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Eighteen

HARLOW

Alec doesn’t return for the rest of the night, so his task must be pretty big. I’ve come up with every possible scenario, but have no idea because who the hell knows what a vampire king’s duties are.

At some point, I dragged the second wingback chair, the one still beside the fireplace, to the large window to try and figure out exactly where I am.

Other than somewhere not tropical…it’s all I got. The castle looks out to a small stretch of flat, grassy land before reaching the edge of a forest; trees consume the rest of the view.

Who knows what country we’re in, or even which continent. If we’re close to civilization, or if we’re on an island.

There’s the faintest glow of sunrise on the horizon when the softest click of the door tells me I’m no longer alone. A quiet whooshing noise I’m now associating with Alec comes up behind me before a low thud pulls my attention away from the window and towards the second chair, last left beside the bed and now beside me.

Only it’s not Alec settling in it.

A man sits deathly still, his long hair a curtain brushing the tops of his shoulders as he looks entirely too lax for a creature about to attack. Blood-red eyes suck all the breath from my lungs, darting to where my hands tighten around the chair’s armrests.

“Don’t do it,” he murmurs in a grating voice. It’s not silk like Alec’s, but like he’s been screaming for hours. “If you run, we’ll be forced to hunt, and then it’ll hurt.”

We? A prickling sensation brushes the back of my neck as I twist around, taking in the other vampire standing by the base of the bed. With my attention, his tongue sweeps over his bottom lip, drawing my notice to the two piercings there.

Fuck. Where the hell is Alec when I need him?

“We’re only here for a bite,” the one beside me says, drawing my focus back. I angle my body until they’re both in view, even if my place between the bed and the window means I’m trapped between the two monsters. “One bite each, and we’ll leave you alone.”

“You can’t. Your king will?—”

“Our king .” He silences my appeal attempt with a smirk towards his friend. “Hear that, Nikolas? The witch is worried for us. Thinks the king will do shit.”

“I hear her, Laz,” the other one, Nikolas, drawls. “Dormer will learn what it means to keep you from us. We’re one of a few coming for you, Sinclair.”

So threatening Alec’s position didn’t work. I eye the bed, debating how fast I can climb over it. It’ll probably be a fruitless attempt, but at least I go down fighting.

The one beside me, Laz, moves in front of me, cutting off any meager chance of escape. His hands clench the armrests by mine, long fingers wrapping around the polished wood as he leans in close, inhaling.

“You smell fucking fantastic. Like mortality.”

“Mortality sucks. Stay a vampire.”

His smirk suggests how my comment failed in its pitiful attempt to appeal to him. He dips down, whispering, “I promise not to make it hurt.”

I scream. Pushing every bit into my vocal cords, I yell and shove to my feet, to duck beneath his arm as his teeth barely miss my neck.

Bang!

We both jerk our attention to the doorway and the door that slams against the adjacent wall as it’s thrown open, revealing another vampire.

Alec.

Power. Authority. My black fucking knight in this fortress of misery. For once, his presence makes me sigh in relief.

“Shit,” Laz mutters as Alec launches himself into the room, passing Nikolas and going for him. For all his words about not fearing Alec, he scrambles away with a second curse.

Alec whirls at the last second and returns to the door to slam it shut and intercept Nikolas’s escape with a deep, threatening chuckle that has my stomach knotting. I’ve heard that laugh before, and it’s not good. No, actually, I mentally correct. I’ve heard a similar laugh to that, and it was bad enough. But even when he appeared in my bedroom and chased me through my neighbourhood, he didn’t sound this daring. Almost like he’s amused by all this, but this version of his amusement will have more lethal outcomes.

Alec glances at me as the monster emerges in a veil of red over his eyes. He assesses me from head to toe with an intensity that unfurls the knot his entrance created in my stomach before facing the two vampires. “You broke into my home, superseded my laws, and dared to go near what’s mine. What made you believe you had the right ? There’s a cost to her blood.”

The two share a disappointed look before Nikolas reluctantly asks, “What’ll it cost then?”

Alec chuckles again. “No price you’ll be able to afford, that’s for certain. Kill me, and you get to keep her.” His eyes flick towards me, emotionless, as his tongue clicks. “It’s simple, really. If you thought you could come into your king’s home and steal from me, then you must be quite capable. Surely, she’s worth the risk?” His question ends on a purr, his lips pulling up over his fangs.

I shift, holding my breath as the two vampires turn to me. Alec will win, though, or else he wouldn’t have made such a deal. I hope. For my life, I fucking hope , because I’m barely surviving one asshole; I couldn’t handle these two.

They share a look I can almost decipher before they head for Alec, two blurs across the room. Alec moves quickly, blocking their path while flitting between them and obstructing attacks. He fights with a deadly precision unlike anything I’ve ever seen, even at his party the other night. He’s silent but violent, like a python, his arms snapping out until something is flung from one end of the room to the other, thumping nearby.

A head, eyes wide open, long hair streaked with blood. Laz’s head. I clamp my hand over my nostrils and mouth as the scent of death wafts towards me.

Then everything stops, and Alec has Nikolas held by his shirt, hoisting him a few inches off the ground. “Why are you really here?” Blood coats his fangs, and there’s a dark stain on the front of his shirt, but he seems unharmed—a fact I find myself exhaling at.

“Your Majesty…you know why.”

“Yes, but I want you to say it,” Alec murmurs in a deadly, cool tone that empties my lungs of the remaining air it’s clinging to. “In your words, tell me why you dared enter my grounds without permission.”

Nikolas’s throat moves, and crimson eyes dart my way before he admits, “For her. For the Sinclair witch. We wanted mortality.”

“Hm.” Alec’s silent for a long moment, like he’s considering. “But you didn’t get permission. I protect my possessions, which includes the witch.”

Nikolas’s head bobs like a cartoon character. “I, I understand. I’ll spread the word, I swear. It’ll never happen again, Your Majesty.”

“You’re right about something tonight, at least. You will spread the word when I place your and your friend’s remains by the edge of my property as a warning for anyone else who hopes to meet the same fate.”

Alec punches his hand into Nikolas’s chest, and, similar to the party, he rips out the vampire’s heart as Nikolas takes his final breath, a gasp, his mouth remaining open and forever frozen in a state of shock.

Alec unpeels his fingers one by one, and the body drops with a thump beside Laz’s headless one. The heart tumbles to the floor by his feet, and I’m left with one pissed-off, red-eyed vampire who turns towards me.