“Who do you belong to?”
His voice was gravelly, yet musical. It distracted me for a moment, so I didn’t respond to his question right away. I was also very confused by his question.
His lips pulled off his teeth. My eyes went wide when I saw his fangs again.
“Who do you belong to?”
The question was repeated in a deadly hiss. I continued to stare at his fangs, and realization dawned on me.
“Dream,” I whispered.
Dream or not, the rage that contorted his beautiful face was nothing short of terrifying. In less than the blink of an eye, he was right in front of me, hands gripping my shoulders, face a mere inch from mine.
“You are not dreaming, you foolish infant,” he snarled. The black of his eyes melted into that glowing, feral blue I had witnessed before. “Tell me who you belong to, or I will kill you.”
I wasn’t nearly as afraid as I should have been. I was staring into the eyes of a demon from hell. My heart should have been beating fast enough to knock my weakened body unconscious. I was afraid, yes, but I wasn’t terrified. In honesty, I was mostly entranced and angry.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I tried to make my own voice sound threatening, but compared to this…creature, I may as well have been a newborn kitten. “I don’t belong to anyone!”
His eyes narrowed in suspicion and surprise. Before I could say anything else, one of his hands brushed back my hair. That hand was powerful, I could tell. Corded with lean muscle, his long fingers looked like they could crush stone. When his palm touched my throat, I gasped at how cold his skin was. The feel of it reminded me of how icy the marble floor of the ballroom in the house got in the winter. His piercing blue gaze scanned my neck. The incredulity on his face deepened.
“Do you know anything about my kind?”
What could I say? In legends, in myths, in folklore…
“You’re not real,” I croaked. “You can’t be—”
His lips peeled back again. This time, the brightness of his fangs nearly blinded me for a moment.
“Perhaps you did not feel what I did to you before,” he hissed. “Shall I demonstrate again?”
I stared at him, and a sudden wave of exhaustion overcame me. I slumped down, nearly unconscious. I barely felt something wet and cold against my lips. My tongue, on its own accord, flicked out to taste the liquid.
Life. It tasted like life.
I wanted more, so I drank. When the giver of the life-liquid pulled away, I let it. My eyes opened again, and I felt more energized than I had in hours. I sat up and once again gazed into a face that was feral, but possessed an impossible dark beauty. Now that I was fully lucid, I found myself examining all of his features. The strong, classic cheekbones, the sharply curved jaw, the perfectly straight nose…my memory stored everything.
Mostly, it stored his current facial expression. He appeared beyond incredulous. Beyond enraged. But I could tell that rage was directed at himself. What he had just done for me. The red cut on the inside of his marble white wrist was nearly healed. Suddenly, a low growl emitted from his throat, and his hand wrapped around my neck. I felt his power. If he so much as twitched his wrist, my bones would shatter into a thousand pieces.
“Are you going to kill me?”
Even I was surprised at how remarkably calm my voice sounded. I was certain I was about to die, but my fear was controlled. The creature was an entirely different story. His fury amplified ten-fold at my question, but it was also mixed with torment. I could see no compassion in his expression, but for some reason, he was very reluctant to kill me.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, he released me. And I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
***
Shadow
This girl is mad, I thought. She has never seen a vampire in her life. Vampires were but myths to her until now, and I just threatened to kill her.
Yet she was sitting on my bed, her body perfectly still; no tremors, no shaking. Her face was apprehensive and afraid, but absent of terror. Perhaps she was mad, but her mental state was irrelevant. I had something far more important to contemplate: her fate.
After withdrawing my hand from her throat, I backed away a step and clenched my fists. She continued to watch me, which did not help. I hated to be scrutinized, and her scrutiny was worse than Xavier’s in many ways. What Xavier thought of me had been obvious for centuries. His torture could be subtle at times, but torture was what I would always receive at his hands. That would never change.
This mortal girl on the other hand…her face was like treasure chest that had been sealed for a thousand years. Time had not weathered the lock. Instead, it had fused the lid shut, rendering the lock unnecessary. The only way to open the chest would be to destroy it. To tear it apart.
“What’s your name?”
I scowled at her.
“Why do you ask such irrelevant questions?”
She shook her head, a helpless, disbelieving smile on her lips.
“I don’t know,” she uttered in a broken whisper. “I don’t know.”
Her thighs drew up against her chest. She hugged her legs and buried her face on her knees, muffling her ragged breathing.
Perhaps she was not mad. To ask someone his name was perfectly normal. To ask someone what he was…that was a frightening question. And she did know what I was. Perhaps she feared madness and was struggling to retain a sliver of normalcy in this utterly bizarre, unexpected situation.
I could kill her.
But I knew I wouldn’t. My honor would not allow it. Humans were inferior to vampires, but I did not hate them in general. I took delight in slaughtering certain humans, both male and female, but I would never harm an innocent woman or child. However, that did not change the fact that letting her live would cause problems for both of us. Fatal problems. I had not sensed Xavier’s assassins when I carried her away, so her identity was safe for the time being. But I was alive. And there was nothing Xavier would not do to find out why I was still alive. The trail would lead to the girl and she would die a long, agonizing death for crossing Xavier, however indirectly.
Unless I succeeded in killing him. It would earn me the wrath of the royal family. My days would be painful and numbered. But I would die with honor. And with Xavier dead, the girl would be safe. A slim chance, but I could do no better.
I approached the girl again and spoke.
“My name is Shadow.”
She looked up, and I could not deny the satisfaction I felt at her surprise.
“What is your name?” I asked.
She swallowed. “Mercedes. Mercedes Strand.”
“Do you know what I am?”
She merely nodded. I did not berate her for the cowardice her silence implied.
“I will not kill you,” I told her. “But I can give you a very good reason as to why I should. You should never have seen me. You should have never discovered my kind exists. What is more, I have an enemy powerful beyond your comprehension. He meant for me to die, and you thwarted his plans. When he finds you, he will make you beg for death. I am not so arrogant as to believe I can protect you from him forever.” I moved close enough for my knees to touch the mattress. “But I can spare you from that fate. If you desire it, I can make your death fast and painless. Do you wish me to?”
***
Mercedes
I replayed his words over and over again in my head. He didn’t seem annoyed at my silence. In fact, he looked as if he wanted me to withhold my answer for as long as I could.
Vampires existed. I just saved the life of one. His name was Shadow. I should have never saved him, he claimed. I should have never known vampires existed. And now that I did, I was in mortal danger from a vastly powerful enemy who would put me through inhumane torture before he would kill me. And Shadow…he wanted to spare me that. I looked into his haunting, tormented eyes and saw only sincerity and regret. He was offering the only mercy he could. And
he was letting me decide if I wanted it.
“No.”
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I said no.” My voice grew stronger. “I appreciate your sincerity, but I don’t want you to kill me.”
Something akin to disgust flickered across his gorgeous face.
“Do you fear death? Are you a coward?”
“Only if I give up.” I jutted my chin at him. “I love my life, and I love the people in it. I’m not throwing everything away just because there’s a chance I may die soon.”
“Inevitable chance,” he all but snarled.
“I heard what you said,” I said softly. “But I’m not giving up.”
His frustration was palpable. His incredible black eyes seemed to absorb the faint light in the room and spit white fire at me. I felt the head of that fire on my face.
Finally, after an eternity, he gave a stiff nod.
“Very well.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you.”
My smile was met with a confused frown. But then his flawless features smoothed into a cold, blank mask.
“You will be vulnerable in your mortal world,” he told me. “Perhaps I can offer you some protection from stray vampires.”
Vampires.
It took all my willpower not to wince as he said the world aloud.
Vampires exist.
His hand reached out to my neck. My eyes widened when I saw his fingernails extend into wicked-looking claws.
“You must trust me.” He said.
Those midnight orbs bore right into me. Right into the depths of my soul. And I had an inexplicable feeling that I could trust this creature…this man with my life.
His icy claws touched the delicate skin just above where my jugular dwelled. I suppressed a gasp of pain when I felt him carving a wound into my flesh. I remained still as he worked for nearly five minutes. When it was over, I felt a faint trickle of blood seeping down my throat.
“Don’t touch it,” he snapped at me when I raised my hand to my neck. “It will stop bleeding in a moment. You will have a scar within hours. Should a vampire attempt to feed on you, they will see the scar and know you are branded. That you belong to me. There are grave consequences for damaging the property of another vampire, even one such as me.”
Incredulity and anger swept through me. “I belong to you now? I’m your slave?”
“I have no interest in you.” His voice was icy and dismissive. “You are nothing to me, but I will protect you as best I can for the sake of my honor. Now it is time to send you back.”
He retrieved something from a nearby table. It looked like a metallic wand. It appeared to be made from black glass. Obsidian. Like his eyes.
“Come,” he said, gesturing to the doorway. “We must go outside so I can create a portal to the mortal world.” He started to walk away.
He was going to send me home, I realized. I should be ecstatic, but…
“Wait…Shadow!” I got up and ran after him. “I don’t understand. What…?”
Before I could blink, a hand was gripping my throat. The blood drained from my face. How could anything, man or machine, be that fast? I choked, even though he wasn’t applying enough pressure to cut off my air. Coal-black eyes blazed at me.
“You should say a prayer of thanks to whatever gods you worship that you do not understand,” he hissed. “It may keep you alive for a little while longer.”
He gripped my arm hard enough to bruise and all but dragged me out of his small home. He wasn’t looking at me, so I could glance around without fear of rebuke. The furniture was exotic and dark, but sparse. I winced when I heard an ominous growl coming from another room. There were no carpets or anything that would hint at aesthetic indulgent. All in all, it looked like an incredibly lonely place to live.
Shadow retrieved a long cloak from a rack by the door and put it on. Then he pulled me inside it, right up against his body before I had time to yelp.
“Be utterly silent,” he said in a low, deadly whisper.
That was a completely unnecessary order. I couldn’t have moved or spoken if my life depended on it. I was pressed flush against Shadow’s bare torso, and his iron grip around my waist ensured that any form of escape was impossible. Reflexively, I walked as quickly as I could to match his desperate pace. Under the cloak, I couldn’t see a thing. I only felt. My cheek was pressed hard against his chest. His skin was even colder and smoother that I imagined. I felt every ripple of his sculpted, flawlessly toned muscles as he moved. It wasn’t until a moment later that I realized my right arm was wrapped around his ribs. Were his bones made of diamond, I wondered?
When we stopped, I was panting slightly. The feel of his bare flesh against my own had not been unwelcome to begin with, but now his coolness felt incredibly refreshing to my slightly perspiring skin and fevered mind. I wanted to savor these sensations, so I remained as still as I could and focused on them.
***
Shadow
The girl’s warmth was incredibly distracting, and I bitterly regretted not changing out of my burnt, ruined garments before leaving with her. What disgusted me the most was how pleasing her warmth was. How comforting. I shook my head. This was utterly disgraceful. I needed to get her to the mortal world as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I had to take a longer path to ensure I would not run into any vampires. It was not uncommon for them to bring their human servants here, but if I wanted to keep this girl safe, no one could know who marked her. She was marked. That was all that would matter if any dared to feed on her.
I stopped at the sidewall of a building. There were a few vampires up ahead, but I could create the portal before they could approach. I withdrew the Chaos wand from the waistband of my ruined trousers, smeared my blood, and made to slash the wall.
Then the girl shifted in my arms. I felt her head twist so that her face was pressed against my chest. Her breath was even warmer than her skin.
Disgraceful.
I slashed the wall so hard I nearly broke the wand. The portal opened, and I jumped through it. It was past morning in the mortal world, but I made sure we would land on the side of a dark monorail tunnel. Barely a second after we emerged, I threw the girl away from me, though not hard enough to knock her to the ground. She ended up on the ground anyway, gasping as if she had run several miles nonstop. I could not bring myself to feel regret that I had not warned her that travelling through dimensions for the first time was particularly hard on mortals. I was just grateful she was no longer touching me.
“You will be well in a moment,” I told her. “This is relatively safe ground for mortals. You will be able to follow this tunnel, find transportation, and go home.”
She raised her head up to me and opened her mouth to reply, but I had already stepped through the portal. Upon entering my apartment, I stripped off my ruined garments and stepped into the shower. The smell of what I endured at the hands of Xavier’s cowardly henchmen was still on me, but I found I was far more disturbed by the lingering scent of the human girl. It reminded me of the weak thoughts that ran through my mind when she touched me. I wanted to forget them.
After dressing in fresh garments, I contemplated what to do next. At the very minimum, Xavier would know I was still alive within the next three days. He would know human blood was responsible, and he would not rest until he found out who had given it to me. If I challenged him head-on, there was a very good chance I would die. I could not be reckless. I had to be discreet, or I would waste my life.
And hers, too.
***
Mercedes
He left me gaping at the part of a wall that mere seconds ago had been a…portal?
Did he live…did vampires live in another dimension?
Shaking my head at the utterly bizarre notion of it, I struggled to my feet. I had to hold onto the wall as I exited the tunnel thanks to a new fatigue spell. When I emerged, I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the monorail station. I could take the rail home.
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…on second thought, that didn’t sound like such a good idea. I ended up using a pay comm to call a taxi, and would have fallen asleep in the back seat if the memory of what happened when I last fell asleep in a public transportation vehicle didn’t haunt me.
I looked up at the sun in the morning sky and groaned. Natalie would be furious, and I didn’t even want to think about Lulu. I only prayed none of them would call the police yet. I reached for my comm to call Natalie and groaned again when I realized it was gone along with my backpack. I had little doubt both of them were still in the alley I had met Shadow in, but there was no way in hell I was going back there.
Shadow.
The vampire.
His harshly beautiful face flashed in my mind along with everything he had told me. I gingerly touched the scar on my neck and discovered it was dry like he said it would be.
He had marked me. A vampire had marked me. Supposedly to keep me safe from a dangerous enemy.
I bit my lip, resisting the urge to cry at the utterly insane events that just occurred in my life. But I wasn’t one to delude myself. Vampires were real. Shadow was real, and I knew he wasn’t lying about this dangerous enemy who would torture me to death if he ever found me. He would kill Shadow, too. Shadow, the beautiful, pale god of darkness who had saved my life and was now working to save both of our lives.
My eyes narrowed, and my fatigue was now but a memory.
Natalie was furious when I came home and constantly badgered me about how many times she nearly called the police. I told her I had decided to spend the night at Women’s Aid but forgot to call and tell her (something I had done a few times before), and then the questions became about my dirty clothes. Several servants pressed around me, asking if there was anything I needed, but I brushed them off. I knew I would have some apologizing to do the next morning, but this was a matter of life and death.