose to his feet and dusted his cloak off.
His head turned back in my direction and he shot me a flirty wink, playing it cool as if he hadn’t just been beaten up by a coven of witches.
He pushed back the patches of hair on his head as if he thought the move was suave and said, “You’re not bad looking yourself, Sweet Stuff.”
He turned from me to strut confidently over to the elemental basketball courts and joined the game.
I got back to the table and sat down. Alexandros’s fist kept hitting the table. He couldn’t contain his laughter caused by the drama of the scene he’d just witnessed.
I had to admit, this silly game of his was kind of fun. I loved a little chaos here and there, and this was just up my alley.
“So, now it’s your turn. Truth or dare?”
After a lengthy pause he said, “dare.”
Now, I just had to think of what I wanted to make him do. It had to be something good, and I knew just the thing.
I waved my hands, gesturing for him to get up. “I want you to dance for me. Dance to the Backstreet Boys song, ‘Backstreets Back.’
He didn’t look too averse to the idea, but the wrinkle of his brows told me that something seemed to hold him back.
“I love classical music just as much as the next vampire, but there’s no music in here.”
“Leave that to me. Go dance for me and I’ll do the singing.”
“Consider it done then.” He declared as his palms slapped the table. He drew himself up and stepped away from his seat.
He was really going to do this. I couldn’t believe I was actually about to watch a centuries old vampire dance for me, this was like something out of a movie.
Without another word he smirked and turned away from me to walk a few feet where there’d be more space for him to dance.
He swung back around with a pep in his step and danced. I began singing, terribly but, he didn’t seem to care and he continued dancing to the rhythm. His legs zipped around the floor, his hips swaying without a care in the world. He was an amazing dancer, and he knew it. He owned the floor and one by one everybody’s eyes in the room shifted to rest on his performance.
He slowly moved away from me and made his way around the tables of the rec room as if he owned every inch of the floor. Everyone started clapping to the beat, smiling at him as he danced around them. He was mesmerizing to watch, casting a spell on the audience more and more with his every move.
His hips wouldn’t quit, nor would his shoulders as he rocked them from side to side, flashing his long hair back and forth in the process. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t take my eyes off him. Every woman in the room screamed with excitement as their eyes filled with lust and untamed fascination.
He then shimmied over to a table full of his fellow vampires. They all cheered at the sight of him, tapping their hands on the table excitedly. Before long, he bent to the ground and began to break dance, earning even louder cheers from all who watched him. Watching him go was amazing, I’d seen nothing like it in my life. When I’d told him to dance, I was half kidding. I never expected him to be beyond good.
The room gave him a roaring applause, clapping like their hands at the beautiful performance. Fascinated, they crowded around him like a celebrity. They swarmed him so heavily you could barely see him.
I guess a dancing vampire was a rare enough sight, but an ‘A’ class ancient vampire? That had to be a once in a lifetime show.
He pushed out from inside the crowd, politely parting them out of his way and met my gaze. He searched my expression as if eager to see what I thought of his performance. I couldn’t hide how impressed I was from my face and he looked thrilled at that.
He approached me with his arms stretched in my direction as he basked in the roaring applause from around the room. With a look of complete satisfaction on his face he triumphantly strolled back over to our table and took a seat in front of me.
“How in the world did you learn to dance like that?” I blurted excitedly.
“When you have been around the block as many times as I have you learn a few tricks.” His expression went from humorous to serious in an instant before he continued to say, “Now, it’s time for the fun part. Truth.”
“Hey, wait. Don’t you have to ask me which one I choose?”
“Not in the vampire rules.” he declared. “The first round was dare, so now this round must be truth.”
“Vampire rules? Seriously? Now I know you're making shit up.” He jerked his head back at the accusation and hurt flooded his eyes.”
“No Jessica, I would lie to just about anyone in Dominion if I had to. But never to you.”
“Never to me, huh?”
There was definitely something going on here that he was hiding from me. How was it we only just met a few days ago, and it felt like we’d known each other for ages? What was this strange connection we seemed to share? A vampire who wears his heart on his sleeve was something out of a fairytale, not reality. He knew something about me, about us, that he wasn’t tell me.
“I’ll play by your vampire rules. But I want you to go first. Tell me about your mate. You said Broderick killed her?”
It was as if the world went silent and a dark cloud formed over Alexandros’s head at my question. He looked broken, and I instantly regretted asking it.
With a hard swallow he flung his head to the side, breaking our gaze before bringing it back. He looked like someone had just taken a big shit all over his dinner.
Clearing his throat, he muttered, “he did not kill her. However, were it not for him, she would still be alive. She was my everything and my love for her was endless.”
He gave me a chuckle, seeming to be more for my benefit than for his. “In many ways, you remind me of her.”
His eyes became shiny as glass as he reached out to sandwich both my hands between his. “You have her beautiful eyes and her fearless passion.”
Why did it feel like there was more he wanted to say but couldn’t?
His grip around my hands went from gentle to almost strangling. His eyes turned red and became wilder by the second, as if the same madness as last time in the cafeteria was slowly taking him over again, triggered by his sadness.
“Are you all right?” I asked, the fear beginning to churn in my stomach. It was the fear you could only have when staring eye to eye with an ‘A’ class Ancient, the perfect killer. And to make matters worse he was giving me that psycho smile. It was wide and toothy, making him look like all of his reasoning had gone out the window and now all that remained was a mind full of delightful chaos.
With red eyes boring into my face like sharp daggers, he said in a deep almost monstrous tone that was still somehow playful, “It’s your turn now, my sweet. Tell your vampy why do you want a guard key so badly? Plan to sneak a few extra sweets out of the pantry?”
“Game or no game that bit of info is off lim-”. But before I could finish my sentence, the air caught in my throat and I found my lips moving of their own accord. What the hell was this? Was he glamouring me into telling him everything? I felt the power of his vampiric compulsion wash over me. It was like he’d unlocked the key to my mind and could now control me like a puppeteer would a puppet, but unlike Pinocchio, I wouldn’t be allowed to lie.
“I want the key to- stop it vampire!” I yelled, putting up my best fight. I tried to jerk my head away but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t break my gaze from his piercing red eyes, nor could I pull my hands free of his vise-like grip.
“I want the key to escape with- with my brother.” I said through a clenched jaw.
“Uhhhh, fascinating, and just where is this brother of yours?”
“Go-Gold Block!” I choked out.
“And the soul eaters? How do you plan to get past them?”
&nbs
p; “Shiso under my bed.” The words spilled from my mouth like vomit, resisting was impossible under his compulsion. I’d underestimated him. How did I not think a vampire as powerful as him couldn’t still glamour with the poisons?
His eyes flew open with intrigue and his psycho grin grew even more sinister.
“Lovely!” He chirped.
“And I’m assuming you’re able to hold the key if you manage to get it?”
With a scowl so murderous it could kill a weaker vampire, I nodded.
“Well then, now that you know all my plans, what are you going to do? Rat me out?”
“Rat you out?” He gave out a laugh of pure ecstasy that still managed to be crazy unsettling.
I knew what was coming next, but was still nowhere near prepared to hear them.
“You want my vampires to protect you? The answer will always be yes. You want my help to fetch your precious key, Jessica? I am at your service. But it’s about time I get something out of this little arrangement of ours.”
The look in his eyes was as cold and contemplative as it was sinister.
“And I assume another round of truth or dare won’t suffice?” I said hopefully.
“Oh, there will be plenty of games in our future. Of that I can assure you. But first, I’m escaping with you. These are my demands and on this I will not compromise.”
I was in no position to bargain and by the glint in his eyes; he knew it. He knew my secrets from top to bottom. Worst of all, I needed his help to get the key. Psycho or not, vampire or not, he had me right where he wanted me and he relished that fact.
I dropped my head, annoyed by how skillfully he’d played me. With no other options on the table I said, “Okay Vampy, you have yourself a deal.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Alexandros
For over two hundred years I have had to live a cursed existence without my Ashley. But in one fell swoop the black clouds of dread and solitude were lifted, light finally returned to the land, and with it my will to live.
Escape of the Fae Page 17
