Dinner With a Vampire (19 page)

Without any further warning, he dropped me, leaving me to land on the hard ground with a sickening crack as my dead arm cushioned my fall beneath my back. I shrieked in pain, the feeling fast returning. I barely had time to register that I vaguely recognized this dense part of the forest, especially the ivy-covered stone building nearby, before Ilta had crouched down to my level.

‘Time for some fun, don’t you think?’

He roughly grabbed me by my bodice and pulled me up, thrusting me against a nearby tree. The bark shredded my bare back, grating the satin of my dress.

‘Don’t touch me, you monster!’ I shrieked, willing every ounce of courage I had to help form those words.

‘Ah, but why would I do that? It is my duty to ensure you die before you ever fulfil your fate.’ He chuckled and raised his arms, gesturing around at the forest. ‘Look around you, Violet. What do you see? What is there here, other than trees? See reason, my love. You can scream all you like, but you are miles from anyone. You will not be heard. You can run; but I would soon catch you. Or you could just give in to my power and accept that this pitiful life of yours is coming to an end.’ He leaned in closer. ‘Is that so hard? Think about it, Violet. What do you have to go back to? Your mortal life can never be reclaimed, and your future offers only sacrifice and betrayal. You will have no choice, Violet Lee. What do you have left? What?
Answer me!
’

Tears streamed down my cheeks and I pursed my lips, searching for an answer. I looked to the mossy ground, watching as my silvery tears fell onto the fallen leaves, coated in a thick layer of pine needles. I closed my eyes, before slowly opening them, raising my head to his level.

‘Hope is what I have left.’

His slender bloodthirsty eyes narrowed to slits, and he growled. ‘No, you don’t! You must die before your time comes, child, and I will have my way whilst I do this dimension a great service.’ He seized a handful of my hair, and roughly tilted my head to the side. His body drove into mine, pressing me to the tree.

‘No! Get off me!’ I screeched, scrabbling around with my uninjured arm, trying to push him off. His free hand grabbed that arm and pushed it out of the way, using his long, sharpened nails to restrain me. They pierced the translucent skin on the underside of my wrists and blood began to emerge. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw red and I convulsed, gagging. Ilta’s mouth gaped, lips rolling back over his gums.

‘No! P-please, no! No!’ I begged.

‘I have waited too long,’ he whispered and he bit down hard upon the tender skin of my neck.

I screeched, the panic-ridden scream escaping my lips as pain, all-consuming pain, shot down from my neck, stopping my heart; freezing my blood; killing my mind.

He began to suck. Unhurriedly, and savouring each mouthful, he drew drop after drop of blood from my failing body. My vision was wavering, darkening to the gloom of the forest. My voice refused to work and my lungs burnt as they were starved of oxygen. My heart spluttered, fighting to pump the decreasing amount of blood around to my vital organs.

As quickly as he had started, he stopped. But my legs went weak and if it were not for the constant pressure of Ilta leaning into me, I would have collapsed to the ground. I sighed in relief, the tiniest, most frugal sigh imaginable, but Ilta still picked up on it.

‘No, my sweet. Do not think I am done with you. I am far from done. I just want you to be conscious and alive for this.’ He trailed off and cupped a hand around my breast. He traced the neckline of my dress with his nails, before allowing his fingertips to slip underneath the material. His intention was clear.

‘No,’ I pleaded, shaking my head and body, trying to release his grip. ‘No, please!’

‘When you are alive to feel the shame, Violet Lee, to feel yourself violated, it makes it far more fun, you see …’ His head bent down to my ear and he took my lobe between his fang and lower lip, tugging it. ‘But do not worry, I will keep going once you are dead.’

‘You’re sick,’ I said in no more than a whisper.

‘I know,’ he replied and yanked a nail down the material, slashing the dress and my bra. I shrieked again as his nails ran deep into my flesh and he laughed like someone had told a good joke. ‘I thank you for telling me, Violet. I do get rather bored of being told how good-natured I am.’

He raised both his hands, baring his nails. He placed them on my collarbone and slowly ran them down the length of my torso, tearing my skin and the dress. Ten long lacerations ran deep over my breasts and each left a streaky trail of blood behind. I gritted my teeth, refusing to wince.

He took a finger and thumb to one of my breasts, fondling them, squeezing the cuts so more blood oozed out, running his tongue across my sore skin. I recoiled from him, but he placed a hand behind my back, tearing the laced corset too.

‘Your blood does taste most sweet. Has anyone ever told you that?’ he mocked, smiling up at me. I couldn’t answer.

All of a sudden, he drew back for a moment. I held my breath against my will, waiting for his next move. He reached out a hand, grabbed my skirt and bunched it up. There was a ripping sound, as he tore that too. He pressed himself into me once more and I felt something hard against my abdomen. Pulling me up straight, he paused to look right into my eyes. All I saw was lust. Burning, flaming lust.
Reaching a hand underneath my dress, he ran it up and down my inner thigh until he traced the outline of my knickers. He slowly pulled them aside, and I felt his other hand reaching for the fly of his trousers.

‘Get off her!’

Abruptly, his body was ripped away from mine and I crumpled to the ground.

‘You will pay for this, Ilta Crimson! You’ll burn at the stake, you fucking bastard!’

‘On what grounds, Kaspar?’ Ilta’s voice mocked. ‘I am sorry to correct you, but she is a human! I am perfectly within my rights to do with her what I will.’

Kaspar?

‘You forget something. She is under the King and Crown’s Protection. And on those grounds, drinking her blood without consent is punishable by execution. You should read your law books, Crimson.’

‘You lie,’ Ilta hissed back.

My eyelids were stitched together, but I forced myself to open them to catch a glimpse of two outlines for a second. But the effort made my heart falter, forgetting to beat for a second.

‘Do you want to test that?’ I heard Kaspar reply. I heard no more sound, but felt breath on my cheeks and fingers pressed to the vein on my wrist. Beneath them, I could feel my faint pulse. ‘You’ve lost too much blood,’ he muttered, and again, I forced my eyes open, catching a peek of his eyes, passing straight through green, dropping to a clear, colourless shade. They ran up and down my form, almost naked, examining my torn flesh. He shrugged his jacket off and placed it around me, before gently lifting me from the ground. Only then did I notice the true pain I was in. A rasping breath scratched my throat and my eyes snapped shut. I shuddered, both from the agony in my arm and the freezing air.

I felt a gentle pressure on my uninjured hand. ‘Hold on, Violet. Don’t give in.’ I could hear his panic. It added to my own.

Cold air assaulted my skin when he sped up; but within a few minutes, he stopped again. Even with my eyes jammed closed, I could tell where we were. The darkness glowed orange and I felt warmth engulf me, the clatter of footsteps below my back. The light became even more intense.

Die, child. Die before it is too late.

The echo of my voice’s earlier words resounded in my chest and my heart caught and spluttered. I thought about breathing, but the effort was too much.

‘Don’t you dare, Girly. You’ve come too far. Stay with me, Violet …’

With the thud of the doors, my heart constricted again, but it was pitiful and trying to force my ribs up and out was too much.

‘Open your eyes, Girly! I’m the bloody Prince and I’m telling you, you can’t let go!’

My eyelids twitched and I saw a thousand vampiric eyes staring at me, as I lay in the Prince’s arms, fading into blackness.

But not before I heard one last colossal roar, as a single word echoed around the mansion from the mouth of the vampire clutching me.

‘
Father!
’

Thousands of vampires stared at Violet as she lay limp in my arms. Immediately, my father’s tall, dark figure emerged from the thousands of utterly silent, motionless onlookers, all staring at Violet’s desecrated, limp form.

‘Get her inside,’ he ordered, as soon as his eyes fell on her. I jerked forward and the crowd parted to reveal Galen, the family physician. He jerked his head, motioning for me to place her on the floor as he bunched his jacket up to form a pillow for her head. Seeing her, torn and caked with blood, the expressions of my family became horror-struck. Lyla let out a dry sob.

Galen’s amber eyes bore into mine, as though he thought I had done this to her. ‘What happened?’ he asked in a brusque tone.

‘She was attacked,’ I growled. A collective snarl washed across the room, and eye after eye turned jet black.

‘Who?’ Ashton spat, loosening his cummerbund and shrugging his tailcoat off.

‘Ilta Crimson. He was going to rape her.’

Hisses of disgust passed around the room, and several vampires walked from the room then and there. There was a commotion too as a small party of trackers assembled, darting from the room. Ashton, an efficient, merciless vampire known for his ability to track, gave me a terse nod as he left the room, leading the others into the grounds.

‘For Pete’s sake, man, clear the room, will you? Don’t you think her dignity has suffered enough?’ Galen insisted in an undertone, taking her pulse and dipping his fingers into the puncture wounds on her neck. Hearing, Jag and Sky snapped into action, instructing the servants to clear the room whilst my family closed in, forming a protective circle around her.

‘Fracture to her right wrist and considerable blood loss, presumably drained via the neck.’

‘How much blood?’

‘Too much. She is going into shock. If she doesn’t receive a transfusion, her major organs will fail.’

He didn’t need to continue. ‘Get her a transfusion.’

‘It’s not that simple. The blood you have stored here is untested, whole blood, which is unsuitable for transfusion and it would take too long to acquire suitable blood from human blood banks.’

‘Then turn her!’

Galen shook his head, laying her arm back down on the floor and rolling back until he sat upright on his knees. ‘It’s too late for that. Her body would not be able to cope with the change. I’m sorry.’

My mouth opened. I closed it again. Instead, I took her unbroken arm, stroking it, stunned at how she was colder than me. I heard somebody suggest going to the Sage, before another dismissed it.

‘Couldn’t we give her a small amount of our blood?’ I began, an idea forming in my head. ‘Enough to keep her alive and let her body heal, but not enough to turn her.’

Galen looked at me sceptically. ‘That would make her a dhampir.’

‘So? It would save her life! Father?’ I appealed, desperately, to my father’s mercy. He did not say anything, but motioned for Galen and Eaglen to join him away from the circle. I caught snippets of their conversation I didn’t want to hear, but was interrupted as Fabian appeared at the doors, joining me in a flash. He was still crying and when he glanced at me, his eyes told all.

‘She’s fading,’ I murmured, and watched as my oldest and closest friend broke down, falling to the ground, sobbing. I looked on, unsure of what to do, unable to cry, as I told myself I would not,
could not,
cry for a human.

Her breathing was becoming more rapid, but her pulse was fading. Beads of cold sweat slid down her neck to the long slits he had given her across her collar and breasts; her skin was getting ever more icy.

‘Come on,’ I muttered, staring at the men huddled near the doors, catching my father’s gaze as he glanced towards her.

You have nothing to say, Kaspar?

Her life is in your hands, father, so what would be the point?

I saw him sigh and turn to Eaglen, speaking aloud and raising his voice a little. ‘This decision will gravely affect the fate of the Kingdom, will it not?’

‘In more ways than you can imagine,’ Eaglen revealed, smiling.
He knows things we can only dream of.

‘Arabella?’ my father said, turning to her. She nodded, confirming what her blood father, Eaglen, had said, and strengthening her father-in-law’s point.

If I let her die, we risk angering Lee and the human government and giving him his excuse to become aggressive. If I allow her to live, and become a dhampir, we risk the same. I must think of her too. Even if she were to consume a small amount of
vampiric blood, there is no guarantee it will work. And of course, you must remember she despises us with a passion. Would she really want to be connected with the dark beings in even the slightest way?

His last words caught me and he knew it. She wouldn’t. But neither would she want to give up so easily. She was a fighter.

Lee will never even know she’s a dhampir. And this isn’t her fault. She didn’t choose this. She shouldn’t even be a part of this world in the first place. I’ll give my blood. I owe it to her.

I didn’t know whether my words were working, but then his eyes did something unheard of: they turned blue.

‘Do it.’

Galen snapped into action, hoisting her up into his arms and snapping for the servants to have a fire lit in her room. I froze in shock for a second, before grabbing Fabian and leading Galen up the stairs.

‘Violet, it is time to wake up,’ a musical voice sang from beside my knees. There was a gentle pressure on my leg from a tiny hand and I found myself wrenched back to consciousness. My eyes fluttered open to reveal a giggling little girl with wide emerald eyes, framed by tumbling blonde ringlets. Thyme. ‘You have been human asleep-y for a very long time, Violet!’