CHAPTER 4
FRANKIE
∞
Valkyrie Tower is just as I expected it to be. The skyscraper is impressive in this run-down city, and as I stare up at it, a chill of fear settles into my bones. I take a deep breath and head in through the lobby doors. Guards are stationed on either side, and they give me a wary look as I step inside.
“State your business,”
the one says, and I catch his nostrils flaring as I stand in front of him.
“Enforcer Denali…I have an appointment with Wr---the King.”
Fuck.
I almost slipped up and said the fucker’s actual name instead of his goddamn title. Fucking King. Who the fuck still calls themselves Kings in this day and age. Heathens, the lot of them.
My eyes dart past him to see a young woman being led to the elevator. She’s barely wearing anything, and it sickens me to see a girl like that, degrading herself as a blood whore willingly.
I wonder if she’s for the King…
I shake my head at the thought and glare up at the guard in front of me. “Well? Are you going to let me by or not?”
“We need to verify your identity. Do you have your enforcer card on you.”
“Of course I do, you twit,”
I grumble, and I see his eyes flash brightly as he clenches his jaw. I hand him the card and roll my eyes. “Satisfied?”
“You’re human,”
he says, confused.
“So?”
“Humans aren’t…normally enforcers.”
“Ooo, yay. Do I win a prize for being so fucking special to you lot? No? Then let me by before we have a problem on our hands.”
“You can’t speak to me that way,”
he snarls.
“I’m here to do a job, and I’m here to meet with your King. Do you think he’ll take kindly to the fact that you’re preventing me from meeting him for our appointment on time? Pretty sure with his reputation, your head will be rolling on the floor the second I’m a minute late.”
His eyes actually widen in panic, and he glances over to his partner. “Let her by Zen,”
he sighs. “We don’t need to be putting Valkyrie in a worse mood than he already is at the moment.”
Double fuck.
He’s already vicious on a good day, and now I have to deal with him when even his guards are afraid of his current mental state. I’m so fucked.
I brush past them and the man who was leading the fang-banger earlier is just coming out of the elevator. “Can I help you?”
He asks, confused. His nostrils flare as well, and I let out a sigh.
I’m really getting tired of being scented by these fucks. What the fuck do I even smell like to them?
“I have an appointment. I’m enforcer Frankie Denali.”
His eyes widen, and he steps forward, holding out his hand to me. “It’s nice to meet you! Thank you for coming so quickly.”
I stare at his hand and try to roll back the irritation and disgust inside of me. His smile falters and he slowly lowers his hand back down to his side. “Sorry…I shouldn’t have been so forward with you. I’m sure you rather not be physically near any of us, unless you absolutely have to be.”
Fuck. I actually feel like an asshole right now.
This is one of the first vampires that I’ve met that actually shows any outward human emotion. None of them have been kind or respectful of the fact I’m human. I hold out my hand to him and I’m literally fighting back every instinct in me to pull away as his hand reaches up and gently grips mine. I let out a slow harsh breath when he releases my hand.
“I’m Alex. I’ll take you up to his floor and I’ll have you wait in the common area while I let him know that you’ve arrived.”
“Alright, thank you.”
I follow him into the elevator, surprised at myself for actually treating him normally. He looks young…definitely younger than me, and he looks…innocent. His dirty blonde hair is tucked in lightly behind his ears and his deep brown eyes actually hold some compassion within their depths. I sort of wish I could ask him about his turning because he doesn’t seem like he actually belongs here. He’s probably just some errand boy for his royal highness.
“What’s your job here, Alex?”
I cringe internally at the fact my fucking mouth overruled my rational brain.
“Oh, um. I’m Wren’s first in command.”
What?! There’s no way…
“You seem…different,”
I say cautiously. “Also, you call him by his name?”
I glance over at him, and I see a small smile pull at his lips.
“Not as of late, unfortunately. He’s been in a foul mood since all of this started happening, and I just don’t want to upset him further.”
“Would he really be upset for you to call him by his name to his face?”
He shrugs his shoulders and looks over at me. “I rather not upset him if he decides it does bother him.”
I want to ask him what he’s like. I want to know what type of person he actually is…if he allows others to actually call him by his name and not his title, then maybe what I thought about him was wrong all along. I’ve never met the guy. All I know is the things I’ve heard from Adrian and the others, which Adrian is the only one who has seen him in person. Wren Valkyrie keeps to himself. He rules over the vampire realm as a whole in his territory, but Felton…this city…is his.
“You can have a seat there,”
he says, motioning to one of the plush couches in the waiting area. I flop down into the seat, and I’m practically swallowed up by the damn thing. I take in my surroundings and it’s impressive to say the least. I don’t know who he pays to decorate the place, but whoever it is, should get a raise. The tower itself seems corporate and cold from the outside, but inside…it’s like a lavish home. This lounge area is bigger than my apartment. Not only does it have super cushy couches, but it has a fireplace and…
Is that a bar!?
This mother fucker has way too much money. He’s got a fully stocked bar in the corner of his stupid common area to his office.
My head snaps back towards the door Alex went through, and I see the girl from earlier walking slowly through it before closing the door behind her. She looks wasted as she stumbles slightly and I jump up, rushing forward to steady her.
“Are you alright?”
I ask her.
She looks up at me with a glazed look on her face and I see the fang marks on her neck. “I feel great, thanks for asking. Is it your turn now?”
“Like hell it is!”
I practically screech.
“Hmm, you’re missing out. His bite is like nothing else. I feel so…”
She brushes her fingers across her chest and her eyes flutter closed as a weird creepy ass happy grin spreads across her face. “Free.”
She opens her eyes again and it creeps me out how she stares right at me, like she’s really looking at me through her fang-banger haze. “Yes…free. I feel amazing. I wish he didn’t stop…I…I wish he would have drained me.”
Dafuq.
This crazy bitch wanted him to kill her. “You can’t mean that. If he drained you, you would be dead.”
“Hmm, no. I would be like him. I want to taste him too. He still hasn’t let me taste him.”
I cringe at the thought. I pull away from her, feeling sullied by the thought he had his hands on her. He fed from her like the fucking monster that he is. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone. This girl just doesn’t get it. It’s not that easy to make a vampire. There’s a genetic makeup that you have to have in order to be compatible with the virus. I know all too well what the chances are of it not working.
The vamp has to drain the victim and then feed their blood to them to even attempt the process of turning. Their blood on its own is used as an aphrodisiac. This chick is clearly craving it, so it must not be her first taste of the stuff. He denied her that much at least. It can really fuck with your head. It’s basically a drug and it’s used as such within the clubs. Well, that and Float. Float is built for supernatural beings…I have no idea what would happen to a human if they took something with that potency. Supernaturals have a fucked-up metabolism, so they burn through the harshest bits of it and just end up partying like they’re on ecstasy.
She stumbles away from me and heads towards the elevator just as Alex comes back out of the office. “He’s ready for you now,”
he says quietly.
“I’m sure he is,”
I grumble, and he gives me a questioning look. “At least tell me he’s satiated enough that he won’t try that shit with me.”
His eyes widen, and he shakes his head. “He wouldn’t. He…he feeds because he has to, not because he wants to.”
“What?”
“He’s…”
He turns away from me, obviously trying to hide something about his so-called King. “He no longer enjoys the taste of blood. He can barely stand to have them in his presence, but if he doesn’t feed, he’ll seem weak…no…he would be weak. I know you don’t like to hear this, but we can’t change what we are. We need blood in order to survive.”
“Did you ever think that maybe you shouldn’t even exist? Feeding on humans isn’t surviving. It’s animalistic and barbaric.”
A look of hurt crosses his features and his gaze hardens. “We have to live with that thought everyday, enforcer Denali. Some of us never wanted this life, but we’re trying to do what we can to control those of us that have no control. Our…blood supply is willing. We don’t take that which isn’t freely given. Maybe you should learn to differentiate between those of us who actually give a shit about this fucked up life, and those who only wish to cause pain.”
I didn’t expect that from him, and I can’t help but stare at him with wide eyes. “You’re going to tell me he didn’t want this life?”
“He was turned against his will, so yes, he never wanted this life. Humans are no different. They kill for sport…both animals and even their own kind, without a second thought. Don’t judge us before you get to know us, when you yourselves, are a plague on this planet as well.”
He turns away from me and knocks at the door again. I can’t do anything but stand here in shock at the change in personality I just experienced from Alex. Now I can see why he’s Valkyrie’s first in command.