AMID the heavy music, the laughter, the sound of wine and blood spilling everywhere, the gasps and the moans from variety of strangers as they drown themselves in blood and sex, I heard her. First, it was her footsteps. They were careful and light as a feather as if she was afraid to make a single sound, afraid to be noticed.Then it was her voice.She cleared her throat. “Pardon my intrusion, your Majesty,” she said. Her voice was soft, but it was devoid of emotion humans ought to have. “I’ve brought the file you requested.”“Human, if you know you’re intruding, then you shouldn’t have come at all! You are not welcome here. Shoo,” the female Vampire who was with me commented just when I was about to speak.My forehead creased. I took my hand off the woman’s thigh and released her neck before looking at her. I don’t remember her name. I only remember that she was from one of the twelve noble families in the Kingdom. Other than that, everything about her was forgettable.If not for her

THE PAIN quickly disappeared that it almost became a memory as ecstasy followed right after. Zackary lifted me and wrapped my thighs around his waist. In a blink of an eye, we were already inside his quarters. He pinned me against the wall, his tongue was stroking mine, gently at first, as if he was trying to calm me down.I could push Zackary away. I could try to fight until he recovered his senses, until he was back to being sane again. Because there was no way that someone like him would hold someone like me.But the instant he took me in his arms, I was suddenly reminded of the reason why I stayed in this domain even when I shouldn’t.Seconds later and Zackary must have realized that being slow was not his thing. He tore my clothes and underwear while his mouth was still on mine. He was assaulting my tongue and was touching me in places no one had ever seen or touched before. I shivered when I realized that I was now completely naked before him.But the coldness didn’t last long.

“MOMMY!”My heart pounded when I heard that voice. When I turned around, I saw a little girl running towards me. I’m guessing she was around five years old. She had chubby cheeks, curly blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She was beaming as she tried to reach out her tiny hands to me. The sight tugged at my heartstrings. She looked so beautiful and yet, so familiar which was odd because this was my first time seeing her.I should know because I would have remembered that face. That was a face that was not easy to forget.She stopped when she was in front of me. And when she smiled at me, my chest swelled with so much warmth, joy, and pride.Wait. Pride? But why?I didn’t even know her. But somehow, it felt like my heart knew her, like I was gazing at a face that I had known my whole life which was really weird.And when she held my hand, all of her dainty fingers were clasped on mine, it felt cathartic that I found myself suddenly tearing up. What was this feeling? Who was she? How cou

I TOOK a step closer to Maximo, patted his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. “I may have forgotten how to use a gun, but I haven’t forgotten how to kill, Maximo. So, consider this your lucky day. Since I’m still mourning, I don’t feel like killing anyone today. Through this, I hope you could stop worrying uselessly about your Queen. Worry about your tongue instead. Better yet, just give all your concern to your friends who could lose their eyesight any moment.”I glanced at my wristwatch and yawned. “This is exactly what I am talking about. I had already wasted three minutes of my time. If only you are wealthier than me, I would have asked you to compensate me for those minutes wasted. But since you cannot afford my time, I would be considerate just this once. If you test my temper again, you will lose not only your tongue, Maximo. It’ll be your heart the next time around. So, if you can’t beat me, at least, don’t annoy me. Do you understand?”Maximo’s eyes looked at me with absolut

I SNIFFED. “That can’t be true. You hate me, don’t you?”“I wanted to hate you for leaving your King behind, but I couldn’t,” Zachary replied tenderly.“Weren’t you looking for me to punish me? To kill me?”A smile played at the corner of his lips. “You are still so naïve, Kate. Didn’t you know? There are many ways to punish someone without killing them. One of them is this,” he added as he pushed me down the bed.When he snapped, in a blink of an eye, I was no longer wearing anything. And when I felt my cheeks turning red out of embarrassment, he smirked before he ran his tongue over my neck. “Damn,” he whispered, his breath was hitting my ear. “Had I known that this was the best way to stop you from crying, I would have stripped you naked as soon as I saw tears falling down your cheeks.”I had a system error that night. What happened between me and the King was nothing but a system error on my part. That was what I had been telling myself again and again after discovering that I was