Filed to story: The Vampire Prince’s Bride
She pulled something away-a needle-and placed it on the nightstand.
“Who are you?” I sat up in bed, wiping cold sweat off my forehead. “What did you do to me?”
“My name is Camelia,” she said. “I’m the witch of theVale.”
I knew all about the existence of witches-I’d read about them in the library. There weren’t many witches left, especially strong ones. Most of them had been killed in the Great Supernatural War in the early twentieth century.
The Vale only had six witches. One main witch to maintain the boundary-the strongest witch in the kingdom-and five lesser strength witches in case something happened to the main witch. All of the witches in the Vale were female, as Laila didn’t want them breeding without her consent.
“You maintain the boundary around the kingdom,” I assumed, since she’d called herself the witch of the Vale. “And you act as Laila’s second in command.”
“I’ve heard you’ve been quite the eager student.” She tilted her head, sizing me up. “
Impressive.”
“What did you give me?” I glanced at the empty needle, not wanting to dance around my original question. I felt different than I had yesterday- fuller-and I assumed it was thanks to whatever she’d shot me up with.
“An antidote to the wormwood you received in the village.” She fiddled with the needle and smiled, as if proud of what it had contained. “You did a good job compelling those guards. Laila was impressed-no new vampire has ever mastered compulsion so quickly. But of course, everywhere in the kingdom is equipped with alarm systems-even the human village. You didn’t think you were going to get away with that stunt without getting caught, did you?”
“What?” I sat up straighter, surprised again by how satiatedI felt. My body ached because of the wormwood-it felt like my muscles had been shredded to pieces and then stitched back together-but for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t dying of thirst.
I hadn’t felt so full since Laila had supplied me with all of those humans to feed from right after I was turned.
“Do you remember what happened last night?” Camelia raised an eyebrow, and she scooted closer when she apparently realized that no, I didn’t remember. “When suffering extreme bloodlust, it can take a while for the memories of what the vampire did during their haze to return.” She spoke faster, clearly excited by this fact. “You went on quite the spree-it was the worst we’ve ever seen. If you need assistance remembering, I can do my best to help you out…”
Her mention of “bloodlust” and a “spree” slowly brought the memories to the surface, and I stared blankly at the wall as I remembered the horrific things I’d done while the majority of the kingdom had been sleeping.
From the moment I’d gotten a whiff of the human blood from the village, it was like something had taken over my soul, possessing me. Making me attack those humans in their sleep in a desperate hunt for their blood.
I didn’t want to believe it. How could I have done such awful things?
Except that it had been me. Every last second of it. It was all my fault.
I hadn’t been possessed by anything except my own bloodlust.
That bloodlust would always be a part of me. A demon lurking in the back of my mind, urging me to kill.
I was going to go to Hell for this. And I damned well deserved it.
“Why am I still alive?” I rubbed the back of my neck where I’d been shot with wormwood last night. “By the rules of the Vale, Laila should have killed me already.”
I wanted her to kill me. I had no right to live after taking so many lives.
“Laila is giving you a second chance,” Camelia said.
“What?” In what I’d read so far about the Vale, no vampire who’d lost control of his or her bloodlust had ever been given a second chance. If you lost control, you were killed. That was the rule. “
Why?”
“Because apparently, the all-mighty queen made a mistake.” Camelia smirked-I wasn’t sure if she was amused, or if she didn’t believe it herself. “She underestimated how much blood you needed per day to wean you down to a normal amount. You’re stronger than she ever imagined. Your excellent use of compulsion against all those guards showed us as much. Not to mention how viciously you tore through that village…” She smiled again, like my power excited her.
But I didn’t want this power. I’d rather be dead.
Perhaps that was why I’d gone on my rampage in the first place. Because I knew that by doing something so horrible, I wouldn’t be allowed to live.
“If Laila won’t kill me, then you should.” I gazed at Camelia, putting as much compulsion into my tone as I could manage. I was weaker due to the wormwood in my system, but thanks to the antidote, I could still tap into the magic. “It’s the law of the Vale. You know it as well as I. So do it. Kill me. Now.”
“Trying to use compulsion on me?” Camelia threw her head back and laughed. “Save it. Don’t you know that witches of the Vale are the only citizens allowed to wear wormwood as protection?” She caressed the green amulet that hung from her neck as if it were a child instead of an ugly piece of jewelry.
“I suppose I’ve yet to reach that part in my reading,” I quipped.
“Well, now you know,” she said. “And Laila has compelled the vampire guards not to harm you. As your sire and your queen, her compulsion is stronger than yours, so don’t try that stunt on them too. Laila wants you alive, so you can bet you’re going to stay that way.”
“Why are you even here?” I sighed and leaned back into the bed. “Did Laila send you to make sure I remembered what I did? If so, then mission accomplished. You’re free to leave now.”
“That was the first thing I needed to do,” she said. “But no-there’s much, much more to it then that.”
I crossed my arms and stared at her, wanting her to get out with it.
“I gave you the antidote right now for a reason.” She stood and looked at me over her shoulder, motioning for me to follow her into the living room. “Come. There’s an official Vale broadcast happening soon that Laila insisted you watch.”I followed Camelia into the living room, and she picked up the remote, pressing the button that brought the television down from the ceiling.
But I couldn’t focus on the television once noticing that the balcony doors were now sealed with a massive, hard-core padlock.
“That’s a military grade lock,” Camelia said, following my gaze. “It’s the best on the market. There are two of them-one inside the doors and one outside. Not even you will be able to get through that. And all the windows in the palace are hurricane-proof, unbreakable by even the strongest supernaturals.”
“So I’m a prisoner.” I’d feared it from the moment I’d arrived here.
Now these locks were making it official.
“You won’t be leaving the palace until you’re in control of your bloodlust. But if you were a prisoner, you’d be in the dungeons,” Camelia repeated what Laila had said when I’d asked her the same thing a few days ago. “This is simply an extra precaution to protect the humans. We need them alive to keep our kingdom efficiently running. The royal vampires have used compulsion to relax them after the stir you caused in the village, but restocking the ones you killed is going to be quite the hassle.”
She said it so naturally-as if referring to people like they were animals was normal. She-and all of the supernaturals in the Vale-disgusted me.
She disgusted me so much that I couldn’t bring myself to deign her with a reply.