After the fleeting kiss, Danica hesitated with the blade in her hand. He was at her feet, finally defeated and unconscious. Unconscious? She bit her cheek in doubt. His pale eyes were wide open, though they were not moving. Torture had never been her forte. What she was going to do to him definitely would feel like torture if he was conscious at all. He would see her, feel her cutting him alive. Remember who he was, what he did to her friends! “You were so arrogant! I never had any feelings for you but hate,” she spat, staring into his motionless eyes. “Retort me, why don’t you? Condescend me! Treat me like I am a toy to your little games! Why don’t you?!!!”Damn the neighbors. Damn the midnight. Damn everything. She roared, willing the most disgust she could master into her voice and face. She did not know why she was sputtering on instead of what she was supposed to do.“You thought I’d always be in the palm of your hand while you killed my friends cruelly. Yes, Ignis gave me the
In no time, they closed in on her. Her bullets only scratched them. The claws came into her face and she ducked, heading straight to the door. Once she left this place, she would never come back, wouldn’t be able to do so.She shot backward for cover. Pieces of furniture and walls flew around. Pain shot through her back. A set of claws had pierced her back. Another slash landed across her arm, making her nearly drop her Glock 17. She gritted, to take the last step to get away from the frenzy vampires. It failed.“Son of a…” She was thrown to the floor before someone stepped on her left palm. She bit back the scream. Were they crushing her fingers? Another foot kicked away the gun in her right hand. The dark cloaks towered over her, blocking the light completely. Danica lolled her head before another vampire stepped on her hair. She bit down on her lip to swallow another scream. Time to stop showing her weakness to them. Her eyes jumped to the corner between their feet.A few of them
The first thing she noticed was the ground was moving. The second was her chin, thumping against something yellow. With a pounding headache, she realized she was on somebody’s shoulder and the person underneath her was moving—running if her brain could make sense–instead of the ground.They were not human, with inhumanly fast speed. She tried to recall what happened and why she was here. A vampire?She kicked the person in the stomach with an enough force that would usually make them drop her. She regretted it immediately. The pain shot through her broken ankle. She gritted her teeth, ready to elbow them instead.“You wake up?” asked the woman.It was a woman. But did that matter? Monsters came from every gender. She elbowed her.“Ow!” the woman cried. “I’m your savior, Danica!”“My butt!” she kicked her with her good foot.“Ow!” This time, the vampire dropped her. “Damn you!”She rolled on the pavement, to ease herself from the drop, before standing quickly on one foot. They were at
Too damn late! Danica prepared to attack her enough to get herself out of the car. She was already raising her hand from the seat but had to put it in her hair instead because Monica spat, “What a load of crap! Don’t worry, Dani. I never believe in those pathetic humans. They all report fucking nonsense day and night.”She pretended to comb her hair and mumbled something incomprehensible even to herself.“What? Didn’t catch that.”“I said you’re right. That’s—” she lied through her teeth. “That’s a load of crap, obviously.”“Right?” she shook her head. “Why would you curse our prince? It’s not even possible. He’d know! Besides, you had feeli
“I might need a new name! Or probably a new face!” Danica slammed shut the door after jumping back into the car.“Yeah, agreed!” Monica started the engine.They had a good laugh about her being famous along the way. The vampire girl was really growing on her. She was like a vampire version of her friend Mia. Danica looked at the flower fields through the window. The colorful nature against the fluffy white snow seemed miraculous. “What about…umm…Ane?”“Ane? Wow, really creative. You name yourself after the sector?“El, then.” After Elaine. “Okay. El.”“What are those?” Danica bent forward to get a clear view of banners on each side of the road. They were golden-maroon, each printed with an embossed coat of arm. Under the faint light, they were sparkling.“They represent the crown prince. The sectors are showing they are with him. The banners represent our wishes for him to recover soon.”She clasped her hands to hide her nervousness. They did not know he was never going to recover.
She knew little about the vampire family aside from King Magnus and Queen Campana, and ‘him’, of course. Back in the room, Danica slumped back into the nearest chair. The news did not interest her. As though responding to her thought, Monica said from the balcony, “We might hear about the prince if one of the royal family is here. I doubt somebody would update about him on social media, at this point. Let’s go out…maybe tomorrow night…when you have enough rest.”She almost felt like she had cursed herself, cursing him. A weight settled in her chest. She was not entirely aware of how she responded. Her mouth moved and uttered an agreement.A full-length mirror stood at the opposite wall. A good amount of concealer hid the ugly marks. The slashes were healing faster than ever; the scabs had even gone. Still, they would be more than obvious on her bare face. She had thought about what Ignis might have done: taking his power back was what it was. He was a demon; what had she expected?B
“Impossible!” She shot to her feet, but hands pushed her back down. The snarls targeted at her, the exhaustion she felt, and the surrounding guards all dimmed out of her senses as she focused only on one male.He was the shadow that stood tall, surrounded by the entourage. He sauntered in, wearing an expression that he did not care about anything or anybody by his side. The dignified manner was more pronounced and somehow different in him than the male she had known although they looked exactly the same.He hadn’t spared a glance at the disturbance she had caused as he continued his way to the throne-like seat in the middle of the room, which might be where the count usually accepted his guests, but now it belonged to him.He was in all crisp white, from his tie and vest to his leather shoes. As he
The noises of vampires and humans alike roared and screamed as the guards brought her along the dark passage. Just like her way in, the human prisoners’ cries for mercy—to their vampire cellmates—disturbed her like no other, she wanted to kill every vampire guard around her.“So inhuman!” she shrieked, for the lack of a better word.“Guess what! We aren’t human,” answered one guard.The laughter followed.Like some rag-doll, they dragged her into the light, into the courtyard. “Of course, he is fine with this,” she spat out bitterly.“What the hell is she talking about?”“About him, probably. She seemed to have a thing for him.”The guards mocked.“He is fine, obviously. He’d be there soon to whip them himself.”She struggled again, raising her knees up. Before her effort took any effect, they sped up, the grass and flower beds turned shadow around her. Sharp stones scratched her exposed legs. Seconds later, her ankles touched the steps out of the back door. She was bleeding all over,