by Eden Winter
If she was strong, then she would be able to go through with this plan that she barely had time to think through.
She had killed her own uncle to sit on the very throne she now ruled over. If she had the skill and temperament to go through with that, then she would have no trouble killing a human she had never known.
“It could be that Kainen is not even alive,” she told herself. She was wrong. She knew that she was wrong. The moment they had joined on that first night of passion between them, there was a tie between them that had not completely severed. There was something that connected her to him even over all of the distance. She could not see him or know where he was, but there was something inside of her that knew that the king was alive.
The worst part of it was that she did not know what he was planning. But he didn’t know what she was planning either. She had hinted at war when she sent him on his way while she was in tears. She had told him that she never wanted to see him again. Would he honor that? Was this the end of everything even before she killed the human?
Queen Veri struggled to keep herself on her horse. She had lost so much energy just from riding from her castle. She slid off the saddle; not wearing a long robe aided with her riding. She normally wore tight fitting pants and armor over the long-sleeved silk top that she wore. It gave her the regal look of a young warrior, and that was exactly how she wanted to look. Being a vampire alone was enough to terrify any human, but he did not know her. The easier it was for her to kill him, the better.
Veri urged Luci down the path that would lead her to the cabins where she would find her next meal. She was going to drink her fill, and then she was going to do away with the man who had stolen her love.
*****
No matter how often he had climbed down the mountain from the citadel, Adam was still not used to the terrain or the trail. He had to remind himself that his horse had no legs. That meant that there was no chance that his horse would slip beneath him or send him tumbling down the mountain, but Adam was still afraid.
He had reached the foot and was now making his way to the secret passage. He was hoping he would be there before nightfall, but that was unlikely. He had already been gone for a day.
His horse was gliding silently beneath him, all too familiar with this journey that they were on. This was the same horse he had taken that night when he first followed the king to the secret field.
Adam slipped into the entranceway and continued his journey. He needed to check on a few things before he returned to the castle. He didn’t know when he would next get such an opportunity. He kicked the horse beneath him so that it would move faster. Adam still needed the light in order to see all that was around him. He still hadn’t captured everything that he needed.
After several hours, he could see it. It was the other side of the mountain and the field that he knew all too well. One of the moons was shining in the sky, but he could also see the fading light of the suns. He waited until he was safely through the passage and out onto the field before coming off the horse. He kept the cloak on the horse, but he was now free and out in the open. No one knew where he was. He could be at peace. Or so he wished.
The blonde hairs on the back of his neck were tingling and standing on end, alerting him to something that he wasn’t quite sure of yet. His tunic seemed even tighter at his neck, and he knew that it was because of his fear. He wasn’t sure of what exactly, but he knew that soon everything was going to change. And he needed to act fast before it was too late.
*****
Veri galloped through the shrubs and trees. Now that she was full once more, she felt all her senses returning to her. Power was flowing through her body, and she was whole again. She would soon reach the clearing that she and King Kainen frequented. She was going to collect herself and come up with a plan.
She slowed her horse down to a gentle trot. Luci was an expert at moving over rocks and winding trails covered with bushes and trees. She had taken this very journey before. Veri always tied her up to a tree near the clearing and then walked the last few minutes onto the field.
The queen dropped from her horse, recognizing the tree where she normally tied Luci. Her horse whinnied softly, and Veri gave her an apple to appease her.
“I’ll be back shortly, Luci,” Veri said. She traced her fingers along the face of her horse and walked through the trees for the remainder of her journey.
Veri wandered around, listening to the sounds of the life around her. She took in the fading sunlight and welcomed the moon. She thrived under the moonlight.
Then she stopped. She heard something coming from the direction of the clearing. It sounded like a click or the snapping of something. She knew that it wasn’t a tree making those sounds. There would be silence and then a click and a long snap right after.
She moved without sound to a tree that was close enough to the field that she would be able to see clearly. Her eyes worked best when the moon was out.
There! She could see a person beyond the trees. It was a man wearing a navy blue tunic. She could see that his hair was blonde, and he was holding something in his hand. It looked like a black box. She had never seen anything like it before.
The person was looking up at the sky, and when he pressed something on the box, it clicked and then a light went off as it snapped.
What was he doing?
Veri moved closer and hid behind another tree. She could see him more clearly now. After each click and snap, he brought the black box down and he would peer into it. Was it a sort of looking glass?
The man turned to face her, and Veri sucked in her breath and widened her eyes.
It was him! It was the human that she had been looking for. But how had she not smelled him or known that he was even there?
‘I can kill him. Right now,’ she thought. Her mind was racing, and just when she was about to take another step toward the field, the lightning in her mind returned. She closed her eyes to stop herself from falling down. The pain was so severe now that she couldn’t even concentrate on the wild memories that were flashing in her mind.
And then, just as suddenly as the pain had started, it stopped.
Veri waited a moment before opening her eyes again. She wanted to be sure that the headache had gone. She breathed in deeply and blinked to adjust. She steadied herself and continued to watch.
The human had his back turned to her. This could possibly be her chance. She could make it a quick and painless death and send him to the sea.
“Come out,” she heard the human say.
But how? There was no possible way that he could…
“I know you’re there, Queen Veri.”
“You know me?” Veri asked. She spoke loudly enough for the human to hear her. She didn’t know why she hadn’t just killed him when she had the chance, but now she was curious as to how he could have known that she was there at all. She was still behind the tree, but she was no longer trying to hide from him.
“Kainen has talked an awful lot about you.”
The human had not turned to face her; he was staring into the black box.
“I’m Adam. I’m guessing you didn’t know that.”
“No,” was all Veri said. This had to have been a trick or a trap. Her eyes darted around her. She was keeping her wits about her, but she knew that if someone were near then she would be able to smell them. She could not smell Adam though; that worried and puzzled her.
It was stupid for her to have been caught this way. No human could track a vampire.
“Did you come to kill me?” he asked. It was bold of him to ask, but Veri could hear the fear in his voice. It was strange for him to be so close to her. She had only seen him in painful memories. He was larger than she had thought. Now, if only she could see his face and look into his eyes.
“What is that in your hand?” Veri asked when she had gotten closer to him. She didn’t want to answer him. She knew that when he had asked his question, he’d already known the answer.
“This? This is a camera. Almost forgot you don’t have them here.” His nonchalance was unsettling. It was brimming on the surface of his underlying fear, and that worried the queen even more.
“If you’re here to kill me, I’m afraid that I can’t let you do that.”
Adam finally turned to face Veri. She didn’t know what to expect when he did, but it wasn’t like anything she had ever experienced.
He was… breathtaking. Without a doubt, he was the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on. His tunic was the same color as his eyes, and his face was chiseled in a way that was utterly perfect. His eyes were like the sea and his blonde hair almost like the waves. It was not quite straight, and it explored the idea of becoming a curl as it swooped around his face. He had brushed his hair back away from his face, and Veri could see the golden highlights of his locks under the light of the moons. It was as if his entire being was glowing.
The world around her stopped for a moment, and she forgot where she was.
Adam’s eyes squinted when he noticed her reaction to him, and he smiled a sly smile then. His smile nearly melted her.
“You’re beautiful too, Veri,” he said.
A single blood red tear fell from her eye, and she blinked at him. She couldn’t kill him. How could she?
Adam took a bold step towards her—and then another. Neither of them said a word until he was mere inches away from her face. He pulled out a small piece of cloth from his tunic.
“This is for the blood. I want to see all of you.”
Queen Veri took the cloth and gently wiped under her eye, down her cheek, and her chin.
“I can’t smell you,” she finally said. Adam shook his head.
He raised the black box up to his face and pointed it at Veri. She took a step back, allowing herself to return to the present moment in case this was an attack.
He didn’t move or take a step closer. The box he was holding made a strange sound. The rounded section on the front moved forward and backward. She could see herself in the circled glass of it. Adam pressed his finger down, and Veri could hear the familiar click. When the box snapped, a bright light escaped it and temporarily blinded her.
That was when she fully returned to herself. She was no longer mesmerized by him. The rage she had once felt for him was back again, and she bared her fangs.
Adam did not move, but now… now she could smell the fear on him. Knowing that delighted her. She had not lost her touch.
But his scent quickly subsided, and he once again looked calm around her.
“I don’t think Kainen would like that,” he said.
“I don’t care what Kainen thinks,” she hissed back at him.
“You do. You’re only here because if you kill me, I won’t be in your way. We can stop pretending you’re both not in love with each other anymore.”
“You’re trying to trick me,” Veri said. She stared into the depths of his eyes, searching for an answer that she was impatiently waiting for him to give.
“The king still loves you, even if he won’t admit it to me, or even to himself.”
Adam’s voice was so calm. He was no ordinary human. He knew something that Veri didn’t, and she wanted to know before she killed him.
“What are you saying?”
“Do you need me to spell it out for you, Queen Veri?” Adam said with a laugh. “I can make you feel anything that you want, and I won’t even need to try.”
Adam offered her a dazzling smile then. Veri furrowed her eyebrows at him at first, but then she stopped herself. Her fangs shrank, and she was once again reduced to almost a mortal creature. She couldn’t resist how beautiful he was. Everything he had told her had faded from her mind, and she was no longer angry with him. How could one human enrapture her so? She only knew of vampires being able to stop a person in their tracks. Vampires were as beautiful as they were deadly, but Veri couldn’t shake this hold that Adam now had on her.
“I’m afraid of what he will think of me if I kill you,” Veri admitted.
“And that’s how I know that you won’t kill me,” Adam said. He placed a gentle hand on Veri’s shoulder. He was still smiling.
“I’m sorry about the headaches. I needed to keep an eye on you.”
Veri was confused now. He had been the one controlling her memories. But, how could he?
“I come from a very different world than this one, but I’ve always known that this realm existed.”
“How do you know that the king still loves me? How are you able to bring these visions to me?” Veri sputtered. She was no longer confused. She was growing impatient with his riddles. Nothing had been answered. Or maybe she had been asking the wrong questions. She should have been asking more about Kainen. Was he all right? What was Adam planning on doing with him? She couldn’t bring herself to ask.
The only thing that she knew was that he had been the reason she had been feeling so much pain, and not just the pain involving her head. He was the reason she was not with Kainen, and he even admitted that Kainen still had feelings for her. Veri wasn’t going to leave until Adam answered all her questions. She needed to know what it was that he knew about her and how it was possible for him to know what she and Kainen had been feeling.
Adam stared down at her. His face was almost menacing now.
“I can make you feel anything that I want you to feel,” he said again.
Veri took a step back and her eyes widened.
It was impossible.
“What… what are you?”
It was stupid for her to ask. She was already piecing it together. She knew what he was. But she couldn’t believe it. They had all disappeared. No one had seen or heard from them since before she was even born.
Extinct.
Her thoughts were coming to her in bits and pieces.
Adam looked down at her with a devious smile. He no longer had his hold on her. He watched her regain her senses, fascinated by how quickly she was coming to terms with the situation. He wasn’t going to wait for her. He had somewhere that he needed to be before he returned to the king.
Adam turned away from her and walked back to his horse.
Veri did nothing to stop him; she didn’t even protest.
She wasn’t dealing with a human at all. She was dealing with something far more powerful and far more dangerous—a creature that she had no idea how to destroy… a creature that had control of the king she loved. A king who had no idea what was happening to him.
She was dealing with an incubus.
A Note From The Author
Hello, this is Eden Winter. Thanks for reading my book! I hope you enjoyed the read. If you did, I would be super grateful if you could leave a little review on Amazon?
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Kindest Regards,
Eden Winter