The Vampyres’ Source: The Complete Series

Chapter 1

Chapter One

KYELLA

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

My heart was beating so wildly that it was the only sound I could hear, the roar of the blood rushing through my veins.

Surely my guards could hear it too, each intake of breath accompanied its loud beat, which they’d then follow to my hiding place in the darkened corner of the Emperor’s throne room.

Closing my eyes and holding the palm of my hand over the beating organ that clearly sought to betray me, I forced myself to take deep, calming breaths. This was the first and likely last chance I would have to escape, and I wasn’t going to let my nerves or fear ruin it for me.

If I was found, I didn’t even want to imagine the atrocities Malakai would bestow upon me. My gut churned with bile at the brief flicker of it in my thoughts. Never before had I done anything bold enough to truly draw his ire, but I’d seen it directed at others for far less serious transgressions.

Everyone was expendable to him…except me.

The Emperor of Thaicia considered me his Thrall, but by the rule of law, I didn’t fit that description—I wasn’t a willing blood donor.

I had spent the last four miserable years of my existence being emotionally manipulated by that vile man.

For a short period, it had worked. He had taken advantage of my loneliness, my deep sorrow, after I’d witnessed my father and aunt being killed right before my eyes.

I had been desperate for a place to call home.

That was before I found out that he was responsible for their murders. They were just a means to an end for him.

That ‘end’ being to have control of me.

I had yet to figure out why I, out of the thousands of humans that occupied his empire, deserved the agony that came along with his attention.

But whatever it was about me? I despised it. It was the reason my family was dead.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of feet pounding in the corridor behind the throne room. Shit. I couldn’t wait here any longer. Rushing to my feet, I gathered the long black silk of my skirt and took off towards the front entrance of the room.

Wind whipped my black hair behind me as the wooden doors beckoned.

Just a few more feet, and then it would be a mad dash across the foyer and drawbridge to the city. I could do this. I could taste my freedom.

Stretching my hand out, I let out a cry of pain as my fingers brushed the tips of the door handle. Crashing to the floor with a heavy weight above me, tears burned my eyes as a sharp pain from my wrist shot through my forearm, which was stuck beneath me.

No. Please no. I can’t have been caught. I couldn’t stay here another day, pretending to be a submissive Thrall that didn’t care if the Emperor controlled my every move.

“You thought you could escape us, human?”

My personal bodyguard, Gabriel—who I referred to as my stalker—lowered his lips to my ear, putting more of his weight on me and crushing my wrist in the process. “You know you will be punished for this, right?”

I couldn’t hold back the unadulterated rage that had been simmering and building within me—especially when freedom had been right in front of me, right within my grasp.

“So will you,” I spat with as much energy as I could muster. Which wasn’t much, considering how little they fed me. I’d used my reserves for my escape attempt.

My throat tightened, the meager contents of my stomach threatening to come up at the feeling of Gabriel’s erection against my ass. Like all vampyres I’d had the displeasure of meeting, he got off on the pain of his victims, whether emotionally or physically. Vampyres weren’t picky.

I tried to keep my tears from falling for that exact reason, but I failed as the pain in my wrist rocketed to new levels with both of our body weights on it and the awkward position it was trapped in.

His tongue darted out to lick up the lone tear that spilled onto my cheek. A rumble of delight spread through his chest. “Not as delicious as I imagine your blood to be, but it’ll do.”

I refused to let myself tremble in fear of him. I’d had many bodyguards prior to Gabriel, and all of them had been made examples out of by Malakai for ignoring his rule of not touching me. It was the one thread of kindness he had given me in this otherwise deplorable castle.

I wasn’t sure how he did it, but any time his guards laid a hand on me, he appeared. It had saved my innocence many times over and resulted in the beheading of said guards.

Gabriel had lasted the longest out of all of them, but if he didn’t get the hell off of me soon, his time would come to an end.

He wasn’t an idiot like the rest of them, though.

His control over his urges was much stronger than the rest. He once again showed that as he shoved off of me quickly, standing on his feet a mere second before Malakai’s voice rang through the expanse of the open room.

“Kyella!”

Slamming my eyes shut, I refused to let myself fall for the ‘nice guy’ act he put on. He was a wonderful actor—the concern in his voice actually sounded authentic. But I knew it was just part of his elaborate facade.

The scars from the blood that had been forcefully taken from me were proof enough of that. Proof that I saw every single day.

Rolling so I was staring at the ceiling, I cradled my wrist to my chest as heat thrummed through the joint, accenting the intense pain.

Malakai was by my side a second later, making me jolt at the speed in which he moved. I would never get used to it. His putrid scent enveloped me as he crouched down and grabbed my chin roughly, forcing me to look into his dark brown eyes.

“Are you hurt?”

I refused to answer that, but the way I cradled my wrist was answer enough. Before I could blink, he had pricked the pad of his thumb with a fang and pressed it to my lips. “Drink,” he commanded, forcing it into my mouth so his blood could drip onto my tongue.

His wound healed seconds later, but it had remained open long enough that when he removed his thumb and I swallowed, the healing effects were almost immediate. A coolness spread through my forearm and down to my wrist, and as I gingerly rolled my wrist around, I found the pain was gone.

This wasn’t the first time he had forced a drop of his blood into my mouth, and by now I would’ve thought my body wouldn’t have such a reaction. But once again I felt the twisting pain in my stomach, gurgling and making my throat tighten.

His dark curls hung down to his shoulders and shifted around him as he stood back up and pinned Gabriel with a glare. “You know what happens when anyone tries to lay a finger on her.”

To my utter shock, Gabriel didn’t flinch. He folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin up, confidence pouring from him. “Your Majesty, my intention was not to hurt her. I had to apprehend her—she was attempting to escape.”

He really thought he was going to get out of this without any issues. Maybe he was a bigger fool than I gave him credit for. Or maybe he gave Malakai too much credit for being mentally stable when he, in fact, was quite unhinged.

For a few seconds, Malakai didn’t move, his fury palpable. I held my breath in anticipation and tried to scoot away a few inches.

His voice was cold as he clucked his tongue before asking, “How did she even get this far, Gabriel?”

My lips drew up into a smug smirk as I quirked a brow at my stalker. He thought I would be the only one to pay for this attempted escape? No, I wouldn’t have gotten this far if he hadn’t been so easy to fool.

For that, he would be punished.

His arrogant facade crumbled as he blinked rapidly under the weight of Malakai’s gaze.

“I… Your Majesty, I…” he stammered before looking at me and narrowing his eyes in fury.

“She was asleep, and I left for only a moment to feed. I know you want anyone around her to be full to resist the urge she presents.”

Malakai pulled his black sword from under his golden robe, and a second later Gabriel’s head rolled on the ground towards me. My skin crawled at the sight of his wide eyes and open mouth.

A very small sliver of my soul felt guilty for his death, but a much larger part didn’t care. He wasn’t a good person. None of the vampyres in this empire were.

They thought only of themselves and their needs. Everyone else existed only to serve those needs, in their eyes.

Dread filled my gut as I came to the realization that Malakai’s wrath would now be turned on me.

I always knew that this was a possible result of my attempt to escape, but it had been worth it.

Whatever the punishment was, I would never regret it, because it showed that I still had a fire within me that he couldn’t put out.

I was done playing these games, whether I got out of this miserable fucking prison or not.

The second I had made the decision to escape, I knew I wouldn’t be able to shove this rebellious inferno back down again.

I had opened the lid, and hope had unfurled within my chest, a reminder that my life was my own.

That I wasn’t going to just sit in my cell like a good little pet for the rest of my life.

More waited for me out there. I knew, deep within my being, that life wouldn’t always be like this. I just needed to be brave enough to take the steps to get to the other side, whatever that may be.

My hope was the only shining light in this castle of darkness, and I would guard the small ember left within me with everything I had.

Turning on his heel to face me, Malakai tipped his head to the side, cracking his neck. “You tried to escape your only home?”

Once again, he infused his voice with an air of hurt, like I had truly wounded him.

But I was well aware of this little game he loved to play.

He was never the problem in a situation.

He’d always find a way to turn it around so that you felt guilty and apologized.

When I first came here, when he told me that he would look after me as my own father would have, I was so quick to apologize in any situation.

He’d made sure that I’d wanted his twisted sense of love and protection, his approval.

I wasn’t that naive girl anymore, though. I hadn’t been for a couple years, but it didn’t stop him from attempting to shove me back into that box of Stockholm syndrome with his narcissistic ways.

I should’ve bit my tongue. I should’ve swallowed the words that bubbled to the surface.

But I couldn’t.

“This isn’t my fucking home! This is my prison!” I snarled, pushing myself to my feet. I rolled my shoulders back in defiance as I glared at him, fury growing in me dangerously quick. “You took the only home I ever had away from me!” Took away the only two people that had ever loved me.

My chest rose and fell with rapid breaths as years of pain and anguish broke through the carefully constructed dam I’d placed on my emotions.

He clucked his tongue, wiping his sword off on Gabriel’s body before sheathing it.

“Well, if you consider this your prison, I suppose I should treat you as a prisoner then,” he mused as he ran his hand over his beard.

“Here I thought I treated you well, providing you a private room and protection from those that wished to hurt you. I heal you whenever you’re hurt.

But I suppose if you don’t appreciate that, then I shouldn’t provide them to you anymore. ”

With a snap of his fingers, a new guard appeared.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Flicking his fingers towards me, he announced, “You are Kyella’s new personal guard. Take her to the dungeon. It is to be her new living quarters.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the sniveling guard answered with a bow, making me roll my eyes.

I began walking towards the dungeon as the guard approached me.

I didn’t want his hands on me, and I knew he would shove me down there if I fought him.

I tensed my body to keep myself from shaking at the cold and the hunger that gnawed at my stomach.

I was sure it would only get worse in the dungeon, but this was the path I had decided to take.

Keeping my head held high, I refused to cower.

“Oh, Kyella?” Malakai called out, a twinge of humor infused in his tone as if he had a joke to share.

Pausing where I was, I turned to look over my shoulder at him.

The corners of his lips tugged into a sadistic grin, the first sign of the real him glimmering through.

“I’m hosting a party in a few nights for all of the Lords and their Thralls.

You weren’t originally on the menu—but that was when you had my protection.

Since you no longer do, you’ll get your first taste of what it means to truly be a prisoner.

” Then he tacked on, “Well, I guess you won’t be the one getting a taste,” before bellowing in laughter.

He wouldn’t let anyone feed from me… Would he?

He had to be bluffing. Trying to get me to bow at his feet and ask for forgiveness. In my four years here, never had he wavered in his law that the Emperor’s Thrall is not to be touched.

Schooling my expression, I kept my face devoid of any response. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of making me squirm. He wanted me to be fearful of him. He wanted my compliance, and he would try to get it by whatever means he had at his disposal.

The ability to strike fear into others was what he had in spades.

Refusing to play his game, I turned back towards the door to get the hell out of his presence.

His voice echoed through the room, following me into the corridor. “You think I won’t follow through on my threats? You’ll see just how wrong you are.”

He could take his threats and shove them so far up his ass that he’d taste the shit he spewed.

I would never bow to him again. The safety of the submissive facade I had donned had served me well throughout my life here so far, but as I lay awake in my bed last night, I realized I hadn’t truly been living. I’d been a shell of the woman I was deep down.

I had my father’s fire and my mother’s beauty. Both were weapons—and I intended on using them.