Chapter 5

Isla

I see his face.

The vampire who walked into my room and declared that he wanted to taste me. “I heard virgin blood is… delicious,” he said in a strange, low, whispery tone. “Just a little taste.”

I shook my head. “I- I belong to P- prince Aeron,” I stuttered. “I think it’s against the rules.”

The vampire scoffed. “Aeron thinks he’s so special. He’s no better than the rest of us.”

Then he was on top of me. His fangs sinking deep into my neck.

I’ve heard from donors that it’s pleasurable when a vampire feeds on you. Some of them called it orgasmic.

That wasn’t what it felt like when the stranger bit into my flesh like I was nothing more than a piece of meat.

Pain shot down my left side, and my knees gave way. Then the buzzing started. At the back of my skull, like a swarm of bees.

I scream. The shrieks tearing from my body. I reach out and start scratching, hitting, kicking, flailing on the bed like a woman possessed.

A blurry figure swims into view as someone gets on the bed and straddles me. I feel the weight of him, the cold of his skin bleeding into mine, his red eyes fill my vision, and all I can think is that I’m going to die tonight.

“Jesus Christ,” he grunts, and then firm hands grip my wrists and push them into the pillow on either side of my head. “Stop. Screaming.”

The cries die in my throat, and the mirage becomes solid, transforms from the young initiate into Aeron. I’m so confused that I momentarily forget to be afraid.

“You’ve had a lot of vampire blood,” he says.

Breathing heavily, I frown up at him. He really is a very handsome man. His allure is off the charts, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. There’s something chaotic about it. Primal. Dark and filled with animalistic lust.

“It can make you hallucinate… and you will feel things. It connects us, so you’ll be drawn to me for a while.”

“D- drawn to you?”

He nods, and lets me go. “More than usual.” He sits back on his haunches but doesn’t get off me.

“Why did you give me your blood?”

“The initiate almost killed you. It was the only way to save you.”

My heart does a little somersault and butterflies flap up a tornado in my stomach. Heat washes through me and settles right in the core of my being.

I don’t just want him. I ache for him.

Without thinking, I reach out to cup his face, but he slaps my hand away like I’m a naughty child. “Don’t,” he barks.

I swallow past a thick, heavy knot in my throat. “I’m sorry.”

I forgot. Humans aren’t allowed to touch vampires unless they give us express permission. They are our masters.

There’s knock on the door, and only then does Aeron slides off me. “Come,” he calls out.

A young woman, beautiful and probably someone’s favourite donor, enters the room with a tray. Aeron points to the dresser. “Please bring Isla to my apartment tomorrow night at sunset,” he says.

The familiar nods and stands aside, her hands folded in front of her, head bowed.

She waits a few seconds before she looks at me. She flicks her long, blonde hair over her shoulder and fixes her cold grey eyes on my bloody bra. She scoffs softly. “What makes you so goddamn special?”

“Sorry?” I ask, completely taken aback.

Aren’t we all in the same river of shit, paddling upstream, and just hoping we make it to fifty?

“I’m trying to figure out why Prince Aeron would bring a rejected breeder to the castle.”

“I wasn’t rejected,” I say and get up from the bed. It’s just a narrow cot, really, hardly worthy of the name bed, but it’s comfortable enough. “My father made many matches for me.”

“Then why are you here,” she asks sarcastically, “and not with your breed mate?”

“Why are you?” I counter her question. I've learned a long time ago that people won't accept my explanations for rejecting every match my father made. “You’re pretty. I’m sure you had more than enough offers.”

“I gave myself to them.” She stretches herself to her full height and juts out her chin, as if the fact that she willingly pledged herself to the vampires makes her noble or something. “You were picked out of the herd… like a common cow.”

I take a step back as if she slapped me, but I recover quickly. “Why are you so upset?”

“I’m not upset,” she answers a little too quickly. “I’m just confused. I’ve been here for five years, and in all that time Prince Aeron has never chosen a human from the harvest. He calls you low quality.”

I chuckle sarcastically and turn my back on her. I am not nearly as confident as I pretend to be, but I grew up with four older brothers and three bitchy older sisters - I know how to stand up for myself even when I don’t feel particularly good about my chances.

I lift the dome up and look at the food. It’s all fresh. The vegetables haven’t gone limp yet, and the steak is the best quality – not the cheap, leathery off-cuts we can buy at the market.

“How dare you turn your back on me?” the woman asks. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“Who are you?” I ask and pick up a perfect little carrot.

“I’m Prince Aeron’s consort. Eve.”

I look over my shoulder at the girl, hiding the jealousy that washes over me like a tidal wave. “Okay. And?”

I examine carrot and pop it in my mouth. It's the most delicious I've ever tasted.

Eve leans in closer. “If you think you’re going to take my place, you have another thing coming, little girl. Prince Aeron is a man with very… particular tastes, and you will never satisfy him.”

I sigh and decide to stop playing games. “Look… he just wants me because I’m a virgin.”

They are in short supply these days. Most humans make sure they’re paired by the time they’re sixteen, and because virgin blood is so highly sought after, parents will pay to have their unpaired children deflowered before they turn eighteen and become the vampires' property.

Eve falters a little. “Is that true?”

“Yes. My parents have thirteen children. I’m the eighth one. They couldn't afford to have me devirgined or whatever.”

And after my father wasted thousands on matchmakers, he wasn't willing to fork out more cash for a professional deflowerer.

Eve laughs but as soon as she starts, she stops again. “You’re nothing more than a glorified blood bag. As long as you remember your place, we won’t have any problems.”