A Shade Of Vampire (The Mate)

by Bella Forrest

  “She isn’t yours to feast on.”

  “I found her!”

  “You found her for Derek.”

  I was already busy musing over what these words implied. Great. Save me from one vampire so that another can sup on me instead. I wasn’t too preoccupied, however, to ignore the change of expression on Lucas’s face at the mention of this Derek person.

  “She’s one girl, Vivienne. What harm would it do to take one girl for myself? I always get to keep the lovelies I find on these hunts. Always.”

  “You already have plenty of beautiful women in your quarters. You need not keep this one. Corrine made it clear that the young women found tonight are to be reserved for when Derek wakes up.”

  Lucas eyed me intently. He was looking at me so closely that I was sure he was already well-acquainted with every single mole and freckle on my face.

  I could see his Adam’s apple move as he gulped, deprived of the morsel he was so desperate to have – me. I wasn’t sure what to feel. I was relieved to escape Lucas, but was also filled with dread over who Derek was. There was no guarantee that he would be any better than my current captor.

  Lucas once again took my face in his hands and traced his thumb over my lips.

  “This fragile little twig couldn’t possibly be the one. I don’t understand why everyone seems to worship the ground Corrine walks on. No matter what that witch says, Sleeping Beauty has shown no signs of waking up any time soon.”

  “Derek will wake up soon. The sooner you accept that, the better off we’ll all be.”

  “I’m your brother too. Why do you constantly choose him over me?”

  “Despite what you think, it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s my twin. It has everything to do with who you are and who he is. I love you, brother, but you must accept that you weren’t meant to rule.” Her words were spoken gently, but firmly, an unmistakable hint of affection coming with every utterance.

  I could see the pain in Lucas’s eyes at the bold statements coming from his own sister. At that point, I knew I must have truly gone mad, because I actually felt sorry for him. I knew what he felt, what it was like to have no one on your side. I didn’t think anyone deserved to feel that way.

  He quickly reminded me, however, that he was my tormentor and made me completely reconsider my stand in the matter. Whatever anger or sadness he felt, he took out on me. He clamped one hand over my neck, constricting my breathing. A claw protruded from the thumb he had over my lips and he began pressing the end of it over my mouth. I couldn’t help but whimper as his sharp nail drew a small line of blood over my sensitive lower lip.

  “Lucas! Stop it!” Vivienne once again raised her voice in reprimand.

  He let go of me, allowing me to gasp for breath. He backed away and stared down at me like I was the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen in his life.

  “I’m just trying to help you wake your beloved Derek up, Vivienne. Take this little minx to him and make her kiss the Sleeping Beauty. The taste of her blood just might wake the prince up.”

  He began to head for the door, but stopped to glare at his sister before completely heading off.

  “Isn’t that how you think all this is going to play out when he wakes up? Just like a fairy tale?”

  I can’t express how relieved I felt when he finally left the room. The words exchanged by the siblings remained in my head, but I was too overcome by emotion to even attempt to make sense out of them. My knees were shaking so I gave in and sank to the ground before finally looking up to see what exactly Vivienne looked like.

  If I thought Lucas could be beautiful, Vivienne was even more stunning to behold. She was a couple of inches shorter than her brother, but had the same dark hair and pale complexion. Her eyes, however, were different. Against the light in the room, her eyes almost looked violet, with hints of deep purple.

  She was eyeing me warily, as if I was a heavy burden that she had to bear.

  “Thank you,” I told her, genuinely meaning it even though I had no idea what she had in store for me.

  There was a deadpan expression on her face as she looked at me.

  “Understand, girl, that you are nothing here. You’re nothing but a pawn, a piece used to make the board move. Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek’s affections. Considering everything I know about my brother, I’m not sure that’s even possible.”

  Her words dealt my hope a final crushing blow. She made it perfectly clear that wherever this place called the Blood Shade was, I had no allies. No friends. I had only myself to rely on. That, I thought, was the most frightening aspect of my predicament. After all, how could I rely on someone whom I couldn’t trust?

  CHAPTER 4: DEREK

  The moment my eyes shot open, I could hear everything, smell everything, feel everything within at least a quarter mile radius around me. I was sure that the sensation alone would bring my body into complete shock, until my vision settled on a familiar face. The woman I had trusted enough to provide my escape from everything.

  “Cora?”

  It was strange. The last thing I remembered was Cora’s face as I’d faded off into slumber. It felt like I had only slept for a few moments before being jolted awake. I wondered if something had gone wrong with the spell. Looking at the witch, I couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible that she looked younger. I found my answer when the buxom beauty with light brown skin and long, cascading locks of chestnut hair shook her head.

  “I’m not Cora. I’m Corrine.”

  I lifted myself up from the slab of stone that served as my resting place…for how long, I could only muse. I took in my surroundings - I was in a candlelit hall with marble floors and giant pillars. The first word that came to mind when I surveyed the place was sanctuary.

  I eyed the young woman I was alone in the room with, wary of her intentions. It took a moment for her strange clothes to register. I became aware of how I was dressed and realized that perhaps more time had passed than I initially thought. At that point, it didn’t really matter.

  The bottom line was that I wasn’t supposed to wake up. Ever.

  Contemptuous that I would wake when I so explicitly asked to be given an escape from which I would never wake, I shouted a command as prince of the Blood Shade.

  “I want to see Cora. Bring her to me.”

  I hated the authoritative tone my voice naturally took on. Who was I to issue commands? I was no prince – much less the savior Vivienne painted me to be.

  The prophecy she spoke soon after we were turned into vampires immediately haunted me as I recalled it.

  The younger will rule above father and brother and his reign alone can provide his kind true sanctuary.

  I still remember the look on Vivienne’s face when she uttered those words. More than that, I saw the expressions of my father and brother. Resentment.

  I snapped myself out of the bout of nostalgia I was sinking into and raised a brow at the woman before me. Why isn’t she moving? I was surprised by my own indignation at the idea of her not immediately jumping on my order.

  Despite my misgivings about ruling, I wasn’t used to others not obeying me. After a hundred years of fighting for survival and leading my coven to the Blood Shade, I’d grown accustomed to being revered and followed. I wasn’t sure I liked that about myself, but it was what it was.

  “Would you like us to dig her grave up, your highness? I doubt her corpse will do much good to clarify whatever questions you have in mind.”

  I grimaced. Your highness. A reminder of the day my father took to heart the coven’s silly notion to establish himself as king of the Blood Shade. However, the title did not bother me as much as the news of Cora’s demise and this young woman’s manner of addressing me. I swallowed hard as I grabbed the edges of the stone slab I was then sitting on.

  The sensations coursing through my veins made it clear exactly what my body was crying for at the moment. Blood. I was famished for blood. Another
bitter reminder of the past I meant to escape when I gave the witch permission to put a sleeping curse on me.

  Desperate to divert my thoughts to other matters, I shifted my gaze toward Corrine.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m the witch of the Blood Shade, descendant of the great witch, Cora.”

  I paused, keeping my eyes on her. That information alone commanded my respect. No wonder she speaks to me as she does. If she was Cora’s descendent, it was better to keep her as ally rather than foe. I heaved a sigh, not quite sure I wanted to hear the answer to my next question.

  “What century is it?”

  “The twenty-first.”

  I removed my gaze from her as I let that information register. Four hundred years. I escaped for four hundred years.

  Corrine began circling me like a damned vulture. I could sense her distrust. She was scrutinizing me, perhaps wondering what my awakening meant for the Blood Shade.

  I wanted to tell her that it meant nothing, because I fully intended to escape from it all over again. But there were so many questions running through my mind, although I was uncertain if I really wanted to hear the answers to them.

  “Why am I awake?”

  “It’s simply time.”

  I clenched my fists. “Time for what?”

  “For Derek Novak to stop acting like a coward and face what he was meant to do. Rule.”

  My jaw tightened, my teeth gritted. “I didn’t ask for this.”

  “Neither did any of us, but if his highness is entertaining any notions of going back to his dreamy reprieve, then I suggest you forget them now, Prince. Until you’ve played your part, there’s no means of escape. Cora made certain of that.”

  “What do you mean…”

  Before I could finish my question, the double doors made of fine acacia swung open and my older brother, Lucas, and my twin sister, Vivienne, strode into the chamber.

  Lucas gave me a curt nod. I nodded back. That was the closest we ever got to showing each other brotherly affection.

  Vivienne, on the other hand, threw her arms around my neck, whispering how glad she was that I was finally awake.

  I couldn’t keep myself from telling her exactly what I felt. “That makes one of us.”

  And then it happened. I could feel my gut clench in an excruciating twist. The smell was overwhelming – practically intoxicating. When I saw them, I couldn’t help but wonder whose idea it was to bring about this sort of cruelty upon my wake.

  As my sister stepped aside to allow me full view, I remembered everything. I remembered why it was so important for me to stay asleep.

  Five beautiful young women – innocents – no older than I was when I became a vampire, stood before me. I could sense their fear and the predator in me was desperate for release. I hated myself for it, but I wanted nothing more than to suck every last drop of blood out of every single one of them.

  CHAPTER 5: SOFIA

  My eyes were glued to the young man Vivienne was embracing only moments ago. There was no question in my mind that it was him. He was the one Vivienne told Lucas that I was here for. He was the one the guards and servants were whispering about. He was Derek Novak.

  Soon after Vivienne left me inside the dungeon, guards arrived to bring me to another area of the place they called the Blood Shade. I and several other women around my age were brought out of a network of underground caves they called The Cells. I assumed it was the Shade’s prison system of sorts. My first instinct was to try to figure out where we were.

  All I saw were the tallest trees I ever laid my eyes on – I assumed they were giant redwoods that I’d read about in books. They surrounded us on all sides except for one – our side – which from what I saw, consisted of a huge mountain range, whose ragged cliffs spelled danger. It was in the intricate cave system of this mountain range that they managed to carve out dungeons that they kept us all in. I was impressed by how they were able to pull it off, but I couldn’t help but wonder if human blood was shed in turning the Cells into a reality.

  From the Cells, we were guided through a well-traveled pathway across a dark, murky wood, before we arrived at a very large clearing at the center of what seemed like a massive forest. Whispers from the guards who were escorting us to our destination informed me that we were at “The Vale”. I assumed that it was the Shade’s center of civilization. I guess I could say that it was the Blood Shade’s main town, built up of several structures, whose architectural styles were the likes I’ve never seen before – almost like a mix of modern and Victorian architectural design with certain elements that looked like they just popped out of fantasy or sci-fi movies. I was still marveling at the places we were passing by when they ushered us to a place that reminded me of a spa Ben often dragged me to for massages.

  It was at “the spa” that we were pampered, perfumed, and exquisitely dressed in gowns made of fine silk - the kind which I could only dream of ever affording.

  We asked several times why we were being treated so, and received no answers at first, until one of the women styling our hair got tired of the questions and replied.

  “Rumors are that you girls are to be part of the prince’s harem. All of the Blood Shade’s Elite have harems of their own. You girls are lucky enough to be chosen to serve the legendary Derek Novak himself. That’s all I’m going to say, so you best shut your pretty little mouths up.”

  I had so many questions after that. Being a part of anyone’s “harem” sounded terrifying to me, but I knew that prying for more answers would most likely lead someone into trouble. So, I satisfied myself with keeping my ears open to the hushed whispers being exchanged around me. All I gathered was that the prince had been asleep for hundreds of years and that “the vampires” see him as some sort of “savior”.

  I also realized that the women dolling us up were all humans. I wondered if they too were kidnapped like I was.

  Once we were ready, the guards who had escorted us to “the spa” came for us. I’ll never forget the look on the face of one of the guards when he saw us.

  “The prince is one lucky bastard,” he muttered beneath his breath, before instructing us to stand up and follow them.

  We were marched along the Vale’s breath-taking structures on to a cobblestone pathway that led to another area of the dark forest surrounding the Vale. We eventually reached a clearing that led to a structure that reminded me of pictures that I saw of the Taj Mahal – only this one, I assumed, was a lot smaller.

  “Welcome to the Sanctuary, ladies,” one of the guards said, a smirk on his face as he openly ogled us with his amber gold eyes.

  They made us enter the front door. It was in the well-lit corridor in front of us that we saw Lucas and Vivienne. I could feel Lucas’ eyes on me, making my insides squirm. Vivienne instructed us to follow them and we did. We soon turned a corner and walked into a large candlelit chamber.

  Standing there, I found myself unable to pry my gaze away from Derek Novak, wondering about all the fuss surrounding him. He was what every teenage girl would most likely describe as hot, which was rather ironic considering how pale and cold he looked. He had the same features as his brother, but there was something more refined about him, with a hint of boyishness in his features. I could instantly tell that he was younger than Lucas. I entertained the thought that perhaps I was indeed better off under his mercy than Lucas’. However, the words Vivienne spoke to me before she left still haunted me.

  “Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek’s affection… I’m not sure that’s even possible.”

  “What is the meaning of this? Why would you bring them to me?” Derek spoke up. His voice was deep and powerful. He was breathing heavily as he said each word.

  “Take them away from me.”

  “We can’t do that.” Vivienne shook her head. “You’ll need to learn to control yourself with them. We will give you blood to feed on soon enough, but right now, you need to keep yourself in ch
eck when around them.”

  “If you don’t want them to die, why bring them to me now?!” His voice rumbled through the cavernous hall.

  Everything about his demeanor – the way his chest heaved, the way his fists clenched – made it clear that he was doing everything in his power to keep himself from attacking any one of us – perhaps even all of us.

  I shuddered at the display of temper from this young man, whose immediate command we were going to be subjected to.

  Vivienne didn’t seem fazed at all. In a calm, collected voice, she responded to her brother.

  “Because you and I both know that if you are to face what lies ahead of you, you need to be able to control your impulse to satisfy your hunger. These women were handpicked to become part of your harem. They’re the loveliest among a recent hunt we made.”

  Despite my predicament, my ears perked up at that last statement. Lovely was not something I’d ever been described as before.

  Lucas chuckled. “This is cruel and unusual punishment, Vivienne. I told you that. Derek hasn’t had blood for the past four hundred years. He can’t be expected to not want to rip these girls’ heads off. Hell, I’ve been feeding for the last four hundred years and I still want to have my way with them.”

  Derek, still looking like he was about to attack us at any moment, simply gave him a sideward glare before he roamed his eyes toward each of us girls – one by one.

  “A harem? A hunt? Since when do we have these? Who are these girls and where exactly did you ‘hunt’ them?”

  Lucas, Vivienne and the other woman present in the hall exchanged uncomfortable glances.

  It was Vivienne who eventually answered the question. “They’re humans abducted from the outside world. We hunt humans from the outside world to become slaves here, to do the work necessary. Those who prove to be useless are fed on. The choicest and most beautiful among the captives are kept by the Elite as part of what we began calling a harem a long time ago. Some of the favored Lodgers also have one or two beauties of their own. The humans who form the harems are kept alive for a year and whoever owns them get to decide their ultimate fate after that.”