Dinner With a Vampire (The Dark Heroine #1)(105)
Author: Abigail Gibbs

‘You can’t kill people because you’re pissed off.’

He slumped, slapping his palm against the stone, looking as though he was about to shout, but noticing another figure passing below he lowered his voice. ‘I get it! Okay, Girly? There’s no need to preach,’ he added.

I stood upright and folded my arms. ‘I don’t think you do, Kaspar.’

He studied me through his lowered lashes, his mouth parted just enough so I could see the two pointed teeth that were his fangs. He sighed and turned back to the railings, his head dropping down into his hands.

‘What do you want me to do, Girly? I can’t turn human for you. I can’t stop lusting for blood. I can’t stop killing. So what do you want me to do? Tell me!’

His eyes darted around my face, searching for answers, a mixture of desperation and exasperation on his face. I averted my gaze, unable to meet his eyes.

‘You could start by being honest.’

You’re not being honest, either. So what if he wasn’t going to tell you about being tied? Tell him. Tell him now, Girly.

‘You know what, Kaspar? You’re just selfish and self-absorbed and you don’t think that anyone can suffer like you do. And seriously, look around at what you have! It’s incredible!’

I gestured around the grounds but he didn’t look.

Instead, he looked at me with a peculiar expression almost identical to the one he had worn when I was clutched in the arms of the King during the Ad Infinitum ball: the face of a man fighting and losing. He stared at me for a moment and I shut my mouth, forgetting my next train of insightful insults. I whipped my head back to stare out at the grounds, wide-eyed, finding myself falling back on the taunts that had regularly spilled from my mouth in my first weeks.

‘You’re an arrogant, stupid, stuck-up jerk of a Prince with a serious ego problem who should really go and shove—’

My sentence ended in a high-pitched squeak as I was tugged around, an icy hand on my shoulder.

‘Fuck fate,’ he growled. Then his lips were on mine.

I was so shocked by his touch that I froze for a moment as he sucked gently on my lower lip, before I found my arms wrapping themselves around his neck, kissing him fervently back. I felt him smirk into the kiss before he drew back. I rolled onto my tiptoes, trying to reach his lips but he held me back.

‘Missed my touch then, Girly?’ He ran his thumb along my jaw and down my neck, pausing at my throbbing vein, pulsating far faster than it had been the minute before.

‘Ego problems,’ I murmured.

I heard him chuckle before he drew me closer again, lifting my chin and softly pecking me on the corner of my mouth. I followed him and he yielded, letting me suck hungrily and greedily at his lips as his tongue begged for entry, which I gave without hesitation. I let my tongue slip into his mouth too, gliding it across the points of his fangs.

I could taste blood and my heart picked up – he must have noticed because he chuckled, his fangs just clipping my lip as his hands worked their way slowly down my spine. Effortlessly, he picked me up and placed me on the railings as though I were a china doll – a doll he admired as he stepped back, his eyes raking across my body. His gaze was so intense I could almost feel my skin tearing away as it burnt hot; vaguely, I was aware that there was a fifteen-foot drop behind me.

He drew close again and clasped my hands behind his back before joining his own hands behind mine. I let my head rest on his shoulder, my mouth just brushing his neck, the Queen’s locket – my locket – trapped between his collar and mine.

‘Your father is going to kill us,’ I chuckled, but he shrugged.

‘He’ll have to deal with it.’ He sighed, his hands tangling themselves in my already-knotted hair. ‘Violet, don’t ever leave me. Whatever happens; however bad things get, just don’t go. Please.’

I pulled away, studying his face. I knew what he was referring to. ‘Kaspar, I have to tell you something.’

He frowned for a moment but then shook his head. ‘No, it can wait. Just enjoy now.’ I opened my mouth to protest but he pressed a finger to my lips. ‘Wrap your legs around my waist,’ he murmured in my ear.

I did so and with a muffled shriek on my part, he lifted me up in his arms. Stepping into the shadow of his room, he pecked me on the cheek, before kissing me again with an urgency that wasn’t there before.

It was an urgency I felt too and as his tongue delved between my lips I wriggled free of his grasp, though he quickly grabbed my hand and tried to tug me towards the bed. Yet I remained still, eyes transfixed on the open door.

In it stood the King, the irises and even the whites of his eyes entirely consumed with anger. He stared with an unwavering gaze at me, a soft growl escaping his mouth. Beside him stood a vampire I recognized as Ashton and another, unfamiliar to me. Both of their eyes were warring between black and red.

Kaspar yanked me to his side, hugging me close but I hardly noticed. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the King’s eyes as tears began running down my cheeks.

‘Not this again,’ Kaspar growled. ‘Forget my duty! It’s my choice whether to touch her or not!’

But the King didn’t hear, or maybe he didn’t care because he gave no reply. Instead, he motioned to the vampire I didn’t know, who moved forward.

‘Take her outside.’ His voice was flat.

Kaspar immediately moved in front of me and I began backing away.

‘What the f**k?’ he cursed, but quick as a flash Ashton had grabbed him and twisted his arms behind his back at a painful-looking angle; Kaspar was stronger and quickly broke free, elbowing him in the chest.

I back-pedalled, arms grasping at the air behind me until they hit something solid, my back following. The other vampire smirked, beginning to close the distance between us. But there was a sudden groan and the vampire glanced at Ashton, pinned against the wall, his neck encircled by Kaspar’s hand.

Seeing an opportunity I began sliding along the wall to reach the open French doors. The ridges of the wood panelling snatched like clawed hands at my shirt and though I knew I was running my feet didn’t seem to be moving; even as the vampire lunged towards me, I still had time to let my eyes wander to the painting of the Queen and her husband, her eyes as dead and lifeless as the living King that stood before us. My eyes found the locket around her neck as my hand found it resting against my collar and closing my eyes, I braced myself.

Hours.

The vampire’s weight thrust into me and I shrieked, yet heard no sound. I struggled, but I couldn’t move as his entire body pushed me into the wall, rapid breaths tracing a pattern along my throat. When I opened my eyes, I could see nothing but blotches until they gradually refocused and I could make out the King’s lips soundlessly moving as he stared in the direction of his son, who backed away from Ashton and spun to face me, a look of utter defeat on his face.