by J H Spade
Part I: Of Gods and Monsters We Bleed
Reigning over all, we are called the Ancient Ones. Scattered throughout the lands in search of the Forbidden One, for she will always hold our hearts. Unmarred, a being of pure power like us. A beautiful dreamer with a flawless soul who was once one of us until she defied our laws and sacrificed her position among us, losing her memories the moment she decided to be born. All so our most cherished and treasured could fight tradition and rebelliously live amongst those we presided over, in search of the immortal she’d come to fall in love with while watching over him.
She is Forbidden, but we will all reign again, no matter if our desperate search into endless realms has labeled my brother and I traitors, just like her.
Preface: Red Horizon
Darius
Tonight, I’m close to catching her.
There’s a voice inside that has never steered me wrong, telling me she will be mine again.
It’s been eight months since Eros, the sadistic fuck, took her right from under me as her guards watched in her mother’s kingdom. The King of the Vampires made sure to infiltrate his kingdom’s number one enemy, just to be close to Emma. Aurora, her mother The Queen of Light, and Princess Emmaley both have the ability to eradicate the vampire race with their alluring blood because it is graced by the gods. Their gifted blood also happens to be a deadly poison to all immortals. Because of this, Eros made it his mission to kill the Queen, and he almost succeeded, but tiny Emma heard her mother’s cries and came to defend her. Upon seeing Emma, he realized the small child was his future mate. From that moment on, no one could tear him from their kingdom. He became their most vigilant protector, seducing Emma’s mother, so that he may always remain near his mate and one day, steal Emma away. Aurora believed it was all because he fell in love with her, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth.
I will never stop regretting how Emma and I ended up here, torn from one another, but I couldn’t help returning her when I saw how homesick she felt.
Believing it was safe to return her home once we heard Eros had lost his mind and no longer posed a threat to Emma, we prepared for our trip back to her lands. At least that’s what I let her believe because, in truth, I waited for any excuse, any wrong move from the mad king, so he could die by my hand. I’ve been starved for his death for years. In my eyes, there was no better way than to spy closely on Eros, planning for his death.
I’d expected she would be safe, guarded by me while we were within the walls of her mother’s empire. I was her shadow, positioned by Emma’s mother, Queen Aurora, into her personal guard. Her mother was grateful since Emma and I had contrived the story of how I came to find her after she’d escaped from a lycan group who had stolen her on her nineteenth birthday. The truth was, it was I who stole her, but Emma agreed to tell the lie because the night I took her away, she all but begged me to.
We lived with our lie, loving each other in secret for six months. The day Eros had his revenge and kidnapped her, she was surrounded by people she trusted to keep her safe, and we failed.
I failed.
Chapter 1: Dueling Hearts
Now, as everyone is cast in crimson shadow, I take in my surroundings, looking for all the entry and exit points in order to be sure I track her and don’t lose her. Immediately, I notice how packed with bodies this place is.
I loosen the button on my tux to take my seat reluctantly at the end of the bar. The seat seemingly left vacant for me, and when the demon tending the bar approaches, I’m ready to follow her instructions to a fucking T.
How strange to see all the vampires around me celebrating a wedding. It’s difficult to sit here and hold back my shift. If I allowed myself to turn, I would be demolishing this room and all those inside because these are all Eros’s people. The ironic turn of events isn’t lost on me. I’m wearing a tux, just like the first night I went out in search of Emma to steal her away from him. The night Eros was going to solidify their union by proposing.
I ask for one drink and can barely wait to down it because, as per Emma’s request, she will only show herself once I’m seated at the bar and take whatever cocktail I’m given.
I grab the letter out of my pocket. The same letter that appeared on my chest five nights ago while I dreamed of her.
I don’t open it. I just grip it, willing her to manifest by holding a token of her. But of course, it doesn’t work. None of my magic has worked to bring her back. I’ve tried and done everything in my power to get her to return to me. Even sold my soul to the devil for her.
Trying to even out my breathing, I recite in my mind the list of demands in her letter. I know the contents written within by memory.
Hello Thief,
If you wish to see me again, come find me at the address below. Alone. No weapons.
Planet Krau, Hotel Latus on Wicked Bend Rd.
The list and my expectations of you are attached. Follow the list or you will forfeit our last meeting.
Regards,
Emmaley Eva Ladon
Your Poison
The list starts by telling me what to wear and where to meet. She wishes to see me in what I was wearing the night we met and to meet her here, at Hotel Latus. She states that I was a thief who stole her in the night, and now she wishes to say goodbye by re-enacting the night we met. She tells me by what time I should be seated at the bar and to drink what I’m given or else I’ll jeopardize my only opportunity at seeing her one last time.
I know this game.
I’m to have the most perfect night with her before I get crushed, and everything I’ve ever wanted is taken from me. I suppose, to a degree, she feels I did the same to her on the night our gazes first locked on one another.
I crumble her letter in my fist, but can’t bring myself to light it up in flames as I had intended. Instead, I force myself to unclench my fingers one by one and smooth the letter back into its original shape, finding the creases to deliberately fold it back into place. Careful to keep my treasure intact, I slip it back in my pocket, right over my heart. My heart that was ripped from me the moment Emma let him take her.
I know why she did.
Eros had grown strong and caught us, bound together by our blind lust. She feared for my life and allowed him to trace her out from the great hall where he could no longer do me any harm. She traded her soul for my life on that day. Tracing is how vampires travel to wherever they have been before, or to someone they have taken blood from. It happens in less than a second if they are traveling to close distances. She was strong enough to offer resistance, but didn’t to save me. Unfortunately for Emma, her life was not hers to barter away. It’s belonged to me from the first time we looked into each other’s eyes. I took possession of her soul, needing it to be mine.
Believe me, I realize I’m wrong for blaming Emma because she didn’t let me die. I understand the simple fact that she couldn’t let me go.
When I find her, she’ll just have to understand there will be no going back to him. I’m going to reclaim what's mine.
I turn to look for her, but don’t find the silver dress among the throngs of red and black everyone else is wearing. The fateful night I orchestrated my abduction of her, she wore a silver lace gown with white gloves, black lace underneath, and diamonds adorning her shoes and neck.
She shone brighter than the North Star.
My face turns expectantly towards a sudden noise. There is a small commotion in the middle of the dance floor. I hungrily search, convincing myself the next face I’ll see will be hers. I do this for what feels like an excruciating eternity.
The hotel lounge is too dark. Most of the clear lighting is coming from the bar, making it difficult to distinguish a face in the sea of black. Ther
e are elaborate candelabras covering the walls and the black crystal chandelier over the bar. An ornate fixture has candlelight illuminating my face as I turn fully around with my hands tightly clasped between my open thighs. I survey the room, searching for her. Always looking for my star. She should know better than to tempt me with fire. She'll be lucky if I don’t burn the place down.
There are black and red silk walls divided by a pewter colored metal trim throughout, alternating the colorblock scheme in the large space. The trim has beaded oil like rain falling over it, colored in crimson for the event. It pools along the perimeter walls, surrounding the black smooth slab that makes up the dance floor. The glossy surface has cracks underneath. Fluid rivers run, letting a crimson liquid travel underneath a layer of protective glass under everyone’s feet, giving the room a red glow. There are private booths that have candlelight on the tables, privacy is attained with black satin curtains as they line the far left of the dance floor.
The bartender doesn’t even ask my name, just hands me what may very likely be poison. It has a blue flame along the rim, so I can’t help the metallic second layer of skin from forming over my hand, small thorn like spikes, rising in pleasure when I reach for the glass. The blue flame calls to me. Feels good when I touch and grip it, like second nature to have it licking at my skin, so I turn it over, sliding it through my fingers. It’s so good in fact, I have to hold back from breaking through to the crimson river on the ground and watching this place slowly catch on fire. With a flick of my hand, I snuff out the flame and don’t spare the demon a glance. At this point, it could be poison, and I wouldn’t fucking care.
But I know it isn’t. If I were to ignite this place in flames, the demon and I would be the only ones left standing, unless Emma’s in the room. I won’t do it, because I don’t want to give her an excuse to go running back to Eros.
The only reason she’s here tonight is because Eros would prefer to prolong my torture for centuries.
It is why he has unleashed her on me.
Never has it been easy to go out expecting to see her, only to learn that my latest lead, which I thought was a very solid one, is an empty and cold trail.
Only this time, she sent me a message. Her instructions. Written in her blood.
Her blood is the tether that keeps me restrained over this chair without an ounce of effort by her or the patrolling guards I’ve surveyed.
My fists clench so tightly, I feel I may crush my hands from the force of it. It’s because I’m thinking when I see her I may take out the bartender first and take cover with her behind the bar. It’s possible the demon notices I’m anxious to kill him since he takes a hold of his gun under the bar, so no one else sees. I shake my head ‘no’ when he offers me another drink. I know he’s here to take me out should I become a problem, and I will. Just not until I see her and form a plan.
It’s easy to turn down the drink he offers, even if it will help me focus. I can’t have another. One drink is all the instructions said to have. Besides, by the taste of it, Devil’s Death is the strongest drink in all the realms, so I’m sure she wants me alert for the torture they’re about to dish out. Why she picked this planet in the demon realm as a designated place to meet, tells me all I need to know. It is one of the seediest of them all, even in this upscale hotel bar. This is all Eros.
A trap he expects I won’t survive.
I fist my hands and uncurl my fingers, looking down at my rough palms to avoid the interested glances turned my way. My jaw ticks with fury as I grind my molars, taking control of the menacing presence of what I discreetly hide within. The animal under the surface begs for me to turn this place upside down until I find her and leave it in fumes and dust.
My mind is working on overdrive, so I tune out the soft music playing, and zero in on every conversation in the room for clues as to where she might be.
I get nothing.
Eight fucking months.
GONE.
Every second of every day I’ve spent in the uncertain prison that is my mind, unable to do or think of anything but her, while ceaselessly searching for her ghost. This has felt like a torture I never expected to endure.
Abruptly, I feel more enraged than ever, thinking she’s been with Eros of her own free will. I don’t give a fuck by what means this ends, but I’m fucking ending it . . . tonight. No matter what, she’s coming with me.
I won’t let everything we mean to each other . . . all I’ve done for her, be for nothing. I’ve had to do things in the name of survival, things I don’t allow myself time to think about.
To even consider Marcus, Eros’s twin brother, as my ally speaks volumes of my desperation. Marcus and I both need each other now, thanks to Emma. We do unspeakable shit to each other, shit that keeps us going—living in the other's mind when we drink from one another while we make each other come hard with visions of Emma and a shout of her name upon our breath. We fuel our need for her and our rage for Eros while maintaining each other’s hope until we find her.
Thoughts of her fill my mind, so I ease back against the bar and adjust the hard outline of my cock in my trousers, growing painfully harder at the memory, and can’t help but wonder what Emma would think if she knew.
Would she think me a monster?
Chapter: 2 Playing for Keeps
Marcus has repeatedly assured me every time we have our clandestine meetings, that he’s close to finding them. He’s built a fortress for us, so I can hide her once she is found, while we do everything we can to erase the Vampire King from her mind, body, and soul.
I’m not so sure it can be done since Eros is her mate.
Ever since that fateful day when Eros appeared behind her, trapping her with fear, and stealing her away on her twentieth birthday. I knew then, I’d rather die than witness what was to come. I remember looking into her pain-stricken eyes as the king of the vampires tore into her neck, something everyone thought was an impossible feat since her graced blood, a protection given to her by the very gods themselves, is the deadliest poison to all immortals. Then he vanished with her.
Gave me a taste of my own medicine.
I can understand why everyone thought him mad.
Fighting the urge to strangle the demon, I clench my teeth and fists. I have to fight the urgency I feel to go out and search this fucking hotel brick by brick for her. I’ve been driving myself crazy with thoughts of what he’s been doing to her. Wondering how long, if at all, she fought to get back to me. The 247 days she’s been gone, I’ve gone from denial to rage and nothing else in between.
I’ve allowed myself to feel those two emotions, to revel in the way they feed my rage, fueling the fires necessary to continue my search for her.
As brightly as my anger burns, I can’t hide the fact that I’m terrified of what I’ll find tonight. I’m terrified for her. Terrified that I won’t give a shit about the lengths I will go, to claim her once and for all.
The woman who means everything to me won’t be the naive girl I stole away, what feels like centuries ago.
The worst of it is the sickening thought of all Eros has done to change her mind about me, made blindingly apparent by her letter.
I remind myself that tonight is different.
Tonight I’m being hunted by her, and I’m fucking invincible.
Chapter 3: A Thrill for a Kill
Emma
Making my way into the reception, I try to remind myself that Eros is counting on me to keep my head cool, no matter what happens, so I can make it back to him. His bite made me stronger than what I already am, the moment he sank his fangs into my neck and passed on some of his gifts to me, along with his deadly venom. The venom itself is called Scorpiouz Morte, scorpions born from Eros’s skin released to bite, sickening my blood, making me want to do his bidding. All so I’m successful in taking out tonight’s target. The only hindrance to our plan is when Eros unleashes his scorpions he is left weakened and vulnerable. The only reason for him to remain behind at his
Summer Kingdom.
I communicate to my vampire guards through our mindlink, “Stay close and watchful. Should the need arise to incapacitate Darius, I will allow you to knock him unconscious, but leave the killing strictly to me.”
They know not to defy me, or it will be their heads that pay the price. Most of them are scattered throughout the event, over balconies, at the bar, even hiding in the dancing crowd. The others are at all exit points including the garage and roof.
As expected, my guards all reply in the affirmative, but their guns continue beaming the infrared target on my ex’s forehead and heart.
Darius finds me right away as I clear the crowd. The mask he wears for the evening is firmly placed, thinking he’s the hunter instead of the prey. He is as blank and beautiful as a Greek warrior statue. Stricken of all emotion and harder to read than the beautifully carved masterpieces of civilizations long gone. All hard features and smooth, marble-like skin I can rupture my heart with, if I allow myself to dwell on the memories. I don’t, can’t afford to. I’m faded, but his stern gaze can still hold me in its electric lock, and it is in his eyes, and only there, where I find a sorrowful tale of a love lost that I no longer have pity or concern for.
Through the red haze of my anger, I remind myself that I’m here to right many wrongs, so I smile triumphantly because, for once, we face one another without complications between us.
Tonight, my task is quite simple: rip whatever minuscule, residual feeling I have for Darius and bury it in the ground, then turn his dead body over to Eros, so he may do the same.
Then, and only then, can we all celebrate and plan for my own wedding.
As I draw nearer, the wedding party approaches me, so I turn my face towards the bride. I know Darius hears our happy exchange, so I give him a warning look. His eyes turn stoic—hidden and cold at once. The only emotion I can catch in their stormy depths is his own anger towards me, and the blame I find he can’t cover.