She smiled and gently lowered herself onto the mattress.
“Now, what can I do for you?” Nossy asked her.
“He,” she pointed, “is afraid that I will hurt Mathias.”
Nossy scratched his chin. The plot thickened. “And why is that?”
She blinked oddly. Sideways. What the hell was she? A vampire she was not.
“Because you were in my house,” she said.
It was clear now. This was the one all the fuss was about. Interesting. Even more intriguing was that she as so concerned about Mathias. “And because you agreed to let them keep me there—“
“Not exactly,” she said. “I think it is because I did not feed you or help you escape.”
Nossy nodded. Very fascinating that she was here. She certainly hadn’t given any regard for his life. That meant there was something here she wanted. It couldn’t just be Mathias could it? “That would have been nice, you know.”
She smiled strangely with the corners of her mouth strained. “I never said I was nice.”
“That is true.” He tapped a claw against his teeth. “Honest even. So, what is it you want with Mathias?”
Her entire demeanor changed. Her skin brightened, her eyes starting twinkling. “I would like to mate with him.”
Nossy had to force himself not to laugh. One, he wasn’t stupid. He’d been in the Snow Queen’s castle. Who knew how many hundreds of years old she was. Two, he seriously doubted that Mathias would be enthused. The kid had been through enough without this weirdness added to it. Still though, she was very pretty, whatever the hell she was.
“And why do you want Mathias as a mate?” he asked.
She bowed her head shyly. “Because he is not afraid of me.”
Nossy had heard worse reasons for mating. Still, this was something that was Mathias’ decision. Not theirs. They could only help keep her out if she didn’t take the rejection well. “Any other reasons?”
She almost blushed. “I cannot speak of such things. It would not be proper.”
So, she was willing to let him starve to death, but she didn’t want to talk about carnal things. Interesting. A succubus she was not.
Nossy looked at Stuart. “We better talk to Vlad.”
“Azazel too,” Stuart said.
Nossy grunted and pushed the woman off the bed. She giggled. Then, he ripped the I.V.’s out of his arm. He’d been in bed long enough.
“Shall we?” he asked. He held up his arm for her to take it.
The woman was still giggling.
* * * * *
Vlad was just taking a bite of eggs when he heard a knock at the door. He threw the napkin on the table. Mathias snickered. There was something about Vlad’s breakfast being interrupted lately, and he wasn’t complaining. It gave him the chance to snarf down half of Vlad’s food.
Vlad got up from the table. Mathias stole a couple of pieces of bacon from Vlad’s plate and stuffed them into his mouth. He chewed quickly.
Vlad opened the door to his chamber. And then, looked out into the hallway.
No one was there.
“You really must learn to be more observant,” Nossy said from his seat in Vlad’s green velvet chair next to the fireplace.
To Mathias, the answer was simple. He’d simply blinked himself into the chair. But Vlad was still there standing with his mouth open.
Mathias snorted. Yep. Things were back to normal now.
Vlad closed the door to the rooms and turned back around. He took a deep breath. “Were you officially released?”
Nossy chittered. “They tried to feed me pomegranates for Father’s sake.”
Mathias laughed. Yep, his friend was back.
“So to what do we owe to your presence this morning?” Vlad asked. He walked over to the table, sat down, stared at his depleted stack of bacon and glared at Mathias.
Mathias snorted.
Nossy drummed the arms of the chair with his hands. “We need to go see Stuart in the throne room.”
“Jesus. This sounds like Miss Prune in the ballroom with the candlestick,” Mathias said. Nosferatu was capable of about anything after all.
Vlad rolled his eyes. Then, he turned back to Nossy. “Just what is this about?”
“You’ll see.” The he hopped up out of the chair, darted to the door, threw it open, and left the room.
Mathias stood up.
Vlad shook his head. “For Father’s sake. If we don’t follow him, it will only get worse.” He stuffed the last of his bacon into his mouth and got up.
Mathias walked toward the door. Vlad followed
Chapter Sixteen
By the time they arrived, Nossy was sitting in a chair next to the throne. Azazel was leaning against the wall beside Nossy. Mathias looked around, but didn’t see Stuart right away. The throne room was basically restored. There were no more tapestries hanging from the ceiling though. Mathias welcomed the less frou-frou appearance.
He looked over and sat down on the throne. He was still technically king, and well, Nossy wasn’t sitting there. It was still strange to sit there. It was Nossy’s place, not his. And it looked like Nossy had no plans to reclaim his spot. Vlad stood on the other side of the throne.
“We’re ready,” Nossy called out.
“Ready for what?” Mathias asked. No one bothered to answer him.
From the shadows, Stuart stepped out with Her. Fuck. This was not what he wanted today. He would rather go back to his room and read something for a while. Stay away from weirdos.
“Xiao, Snow Queen, Snegurochka, would like an audience with King Mathias,” Stuart said from the back of the room.
“The audience is granted,” Nossy said.
Mathias looked at Nossy and glared. Nossy didn’t even flinch. Traitor.
She stepped forward, still dressed like ice. The crystals looked silver in the dim light. Once she stopped, she curtsied.
Mathias fought not to roll his eyes.
“I have a proposition,” she said.
Wonderful. He didn’t remotely want to guess what it was. Mathias motioned for her to get on with it with his hand. If letting her speak in front of everyone would get her to leave him alone, then so be it.
“You are the first I have encountered that is worthy. Your strength, your ability to reason. You are exactly what I have been waiting for.”
She was starting to sound like a used car salesman. If he hadn’t already been annoyed with her, he could be now. She was becoming like the annoying evil little sister of his best friend that just wouldn’t leave anyone alone.
“What have you been waiting for?” Mathias asked. He knew he was going to kick himself for asking.
She held her head up high. “A mate.”
“Oh, fuck no.” He was not going to have sex with that … thing. Those teeth were enough to make any man cross his legs. He tried to get up off the throne but found himself pinned in place by something he could not see. He looked over at Xiao. She was smiling. Okay, this had just entered the way not cool zone.
Stuart started walking toward her. Mathias’ guessed that the expression on his face displayed his distress.
Suddenly, Xiao held up her left hand and froze Stuart in place too. How many more of them could she freeze at once? “Please,” she said. “Listen. I mean no harm.”
Then, the pressure was gone and Mathias could move again. He didn’t like this. Not at all. It was enough that he could do it, but he didn’t like someone doing it to him. Besides, she was dangerous.
She clasped her hands together in front of her body. “I’m not asking for today. Or even in the near future. I am simply asking for you to consider it. And, allow me to get to know you.”
He didn’t like how strong she was. It made him nervous that she could overpower him so easily. Stuart had even backed away, putting some distance between himself and her.
He swallowed hard.
“What are you?” Mathias asked. She wasn’t vampire. She wasn’t like Azazel.
/> “Originally?” she asked.
Mathias nodded. Maybe now he could actually get some answers.
“A girl. I was given to a great sorcerer. Sold actually. He is the one who made me into what I am.” She smiled to herself. “His was the first soul I ate.”
Azazel stepped forward and motioned toward Xiao with his hand. “You realize that I am allowing your presence here?”
She bowed her head and kept her eyes on the floor. “Yes, my liege.”
Azazel walked over and patted her on the head. Then, he stepped back from her and glanced around the room before turning his gaze back on his subject. “You may get to know Mathias if you like. But, you are bound forever to never use what you learn about him against him. Also, can you never tell another his secrets beside these in this room.”
“Yes, sire,” she said.
She agreed so easily. Mathias felt uneasy. Anything so simple was always suspect these days.
Azazel turned to Mathias. “You could do worse.”
Mathias shook his head. Azazel disappeared in a puff of red-tinted smoke.
“What is he?” Stuart asked.
“A devil,” Mathias answered.
* * * * *
Mathias knew he didn’t have much choice after that. Azazel wasn’t exactly someone he’d want to reckon with. Besides, all the man said was to try, not that he had to marry her. Now, that was a scary thought.
He didn’t want to be tied down to anyone, let alone a she-demon.
He sat down on his bed and cracked his knuckles. It was time to face facts. He’d dealt with a hell of a lot worse than this. No one was trying to kill him for once. In fact, all she’d asked was that she had the chance to get to know him.
That part was kind of funny because he wasn’t sure if he knew who he was anymore, but whatever. There was a chance that it was just a simple crush. Just because someone was really old, that didn’t mean they couldn’t develop a crush on someone did it?
Mathias shook himself. It was kind of sick, her being hundreds if not thousands of years old and him being seventeen. No matter what they said, he wouldn’t be eighteen until August 4th, dammit. But, he had to wonder if a hundred years from now, if he would feel the same way when he lusted after some normal human.
He needed to get it through his head that nothing was ever going to be normal for him again. There was always going to be someone after him for something. But, they still couldn’t make him fuck who he didn’t want to. He’d castrate himself first.
He adjusted his wings. It was time to give it up. He was whining because this was something he didn’t want to do and he was too old for that shit.
So, Xiao wanted to get to know him did she? Nobody said she had to like him.
* * * * *
“A spider will catch anything,” Mathias said. Outside in the garden, the wind didn’t bite through his wing fur quite so bad. The chill in the air had lessened a little. It was February. Azazel still had not returned. No one had any idea if he even would. But, things had been calm, so there hadn’t been a need for the dungeon master. Mathias had even been down to the dungeon. Everything was clean and sparkling, ready for use. But there had been no sign of Azazel at all. His rooms did not even contain a change of clothes.
“I’m not trying to catch everything,” Xiao said.
Granted, it had only been three weeks, but still, Mathias had gotten used to having Azazel around. One thing was different though, he was no longer as lonely. He’d gone in with this grand idea of making Xiao hate him, but he hadn’t been able to go through with it. All it took was for her to come at him meekly with her head down, and he was sunk.
There wasn’t any reason to be pissed at her if Nossy wasn’t.
He was getting used to spending time with her. She was odd, that was a given. But, some of her ideas were entertaining. Besides, he knew if he didn’t, it would be Azazel he had to answer to. That was threat enough alone. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he went against the request of a prince of Hell.
Her white hair shone almost blue in the stark sunlight. It was pretty in a bizarrely Christmas-y sort of way.
“So, how did a Chinese girl end up in Siberia?” Mathias asked.
She stopped and looked at him. “You actually want to get to know me too?”
“Fuck it,” Mathias started to walk away. He didn’t have time for this shit. It seemed like every time he tried to reach out, it got all fucked up. He suddenly felt her grab him. She’d stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
“I did not mean for you to take offense,” she said.
Mathias grunted. He wasn’t good at this shit. He was better at fighting things and protecting his friends. “You do not mean to do a lot of things, and yet you still do them.”
He tried to look her in the eye, but she bowed her head. He didn’t have time for this.
“It is my nature,” she said.
Mathias reached out and picked up her head. He couldn’t be irritated at her when she was like this. Tears that looked like diamonds had filled out the corners of her eyes. He was tempted to lick one, but that would be way too forward.
“You can choose not to let it rule you,” he said. She could be a better person. Anyone could be. It just took strength. He wasn’t a street kid anymore. He’d made himself into a king.
She shook her head.
Mathias allowed his hand to drop. “Why not?” If he could do it, why couldn’t she?
She wiped her tears on the sleeves of her gown. The wetness froze almost immediately into small sparkling smears. “If I do not continue as I am, I will have a conscience. Then, how will I feed?”
Blood was one thing, but to eat souls, especially ones that you had to make others give up would be horrible. Even Mathias could admit that. But, many people lived with horrible things they just had to do. She needed to learn how to deal with hers. Mathias held up her chin again with his hand. “Maybe you already have one.”
She blinked and backed away. “What do you mean?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?” He didn’t want to admit it, but he was liking getting to know her. She was hard, like a diamond. And yet, she had this mysterious way of making him care. He knew enough that she wasn’t technically doing anything to him. It was old fashioned pheromones.
She blinked with her strange eyes. “Yes.”
Mathias smiled. “Maybe Azazel was right.”
“Huh?” she asked.
He walked over and took hold of her arms. “Shut up.” He leaned forward and placed his lips against hers and felt his wings wrap around them. It was nice. And cold.
She leaned back. “What will the others say?”
Mathias let his wings fall. “Who cares?” He would even take Nossy’s ribbing. He didn’t mind anymore. He liked her.
She blinked again. “I care.”
He smiled. He’d hidden more of himself from her than he thought. “When will you realize that most of me is just a stupid act?”
She stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the lips, quickly. “Just now. When will you see that I’m right?”
Mathias laughed. “Never.”
She punched him lightly on the arm. Or, at least, lightly for her. He could feel the bruise forming already.
“I think you’re melting,” he said.
“No,” she said. “Azazel is coming back.”
“Why?” What did Azazel have to do with it? He’d been gone. There was no reason for her to worry about Azazel. He’d protect her as much as he could.
She looked into his eyes and traced his cheek with her fingernail. “For you.”
The End
Author Biography
Danielle DeVor spent her early years fantasizing about vampires and watching “Salem’s Lot” way too many times. After living briefly in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she moved back to her hometown, Morgantown, WV, to write.
When not writing and reading about vampires, you will find her hanging out at the ne
arest coffee shop, enjoying a mocha frappuccino.
Visit her at: www.danielledevor.wordpress.com
Thank you for purchasing this publication from Eirelander Publishing.
For other wonderful stories, please visit our website at:
www.eirelanderpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One“Thias.”
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Author Biography
Danielle DeVor, The Devil's Liege
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