The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

Maria took note of Bran’s eyes as they followed the woman as she came closer to them. They were still just as black as ever, but she caught the slightest bit of warmth and recognition from them.

She was right.

This woman was his lover. Although she didn’t have horns. So what was she?

The woman stopped directly in front of her captor, seeming to lean slightly into him as if she couldn’t stand on her own.

Terrific. Hadn’t she just walked towards them? She could very well stand on her own, just like she’d been standing before she saw them. So why was she suddenly acting like she couldn’t stand up without his support?

“It’s been so long, Your Majesty,” The woman said with that infuriatingly seductive smile on her lips. “Why, I almost thought you’d forgotten us.”

“I’ve just been very busy, Elizabeth.” The words were clipped and precise, just like he normally spoke. The only difference was that he didn’t pull his eyes from the woman.

So this beautiful woman’s name was Elizabeth.

Maria didn’t know why that piece of information was important to her, but she filed it down for later.

“I understand. It’s so good to see you after so long.” Elizabeth placed her hand on her captor’s super arm just then, and Maria’s left eye started twitching in anger.

Who the hell was this woman? And why were they acting like she wasn’t there? Was she suddenly wearing her invisibility cloak?

No, that wasn’t possible. Because this damned vampire had placed a collar around her neck to nullify her powers. Fucking bastard. What did she even see in him?

Maria decided then that she was not going to remain silent until they decided to bestow their almighty attention towards her. She was not an animal that would be fed crumbs of attention and love every single moment of it. No, she was the Maria Hatzi-even though she wasn’t looking like it right now-and she was going to demand that attention be given to her.

“Weren’t we going somewhere?” Her voice came out hard, and they both turned towards her, as if just now remembering that she was there standing next to them.

How insulting.

“Oh.” Elizabeth’s brows dropped down as a frown found its way to her face. “You brought someone with you?”

“A relative.” Her captor clipped, glaring at her with hard eyes. He looked like he very much wanted to kill her and hide her body where no one would see it, but for the life of Maria, she wasn’t scared and she didn’t know why.

Elizabeth’s frown deepened, looking even more confused than she’d been before. Her eyes dipped to the collar on Maria’s neck. It was a quick movement, but Maria caught it because she’d been looking at her. “A relative?”

And she still hadn’t taken her hand off his body arm.

“Yes.”

Maria wanted to talk. She very much wanted to say something bitchy to the both of them-but mainly to her captor for being such an ass-but she tamped the urge down and bit on her tongue, having to physically hold the words back.

She was locked in a heated stare down with Bran and she couldn’t pull her eyes away to look at Elizabeth and see if she actually believed what he said about her being his relative.

His green eyes were focused on hers and her greys were locked on his. He wasn’t going to look away and she wasn’t going to either. She would normally look away when his eyes got too intense for her to hold, but right now, she was far too pissed to let him win.

He was not going to keep treating her like shit.

The hatred bled from his eyes, replaced with surprise. She didn’t have time to dwell on that before the surprise gave way to lust and as heat filled his eyes, it was almost like he’d tripped hers.

It was like he’d flipped a switch in her and suddenly the heat was getting to her too. Her breaths shallowed and her lips parted as she stared up at him. His own breathing grew laboured and she dimly caught his chest rising up and down with his quick breaths.

Somebody coughed and their eyes flew apart, searching for the source of the sound. It was Elizabeth and she was staring at them with an incredibly curious look.

Maria wanted to pluck the woman’s eyes out for interrupting them. She couldn’t just disappear and blend in with the floor?

Her captor cleared his throat. “We need rooms.”

Elizabeth stared at them for a bit more before forcing her eyes to remain on the vampire, although it drifted to Maria every now and them, interest and curiosity in the woman’s eyes.

Call her petty, but Maria was glad that Elizabeth had witnessed that moment between them. The only thing she hated was that she’d interrupted them.

“Uh…” Elizabeth gave her head a shake. “I’m sorry, all our rooms are booked full. We only have one room left.”

Maria had suspected that they were going to pass the night here before continuing on their journey to his friend’s house tomorrow, but now, her suspicion was confirmed.

The only setback now, was that they didn’t have sufficient rooms.

“Just one room?” The vampire grated. Of course, he had to be taking this far worse than her with his aversion to spending even a little amount of time anywhere near her.

She tried not to let that hurt.

“Yes. A lot of travellers are passing the night sue to the impending storm, I’m sorry.” Elizabeth told him, squeezing his arm lightly as though it was something to symphathise about. The bloody woman. She was just looking for excuses to feel him up. Maria couldn’t blame her. Those muscles begged to be felt.

“Yeah, I noticed.” The vampire’s eyes roamed the bar. “It’s packed in here tonight.”

Elizabeth nodded. “We only have one room. I could reserve it for you before someone else books it.”

“Alright. I’d appreciate it.”

The next few minutes were spent booking their room and Elizabeth ringing for one of her workers-apparently she owned the place-to lead us to the room. The vampire also told Elizabeth to have the maid bring a few supplies to get them through the night. Maria really hoped the clothes were going to be comfy. If she was going to sleep in an actual bed after three days of sleeping on a hard rocky ground, then she wanted to be in something comfortable at least.

“Will I see you tonight?” Elizabeth cornered the vampire just before they could go upstairs to the rooms, her eyes imploring and her breasts thrust out suggestively.

The vampire’s eyes didn’t even waver when he said, “Of course.”

Bastard!

He’d just jerked off to watching her touch herself a few hours ago and now he was telling this woman that he was going to come back to her tonight? She didn’t know what exactly ‘see’ meant, but by the looks Elizabeth had been throwing his way, then she was going to guess that they were going to have sex.

She ignored him as they went up the stairs with the maid in front of them. She could feel his stare on her back as she stepped into the room they were going to be spending the night. He stepped in after her, just as the maid escaped herself and hurried away, saying that she was going to get the supplies.

The room wasn’t that big, but it was adequate and hopefully, she wouldn’t get in his path any more than was necessary.

She saw him standing a few feet away in her periphery, taking in the room. She was standing in the corner of the room, leaning on the wall with her legs crossed at the ankles.

The urge to ask who Elizabeth was to him, was so strong, it was almost impossible to fight it. She didn’t want to speak stop him. She really didn’t. But she wanted to know who the woman was to him more.

“Who’s Elizabeth to you?” She decided to go straight to the point, no skirting around the corners. She had never been one for subtlety anyway.

His eyes tracked her as he walked towards what she assumed was the bathroom. “Bold of you to assume you have the right to ask me questions.”

Her shoulders tensed. “I just want to know-”

“We have a mutually beneficial relationship of sorts.” He cut her off.

She released a breath. There it was. Confirmation.

She’d been right.

Leave it up to the vampire to say ‘mutually beneficial relationship’ instead of just calling her his lover.

She was quiet as the maid knocked and came in with the supplies. The vampire collected somethings from her and retreated into the bathroom with them, while Maria collected the remaining things from the maid’s hands. When the maid had left, she went through the supplies and saw that there was a baggy T-shirt and a short gown that looked like it would be a bit tight for Maria.

She would sleep in the T-shirt tonight and wear the gown tomorrow. There hadn’t even been panties among the supplies. She would have to go without. In a gown. Awesome.

The vampire appeared from the bathroom a few minutes later, stealing Maria’s breath along with the remaining oxygen in the room.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Gods, he was heartbreakingly gorgeous.

The bath had washed away all the grit and dirt from his body, leaving his skin slightly tan and beautiful. His wet black hair was slicked to one side of his face and droplets of water ran off the strands. He’d also worn the new clothes and they moulded to his body perfectly, although the jeans looked a bit tight. But that only meant they hugged his package yummily.

And that fucking Elizabeth was going to be staring at him tonight.

Her mood sour, she grabbed her things and marched to the bathroom, stopping only when she reached the entrance. She was frustrated, but she had to try. “Don’t go to her.”

He didn’t even bother to give her an answer. He simply walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Exhaling in defeat, Maria sagged against the bathroom wall.