by K Loraine
“He is our king. The country we are in doesn’t affect that.” She shrugged and poured golden oil into the bathwater, filling the air with the heady scent of roses. Her eyes roamed my body and I saw nothing but disapproval in her gaze. “You will disrobe,” she said. “I will bring you something more appropriate to wear.”
I glanced down at my outfit from the night before. “What? His royal human trafficker doesn’t approve of clubbing clothes?”
Her eyes widened at my sass, then that face I thought looked so kind turned into a vicious expression. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll hold your tongue, girl.” She waved her hand and ordered, “Clothes. Now.”
I didn’t move a muscle. This woman would not get my clothes if I didn’t want her to. “You want them, take them.”
With a huff, she strode across the floor until she stood a mere inch away from me. She looked up, her short stature almost comical in contrast to my height. “As you wish,” she muttered.
Then, her hands turned to blurs of motion, flying so quickly I couldn’t see anything as my clothes were sliced from my body. I stood there naked with my eyes wide as my clothes fluttered to the ground in ribbons. As much as possible, I covered my body with my hands.
“How…how did you do that?” My voice shook, limbs trembling in fear. “My clothes.”
“You have no idea what you are in for at Blackthorne Manor.” She waved her hand in front of me, razor-sharp nails catching the light.
“Did you…did you do that with your fingernails?”
“And I could do much worse if I wished. Now, be a good little pet and do as you are told. Bathe, dress, and prepare to meet your King.”
With that, she left, her diminutive frame now more of a contradiction than I thought possible. What were these people?
2
Cashel
Blood. Dark, sweet, and everything I shouldn’t want sang in her. The darkness inside me roared to life the moment I took her. It begged me to ease the hunger, to feed from her, take every ounce of what made her who she was into myself and revel in the gift of her blood. Even now, masked behind three floors and several rooms of the estate, her scent nearly broke my resolve.
But she wasn’t for me. She was my test, and she could be my undoing.
Her destiny and mine were intertwined.
Olivia Stewart would never be free.
3
Olivia
I used to love the scent of roses. Not anymore. The oil in the bath was strong enough that even after drying off, I still smelled the cloying aroma. It coated my tongue, thick and heavy, unwelcome. I stared at myself in the mirror, my eyes so dark they were nearly black looking back at me, a perfect copy of my mother’s. I pulled my hair into a twist at the base of my skull and made quick work of securing the locks with the clip I’d found on the marble counter in the bathroom.
Just as the terrifying little woman had promised, there were clothes left out on the bed for me. If clothes were what a slinky evening gown was called. “Great,” I muttered, sliding my fingers over the dress made of thin ivory silk. It could have almost been classified a nightgown if it hadn’t been for the lining and beadwork across the waist. I slipped it over my head and cursed my curvy figure. My nipples were hard points in the cold room, pressing outward against the silk, accentuating my full breasts. The silk clung to my body, showcasing every curve I had.
“Why even wear clothes?” I asked the empty room as I brushed my hands over the fabric in a futile attempt to make myself more comfortable.
“Why, indeed?” a low male voice said, catching me off guard. What was it with these people? They were terrifyingly quiet. I turned to face him, and my breath caught. Cashel. The man who kidnapped me. He stood in the doorway staring, well, smoldering was really the right word. Long legs encased in slim black trousers and a navy blue velvet jacket covered his broad shoulders. His devastatingly handsome features had me momentarily forgetting he was the bad guy.
Fear crept back into my brain as soon as he moved off the doorframe and started toward me. “Get out of my room,” I forced through a tight throat.
He let out a low chuckle before inhaling long and slow. “Roses,” he murmured. “Wise choice on Brenna’s part. It cloaks your scent.”
There was that scent talk again. “You’re weirdly obsessed with how I smell.”
“Wouldn’t you be if a dessert made just for you was waved around in front of your face? Dangled like a fucking carrot on a stick?”
“I don’t understand what you mean. I’m not food.” But the realization hit me like a punch to the gut. What if that was exactly why I was here? “Oh, God. Is this like a Silence of the Lambs thing? Are you a cannibal?”
That fucking chuckle rolled through him again and my fear was replaced with fury. “No, little bird. I’m not. I’m something entirely different.” He held out a hand. “Come along. My father is ready to see you.”
Father? “But she…Brenna said I was going to see the King.”
He grabbed my hand, a chill running through me at the contact. “He is.”
“Does that make you a prince?”
“I suppose so. But I’m not the hero in your fairy tale, little bird. I’m the monster.”
I jerked my hand out of his grip and stared daggers at him. “I never said you were a hero. Don’t fucking touch me.”
His jaw clenched, anger flashing in his eyes as he matched my gaze. “I could have you against this wall, begging for freedom, for your pitiful life.”
“Then why don’t you? Why am I here if you want to kill me so badly?” I knew I was playing with fire, but what did I have to lose? “I think you’re powerless. You can’t kill me.”
He didn’t answer, instead, just grabbed my hand again and tugged until I had to follow. I tried to pull away, but this time, his grip was like iron. Immovable. Unbreakable. I slapped him, hard, screaming and fighting with everything in me. I clawed at his face, kicked and shoved, but the man was immovable. He wrapped a hand around my mouth and wrenched me against his body.
“Just because I can’t catch your scent, that doesn’t mean you’re safe from me. Or anyone in this house save Brenna. And even her…I’m not so sure.”
I bit down on his hand and he didn’t react. He only pulled me tighter, his lips trailing down my throat.
He released his hold on my mouth and with a trembling voice, I asked, “What are you talking about?” But Cashel didn’t answer me. Instead, he tugged me out of the room and down the hall. Faster than my feet could steadily carry me. The hardwood floor was freezing on my bare feet and my thoughts went to the pair of shoes Brenna had left me. Cashel hadn’t let me put them on. In fact, he seemed like he couldn’t care less if I was comfortable. “Slow the hell down, Cashel.”
He stopped in his tracks, turning those dark eyes on me. “What did you call me?”
Breath locked in my chest, I forced myself to keep my eyes on him. “Cashel. That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t for Brenna to tell. I was going to give you my name when I was ready. When it was time.”
“You know mine.”
“This is a very different world from your own, Olivia. Tonight you’ll learn what it means to be in the company of the Blackthorne vampires.”
My wrist ached from the tight hold of Cashel’s fingers, but my focus wasn’t there. It was on the words he just said. Blackthorne vampires.
“Did you just say, vampires?” I asked, utter disbelief coloring my tone.
He didn’t look at me, but his shoulders tensed and I watched that strong jaw tighten. “Yes.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Typical human. You can’t believe anything you haven’t seen.” He turned on me then, his eyes blazing with anger. Then, with no warning, he shoved me against the wall until I was pinned by his large body. “Your scent calls to me because of your blood. If I had less control, I would have drained you dry in that elevator. The only thing stopping every vampire in this e
state from ripping out your throat is my father’s order of protection.”
I fought my trembling limbs and couldn’t deny the ravenous hunger in his expression. “Vampires. Aren’t. Real.” I forced the words through my lips even though I just wanted to close my eyes and will all of this away.
“Oh, we are very real. But we’re nothing like the heroes from your human novels. We don’t pine for understanding. We are monsters, plain and simple. Not because we have to be. Because we choose to be.”
He stayed pressed against me, his gaze trained on my throat rather than my eyes. I felt his breath ghosting over my neck and furrowed my brow at the sensation. “Vampires don’t breathe. They’re undead.”
Then his eyes locked on mine and he reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair away from my face, fingers trailing over my temple and behind my ear. “I thought you didn’t believe in vampires.”
I swallowed and forced myself to calm my racing heart. “I don’t.”
He leaned his face closer, lips almost touching mine. “We breathe.”
His tongue darted out to taste my mouth. “We sleep.”
His hand wrapped around my nape and he pulled me even closer. “We fuck.”
The way his voice wrapped around the word fuck sent a jolt of unwanted desire straight between my legs. But it was quickly dampened when he said, “And we kill.”
The door at the end of the hall opened, breaking the tension of the moment and filling the next with a new kind of instability. Cashel backed away slowly, his posture returning to the cold distance I could tell he worked hard to maintain. He tossed a look at me and said, “Don’t try to run. They’ll be on you in seconds and I won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he shook his head and we entered the room, if that’s what the space could be called. It reminded me of a cathedral without any of the religious connotations. I felt the weight of every pair of eyes in the room as we walked in. Each person stared, expressions faintly curious, an almost feline apathy on their faces, but they didn’t look away with each step Cashel and I took. In fact, the closer I came to them, the more interested they appeared. One woman licked her lips and gripped the side of her chair hard enough the wood creaked.
“What is happening?” I whispered, desperate for Cashel to give me some kind of reassurance that I wasn’t marching straight to my death.
“They know. They know what you can do for them and they’re hungry.”
He linked our hands and held tight to me, possessive, demanding, and for once, I didn’t resist. Cashel may have brought me here against my will, but he was the only thing keeping me safe from these insane people.
“Calm down. Your heart is beating so fast it’s causing your scent to overpower the rose oil. I won’t let anything happen to you. If anyone gets to have you, it’s me.”
I took long, slow breaths and tried not to think too hard on what he’d just said as we approached the ornately carved throne. It was empty, which wasn’t what I expected. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d expected. The whole situation was too much for me to take in. “Where is your father?” I whispered, leaning closer to Cashel.
Again, his shoulders stiffened, and this time, he let go of my hand. “He likes to make an entrance.”
The crowd stayed deathly still as the door in the back of the room opened and a tall man, thick dark hair graying at the temples giving him a distinguished appearance, strode inside and stood in front of the throne. The crowd rose and stood until he sat. “What have you brought me, Cashel?” he asked, looking me up and down.
“She’s the one. The last one.”
The last one of what? I glanced from Cashel to the King and back. “She has a name,” I interjected, crossing my arms over my chest. “If you’re going to talk about me, at least use my damn name.”
The King’s eyebrows rose in absolute delight. “Oh, she’s a feisty one. I like her already.”
Cashel tensed and placed himself in front of me almost imperceptibly, but I noticed. It was a strangely protective gesture. “I thought it better to leave her mind clear of influence.”
“You thought correctly.” Then the King looked at me and said, “Step forward, Olivia.” I shivered at the utterance of my name. How had he known? “I am Elias Blackthorne, and we have been searching for you for a very long time.”
My skin crawled under his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“Come to me,” he ordered, and I did. Not because I felt compelled to do so, but because I was truly afraid of what he might do to me if I didn’t. He rose before walking around me, his long, lean frame towering over me. Power and confidence radiated from him, ominous and threatening. “You fear me, but in truth, you are in the safest place you could possibly be.”
My chest tightened at his statement. “My life has been threatened more than once since I met Cashel. I don’t see how I’m any safer here than I would be at home.”
“Your mother didn’t tell you anything, did she?” he asked, his voice slithering over my skin. Nausea coiled in my belly.
“What do you know about her?”
He chuckled and brushed my hair over my shoulder. “She did a wonderful job of hiding you all these years. Not a trace. I never suspected you existed.” Cold fingers slid over my shoulder before he leaned in and pressed his lips to my throat. Cashel sucked in a sharp breath from behind me and the crowd murmured as excited energy filled the room.
“Father,” Cashel said, warning in his tone.
“Sunshine.” The King’s mouth brushed my skin as he whispered the word I remembered hearing Cashel utter before he took me. Then burning pain shot through my neck and the King groaned.
“Father, stop. You’ll kill her.” Cashel’s protest brought the reality of the situation into bright focus. He hadn’t lied. They were vampires. They were vampires and his father was feeding from me.
I fought against the King’s hold on me, but just like Cashel’s grip had been, this man…no, this vampire, was not going to budge. He had me, fangs deep in my throat, pulling the blood from my vein, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. My heart raced at the violation, stomach churning and roiling as anxiety clouded everything else. I did not want this. Elias didn’t belong inside my body in any way, but I couldn’t stop him, and no one was going to speak up for me.
Soft moans filled the room and from the corner of my eye, I caught sight of members of the crowd shifting in their seats, arousal in their expressions. They were getting off because of this? Disgust rolled through me and I pulled on Elias’s arm, needing to get away from him. Weakness took over, my head swimming from blood loss. A vague thought flitted through my mind.
This was it.
This was the end my mom had been running from all those years.
The monsters had found me.
4
Cashel
Everything inside me screamed in rage at the sight of my father taking Olivia’s blood in front of me. It should be me. She should be mine to taste. I found her for us. I should be rewarded. I tuned in to her heartbeat and panic ran up my spine. It was too slow. She was going to die.
“Enough!” I shouted, my voice reverberating off the high dome of the ceiling.
My father pulled his teeth from her neck and backed away, a dazed expression on his face. A line of blood trickled down his chin and he licked his lips, long sharp fangs stained crimson visible in his open mouth. Olivia trembled as she stumbled backward, her face pale and drawn. She looked at me, wild-eyed and pleading silently for help. But I was not here to help her. She was here for us and this was only the beginning.
The vampires around us got to their feet and all began talking at once, the energy in the room filled with arousal and hunger. The left side of her neck was a raw wound, blood running down her front, soaking the pale fabric over her full breast. My body reacted on instinct, hardening, lengthening, aching for her in more ways than I wanted to admit.
The King looked at me with
a glint of triumph in his eyes before turning his attention to the vampires in the room. “Finally, we have found fuil ghrian.”
A cheer went up, applause so loud Olivia winced. I stayed silent, assessing the crowd. Their eyes were trained on my little bird. They were rabid, feral things starving for what only she could give them.
“Blood of the sun,” the King said. “Your prince has taken the blood of the sun and made her our pet.” Then, with a darkness in his eyes that I hadn’t seen in nearly a hundred years, he said, “Take her and secure our pet in her rooms, Cashel. She’s not to leave the estate.”
5
Olivia
My legs wobbled as I tried to walk back to my room. Everything around me swayed and the damn floor seemed to be moving under me.
“Hold tight, little bird,” Cashel murmured softly into my ear. It was almost gentle. “You have to walk out of here. Show them you’re not afraid. They’ll only want more of you if you’re afraid.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded and wrapped my arm around his waist. I used his strength to help me walk a straight line out of the throne room and into the hall. But the instant the door shut behind us, I lost control of my limbs. Everything started shaking with ferocious intensity.
“Fuck,” he said, scooping me into the cradle of his arms. Hard lines made up his face that were somehow attractive and terrifying all at the same time. The strong jaw, high cheekbones, and cruel slash of a mouth gave him regal bearing—all accented by the rigid coldness in his manner. I’d thought him gentle for a single heartbeat, but he was right back to the asshole I labeled him as earlier.
“What…what did he mean by blood of the sun?” I asked, worried if I didn’t ask now, I’d never find out. He’d drop me off in my room and lock me away without another thought.
