Dark Prince: A Vampire Paranormal Romance (Blueblood Vampires Book 1)

by Michelle Hercules

  22

  Lucca

  “Hey, Luc. We’re about to head down to the humans’ dorms to score some snacks. Do you want to come?” Saxon asks as soon as I step out of my room.

  I could eat, but there’s only one human I want to drink from.

  “Nah, I think I’ll just have a bag.” I head for the fridge, not missing the silent exchange between him and Ronan.

  “How did the meeting with the High Witch go?” Ronan asks.

  “Fucking fantastic. What do you think?” I pierce the plastic bag, drinking a large gulp of cold blood. It’s disgusting.

  “Did they punish you for attacking Boone?” Saxon’s brows make a deep V in his forehead.

  “No. I got away with a warning, pending they confirm what had happened with Vivienne.” I toss the empty bag in the sink. “The worst part of the meeting was standing in Jacques’s presence and not being able to slash his throat.”

  “We’ve been suffering his presence for years, bro. I want to say it gets easier to pretend he’s not around, but that’d be a lie,” Ronan replies.

  The door to our apartment opens with a loud bang, and hurricane Manu comes in, stomping her feet like a petulant child. She stops in front of me, poking my chest with her finger. “What are your plans for that regular, Lucca?”

  I grab her wrist and push her away from me. “I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but back off, Manu. I’m not in the mood for one of your tantrums.”

  “Answer me, damn it! What are you planning to do with Vivienne?”

  Watching her through slits now, I ask, “Why do you care?”

  “I don’t, but if you plan to nail that bitch, you’d better do it soon. You have competition.”

  Without a second thought, I invade her personal space, holding her by the shoulders. “Who?”

  “Karl,” she sneers. “I just caught the two of them having a private meeting in one of the empty classrooms.”

  “And you can’t have that, can you, sunshine?” Ronan crosses his arms and pierces Manu with a pissed-off stare.

  “He’s my familiar,” she hisses, turning her body to him.

  “Sounds like someone is jelly.” Saxon guffaws.

  I shake her, forcing her to look at me. “What makes you say he’s going after Vivienne? What were they doing?”

  Manu’s eyes widen first and then become narrowed. She shoves me off. “What’s your deal with that regular? Why are you obsessed with her?”

  Fuck. I don’t know how to answer that, nor do I want to waste another second discussing Vivienne with them.

  I push Manu aside and head out. Saxon and Ronan call my name, but their voices are muffled by the rage roaring in my ears now. No one will come between Vivienne and me. No one. In the back of my head, I know I’m acting like an irrational animal, but I’m not willing to control this raw instinct that’s telling me to take possession of what’s mine.

  Once in the main hallway, all it takes is a deep breath to catch her scent in the air. She has Keepers class again today, but I know exactly which room she secretly met with Karl when I pass by it. Their scents are all over the front of that classroom. They went in opposite directions after they met, and part of me wants to follow Karl’s scent instead. But if I do, I might end up killing Manu’s familiar, and that would be a very bad thing.

  To avoid the early evening traffic of vampires, I take an alternative route through a part of the institute that’s currently not in use. I’m almost at the Keepers class when I hear Solomon’s and Isadora’s voices. They’re whispering behind closed doors, which is never a good sign. The urge to hunt Vivienne down and stake my claim recedes. Maybe it’s my survival instinct kicking in. Now, I must know what those two individuals are talking about.

  They’ve chosen the last room in an empty hallway to hold their meeting. I don’t need to press my ear against the door to hear them clearly.

  “Are you sure the new student found the secret chamber on her first day here?” Solomon asks.

  “That’s what Aurora told me.”

  “You said the wards would hold, Isadora.”

  “That’s what’s strange, Solomon. The wards are still there, strong as ever.”

  “That means then that Vivienne Gale is immune to their magic.”

  The muscles on my back become taut in an instant. What the hell are they talking about? What is Vivienne immune to?

  “I know, but the reason is what’s puzzling me. The wards are meant to keep the chamber hidden to everyone—vampires, familiars, and humans. What’s so special about her that she can get through?”

  “Maybe she’s a lost witch?”

  Isadora scoffs, “Solomon, please. We’re not vampires who used to procreate like rabbits with anyone willing. We know everything about our lineages.”

  “You must have some theories though.”

  “I do.”

  I’m at the edge of my seat, waiting for Isadora to finally shed some light as to why I’m so drawn to Vivienne.

  “Lucca. I thought I saw you come here.” Therese’s loud voice carries down the corridor.

  Fuck me. I’ve never believed in Karma, but I’m beginning to change my mind.

  The headmaster and High Witch’s conversation ceases in an instant. I stride away from the door, not wanting to explain myself to them. Therese follows me, like the annoying pest that she is. Hell, has she always been like this?

  “Luc, wait.”

  Once back in the main part of the building, I whirl on her, grabbing her by the neck and pushing her against the wall. I keep her above the floor, cutting off her ability to scream.

  “What. Do. You. Want?”

  She lashes my face with her nails, drawing blood, but I don’t care.

  “Let … me … go.”

  “I want to make one thing crystal clear. I do not want you following me around. Don’t speak to me, don’t make eye contact, and when you see me down the hall, walk the other way.”

  I drop her then, stepping out of her reach. She’s a Blueblood; she will retaliate, but one strike at me is all she’d get.

  “You asshole,” she screeches.

  A small crowd gathers around us, but I haven’t given a fuck about the opinions of others in centuries.

  I sense when Ronan and Saxon join the fray, but instead of moving toward them, I head in the opposite direction. I should be going to some idiotic class about living in this current world, but everyone knows the institutes exist only to keep Bluebloods occupied and out of trouble. We can learn quite a lot by drinking human blood since it carries their memories.

  I can’t be here tonight, not while I’m out of control like this. There are only two possible outcomes if I stay while riding this uncontrollable rage. I will either kill Karl or expose Vivienne as the human that she is by drinking from her in front of everyone.

  Both are terrible scenarios.

  23

  Vivienne

  Hanson continued to drill us like a sergeant in class, but at least I managed not to humiliate myself completely. It helped that there wasn’t an audience. But I’m running on fumes now, so the first thing I do when I get out of class is go look for Aurora. Karl must be busy now, dealing with his vampire master.

  I feel bad for him. I can’t begin to imagine how horrible it must be to be bound for all eternity to the female you once loved when the relationship has gone sour. I never knew familiars could get involved with their masters in the first place. I’ve always assumed it was forbidden. Coming to Bloodstone has shown me how much I don’t know about vampires and their world.

  Not wanting to be caught by surprise by Boone or any other nasty vampires, I find a little nook in the hallway and pull my cell out to text Aurora. Her reply comes swiftly, and a minute later, I spot her walking down the hall in my direction.

  I step out of my hiding spot and meet her halfway. “Please tell me you have something edible with you.”

  “How long has it been since you ate?” she whispers since we’re no
t alone.

  Shit. I have to be more careful.

  “Too long.”

  “Come on. I have something for you in my quarters.”

  My stomach is grumbling loudly already, and my mouth is salivating.

  “How is everything going for you?” she asks.

  “Fine. Everything is going fine besides the food situation.”

  “I heard Boone attacked you yesterday,” she says casually, but my reaction is anything but.

  All my muscles become rigid, and my stomach turns into a ball of anxiety. I wish she hadn’t brought it up.

  “Yeah. He’s a nasty piece of work. It’s not the first time he’s tried.”

  “Do you mean the party incident?”

  “No. I’ve met him before at Havoc.”

  Aurora halts suddenly and grabs my arm. “Are you saying he has met you when you weren’t in disguise?” Her pretty eyes are rounder and her pupils dilate.

  “Yes. Why are you looking at me like that? You’re freaking me out.”

  “You should be freaked out. That’s three times now that Boone has come after you. Bluebloods can develop obsessive behaviors that never end well for their prey. Stay away from him.”

  “Trust me, I’m trying.”

  She lets go of my arm, and we resume walking. But now, my heart wants to flee the confines of my chest. My stomach is hurting, and it’s not only from hunger. Fuck. I hate feeling this afraid. Maybe I would be better off going somewhere else, live in a big city where I could simply disappear into the crowd.

  “Can I ask you something?” I break the silence.

  “Sure.”

  “Have you ever lived anywhere besides Salem?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “But you didn’t forget about the vampires, did you?”

  She stares at me like I’m an idiot. “I’m part of the supernatural community. The spell only works on humans. How about you? Have you ever been to another city?”

  “Yeah, once. My mother took my brother and me to Boston when I was ten.”

  “Did you know about the supernatural stuff then?”

  “I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t know.” I can’t help the anger that bubbles up my throat.

  My mother not only loved the supernaturals, she also had a preference for the worst kind.

  “Did it freak you out when you returned and your memories did too?” Aurora asks.

  I snort out loud without meaning to.

  “What was that?”

  Shit. I really need to control my reactions better. I could lie; actually, that’s what I should do, but I’m tired of deception. “I’ve never told anyone this, but the memory spell only worked for a few hours when I was in Boston.”

  Aurora grabs my arm, looking more alarmed than before. “What do you mean?” I open my mouth to reply, but she talks over me. “Hold that thought. We’re almost at my place.”

  We walk around a corner, and then Aurora stops in front of a simple, dark wooden door. A skeleton key also opens this one. The moment I walk in, the smell of fresh-baked cookies fills my nostrils. Without any manners, I follow the delicious scent into the kitchen, finding them still in the oven.

  “I think they’re ready,” I say with my hand already on the stove door handle. “May I?”

  She drops her bag on the counter and waves nonchalantly. “Sure, go ahead.”

  They’re hot, and they burn my fingers and my tongue, but they’re so gooey and delicious that I don’t care. I’m moaning after the first bite.

  “I have more food here, you know. What do you feel like eating besides cookies?”

  “Everything,” I reply through a mouth half-full, dropping some cookie crumbs on the floor.

  She shakes her head. “You really should have thought things through before you decided to join the institute as a vampire.”

  Aurora reaches over the kitchen counter and pulls out crackers, chips, and other snacks. I’ll probably get a bellyache, but at the moment, all I care about is stuffing my face.

  “This should hold you over. Now, explain to me what exactly happened on your trip to Boston.”

  I swallow a big lump of cookie and then open a bag of potato chips and stuff a few in my mouth. I have zero manners now.

  “Well, the moment we crossed the border out of Salem, I sensed some fuzziness in my brain, like the feeling you have when you’re forgetting something but you can’t quite remember what. I ignored that since I was so excited about going on a road trip to Boston. My mother never did nice things with Rikkon and me.” I reach for another cookie, taking a few bites before I continue.

  “Do you want some milk with that?” Aurora heads for the fridge.

  “Sure. That’d be nice.”

  “Anyway, we were outside a movie theater, waiting to meet with one of my mother’s friends, when I saw a poster for a vampire movie. And just like that, I remembered they were real.”

  Aurora is watching me closely now, almost as if she were trying to read my mind. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her that story.

  “That shouldn’t have happened,” she says. “Was it only you?”

  “No. Rikkon also knew. We couldn’t understand why our mother didn’t remember a thing. We thought she was joking in the beginning.”

  She walks around me and pulls an old leather-bound book from her bag. “This is very troubling, Vivienne. If there are more humans who are immune to the spell, our secret will be out to the world.”

  “But why would that be so bad?”

  “The only reason Salem works is because of the town’s history. It was founded by supernaturals.”

  “Really? Then what was the deal with the witch trials?”

  “The nasty results of a war between rival covens.”

  “Were Bluebloods the real founders of Salem?”

  “No, witches. Vampires flocked here because this was the last place the Nightingales had been seen.”

  Aurora has her face buried in her book now, rapidly turning the pages after scanning them with a single glance.

  “Are you going to tell me about the Nightingales now? Why did they create the vampires?”

  She sighs. “You really want to know, huh? Well, to cut a long story short, King Raphael was once human. He and his allies helped the Nightingales win a war against some nasties from their realm, and as a thank-you, the Nightingales gave them immortality.”

  “That’s it? What a lame-ass gift.”

  Aurora lifts her gaze from her book, watching me in a surprised manner. “Why do you say that? They gave those humans eternal life, youth, and power.”

  “But they also made them allergic to the sun and only able to survive by drinking blood.”

  She doesn’t offer a retort; instead, she keeps staring at me. After a moment, she shakes her head and then asks, “So, you didn’t know about Karl?”

  Whoa, what a way to change the subject. I don’t know why she doesn’t want to talk about the Nightingales, but by mentioning Karl, she has my full attention.

  “How did you know Karl was my friend?”

  “Salem is not a big city, girl.”

  I want to ask Aurora more questions, but there’s a knock on her door. We trade a worried glance, and then she looks at the chip in my hand. I hastily drop the snack and then wipe my mouth.

  “Who is it?” she asks.

  “It’s me, Saxon.”

  Fuck. That’s Lucca’s friend. What is he doing here?

  24

  Lucca

  Walking out of Bloodstone Institute grounds didn’t even occur to me before. As soon as I clear the gates, I run straight to the woods. I need the solitude only nature can provide. My veins are still on fire, my throat is parched, and my fangs are fully extended. I need to calm the fuck down, or I’ll be a menace to any human who crosses paths with me.

  I hear dry twigs snapping nearby, a deer just running away from me. It must have sensed a predator is in the area. I draw the line at feeding from animals thoug
h. I’m not a savage, demented vampire who has to resort to feeding from furry creatures in order to control their hunger. I’m better than that.

  The farther away I get from the institute, the less I feel the anger. The hunger abates even though it’s still in the background, painful and easily accessible. I only stop running when I reach the main road that will lead to downtown. I do need to feed until I’m completely satiated; there’s no denying that.

  I should have never gone to see that little thief yesterday. I can still taste her on my tongue—the best thing I’ve ever had other than blood. The memory makes my cock hard, which reminds me of another ache. Now, I not only want to drink from her, but I also want to plunge my cock into her sweet pussy until she forgets her own name. I can only imagine what doing both at the same time would be like. Pure ecstasy.

  Fuck, the bloodlust is coming back again. With a roar, I punch the nearest tree on the side of the road, splitting the trunk in half. I will not be controlled by anything, especially not by an urge triggered by a mere human.

  My hand is throbbing from the hit, but I welcome the pain. It helps me regain focus. I head to Havoc, the only place in this town that will have what I need.

  But suddenly, my body has other ideas. My nose picks up Vivienne’s scent, and my feet lead me toward it. The trail is faint, maybe a week old, but it doesn’t matter. Now that I’m onto it, nothing will deter me from following it.

  Her scent leads me to a trailer park in the outskirts of town. It’s not the worst neighborhood I’ve seen, but it’s clearly not a place where happy childhood memories are made. It’s too fucking depressing for that. The ground is either covered by overgrown grass or has brown patches that must turn into mud puddles when it rains. Broken toys are scattered in front of some trailers, and the stench of stale beer wafts from many homes I pass by.

  Vivienne is poor, but that doesn’t explain why she’s risking her life to steal from me.