by Amber Lynn
“I know you aren’t happy about the way things have been going, but what you’ve been doing isn’t the right way to act out about it.”
Krinla kept her eyes closed, facing away from the door. She thought maybe if she didn’t acknowledge words were spoken, he would disappear just as quickly as he appeared. It wasn’t to be, but for a few brief moments, she hoped.
Chapter Four
“I’m not going away, Krinla. I’ve calmed him down enough that he won’t come rushing up here, but we have to talk about your trips outside the walls.”
His words were stern, a tone that would scare most people he came across. Krinla could care less about his tone. Her response was said with deeper scathing.
“He’s already been here.”
In one fluid motion, she rose off the ground to face the man she cared for, yet despised because of the position he put her in. He was her father, so deep down somewhere she had to love him. The planning of her life was the part she despised. It was a feeling that had grown over the years of not being able to make her own choices.
“He was frustrated and stepped out of line. I reprimanded him for the err in judgment.”
“You think a reprimand will do a lot of good? What did you do, playfully smack his hand?”
It wasn’t like King Krinton, as people were apt to call him, couldn’t reprimand a person properly. The dungeons underneath the castle were empty, but there was very little chance Hulin would ever find a home there. They were supposedly home for real criminals, not just creeps destined to marry your daughter.
“You have to understand the position I’m in.”
There was pleading in Krinton’s voice. Krinla had never heard anything that drastic coming from her father. It made her study the man standing three arm’s lengths away.
His eyes were a brighter red than any Dracul Krinla had seen, allegedly a sign of his leadership. Krinla just thought it was because he was older and had consumed more blood than most. Her own eyes seemed to change every time she looked in a mirror, which was only a few times every sixty or so cycles. She hated seeing herself because she often saw her mother looking back at her and the grief she was all too used to seeing in the reflection.
There wasn’t any hint of sentiment in her father’s eyes, and his general appearance, with his long hair tied back in what was sure to be a black ribbon that matched his black dress, was no different than what he always wore. His cheekbones may have been a little hollower than usual, a sign he needed to eat something. He didn’t generally allow himself to show weakness, even the simple fact that he was hungry, so it was a little odd.
“If I remember right, it was you who decided I had to marry him. Any situation you’re in is your own doing.”
It wasn’t like her father ever came and asked her whether she wanted to marry Hulin. Krinla didn’t think she’d be any warmer to the idea if she had input, but asking may have made her hate her future husband a little less. Krinton looked behind him at the door he’d closed before he said anything.
“Hulin has been hot about taking a group of a few hundred or so of us and starting a subfaction for a couple years now. I assume I don’t have to tell you what cutting our forces would do to the order of things, or how the other factions would see that as a weakness in my leadership.”
Krinla’s eyes widened. It was the first she heard of any talk of a division of the faction. There were at least a thousand Draculs, but even as few as sixty was a decent chunk, and if some defected, others were likely to follow suit.
“I thought he was one of your top aides. Why would he do that?”
Krinla was confused. She looked behind her to the bed she knew Hulin had recently sat on and wondered what in the world the man was thinking.
“He is one of my closest confidants, and that position led me to share my hopes for my only daughter. I couldn’t stomach the idea that you would follow after your mother if I set you up in an arranged marriage, so I decided to let you take your time and choose a husband.”
Krinton’s voice had softened as he spoke. Krinla didn’t have to hear what he said next to know how things took a turn for the worse.
“He’s always had his eyes on you. I saw it when you were still a little girl. That’s one of the reasons I’ve tried to keep you away from people. As a father, it made me a little sick to think of someone already coveting my daughter, but you’ve always been a beautiful person, and he has always had my back.”
Her father moved into the room so he could reach his hand out to stroke the ivory skin of his daughter’s face. Krinla found herself nuzzling the touch slightly. It had been a long time since her father caressed her skin in that fashion.
“When I shared the news, the talks about breaking up the faction started. He didn’t come right out and say he’d find a way to take you with him, but it was implied that I would be losing an ally and a daughter if I didn’t see sense in my desire for you to be happy.”
“How long ago was this?” Krinla asked softly.
She was almost three years past normal marrying age, so she assumed it wasn’t a recent event. Krinla wasn’t sure how likely Hulin would’ve been able to take off with her, but she knew the lengthy books of Dracul laws tied her father’s hands when it came to killing Hulin for pressuring him.
“The eve of your fourteenth birthday is when I was first threatened. I should’ve just locked him up, but if it wasn’t him, there would’ve been others. I’d hoped I could change tradition to make you happy, but evidently, not everyone is ready for a change.”
Krinla’s chest tightened where a heart may reside in some people. She never once considered that her father was being forced to marry her off. He was the strongest person she knew, and yet there was something out there that could bend his will.
She didn’t hold onto hope that it was her part in the threat that made him change his mind. The idea of looking weak to the other factions was more than likely what caused him to bend.
“Let me kill him,” Krinla requested.
According to their laws, Krinton would have to punish her for the move, but at least the lowlife would be out of their lives. Someone would have to undoubtedly replace him as her groom, but maybe they would think twice about requesting the match and give her a chance to find someone she didn’t mind spending her life with.
“The problems he’s caused won’t go away with his death. He’s not the only one who’s unhappy with my decisions where you’re concerned, or how I’m running things in general. When I first agreed to you guys getting married, I hoped it would calm things down, so I could figure out a way to get you out of it.” Krinton’s hand dropped down and squeezed her shoulder as he hesitated before continuing.
“He hasn’t noticed you disappearing recently, but your most recent stunt didn’t go unnoticed. I’ve held him off for as many years as I can. He threatened to take his group and leave now if I didn’t promise you’d be wed by your next birthday. I’m still searching for a way out of it, but we’re running out of time.”
Krinla hadn’t been joking when she told the man in the neutral sector that she was almost eighteen. Her birthday was six cycles away. She knew she’d been lucky that it had taken as long as it had for Hulin to insist, but it didn’t make her feel any better to know there was finally a date in mind.
She was surprised Krinton was telling her everything with Hulin downstairs. Krinla couldn’t hear anything from outside her room, so she assumed the whole castle was listening to the conversation. It didn’t make her suggestions of what to do next smart, but she wanted to know if her ideas had any chances of working.
“What if I run away?”
Krinton seemed to be sympathetic to her cause, but she doubted there was anything she could do to get out of the marriage. He knew the laws better than anyone else, and it didn’t seem like he’d figured a logical way around the promise he’d made. There were complications with any solution Krinla could come up with, but running away seemed easier than sticking aro
und. Krinton would have to deal with a pissed of Hulin, but without her there, things had to be better.
“Do you really think he wouldn’t track you down and bring you back? There’s nowhere you could go that he wouldn’t find you. We were lucky he didn’t run after you today.”
Krinla didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened to the sweet-smelling man if Hulin had found them together. She would’ve got in the way of any fight, but she wasn’t a match for the older Dracul. She’d asked her father if she could kill Hulin, but it would’ve been an uphill fight.
“Then I guess it’s finally time to plan a wedding.”
There was zero optimism in Krinla’s voice as she said the words. Not only was she supposed to marry a man she despised, it turned out he was a coward as well. That was how she saw the ultimatum being thrown at her father, a cowardly attempt at getting what he wants. A real man would put some effort into wooing her and trying to honor her father’s decision that she be allowed to pick her own husband.
At least it gave her the idea that he knew how she felt about him. Even before their marriage was announced, she shied away from him. She hadn’t ever witnessed the looks Krinton had mentioned, thankfully, but she didn’t doubt they were there.
“I’ve spent years trying to find a way around this, but he has the upper hand in the fight with his threats to break up the faction.”
Krinton walked over to the single window in Krinla’s room. She thought she saw a split second where what she could only classify as shame echoed in his eyes. There was probably a lot her father had to be ashamed about over the years, but she couldn’t fault him for trying to do right by his people. She was a little upset that it was the first she heard about it.
The curtain keeping the sun out moved aside as Krinton looked out at his domain. The land they lived on wasn’t as expansive as the woods Krinla liked to run through, but everyone had room to do whatever they wanted.
“I promise he won’t ever really hurt you. If he does, I will kill him, and no one can question my right to do so.” The venom Krinla heard in his voice made her proud.
“I hope you know that if he ever tries, he’d be dead before you found out.”
She wasn’t as strong as Hulin, but it didn’t always take strength to kill someone. There were plenty of ways to make sure he didn’t see the next cycle.
“You wouldn’t be my daughter if that wasn’t the case.” Krinton let the shade close and made his way back over to the door. “He’ll be to see you once the sun goes down. I’ve told him he won’t take advantage of you, but he’s insistent about marking you in some way. As far as I’m concerned it won’t bind anything, but it will make him think we’re playing along.”
There were a lot of ways Krinla could take that information, none of which worked out well for her. Marking tended to mean biting, which meant he was going to take what little blood she had. It was a smart move on his part because it would weaken her and ensure she’d have to come out of her room to get more.
Krinton left the room before she could respond to the statement. He’d mentioned not wanting her to end up like her mother, but it was easy for Krinla to see how death would be the only way out of an impossible situation. She was only seven when her mother died, so she knew she didn’t have the whole story that led up to her death.
She hoped to eventually know everything, but first she had to get through the cycles leading up to her wedding. The only way she could think of to make Hulin possibly change his mind was to make his life miserable. She could live for at least a couple cycles without blood, so that meant she just had to get rid of the blood in her system before he showed up.
He couldn’t mark her if she didn’t have blood. It would make any trips out into the neutral sector impossible, but she could live with that if she was taking away something Hulin wanted.
Cutting into a Dracul’s skin required a bit of dedication from the cutter if they wanted the wound to last. There were certain materials that made it a little easier, but Krinla didn’t have them readily available in her room.
Instead, she walked it over to her dresser and opened the middle drawer on the right-hand side. It was her weapons drawer that she kept stocked just in case of an emergency. Krinla never really considered what that emergency could be, but she liked to be prepared.
Among the various blades with handles made of wood of different colors, she selected a simple knife that was nothing more than steel molded into a blade. The blade was given to her as a present by her mother for her fifth birthday. It was one of the few things Krinla had to remind her of her mother.
Once she had the warm metal in her hand, Krinla made her way back over to the spot she’d rested before her father showed up. The only way to draw what blood she had in her out was to cut deep into her skin, but that method would take monitoring because of how fast her skin could knit back together.
So, instead of just cutting, Krinla settled on her back and took a deep breath. She thought about the man she’d met and what answers he’d provide her when they met again. Thinking of him gave her a little comfort as she drove the knife downward, straight into her chest.
Chapter Five
Being without blood was not only exhausting, it was also a bit painful. Krinla had blissfully fallen asleep at some point during the process. Sadly, it wasn’t the lingering pain that woke her some time later. It was the presence she felt in the room with her.
The need to reach up to touch her chest and pull out the knife was strong, but she wanted to wait as long as she could before acknowledging there was someone else with her. An itch was festering and even her great restraints wouldn’t be enough to keep her hands still for long. It felt like her skin had sealed itself around the knife, which was not a feeling she’d recommend to anyone other than the person standing in the room.
“I don’t mind standing here and watching you sleep, so be warned your continued attempts to pretend won’t drive me away.”
Just hearing Hulin’s voice made Krinla want to vomit. It had a deepness to it some would call pleasing, but it did nothing but grate on Krinla’s nerves since it was announced they were supposed to marry.
“You were surprisingly quiet when you inserted the blade. Let’s see what you do when I rip it out.”
The words barely prepared her for the tearing sensation that immediately followed. Krinla didn’t even groan as she let the pain roll through her body. The lack of blood already hurt badly enough, so a little more pain was nothing.
“Thanks for taking care of that for me,” she said, trying to sound at least mildly sincere.
She didn’t want to thank him for anything, but throwing him off was okay in her book. She still hadn’t opened her eyes, and as long as she could, she was going to keep them closed. She could bend her words to pretend they were what he wanted to hear, but her eyes would always tell the truth.
“Not a problem. Anytime you feel like stabbing yourself, let me know and I’ll be there to take the knife out. I promised to let you rest since you’d been out in the light, but now you need to answer for your actions. Where were you?”
Krinla slowly opened her eyes to peer at the man crouched next to her on the floor. He was running the blade of the knife over his tongue as he tried to remove what dried blood was left on it. She’d never drank from another Dracul, but she assumed the wildness that was in the blood originally faded as it worked through their system, leaving nothing more than a dirty tasting byproduct.
When Hulin saw that she was watching, he ran the tip of the blade down the center of his tongue and stabbed it into the end. A single drop of blood appeared, telling Krinla that he had fed recently and it had been a big meal. He took the knife with the accumulated blood and ran it across Krinla’s lips.
“Lick it,” he commanded.
It was the last thing Krinla wanted to do, but she didn’t want him to think she was afraid of him. She darted her tongue out and removed the red liquid from her lips. Willing her taste buds
to be dull didn’t do a lot of good as a muted metallic taste touched them.
“So you can do what you’re told. I didn’t hear you jumping to tell me where you needed to be outside the walls.”
“I thought it was pretty obvious that my goal was to be as far away from you as possible.”
Since her eyes were open and the hate was clear in them, it didn’t make sense for her to continue to try to speak sweetly. The statement only caused a smile to creep across Hulin’s face. The movement made the thick two-inch scar that went from his upper lip up his left cheek more visible. She’d never been interested enough to ask how he’d gotten the scar.
“I’d be careful, my soon-to-be wife. You’ve already proven you don’t have trouble with pain and I happen to enjoy inflicting it. Your father has babied his little girl for so long that it’s about time you learned the real way of the world.”
Krinla couldn’t handle being underneath him any longer, and sprung up to crouch in the small space he allowed between her and the bed. Her fangs were visible to let him know she wasn’t some delicate flower. The effect was dashed a little when she had to shake her head to relieve some of the dizziness that tried to take over from the quick movement. She had to remember that without blood her movements needed to be slower.
“If you think for a second I haven’t known pain in my life, you don’t know what you’re getting into.”
Krinla didn’t expound upon what made that statement true. Hulin had been around all her life, so he knew as well as anyone else what she’d dealt with in the short years she’d been alive.
Hulin was almost fifty, or at least Krinla had heard that was how old he was. Like the question of how he got his scar, she’d never been concerned about his age. There were others in the Dracul community who were older than him and her father, but usually by the time a male Dracul reached thirty he had already married or he was at the very least promised to someone.
The age difference didn’t bother Krinla. It wasn’t like you could notice a difference in their ages. It was how he’d spent the years before and after she was born that bothered Krinla. It was another instance that she didn’t know the whole story, and in that case, she was afraid to ask for more information.