17. Vesper
Then you haven’t been paying much attention.
I had been. I had seen it all.
I had seen the way her father made her stand by him, as if she didn’t deserve to have a throne for herself. Always standing in his shadows. Growing up to be a miniature cruel version of him. It was all part of his control tactics.
Because if he didn’t put her in her place or constantly beat into her how much he was to thank for her current existence and life, she might just fully forget about her mother’s blood roaring through her veins.
As if the queen wasn’t the one everyone wanted.
That’s what the little princess didn’t get. I didn’t want her father. No one wanted her father. He was just some vampire who had gotten lucky. Married the right girl. Started a vampire family. And somehow managed to make it into something that caused other vampires to foam at the mouth with envy.
He was rumored to be cruel. Violent. But he wasn’t the truly dangerous one. He was just a vampire who liked to wear a mask of importance and walk around like he was the shit. The only person who thought he was dangerous was himself.
What was dangerous was her mother’s blood.
The one who caused hundreds of vampires to join the ranks of her father’s kingdom just so they would have a chance to protect their newfound queen. She toppled clans. Families. Vampires left in droves to join her when they heard about her marriage to him. She was the single force that pulled the vampires together. And controlled them.
And the princess didn’t even realize the power she held.
It was my family’s job to make sure that type of power and control would be gone for good. It started with a long line of us, all hand-chosen for the secret organization that sent us across the country to kill vampires and witches alike.
The families it employed never questioned why. They only knew whatever prophecy had been handed to them by the powers that be. It didn’t matter how many generations had gone by or how many hundreds had joined since the conception of the organization, they would follow it until it was their time to die in battle.
I thought I had been paying attention. But maybe she is right. Especially if that was what I had been missing this entire time. And just because it was my job to learn everything about the princess and still kill her didn’t mean that I had to like what I saw.
The slap of her stepmother’s hand coming into contact with her cheek reverberated throughout the room. Her little mini-me of a daughter was right by her side, not even attempting to hide her smile behind her hand.
I hadn’t had much time to prepare for this meeting or to decipher what it meant when the princess called for me bright and early in the morning to accompany her on some “errands.” Obviously, when she pulled me to the opposite wing of the palace and straight into her stepmother’s sitting room, it was a hint the day wouldn’t be filled with trying on dresses and gossiping with fellow royals.
I almost wished it had been. At least then I could hide under the annoyance of following a spoiled princess around instead of the…pity? Guilt? I didn’t quite know how to describe the feeling that weighed down my chest and only got stronger as the day went on.
The vile vampire had hit the princess so hard that there was a dark purple bruise immediately forming on her cheek. I counted the seconds it took for it to disappear.
Eight.
Twelve.
Thirteen.
It took fifteen. More time than it took when I bruised her skin, and the entire room sat through the silence as we all watched it fade away.
There were other guards here, some leaning against the doors, and even more outside. All of them kept a cold face in response to the abuse they witnessed. I looked at them, attempting to see into their minds.
How often did this happen? Was this the norm?
Their faces gave no answer to my question. They merely stood there, their black uniforms blending into the dark-red walls and black doors.
But this is my first time coming face-to-face with it.
I had been so desensitized to the murdering of people for contracts and had seen more than my fair share of fucked-up creatures and humans alike.
But there was still something so raw about the way the princess just took the abuse.
“I told you the next day, you insolent brat,” the stepmother hissed. “What about that did your brain interpret as almost a whole fucking week later?”
“It’s been four days,” Princess Aurelia said, her tone bitter. She threw her hair behind her shoulder. A defiant move that caused my chest to swell.
She looked down at the small table next to her. It held hardened blood cubes that shined like rubies. She took a few, popping them into her mouth as her family looked at her, enraged.
“Your father has gone soft on you. Because he thinks no matter what, this deal will go through. But I know better,” her stepmother said. There was an air of seniority in her tone. Like she was the true mastermind behind the vampire family she got lucky enough to marry into. “You’re lacking. The prince is unhappy.”
“The prince seems very happy here,” the princess answered, reaching for another blood cube. “At least that’s what I can tell from the dozens of feeders who have been summoned to his room in the middle of th?—”
It was the stepsister who stepped forward this time. She raised her hand and brought it down quickly, smacking the blood cube out of her hand.
“Do you know what he told us?” she spat, a wicked grin pulling at her lips. “He told us exactly what he plans to do to you when you’re shipped off to his family home. You have no room for that attitude of yours there, and if you’re lucky and please him enough here, he said that maybe he’ll be good to you when the time comes.”
I expected a slap. I wanted to see it. But Princess Aurelia raised her hand but paused. The little demon flinched, her reaction pulling a smile from the princess before she wiped her fingers on the girl’s white dress, staining it with blood.
“And here I was, thinking you knew all about it the whole time.”
“Remember the time Father almost pulled out your fangs?” the stepsister said with a smirk. She was trying to keep as much power as she still could. “Maybe we need a reminder. After all, it’s a fitting punishment. Can’t run your mouth without being subject to the shame of it all.”
“Don’t be so jealous,” the princess all but purred, unfazed by her threat. “I’m sure if you begged on your knees and flashed him a bit of that rotten cunt of yours, he’d bed you in a heartbeat. Maybe then you’d finally learn your place here.”
“Aurelia—”
Her stepmother tried to intervene, but the princess wasn’t done. She stepped forward, grabbing the girl’s dress and yanking her closer.
“Because I’m his blood daughter, I get married off to the wealthy and powerful,” she said. “But you? No one knows what sewer you and your bitch mother crawled out of. No one wants you. No one will pay for you. So here’s a bit of advice: say some shit like that again, and I will make sure none of the vampires in our circle will ever bid on you. Meaning you’ll have to spend the rest of your life begging for attention from a lowly, poor vampire who probably got you for half price.”
I couldn’t hold back a snort, nor could the guards at the door stay totally silent. They shifted, one even trying to conceal his laugh with a cough.
“Aurelia, you will go and do whatever it is you need to do to make the prince happy!” her stepmother raged. If vampires could die of an aneurysm, she would certainly be close. Her eyes were wide, and her entire body was shaking with the intensity of her anger. “Now go, before I make you regret ever stepping foot in this room!”
Princess Aurelia paused for a moment. I could see her mind whirling, but her facial expression remained neutral. Then, the smallest smirk pulled at her lips.
It was the kind of smile that told me she was ready to end everything. Told me that what she had said was just the beginning, and if she wanted to, she could burn this entire place down with just a couple more sentences.
It was an even more dangerous power than her mother’s. The elder vampire commanded love and adoration, while her daughter was the bringer of chaos and drew people in just close enough so she could slit their throats when they were least expecting it.
She invoked anger. Rage. Volatile emotions that could end a fight before it even started.
I stepped forward, not saying anything to the stepmother but merely reminding her of my presence. She gave me a look. A dismissive one that told me I should probably back off, but instead, I placed my hand on the princess’s elbow and murmured, “Shall I escort you out?”
“You’re right,” the princess said, her smile widening as she met the gaze of her stepmother. “I think it’s time that I go visit him. Thank you for the reminder.”
Shock froze me in place. This was not the vampire I had been fighting when I tried to assassinate her the other night. The uncontrolled, burning anger that seemed to take over the entirety of her small frame seemed to have just vanished into thin air.
I had been waiting for her to unleash on them like she had on me. She had the power to. I could feel it building up inside her.
But like a switch, she changed completely, and back was the picture-perfect vampire princess who obeyed every command and still managed to hold her head high even after all the insults hurled at her.
It was like a completely different person.
She didn’t say anything else as she made her way to the exit, though I did spare one last glance at the mother-and-daughter duo who stood there fuming. I almost expected one of them to come flying at her, given how poorly they were holding in their anger. It had my fingers itching to grab the weapon I had stationed at my back.
But they did nothing as we passed the threshold. The door closing behind us didn’t hide the frustrated screams from the vampires.
“Going back on your word?” The princess asked as soon as we were down the hall and far enough away from the others that they couldn’t hear us. She was leading me to the prince. I already knew from the direction we were headed.
A bit of a disappointment. I almost wished she’d just agreed so she could ditch him again.
“I hate all vampires equally,” I retorted, sneaking a look at her. But this time she wasn’t looking at me with one of those smiles of hers. This time, her gaze was straight ahead, her mind a thousand miles away.
“I know you’re tied to him,” she said, her pace coming to an abrupt halt. This time, she looked at me without anger. There was a plea in her eyes. “But when we’re in there, your loyalty is to me. If he loses control, remember that.”
Loses control? Does everyone in this palace like to beat up the princess?
“You trust me that much?” I asked, unable to find the words for anything else.
“If not you, then who else?”
It was worse. Much worse than I thought.
I stayed still and watched as the princess fell to her knees in front of the prince. He had already been gorging himself on the blood of multiple feeders, all lying dazed in various places around the room. Many of them were half naked, some not even wearing clothes.
How the fuck could the prince get away with this?
I knew he was a bastard. From both my experiences in his kingdom and the rumors surrounding him, I knew that there was nothing redeemable about him.
But I had expected him to clean up his act as soon as he got to the palace. At least during the engagement. Act like the perfect prince he was supposed to be. Schmooze the in-laws.
It would seem that he had her stepmother on his side…but acting like this?
It only made me realize how much they must have hated the princess. How much they wished for her downfall.
The stepsibling’s words rang in my head.
He told us exactly what he plans to do to you when you’re shipped off to his family home.
If that was what he decided to do in her own home, what was awaiting her there? Not only that, but everyone in the Castle family was actively rooting for her demise.
They might as well have just handed her to me.
“It took you long enough,” Icas said, his bloody lips pulling into a smirk. “Seems you have daddy dearest wrapped around your finger. Even when I told him how you assaulted me, he still didn’t even force you here to apologize.”
“If that’s what you call an assault, I’m seriously concerned about the damage you took to your brain,” she said with a huff. “The stepbitch is annoying. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. Cross the line, and next time I’ll cut it off.”
He let out a booming laugh.
“Yeah?” he asked, leaning forward with a shit-eating grin. “How about finishing our blood bond? Is that crossing the line enough for you? You even brought a witness.”
I prayed that my heart wouldn’t give me away. Blood bond? He had mentioned it since the first day he arrived at the palace, but the princess wouldn’t actually go through with it…would she?
That’s not why we’re here, or is it?
That would make my job that much more difficult. A blood bond between vampires was ritualistic and intertwined them for the rest of eternity. They would be able to feel each other; more importantly, he would feel it if she died.
But more than that, the princess obviously didn’t want to create a blood bond. I could see it on her face. The hatred that I thought was reserved only for me was starting to make an appearance on her face.
She wasn’t pretending in front of him. Maybe that’s why he had the nerve to tangle his hand in her hair and force her head to the side, baring her neck to him. She let out a pained groan.
Why does the image of her like this make me angry? I should be happy the spoiled princess was getting what was coming to her.
“You and I both know that’s not fucking happening,” she growled at him. “Take what you want and stop causing trouble.”
“You think this is causing trouble?” he asked, a laugh falling from his lips.
A stray feeder let out a groan as they turned over on the hard floor. None of us turned to them.
“I think you’re scared you can’t control me,” she gibed. “I think you want to get back at me for holding my power over you. I think that you’re pissed your daddy forced you into this marriage only to take the prize for himself. That’s why you’re making up shit. Telling my stepmother that I haven’t been pleasing you. You’re scared.”
She spat out the word “pleasing” like it was a curse.
“I can count the number of times on one hand that you’ve been to see me,” he said. “Each time refusing my blood bond.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” she hissed. “In the short time you’ve been here, you drank from me five times. Drained me until I was weak. So don’t lie to her and tell her I haven’t been to see you.”
My blood ran cold. Vampires, especially the rich and powerful, would do anything to assert control. That’s why the hierarchy between clans and families existed. Why those at the top forced their followers into a bond they could never escape.
I’d known that, known it my entire life. I’d seen them all, and the prince barely scratched the surface of the worst ones out there.
There was just something so despicable about the way he treated her. But that was not what angered me. What angered me was that she refused to fight back. I knew she could. I had experienced it. I knew she could at least teach him some kind of lesson.
So why is she hesitating?
The more I watched them, the more it angered me. I didn’t like how he handled her. Didn’t like how his response was simply to smile at her before viciously digging his fangs into her neck. It was a gruesome attack. He sliced open her neck, letting his teeth rip into the flesh without a care for what might happen to her.
And then that bastard pulled away. He looked at her with her blood streaming down his mouth and neck and let out a chuckle.
“How does it feel, my love?” he asked. The way his voice took on a fake sweetness caused my skin to crawl. My hand had already shifted to my sword. I was ready to slice his chest open.
Princess Aurelia just sat there. Her eyes narrowed at him. The wound on her neck was healing, but not fast enough.
She fed on me too long ago. Has she had nothing since then? The blood cubes didn’t count. They probably wouldn’t have been able to sustain her if needed. Or maybe the wound was too deep. Blood poured out of it, streaming down her neck and soaking her dress.
“Fucking peachy,” she muttered.
Her response did not amuse him. He leaned forward once more and drove his teeth back into her neck. He wasn’t in the same spot, nor did he leave his fangs in long enough for her to get the venom.
He is hurting her on purpose. Something shifted inside me, the weight in my chest becoming painful. My fingers twitched, just begging to grab hold of the sword on my back.
“A reminder to be gentle to Princess Aurelia,” I said through gritted teeth. “While you may be her intended, her father would not like her body battered and bruised before the ball this weekend.”
This was not the intervention she wanted or the one that I had planned. I don’t know how the words forced themselves from my head to the back of my throat, just begging to get out…but I couldn’t stop them.
His eyes darted to me before he ripped his fangs from her neck.
“She’ll heal.”
And then his mouth covered the wounds, and he began to suck. I hated it. Hated him more than I thought I would. I couldn’t see her face from my position, but I could hear the pained noises she tried to hide.
He wasn’t giving her any venom. I couldn’t tell which was worse—having to watch him make her feel things she didn’t for him or for him to hurt her like he was.
Pity. Anger. All of it swirling inside me and not directed at her…but for her. I had killed so many in my time on this earth, but this was the first time that I had ever wanted to save someone. Let alone a vampire.
This time, when he pulled away, I closed the space between us and grabbed the princess’s arm. He wasn’t going to stop me, I could see it in his eyes. It didn’t matter that he had feeders around him—he wanted to make a point that he could do whatever he wanted to the princess.
“That’s enough,” I commanded.
His eyes snapped to me, and he was up in an instant, his hand wrapping around my throat and squeezing so hard, I feared it would snap.
“You work for me, you bitch,” he hissed. “If I want some time with my wife, I can fucking take it.”
The princess forced herself up with far less strength than I’d ever seen in her, and pushed him away. He let himself be moved by the pitiful display. His hand unwound from my neck, and I took a big gulp of air that stung my lungs.
“I’m not your wife yet,” she reminded him. “And she’s right. Father would be displeased. We’re leaving. I’ll visit you at the scheduled time.”
Icas glared at me but didn’t say anything as the princess pulled me away.
As soon as the door shut and we were out in the hallway, she leaned against me. Her breathing was heavy and her skin clammy. She needed blood.
Instead of going straight to her room, I walked us back down the hallway and into a random closet. It wasn’t glamorous, and the princess probably would’ve complained if she wasn’t so out of it, but I didn’t want anyone to see this.
It was cramped, filled with cleaning supplies, and forced us closer together than I ever would’ve liked. I pulled her to me and positioned her near my neck.
I shouldn’t be doing this. I should separate myself. My mind knew clearly what I should have been doing, but I couldn’t stop my actions.
“Princess, drink,” I ordered. She shook her head.
“I have some blood back in my room. Just get me there,” she murmured, but her voice was weak.
It caused a panic to burst through me. Is this how she would die?
The killer in me already had a plan. To leave her in the closet, wound her while she was weak, and leave without a trace.
It was my chance. She couldn’t fight back, even if she wanted to.
But she trusted me to save her from him…and foolishly, I did.
“Just drink, goddamn it,” I growled. “You think I like offering myself as a feeder? I wouldn’t do it if you weren’t on the brink.”
“You could kill me right now,” she noted. “A dark closet; no one comes down this hall except for the feeders and the prince. It would be a while before they found me.”
She was leaning against me, unable to hold herself up. Her breathing was getting weaker. I need to move quickly. Instead of tangling my hand in her hair like he had done, I placed it on the back of her neck and positioned her face against my neck.
“Aurelia,” I forced out. “Drink.”
Please. The wretched word was almost out of my mouth in my panic.
I held her there, and at some point the hunger must have gotten to her because it wasn’t long before I felt her fangs sink into my neck. It was gentle this time. She wasn’t ravenous like when I cornered her.
She was calm, careful. She wasn’t trying to hurt me like he did to her. The stark difference between the two made the feelings in my chest even more confusing.
You’re doing this because you still need time to prepare, I lied to myself. Even in my own mind, the excuse sounded absurd.
I tried to focus on anything but the heat running through my body, igniting everything I had tried to forget from that night. Tried to focus on how my hand felt on her hip. On how my blood felt as it soaked my shirt.
But then her hands were grabbing my hips, pulling us closer together, a moan spilling from her.
A flashback to our night together consumed my mind. The feeling of her wetness against me. Of her lips on my neck and breasts. Of the way she rode me.
A mistake. A deadly one. But still, I couldn’t stop myself.
When she tried to pull away, I gently pulled her back.
“Keep going,” I whispered.
There was desperation in the way that she gripped me. Pain in the way that she reluctantly drank my blood. But no one else could see it, not when we were alone in the closet. And that made it so much easier to live in denial.
Her hands made quick work of my zipper, and before I knew it, her cold hand had slipped between my legs.
“This is not why. You don’t have to—ah.”
My protest died on my tongue as her finger slipped inside me, and she used her palm to rock against my clit.
My hands gripped her hips, and I closed my eyes, losing myself to the feeling of heat that I had tried so desperately to ignore. Molten lava licked my spine, and my core clenched. Just as easily as it had started, she was going to make me come with minimal effort. There was something about the gentleness of it mixed with the intensity of the venom. I couldn’t ignore it, couldn’t get lost in it like I had when we hate-fucked.
I felt everything. The way her lips felt against my neck. The way her body melded against mine. She played me so easily, making me bend to her will.
And then she paused. She pulled her fangs out of me and ran her tongue up my neck.
“You help me,” she whispered. “I help you.”
“I told you, you don’t need to—fuck.” I couldn’t speak as she leaned forward, her mouth somehow finding my nipple underneath my clothing and bit—hard.
“You didn’t like watching him do that to me, did you?” she asked.
In the haze of pleasure, I didn’t even consider not answering.
“I was going to kill him,” I admitted. But I shouldn’t have even felt that way to begin with. I was fucking losing it.
And then her mouth was against mine. The taste of my blood spread across my tongue. I moaned into her, letting myself fall into the rocking of her hand between my legs.
I was close. So close. She pulled back.
“He would throw a fit if he knew what I am doing with you,” she whispered against my lips.
Good. I wanted him to know that, while he may force her to kneel for him with empty threats and the backing of her stepmother, she would do it for me without an ounce of hesitation.
“Only because he knows you will never act like this for him,” I forced out between moans.
She gave me a sinister smile.
“Come for me, little mouse,” she purred. “Claim your reward.”
I couldn’t hold back. My orgasm unleashed in me like a tidal wave. I placed my forehead against hers, needing it to center me as wave after wave rocked my core. I bit my lip to stifle the moans.
She didn’t stop, even as my orgasm subsided. She fucked me through it slowly, and as I came back to earth.
“Let me know about that deal,” she said, pulling her hand from between my legs only to plop her fingers into her mouth.
I was speechless as she opened the door and motioned for me to come out. It took far longer than I’d like to admit for me to button up my pants and collect myself before I stepped out into the hallway.
I shouldn’t have fucking saved her…Maybe I truly am losing it.