“You’re an idiot.” Dimitri said from beside me as I walked down the deserted street to the olden style pub where it was anything but deserted.
“I thought we were still in the not talking phase?” I knew he’d been following me from the castle after the interaction with Harry because he knew I couldn’t leave the initial attack alone, never mind the mention of my mother.
“We were until you decided to be stupid and risk your life over some vendetta that will definitely get you killed.”
I shrugged. “You knew this about me before we were ever together. I bested you when I was a human and I’ll best them now that I’m a vampire.”
He pulled on my arm, grounding me to a halt straight in front of the pub where I’d been told Harry was waiting for me. “You’re not invincible, don’t you get that?”
“I understand that.” He didn’t let go of me though.
“Do you really?” He looked from me to the pub and back. “Because the way you’ve been acting, angering the other guards as if you’re looking for a fight, makes me think that you either think you’re invincible or you’re hoping that someone’s going to get the better of you and finish it.” He looked closely at me but I didn’t flinch under the scrutiny, even though it was so tempting to. “You’ve seriously got a death wish?”
“Why do you sound confused Dimka?” I’d lost everyone I loved, including my relationship, so what did I have to lose in the end? For someone who believes there’s something more than this life – hey, all the fairytales were real and there were real angels hanging about – death wasn’t that much of a frightening concept.
“How did this get all screwed up?” He rubbed the back of his neck in his signature frustrated look, which was as cute as ever. It was hard to blame him for anything when I truly didn’t believe he’d done anything to cause any of my family any harm. Damien on the other hand…
“Look Dimka, just go back to the castle. I have to do this and it may be easier on you not to see the outcome because, either way, I can guarantee you it won’t be pretty.” I’ll either get arrested for the murder of a guard or die… Not good prospects.
“Fine. If you want a quick death then go ahead,” he indicated to the pub entrance, “see if I care.”
“Okay.” If he thought reverse psychology would work then he was fooling himself into thinking I was that gullible.
The door opened just as I reached it and out stumbled a couple of drunken vampires in the middle of a shockingly poor brawl. I looked behind me to see Dimka but he was already gone, clearly he wasn’t bluffing about leaving. If I made it out of this at least alive then I was going to have to apologise to him eventually about what I’d said to him, I was hurt and angry but I shouldn’t have taken it out on him. It was sad that I’d needed George to tell me that on his dying breath to truly believe it. I wondered where he was now, on another plane perhaps? Wherever he was, he was with a harem of beautiful women.
With that thought in mind, I walked forward with a smile on my face and entered the establishment that went immediately silent. I noted some familiar faces and cringed when I saw people that I’d beaten in the ring and openly mocked to the arena, they weren’t exactly hard to spot because they were the vampires glaring at me with murder in their eyes. Maybe Dimka had been right and through my anger had secretly wanted a death wish. Can’t turn back time now though.
“I’m looking for Harry.” I said simply and looked around until I spotted him in a dark corner of the room, surrounded by a group of hard looking men, a tavern wench on his knee and a smirk on his face.
“Looks like another form of fun just walked through the door guys.” He announced and an eruption of cheers reverberated throughout the room. He patted the wench on the behind and shooed her away, much to her dismay, and slowly looked me up and down. “Didn’t realise you were so pretty when I was killing you bit on the side.”
“You usually can’t see someone’s face when it’s buried deep in you neck can you?” I snapped back and smirked as the vein in his forehead popped. I was getting to him more than he was getting to me.
“You got a death wish coming here bitch?”
“Seems so.” I said dryly wondering how many more people were going to ask me before the night was over.
He stood and people began to edge around, forming a circle around us but I kept a watchful eye on all of them in case one decided to literally stab me in the back. When he made it into the center with me people began shouting bets and words of encouragement, none for me though, which is just unsportsmanlike.
“You killed my mother.” I said, no question, as I saw her locket hanging around his neck again.
“You have a thing about that don’t you human?”
“I’m not human.”
“Not anymore, but I forget that you humans feel things a lot stronger than vampires.” That didn’t even make sense!
“Admit you killed my mother.” That was what I was here for so I was not fighting with him until I heard him say it; I’d been waiting for this day for years.
“Would it make you happy, little bird if I did?” He took a step closer but, as I was close to the outer ring, I had nowhere to move to.
He stroked two fingers down my cheek and I turned my face away, making him laugh. “It wouldn’t make me happy but I want to hear you admit it, after hiding all these years behind your prince’s robes.”
He held his arms out wide. “Who’d hiding, little bird?” He looked around all the faces, but who he was looking for I had no idea. “Speaking of Princes, where is your boyfriend? The great Dimitri!”
“Probably with your mother.” Okay, I appreciated a ‘ya mam’ joke probably wasn’t the best way to go about things but it was easier than explaining Dimitri and mine’s complicated relationship.
“Well he won’t be with yours now will he?” I felt that blow like a slap to the face.
“Did. You. Kill. Her.” I spoke slowly to let him know that I was done with this banter.
“I killed your mother! You happy now?” He held up a finger when I took a step forward in anger. “But before you go getting all vampiress on me, here’s a hard truth for you: I do nothing without being told to. So your mother and unborn sister?” He paused. “Yes, I knew she was pregnant. I was ordered to cause as much mayhem that night and killing your mother was one of those tasks.” He shrugged like killing my family was just another day at the office for him, like filing paperwork or answering an annoying phone call.
“My father died because he couldn’t cope with the heart break.” I said quietly, letting it all sink in. It was one thing wanting to find my mother’s killer for so long but to hear him actually boast about it was another thing entirely, something I wasn’t prepared for.
“Do I look like I give a damn what your father did afterwards, my biggest mistake was not killing you at the time, didn’t make that mistake with your beautiful friend though.” My head shot up. “She was tasty and fun. Wonder if I can get the same pleasure with you before I kill you.”
“You’re Dave?” Harry was Dave; Dave killed Lucy. Harry killed my mother, unborn sister, ultimately my father and George. Harry didn’t do anything without his master’s approval. “Oh God.” I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from being sick. I suspected him of something but never all of that, I thought he was better than that, but all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, he promised me Dave on a silver platter when he was under my nose the whole time. He stopped me killing him when I had the chance and let him off unjustified murder in the ring.
“Pieced it together, little bird? Now you know whatever I do to you here, no matter how many witnesses, will never get me more than a slap on the wrist.”
“Damien wouldn’t-”
“Oh Damien would and he has.” He leaned down so that he was face to face with me and his rancid breath soiled my nice fresh air. “And you know when he orders me to kill that pathetic phony of a prince you call your lover, I’ll relish it and think of you the entire time.” He put his arm behind my back and pulled me up to his body, letting me feel exactly how much he was going to think about me when he went after Dimka. I’d die before I let that happen and I was going to take this asshole down with me.
“You can’t kill him.”
“And why not?”
“Because you aren’t that good.” I whispered and smiled up at him but just as he raised his arm back to hit me a lazy voice spoke from the corner of the room.
“You called for me?” We all turned our heads to see Dimitri lazily lounging against a wall like he was one of the patrons, a hot, clean, sober patron but a natural nevertheless.
“You shouldn’t be here Dimitri.” Harry sneered at him as if that would make him leave if he didn’t want to.
He pushed himself casually off of the wall and people parted the way like he was Moses or something. “You see I would leave but you have something of mine that I need to grab before I go.”
He leisurely nodded to me and Harry squeezed me tighter into his side as he turned around to face Dimitri full on. “She came here of her own free will, she’s mine so she stays.”
“And you’re mine but I don’t remember giving you leave to come to the pub.” Every step he took towards Harry built tension and for all Harry’s bravado about thrashing Dimka was just that because, in reality, he was scared of him and rightfully so with the way Dimka looked like he was stalking his prey currently.
“I’m not yours imposter, I serve the true Prince.”
“You may not see me as a prince but you will see me as the leader of the guards and the last I checked, you were a guard.”
“You really want to debate this when I have your precious pet at my disposal?” I take it I was the pet. Damn.
“You have my future wife in your arms so I advise you to let go of your future princess before I kill you for touching her.” Was it wrong that I felt a thrill at the informal proposal?
“She ain’t got not ring on her finger, so I think you’re making it up-” He didn’t get to say anything more before Dimitri had snatched his windpipe out of his throat and plunged a stake into his heart.
“I don’t give a damn what you believe you sick psycho.” He added an extra twist of the stake and Harry fell in a lifeless heap to the floor but he paid him no heed while he addressed the room. “Everyone here will pay witness to the death of a traitor who planned to murder the royal prince. As it is my guard it was my duty to dispatch of such a vile creature.”
He pulled me gently to him and led me out of the pub and not one vampire got in our way. “It was you he was threatening but you made it seem like he was threatening Damien.”
“People forget that I’m a prince so saying prince isn’t technically lying, they can come up with they’re own conclusions.” He didn’t pull his arm away from me the further we got away, if anything he pulled me closer and walked with his arm wrapped securely around my shoulders and I felt at home for the first time since we broke up.
I looked up to him and watched him for a while before asking, “were you serious about what you said in there?”
“That I’m the leader of the guards? Deadly serious, you impressed?” He winked and I elbowed him in the ribs.
“I meant about the ‘us’ part of it.”
He seemed to tense for a moment before saying warily, “do you want it to be true?”
Was he holding his breath? Time to show my emotions just like George had said to do. “I want it to be true more than I could ever say, it almost broke me when you left me Dimka and I’d love nothing more than to be your wife.”
“Well then.” He pulled us to a stop and faced me before dropping to one knee with a box that seemed to materialize in his hand. “Grace, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
I couldn’t breath, he’d just killed someone for me and was now proposing and what was the most crazy was the fact that I found that even more romantic!
“Yes! Of course I will!” He opened the box and nestled into the soft cushion was a plain rose-gold band with a single diamond in the middle of it and I didn’t think I’d ever seen a more elegant or beautiful piece of jewellery in my life.
He slipped the ring onto my finger and stood up, holding me around the waist and picking me up with him as he rose. “Thank you.” He spun me around until I laughed from the happiness that I had been waiting for to finally come my way. He slowly lowered me back down and kissed me tenderly before setting me back on my feet. “You’ve made me the happiest man alive.”
I looked at the ring and smiled. “You’ve made me the happiest woman alive, just by being in my life.”
We started to head back again but he stopped me once more. “Oh, I almost forgot, one last thing.” I turned about to protest that he had already done enough until I saw what he was holding and couldn’t seem to form words, never mind speak them aloud.
When I finally formed a sentence it came out around the tears that were covering my eyes. “Thank you.”
“Turn around.” I turned around and lifted my hair allowing the locket to fall onto my chest and rest exactly where it had rested on my mother.
When I turned back to him I beamed up at him until I had one thought. “You heard what Damien did right?”
He sighed. “Yes but there’s nothing I can do about it, I can’t challenge or else risking a civil war in the kingdom.”
“I’m more worried about him being a problem in our present rather than our past.”
“We’ll be fine.” He cupped my cheek in his and started walking with me in tow.
“You know it’s going to be a battle with everyone from here on out?”
“We’ll be fine.” He repeated.
“It’s going to be hard on us both and the relationship.”
He pulled me closer to him. “We’ll be fine.”
“But-”
He laughed and looked down at me, amusement that had been absent for a while was back and in full force, dancing behind his eyes. “We’ll be fine.”
We walked into the castle and I had not known happiness like this since my mother had died and the beam on my face told everyone as much but it dropped when I saw who was waiting for us with hatred burning through him.
“Damien.” Dimitri hissed and I held onto him a little tighter.
“Still think we’re going to be fine?”
“Arrest him!” Damien shouted and numerous guards surrounded us at once.
Dimitri actually laughed. “Oh yeah, we’ll be fine.”
The crazy thing was that I actually believed him.