Chapter 12 #2
So, one unusual evening, donned in the finest of clothing—pearls set into his collar, imported from Luxia—Rhyden sat at a bar, swirling a glass of blood mixed with a fine nectar mined from the trees closer to the mountain regions on Sangreal.
The ice clinked against the side of the cup.
He drank, but he barely tasted the flavor.
Even blood had lost its luster.
It was at that moment, the lip of the glass poised on his lips, scraping against his fangs, that he saw her.
She swept into the bar like a whirlwind. All eyes were on her. Even his.
With her brown hair swept away from her face, revealing soft cheekbones dusted with pink, and lips rouged a deep scarlet, he felt a stirring deep in his gut at that very moment.
And when the whole bar had grown quiet, watching the human venture deeper into a den of vampires, Rhyden held his breath.
She sidled up beside him, sitting on the stool next to him, even though there were empty seats a few chairs down.
"A glass of briux. On the rocks," the enchantress said, her voice like silk. Soft, yet underlined with husky notes. It fit her perfectly.
The bartender made her drink, a dark amber liquid poured in a thin stream over a short glass beveled with flowers, then he slid it over the dark countertop.
As her small hands wrapped around the glass and she tipped her head back to take a delicate sip, not one ounce of strain on her face at the bitter bite of briux—a thick, potent liquor—Rhyden had been ensnared.
At that moment, he would do anything to add her to the list of his possessions.
"I never knew someone so beautiful would drink something so bitter," Rhyden drawled, swirling his blood-filled glass.
She eyed him as she drank, mumbling around the lip, "Most bitter things just need to be viewed in a different light." She set the glass down, her finger dancing along the rim. "It’s not bitter, just requires a certain… taste."
"And you have this taste?" Rhyden couldn’t help but ask.
"Sometimes," she said, almost sadly, as she stared at the glass. "Sometimes I prefer the sweeter things. It’s a matter of perspective."
Rhyden didn’t take his eyes off her as he raised a hand to the bartender, calling, "A shot of something sweet. No blood." He smiled, letting his fangs flash.
The little enchantress huffed a laugh, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair that escaped from her pins behind her ear. His eyes dipped. He dimly noticed faint redness along her wrist, but shrugged it off.
As the bartender slid a tiny shot of cream-colored liquor, topped with a split cherry, imported straight from Earth, Rhyden fit his finger against the side and slid it nearer to her. It left a wet trail of condensation over the bartop.
"For you," he said, "but not without a price."
The corners of her lips tipped up, even as her brown eyes grew guarded. "Your price?"
"Your name," Rhyden prodded.
"Vesperin Vox," the human said. "Now that I’ve paid your price, pay mine. A dance." She arched a dark brow in invitation.
Rhyden slipped off the barstool, holding a hand out to her, palm up. In the distance, the dark bar opened into a floor swathed in red, soft music drifting from the piano tucked in the corner.
She took him in, gaze stilling on his hand. As she placed hers in his, everything stopped.
Everything.
It all narrowed down to her.
"Soulbond," they both breathed at once.
They forgot all about their dance, instead finding a quiet corner to sob and hold each other, drinks abandoned, loneliness a dim memory.
After that, everything transpired in a blur of lovestruck sweetness.
Rhyden discovered that Vesperin Vox, the enchanting human who had swept into the bar, was visiting Sangreal on business. A merchant in the Stars, who collected rare goods and sold them around the galaxy. But now, she had reason to stay. Rhyden gave her a reason to stay.
They were engaged within a week. Time spent dancing on the dark wood floor of his home, gifted jewels draped around her neck, twinkling like Stars, as Rhyden spun her and spun her. Dizzy, sick, infectious.
Drunk in love.
She had been his way forward.
God, if only he knew how dearly he would pay for it.
One night, they were tucked in his bed, her bare back glistening with sweat, her brown hair tousled around her shoulders as she lay on her stomach, cheek pillowed on red silk as she peered up at him.
The blankets were pooled around Rhyden’s waist as he sat up in his bed, a glass of blood in his hands, because he didn’t want to drink from her until their wedding night.
I’m an old-fashioned vampire, he’d said, laughing as she tipped her head back, tempting him anyway.
Her brown eyes darted around his room, taking in the opulence of it all. She never seemed to stop doing that, he noticed, as if she were cataloguing all of his possessions. The art lining his walls, the jewelry scattered around.
Her fingers danced over the red sheets, tickling his thigh. He felt himself stir in interest, even spent from lying with her all night.
"You don’t need all of this, do you, Rhyden?" she asked, voice so soft.
"What?"
Vesperin’s hand twisted in the sheets. "Could I… be enough for you?"
"You’re more than enough for me." He grabbed her hand and brought it up to his mouth, placing a kiss on the back of it. A soft spot of red blood stained her flesh from his lips, and he licked it away.
Her breath hitched. "Then let’s leave from here. Let’s go somewhere different. Just me and you." Her eyes were wild now, as she sat up, the sheet slipping down her bare body as her hair hung over her chest, her peaked nipples peeking through the curtain of it.
"Leave?" Rhyden cupped her cheeks, thumbs brushing the space under her eyes. "Why, Vesperin? My whole life is here."
"We can make a life somewhere else."
He didn’t know where this was coming from. She had been so content, had seemed so happy to be wed.
He told her this, and her features dropped as she said, "Of course I am h-happy with you, Rhyden. It’s just—"
Rhyden thought he knew, thought he had it all figured out. "You’re used to traveling a lot, to seeing the galaxy. We can still travel, enchantress. I will take you to see the whole universe."
She shook her head, acquiescing too easily, as she nestled back into his side, letting his fingers brush over her shoulder in soft sweeps, curling up the side of her neck and drifting back down her arm.
Maybe if he’d pushed it, then, if he had made her talk, it all would have worked out differently.
Their wedding was a week later. It was an expensive affair. She wore a dress of pure white, falling to the ground in clouds of tulle and lace. She had never looked so resplendent.
The wedding was modeled after an Earthen one, for her.
And as Rhyden stood at the altar, watching as she walked down the aisle, he thought the red rimming her eyes was from joyful tears.
"I do," he said.
Her voice was tremulous as she replied, "I do."
And they were wed.
The beginning of the end.
"My wife, my Soulbond." Rhyden pressed kisses to Vesperin’s jaw as he carried her over the threshold of their home.
She hugged him, legs wrapping around his waist, unwilling to let him go. "You’re my husband," she whispered against the side of his neck.
Rhyden smiled. No longer alone.
As they stumbled into the bedroom, he ran his hands up her side, fingers skimming underneath her gown, feeling the soft lace of her panties, teasing his fingers under them.
He was so wrapped up in her, he missed the audience.
"Isn’t this a surprise?" a deep voice drawled.
Rhyden pulled away from Vesperin, and she slipped down the length of his body, her feet touching the floor.
Two men stood in the shadowed corners of his room, by the bed.
Rhyden shoved Vesperin behind him, hissing low as he flashed his fangs. "Who are you? Get out."
One of the men crossed his arms lazily; his brown eyes were strikingly familiar, and the lines on his face spoke of his mortality. Human.
"Now, why would I do that?" the human man said.
"Vesperin, go. Get to the authorities," Rhyden called, not looking away from the two men. They were both smaller than him, with no muscle, just pudgy stomachs.
Vesperin didn’t move.
"The authorities." The man who had spoken laughed. "You vampires really do get complacent with age, you know that?"
Vesperin placed her hands on Rhyden’s back, the soft swish of her wedding gown brushing against the floor. "Rhyden, forgive me…"
And the door to his home burst down.
Vampiric authorities rushed into his home, and he could only point at the intruders. "Apprehend them," Rhyden barked.
But the authorities came to him, gleaming silver of cuffs shining in their hands.
They wore gloves so it would not burn them, but Rhyden had no such barrier.
He struggled as they wrestled him to the ground, on his face, grabbing his hands and roughly yanking them behind him to fit the cuffs on his wrist. The silver sizzled as it met his skin, and he groaned at the pain, feeling his flesh bubble.
"Vesperin!" Rhyden struggled. "Vesperin! Leave her alone. Don’t touch her!"
But no one was touching her. Vesperin stood in the center of his room, tears racing down her cheeks as she stared at Rhyden on the floor.
The two men came to her back, the one with the familiar brown eyes placing a rough, meaty hand on her shoulder, so harsh that she flinched.
"Good. Keep quiet, and he’ll live," the human hissed low.
The authorities helped Rhyden up, his shoulders straining from the cuffs locking his arms behind him.
Rhyden stared at her. "What? Vesperin? What is this?"
"She apprehended a criminal, of course. Who knew the acclaimed Rhyden Valkar was dealing in illegal blood trades?" The human man tsked, and Vesperin’s eyes grew wide, and she bucked against him.
"No, you never said—" Vesperin cried.
The man’s fingers tightened on her, and she whimpered. "Shut up."