Darkest Prince (6 page)

Pl
acing a hand under my pillow, I gripped the handle of my blade and yawned. The night was disappearing as the sun began to rise. I couldn’t fight the sleep that was forcing itself on me. I heard him whisper into my mind;
‘See you in my dreams sweet one,’
as I lost the fight against day.

Oh boy did I dream! My body ached so
bad for Dario. He had wheedled his way into my dreams and was doing all sorts of wonderful things to me. If I wasn’t aching so bad for him right now, I’d have sworn that we had actually done the all of the delicious things that were causing my body to ignite just thinking about them.

I picked up yesterdays clothes and headed to my rather grand bathroom. I took a long soak hoping that I could stop my body from wanting him. It didn’t help though, not really. Nothing would help
until I’d experienced him once more. I was consumed with him. All of my thoughts were of getting him into bed to ease my growing need.

‘
Good evening my sweet thing, I trust you slept well?’
His voice was silky smooth in my mind, laced with as much desire as I was feeling. ‘
I think I preferred it when I woke wanting blood, at least I knew as soon as I had blood, I would feel relief for a few days. How long are you going to torture me like this?’
His soft chuckle sent shivers down my spine; anticipation grew as I waited for him to answer me. A long silence stretched between us. If he didn’t answer me then I would take matters into my own hands, literally!
‘
I’m sure I could find a willing participant to help me with my current situation!’
I could feel his anger through the connection, something that he usually kept from me. I couldn’t help the smirk that formed on my mouth or the sense of satisfaction that my threat had given me.

I climbed out of the bath, grabbed a towel and dried myself off as quickly as I could.
I pulled on yesterdays clothes – not ideal, but they would have to do until I could retrieve my belongings, and I had every intention of collecting them this evening.

When I came out of my bathroom, a young girl that looked to be no more than twenty was
making my bed. “Keera I presume?” She looked hesitant then nodded quickly. “Please leave. I have no use for a maid.” Keera visibly paled and made a hasty retreat from my room. I checked that my dagger was under my pillow and sighed in relief as I plucked it from under the pillow and slid it into my waistband. I wasn’t normally bitchy to people, but I was edgy because of the ache between my thighs. One male could solve my current state but he seemed more interested in pushing me to my limit. If he wasn’t careful I would drag the nearest male into my room!

Pulling open my door
, I could hear Dario talking and Mackinley answering him. I followed the voices and found them in the computer room going over the footage that had been recorded over the day.

Dario smiled his sexy smile, scooted his chair back and tugged me so I sat on his lap. His hand gently caressed my
inner thigh, sending delicious tingling sensations straight to my groin. Gritting my teeth together, I held back a groan and resisted the urge to writhe about on his lap. Without missing a beat, he scooted his chair back in front of the monitor and fast forwarded through the events of the day. I refrained from calling him names through the link. He was in charge of this little game, for now!

Arius and Mackinley smiled and nodded their greeting and turned their attention back to the screens. Day walkers could be seen tending to the lawns and flower beds, inspecting the outer walls and generally looking like they were doing maintenance to the building and grounds. It was usual practice for older vampires to have day walkers to protect them whilst they slept, but what impressed me was the fact that they interacted with one another.
I’d been led to believe that day walkers were nothing more than a vampire’s puppet, bound to follow orders.

Day walkers were humans that wanted to become vampires. It was like a trial run, they had to prove their worth to the vampire before the vampire fully changed them. They belonged to the vampire – in this case Dario. From what I understood from my hunter training, the humans wanted to become a vampi
re and agreed to work for the vampire until he saw fit to fully transform them. Dario certainly had his own army of day walkers piquing my interest to find out why, when he already had an army of guards.

I watched in awe at the beautiful scenery playing before me, sunshine, lush green lawns and colourful flower beds. Everything looked like it did in books that I had read. The sun would burn us to a crisp even as a hunter, so we avoided it like the plague. I did feel a tiny bit envious watching the day walkers wandering about the grounds, soaking up the rays. I guess the draw of the night and the life of a vampire was enough to make some people want to give up such simple pleasures. That and the fact they thought they would be immortal.
Nothing is immortal, everything that lives can die. Vampires didn’t turn to dust or crumble to ash when they were killed, they simply died, period. My trusted silver dagger had proven many times that not everything you read in books is real.

The footage came to an end and Mackinley and
Arius excused themselves, promising that before the night was over I would have my game of truth via the snooker table.

I stood, putting a little distance between us. If Dario wanted to play it cool, then so would I.
“So, a quick grand tour and then I need to go and collect my belongings.”

He smiled and shook his head, “I will have Arius take you
r bags to your room.” Well damn! “It’s not safe for you outside of these walls Shyla. You saw how easy it would be for a hunter to find you. They know we are here, we are both on the hit list and they would be quite happy to take cheap shots at us with silver bullets rather than face us like the cowards they are.”

It wasn’t a case of being a coward, the hunters knew that Dario had guards and they also knew that I was a vampire now. For some inexplicable reason
, my boss always knew when he lost a hunter. I hadn’t figured it out how, but the fact that I had dumped my phone and was no longer in contact with him, would alert hunter to the fact that I had failed my mission and, as I wasn’t dead, that could only mean one thing. Would my boss know that Dario had sired me? Or would he think that I was just a regular vampire with hunter training?

“Come my fierce Princess, I want us to pick up where we left off yesterday.” The way I remembered it, I was ready to fling myself at him and beg him to make love to me, but judging by the worried look on his face
, those thoughts were the furthest thing on his mind.

Keera was putting a tray with tea and coffee pots
, and fancy cups and saucers onto an end table when we arrived in the lounge that Dario liked to unwind in. She beamed a smile at Dario, completely ignoring me standing at his side. “Miss Diana had no use of me today my Prince, I will return to my quarters until you have need of me.” The way her hand automatically caressed her neck and the seductive smile she gave him made my blood boil. Who the hell did she think she was, offering herself to Dario this way? He smiled and softly said “Thank you Keera, but that won’t be necessary this evening. If Mackinley or Arius seeks you out, make yourself available to them.” Her lips pouted and she frowned a little, but she quickly recovered, curtseying with all the grace of a ballerina and left the room.

As soon as she had closed the door
, I rounded on Dario. “At least when I choose a lunch date I don’t flaunt it in your face. I can’t believe you would want me to feed from her knowing that you had done god only knows what with her previously!”

Surprise followed by a look of annoyance flashed across his face.
“Have I ever let you experience my feelings whilst I am feeding?” I shook my head, he hadn’t. I had never known when he was feeding. Dario had talked me through every meal; spoke into my mind telling me what to say, when to feed and when to stop, when to force my will on them so they would forget. “Then why presume that I have had a sexual encounter with the girl?” I gave a small shrug of my shoulders as I reigned in my temper. “Then let this be an end to the matter. We have to feed Shyla, I will continue to support you for as long as you need me, but know that I will not tolerate you leading a man on anymore, especially when I have willing donors here.” Not done with telling me off he said, “And whilst we are on the subject of males, I will kill anyone that you chose to seek your sexual relief with!”

That simple last statement ignited the fadin
g embers of my desire for him. I wrapped my arms around myself and tried hard to fight the urge to pounce on him. He casually walked to the couch and sat waiting for me to join him. I paced the floor several times until I settled in front of the window. Looking out, I could see several guards training on the lawn. I concentrated on watching them, letting my lust fade away. When I was focused enough to form a coherent sentence without screaming out that I wanted him to make love to me, I turned back to face him.

“
So, it’s time for you to tell the truth or so help me, I will slay you right now for tormenting me like this.”

A grin spread across his face, lighting his eyes. “Have you considered why I didn’t stay with you last night and why I deny you what you want?”
I didn’t want to play games, nor did I want to get distracted again.

I went and flopped onto the couch next to him. “Dario please, let’s not
get into this now. I need to stay focused and find out why the hunters want you dead.”

His grin turned into a grimace and he sat back, laying his arm across the back of the couch. “How much do you know about the feud between hunters and vampires?”

I smiled sweetly. “I know that we are natural sworn enemies and I know that hunters take care of the more unsavoury vampires that grace our land.”

Sworn enemies and here I was practically throwing myself at him!

His fingers played with the length of my hair as I got myself into a comfortable position on the couch. “Then my dearest Shyla, I will start at the beginning.” He waited for me to nod that I was ready.

“M
y father produced three sons; he sired three different women to achieve this. First there was Marco, then myself and then Demetrio. His actions instigated a war between vampires for refusing to reveal how he was able to achieve such a feat.” He tilted his head slightly to the side and asked, “Did you know that elders can only father one child with their sired Consort?” I quickly nodded my head not wanting to interrupt him. “My father didn’t want others to know how he had achieved it and in the end, he paid the ultimate price. He took this knowledge with him to the grave when he was killed.” He paused making sure I was keeping up.

“So your father had three sons
, by three different women that he’d sired and took his secret to the grave?” It sounded so uncaring the way that I had repeated it. I gave a small smile of apology.

Dario nodded. “
Demetrio set about finding fathers secret, brutally raping women in his quest to sire them. You see, Demetrio was different to Marco and me. He wanted the power that the knowledge my father took with him. Being the youngest, he would remain a Prince for hundreds of years, unlike Marco who took up my father’s royal position once he was announced dead, and became King.” Dario shook his head and I saw anger in his eyes. “The women Demetrio raped weren’t his chosen life partner; I doubted he even loved them which is why it made his actions seem all the more preposterous. Marco on hearing of our brother’s quest stripped him of his royal privileges and cast him out of the DeLuise family. At the time, Demetrio’s actions were causing unrest with the human population and vampires were being killed in their sleep. Marco’s actions restored peace between the humans and slowly everything returned to normal.”

I sensed Dario’s sadness as he told me about the feud between his brothers. I caught hold of his hand and leaned in to him.
Dario tugged me closer so my head rested on his chest and his arm wrapped around me. It was strange, I had never felt the need for comfort until Dario came into my life, and now, I was trying to offer a small comfort to him.

Once we were comfortable, Dario continued.
“Eventually my youngest brother fell in love, sired his true mate. She was a witch, her blood tainted our bloodline and a new breed was born.”

My voice came o
ut in a small whisper. “Hunters?”

Dario nodd
ed. He held me closer, gently kissing the top of my head a couple of times. “Demetrio’s son Carlos was different, when he got older he sowed his wild oats and as a result, babies were being left on their doorstep. All of the babies had red eyes. Demetrio and his Consort witch cared for the children and when they had a small army trained them to fight, bringing them up to believe that their purpose in life was to rid the world of vampires. You see, Demetrio never forgave Marco for stripping him of his title. He lost everything when Marco removed him from the monarch.”

His fingers gently twirled my hair before he wrapped his arm around m
e once more. “Carlos fell out with his parents, eventually killing them. He realised that the hunters had potential, but as times were changing and vampires were accepted in society again, Carlos realised that the hunters would be seen as cold blooded killers and instead of being hunters, they would end up being hunted and killed by humans. He retrained the hunters to become silent killers and took on work for the government and continues his struggle to claim his father’s title, but it’s disguised as a service to the humans. I’m on his list because with me gone and Marco gone, he will be next in line as King. Our kind needs a strong ruler, one who will lead. Vampires will accept him as King because he still has royal blood flowing through his veins.”