Filed to story: The Vampire Prince’s Bride
There had been seven of them in all. All part of a cult of witches who were so determined to stay young and beautiful forever that they’d created a spell using dark magic to make them exactly what they’d wanted-immortal.
None of them knew it would turn them into monsters. At least, that’s what the six living originals claimed.
But I didn’t believe it. Because none of them seemed to hate what they were. In fact, they seemed to relish in it.
“Sean,” Laila said my name, the slight lilt in her accent the only evidence that she wasn’t from this place and time. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“Especially after what happened last time,” Camelia added with a smirk.
As always, the green-eyed witch loved to taunt me. I knew she was referring to four months ago-the last time I tried to drink from a human. They hadn’t been able to bring him through the door before I’d caught a whiff of his scent and lost myself to the haze of my bloodlust.
The next thing I’d known, I was staring at his corpse on the ground, the last bits of his blood dripping off my fangs and onto the polished marble floor by my feet.
“I suppose the loss of one human won’t be too big of a deal.” Camelia waved her hand and turned to Laila. “But of course, the decision is yours, Your Highness.”
Laila eyed me up thoughtfully, tilting her head and softly biting her blood red lip. “The loss of one human would be irrelevant,” she confirmed. “Daniel-go fetch one from the dungeons. An old one, who wouldn’t be much use to us anyway.”
Daniel rushed out of the room in a blur, returning ten minutes later dragging a thin, older man with a chain. “Sit,” he commanded the man, throwing him onto the nearest armchair.
The man cowered in the chair and curled up into a ball, shaking and not looking up at any of us.
I smelled his blood-the rich, thick liquid pulsing through his veins, and it was so tempting that my fangs itched to protrude. His jugular pulsed and pulsed, calling me closer.
But I swallowed down the urge, forcing my breaths to become shallow. I could control myself. I had to control myself.
It was the only way to prove that I was able to leave the palace.
“Very good.” Laila nodded after a full minute had passed.
“That’s it?” I asked her. “Are we done here?”
“No.” She pressed her lips together, mischief dancing in her bright blue eyes. “You’ve only proven that you can be around a human.”
“Isn’t that what I needed to prove?” I asked. “That I can be around them without losing control?”
“You’re a vampire prince.” She ran a finger along one of my arms and pulled away, smiling sinfully. “Your stamina needs to be stronger than that.”
“How so?” I clenched my fists tighter, ignoring her touch. Instead, I stared at the man’s neck again, dreading her next words.
“I want you to drink from him.”
Sean
“Y ou want me to kill him?” I kept my gaze on hers, unwilling to look at the human in question.
“No.” The smug smile remained on her deceivingly innocent face. “I want you to drink from him and to control yourself. I want you to pull away before killing him. To enjoy your meal and leave him alive.”
“I don’t think I can do that.” I stared her down, since she must know I was right. She was asking me to do this because she wanted me to kill him.
I shouldn’t have expected anything less from her.
The vampire queen looked young and innocent, but her soul was dark and twisted.
“You can do it,” she said simply. “As a great scientist once said-if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.”
“That’s not a real scientist.” I glared at her. “It’s a quote from a movie.”
“That’s irrelevant.” She waved my point away. “The point is that it’s the truth. You’re a vampire now, Sean. The strongest of all species.”
Camelia gave a small huff, but Laila ignored her.
“When I turned you last year, I gave you a gift,” Laila continued.
“A gift I never wanted.”
“Nevertheless, I gave it to you,” she said. “You’re a vampire prince now, Sean. Show me that you deserve the title.”
“And if I don’t?” I challenged.
“You do.” She laughed, light and melodic. “You may not see it now, but you will. Someday, you will. But for now-feed from him.”
I eyed up the human man. How did he get in the prison? How old was he? Did he have a family?
I couldn’t ask in front of Laila and Camelia. They viewed the human blood slaves as animals instead of people. Angering them would get me nowhere.
Instead, I created answers to the questions to myself. I imagined that this man had a family-a newborn grandchild he was excited to get to know. That he wanted his family to have more food than their rations allowed, since the rations only afforded bare survival for the humans. So he stole-bread from the vampires. The bread that vampires didn’t even need to eat to survive, but enjoyed anyway, simply because they could. He got caught, and was unfairly locked in the dungeons, doomed to become a personal blood slave for the vampires in the palace-doomed to have them drink and drink from him until he died of blood loss and his remains were fed to the wolves outside the enchanted boundaries.
I looked into his eyes, trying to convince myself that this story I’d created for him was true.
Humanizing him might be the difference between if I was able to stop myself from losing myself to the bloodlust or if I killed him.
“Are you ready?” Laila sighed and tapped her foot impatiently. “We don’t have all day.”
“I’m ready.” I stared at the man-examining his wrinkled face and reminding myself of the story I’d created.