Pure: A Paranormal Romance

by D. L. McKinsey

  “Ana? What’s wrong?” he asked, sincerely concerned.

  It made me ache on the inside. For so long, I had dreamed of him looking at me the way he was now. I closed my eyes to get the image from my mind and focused on telling him my plan. Jace ruined my concentration by closing the distance between us and cupping my cheeks with his warm hands. Heat spread through my face at the small contact as his delicious scent washed over me. It still amazed me that he could have this effect on me without even trying.

  “Jace…”

  “No, Ana, let me go first please,” Jace said, cutting me off and standing impossibly closer. “I want you to please give me a fair chance to win your heart.”

  “Jace, it’s so hard to look at you and not be overwhelmed with emotions, mostly anger.” I told him honestly then took a much needed step back.

  “I am sorry. I have been trying to give you space to forgive me, but you’re always running off with that Seb guy and seeing you with him just makes me so…so…

  “So what?! Angry! Hurt! Sad! Well, now you know how I felt watching you with my fucking sister every single day for years! And she told me that you knew I had feelings for you, and you only laughed about it!” I yelled.

  I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself, but it wasn’t helping. How dare he say a word about Seb considering all that he did to me.

  “Ana, I never knew you had feelings for me. I mean, there was a rumor at one point, but I didn’t believe it. As for laughing at you, I never did that! I never participated in your teasing. Kim is a liar,” he said softly.

  Jace stepped closer to me again and took my hands in his. His beautiful eyes welled with tears, and it was hurting me to see him ache. All these feelings I had for my mates were too much. If it was this bad with the two, I didn’t know how I would survive when I finally met the third one. Jace leaned down and planted a warm kiss on my forehead. It was so sweet and loving, a small tear escaped my eye. I was dealing with this right now. Using all my strength, I backed out of his embrace.

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I actually brought you out here because I need your help.” I told him, finally getting to the point.

  “Yes, anything you need.” He responded while still gazing at me tenderly. I hope he sticks to that once I told him my plan.

  “The King is sending his men to abduct me soon, and I need you to make sure you and the others don’t interfere.”

  “What? The vampire King is after you? Ana, we have to help,” he said seriously.

  “Jace, you guys can’t. Cora showed me her vision of the event and you will all die.” I gave him the shortest version to get my point to accross clearly.

  “We can fight! The vampire King is known for his cruelty. We can’t just hide and let him take you!” Jace was getting upset. That much was clear. He ran his fingers through his silky hair roughly.

  “Please, Jace, I’m begging you to honor my choice.” I pleaded with him.

  He looked at me completely torn but I held firm with my decision.

  “Damn it!” He shouted, throwing his hands up. “There has to be another way.”

  “There isn’t enough time. Just trust me on this. I will find a way to escape. But you have to hold the others back. Only you can do this for me, Jace,” I said, taking his hand into mine.

  His shoulders dropped, and I knew he had caved.

  “What can I do?” He asked, his voice thick with sadness.

  “I was hoping some type of restraint spell.” That was only the spell oh his I could think of.

  Jace nodded in agreement, but I knew it was the last thing he wanted.

  “Wait, what about Seb? He’s strong, and the spell won’t hold long with that many people fighting against it,” Jace said.

  This was what I was afraid of; Seb. I already knew he would be the biggest obstacle in all of this.

  Which was exactly why I came up with a different plan for dealing with him.

  “Uh, I have a more extreme plan in mind for Seb, and let’s just say he is going to be very pissed off once he finds out.

  Chapter 31

  Blood Castle

  Ana

  “What do you have in mind?” Jace asked with a brow raised.

  “We’ll have to knock him out,” I said, biting my lip. Knocking out Seb was not something I was looking forward to.

  “No, we won’t, but you will,” Jace said. He folded his arms in a serious manner.

  “Why? Can’t you just do a spell?”

  “Because I don’t want to deal with him being mad at me for knocking him out and letting you get taken.” Jace words rang true.

  Seb would be royally pissed off, and it would all be directed at Jace once I was gone. I couldn’t have that.

  Jace reached into his back pocket and pulled out a set of handcuffs.

  “Looks like you’ll need these,” he said, handing me the cuffs.

  I took hold of it then raised a brow at him. “You just carry handcuffs in your back pocket?”

  “Never know when you’ll need them.” Jace replied with a smile.

  I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Okay. Let’s get started. We don’t have much time.” I stated then turned to head back to the house.

  Before I could go far, Jace grabbed my hand and spun me around. Without warning, he smashed his lips to mine. At first, I was too stunned to move, but soon enough, the kiss melted me, and I moved my lips in sync with his. Jace’s kisses were so gentle and sweet. He really showed in them how much he wanted me.

  All too soon, he pulled away.

  “I’ll find you,” he said, breathless.

  I wanted to say something, but he didn’t give me the chance. Instead, he jogged off towards the house.

  That kiss just made everything ten times harder for me. But now wasn’t the time to think on that. I had to find Seb and restrain him.

  When I stepped inside the house, I knew finding Seb wasn’t going to be a problem. He was standing in the doorway, waiting for me.

  “Can we talk?” I asked, a bit nervous. Seb nodded. I opened the side door and began to walk down into the basement for the second time today. I could hear his heavy steps following me. The basement seemed colder now for some reason. Or maybe it was just my imagination. There were metal pipes running from the ground to the ceiling. Those will be perfect to tie him to. I didn’t stop walking until I was close to one.

  “Ana?”

  I had no clue how I was going to pull this off. I was fast, but I had to get close enough to him for this to work. Looking at him now, all dominant and manly, I figured out what I had to do.

  Slowly, I glided to him until we were chest to chest. His heartbeat picked up, and if I had one, it would have probably done the same. The heat coming off from his body completely warmed me, and staying focused became the new challenge.

  Seb reached down and gently caressed my cheek. From the gaze in his eyes, I knew his guard was down. No more stalling. Quickly, I threw him up against the pipes, swiftly pulling the cuffs from my back pocket and chaining him. It all happened so fast, Seb was barely aware of what happened until he tried to move and realized his wrist were handcuffed to one of the pipes.

  “Ana, what are you doing?” He asked, pulling at the cuffs as they clanged around the pipe.

  “I’m sorry. This is for your own good,” I said as I took slow steps away him. Seb’s face changed from confusion to panic, and he doubled his efforts to free himself.

  “Get me out of this right now!” He demanded.

  It hurt to see him like that without giving him an explanation, but if he knew why, it would only make it worse. Seb would, without a doubt, endanger himself to protect me. That wasn’t going to happen today. With one last look, I dashed from the basement. I could hear him screaming my name even after I was already back upstairs.

  Jace ran around the corner just as I closed the basement door.

  “He’s taken care of?” Jace asked.

  Seb s
creamed my name again, giving Jace his answer. “Alright. I spelled the house so that no one gets in or out except you.” He informed me.

  I nodded my head, trying to force Seb’s pleas from my mind. If I didn’t get out of here soon, I would only be tempted go back to him. From the laughing in the kitchen, I knew the others didn’t have a clue what was going on. That was something I thankful for.

  “Please tell everyone I’m sorry but not to worry. Okay?”

  I didn’t give him a chance to reply. With my supernatural speed, I fled from the house.

  Outside, I could feel a change in the air. It was a buzzing on my skin; very minimal but alarming. It sent warning bells to my head and made me have the urge to run. It must be them coming. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself. If these men came to kill me, I would not go down without a fight, but Cora said they wanted to take me to the King.

  Why did vampires need a king anyways? I wished I could have talked to Simon. He had been doing a lot of reading on all this stuff and could have probably given me information on the royals. Now, it was like I was going in blind. Too late to change it now.

  A gust of wind swept over me, and in an instant, I was surrounded by dozens of armed men. Their armor shone under the darkening sky. There were so many of them that I didn’t even bother counting. They cocooned me.

  One of the men separated himself and approached me. From his stride, it was obvious he was the leader. His wavy brown hair and rough features reminded me of someone.

  “I guess he wasn’t lying.” The man said, raking his eyes all over me.

  I raised a brow, not having any idea what he was talking about.

  “My name is Maximus, and we are the elite guard. You are being taken for judgment.”

  “Why?” I questioned. Seeing all these soldiers sort of unnerved me. It was hard not to start drawing in my powers and taking out as many as I could.

  “You are accused of conspiring to the kill the vampire King, Ferox. We shall take you to the palace where your punishment will be decided.” Maximus stated firmly.

  What was he talking about? Sure, Helia had pushed the idea of killing the royals on me, but I never actually conspired to do so.

  “You’re wrong” I countered.

  Maximus watched me curiously as he tried to figure me out.

  “That’s not for me decide.” He replied and then motioned to his men.

  Quickly, they pounce on me and shackled my hands and feet. The guards wasted no time. Onethrew me over his shoulder. Before I had the chance to counter this cave-man style abduction, the men took off. They were running so fast and gracefully, it amazed me. The guard was organized too; sprinting in straight lines faster than a bullet. My head clanged against the chainmail of the guard carrying me, making it hard for me to see where we were going. They ran at full speed for at least two hours before coming to a stop in a lot full of black vans. They ushered me into the back of one, and Maximus got in beside me. After that, we were off to an unknown road.

  “Are you really kinetic?” Maximus asked me after a few minutes of silence.

  I regarded him curiously, figuring it might be best to keep the truth about my power to myself. It was better for escape if they underestimated me.

  “Are you really the King’s bitch?” I snapped back.

  He studied me for a moment before chuckling.

  “Feisty. My brother left that part out.” He commented.

  His short sentence garnered him my full attention.

  “Brother?” I questioned.

  Maximus looked at me strangely before indulging me with an answer.

  “Yes, my brother and your co-conspirator.” He stated.

  I still looked at him confused. His expression mirrored mine

  “Marcos.”

  I’ was sure my eyes bugged out of my face. What was going on here? They thought I was working with Marcos to kill the King. Truth be told, I was more likely to kill Marcos than the King.”Wow, you look genuinely surprised” Maximus stated.

  I huffed

  “Well, it’s not every day you find out your supposedly plotting with your kidnapper.”

  They had everything twisted unless Marcos was planning to use me to kill the King. Actually, now that I thought about it, it made sense. He had me training practically every day with Seb. It was as if he was training me to become a weapon; one that he could use against the King. Damn, the King really had stacked up some enemies. It must be for a good reason.

  The remainder of the ride was a blur. I was lost in my thoughts; wondering what would happen once we got to the palace. Unfortunately, I didn’t have to wonder any longer as we arrived at the beach, of all places.

  “Are we going to tan and take a dip while we’re here?” I asked sarcastically as two guards yanked me from the van. The part of the beach we were on was deserted and shielded by eroding boulders. Even so, everything looked spectacular.

  The morning sun made the never-ending sea of blue glisten like diamonds. I was so distracted by the view, I didn’t mind the sand seeping into my shoes. This was almost like a secluded paradise. I wondered briefly where in the world we were, but I thought of a better question instead.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as the guards pushed me along.

  There definitely wasn’t a palace sitting on the sand.

  “You can’t see it?” One of the men beside me asked.

  I followed his eye movements to the ocean and that’s when it began to appear. A huge red kingdom sitting in the middle of the ocean; it was large and grand and completely unreal. The pointy tops of the castle soared into the morning clouds. It was the type of structure you’d see in children’s fairy tales.

  “How?” I asked in wonderment.

  Before anyone could answer me, we reached the tip of the ocean, and Maximus was on his phone, talking swiftly to someone

  “The blood castle is what it’s known as. It was spelled by the darkest witch known so that it can only be seen by the blood drinkers.” The guard with ashy blonde hair and scruffy face said. He was the only one to speak to me besides Maximus.

  “What if people are out there? If they can’t see it, won’t they run into it?” It seemed like a reasonable question to me.

  “No, the spell misdirects them when they get too close. They never know. And once were in it, we become part of the cloak.” He replied

  “Rex! Stop talking to the prisoner!” Maximus yelled.

  He stormed over, gripping me by my elbow and pulling me forward. Maximus practically dragged me into the water until we were knee-deep. I did not have a clue how we would get to the blood castle unless he expected me to swim which would be difficult considering my hands and feet were still chained.

  All of a sudden, something in the water began to lift our feet. I scrambled, but Maximus’ grip on me held me in place. Beneath us, a glass platform rose. It elevated until it levelled with the surface of the ocean and swiftly glided us smoothly through the water. It was so graceful that I bet any onlookers would assume we were floating or walking on water. Whatever magic this was worked fast because, in less than a minute, we were in the middle of the ocean staring at enormous doors. The double doors opened wide, revealing an immaculate grand entrance. The ceiling was swirls of black and red with a marvelous black chandelier adorned bright glowing bulbs. There were two sets of spiral staircases on each side, but we didn’t go up. We walked through the center, passing multiple doors and servants hustling about. Abruptly, we came to a halt when a creepy vampire stepped in our path. He was fair-skinned with a skinny dark beard that fell from his chin and ended with a point. His eyebrows were also unusually thick and curled up at the ends. Overall, the man looked evil.

  “Is this the girl?” He asked, raking his eyes over me like he expected better.

  “Yes, Henry. It is.” Maximus stated proudly. Henry snarled.

  “It’s still Lord Henry to you Maximus.” Lord Henry snapped at Maximus who only chuckled in response. Clearly, these two
had an issue with eachother and weren’t friends judging from all the hostility I was sensing.

  “For now. Step aside and alert the council we have her.” Maximus was very sure of himself, and it was kind of annoying. Why was I so important anyways? I was sure this King got death threats all the time, and I’d technically only been a vampire for two years. Helia believed that I could become strong enough to kill the royals, but after seeing this place and all the guards, I was not so optimistic.

  Lord Henry scowled but stepped aside nonetheless. Behind him was an old fashioned iron door. Two vampires were guarding it, and they opened the door at Maximus’ request. Of course, it had to be stone steps spiraling down into the darkness. As we began our descent into what I assumed was my prison cell, torches lit up along the wall, lighting our path. It was funny how this huge castle couldn’t spare for proper electrical system for its dungeon. The further we walked down in this dark, depressing place, actual fear began to creep up my spine. I’d been taking it well so far, but that’s only because I hadn’t really let myself think about what was happening. These people, more than likely, wanted me dead. And I had no clue how I was going to escape a prison that was sitting in the middle of the ocean.

  I really hoped Jace had a magical tracker or something because I was coming up empty on ideas already.

  Once we reached the bottom, the smell of blood hit me first, then rust, decay and death. It was nauseating. The chambers held barred cells on each side, running at least a mile long. Maximus and four other guards led me down the long chamber to an empty cell. They swiftly removed my cuffs and tossed me into the old dingy cube and locked the door. There wasn’t a window, bed or toilet in the room; just some old rags that could barely pass as a blanket. I ran my hands through my hair as I tried to come up with a plan. The problem was this place was too well-guarded, and I didn’t know the layout.