Blood Purple

by Ashley Nemer

  “What the hell…?”

  He surveyed the damage done to the room last night; glass everywhere, picture frames broken, even his favorite chair in pieces. What could he have possibly done to make such a mess? Looking down to his left, he saw two empty bottles of scotch. Well fuck that would do it. How could he have been so stupid? People depended on him to lead, to make the right decisions. He couldn’t lose his composure like that and let others see him falling apart. Zayn looked at the time, 10 am; he needed to get up… he had decisions to make today.

  He forced his way to the bathroom, each step he took, his body fought, muscles sore, limbs tight. Turning the water on, he let the steam of the heat build. Stripping his clothes off, he stepped in under the stream of water. Feeling the warmth beat on his back and his neck, he then accepted the fact that he couldn’t change what happened. He couldn’t fix the damage that was done. It was time to man up, time to fight, and time to find Nikole and bring her home.

  Outside of his room, Adara laid her head against her door, staring at the frame. She wanted to check on him, she wanted to make sure the screaming she’d heard last night hadn’t been him hurting himself. He’s the King; he doesn’t need someone checking on him. Right? But what if he does? What if he is hurt? I should check on him; he won’t mind. Adara mumbled to herself. Unable to resist any longer, she walked to the door and knocked. She waited a few minutes, nothing. She knocked again. She knew he should be up; it was too late for him to be sleeping still.

  Adara slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open. “Zayn?” Looking through a cracked door, she saw glass and wood shavings on the ground. Feeling fear inside at what condition he might be in, she opened the door fully and stepped inside. She saw the destruction, the empty scotch bottles and the whirlwind of a mess that lay across the King’s room. Turning toward the direction of the bathroom, she saw his silhouette reflecting off the shower curtain. She took in his body, large shoulders, slender waist, and thick arms. Oh good lord. The man was built. She just wanted to make sure he was okay, right? That was all, she kept telling herself as she took a seat in the chair behind the desk, absorbing her surroundings. She heard a small crack, and then moments later, she was planted on the floor. The chair gave out on her; looking to it she saw one of the legs had broken off entirely.

  Zayn heard a crash coming from his room and shut off the water before pulling the curtain back and running into the room, knife in hand. “Adara! What are you doing in here?”

  She looked up at him; basking in his naked wet body. “Zayn, I….”

  He knelt beside her and looked her over; she couldn’t stop eyeing his dark, olive, sun kissed skin. “Are you hurt Adara?”

  She shook her head no, watching him stand as he reached for her arms. He took her hands and pulled her to him. “What are you doing in here anyway?”

  Adara gulped and took a breath. “I wanted to check on you. When I didn’t hear a response to my knock I got worried, so I cracked the door to look. I saw the broken glass and got worried for your safety, so I came in. There was the mess in the whole room, a total disaster, it was overwhelming. I had to sit down. And then, I was watching you…In the shower. Then the chair gave out on me. I had planned on leaving before you knew I was here.” Unable to help herself again, she looked over his body, wanting to touch him. Zayn realized he was standing in the middle of his bedroom, naked, with a woman he wanted to be inside of.

  He ran his hand up her arm, her neck, then along her jaw. “You were concerned for me?” He watched her nod, her lips slowly separating, and the tips of her fangs showing. She started to speak when he put his finger over her lips to silence her. “Shhh.” He looked to the bed and could see it was a mess, but there was no broken furniture on it. He started walking them toward the edge of the bed, his left hand wrapping around her, guiding her. He sat her down on the edge, looking down at her.

  “How were you going to comfort me, Adara?” Running his thumb over her left cheek, he couldn’t stop staring at her lips; she colored them in a red gloss. They shimmered in the light, mesmerizing him.

  “I just wanted to hold you if…” She stopped to take a breath, and in that instant, he leaned down, capturing her lips, kissing her. Their tongues intertwined against one another’s in an erotic dance, hunger blooming within them. She let her hands roam over his chest, then his abs before they slid up his sides to his spine. He pushed her back, laying her on the bed. He held his weight up with both hands planted on either side of her.

  “If?” he teased while kissing down her delicate neck.

  “If you wanted me to,” she said softly, leaning her head to the side, welcoming him. He let his hands run up her body, under her shirt, and over her skin. Sitting up, he pulled off her shirt, tossing it to the side, and then started to pull her skirt up.

  “Yes, I want you, Adara. I have for a while.” Kissing her again, not letting her speak, he claimed her lips and slowly started to tease her entrance. Murmuring into her mouth, he dropped one hand to her ass, lifting her up, slowly taking her. She now belonged to him.

  He took his hand and cupped her breast as he teased her nipple gently with his fingers, watching her face. She closed her eyes and moaned at his soft touch. Taking his mouth, he kissed the luscious mound and teased it with his tongue. His fangs scraped across her skin, sending chills down her body. Kissing across her chest, he captured the other nipple, biting on it. She moaned feeling his sharp teeth against her flesh.

  Her nails running down his back, she pushed up against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. She was marking him as he took her over and over. She watched his lips suck on her nipple, his hand still on her ass, squeezing and holding her to him. She arched her chest into him, crying out as his thrusts got quicker and harder. She let out cries of pleasure as his name slipped off her tongue.

  He felt his body reacting to her need. He couldn’t help the overwhelming sensation to claim her as only his. He had to mark her; he had to take her every way possible. Seeing her face flushed with color, he claimed her mouth before sitting up. Looking down at her body, he ran his hand over her chest. His strong arms reached down and lifted her up, turning her over. She looked over her shoulder at him as his fierce eagerness started to consume them both. He wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her to his chest. He took his fangs and sank them into her neck, drawing the blood out into his mouth as he entered her.

  Sucking and thrusting in alternating beats over and over, Adara panted out a cry as her hands reached up and held his head to her neck. His free hand wrapped around her waist, dragging his nails across her stomach. Her body responded to his needs as they both released. She milked him, her walls sheathing him, taking everything he had to offer. He let go of her neck and cried out, “Adara!” Seeing the blood drip down her back, he licked her clean and sealed the wound as they fell onto the bed. Tangled up in each other, they felt their hearts beat in unison.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Waking up in a cold sweat, his heart pounding and his mind racing, Dominic looked around the room. He couldn’t remember when these dreams started happening, just that they had been going on for as long as he could remember. At least two hundred years. He lay back on the pillow and closed his eyes; he knew what the dream was from. He remembered what his abb used to do to him.

  “Dominic damn it, what is wrong with you? Can you do nothing right?” Haydar yelled while smacking his ebn’ in the head. “You are such a disappointment. All you had to do was kill her. How fucking hard is that. You’re bigger, you’re stronger and you’re a fucking Algula!” He hit the back of Dominic’s head harder; this time causing his neck to whiplash.

  “Abb, I couldn’t. Nothing I can do to change that. The woman was nice and I can’t kill someone; I’m not like everyone else. I’m not a monster like you.”

  Haydar grabbed Dominic by the throat, lifting him off the ground and shaking him. “Boy, you listen to me. If you do not grow a pair of balls and take your place in this family, you wi
ll be out on the streets. You can go live with your bitch amma for all I care. Live up to your blood line! We are killers. We do not let people live. We seduce, we eat, and we kill. End of story. Stop sniveling like a baby. Derrik! Get in here now!”

  Derrik came in from the other room and saw his akh being held up in the air by his abb. He knew what was going to come next, what always came next. He went to the closet and grabbed their abb’s most valued possession, his whip. “Here you go, abb.” Dominic looked at his akh; his arms started to flail, trying to free himself from his abb’s grasp. “Stop this, abb. You have to stop; you can’t do this! It’s not his fault. Don’t hurt him!”

  Haydar tossed Dominic to the ground while he begged for his akh’s safety then signaled for Derrik to turn around. He cracked the whip in the air next to Derrik’s head. “Dominic, you want to be a leader? You want to control others? You need to kiss compassion goodbye. Maybe this will show you what compassion gets you.”

  Dominic watched as his abb took the whip and cracked it against Derrik’s back. Derrik clenched his hands, cringing as his abb whipped him over and over. “Abb stop!” Dominic yelled as he charged at Haydar. Haydar grabbed Dominic’s shirt, pulling him to his chest staring him in the eye.

  “Do you think I should stop?” he asked, spitting out the words. Dominic nodded and tears streamed down his face. “Derrik, take the whip now. Come over here. We are going to teach your akh how to be a man.” Dominic watched Derrik approach slowly and hesitantly, both of the boys’ souls breaking inside and neither aware of how to help the other. Only one of them was showing the fear they both were feeling. Haydar ripped off Dominic’s shirt, exposing his bare flesh. “Derrik, you are to beat him till he bleeds on every inch of his back. If you stop, you will be next.”

  Dominic lowered his head. He knew his akh had no choice, but he hated him just the same for doing it. Derrik took the whip, and with a flick of his wrist, the snap in the air chilled the room as the flesh was broken and the first drops of blood were exposed. Dominic’s body shivered as the pain flowed through his bones. Haydar grabbed him and moved Dominic onto the whipping post. “You aren’t man enough to stand still without running are you?” Locking his hands in place, he went and sat on the couch and watched Derrik, the only ebn’ he could be proud of, beat his useless ebn’. Hopefully teaching him that compassion would get him killed.

  Derrik felt the tears starting to form, but he fought himself. He knew if he showed their abb any weakness, he would be next. Taking the whip and swinging it over and over at his akh’s flesh, the singing sound of the whip in the air killed him as his arm started to tire. His akh couldn’t stand. Nothing on his back was clean; nothing was free from blood and welts. He looked to his abb for direction. “Derrik, go put the whip up and clean yourself off. We will go hunting later tonight.

  “Yes, abb.” Putting the whip away, he left the room without looking back.

  “You see what weakness gets you, Dominic? Pain. Nothing but pain.” Dominic couldn’t talk, his voice tired from the screaming and crying. Haydar took out his knife and waved it in front of Dominic. “A boy has to learn at a young age that he should always listen to his abb, so I’ll leave you a memory of today… Every time you see it, you’ll know I am watching, and I am always right.”

  Haydar took the knife and pressed it into the flesh of Dominic’s left arm, engraving an H so he would always remember abb knew best.

  Dominic opened his eyes, blinking two tears out as he heard the phone ring. Who the hell wanted to talk this early in the morning? Reaching over and looking at the caller ID, he said, “He really is the fucking devil.”

  Reluctantly he answered. “Hello, abb.”

  “Dominic, tell me you have the bitch locked up and in custody,” Haydar said through the phone, his tone full of venom and resentment.

  Dominic took a few breaths, trying to organize his thoughts. “No, I don’t, but I know that Zayn has also lost her and doesn’t know where she is. I’ll get her, don’t worry.”

  “Don’t worry? You have never had any skills that were useful, and you tell me not to worry? You were supposed to just stay back, and I’m sure somehow you fucked this up too for Hamza and Derrik. I just don’t know how. I’ll be there in 24 hours. If you don’t have her for me to feed on, I’ll be draining your blood in her stead.”

  Dominic heard silence on the line. His abb always was one for the dramatic approach. He couldn’t ever do anything rational. He tossed the phone, relishing how it crashed into the wall. He wouldn’t need to communicate with his abb anymore. After he killed his bitch bent amty, he would kill his abb and take over the charge against the King.

  Getting out of bed, he slipped on his pants then moved to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he saw the H on his shoulder. He slowly counted to ten, trying to regain his composure. He was glad Derrik was dead. He was a useless akh, always siding with the asshole. If they just let him do what he wanted they would have killed everyone back in 1777, but no, Haydar always had to do it his way, and Derrik always followed along. They had both blamed him, like he had control over mama dying. Like it was his fault she bled out while giving birth to him. His abb always reminded him how he was a let down from the start.

  “You are nothing but a burden on this family! All you do is drain it of anything worth having. Get out of my sight. I don’t want you to come home for a week. Useless fucking ebn’!” Dominic looked up at his abb, not understanding what he had done wrong this time.

  “But Abb, I didn’t do anything. Where am I supposed to go?” Dominic ducked as a bowl was hurled at his head. He heard it break against the wall behind him.

  “She is dead because of you. You just had to be born. You have always been ass backwards. You had to come out that way. You killed my Sarah!” Dominic started crying. He looked for someone to help him, but no one was in the room.

  “Abb, I’m but a child. Where do you want me to go?” He sniffled and wiped away his tears.

  “I don’t care where you go, just get the fuck out!” Haydar grabbed Dominic by the collar and threw him out of the door.

  Dominic heard his abb lock the door from the other side, his heart crushed. Ten years old, what was he supposed to do for a week out alone with no family?

  Coming back to reality, Dominic decided the only thing to do was set a trap for his abb and Zayn, kill them both at once, then take over everything. There was no better way to take over than if both his male competitors were out of the way. He pulled out his computer to do research on the local area and where to best set the trap. He had to decide though… He knew one thing for certain; he was going to make sure his abb’s death was slow, bloody, and intensely painful.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Waking up with hair in his face and a hand on his leg, it took a minute to get his bearings. Nikole, the Princess, was laying in his bed, not just in his bed, but also on him. He wasn’t used to being around others, not after the war. It had been a few hundred years since he even wanted to talk to someone else, but now he had her in his bed and draped over him. Slowly, he moved her off of him in an attempt to make her more comfortable, accidentally waking her in the process.

  “Mmm…morning,” she said in a cute and mesmerizing sexy tone.

  “Good morning, Nikole. How are you feeling?”

  She blinked her eyes open and noticed his violet-flaked irises. Smiling up at him, she froze for a moment when she realized where his hands were and that they were still in bed together. “I’m much better, but Alec, what are you doing?”

  He paused for a moment, then realized that in his attempt to move her down he had positioned himself over her. His hands were placed around her body as he tried to maintain support as to not hurt her. “I, um, you had fallen asleep on me and I was trying to make you more comfortable since I was getting up, forgive me.”

  She brought her hand up to cover her mouth as she yawned, still trying to take in the situation. “Hey, look, you moved your arm. That’s great. I bet
you can walk today, if you want to try,” Alec said in an attempt to take the attention off of him.

  Nikole nodded in excitement. “I would love to walk. Can we try it now?” She slowly started to turn her body to get out of the bed even though he was still holding onto her. He felt her start to move, but he wasn’t paying attention, as he couldn’t keep his eyes off her face and noting beautiful she was in the morning when she woke up. “Alec, you can let go; I’ll be okay.” He snapped back into reality, quickly releasing her, and got out of the bed himself.

  Nikole was determined to get out of this bed. She moved the covers off of her, forgetting just how naked she really was. Alec sucked in a deep breath at the sight of her healed legs, sleek and splendid. Nikole’s right leg moved out of bed and slowly landed down on the ground, making contact with the floor. Her toes danced along the wood flooring as she tried to get a good footing. Adjusting her body, she shifted, allowing her left leg to dangle off the bed. Alec watched cautiously as he noticed the spark in her eyes he hadn’t seen before. She was excited, a true warrior who wanted to reclaim her independence.

  “Do you want some help? That first step can be hard,” he offered.

  She shook her head no. “I have to do this for myself, Alec.” She braced her hand on the bed, and with one motion, started to stand up. Both feet planted firmly on the wood, she straightened up. The smile on her face was breathtaking. Her teeth showed, fangs and all, as color came to her flesh, lighting up the room. Nikole moved her left leg and started to step forward. It happened in slow motion…Her falling. Alec moved quickly to catch her, but missed her by inches as her body hit the ground hard. “Shit, Nikole, are you okay? I never should have let you do that alone.”

  She pushed his hands away. “Alec, I have to do this on my own. Please.”

  Alec moved back, but not too much, as he watched her struggle to stand on her own. Drawing on her inner strength, she pushed herself up on her arms and braced against the chair Alec had in the room. Pulling with what little physical strength she had, she was able to move to a kneeling position. She saw the door. She was going to walk out of this room if it killed her. She looked up to Alec and smiled. “Just a bit further, no?” She laughed to herself as she brought her left leg up from under her and pushed off it. Standing and holding onto the chair, she breathed deeply and tried to take another step.