Chapter 2
Chapter Two
KYELLA
“Move it,” my new stalker demanded, pushing me roughly as we descended to the dungeon.
Tripping on my skirt and stumbling down two steps, I threw out my hand to the rough stone wall for balance, then finally found my footing and muttered, “Fucking asshole.”
He closed the distance between us, his shadow looming as he scolded me. “I’m not going to deal with your bullshit. If you have a problem with him, that’s fine, but don’t make it my problem too.”
I untangled my foot from the material it was caught in. “At least you willingly decide to be here,” I grumbled under my breath. “If you were in my position, you wouldn’t be all sunshine and rainbows either.”
That was the one thing I would never understand—Why would they willingly want to serve as guards when Malakai’s rage was known throughout the entire empire?
Not just his rage, though… No, there was so much more he was known for.
Memories flashed through my mind, women moaning as blood dribbled down their exposed necks and breasts, sometimes extending all the way to public sex in the castle.
I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t intrigued by the raw desire routinely on display.
I’d been to my share of parties and walked with the Emperor through his castle countless times.
There were ample rooms in which one could have a little snack and screw.
Maybe that was the answer to why they put themselves within reach of the Emperor—the copious supply of humans to do with as they wished. Within this castle, the guards were able to choose from a grouping of Thralls that were kept on staff for their needs.
Outside of these walls, humans existed within one of two groups—Thralls and laborers.
Both groups had some level of protection, if only superficial, because the vampyres needed a stable human population to serve as a food supply.
As a result, vampyres were forbidden to drink from the vein of a human unless they were a willing blood donor.
The Lords took this a step further by choosing Thralls to serve only them.
Every year, hundreds of humans applied for the privilege, hoping to escape lives of loneliness or squalor.
Humans had to submit an application to become a Thrall, and once accepted, they were brought to a ceremony to be chosen by any of the current Vampyre Lords.
Thralls were generally treated as honored members of the Lord’s household, and in return the Lord was privileged to a constant source of blood that no one else could drink from without express permission.
Not all humans were so willing as the Thralls, though, and if found in breach of the law, the offending vampyre was publicly beheaded outside of the castle.
Obviously those laws didn’t apply to the Emperor, because here I was, an unwilling Thrall.
“That’s cute that you think that’s the case,” my guard answered with a snort.
I craned my neck, turning to look at him like he had four heads. I’d never heard a guard say anything about Malakai that could even remotely be interpreted as negative. “How is it not?”
His silver eyes turned hard as the muscle in his jaw ticked.
Glaring at me like I was a complete imbecile, he hissed out his words between clenched teeth, showing off the tips of his fangs.
“I don’t know who or what you are, but what I know is that the Emperor wants to be surrounded by the most powerful beings in the empire.
For some, the power that he represents draws them into his lair willingly, but for the rest…
” He trailed off, glancing behind him as if straining to hear if anyone was near.
Was he implying that I was powerful? I mean, I knew there had to be something unique about me to have caught the Emperor’s eye, but I’d just assumed it was the beauty that others seemed to find in me. I suppose that didn’t make sense with the way he’d adopted the father role, though.
My brows creased as I tried to imagine myself as a powerful being. It was a funny thought, seeing as I was weak and couldn’t even manage to escape this castle.
Lowering his voice, he ran his fingers through his short white hair, pulling on the roots. “He holds my family over my head. If I step out of line, he will kill my wife and kids. He forcefully turned me after seeing me fight in a tournament as a human.”
My heart clenched at his admission as my mouth popped open in surprise. It had never even crossed my mind that he might have other prisoners here, in various ways. If his wife and children were still alive to be used as a threat, he had to be a fledgling in the eyes of vampyres.
Fuck, was I feeling a shred of empathy for a vampyre?
Just as I went to respond and try to commiserate in our hatred of Malakai, his hand clamped around my arm, pushing me down the stairs once more. “Move.”
I guess bonding time was over… But I would really like to know what his name was, at least. It didn’t feel right calling him my stalker after knowing he was a prisoner too. I had some common decency.
I eyed the door at the bottom of the landing with skepticism, unsure of what exactly lay on the other side. I mean, it was a dungeon, so I knew it wasn’t going to be lavish and comfortable, but still… Trepidation of the unknown filled my stomach.
“Don’t let them rile you,” my guard whispered so quietly I almost asked him to repeat himself, but I was shocked into silence when he reached around me to tug open the door and voices filled the air.
I hadn’t heard a single peep from the other side, and we had been right next to it. Was this soundproof to only humans, or vampyres too? The thought was sickening. If I screamed, would anyone be able to hear me?
Oh fuck, please let Malakai be bluffing about letting people lay their hands on me now.
For the first time, I was really questioning this newfound rebellion I had felt so strongly about just a moment ago.
“Ah, fresh meat,” a nasally voice called as my guard shoved me into the dimly lit space. My skin crawled at the leering tone, and I kept my guard’s words in mind, refusing to let them see they bothered me, much like I had done with Malakai.
“She looks like a tasty morsel,” another guard said. “It’s been far too long since we’ve had such a pretty one in here. Think of all the fun we can have with her.”
Don’t look at them.
Don’t listen to them.
Block them out.
A pale hand reached out to touch my arm, but my guard reacted quickly, grabbing the hand and twisting it until the vampyre was howling in pain. A crunching sound made me crinkle my nose.
My guard’s voice was deep and menacing as he warned him, “She is not to be touched. She is the Emperor’s Thrall. He put her down here to teach her a lesson, but his rules still stand.”
My heart raced as I kept my head held high and my gaze forward, soaking in my guard’s words. Please let them be true and not a ruse to keep the other guards off of me.
But if he was making that up to help me… Well, that would be the first true act of kindness someone had shown me within these walls, with seemingly nothing to gain from it. Never had I seen a glimmer in one of them of—dare I say—humanity.
A part of me started to feel worse for this guard than I did for myself, a feat I never thought possible. He deserved to be out there with his wife and kids. I wouldn’t be the reason he was hurt and never got to see them again. I’d be a good prisoner and comply to protect him for the time being.
As he turned to face me after leveling both the vampyres with scathing looks, he announced, “I’ll be gone for just a moment to grab food for you. These guards will place you into your cell, and you will not give them any issues, understand?”
His hard exterior was still there, but I saw the plea in his eyes to cooperate.
Nodding my head and dropping my gaze, my dark hair fell around me like a curtain as I whispered, “Okay.”
He let out a huff and quickly strode out. As the vampyre guards closed the door and the turning lock clanked into place, I suddenly got a really bad feeling.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood as dread filled me.
A cry left my lips as a hand roughly grabbed my hair and began to drag me forward.
“You want to know something, sweetheart?” Without waiting for my answer, he continued, “I don’t believe him.
Even if you are the Emperor’s Thrall, he would never send you down here and expect you to come out unscathed. ”
The other one cackled behind me as I heard the tinkling of keys. “And even if you’re off-limits, I think it’ll be well worth the punishment.”
I knew my words would only anger them and their fragile masculinity, causing them to hurt me, so I bit my lip harshly to keep them in. The cell door before me was thrown open as the hand in my hair shifted with his movement until he was in front of me, squeezing my neck and leaning in to sniff me.
“Mmmm,” he purred, the ends of his inky black hair tickling my collar bone.
Repulsion flowed through me, and all I could do was hope that their fear of the Emperor would snap them out of this.
His wet tongue snaked out to lick over the steady pulse thrumming in my neck, and my breath caught as I clenched my eyes shut in anticipation of the bite I knew was coming.
Trying to speak evenly despite my fear, I announced, “I have been the Emperor’s Thrall for four years.
I have seen countless guards decapitated for doing less than you are now. You’re gambling with your life.”
Suddenly I flew through the air, crashing into the wall of the cell.
The air was knocked from me as I landed in a heap, head ringing from the crack it had taken.
The shadows cast by the flickering flames of the sconces swarmed my vision as they danced along the walls.
Then my eyes fell shut, too heavy to keep open anymore.
***
My mind was fraught with nightmares of the past as I let myself float in the land of unconsciousness.
Screaming in horror as I walked out of our home to see my aunt laying in a pool of her own blood with no life in her eyes. My father was kneeling in the middle of the cropland, my eyes blurred with tears as I screamed for help, rushing to him.
His neck had been torn open by a vampyre, the bleeding too immense to staunch no matter how tightly I held my jacket to the wound, sending prayers for help to anyone that would listen.
Help came, but it was too late. By the time royal guards arrived, my father’s head was cradled in my lap, staring lifelessly up at the sky. My tears had already dried, leaving me a hollow shell, numb to the very core.
My mother had died in childbirth, and now my only two remaining family members were gone.
I was alone.
I didn’t remember much after that besides fighting like a rabid animal when the guards took my father’s body from me.
After that, I was suddenly in the Emperor’s castle and dubbed his ward.
He’d showered me with so many apologies for my family’s deaths, swearing to find the culprits and subject them to the utmost punishment.
I’d believed him. I held onto that kernel of hope until I walked into his throne room a year later, hoping to have dinner together.
I found him surrounded by his council, each asking about me.
One asked if I still saw him as a doting father figure.
Another asked if he had drunk my blood yet, and at that point he hadn’t.
The next question was the one that broke me from my trance.
“Is she really such a fool that she still thinks you’re truly protecting her under a semblance of a fatherly figure? The same man who killed her family based on a simple rumor?”
The floor felt like it dropped out from underneath me, and I screamed before trying to run away. It had ended with Malakai trying to guilt me into feeling bad for eavesdropping. He’d tried to convince me they were talking about another child.
That was the day I opened my eyes to who he truly was, and it was also the last day he didn’t drink my blood.