Selected for the Vampire King

by T. S. Ryder

  His beautiful fangs scrapped at her thigh, and then his warm breath wafted across her. Already tight with anticipation, Tindra held her breath as she watched him. His tongue flicked out with enough pressure that her head fell back. Her fingers twisted in his hair as she pressed him tighter against her, rolling her hips to increase the pressure. He kept his hands on her thighs, preventing her from moving too much.

  She made satisfied grunts, and when Tindra looked up, so did he. He flashed her a smile, then turned to his side. He tore off his pants and, using one arm to anchor her, began to pleasure himself while pleasuring her. The sight made fire travel to every inch of her. Fireworks exploded left and right in her brain. Everything was so sensitive that she wasn't sure how long she could last.

  "Rollon," she blurted.

  He looked up again, letting one of his fingers take up the work that his tongue had been doing. She clutched his hair tighter, lost in the piercing stare of his eyes. How had she been so lucky to get here? She was just the immature geek girl who didn't have a life outside of her comics. And now, she was here with the most handsome man imaginable looking at her with that look in his eyes.

  If it had been any more beautiful, she would have had to cry.

  "I love you," she whispered.

  He smiled. "Want to cuddle instead?"

  "Hell no!"

  The king burst out laughing. His head dropped to her thigh, still working her with his fingers. His movements became harder, more targeted. She dropped to the bed, releasing her hold on his hair so she didn't accidentally hurt him. He returned to his work, almost frantic. Her legs began to tremble and she clenched tight, holding off her impending orgasm.

  "Ready for me?" he breathed.

  "Yes," she moaned. One of these days, she was going to have to get to him before he could get to her. But for now, she clung to him and gasped as he entered.

  He fit even better than he had the first time. He began to thrust and Tindra wrapped her legs around him, encouraging him to go deeper. Her fingers dug into his back as she cried out, desperate for something to anchor her. Her mind was quickly fading away into the pleasure and the desire to bite into his beautiful skin grew stronger. She grunted with the effort to hold him as he moved faster, harder.

  "I'm going to—" She buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm going to—"

  "Yes," he grunted. A hand cupped the back of her head and guided her towards his neck.

  She didn't even know that her fangs had grown until she clamped down on him. She felt the sharp points break through his skin. He stiffened, then his head fell back with a roar. He thrust madly like he was possessed by a demon. The tang of his blood hit her tongue and she was filled with galaxies and stars. Every inch of her body tightened and exploded. They grappled with each other, rolling over and over. There was a thud at some point but Tindra kept drinking, her world narrowed down to that one moment.

  When she eventually tore away from him, she found herself upright, Rollon pressing her into the wall as he still thrust madly. He wasn't even inside her anymore, the evidence of his climax spread over their stomachs and thighs. With a loud groan, he stilled. His arms banded around her tight and Tindra panted, trying to catch her breath.

  "Wow," she managed. "Could have warned me how you'd react."

  "Didn't know." He carried her back to the bed and laid her down gently before collapsing. "It was never like that before."

  "Never?" Tindra giggled, so high on sex and happiness that she couldn't stop herself. "Oh. Well."

  He carried her back to the bed, where they laid down. Both of them moaned and groaned, and Tindra found herself giggling again. It was so explosive that she was certain she was going to be riding high all night. Within a few minutes, though, her muscles were relaxing and she had to stifle a yawn. Rollon kissed her head.

  "Sleep. I'll take tomorrow off . . . We'll make a marathon of it."

  "That sounds good." Tindra yawned again. Her eyes drifted shut and before she knew it, she was sound asleep.

  ***

  The phone was ringing. Tindra rolled over and reached for it, patting the nightstand. Her fingers brushed Ingrid's before they landed on hers. She groggily answered. Rollon rolled over and put an arm around her waist.

  "Hello?"

  Her voice was high-pitched from sleep, and she cleared her throat. The phone felt odd in her hand somehow. When she glanced at it, she saw why. It wasn't her phone at all. Ingrid's phone. Hers was lying on the nightstand still.

  "Hey, sweetie," a familiar voice said on the other side. "Can we talk?"

  Rollon's head snapped up. He seized the device and hurled it across the room, where it shattered. Tindra jumped, her jaw hanging slack. When her eyes met Rollon's, she could only see alarm and despair in them. And she remembered where she had heard that voice before. In a corridor under the castle with a knife to her throat.

  "Eva," she whispered. "Hilda has been talking to Eva."

  Chapter Sixteen – Rollon

  A secondary look at the phone records as compared to Ingrid's lists of duties showed one incident where a call to Eva could not have happened on her behalf. Only one, but it was enough.

  After Ingrid's initial arrest, she had stopped protesting that she was innocent. He had taken it as a sign of guilt, but now he knew the truth. She was protecting her little sister.

  The guard opened the door to Ingrid's cell. She looked up from where she sat on the bed, then jumped to her feet. Her eyes were wide, her hands shook, but she stood straight.

  "I am ready to confess, my lord."

  Rollon shook his head as he surveyed her. "So you've figured out that it was Hilda, too."

  Ingrid shook her head so wildly that her hair flew into her face. "No. It was me. I've been calling Eva and plotting against you. I still love her and when she explained to me why she turned me into a vampire, how could I not go back to her? The incursion was so that I could play dumb and still feed her information."

  "It was Hilda."

  "No. It wasn't. My sister is a good girl."

  "A good girl who only knew that you haven't been happy since Eva left. She is a good girl, Ingrid. I don’t believe that she knew what she was doing. She just wanted to see you happy again."

  "And why wouldn't she tell the truth when you arrested me?" Ingrid's voice had an edge of hysteria to it.

  "Because she saw you getting dragged away in handcuffs. She's a child, Ingrid. She was scared." He put a hand on her shoulders as tears started to drop from her eyes. "Like I said, I don't believe she had any sort of malicious intent. I want you to be with me when I talk to her about it."

  Ingrid stared at him for a long moment. "Then you aren't going to arrest her, too?"

  The king flinched. "She'll have to be watched, but I'm not going to arrest her. She didn't know. And . . . " Here his grip tightened. "Please forgive me for thinking the worst of you."

  Ingrid bowed her head for a moment before she looked up and managed a small smile. "You were doing what you thought you needed to do. For the kingdom. I understand, my lord."

  He took her hand and squeezed it before leading her out of the jail cell. Together they went to Tindra, who said that Hilda had faked being sick (vampires didn't get sick) and went back to bed. When they knocked on the door, however, there was no answer. Ingrid opened it.

  "Hilda, honey? It's me."

  The room was utterly empty. Rollon pulled his phone out in a flash. It could be merely a situation in which Hilda had wandered off, but there could be something more sinister in the works, too. As he keyed in his code, though, the screen changed. Zander.

  "I need a palace-wide search for Hilda," he barked into the phone. "Right—"

  "My lord, there is a pack of shifters attacking the outer city. They've set fire to a warehouse and are carrying citizens off into the woods. Human police forces are on route but—"

  "Ready the troops. I'll be there right away." He flicked off the phone. Ingrid stared at him with wide eyes as he grasped
her arm and pulled her back to Tindra. "You two are in charge until we get back. Find Hilda."

  Tindra blinked in surprised. "Get back from where?"

  "I heard what Zander said. I'll explain," Ingrid promised.

  Rollon nodded his thanks and rushed off. Hilda had gone missing and now this attack? What was Eva up to?

  ***

  He arrived on the scene to find a blazing fire and a line of police firing desperately at the group of shifters crawling over the firetrucks that had arrived on the scene. A bear methodically tore the equipment apart. On the other side, some naked shifters splashed gasoline on an apartment building. Rollon shouted a few orders as he charged into the fray. Beside him, Thor held his sword high.

  A group of lions jumped over the tops of the firetrucks, flinging themselves into the oncoming vampires. Rollon threw himself to one side, stabbing at one of their necks. His sword tangled in its thick mane, and the shifter twisted with lightning speed and slammed both paws into his abdomen. The blow knocked him off his feet and the shifter dove with its mouth wide open. He rolled to one side and extracted his sword. The beast was too close for him to wield the blade, so he snatched a knife from his belt and swiped it over the lion's face.

  A howl of pain followed as the lion pulled back. Rollon curled his legs into his chest and kicked his hard boots into the shifter's wound, then jumped to his feet. The lion swiped at him again. He leaped to one side and slashed his sword over the lion's ribs. It howled again and stumbled away.

  A bear charged at him. He dropped to one knee and braced his sword as the bear flung itself on him. The sword pierced deep into its chest and he rolled under its paws, avoiding the long, sharp claws as he pulled his sword free. As soon as he got to his feet, another shifter rammed into his back. He dropped the sword to reach behind him, but as he tried to grab its head, it slipped through his grasp. Teeth sunk into his arm and it shook him left then right.

  Bone snapped. Pain shot through him, causing a cry to burst out.

  It flung him away. Rollon tumbled over the pavement, grunting. His face plowed into the asphalt, a fang chipping against the hard surface. Clearly, he had not been training hard enough these past few months. First his injuries at the palace, and now this? He should not be getting the crap kicked out of him like this! He rolled to his back, grabbing the sword with his good arm. The shifter that had attacked him was a large white leopard. It sprung at him again.

  Thor dashed in front of him. He swung his sword hard; it impacted the leopard, sending it flying, right into the burning mess of warehouse. With a loud screech, it dove out of the flames. Blood spilled on the pavement as smoke rose from its fur. It rolled wildly while the rest of the shifters rushed back into the woods.

  "Zander, pursue," Rollon ordered, then grabbed a bucket of water. He splashed it over the smoldering leopard. Great chunks of fur were gone, blood still dripping from its side. Its ears flattened against its skull as Rollon, Thor, and several others surrounding it.

  "Shift into your human form," Rollon ordered.

  The leopard glowered balefully at him.

  Thor poked it with his sword. "Now."

  With a low yowl, the shifter changed. Soon a young man knelt before them. He pressed his hands to the bleeding gash on his side. Rollon stared coldly at him, testing the weight of his sword in his hand while ignoring the stabs of pain from his injured arm. He put his sword under the shifter's chin.

  "Was this worth dying for? Lighting a couple buildings on fire? Stealing people? What does Eva have you up to this for?" The shifter snarled at the name. Rollon's brows rose. "What? No love lost for your queen?"

  "She is not my queen," the shifter spat. "She stole our children. If we don't do as she says, she'll kill them. Worth dying for? Yeah. So kill me."

  Rollon lowered his sword. Threatening children? Rage boiled through him and he turned, slamming his fist into a nearby firetruck. It rocked onto two tires before crashing back down. His nostrils flared as he ground his teeth together. No more. There was no love lost between shifters and vampires, but there had been peace between them for years. Eva wasn't going to ruin that and he wasn't going to let her get away with threatening children.

  "You will tell us where she is. And then she will be destroyed once and for all."

  The leopard's eyes widened.

  Zander and the rest of his men emerged from the trees again. A shake of the head told him that the shifters had disappeared, as they did so well. The humans were emerging from their hiding places to battle the fire, but at this point, the only thing that they could do was protect the buildings around the warehouse. Rollon grabbed the leopard shifter and handed him off to the humans to tend to, then pulled Thor aside.

  "You will return to the palace."

  His son looked outraged. "Are you kidding me? Your arm is broken. I can see it from here. I should be going into battle and you should return to the palace."

  Rollon grimaced as he glanced down at his arm. It was set at a strange angle, but it was only a break. "A bit of blood and I'll be fine. You're the only one I trust to find Hilda and protect Tindra."

  Thor ground his teeth but nodded reluctantly. "Is there anything you want me to tell her?"

  Rollon hesitated, then shook his head. "No. She knows."

  Chapter Seventeen – Tindra

  Rollon had been gone for several days and it was driving her crazy. There was only the occasional update as to where he was and what was happening. Tindra soon found that sitting around doing nothing only made her nerves worse, so she threw herself into work.

  Despite the morning sickness that was attacking her every day, she took over jobs that were left vacant by the men in the heart of battle. She did auditing, accounting, looking over financial records – everything in line with her job before she came to the palace. Everybody had to work twice as hard to make up for the deficit.

  She groaned as she collapsed onto her bed one night, her feet, back and legs aching. Her doctor's appointment earlier that day had shown everything was still fine with her pregnancy, but the doctor advised her to relax more. She wasn't sure how she was going to manage that, but for the baby, she'd try.

  Just as Tindra was going to start stripping off her clothes and take a nice shower, a shuffling under her bed caught her attention. She bolted upright to see Hilda slipping out from under it.

  "Were you hiding under my bed?" she yelped in surprise.

  Hilda nodded.

  "Have you been there all this time?'

  "No. There are secret compartments that only I know about." Hilda climbed onto the bed and bit her lip. "Rolly is really mad at me, isn't he? Because I've been talking to Eva."

  Tindra licked her lips. How could she word this so that wouldn’t send Hilda back into hiding? She had been talking to Eva. She might have something that she could tell them . . . "Well, he's not happy, but he understands why you did what you did. I'm sure that Thor and Ingrid—"

  A hand flashed out and grabbed Tindra's wrist. Hilda's grip was tighter than expected. "I don't want you to die."

  "I'm not going to die, sweetie."

  "Eva said that all humans who have vampire babies die."

  "She's lying." Tindra brushed Hilda's hair from her face while trying to free her other hand. "Thor's mother didn't die. Honey, you're hurting me."

  "Eva promised she would never lie to me." She released Tindra, tears filling her big eyes. "She promised."

  Tindra's heart ached. She pulled the little girl into her arms, stroking her hair. Hilda clung to her, her small body starting to shake with silent sobs. What sort of monster would abuse the trust of a child who so clearly loved her? Maybe she didn't know much about Eva, but everything she was finding out made her hate the woman more and more.

  "I wanted Eva and Ingrid to be together again. We were so happy then. Ingrid hasn't been happy in a long time."

  "I know. I know you thought it would make your sister happy. It's not your fault, okay? Eva is the one attacking the pala
ce. She's done everything. It's not your fault because you didn't know. You weren't told."

  Once again, Tindra was struck by how unfair the whole situation was. Hilda was a child who would never grow up. She would never understand things the way adults did. She would be stuck forever, seeing things in a childish light and struggling to come to terms with things that she just couldn't understand. But what had been the alternative? Dying as a child wouldn't have allowed her any of the things she would missing out on anyway. And at least she was able to have some life.

  Hilda buried her face in Tindra's shoulder. "I don't want anybody else to leave. I hate death. I hate it when people die. I hate when they leave me. My parents died and Ingrid would have died if Eva hadn't changed her. And then Eva left. She just left. Didn't she love me at all? She said she was my big sister and she would love me forever, but then she left. I'm not going to let you leave."

  "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

  "Promise." Hilda sniffed. "Promises don't work. They're broken and people leave. No. I won't let you leave."

  Tindra started to reassure her, but a sharp pain at her collarbone had her crying out instead. A fiery, burning pain flooded her blood, rushing down her arm. It clamped around her heart and she jerked, screaming. Hilda's hands were tight on her shoulders, pinning her into place. Ice seeped in after the burning pain.

  Her heart gave a hard thump, was still, and then began beating fast and hard. It was like an elephant was sitting on her chest. Her back tightened, stabbing pains running through it. Her hands and arms began to tingle.

  Hilda pulled back. Her mouth was bloody, the red liquid spilling down her chin. Her eyes were wide, a crimson color seeping into them. Tindra clutched at her neck, gaping, unable to speak. Her head spinning, stomach churning. Whether she was able to gasp out the question or Hilda saw it in her eyes, she didn't know.