by T. S. Ryder
A sigh escaped her lips and she bared her fangs in an unfriendly fashion as the man invited himself to a chair, flopping into the soft, maroon cushion with a noisy sigh.
“You’re not invited,” Calissa snapped, eyeing the man in clear irritation, at which he merely shrugged, a grin on his face.
“And I didn’t ask for your permission to be here. Last I checked, this manor belongs to me, so I can go anywhere I want. This chair is the most comfortable, so I think I’ll sit here for a while,” he hummed.
“If you enjoy it so much, why don’t you take it somewhere else, hmm?” she asked, rolling her eyes when he merely sank deeper into the chair and made a show of getting more comfortable. “I don’t have time to deal with you today, Lee. Your people are dying. You’d think you’d be a little more interested in how to stop the humans from killing them.”
This highly infuriating creature was none other than Lee Dameron, the prince of the vampire coven she belonged to. The fact irritated her to no end, particularly because he showed absolutely zero desire to rule his coven, which meant that, as the coven warlord (or lordess, in her case), any responsibility not fulfilled by his “royal highness” fell to her.
As if she didn’t have enough problems in her own job description to handle.
“Oh come now, Leesi—”
“Calissa,”
“It can’t be nearly as bad as you say. You’re just simply not sending out the right vampires to put a stop to the humans’ shenanigans,” Lee hummed. Had Calissa had anything but her map and the wine glass of blood, she’d have thrown something at his smugly smiling face. “Besides, one of these days the Council will step in.”
“Careful, Lee. Arrogance is not a trait that attracts women,” Calissa snapped. Her eyes, dark brown and brooding, glared daggers at the crowned prince, yet, as always, he didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest.
In fact, he snatched her glass from her desk and took a deep drink, his eyes fixed on her in amusement.
Disgusted, Calissa slammed her hands down on the table, stood up from her chair and walked threateningly over to Lee, her skin tight jeans and low cut shirt accentuating every curve and angle of her body.
“Listen here, Lee Dameron,” she hissed, a strand of her usually perfectly curled, pinned up hair flopping into her face. “If you have nothing productive to contribute towards destroying the human hunters, then you can march your pretty little ass out of my office so I can try to save your people. Understand?”
To her surprise, a feral light flashed in the vampire prince’s eyes and he moved with inhuman speed and grace, so fast that she could barely track him with her eye. Before she really understood how it had happened, she was pinned against the wooden wall of her office, his hands on either side of her shoulders and his fangs sinfully close to her throat.
“Be careful, Leesi,” he purred. A tongue like ice flicked out from between his lips and licked against her neck, while the very points of his fangs pricked against her skin, leaving beads of dark, red blood welling up to meet his tongue.
Calissa shivered softly and her hands instinctively tangled in Lee’s dark hair as she pulled his mouth closer to her throat. Faint memories swirled in her head; memories of many nights of passion, drunk off lust and with the thirst for blood satiated by the taste of another vampire.
A hum rumbled deep in Lee’s throat as he sank his fangs deep into Calissa’s pale throat, his lips locking around the wound he had made. Blood welled up into his mouth, leaving the searing burn of lust on his long dead heart. As he pulled away, and Calissa whined despite herself, a smirk crossed his bloodied lips.
“That’s what I thought,” he purred smugly. “Now, where can’t I be?”
Calissa just glared as she brought her hand up to cover the bite wound in her neck.
“Satisfied?” she growled, a husky, lustful hint in her tone despite her hostilities.
Lee nodded and licked his lips free of her blood as he moved toward the door. Just before he shut it, he poked his head back in and grinned wolfishly. “Oh. If you happen to finish anytime soon, you know where my bed is,” he winked, cackling as this time Calissa chucked her wine glass at the door.
By the time it shattered against the wood, Lee had already disappeared, leaving a trail of laughter behind him.
Chapter Two
Like every other time Lee had interrupted her planning, Calissa found herself waking up naked in his bed, wrapped up in his arms, the following evening. His chest rose and fell softly as he breathed, and, as if he was mocking her even in sleep, a smirk quirked at his lips.
“I hate you,” she whispered angrily, and yet, despite her words, she remained wrapped in his embrace with her heart-shaped face pressed against his cool chest.
She knew the love-and-hate they shared did not make the healthiest relationship, but it never affected her the way it did as of late.
Because it was no longer just about the two of them.
Sighing, Calissa wondered if she would ever gather the strength to tell Lee that consequences finally caught up with their wild passions.
She had known that she was pregnant for three days now, and kept telling herself that all she was waiting for was the right moment, but in her soul she knew she was simply too afraid of his reaction. The volatile mix of dread and joy that the knowledge that she would soon become a mother filled her with was torment enough even without being reminded that the only thing that worked in the relationship with the baby’s father was sex.
Lee was only ever tolerable when he slept, and if she moved then she’d have to listen to him speak. This was much easier to handle. Besides, if she got up now she’d have to listen to reports on how many vampires had been staked during the day, and demands about why she hadn’t sent in a formal petition to request military support from the Lords of the Vampire Council.
It wasn’t that she didn’t have multiple petitions drafted, it was more that Lee had the attention span of a goldfish, and he was the one who had to actively submit and present the petition as the ruling monarch of their coven. Every time she’d tell him exactly what needed to be said, and every time he’d come back without the Council’s support.
The very thought left her blood boiling in her veins, and she shoved the naked man away from her with a huff. A satisfied smile formed on her lips as the air audibly whooshed out of his lungs.
“W-What was that for?” Lee gasped, after wheezing for a few long moments. Genuine hurt filled his dark eyes, and for a moment a pang of guilt tore at Calissa’s heart.
“Nothing. You deserved it anyway,” she snapped, already on her feet in all her naked glory. As she moved, her neck and shoulders protested in pain. She knew they’d be all marked up and bitten to shreds.
“Calissa?” Lee called out to her, a frown on his face, but she was already storming out of his room. “Calissa!”
Eyes moved all over her form, some openly staring at her plump breasts or taut butt as she walked by, but she couldn’t bring herself to care in her irritation. Why did Lee have to be so incredibly useless?
Speak of the devil... Familiar hands gripped forcefully at her bare hips from behind just as she reached her room. If she turned around now and looked Lee in the eye then she’d end up broken hearted, angry and confused later on.
“Calissa. Turn around and look at me,” Lee demanded. His tone rang with tension and pain, and as he turned her around his eyes glared with anger.
“Don’t you dare walk out on me again,” he snapped, ignoring the stares and glares his naked form received as he towered over Calissa.
Part of her wanted to reach out to him and allow him to pull her into his arms. Her heart ached to be loved and coveted, but her head could not forgive him for his incompetence and his indifference.
“Until you do your job, there is nothing between us!” she said, her hands pressing weakly at his chest. Had she truly wanted to push him away, she would have, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. “Until you act like
a ruler… Like a leader, we are nothing!”
With each accusation, Lee’s eyes filled with pain and his hands dropped to his sides. With the way he hunched over, it looked like he’d been punched in the stomach, and when he opened his mouth to speak, she already knew what he was going to say. This happened every time they shared a bed together.
“I love you, Calissa. Can’t you see that?”
Of course she knew he loved her. She knew he wanted her as his mate, but she couldn’t forgive him for getting his people killed. For getting their people killed.
“I have another petition proposal. Stop by later tonight,” she said, as she opened her door and shut it right in his face, before he could say anything more.
For a moment, she stared at nothing, thinking of the pain on his face, and then she sank to the floor with tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn’t love him… Not when he was on the path of condemning them all to death.
Chapter Three
Lee stared up at the marble building before him, his teeth clenched together in determination. This time, they’d listen to him. This time, he’d convince them to send help. This time, Calissa would be proud of him and wouldn’t regret having sex with him in the morning. Steeling himself, he pushed open the door and stepped into the gloom of the hallway.
“Back again, Mr. Dameron?” called the soft, almost papery voice of the near-fossilized vampire who ran the front desk. Alucard’s blind eyes followed Lee as easily as if he could still see, and he lifted a wrinkled, withered hand to point in the direction of the Council.
“They are in there, but be warned, Mr. Dameron. They are growing tired of your… less than satisfactory attempts to gain their favor,” Alucard said.
Lee didn’t care to ask what he meant, nor did he allow the words to stop him from throwing open the previously closed, heavy, wooden doors to the Council room. The doors swung forward and banged against the wall with a low, echoing thud that forced all four pairs of eyes to turn and look at him.
“Lee,”
“Viktor, Arjin, Angulic, David,” Lee said, greeting each of the Council members in turn with a deep bow. As he did this, he clutched tightly at the parchment roll in his hands, internally telling himself that he needed to get this right.
“What is it this time, Lee?” snapped Arjin, an old vampire with the worst temperament of the four of them. “Haven’t you disturbed us enough?”
“Quiet, Arjin. We are required to hear him ou—”
“No, Viktor. He’s right. He continuously comes back to plead the same shamble of a case, and for what?” Angulic muttered, her eyes flashing in irritation as she eyed Lee.
“Please... This is important!” Lee stammered, but even the soft-spoken David was shaking his head. Three against one was enough to leave Viktor scratching at his head.
“I’m sorry, Lee. The majority has spoken. We won’t hear this case again. You are denied the Council’s support in your alleged war against humanity.
“But it isn—”
“Silence!” Arjin cut in as he got to his feet and advanced on Lee, robes billowing out behind him in his haste. “Leave us at once!”
Lee didn’t back down, but he did look between Arjin and Viktor, pleading silently for the older vampire’s help. When none came, he sighed, shoulders hunched in defeat, and stepped backward with a bowed head. “I understand.”
When no response was offered past that, Lee made his departure from both Council room and building, before he leaned against his car and looked towards the midnight sky. What was he supposed to tell Calissa now? He’d failed her again.
More importantly, what was he supposed to do about his coven? He’d been all but been banished from the presence of the Council. If his coven seriously needed help, even more than it did now, he wouldn’t be able to present a case to them. They were cut off.
It meant there was only one thing he could do, but he wasn’t going to like it. Biting against his lip until he tasted blood on his tongue, he pulled both blank parchment and pen from his pocket and began to write a new petition.
They’d listen to him after this.
Chapter Four
It was nearly dawn by the time Lee stumbled into Calissa’s office. She’d been pacing the majority of the night, too anxious to hear what the Council had to say about her request for militant aid. She’d written the entire plan out this time, instead of relaying it orally to Lee, in the hope that he wouldn’t screw it up.
She remembered how badly the first time had gone. They’d been friends then, and she’d insisted on coming with him to hear what the Council had to say. She’d come as an ambassador of sorts, and he had presented the plan as an offensive eradication of the entire human race instead of a defensive against the select few who hunted them. It had insulted the Council so terribly, that a prince of a coven would suggest killing all of the food that they, as a species, had, that they’d thrown him out immediately.
She had been furious, and since that point their relationship had suffered and blossomed all at the same time. They’d become more than friends, but she hated him deeply for the destruction a single conversation had caused.
“Calissa,” Lee called out to her, timid and hesitant, so incredibly unlike his domineering “I get what I want” type personality that Calissa actually paused to wonder what was wrong.
“You can come in, you know,” she said, gesturing for him to sit in the chair he claimed to be so fond of. She’d always suspected it was because he still genuinely enjoyed being in her presence, despite how rude she could be to him.
To her surprise, Lee did exactly what she’d said, going so far as to sit in the chair. Something was definitely wrong if he was taking orders instead of blatantly defying them.
“What happened, Lee?” she asked, as she sat across from him at her desk, expecting the worst. Had the Council excommunicated them? Had they condemned the entire coven to exile?
Lee looked her dead in the eye as he handed her the roll of parchment he’d been clutching to his chest like a lifeline.
Slowly, she took it from him and unrolled it, before reading it out loud. “As decreed by the Lords of the Vampire Council, Arjin, Viktor, Angulic and David, we hereby renounce Lee Dameron from his title of Prince of the Northern Isles Coven.”
Briefly, Calissa flicked her eyes up to find Lee picking at the fabric of the chair arm, as though he was trying hard not to pay any attention. “Is this true?” she asked, not wanting to believe it. She knew he was incompetent when it came to dealing with people above his head, like the Council or other coven princes, but this?
“Keep reading,” Lee demanded, the faintest spark of his usual self breaking through with the command and, for once, bringing a smile to her lips, if only faintly.
Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Effective immediately, full power over the Northern Isles Coven shall be granted to Calissa Gerb—No. No! Lee, I…” she blinked a few times and looked at her desk as if the organized space would reveal to her why this was happening. “I don’t want this! I never… I-I…”
“Calissa,” Lee said, his eyes finally meeting hers. Pain and acceptance battled deep in his dark irises and, slowly, he got to his feet. His entire demeanor was different. His cockiness and arrogance had dissipated. “I said, keep reading,” he whispered, as he plucked the parchment from between her fingers.
“Full power of the Northern Isles Coven shall be granted to Calissa Gerber, and she will, from this point, be recognized as the princess. We also grant an in-person visit to Princess Calissa and her coven, to hear about and witness the alleged attacks on the coven by human vampire hunters. Should such evidence be presented that the entire Council is in agreement, the Council Guard shall be deployed to the territory of the Northern Isles, with the single task of eradicating the human hunters, and the human hunters only,” Lee finished.
The entire time he was reading, an eerie calm had settled over him, and it bothered Calissa that he seemed so ready to accept what the Coun
cil had decreed. “You can’t just… accept this! You’re the prince! Not me!”
“Of course I accept it,” Lee said, as he looked at her steadily. “It was my idea.”
Chapter Five
Calissa looked as though she’d been punched in the gut. Her mouth gaped open and her eyes had flown wide, yet she said nothing. Instead, she stared at Lee as if he’d grown a second head.
“Listen to me before you say anything,” Lee snapped, irritation flashing in his eyes as he slammed his hands down on her desk, glaring daggers at her. “I don’t like this any more than you do. I didn’t want to give up my place, but something’s got to be done about these humans and the Council won’t hear any more about this issue from me.” As he said this, he stepped back from the desk and began to pace, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he did so.
“I’m trying to do what’s right here, Calissa,” he sighed, the intensity dying in his eyes. It left him defeated and hunched once more, and he sank back into the chair with a groan.
“I can’t get through to Arjin. Or Angulic, or David for that matter. The only one still willing to listen to me at all is Viktor. If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t have gotten even this far. They’ve agreed to come here, Calissa. They’ve agreed to listen to you.” His tone was urgent and soft, even as he held his head in his hands.
“I… I don’t think I can do this,” Calissa said. Already her heart pounded in her throat at the thought of speaking for an entire coven of vampires to the leaders of their entire species. If it frightened her now, there was no way she’d be able to talk to them when they showed up.
To her surprise, Lee got to his feet once more, the intensity returning twice over. Sucking in a deep breath, he slapped her across the face, eyes hard. “Snap out of that. Cut your crap, Calissa. If you can’t do it, then get out of here while I try to save your people.”
Lee hadn’t hit hard, it barely even stung, but tears still stubbornly glazed over her vision. Standing up straight, she met his gaze as an equal and grit her teeth. This had been what she’d yelled at him for all this time. Whether she liked it or not, this was her job, and she was going to do this for the coven. And for Lee.
