Lizzie didn't look back as she walked out of Jackson's office.
It didn't surprise her that the train ride was long and boring. Since she knew all she could know about Nikolai, there was nothing for her to study, which meant she was alone with her thoughts, something she really didn't want.
It was night by the time Lizzie arrived at the familiar castle – this time, in a regular Honda rather than a tricked-out Mustang - and for a moment, she paused. It was the first time she had ever received an assignment where she hesitated and questioned whether or not she should go through with it. What if Nikolai really was innocent? What if he really hadn't set her up to be killed?
He would've come after you, a voice pointed out. If he was innocent, he would've come after you. He would have forced you to listen to him, no matter what.
The thought hardened her resolve, and she decided that to accomplish her assignment, the direct route would be best. Interestingly enough, when she got to the doors, she opened them easily, but no one was there to greet her. Carl was nowhere to be seen. The servants, the maids, they were all gone. Had Nikolai left the castle? Wasn't this just further proof that he was guilty? If he was innocent, wouldn't he have stayed?
Nikolai could hear her heart beat even before he saw her. He had been preparing for something like this, and as a result, sent everyone away. His prisoners were brought to his father's castle, still arrested and looking forward to the trial. He knew she would come, and yet he was afraid that she wouldn't. It took the vampire a long moment before finally deciding to meet her down stairs rather than wait for her to come up and look for him. His patience was worn too thin for that.
As calmly as he could, Nikolai headed down the grand staircase and saw her standing at the foot of it, almost as though she had been waiting for him. His eyes flickered over her; yup, she was still as beautiful as he had remembered, but then again, it had only been a couple of months. She couldn't have changed that much.
"I see your arm has healed," he said, glancing pointedly at her sling-less arm.
Even though Lizzie knew exactly what Nikolai was talking about, she glanced down at it before returning her eyes to his. She hadn't known what to expect when she saw Nikolai once again, but she couldn't possibly have guessed that her resolve would weaken. Was she too far gone to actually do it? Had he crawled so deeply under her skin that she couldn't get him out and shouldn't even try?
No, she had to do this. Immediately, she banished such thoughts from her mind and lifted the gun with bullets laced in werewolf blood, leveling at him. "I should probably tell you," she murmured, hoping her voice didn't waver, damning herself when it did, "that I'm here to kill you."
"Is that so?" Nikolai asked, his voice calm and emotionless, though he raised a disbelieving brow. He took a couple of steps forward, making sure her eyes stayed within his. "You're not going to shoot me." He reached out, and though Lizzie tried to pull the trigger, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
It wasn't long before the gun clattered to the floor.
Without warning, she began to pound on Nikolai's chest as hard as she could. "I hate you," she told him, hoping she didn't cry. "I fucking hate you, do you know that? I hate you so much that –"
Before she could finish, Nikolai captured her lips within his for a passionate, longing kiss. Lizzie tried to push him away and break free from Nikolai's vice-like grip, but she couldn't. Nikolai wouldn't let her. He had to show her that he still felt what he did for her and that those feelings were genuine, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she still felt the same way. She let out a small whimper, a moment of defeat, before closing her eyes and allowing herself to give into her desires. She could kill him later, couldn't she?
It was highly unprofessional, but Lizzie, at that point, didn't care.
When Nikolai began to trail his hand down the jumpsuit she was wearing to unzip it, she arched her back up, giving him better access to do so.
At least for the moment, let Nikolai pretend he was into her. Lie to her; it was okay for now.
As the zipper got lower, Nikolai pulled his lips away from hers, and began to trail kisses down her neck, across her chest, and into the valley of her breasts. No, she didn't want foreplay. She didn't want to linger in his warmth too long, afraid that if she did, she would never be able to save herself and do her job.
"I want you," she breathed. "Now. Let's go."
Nikolai frowned at this; he wanted their time to go slowly, to be able to explore her body and give it the attention he felt it deserved, just like their first time. He wanted to show her that he really did love her without using words. Apparently she wanted something else. Well, the least he could do was assure they were on a bed again. He picked her up, Lizzie's legs wrapping around his waist, and quickly led her to the room they had previously kissed in during the Masquerade.
It wasn't long before clothing was shed, and by that time, Lizzie had successfully shoved all the guilt out of her mind. She wanted this so bad and later she would worry about her job and assignment. She just wanted to pretend for a moment that Nikolai really felt for her, even if it was just sexual.
When they finally connected, both froze, wanting to linger on the sensation. Soon, Nikolai was moving deep inside of her, taking note to go faster, and wanting to feel all aspects of the woman underneath him before she had to walk out of his life forever. After being inside of her once, he knew it would never be enough. He had craved her since the first time, knowing no one else would ever be good enough. He had to have her. He would accept nothing less.
He loved her. And he wanted her.
When they finished, both cooled their bodies on the bed. They weren't cuddling as lovers should. In fact, both were staring at the ceiling, wondering what was going to happen next.
It was Nikolai who finally spoke. "If you're going to kill me," he began, the dryness gone from his voice, "then do it. I'd rather have the woman I love take away my life than my worst enemy."
30
"I couldn't do it," Lizzie said, taking a sip of her milk as she regarded Rachel through oversized sunglasses.
The two young women were dining together at a small café in the city. Lizzie was wearing clothing she would never normally wear because she was attempting to be incognito. Her familiar set of eyes were covered behind the glasses while her thick, wavy hair was pulled up into a ponytail with a plain, black hat over her head. Luckily it was sunny, so the articles of clothing she had chosen actually made sense; it would be somewhat obvious if it was a cloudy day and she was trying to block out a nonexistent sun.
"I just don't understand that," Rachel said, after swallowing a piece of her banana walnut bread. Her almond eyes tried to search Lizzie's face for some kind of answer, but with her eyes masked, she couldn't exactly decipher anything. "I mean, actually that's a lie; I do get it. But you never give up on a job, sweetie. Jackson flipped after getting your resignation letter six hours after he sent you on that mission. He doesn't understand anything, and you know sweetie, I highly doubt he will. What happened there? You don't have to tell me or anything, but at least help me understand why you quit a job you've been wanting since your mother passed away – abruptly, no less." Her lips curled into that familiar smile Lizzie adored. "You know I won’t tell anyone."
"I know," Lizzie said, feeling herself blush at the prospect of telling Rachel anything, but Rachel had been her best friend since before she could remember, and she trusted Rachel with her life, even though they were now on opposite sides of the law.
"Oh my God, you're blushing," Rachel said, her eyes immediately catching onto Lizzie's coloring face. "Oh thank God you blush because if I can't read your eyes, how else am I supposed to tell whether you're lying or not."
"I resent that," Lizzie said, though she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. "When have I ever lied to you?"
"Yeah, nice try, changing the subject," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. She leaned back in her chair; arms crossed over her chest and looked a
t the woman in front of her with an expectant arched brow. "Did you think I wouldn't notice something like that, Lizzie? Puh-lease. Give me some credit." After a moment's pause, Rachel quickly leaned forward. "So tell me," she whispered, anxious that people might overhear a very important and private conversation.
"Okay, okay," Lizzie said as her face deepened in color, temporarily avoiding Rachel's eyes for a moment. "But you can't tell anyone. I know you know that, but it had to be said. Okay, where to start…" She let her voice trail off, knowing full well that she was babbling and stumbling over her words, something she never did.
"Just start at the part where you get to the castle," Rachel suggested, and when Lizzie shot her a look, Rachel just smirked.
"Right, so I walk up to the house, and surprisingly enough, it was completely empty," Lizzie told Rachel. "Like, no one was there. Not Carl, not the maids, not the servants, no one."
"Except delicious, sexy prince vampire hunk was there, huh?" Rachel said, without the capability to stop herself. "It was like he was expecting your arrival, huh? Oh my gosh, that's so romantic!"
"Hey," Lizzie said, giving Rachel a look. "Do you want me to tell the story, or what?"
Rachel hid a knowing grin and nodded, pretending to zip her lips and throw away the key.
Lizzie snorted. "Yeah right," she said. "Anyway, for whatever reason – I think I was trying to figure out just why no one was there – when I hear someone coming down the stairs, and it was him."
Rachel let out what sounded like a cross-breed between an excited shriek and a squeal, though the neighboring tables didn't hear it. Even Lizzie couldn't keep the chuckles from slipping out of her mouth. For a moment, the two friends merely laughed, and Lizzie's mind had to point out that she couldn't exactly remember when she was this genuinely happy.
"Okay," she continued, once they had both gotten a hold of themselves. "It was like, everything I thought – like being able to handle this assignment, to kill him – yeah, that all went out the window. Just seeing him… I couldn't do it. But at that time, I didn't know that. So I told him I was going to kill him."
"Wait, you told him?" Rachel said, breaking the silence she had promised. "What did he say?"
Lizzie didn't even notice that Rachel had, in fact, interrupted her. "He told me that I wasn't," she whispered, though Rachel had no trouble hearing what he said. "I wasn't going to kill him because I loved him. So I leveled the gun at him, and he came towards me, but somehow, I couldn't – I couldn't shoot him. He pulled the gun from my hand and dropped it to the floor." She blushed at what happened next, and Rachel grinned deviously; Lizzie's blush could only mean that something juicy had happened. "So I start hitting him really hard, and he just takes it, like it's nothing. He is a lot stronger than I could have guessed. Anyway…" She pushed her brow up, avoiding Rachel's eyes. "Right, well anyway, the fighting turned into kissing."
"I knew it," Rachel whispered, even though Lizzie was so focused on what she was going to say that she couldn't clearly hear Rachel.
"I don't know why I did it," she said, then quickly shook her head. "No. That's a lie. I knew exactly why I did it; I just wanted to pretend, even for a few moments, that we felt the way I thought we felt for each other before everything happened. I wanted to be lied to, to feel good, you know? So we…" She let her voice trail off. "Well, I'm sure you don't need all the graphic details."
"Um, hell yes I do!" Rachel protested.
Lizzie had decided to keep mum on it, and instead continued on. "Well, afterwards, Nikolai said something," she murmured, her voice quieting. "He told me that he would rather have me kill him than anyone else because he loves me…" Her eyes found Rachel's and this time, she didn't blush, nor did she look away. "I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him. I don't know why I believed him. It was kind of this intuition thing. When I looked into his eyes, I just…" She shrugged her shoulders as though she couldn't find a better explanation. "I just couldn't kill him."
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why I haven't seen you these past few weeks," Rachel said, making it a point to keep her voice low. "Lizzie, your face is plastered on every news channel as though you're some missing person. But you're not missing, you're wanted. How could you be wanted by the NDS?"
"Listen, I don't know how Jackson knows things, but he seems to know everything," she allowed, and though she should have been scared by getting caught, she was amused by it all. "And the thing is, the treaty drawn up by vampires, werewolves, and humans will protect me from any kind of jail time."
"Wait," Rachel said, closing her eyes as her thoughts raced. "Wait, that treaty only protects humans that willingly choose to be a part of their…" She let her voice carry on as she snapped open her eyes and looked directly at Lizzie. "No way."
Lizzie couldn't keep the grin off of her face if she had tried, and she enthusiastically nodded her head. "He asked me a couple of nights after that evening," she said. "Obviously I'm not wearing the ring now, but you would be very proud of him."
"Honey, I can't believe you actually said yes," Rachel said, looking at her friend with obvious disbelief.
"I trust him, Rachel," Lizzie said, smiling to herself. "I don't know how to explain it any better than that. Listen, I know it's silly and naïve, but Nikolai is nothing like Brick. And when he asked me to marry him, I just said yes. I didn't have to even think about it, and you know me; I have to think about everything. Maybe that's how I knew. I'm not sure." She smiled at Rachel, as though she had a secret to tell her. "But anyway, the real reason I called you here, Rachel…would you be my Maid of Honor?"
Rachel's face said it all, but she still answered. "Of course!" she exclaimed, but her face suddenly turned serious. "But sweetie, even though this treaty is going to protect you, you know you're going to be under fire from both sides."
"I know," Lizzie agreed. "I know. But somehow, I’m sure that it’ll be worth it."
Epilogue
It had finally happened. They were married, and Lizzie had never been happier. Currently, they were in Bucharest, in the most expensive penthouse in the most expensive hotel. The reception had ended only moments ago, and even though her feet hurt from all the dancing and she was ridiculously exhausted, she couldn't help the brilliant smile from touching her features if she had tried.
Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, she was happy. She didn’t regret going through with everything, falling in love with not only a vampire, but the newly crowned King of all vampires no less. If someone had told her six months ago that she would not only fall in love with Nikolai Dragulia but agree to marry him as well, she would have laughed in that person's face, but there she was, in his arms, just as they were about to cross the threshold, officially becoming husband and wife.
The prisoners were tried and found guilty. Both she and Nikolai had to testify – which was annoying and time-consuming – but at least they were rest-assured that anyone associated with the assassination attempt was locked behind silver-infused bars, preventing them from any escape. Lewis was being held in isolation back in Transylvania, where his father could keep a close eye on him. It relieved Lizzie to know Nikolai was safe, at least for now.
"You looked beautiful tonight," Nikolai murmured to her after he had laid her on the bed. It broke her from her thoughts, something she welcomed. He took a seat on the corner of it, bending down to untie his shoes. "To be honest, I'm surprised that you actually walked down the aisle, and even more so, agreed to our vows. You do know when you say 'until death do us part' there's not going to be death, right?"
"I'm still human," Lizzie pointed out, her lips curling into a smirk through heavy lids. She was so tired, and yet she couldn't keep her eyes off Nikolai. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo, his voice giving her goose bumps even now.
"Don't joke about that," Nikolai snapped a bit rougher than he had originally intended. It was true that Lizzie was still human, and there were many vampires who were not at all happy about the prospect, but his father and mother seemed con
tent, and when they had met Lizzie, they liked her very much. "And anyway, you said you would consider allowing me to change you."
"I did," Lizzie conceded, nodding her head once. In all honesty, she had already made a decision, but hadn't wanted to tell him just yet. She wanted to give it to him later on. She sat up, wishing she could dispose of the wedding dress and get into some sweats, but the conversation was too serious to abandon just yet. Her arms coiled around Nikolai's strong shoulders and she pulled him into her so his back was resting against her chest. "If I decided I never wanted to turn, would you still love me?"
Though her voice was soft and whimsical, Nikolai knew that Elizabeth was serious about getting some sort of answer from him. And more important than anything else, it had to be honest. He shifted so he could look her in the eyes, his forehead gently grazing hers.
"If you never want to be a vampire, I would never force you to change yourself," he told her, making sure to capture and hold her eyes within his. "I love you for exactly who you are, and it would break my heart to watch you pass away, but I would do it because you mean that much to me."
Elizabeth looked at him, reading his eyes as best as she could. Without warning, another smile broke out onto her face, and using the hand that was currently cupping the back of his neck, pulled him closer until his lips touched hers. If there was one thing Elizabeth liked doing with Nikolai, it was kissing. The way his lips molded onto hers possessively, the way he could speed it up before slowing it down – the way he kissed her made her feel as though she was the only woman on the planet.
Before he knew it, Elizabeth's hands began unbuttoning his white collared shirt before slipping it off Nikolai's broad shoulders. With skill, she flipped him over so that she was on top of him, and as she began leaving trails of kisses up and down his neck, her fingers caressed his abdominals. She reveled in every twitch his body gave into, knowing that she was the cause for his pleasure.
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