Idris

Something was happening to her. She was gasping for breath and clutching her chest, big eyes round in her pale face.

Helplessness swamped me. Was she sick? Did she need human medication? Her arms were flailing, and she looked so small and alone on the bed. I reached for her, and she batted my hands away halfheartedly, so I ignored her. I gathered her in my arms and released just enough somnus from my wrist to make her calm but not enough to make her pass out like last night.

She inhaled and coughed, and while her chest still heaved against mine, she was breathing deeper now, and color was returning to her cheeks. I gathered her hair in my fist and tugged on it so I could look her in the eyes.

Her pupils were slightly dilated, thinning her hazel irises.

“Are you okay?”

“Panic attack,” she whispered. “I-I think I’m okay now. What was…” Her voice dropped and she swallowed. “What was that? That smell?”

She should know this, as she was half vampire, but even plied with somnus she was keeping up the ruse. Or she was telling the truth. I held up my wrist. “We have a gland here that secretes somnus. A large dose will render you unconscious, like last night. A slight bit just makes you woozy.”

“I feel woozy,” she said, her lips pouted slightly. I still held her hair in my fist, and her eyes traced my face. I stared right back at her, letting her take me in. Her expression eased from panic, to relief, to curiosity. She blinked and her thin, arched brows tipped in. She slowly raised a hand, and I told myself to stay put, let her do what she wanted to do. Her finger touched the tip of one of my fangs. “They are really real,” she said with a hint of awe.

Her breath was minty, and her hair and skin were so soft beneath my palms. It’d been a long time since I touched anyone. I didn’t often fuck humans after I fed from them, preferring my own kind, and even then it was rare. I’d always been too focused on my future. A future that had changed drastically.

Still, my body was very aware that a small, soft female was in my arms. She was straddling me, her barely there clothes doing nothing to prevent her heat from burning through my jeans. My cock had hardened, and I clenched my jaw as I eased her off me. No way would I give in to my attraction to Celia. She was the Valarian princess. Whether she knew it or not, she was still the enemy.

I moved away from her, despite my body screaming at me to stretch out on top of her, and explore her body while she explored mine. With a barely suppressed growl, I dropped down on my chair, away from her. Now that she’d lost my body heat, she shivered and gathered her blanket around her again, watching me warily.

“I can’t stress enough that I need you to be honest with me,” I said.

She nodded. “I’ll be honest with you, but I think you have the wrong woman.” Her voice trembled a bit, but grew stronger with each word, sincerity laced into every word. “I have no idea who my parents are. If you’re looking for my dad, then I can’t help you.”

I didn’t respond right away, choosing to wait her out. If she wasn’t being honest with me, then she’d been coached within an inch of her life to deceive. I couldn’t drop my guard, though. I’d always thought I was good at ferreting out lies, but after learning my father had lied to me my whole life—my own flesh and blood—I wasn’t too keen on trusting anyone, especially this woman I’d just met.

So even though my gut insisted she was telling the truth, I couldn’t trust it anymore. My father had succeeded in making me a bitter, distrustful vampire. I fucking hoped he was happy. So I’d play her game, tell her what I knew about her, but I wouldn’t trust her, would never trust her, no matter how goddamn soft and right she felt in my arms.

I leaned forward and braced my elbows on my knees. I didn’t want to miss a single reaction of hers. “Ah, but you can. Because you might not know who your dad is, but he knows who you are.”

Her eyes bulged, and genuine confusion and frustration darkened her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Now came the test. “Your father is king of the Valarian vampire clan. They are our enemies, because they would like to see all humans live in subservience to them as blood slaves. My clan, the Gregorie clan, has maintained a peaceful, independent coexistence with humans for centuries and want to keep it that way.”

She didn’t say a word as the color slowly drained from her face. She wrapped her arms around herself, then turned away. I wondered if she’d have another—what was it called?—panic attack, but instead she didn’t speak. She didn’t move. Then slowly her lips twitched and she began to laugh. What began as a soft giggle turned into an all-out, full-body peal of laughter. She fell back onto the bed and kicked her feet, and I wasn’t sure when it happened, but that laughter switched to crying, and then sobbing with rivers of tears streaming out the corners of her eyes, soaking her hair.

I’d broken her. I’d taken this woman from her simple life and simple apartment and I’d broken her in a matter of an hour. Or I could blame the Quellen for that. He’d been the reason I’d taken her before I received the okay from Athan. If I didn’t grab her, more Quellen would have come to finish the job the first one didn’t. That was how I justified this, even as her outburst soured my stomach, and the urge to comfort her nearly overpowered me.

Finally, she quieted, and sat up again, her limbs shaky. She wiped her eyes with the blanket and looked at me with a puffy face. “So, you’re saying I’m some vampire princess,” she said, her lips twitching again like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“You’re a dhampir,” I explained. “Your mother was human, although I’m not sure who she is or if she’s still alive. So you’re a hybrid.”

She scoffed, irritation replacing her disbelief. “And do you have proof of this?”

“Not really. I can’t tell you how we know of your existence. We just do.” I couldn’t tell her how Zeb had learned about her.

She gave me a withering look. “And if I’m such a great vampire princess then why was I abandoned at birth? Why did I grow up in foster care instead of some pampered…whatever? I’m a nurse in Mission City. That’s all I am.” She crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing in a glare.

Athan had told me that convincing Tendra had not been easy. “You’re not just a nurse, Celia Valerie. Do you dream?”

She froze, eyes cutting sharply to me, and I knew I had her. I was born a dhampir, too. I remembered the dreams. Her chin quivered slightly before she tilted it up in an act of defiance that made my blood heat. Her lips curled back. “I don’t know a thing about dreams. Nightmares? Yes. But in all my life, I’ve never had dreams.” Her voice cracked on the last word and she looked away again.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that one hint of vulnerability, her scorn of dreams, and I definitely didn’t like her breaking eye contact with me. Most of all, though, I was impressed that this woman I thought I’d broken had put herself back together again within minutes to challenge me.

“Look at me,” I commanded, my voice firm but not unkind. The way my father had taught me when I was in training to be king.

She hesitated, then slowly turned her head to face me squarely.

“The nightmares. Being chased through streets with buildings leaking blood through every crack in the bricks. Right?”

She didn’t answer for a while, only stared at me as she hugged her knees to her chest, a small bundle on the bed. “Trees,” she whispered.

“What?”

She cleared her throat. “For me it’s trees. They bleed and they scream.” Her voice grew in volume as she spoke. “I have to keep running, and my feet hurt, and my lungs are on fire. But if I stop, they get me.” She speared me with those round eyes framed with long, dark lashes. Her cheeks were rosy with color. “Who are they, Idris?” she asked. “Who’s chasing me?”

“It’s not who. It’s what. It’s your vampire side. You probably have another couple of years and if you’re not turned by then, you’ll go mad.”

She dropped her forehead onto her knees, her hair cascading around her head to hide her face from me. She rotated it side to side, muttering something. Finally, she faced me again. “Is this where you tell me you have to drink from me? Turn me so I don’t go mad? How many humans does this usually work on?”

I didn’t have time for this. “I’m not going to turn you. I had thought your father would find you and do it, but with the Quellen last night…” I sighed and shook my head. “That complicates things.”

“How so?”

“Because Quellen are hired to do dirty work, like assassinations.”

She sucked in a breath.

“Yeah,” I said. “So right now I’m trying to figure out who hired them to kill you. Another clan? Because it wasn’t us. Or was that staged and you were in on it?”

She threw up her hands. “I don’t know what else to tell you! I don’t know any vampire clans or why they’d want to kill me. I had no idea I was…half vampire. Everything you’re telling me is fucking news to me, and not that I believe it, mind you, and I’d appreciate it if you’d trust me a bit since I haven’t done anything to you! I’m the one who should be angry.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I did save your life.”

She scowled at me. “Oh, right. Thanks. But something tells me that saving my life is in your best interest. Is that right?”

She wasn’t stupid. “You’re right.”

She twirled a piece of hair in her finger. “So, am I bait? You planned to use me to draw out my father, but the fact that someone wants me dead, and you don’t know who, throws a wrench in that, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t have to answer her. My silence was my acquiescence.

She blew out a breath. “Well, how about you just let me go, then? We can just forget this whole thing happened, and I’ll lay low and hide from those Quellen things.”

“You don’t hide from Quellen,” I said.

“I’ll move,” she announced.

“They will find you.”

“Then what are you going to do with me?”

“Keep you here,” I said. “Until my king tells me what to do with you.”

She gaped. “This is…unlawful. And I have a job. The hospital will look for me…I have friends—”

She was worked up now with her rant so I interrupted her, “It is unlawful in your world, sure, but we don’t operate under human laws.”

“You kidnapped me.”

My patience was waning. “I saved your life.” My last two words were gritted out through clenched teeth, and she flinched before she scurried farther up onto the bed. Away from me.

“I’m guessing I can’t call anyone?”

“That’s a no.”

She pressed her lips together for a moment. “Well, I need food.”

Right, humans needed food. Which I had planned to get and have ready when Athan gave the orders. Now? I had nothing and had to leave her to find something. Why did that make me feel so unsettled?

“I’ll go now, before the sun comes up. I have about an hour. Any requests? Do you want coffee? Tendra used to drink coffee.”

“Who’s Tendra?”

“My brother’s wife. She lived in Mission as a human until she met my brother and was turned.”

She clutched the sheet tighter around her. “Turned? Did he…turn her into a vampire?”

“It was her choice.”

She stared at me like I was an idiot.

“It’s…complicated. You might meet Tendra one day. But Athan won’t let you anywhere near her unless he knows he can trust you.”

“Fuck you,” she spat, the swiftness of her anger surprising me. “I don’t need to meet your precious Queen Tendra. Just get me food I can live on and leave me alone.”

Her eyes were wet again. She tossed herself onto the bed and rolled away from me, showing me her back. Her shoulders shook and I ached to touch her again, a reaction that confused me. So I stood up from my chair. “Be back in an hour. Maybe get some sleep.”

When I opened the door, I heard the slight muffle of her sobs. I shut the door behind me and headed to one of the staircases that would take me upstairs. All around the city were portals, magic our Elders had bestowed to give us a safe place underground to live. All I had to do was leak some somnus at a portal, and the solid wall would turn transparent, allowing us to pass through. Only Gregorie clan vampires could activate these portals.

I walked through the wall, made sure it was sealed once again, before taking off into the darkness of the Mission streets.

My skin felt transparent, porous, like everything flung at me was hitting soft organs. I needed to feed, but I wasn’t confident that would fix the uneasy feeling slithering over my skin like snakes.

I hadn’t expected Celia to make me feel so off-kilter. I’d spent most of my life feeling little attraction to anyone. Feeding was the only time I wanted to fuck, and even then it was infrequent, and I always found a vampire. But with Celia…I was hard all the time. I couldn’t stop staring at her lips, the delicate line of her collarbone, and her long fingers. Her slender feet with a high arch. I remembered how she felt in my arms, her heat settled over my cock, her tits pressed against my chest, and that soft hair slipping through my fingers.

Fuck this. Fuck it. She was a Valarian, and I’d kidnapped her. She was scared of me, and all I could think about was screwing her. Why was this so fucked up?

I inhaled deeply, hoping the fresh air of the early morning would take the edge off my mood. My father had always said my greatest weakness was my impulsiveness—that I was ruled by my emotions and didn’t think about consequences. Not like Athan, who weighed every decision, thinking everything through before he acted.

I couldn’t fuck this up. This was my chance to prove that I wasn’t the weak link my father thought I was.

My phone chimed and I answered the call without looking who it was. I knew.

“Idris.” It was Athan.

“Brother,” I said.

“I’m getting reports of a dead Quellen in a human apartment. Care to fill me in?”

In all the confusion of securing Celia, I hadn’t called Athan. Fuck. “I’m sorry. Everything has been a bit of a whirlwind.”

“You have a minute now?”

I didn’t miss the sarcasm in his tone. “Yeah, I’m on my way to get her supplies. Long story short, I was watching Celia in her apartment. I saw a Quellen sneak in while she was sleeping. He was going to kill her. I killed him, and then took her before more could arrive.”

“He was going to kill her?”

“Yep, saw it with my own eyes. He was about to plunge a knife right into her chest.”

“This doesn’t make sense.”

“I know the Valarians use the Quellen a lot, but why would her father keep Celia’s existence a secret only to kill her now?”

“I don’t know. According to Zeb’s informant, very few people know about Celia, and the king is sensitive to any mention of her at all.”

“So do you think this is the work of another clan? Maybe Queen Rena of the Soros clan? Or the Quellen working independently?”

“Not sure. I’ll reach out to Queen Rena. First of all, you have Celia secure?”

“Yeah, she’s in the apartment I had prepared for her. She needs food and clothes, which I’m going to her apartment to get now.” I had to scout it out first to be sure the Quellen were gone.

“How is she?” That was just like Athan to ask.

“She’s okay. Scared, a bit confused. But she’s strong, and she’s reasonable.”

“Does she deny any knowledge of who her parents are?”

“Yes, she denies everything. But she has the dreams. She admitted that.”

Athan waited a beat before speaking. “And how are you handling her?”

My mouth went dry, and my stomach cramped. I needed to feed soon. “I’m handling her.”

“I know this is all still so raw to you—”

“You lost a father, too,” I sneered. “Don’t act like I’m the sensitive one that needs coddling.” But even as I said the words, I knew why Athan was worried. I squeezed the phone until the edges dug into my palms. “I’m sorry. I’m fine, Athan.”

“It’s okay to say you’re not.” His voice was softer, kinder. He was truly always meant to be king.

“I’m not used to being around a human this much. The way she looks at me…she studies me in a way that makes me feel like I have no skin. Like everything in me is hanging out there for her to see.” I cursed how much I said. I didn’t talk like this. Not to Athan, not even to myself in my head. I chalked it up to delirium because I needed to feed. “It’s probably because I’m hungry,” I muttered.

When Athan spoke again, concern dripped from his voice. “I know how it feels, brother. Watch yourself around her. We’re still not sure we can trust her. Do you believe her?”

I answered the first word that came to mind. “I do.”

Athan hummed. “I see.”

“If she’s lying to me, then she’s a damn good actress.”

“Maybe she is.”

“You’re not here. You don’t see the look in her eyes, the way her entire body shook when she talked about her nightmares, and how she had a panic attack in my arms. You don’t know!” I ended my tirade panting. Fuck, I was losing it. Completely. And it’d only been one day. I was the worst kidnapper ever.

“Idris…”

“I need to go. I’m almost at her apartment.”

“One thing, brother.”

“What?”

“Do not touch her.”

I stopped in my tracks. “What did you say?”

“She’s half Valarian. I hear how you are talking about her, and it worries me. She is not yours, Idris. She will never be.”

My entire body flushed red-hot, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to throw my phone against the wall. “You have a lot of balls saying this to me after what you did with Tendra.”

“That was different and you know it. The prophecy pulled us together—”

“Fuck you, Athan.” I was the only Gregorie who could get away with talking to him like that, and even I was on thin ice. “I know who she is and I know my duty. If you think I’m going to get blinded by a decent set of tits, then assign someone else. Oh, wait. Zeb fucks anything that moves.”

“Don’t get angry with me for reminding you of what’s at stake.”

“I fucking know.” My anger was boiling over.

He sighed. “Okay, then. Be safe.”

I ended the call and went about feeding my human. But my brother’s words rang in my ear. She is not yours, Idris. She will never be.

I prayed a Quellen crossed my path. I was feeling a little like killing something.