Prince Darrius

Chapter 57

“He took your blood and just disappeared in a puff of smoke?” Maximus asks me, unbelieving. Darrius is sitting opposite me at the table in the King’s office.

The King, who I hadn’t seen in a while, was standing at the head of the table, listening into everything. The whole affair was so tense. I couldn’t look Darrius in the eye, I was too angry. The King was upset that Johnathan was missing, I was upset Claudia was missing also.

“Yes, in a puff of smoke,” I snap back at Maximus, knowing that from his tone of voice he didn’t believe me, “He suggested that Jaime and I are twins.”

“What intrigues me is how Rafael’s human slave is now also suddenly a part of this prophecy,” The King says, sounding suspicious and angry, like he had been betrayed or lied to by the exotic Prince vampire, Rafael.

“Twins?” Maximus repeats, sitting on the edge of the table next to me. I nod.

“You didn’t dream this, darling –?” Darrius begins to ask.

“No,” I snap, my eyes focusing on his deep blue eyes, “Why would you doubt me about that?”

“Another question,” The King interrupts us once more, “Where is Xavier? He might be of some use here.”

“No one has seen him since he chased down the other runaway slave,” Maximus says.

“Her name is Caitlin,” I add in, glaring at Maximus.

“Okay, okay,” Maximus puts up his hands in surrender.

“We’ve done enough talking,” The King snaps, “We need to find my son, Johnathan, and his girlfriend Claudia. If this undead witch is real, Eddrick, you said his name was?” The King asks me, and I simply nod, “Unless found soon, we may as well assume that Claudia and Johnathan alike were taken by the intruder. Send out search squads and rogue vampires to see if we can find any leads, and check the security camera’s of surrounding buildings to all the exits and entrances to the palace to see if we can find out where they went.”

“I’ll co-ordinate with Leah and Owen,” Maximus says.

“I’m happy to help search,” I suggest.

“That won’t be happening, sweetheart,” Darrius says seriously, glaring at me with both anger and guilt.

“I’ll do whatever I want,” I say quietly.

“You’ll do exactly as Darrius tells you girl,” The King snaps, waving a hand dismissively at me, “We will need to keep you and Jaime both under lock and key until we assess the danger of this new threat.”

“That can be arranged,” Darrius says delightfully.

I roll my eyes and glare back at him, not saying a word.

“We need to hurry and get to work,” Maximus agrees with the King, “You look after Jennifer, okay?” Maximus directs this at Darrius.

“Of course,” Darrius stands up, still bloody from the torture session. I stand up a moment later and turn and walk for the door.

Darrius appears behind me using his vampire speed and places his hand on my back.

“Let’s go,” he says quietly.

“Don’t touch me,” I say, flinching away from his touch.

“You shouldn’t have come in half way through the execution,” Darrius half snarls at me, but I can tell he doesn’t want to admit he was in the wrong. I look at the ground as I walk.

“And where was I supposed to go after Eddrick attacked both me and Jaime?” I ask.

“I never intended for you to see what I had to do to Greg Humphrey,” Darrius admits, “I never wanted you to watch what we had planned.”

“We?” I ask.

“My father wanted me to torture the politician,” Darrius says, “Even I have to follow orders.”

“So no part of you wanted to do it?” I ask, and Darrius goes quiet for a bit.

“Vampires don’t find death and torture as hard to deal with as humans do,” Darrius explains. I don’t reply, and by the time we are back in his room, Darrius quickly grabs my arms and spins me around.

Shocked by the sudden movement I gasp and look up at him, to see his eyes intensely gazing into my own.

“Do you forgive me?” Darrius asks. I can see the true regret in his eyes, and instead of saying something straight away I simply nod. He needed the forgiveness, the look in his eyes spelled of hurt and remorse.

I lean up and kiss his cheek, and then whisper into his ear, “Yes, I forgive you.”

Darrius visibly relaxes his stance and then I look up as innocently as I can into his face.

“There is one thing I need though,” I ask slowly, “I want to talk to my parents.”

Darrius slowly raises an eyebrow, and a smirk slowly appears.

“Oh really, darling?” He asks me.

“Yep, I want to ask them about me and Jaime. They’ve hidden that I had a twin for so long, I want to know why they never told me,” I explain, reaching up a hand I wipe away a small bit of blood on his cheek, “Please Darrius, I need to ask them.”

“You can ask them when we find Claudia and Johnathan and eliminate the undead witch,” Darrius says and I’m surprised we find a compromise, for once. He didn’t agree completely, I could tell, but at least he was meeting me half way. I nod.

“Sounds good to me,” I smile up at Darrius and realise he could have never been my darkness. He was just my soul mate – and was able to resist the toxins in my blood.

The real danger was Eddrick.

And whatever he was up to.

“Now get your ass out there and help find your brother and Claudia,” I urge him.

“And you, my sweetheart, can keep your sweet ass in here for me to spank later,” Darrius says menacingly, with a good deal of seriousness and a tad of playfulness. Maybe he meant it this time.

“My ass is less of an issue at the moment,” I say, pretending to sound angry and poking him in the chest, “My friends need saving.”

Darrius growls low in his throat, staring me down like a predator eyeing prey.

“Later,” he whispers, smirking, “You still need a great deal of punishing.”

I roll my eyes and push him towards the door.

“Go and help!”

Darrius steps back towards me and grabs the key from my neck on the leather lanyard.

“I’ll be taking this,” he says, swiping it over my head and into his pocket. I watch with my arms crossed over my chest as he walks out the door.

“Good luck finding them, Darrius,” I say.

Darrius and I wouldn’t have to wait too much longer to find out what Eddrick had done with my blood and Jaime’s blood.

What he had done to Johnathan and Claudia.

We’d soon find out that he had the power…

To create miracles.

And monsters.

*** Updates every Tuesday***

***Abducted by a hot vampire with a sense of humour: Maximus, updates every Friday***

***In the meantime, if you like you can check out my two completed ebooks, The Embers: Maderia Citrine and Blaze: Maderia Citrine which are on Amazon :D :D :D :D***