3#Awakened by the Vampire Prince (Thorn) (10 page)

“Look,
Cheri…” Esral clasped her hands at her sides to stop herself from poking the
female in the middle of her chest with her finger for emphasis. “I still have
my thorn. I am of the royal oak.” She took a deep breath. “I have more respect
for myself than to open my legs to anything with a root. Can you say the same?”
She didn’t wait for the female’s reply because she didn’t have to. She knew the
answer. “I saw you that day on your knees in front of Zafar. I know you tried
to seduce Xavier. I’m sure there were plenty more indiscretions. Why Cheri? My
brother may be pigheaded but he is a good male and deserves more. I don’t care
that you belittle me and spread untruths but why do you betray him like that?
Zafar is his best friend.”

“
Me
betray
him
? The highborn males are permitted to rut at will, yet I must
serve only him? How is that fair, Esral?” Her face was red with rage.

“He
cares greatly for you. He wants to mate you. Has forsaken all others for you.
Why did you try to seduce Xavier?”

“Because
he was there. Because I figured he was your future mate. Because I felt like
it. Who gives a shit why?”

“I
do,” Keto growled at the open door.

They
had both been so lost in their argument that they hadn’t even noticed his
arrival.

“You
did these things?” His blue eyes were locked on Cheri. “You lied to me? Not
only about your indiscretions but about Esral as well?”

“No.”
Her eyes were wide and pleading. “You came in halfway through the conversation.
It isn’t what you think.”

Keto
looked pained for a few seconds. “I can’t believe I took your word over Esral’s.
I’m an idiot in the first fucking degree.” He shook his head and squeezed his
eyes shut. Then he turned to her. “I’m sorry.” His eyes looked tortured. “I hope
you will forgive me, Esral.”

“Listen
to me, Keto.” Cheri closed the distance between the two of them, clutching his
arms. “I never did those things. I only said it because it was what Esral
wanted to hear.”

“No,”
Keto shrugged her off. “I refused to believe what was right in front of me. I
will have someone help pack your belongings.”

“You’re
only saying that because I’m not highborn. You were looking for any excuse to
get rid of me all along. Just admit it.” Her eyes filled with tears.

Keto
gave a humorless chuckle. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the
opposite is true, Cheri. I’m a pigheaded fool.” He purposely looked at Esral
and her cheeks heated.

“About
that,” she mumbled.

“It’s
true,” he growled. “So don’t you apologize.” He kept his eyes locked with Esral’s.

“Please,
Keto,” Cheri begged. She dropped to her knees in front of him and for a short
second Esral felt sorry for the female.

Keto
shook his head. “Maybe Zafar will have you. You two like each other so much.”

A
glint appeared in the cold bitch’s eyes and she pulled herself back to her
feet. “You’ll be sorry,” she shouted as she left the chamber. “You’ll see. You
shouldn’t have done this, Esral.” She shrieked, “Should never have done this to
me.”

Esral
shivered. It felt like someone had just walked over her grave. “I’m sorry for
you, but I’m not sorry that it happened. I’m glad you know,” she whispered. She
felt a deep sense of relief that her brother had finally seen the truth.

Keto
nodded. “Me too…very sorry. Esral…” He swallowed hard, pulling his robe more
firmly around him. “I should’ve listened to you. There is no excuse. She was
really good at talking her way in and out of things. Had a way of distracting
me.”

Esral
chewed her lower lip. “I’m sure she did.” She tried not to sound pompous.

A
pained look crossed his face. “I’m really sorry. I hope you’ll be able to
forgive me.”

Esral
smiled at him. “Of course I will, you pigheaded idiot.”

Keto
smiled. “Your thorn is intact isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for her reply. “You
aren’t with child are you? You’ve done nothing to deserve any of the ridicule.
I’m such a schmuck. The way I treated you is unacceptable. Please know that I
was worried about you. It wasn’t all just about father or the reputation of the
royal oak.”

“I
know. And yes, my thorn is very much intact.” She shook her head, trying hard
to bite her tongue but there was something she needed to say to her brother. “So
what if I had rutted with half of the vampire males though? Would it make me
any less of a person?”

His
face turned red and he growled.

“No
really. Hear me out. Would it really be so bad?”

Keto
nodded. “Yes it would, Esral. Listen to yourself.”

She
took a step towards him. “This whole thing of highborn females remaining
untouched while all other elves can cavort to their hearts content. It isn’t
right, Keto. Elves, regardless of class, should be free to do whomever they choose.”

His
eyes widened. “Really, Esral? Do whomever? Did you just say that?”

“Yes,
I did.” She put her hands on her hips. “Come on. We don’t live in the dark
ages. Even the humans are more advanced sexually.”

“What
of the blood ritual and the joining of bodies?” He raised his brows. “What of
age old traditions?”

“If
the female has to wait then so does the male. Why can’t we just break our own
thorns and be done with it? I’ve heard the vampires call our ways barbaric on
several occasions and do you know what? They are right.” She was breathing
hard. “We’re so stuck up our own asses it’s scary. I want to mate with Xavier yet
I have to mate with a male that I am expected to hold up pretenses with…so that
heaven forbid”—she put her hand over her mouth trying hard to make her point—“my
reputation isn’t ruined.”

“It’s
about father and you know it.”

She
nodded, feeling her eyes well with tears. “Yes, I do. If it weren’t for
father’s illness I would’ve left long ago. I would’ve mated the male that I love
and lived a happy life. I’ll gladly do what needs to be done so that father can
be well again and for no other reason.”

Keto
nodded. “I understand.”

“Do
you, Keto? You are the future of our species.” She kept her eyes locked with
his, trying to drive home the importance of what she was saying.

His
brow knitted into a deep frown. “I agonize over that very thought each and every
day.”

“Good.”

He
smiled. “Good…” He made a sound of frustration. “How can that be good?”

“It
will make you a great king one day.” Esral smiled. “I only hope you will go
after the female that you actually love as well.”

Keto’s
blue eyes turned stormy and he shook his head. “No, that door closed a long
time ago.”

“You
are the prince of the elves, I’m sure you can open it.”

Keto
clenched his jaw but much to her dismay, he said nothing more on the subject.

The
elven healer shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” His narrowed
eyes scrutinized Gideon’s chest and down over his abs, coming to rest on his
cock where he leaned forward for a closer inspection.

Selina,
the vampire healer, had her eyes scrunched up in thought. “Mmmmm…” She pursed
her lips, putting her hands on her hips.

“What
is it?” Xavier asked.

Selina
ignored him flat out, turning her intelligent gaze to Gideon. “Did this female
you were with rub anything onto you, a lotion perhaps?” she asked.

Gideon’s
eyes widened. “Oh yeah…I guess I forgot to mention that. How did you know? It
wasn’t even necessary since she was so damned wet, we could have—”

“Spare
us.” The old healer sounded bored. “Take us through the events again.” Selina
rolled her eyes. “Don’t leave anything out. When I say anything, I especially
mean foreign substances and or objects that came into contact with your”—she
blew out a puff of air as she gestured towards his still swollen cock—“that.”

Gideon
looked tired. Although he was still a little pale, his color was starting to
return. His eyes were still bloodshot, but they had lost the glassy look. His
male parts were not nearly as red as what they had been earlier. “We talked.
The server offered me her blood and the use of her body and I agreed.”

Selina
rolled her eyes. “You met on one of the walkways.” The healer sounded bored.

Gideon
nodded.

“Did
you touch her at this point? Did she touch you?”

“She
played with my dick and showed me her mammary glands. Gave me an instant hard
on. Elven females are really well put together.” He looked at the male healer
who nodded his head in agreement.

“Did
she touch you through your pants or put her hand into your pants?” The elven
healer asked.

Gideon
grinned. “When I have a hard-on, there is no room for a hand. She felt me over
the front of my pants. Damn good with her hands too.”

“Then
what?” Selina asked, clearly trying to move him along.

“I
walked with her to her chamber. As soon as we were inside, she told me to undress
and to lie on the bed. She took her robe off.” He squeezed his eyes shut,
looking pained. “I almost came just looking at her. Next, she got the lotion
which she said she had made herself from plants and roots. It smelled funny and
was a bit cold, but damn…” He rolled his eyes. “Once she started touching me I
couldn’t speak let alone think. That female gave me the best hand job I have
ever had. Even put my dick between her tits. It felt really good and looked
even better. I don’t think I lasted thirty seconds between her soft mounds.”

Selina
made a disgusted noise. “Enough with the details.”

“Yes.”
The elven male had turned pink. He even fanned himself. “Please stop…go on with
what you were saying.” He added on the very next breath and even leaned
forward.

Gideon
shrugged. “I was still rock hard after cumming. She pretty much climbed on”—Gideon
gestured to his lap—“and rode me like a show pony. It was so good watching her
mamm—”

“Spare
us.” Selina shook her head. “Did she use the lotion again?”

“No,
not that I can recall.” Gideon shook his head.

“Did
you drink from her?”

Gideon
nodded. “After she rode me, I rutted her from behind and took blood.” He lifted
his eyes in thought. “I only took that one time. I didn’t want to take too
much. She said she had an early shift, same as me.” He chuckled. “In the end
though, she begged me to drink from her again but I refused.”

“Did
she use anything else? Sex toys? A different cream maybe?” Selina asked.

Gideon
looked confused. “No…nothing.”

“How
many times did you rut?” The elven healer asked.

Gideon
counted on his hands. “She got me off so that one doesn’t count, she rode me…”
he lifted a finger. “I took her from behind…” he lifted a second finger. “We
slept for a while and I took her from behind…you know where both of you are on
your side?” Another finger went up. “Then she sucked on—”

“Is
this really necessary?” Xavier was getting irritated. They were wasting time.
“We need to find this female…Glendril. She has some explaining to do.”

The
elven healer was red like an overripe tomato. He sucked in a breath. “I’ll come
with you, she will need to be examined.”

Selina
snorted. “You stay here. I’ll go. As a female, I am sure that I am the better
choice.”

“You
are a vampire and she is an elf. It should be me.” The male made to stand.

“You!
Stay!” Selina used her no nonsense voice which she coupled with her death
stare. The one that made the most hardened, vampire males cower in fear. The
elf sat back down so quickly that the bed rocked causing Gideon to grimace.

“I’ll
just stay here and make sure that the vampire is okay.” His red complexion had
turned distinctly pale.

“You
do that.” Selina growled, flashing a fang. “He will need his wounds dressed. We
wouldn’t want for that to fall off.” She looked pointedly at Gideon’s midsection.

“Enough
with the dick jokes already,” Gideon groaned.

York
chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll ever hear the end of it.” Xavier heard him say
as he walked out of the chamber.

Xavier
went straight to the eating hall where he quickly found a few servers to question.
It turned out that Glendril hadn’t turned up for her shift that morning either.
It didn’t take long to find out where her chamber was.

Xavier
knocked on the door.
Surprise, sur-fucking-prise
! There was no answer.
He knocked again.

“I
think that we should maybe come back later.” A female elf, called Starlight had
offered to show them the way.

“No,”
Xavier growled. “You two go ahead.” He looked first at Starlight and then at
Selina, gesturing for the two females to move.

Starlight
went in first, followed closely by the healer. They left the door open just a
crack. Xavier was tempted to barge in behind them but he put a firm lid on the
desire. Elves were strange in their ways. Like humans, nudity was a thing for
them. It made them shy and embarrassed. Although he was pretty sure this female
had something to do with Gideon’s illness, he couldn’t be one hundred percent
sure.

It
took only seconds before the little elven female gasped. “By all that is
green…” she cried. “Glendril, what is wrong with you?”

Selina
moved back towards the door opening, poking her head around the jam. Her face
looked grim, the lines around her eyes and mouth more pronounced. “It’s similar
to Gideon. The female is unconscious. You should see this.”

“No.
You need to get out.” Starlight cried as he walked into the room. Darting left
and then right, she managed to pull a piece of the sheet high enough to partially
cover the naked female.

Xavier
stepped towards the bed.

“As
you can see,”—Selina pointed at the female’s face—“her lips and mouth are
inflamed. I’m pretty sure…” She lifted the sheet.

“You
can’t do that. It’s not right,” Starlight shrieked.

Xavier
averted his gaze, grinding his teeth in frustration. He was not interested in
anything this female had on display. Not a single thing. His reason for being there
had strictly to do with Gideon. A nasty feeling had taken ahold of his gut.

The
elderly vampire ignored the elf. “Yeah.” She sighed. “Just as I expected. Her
genital area is also slightly swollen. Not as bad as Gideon’s.” She dropped the
sheet, sufficiently covering the female’s modesty. “Take a look at her
breasts.”

“You
vampires are despicable.” The elven female was pale and trembling. She took a
step back towards the door as if she half expected something to happen to her
as well. “What happened to Glendril? What did you do to her? Stop looking at
her like this.” Her eyes were wide and full of fear.

“We
didn’t do anything to this female.” Xavier tried to keep from growling and
failed. The little elf flinched in response. He sucked in a deep breath. He so
didn’t have time for this. “If anything, it’s what she did to one of our
males.”

“Glendril
is a wonderful female, she would never do anything to hurt anyone. Are you sure
you have your facts straight?” Her hands had moved to her hips and an edge of
defiance had crept into her gaze.

“That’s
why we’re here, to try and shed some light on this whole thing.” It came out
sounding much calmer this time. Thank fuck some of the tension eased out of Starlight’s
body.

“Let’s
just stop pointing fingers. Both of us,” Xavier continued. “Glendril needs to
be examined. We want to try and find out who is responsible. As you can see, she
could do with the medical assistance”

Selina
nodded in agreement, pulling some plastic gloves from a black bag at her feet.

He
pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and speed dialed York. “The female is
in the same way as Gideon.”

“What
the fuck is going on?” York growled.

“That’s
what I’m aiming to find out. Go to Keto and fill him in on the situation.
Something is not right with this fucking picture.”

“Will
do.” York’s deep voice vibrated through the other end. Selina waved a hand to
gain his attention, she made a sign to show him that she needed to say
something. “Hold just a second, York.” Xavier used his hand to cover the
mouthpiece of the phone.

“Like
I was saying…” Selina gave the elf a dirty look. “Her breasts, particularly the
area between her breasts, are badly affected. Take a look at her hands…”

Sure
as hell, her hands especially inside of her fingers were angry red and badly
swollen.

“Pretty
sure it had something to do with that lotion.” The vampire female added. “Get
York to ask Gideon if he kissed the female.”

Xavier
relayed the question to York and within a few seconds the male was back on the
line. “No kissing,” he growled.

“I’m
willing to bet cold, hard cash that he didn’t go down on her either,” Selina
said.

“Do
something,” Starlight wept. Big, hot tears rolled down her cheeks leaving wet
splotches on her silken robe.

“She
is breathing normally.” Selina said as she gently pulled back one of Glendril’s
eyelids. “This female is worse than Gideon. She must’ve come into contact with
more of the lotion than he did. Also, she is so much smaller and would
therefore have been more affected by whatever was in the lotion.”

“We’ll
talk later.” Xavier said, ending the call before the male could reply.

“So
you think it’s the lotion?” He said already looking around the room.

Selina
nodded. “Definitely. Gideon said that she used it on him to give him a hand job
and to do that thing between her breasts. She later went down on him. Her hands
and breasts are the worst afflicted, as is his cock. Her mouth and genital area
were affected to a much lesser degree.”

Xavier
scanned the room, deciding to start with the most obvious area which was the
bathroom. He unpacked cabinets finding nothing. Next, he opened the drawer to
her bedside table. No luck. There was nothing on top of her dresser but he found
several unmarked bottles of lotions and ointments in a cupboard below.

“Don’t
touch anything.” Selina glanced his way, still busy examining the elven female.

“I
wouldn’t dream of it. Any ideas what we are dealing with here?”

“The
only substance I know of that would do damage like this is silver, but surely
the effects would’ve been instant. There was a lag. Also… I’ve never heard of
silver in a lotion form before. Why would this female use it on herself? It
makes no sense.”

Glendril
stirred. Her eyes fluttered, she made a groaning noise while clutching at her
stomach and then groaned even more loudly as her swollen fingers made contact
with the skin.

Her
eyes flew open, wide and just as bloodshot as Gideon’s had been. Xavier knew
what was coming next. She doubled over heaving, choking and puking her guts
out. The scent of half fermented fruit hit his nostrils. Xavier had to fight
the urge to gag. Just when he thought that she was done spewing, another spray
of putrid green liquid erupted from her mouth. She crumpled in a crying heap.
“Oh, my god.” She moaned over and over.

“What’s
wrong with me?” She whispered just before she doubled over clutching her
stomach. “It hurts.” She cried, a loud choking noise erupted from her throat.
Tears streamed down her face and her eyes bulged from her head. It took several
long minutes for the heaving and choking to stop.

Starlight
reached down and pulled the sheet back up. The little elf looked even paler and
even more afraid. Her lip trembled. “What can I do?”

“Help
me,” Glendril croaked. “I think I am dying.”

“You’re
not dying.” Selina rolled her eyes before looking at Starlight. “Go and fetch
me some water. I’ll also need honey and aloe if you can find me some.” She searched
in her bag for a few moments before pulling out a glass jar. “Good, I have
devil’s claw so that’s not going to be a problem.”