The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

She took longer in the closet than she should have and that was because after wearing her clothes-another sundress, but this one was shorter-she stayed in there for a bit, trying to calm herself and get over the humiliation of the rejection she’d just faced.

She knew that he wanted her-at least he had wanted that Kidd. She had seen it in his eyes, but then it was like it disappeared the next moment and instead of pulling her to him, he was pushing her away. Of all the things he’d done, that was perhaps the worst thing he had ever done to her.

How ever was she going to face him?

Well, with her head held high and her shoulders shoved back because she had stalled long enough in here and it was only a matter of time before he came in here and hauled her ass out. He wouldn’t even care if she was naked. The man was that cruel.

Now, if only she had her powers, she would have easily woven a glamour over her face. The look would be one of nonchalance, one so perfect that it would have him wondering if she even heard a single word he would say.

He was sitting on the table when she came out and immediately he saw her, he pushed away from it and headed for the door and then over his shoulder, he said, “Follow me.”

Not like she had a choice.

She followed behind him, admiring the flex of his ass as he took one step after the other. The way his jeans trousers cupped the muscles as he walked was almost too much for her to bear.

The man should come with a warning label.

She admired as much of the castle as she could as she walked behind him, staring at some pictures hung on the high walls. If he was walking a bit slower, she would have taken her time to look at them. Really look. She was sure that his pictures would be there and she was curious if she would see pictures of him before he froze into his immortality.

Those would be paintings considering that they would be from ages ago, but they would suffice.

Her captor pushed a door open and walked in. She walked in after him and saw that it was the same room she had run into all those days ago. His throne sat at the far end of the room, high and mighty, just like the king himself. He marched towards it, dropped his ass on it and left her standing there, staring at him with a confused expression.

“What am I doing here?”

“You’re going to tell me the truth.” He informed her, stretching his hands on the arms of the chair. “Whether you like it or not.”

“What truth?”

He ignored her, instead looking over her shoulder. She was standing in front of him, so when he looked over his shoulder, she turned to see what or who he was looking at, and in this case, it was a who.

A woman stood there in a white flowing gown. Maria wasn’t sure, but the woman’s skin seemed to be glowing and the closer the woman got to them, the brighter her skin got. Her skin was pale and milky white and if Maria was not seeing it with her eyes, she would say that the woman’s milky skin was what she had mistaken for a glow.

She was hauntingly beautiful, so beautiful that Maria felt herself self-consciously patting her face and wondering why she didn’t have such a willowy figure-or why she was not as beautiful.

She turned back to her captor and saw him still staring at the woman. Perhaps tall, willowy blondes were his types. Her glamour had been tall and willowy, but she had been a redhead. Maybe she would have made her hair appear blonde in his eyes if only she had known that he was into them.

“Who is she?” Maria asked, unable to help herself. Wa that awe in her voice?

“She is an oracle.” Bran told her and she couldn’t hide her surprise even if she wanted to.

“An oracle?” She swivelled on her heel to face him fully, cocking a brow. “Magic? In the vampire realm? I thought you guys despised it.”

It was true, at least according to the stories she’d heard. The vampires hated both the Wiccan and the Sorceri and the hate was over a hundred years old now, according to Ariti. She didn’t know the cause of this hate, but it ran bone deep.

They wanted absolutely nothing to do with those factions, to the extent that they had put a ban on them. The lot of them who had dared to ignore the warning and enter into the realm, had received death by burning. It was the reason she had felt a huge amount of panic when he’d told her that she was in the vampire realm.

She couldn’t imagine what it felt like to die in a fire.

“Once, before the war between the factions, vampires were considered very close friends of the Wiccan and Sorceri.”

“Yes. Before. Not now.” Her eyes darted to the oracle, noticing that she was coming closer and noticing that she was noticing her too.

She hated how defenceless she was. She didn’t have her powers, didn’t have anything to defend her against such a powerful creature. The collar made contact with her neck, as if in a mocking reminder that it was the reason she didn’t have access to her powers.

She hated the damn thing.

“My sister’s life is on the line.” Bran spoke suddenly and her eyes jumped back to him. “I never claimed to fight fair.”

Fight fair? What was he going to do to her? Her eyes darted to the woman again, seeing that she was now about six feet away from her and staring at her with an intense look of concentration.

Maria gasped when she saw that her eyes were a stark silver.

“Lower your shields.” The oracle spoke, her voice low and airy, like a wisp.

“My shields?”

“Your mind.” The oracle repeated, her hands hanging by her sides.

“I can’t lower my shields. How can she ask me to do that?” This question was directed to her captor as she stared at him with wide eyes. “You don’t really expect me to do that, do you?”

“Shouldn’t you be able to get past them?” Her captor asked the oracle, as if Maria had not spoken at all.

She almost felt hurt. Almost. But she wanted to hear the woman’s answer too, so she was not going to complain.

“I usually can, but it seems like her shields are stronger.” The oracle observed, angling her head curiously at Maria. “Like they’re reinforced.”

“Hows that possible?” Her captor snapped, seeming to grow angry. “Can you get past them?”

“I’m trying.” The woman whispered.

“It is beyond disrespectful for you guys to speak about me as if I am not here.” Maria snapped, throughly fed up with being ignored. “Why is she saying that my shields are reinforced? What does that even mean?!”

“Shut the fuck up, Maria.” Her captor snapped, using her name for the first time in as long as she could remember. 

The oracle turned to her captor. “Tell her to lower her shields.”

“I’m right here.” Maria snapped at the oracle, knowing fully well that the woman could annihilate her now that she was powerless, but she didn’t give a damn about that. “Stop speaking about me like I’m not.”

The oracle paused, as though surprised that Maria was speaking to her in such manner. Then calmly, she said, “Lower your shields.”

Maria was tempted to lower her shields simply because the woman had spoken to her calmly despite her rank, and wanted to obey. But lowering her shields meant that the oracle could access every single one of her memory and she wasn’t big on that idea. Not to mention, her captor would have access to those ideas too because her shields would be lowered for anyone at all to pry into her head.

“I don’t think I want to do that.”

“This is your only chance to that you really don’t know where my sister is.” Her captor spoke, drawing her eyes to him. He was grinding hard on his molars and from the looks of it, he was trying to hold on to what little patience he had left. “Do it, Maria, and I’ll consider freeing you.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Free her? Would he really do that?

“Lower your fucking shields, Maria.” The vampire king repeated.

Exhaling, Maria did and instantly felt people prodding into her head. She hated the sensation. It was foreign and not comfortable. It made her feel naked. She wanted to draw her shields back up, but he also knew that this was the only way he would believe she really didn’t know where his sister was.

She only hoped that he would actually let her go and not kill her when he realised that she was useless to him.

“Your shield is still up. Bring it down.”

Those words were from the oracle and Maria turned to her, confused. “My shield is down.”

“Its not.” Her captor barked.

Gods, why didn’t these people believe her? Her shield was down, she had even felt them prying into her head. How could they say that her shield was still up when they were right fucking there in her head?

“I can’t access her thoughts. Its like she has thousands of shields. The moment I think I’m getting past one, another one’s coming up.” The oracle told her captor. “Theres no way I can tell if she really knows where your sister is if she doesn’t let me in.”

“Bring your fucking shields down, Maria.” Her captor snapped, leaning forward in his chair, tense and and angry and ready to pounce like a lion. “Do it right this fucking moment.”

She was getting dizzy. Her vision turned blurry and both the oracle’s and her captor’s face seemed to blend into one, their words making her unable to think about anything else. The oracle’s whispered words were taunting and her captor’s shouts were starting to give her a headache.

The room spun and she staggered, thinking that she was going to fall, but somehow, she was still standing upright. She was incredibly weak and her legs were struggling to carry her weight.

“I’m not-” She forced out.

“Let me in.” The oracle’s whisper drifted to her ears.

“Fucking let her in, Maria.” This voice belonged to her captor. “I swear to all that’s-”

The room spun again and this time, she fell with it, collapsing on the tiled floor.

The world turned black.