by K. A. Jones
I made sure that the door was closed as I made my way down the hallway to mystery door number three.
If I’d taken bets at what was behind door number three I’d have lost. A wooden drinks bar stood the other end of the room and beckoned me with its crappy neon sign and various bottles that hung from the wall. I grabbed a crystal cut glass from under the bar and filled it from one of the optics. The liquid amber burned like fire on its way down telling me this was the good stuff. I guiltily took another swig and moved closer to the large snooker table. I smiled when I saw that the cues were hanging in a proper holder that was attached to the wall. I lay a hand on the green baize and walked the length of the snooker table. I had never played on one so big.
One of Dario’s trusted guards came into the room with a confident smile on his face. I plastered a polite smile on my face and headed for the door. I felt out of place, like I was intruding on his favourite place. Before I’d made it out the door he said, “Ma’am, can I speak freely?” I nodded my head and dreaded what he would say next. Although I smiled, inside I was cringing. On the couple of occasions that this guard had spoken to me, it was to advise me to not do something; he was also the guard that I’d nearly skewered with my knife when a hunter decided that I needed executing.
He poured himself a drink, in no rush to continue the conversation. I wasn’t going to get caught up playing mind games with a vampire. He sipped his whisky but his eyes never left me. It wasn’t that he was giving me the evil eye, quite the opposite in fact, he was coolly assessing me. I took a couple of steps backwards getting ready to leave the room; I really didn’t need to feel this uncomfortable under someone else’s scrutiny. “Ma’am, I can see why Dario sired you, you are good for him.” I felt my eyebrows pull together in confusion, I was expecting him to warn me or threaten me in some way, not tell me that I was good for Dario. “You make him care Shyla, an emotion that he hasn’t felt for a very long time. I see a better future under his ruling with you at his side.” I drained my glass and put it on a round table. The guard picked up the crystal decanter, held it out and said, “Join me for another?”
I was hoping to carry on snooping about; I wanted to know what lay behind each of the doors and learn more about Dario the vampire and Dario my sire. Now that I was here, it made it feel real. Seeing his oil painting and knowing that underneath his good looks lurked a menacing vampire, made me want to know him. I was a part of something that I knew little about, bound to him for eternity. Yes I could take my time and get to know him, but I was impatient and if I was to spend the rest of my long life with him, I deserved to know what I had gotten myself into. I deserved to know the real Dario.
Being sired, married, call it what you want, wasn’t on the cards for me as a hunter. I had a job to do and that was pretty much it for me.
I had run from him the first moment that I could. I’d tried to survive and learn to become something that I wasn’t and I had done it through the connection that Dario had formed with me. He’d helped me survive, taught me to feed. He talked constantly to me in my mind and knew if I was having a bad time coming to terms with becoming a vampire. Dario hadn’t given up on me when I’d shunned him; I’d constantly called him names and begged him to let me die. He’d been there for me through some tough times and had supported me through the link, showing me nothing but kindness. He had taught me to care, not the other way around. Yet his guard was telling me that I made Dario care. I guess this was a golden opportunity to learn about the man that I was connected to, one that I really shouldn’t walk away from.
I looked at the guard, he appeared to be friendly enough, and the fact that he was talking to me instead of trying to stake me, was a good sign. “What’s he like? Dario, I saw his painting, he looks scary.” I wandered to the bar and handed him my glass for a refill.
“He is. He has to be otherwise he would fail as our leader. The Prince isn’t someone to mess with. He is ruthless, merciless and brutal when it counts, but in all the years I have known him, and believe me when I say this, it’s been a few, he has never acted in a dishonourable, deceitful or questionable way.” The guard’s loyalty was impeccable; unfortunately Dario had ended up on the vampire hit list for a reason!
I wrapped an arm around my middle hoping it would give me a bit of comfort. It didn’t. As much as I wanted to find out more about Dario, I doubted this vampire would tell me anything that I hadn’t already learnt. Dario’s guards were quick enough to point the finger at the guard who had disturbed our little make-out session in the car and Dario had certainly showed signs of murderous intent. Vampires were known for killing, it was their nature.
Not that I could complain. I was a hunter – I killed for a living, I did it for money. I would read a small profile and think to myself that I was ridding the world of anther piece of shit. I would blend into the background, wait for the right moment and kill without mercy, without question. I could justify it all because it was my job – that was until the deed was done and then the guilt I felt for murdering kicked in. With a heavy heart I realised that maybe Dario and I weren’t so different after all. We did what we had to do, we behaved in a certain way because it was expected of us.
I heard Dario in my mind. ‘I can feel your sadness Shyla, give me a few more minutes to finish the meeting and I will come to you.’
This was the Dario that I knew, the one that shows me compassion and maybe even love? ‘I would like that, thank you Dario.’
The guard knew that Dario and I had just spoken. He was watching me, I’m sure my eyes had glazed over or maybe I looked deliriously happy whilst Dario spoke in my mind. It was the way the guard was regarding me, as if I had shared a secret with him, there was a slight smile in his eyes and a kindness about his face. “Forgive me Princess Shyla; I was trying to make Prince Dario sound more endearing to you, but I see that you already have a soft spot for our Prince.”
I gave a small polite smile, “Perhaps.” I turned, pointing towards the snooker table. “Do you play?” I was trying to get off a subject that I didn’t want to discuss, my feelings towards the Prince. Hell, I really didn’t know what to feel, sure he was hot and I was attracted to him, but he was blowing hot and cold. One minute I felt like a prized possession and the next I felt like I was an inconvenience. He had sired me, chosen me and then I had run as far and fast as my legs could carry me. I lifted my distracted gaze from the table and waited for the guard to reply.
His head was tilted to one side as he watched me. Once he had my full attention he smiled and said, “Not recently, do you?” I shook my head; games were not something I had participated in. To play snooker and other such games you needed a partner. “So you’ve never played?” He sounded incredulous, as if playing snooker was the most normal thing in the world.
I gave a little shrug and said, “Never, when you spend most of your time hiding in the shadows and living a solitary life, snooker playing doesn’t rate very high on the list of things to do.”
Understanding lit his face and he offered a sad smile. “Ah, then we must rectify that one evening.”
Whilst I was sure that I was safe with the guard, I didn’t really see me becoming best buddies with him. Don’t get me wrong, he’d been nothing but charming, he’d not mentioned his near death experience at my hands and he’d been championing Dario, but a whisky drinking, snooker buddy I didn’t need.
“Tell me Shyla, what will it take to get you to play a game with me hmm? You’re a hunter by nature, inquisitive and not very trusting, so, how about we make a couple of new rules just to tempt you? You pot a ball and I answer a question, you get to ask 2, that way I choose to answer the one that won’t get me killed.” He winked at me and said, “If I pot a ball, I get to ask a question. Does that sound fair? That way we get to know you and you get to know us.” I felt out of my depth, I had never played snooker nor had to answer questions that a vampire chose to ask, but I was tempted, who wouldn’t be? If you could ask any question and get some answers would
you do it?
Dario came into the room walking straight up to me with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me close. I felt instantly at ease with him at my side. He kissed the top of me head and smiled down at me, “I think that sounds like a great idea Mackinley. I will double with Shyla and you can double with Arius.”
Mackinley raised his arms in mock annoyance. “Great, Arius will throw the game rather than risk your wrath if you lose.”
Dario looked smug as a smile of satisfaction crept across his face. “That’s what I’m counting on. Now, if you will excuse us?” Without waiting for an answer, Dario wrapped my hand over the crook of his arm and led me from the room.
We walked to door number four. He pushed open the door and said, “This is where I like to come and unwind, feel free to make yourself at home here Shyla. There is nothing here that I want to hide from you. Nothing that you can’t look at. I want you to get to know me, even my darker side – not because I want you to fear me, but because I want you to understand me.” He gestured to the sofa and I sank onto the buttery-soft leather couch. “I’m aware that everything in your life has changed and I know that it has caused you some anxiety. I have things to tell you that will make you question the rights and wrongs of being an assassin. What I have to say will cause you some distress and I don’t want to make your first night with me uncomfortable. I want to earn your trust and then hopefully your heart.”
I wanted to tell him that he already had a little part of it, but something made me hold back. I didn’t want to fear him, and I certainly didn’t want to see the darker side of him. Just thinking about the painting hanging in the great lounge made me shudder. “Dario, I need to know why I was being sent to kill you.”
His eyes narrowed and took on a menacing look. I wasn’t about to back down because he thought he could go all scary monster on me. “To repeat your words, there is nothing I want to hide from you!” I gave him my best stare and narrowed my red eyes back at him. Two could play these games. “You want my trust? You need to earn it by being honest with me Dario.” I kept him pinned with my brutal stare wanting him to know that I was serious. There was no point in backing down. I wanted answers. “Dario, we can beat about the bush for all of eternity, but you should know that I’m tenacious and won’t rest until I know the truth. It’s important to me Dario, I want us to work. I want to give us a chance. I like the idea of having you in my life, but if you have committed terrible acts against the very people that I swore to protect, then I don’t know if I will be able to stay.”
Dario studied me for a long while. I held firm and didn’t squirm under his penetrating stare. I would’ve felt more comfortable if I had my dagger in my hands, not that I wanted to kill him, but if things turned nasty then at least I might have stood a chance of walking away.
“I can feel your anxiety Shyla.”
“Good, then you will know that I am fighting urges not to kill you right now and be done with it!”
His eyes crinkled at the edges as a smile formed on his face. Damn the man, he was so infuriating. Why wouldn’t he take my threat seriously! “Is that any way to talk to a Prince?”
I countered “Is this any way to treat your consort? Making her feel as though she wants to stake you in your sleep because you are acting like a complete jerk?”
He moved so fast, I was upright one minute and then, lying flat out on the couch with his body pinning me into place the next. He smoothed the hair out of my face with gentle fingers. My heart was hammering in my chest, not out of fear, but out of need. A satisfied look spread across his face as he whispered, “so you accept that you are my consort?”
Damn him! Out of everything that was happening, that was all that was important. Ownership! I shoved at his chest half heartedly, my body betraying the anger I was feeling towards him. He was using his body to distract me from my mission of finding out why I was given a contract to kill him. I knew it was a mute point now, and I knew that I couldn’t kill him, but it didn’t stop me from considering it even as he pressed his body into my sensitive area. “Dario, please. I need to know.”
“All in good time my sweet thing. Dawn is approaching. Let us go to our rooms.”
I noticed he’d said ‘our rooms,’ and not my room or your room, but let it go. In truth, once the sun came up I wouldn’t care whose bed I was in so long as the sun didn’t fry me to a crisp. “So you’ll tell me tomorrow?”
Dario nodded and slowly stood, pulling me up with him. Now that he wasn’t pinning me to the couch with his crotch, I felt a little bereft. His chuckle confirmed that he knew how I was feeling. I sent the word ‘jerk’ into his mind and he laughed harder. “And that my dearest Shyla, is what I find most endearing about you. You don’t fear me, in truth you want me – a fact that both alarms and excites you.”
He wasn’t wrong and judging by the way my body ached for him, he knew exactly how he affected me. I wanted him, but I also hated that I felt so needy.
We stood outside of my bedroom door staring into each others eyes. It was awkward. I saw desire burning in his ice blue eyes, the midnight blue flecks glittered and swirled, heating my insides further. My traitorous body sidled against his as I wrapped myself around him. My mind screamed at me to get a grip. Dario wrapped his fingers in my hair and tugged my head towards him. His lips barely touched my forehead before he pulled away and whispered, “Sleep well my fiery little Princess.”
I watched him retreat into the room next to mine. Anger flared through my body, anger and desire. I huffed out a breath and slammed my door closed behind me. I shrugged out of my clothes grabbed my dagger from my bag and put in under my pillow before clambering into bed. I would sleep better knowing that it was there. Not that I would be able to defend myself whilst sleeping like a dead person.
When I was a hunter, we slept during the day. We could also wake up if we needed to. As a vampire I wasn’t able to wake during daylight hours. A bomb could go off and it still wouldn’t make me shake the sleep of the dead.
When Dario had turned me into a vampire, I used to dream about blood. I would wake with a hunger that needed to be satiated. If it wasn’t for Dario in my mind, talking me through everything, I would’ve killed the first person I came across just to get rid of the hunger pains. I would be blood thirsty and angry, wanting nothing more than to fill my need, but Dario had helped me. He calmed me with his soothing sexy-voice. I’d hated hearing him sound so reasonable when I was I craving blood so much. Thankfully I was more in control now. I could go days without needing blood and even when I did, I wasn’t like a heroin addict, more like a diabetic needing a sugar fix or I would end up in trouble.
Placing a hand under my pillow, I gripped the handle of my blade and yawned. The night was disappearing as the sun began to rise. I couldn’t fight the sleep that was forcing itself on me. I heard him whisper into my mind; ‘See you in my dreams sweet one,’ as I lost the fight against day.
Chapter Four
Oh boy did I dream! My body ached so bad for Dario. He had wheedled his way into my dreams and was doing all sorts of wonderful things to me. If I wasn’t aching so bad for him right now, I’d have sworn that we had actually done the all of the delicious things that were causing my body to ignite just thinking about them.
I picked up yesterdays clothes and headed to my rather grand bathroom. I took a long soak hoping that I could stop my body from wanting him. It didn’t help though, not really. Nothing would help until I’d experienced him once more. I was consumed with him. All of my thoughts were of getting him into bed to ease my growing need.
‘Good evening my sweet thing, I trust you slept well?’ His voice was silky smooth in my mind, laced with as much desire as I was feeling. ‘I think I preferred it when I woke wanting blood, at least I knew as soon as I had blood, I would feel relief for a few days. How long are you going to torture me like this?’ His soft chuckle sent shivers down my spine; anticipation grew as I waited for him to answer
me. A long silence stretched between us. If he didn’t answer me then I would take matters into my own hands, literally! ‘I’m sure I could find a willing participant to help me with my current situation!’ I could feel his anger through the connection, something that he usually kept from me. I couldn’t help the smirk that formed on my mouth or the sense of satisfaction that my threat had given me.
I climbed out of the bath, grabbed a towel and dried myself off as quickly as I could. I pulled on yesterdays clothes – not ideal, but they would have to do until I could retrieve my belongings, and I had every intention of collecting them this evening.
When I came out of my bathroom, a young girl that looked to be no more than twenty was making my bed. “Keera I presume?” She looked hesitant then nodded quickly. “Please leave. I have no use for a maid.” Keera visibly paled and made a hasty retreat from my room. I checked that my dagger was under my pillow and sighed in relief as I plucked it from under the pillow and slid it into my waistband. I wasn’t normally bitchy to people, but I was edgy because of the ache between my thighs. One male could solve my current state but he seemed more interested in pushing me to my limit. If he wasn’t careful I would drag the nearest male into my room!
Pulling open my door, I could hear Dario talking and Mackinley answering him. I followed the voices and found them in the computer room going over the footage that had been recorded over the day.
Dario smiled his sexy smile, scooted his chair back and tugged me so I sat on his lap. His hand gently caressed my inner thigh, sending delicious tingling sensations straight to my groin. Gritting my teeth together, I held back a groan and resisted the urge to writhe about on his lap. Without missing a beat, he scooted his chair back in front of the monitor and fast forwarded through the events of the day. I refrained from calling him names through the link. He was in charge of this little game, for now!