Vampire Queen

Chapter eight

But not for long.

Lord was older and stronger. He sure beat Nathaniel easily. And he was definitely faster than me.

He found me quickly. He grabbed me and didn't let go. I drew a dagger at him, but he snatched it from my hand. He put it to my neck.

"Could you stop running?" he said.

"No," I retorted.

He pulled the arrow sticking out of my shoulder. It hurt terribly. I winced. A silent scream left my lips.

"You're hurt. You need treatment," he told me. "You won't get very far ahead of that hunter in this condition, and it's getting close to dawn."

He touched my bleeding shoulder with an unnaturally gentle touch. It hurt. His fingers were red with my blood. He licked it. He did not take his bewitching gaze off me.

I sighed. He was right. I have nowhere to run. Not like this. I surrendered.

We got into his carriage and headed back to the palace. Screaming tension was hanging between me and him. I didn't want to talk. Not after I messed up my escape so terribly.

"How is it possible that a vampire hunts its own?" the lord asked me, breaking the silence hanging between us. "He was wearing a hunter's uniform. And you obviously knew each other well."

"I don't have to answer any of your questions," I answered tiredly.

"He said you were wearing that white dress because of him," he remarked.

"I don't have to answer you," I repeated.

"Did you have something with the hunter?" he asked me another question. He did not give up and continued with his annoying questions.

"I won't answer any of your questions," I told him with hidden anger bubbling on the surface.

"You do not have to answer. I'm not forcing you. But I have my theories," he said.

"I can assure you that your theories are mistaken," I retorted.

"Ivan Ivanovich would certainly not tolerate a hunter in the family."

I was silent. He was only trying to provoke me.

"Your brother Alexei mentioned that you are the type of woman who believes in true love."

"I don't believe in love for a long time."

"The hunter broke your heart?" he smirked wickedly.

"You know nothing about it." I glared at him.

"Then explain it to me, Dragomira Ivanovna. What happened between you two?'

I remember that day exactly. That is probably the biggest curse of what I have become. I remember everything. Everything I want to forget. Memories haunt me in my dreams like nightmares. Blood is not the worst thing in our existence. People kill animals to survive. We kill people to satisfy that insatiable hunger. It's the memories that torture me.

I knew I shouldn't have, but you can't command your heart. I fell in love with the vampire hunter.

It was a mistake.

A mistake that will never happen again.

He didn't know what I was. He knew that I belonged to the nobility and my status was sufficient explanation for why we only met at night.

But one night he found out the truth. I thought we were close enough to tell him the truth. I confessed to him. He seemed to be taking it all right. I thought he loved me.