ROMANCE: HIGHLANDER ROMANCE: Seduced by highlander (Historical Mail Order Bride Time Travel Romance) (Military Fantasy Romance Short Stories)

by Brittany White

  The lead woman came to a halt and instructed with her hands for all the women under her charge to stop and face the Prince in a line. Nera was last to stop, and she turned and looked to the handsome Royal once more. He looked them all over but seemed to look at her longer than the others, or was this just in her imagination? He sat back in his chair and nodded to the lead woman. She bowed and then stood in front of the women.

  “You have done well,” she said with a smile. “Do whatever any man here asks you,” she went on, “His Highness may be around to talk to you as he chooses.” With that, she turned once more and bowed to the throne and then left the room, by the way, they had come in.

  The new woman stood in a huddle in the middle of the room not knowing what to do with themselves. Soon a few of the men came over and began to talk to them as they looked lasciviously over them. When one came over to talk to Nera, the band suddenly stopped, and all eyes turned to the Prince.

  “Everyone except the new girls can leave!” he said. It sounded more like a suggestion than an order, but every single person in the room made their way to the door straight away after bowing to him. Nera couldn’t help but be impressed with the total control he had over all of these people.

  When the room was finally devoid of everyone save the new women, the Prince stood up and walked towards them. They cowered into a huddle, and Nera felt them all jostle against her. She stood there implacably near the back waiting to see what would happen.

  “You do not need to fear me,” he said in a softer than expected voice. “As you have seen this evening I treat my guests in this room well.” He looked at them one at a time; a full body look at this time. “When I look at you tell me your name,” he said. He looked from woman to woman, and they all answered falteringly. Finally, he came eye to eye with Nera.

  “I am Susan,” she said. No one else had yet asked her name and if she was going to escape she did not want people looking for her under her real name. His eyes flickered as though in delight when she spoke, and he smiled at her, a wicked smile as though they shared some private joke.

  He stepped back from the women and faced away from them looking around the room.

  “You may have heard things about me,” he said in a louder voice, “Things that you may have even been afraid of,” he said this part with a slight chuckle, “But,” he held a finger in the air, “Everlasting life is nothing to be frightened of!” he said. He turned swiftly back to them, and they saw that his features had changed and hardened, and there were ridges on his face that were not there before. His teeth had become elongated and sharpened, and he smiled a malicious smile at them. The women screamed, even Nera, and he feinted towards them and sent them scurrying in all directions.

  Nera watched in horror as the women around her tried the door and looked to climb out windows but to no avail. The door was locked, and she already knew that they were far too high up for a speedy escape through a window. The Prince skulked about laughing as he watched his terrified and flitted prey and then he moved with great speed after them.

  One by one he took hold of them in his strong arms and bit deep into their throats with those two long teeth. Shrieks of fear and pain rang out and when he pulled away from them and let the lifeless bodies of them fall to the floor there would be flecks of blood from both his mouth and their wounds that splattered on the stone slabbed floor. Some of the women fainted and made his task all the easier.

  Nera waited until he had his back to her and was plunging into another woman and then fled to a balcony that stood out from the tower and looked out over the tops of the nearby mountains. She knew that she was not going to be able to get out of the tower from there, but she saw it as the only chance for a place to hide. She came out into the warm night, and she hid from the sight of the room inside. She looked around, but there was nowhere to go. It was a flat outcropping and a sheer drop of a few hundred feet below. All she could do was stand there and hope that he would have forgotten about her by the time he was through with everyone else.

  The last of the crying and screams died down, and no more feet slapped and skittered across the stone floor within the tower. She stood there and listened. All she could hear was the howling of the wind in the great chasm below her. She looked down, and it was so far that she couldn’t see the bottom. There was nothing in sight she could jump to, and only the curved flatness of the tower walls offered themselves to scale. She dared not even breathe.

  A long time passed, and there was no more noise. How long could she stay out here? The idea came to her that he would not be able to come out here once the sun began to rise- if that old legend was true; for there was no doubt now that the vampire stories had been true.

  “You should come in from there,” his voice said, “You’ll catch a cold with so few clothes on.” She froze in terror. She looked down once more, but there was no escape; even if it water all the way down there it was still far enough down to kill her if she tried to jump. She waited for a few moments and then walked calmly back inside. “Susan,” he said with a smile. He was back to his normal handsome face again, and to look at him you would have no idea of what he had just done to all of the prone bodies that lay about the room. Nera looked at them; she felt like weeping, but she didn’t want him to see this. “Don’t worry about them,” he said, “They will all wake up much happier than they were before.”

  “So they will be like you now?” she asked. She had heard all of this stuff about vampires for years but when you don’t know if the things actually exist you also don’t know how much of the folklore is real either. He nodded.

  “You should join us,” he smiled at her, she saw him look her body over appreciatively. “It is a good life.” She saw her way to stay human, to not have to fear the light of day, and though it repulsed her, she had no choice. She took a step closer to him.

  “I can offer you more as a hot body than a cold one,” she said and reaching up she undid the clasp at the back of her neck and let the flowing gown she wore drop the floor at her feet. She stood there naked before him. She knew how good her body looked; she had always had men after her all her life, since puberty, and this was why she had thought herself to fight. She had large but firm breasts, and her abdomen was toned but not lined with muscle. Her pubic hair was in a tidy triangle, and her legs were tanned and smooth and shiny. He looked at her, and she saw his penis come to life in his loose pants and against her better morals she knew that she wanted it, to touch it, to feel it within her body.

  “You make a compelling case,” he smiled taking another step closer to her. The look of lust in his eyes was like nothing she had ever seen; it was like all his sexual cravings and intentions were reflected in them, and she knew what he wanted her to do. She knelt down and put her palms to the cold floor and crawled over to him seductively like an animal. When she got to his feet, she ran a hand up his leg and brushed against his thick member. He looked down and smiled at her. She went higher and rubbed her hands over his rippled abdomen and onto his chest. She had never felt a body like this before; it was like he had been hewn from stone. She planted light kisses on his abdomen, and she felt his hand run through her hair. Despite herself she found that she was attracted to him, and it was like this was a voluntary action on her part and not something she was doing purely to save her life.

  She pulled herself up to her feet and pushed her lips roughly to his. His kiss was soft and his lips full; there was no thought in her mind that this mouth had been recently filled with the blood of those women strewn about them. She felt his hands on her hips, and his grip was tender yet firm. He lightly ran up over the hips and held her waist. With a sudden and silent lift, she was in the air, and he carried her across the room to one of the large cushions that were spread around the great tower. He lifted her as though she weighed nothing, and his arms did not tremble even in the slightest. She had never known a man with such strength, and it stirred something deep and tribal within her that she was unaware had even been there.
It was as she was suddenly intoxicated by him, and she pressed her lips all the more firmly against his.

  The Prince dropped her on the cushion and smiled down at her. She wanted him, and she pulled at him to come down to her. He resisted for a moment but then dropped beside her and lay on top of her. She could feel him through his pants, and she tugged at the band of them until they were halfway down the back of his thighs. He lifted her and pulled down the front, and she could feel him kick the garment off. He looked deep into her eyes, and she could see something from far away in him like he was not there at that moment. She gasped as she felt him go inside of her for the first time and gripped her fingernails deep into his back. He didn’t flinch at all.

  They made love for a time, Nera becoming as far away as he was in her passionate desire. She had never once in her life felt like she did with the Prince; she couldn’t believe that she didn’t even know his name, first name that is. She lay in his arms afterwards, and she felt safe now.

  “Are there more like you?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I meet one of my kind, from time to time, and we know one another instantly, but there is no country or community where we reside that I know of.”

  “What will these women feel when they wake up?” she asked looking around the floor.

  “They will be confused and frightened at first, but I will calm them and show them all the new things that they can do now. After that, they will be happy here.”

  “What will they be able to do?” she asked. He pulled his pants back on and stood up,

  “This,” he said. He lifted from the ground with an elegant grace and hovered there for a few moments before flying to the balcony. He went out over the edge where the huge drop was underneath him and smiled to her. She got up and conscious of her nakedness now, picked up her clothes and covered herself, went to the platform and looked down. She was amazed at this feat. She had never heard of this before, had not thought it possible, and yet here it was right before his very eyes.

  He came back in and landed beside her.

  “Are you sure you would not like to be able to do that?” he asked smiling. She turned from him, afraid once more of what he might to her.

  “I’m not ready,” she said. She was trembling.

  “Then I think it is time you left for tonight,” he said putting a hand on her shoulder, “It will not be a pretty sight when these women begin to wake, and you may be in danger.”

  “From them?” she snorted, she had not come up against a woman yet who she was afraid of, and she had seen all of these here all the way from her home country and saw nothing to fear in the slightest from them.

  “They will have strength that you can only dream of once they become like me,” he said. She recalled how he had lifted her like she was nothing.

  “Where should I go?” she asked.

  “Just back down the stairs, a guard will show you back to your quarters,” he said indicating the door she had come in originally. She walked towards it, confused and scared now. The effects of her lust had worn off, and she was very much aware of the blood and gore on the floors and walls everywhere. Was this what was in store for her tonight when she was sent back up here? “By the way,” he called after her. She turned to look at him. “What is your real name?”

  “Nera,” she said, not bothering to keep up the pretence any longer. “What’s yours?” she asked. He smiled warmly at her like she was a bold child.

  “Your Highness,” he said. He made a motion to the large doors, and she heard the bolts and lock from the other side crackle open.

  That night Nera was the only woman of her shipmates who slept back in the quarters. The servant girls and the lead woman seemed surprised to see her come back. They showed her where she would be sleeping and left her alone. Morning broke not long after she lay down, and she knew she would have trouble sleeping today. Images of what she had seen and heard kept coming back to her; everything had seemed so violent and crazy, but then when she looked at the bigger picture she knew that those women were now able to fly, and no man would ever be able to hurt them again. She fell asleep after a long time to the sounds of the marching soldiers in the courtyard outside.

  That evening she was lead up once more to the tower. She was the only woman this time, and there was no introduction, the door was opened, and she was told to go inside. Like the previous day, there were many people there tonight and musicians played loudly. A few people glanced in her direction, but no one lingered on her for long. The Crown Prince was not on his throne as the day before and on the first inspection about the room she could not see him. What she did she, however, was a much more overtly sexual tone than the night before. It was much more in keeping with her former ideas of a harem, except that all of the women were not kept for just the royal himself.

  Men, she was unsure if they too were vampires or not, cavorted with women in dimed corners and on the large cushions. She suddenly felt very cheap at her own antics the previous evening, but she told herself quickly that she had no choice. As she looked around and moved further into the room she became aware of eyes on her, and she looked and saw a man staring over at her. He was sitting alone, and he smiled at her and beckoned for her to come over to him. She could see the lascivious desire in his eyes, but he was not the kind of man she would ever deign to offer herself to. She looked away and pretended she had not seen him.

  “Girl!” she heard him call out, and she started to walk in the opposite direction. “Girl!” this time the voice was much louder and carried an angry tone. She could see that other people were looking at her, but she still pretended that she did know it was she who was being addressed. She made her was towards the balcony as it was the only place in the room that was not visible from everywhere else. “How dare you ignore me and walk away,” she heard his voice now, and it was clear that he was striding after her. Without looking back, she quickened her pace; she had no idea what she was going to do once she got the balcony- she just hoped that he would give up by then and leave her alone.

  Just as she reached the platform that jutted out of the tower and looked over that immense chasm, she felt his hand on her upper arm, and she was spun around violently. The man’s vicious snarling face was in hers and she felt his hot spittle as he shouted at her, “You are aware that I was calling you over, and you insult me by not doing as I wish?”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you,” she stammered. She played the helpless woman in moment like this to keep a man’s guard down, but as she spoke she wondered what would happen if she were o shoe this man off the precipice to the ground below?

  “Don’t lie to me, I will use you first and then see that you are punished sufficiently for your disobedience,” he said and he turned and started to pull her back to where he had been sitting. Her instinct kicked in, and she dropped to the ground and with a powerful swipe she took his legs from under him. He let go of her as he fell, and his body sounded a heavy thud on impact with the stone floor. She leapt back to a standing position. He sat up and held his back in pain. He looked at her with such malevolence that she was sure that he would try to kill her once he regained his feet.

  At that moment, however, a thunderous and mirthful laugh came from within the tower. Both of them looked and saw that it was the Crown Prince coming out to them. The man scurried to his feet and then bowed fawningly, but Nera just stood there waiting to see what was going to happen.

  “You have been insulted Saleem?” he asked the man with a smile.

  “Yes, Your Highness,” he replied.

  “And you want this girl to be punished?”

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  The Prince looked to Nera,

  “You refused to do his bidding?” She nodded, “And you then put him on the floor?”

  “He was hurting me,” she said defiantly. At this, the Crown Prince burst out laughing. Nera saw that the man looked at her nervously and then back to the Prince. He stood there looking at the two of them as his laught
er subsided and then said to the man,

  “Saleem, you may punish her as you see fit,” and then turning to her said, “You woman, can do what you want to resist this punishment.”

  Saleem stood up and looked at her. He was clearly very embarrassed and angry that the choice he was given was to either drop the affair or engage in a possible fight with a woman. His cheeks were flush, and he didn’t do or say anything for a few moments. At last he said to her,

  “Come inside with me and there will be no punishment,” he sighed; his tone and manner are indicating that he was doing her a great favour.

  “I will not,” she said, She saw the Prince’s eyes light up at this, and an even broader smile festooned his face. Saleem looked to him and then wearily made a move towards her. Nera was too fast for him, and she dipped and landed a solid kick to his ribs that doubled him over. He was back up in a flash of anger, and he lunged at her with a feral roar, she could see his teeth bared, and his hands splayed to grab hold of her. She dropped to the ground and rolled at his feet sending him tripping over her towards the edge of the ledge. She had not intended, but she knew from his momentum that he was not going to be able to stop himself from going over the edge. She made a grab for his leg to stop this happening, but she missed him. His cries echoed out loudly as he fell the long and fatal way to whatever surface lay below in the darkness.

  Nera looked up at the Prince with renewed fear in her eyes. He was looking at her too, but there didn’t seem to be any anger in his face.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen,” she said. For the first time, she noticed that a large crowd had gathered behind the Prince and all looked at her eagerly.

  “I know,” he said. Than clapping his hand said, “Everyone save my special women may go now.” Like the previous evening, there was an immediate clearance of the room. The only difference this time was that almost all of the women remained. She went to leave herself but he shook his head no, and she stayed. Of those women, she could see from where she was she recognised several whom she thought only last night she had seen murdered. They looked paler but also much more confident and somehow more beautiful.