All the Wicked Bonds

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟎: 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦

"I'm not gonna sit until I find out why I'm being held hostage by vampires." I crossed my arms.

"The names Diego," He introduced, leaning back in his chair, crossing one ankle over the other. He wore only a blazer with nothing underneath, showing the beginning of hard abs and smooth pale skin, "Usually people know me as the Head Vampire."

I blinked, "You're the Head Vampire?"

He smiled, "Yes."

I stared at him, confused. Was he really the one Drew brought me here to meet?

"Why am I here?" I asked.

"I wanted to talk with you."

"Funny thing," I responded, "I wanted to talk to you too. That's why I came to this club."

"So it's a win-win, I guess."

"Why did your vampire guys try to kidnap me?" I glared.

He rubbed his forehead, "I told them to grab you if you don't come willingly."

"Maxwell failed." The guy behind me spoke.

"You can leave, Santiago." Diego politely dismissed him from the room.

"Now please sit down, Ezlynn. We have a few things to talk about."

I reluctantly went and finally sat down, "About...?"

"You're King Alpha's mate?"

"I think you already know that."

"I heard some things about you," he placed his long fingers on the table, lacing them together, "About you having magic?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, skeptical, "What about that?"

He rubbed his forehead, "Well you see, Ezlynn- well first off," he broke himself off, looking at me pointedly now, "I don't want to hurt you or anything and I'm completely okay if you don't agree with this. I just want your help and am genuinely asking you."

I frowned, "Why do you creatures come to me asking for help? Like, do I honestly look helpful? I think I'm the person here who needs the most help."

He chuckled, "We'll get to that. You know about the war between the witches and the werewolves, right?"

I gave a nod.

"The witches, most importantly, Derek and Rowena were too cruel and wanted to wipe out the werewolves entirely. The vampires and the werewolves have been allies for a very long time. So we wanted to help the werewolves during the war. Derek and Rowena found out that we were going to fight against them, so they took our venom."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Venom?"

"Vampire venom," he said, "our bites can turn humans into vampires. We only did that, so we never went shortage on vampires. But Derek and Rowena took that ability from us. For a few years, I and my guys survived well. But then, slowly, slowly, my vampires started dying. We need our venom to survive. It's like blood for us. Without it, our bodies will stop working and there'll be no vampires in a few more years."

He took in a deep breath, "We tried finding a witch who can give us our venom back, but we keep on failing again and again. The magic of Royal's doesn't work so we figured we needed a pure witch."

"You think I'm a witch?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Hopefully." He sighed, "Look Ezlynn, I'm the oldest vampire alive. I don't mind dying cos I've lived for almost a thousand centuries already. I've lived more lives. The problem? We creatures keep a balance. Every creature, vampire, werewolf, witch, mermaid, sirens, we maintain a balance in the supernatural world." He spoke using hand gestures, "if we vampires disappear, it'll create problems in nature causing a massive imbalance."

"So you think I can give you your venom back?" I asked.

"Yes! In return for your favour, I heard Ace has your brother, I'll personally walk up to him and get your brother back for you."

"I can't do magic, Diego," I sighed, slumping back into the chair, "I can't control it or figure how to use it. I don't even know where this magic comes from or who am I. I came here to meet you because I thought you would know who I am or what's going on. Why am I a part of this world so suddenly?"

"I could give you your answers and I'd really love to but sadly, I don't know either. I just heard that King Alpha has a new mate with magic, and I thought maybe we found our help."

"Sorry to be a failure."

He looked down at his hands, gazing at them silently before perking up and smiling wide, "What if I can help with that?"

"Help how?"

He leaned forward towards me, "You know vampires drink blood and have crazy bloodlust, right?"

I nodded, "Sort of."

"Controlling bloodlust needs a lot of effort and work. If we had no control we'd be human's number one monstrous predator. Over the years, a few of my vampires had trouble controlling their bloodlust. They'd go savage. But we figured out a way."

"And that is...?" I questioned.

"I connect themselves with me," he smiled.

"Huh?"

"Connecting vampires to myself has helped them control their bloodlust in so many ways that they could go without blood for years."

"So you're saying if I...connect myself to you then I'd have control over my magic?" I asked, frowning up at him.

"Bingo."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Not gonna lie, that sounds plain stupid. I mean how does my magic relate to your bloodlust?"

"What only matters were that my guys had control over their bloodlust. So maybe you can also have control over your magic."

I threw my hands up, "How does that even work?"

"It's complicated," he rubbed his forehead, which I noticed he does a lot, "Trust me, you don't really have to know that. So now that's done, whaddya want to do? You wanna go for it or leave?"

He stared at me expectantly.

I blinked twice.

"Wait, you mean right now? Like now, now?"

He shrugged, "The quicker the better, there's only a handful left of my guys. I wanna take action as soon as possible,"

Oh my god, I'm gonna connect with a vampire! What does that even mean? Should I agree with him? I mean he's willing to get Collin back for me. King Alpha doesn't even want to go near Ace, let alone get my brother. Diego just wants his vampire crew to stay alive, so I guess there's no harm in agreeing to whatever he says.

Plus he seems nice. Unlike Ace and Arsenio who just straight out flipped out on me.

"What does connect mean exactly?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows at him.

He smiled, "It's similar to what others call bonding."     

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Date: 26th August 2021