Chapter 18
Loss
ALEK
Alek thought he’d learned how to lose someone.
Long ago he began to understand being a Vampire. His mother, one of the first kind; gently pointed at the village boy who rested at the bottom of a rocky hillside. His body broken, unlike Alek who’d jumped from it and landed with no problem.
“You cannot play with humans, they are delicate.” She’d led him away, so that they would not be met by the other humans as they continued their journey.
He’d grown up herding sheep and playing games like any child.
Only, he’d played with his own kind. They’d wandered like the lost people of dying kingdoms. Those very same children treated them with weary looks, and their parents never allowed them to sit at the fires with his people.
Alek hadn’t thought anything about his difference from the boys who played in the water and danced with their fathers in mock war dances. Until the day he saw his first friend die.
After that he’d learned that time was something his people did not fear. Some like him grew mad when they realized the warm cups of red sheep blood would soon be the blood of those they shared laughs and food with.
So, as time continued its flow forward, he’d grown to understand that the young boys he’d played with as children, later the men he joined for drinks at the fire would eventually become the grandfathers who told stories from the warmth of their tents.
Over time the land his people lived on experienced many changes to something less recognizable.
Time and history brought battle after battle to the land of sand and sun.
He found himself moving north, to explore the world and see what these humans, these delicate Beings had to offer.
As he traveled, he found he could transform some humans to be like him.
Though he quickly realized that only those of great strength could take his blood and become true Vampires like him.
Some others who wished to be like him but did not have the blood of The First, tried to emulate him and create their own Covens.
Those rats were nothing in comparison to his kind, as they did not experience death to become Nobles.
They were born Vampires and grew into the role, growing stronger over time to be as he was, a true immortal.
Even still he’d lost children, and friends to their greed and ego.
Some he’d had to kill with his own hands to maintain order and keep the peace.
Once he found his queen and learned that she could bear his children, his heart grew elated knowing he would not only have a family that would not slowly drift away.
He believed that his heart could know a life of the simplest joys even in the face of his enemies.
Love.
He’d lived that life in peace, their land hidden under the Veil, away from the powerful Unseelie who wished to conquer their brethren and the Elves, who sought to destroy what wasn’t theirs.
He’d hidden away, protecting his kingdom and once the Elves and Unseelie were overthrown, he’d decided to guide the humans from behind the scenes.
To keep the Beings and the Humans from clashing.
The night he lost everything; The Council came into being. As his kingdom burned to the ground, The Council took its first steps into government.
The once strong Noble Vampires disappeared overnight. His heart shattered, and his pride was in tatters. He and his sons alone were what remained of the once prosperous Delgado family.
Alek knew loss well and had grown heartily sick of it.
The minute Lanias slipped from his fingers and vanished before his eyes. He lost all reason. The madness that he had suffered in silence was unleashed on the masses. All of whom immediately regretted being within arm’s reach of him.
Even as he second guessed his actions, he roared. “Where is she?!”
He grabbed the Troll, who’d attacked him in effort to pull him off a Werewolf he’d steadily punched until his face looked like ground beef.
“Bring her to me.”
The dizzy feeling of using every single ounce of power within him to slaughter those who refused to return to him that which he’d claimed as his.
Fueled him to continue this blood bath. The smell of blood egging him on, the sound of bones breaking music to his ears.
The spiraling red mist lashing out like a whip at any who dared to draw too near.
He didn’t care if he took every single life in the cramped bar. He only knew that Lanias had been taken from him, and it was because of this place that she was no longer by his side. The beast within him howled in pain and sadness due to her absence.
Soon there was nothing to break, or shatter. No one to kill, the bar fell into a dreary silence as he collapsed atop a pile of corpses. A bottle in his hand, he took a swig, but it did nothing to satisfy him.
He looked at the bodies, daring one of them to heal and rise so that he could tear them apart again.
Alek wondered mildly if it was a breach in his contract to have slaughtered so many Beings.
He frowned, mentally counting the bodies lying on the floor.
He was midway to thirty-six when a sweet scent filled his nose.
“Alek?”
Turning he met the gaze of his Witch. She looked frazzled, and there was something behind her. But his entire focus was on the woman that had entered his life and revived the soul he’d sworn did not exist.
Kissing her now, felt like breathing. Her warmth in his hands felt like paradise, and with him high off a fresh slaughter.
He wanted to bare her body and fuck her until neither one of them could move.
Seeing as he was a Vampire, he calculated that it could be for two years and that was without a break.
He loved the way she so comfortably trusted him to lead and guide them to the height of wonder. Lanias was cunning, stubborn and cool headed. Her pride was the crowning jewel in a priceless crown that he had every intention of purchasing for her as soon as he claimed her as his Queen.
Lania pressed her hands against his shoulders encouraging a bit of air between them.
Reluctantly, he pulled back just enough so that he could watch her lick her lips, as her eyes opened revealing her dazed gaze. Her eyelashes fluttered as she released a heavy sigh. “Are we good now?”
“No, I won’t be good until you’re naked underneath me crying out my name,” he gruffly said before turning his attention to the man that stood behind her. Casually looking over the drinks that remained on the back shelf. Many of them had been smashed when he’d tossed a Lykan into it.
“Who’s your friend?”
LANIAS
Lanias had been distracted with visualizing Alek without clothing, buried inside of her, pounding her into a bed that from her assumption had been created with Alek in mind. She couldn’t answer him right away. She needed a moment.
“Lanias?”
She took a step back, turning around so that her back was to Alek.
Who immediately ruined it by closing that space and pressing his front to her back.
Doing her best to pretend that he wasn’t there.
She cleared her throat and spoke. “This is Roni, he’s the man that Stanthos used to meet.
” She decided to leave out him knowing her father.
Seeing as she was still hiding the fact Eris was her father from Alek.
Lanias told herself it wouldn’t be to her advantage telling him, as she wasn’t sure what his reaction would be. But she knew deep down that she feared him turning his back on her and not wanting to keep their arrangement upon realizing Eris was her father.
It was almost unfair that a nonexistent relationship could jeopardize whatever this was she had with Alek. Tired of thinking, she placed a hand against her forehead. “Roni, is it possible we can return to your restaurant? This place is giving me a headache.”
“No problem,” Roni said, his arms full of dusty bottles. He didn’t seem fazed in the least by the destruction Alek had caused. And it turned out to be really no problem as they immediately returned.
Lanias took a seat, she felt as if she’d just run a marathon.
Unfortunately, or fortunately there wasn’t any prize at the end of it. Alek took the seat next to her. She allowed him to wrap an arm around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder.
She was surprised at how much he seemed to want to touch and cuddle.
From her own observation of the man, he was self-sufficient.
He did not seem the type to attach to a woman in this way.
This led her to wonder what made her different to him.
When she really thought about it, she’d always known he was interested but she’d always taken his interest with a grain of salt.
Vampires were like cats, when something outside of their understanding came into view they chased after it.
Her experience had always been singularly unexciting with them.
The Slavic’s had enjoyed pain, terror and just general chaos.
During their rule of the red streets, she’d been more focused on keeping her Witches far, far away from them.
Male vampires enjoyed nothing more than drinking blood of magical Beings. She’d had to save a Witch on more than one occasion who was about to become a fresh bowl of blood.
When Alek had so obviously been out to seduce her the night her sister had returned with the secret keeper, she’d treated him as she treated all men. Like a pest. She’d swatted him away, only to find that he expressed zero intention of leaving her alone.
Seeing that her food was still hot, she felt her stomach growl. “I’ve never been happier for food, as I am right now.”
Holding up the fork, she quickly twirled it in the pasta, acquiring a healthy amount upon it, taking a bite she immediately released a moan. The flavor exploded in her mouth, “Mm, that’s good.” Going in for another bite, she paused when she noticed another fork headed for her plate.
“I’m sorry,” she said, letting a thin wall of black magic block Alek’s fork. “But does this look like a bowl of blood to you.”
“I want a taste.” Giving her a sad look he pouted
“Why?” she asked, staring at him like he was crazy. “You’re a Vampire.”
“My tongue didn’t die,” he said, easily breaking through her shield. He eagerly stole a few noodles and took a bite. “You’re right, it is good.”’
She glared at him. “I thought the only sustenance you needed was me.”
He choked
“You deserved that,” she teased.