The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

Despite all the things that her father had done to her-and there were a great number of things-never once had he locked her up in one of the cells down in the palace dungeon.

She’d only been here about once or twice and on those occasions, she’d never been on the other side of the gate. Always on the outside, never on the inside. But now, she found herself locked on the inside, watching and waiting for the man she called her father to face her finally.

Sitting on the ground by the gate, she leaned on it, wanting to stay as far away from the depths of the cell as she could. The bed, if it could be called that, was a wooden bench that was wider than the usual bench, and the cell didn’t have a toilet-it had a bucket, and Maria threw up in her mouth whenever she so much as looked at it.

Gods, how ironic was her situation?

She’d wanted to escape the vampire to come back here, but now she was here and being kept in a cell. Leaving one cell only to come to another. Well, at least her old ‘cell’ had a toilet, closet, bath and a moderately better view.

The sun was starting to give way to darkness and Maria began to wonder if her father would show his face today. She needed him to. She had a lot of questions for him.

She wanted to know who the sorceress was to him and how he’d gotten someone so powerful to get her back. He didn’t even care about her and since he was able to get the sorceress to help him get Maria back, then he should be able to get her to help him in the ways Maria did.

Why was she suddenly so important to him?

Maria heard the faint sound of a lock turning and she froze, straining her ears so that she could hear more clearly. When she heard the sound again, she jerked away from the door in time to see it creep open as a booted feet appeared.

Slowly, her eyes trailed up the small frame until they rested on cold grey eyes, so very much like hers. She hated that they had that one similarity.

He held her gaze as he came towards her, his eyes only darting to the side once and lingering for a bit, before they rested back on hers and when they did, they appeared lighter. Happier.

Maria stood up and backed away from the gate as her father stood in front of it, clasping his hands behind his back.

“I trust you’re enjoying your accommodation.” He said conversationally, eyes flicking over her and briefly resting on the collar at her neck. His eyes flashed and his face tightened in anger. That was enough to tell her that he wasn’t happy about the new development.

“Accommodation?” She asked, her eyes sweeping over the cell incredulously. “Why am I in here?”

“Why?” He repeated slowly, a small slow smile creeping into his expression and taking root in his lips. “Because you’re worth more to me now than you were before.”

Maria didn’t know whether it was the tone with which he said it, or if it were the words, but a coldness slithered down her spine and spread out into her body like poison. Without knowing that she was doing it, she took a step back. “What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out all in good time,” he told her. “For now, just enjoy your new room while I work on getting that collar off you.”

Her fingers itched to touch the collar, but she held her hands firmly by her sides and fisted them to quell the urge.

Who was this man?

Sure, he had her father’s face, build and height. He had her father’s body and voice, but it wasn’t really him. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t news that her father was a tyrant, and it was definitely not news to Maria that he could be extremely ruthless when he wanted to get his way, but this was new.

How could her own father lock her up in a cell?

“You’re going to keep me locked up in here until you find a way to get the collar off of me?” She asked, puzzled and he nodded. “But why?”

“Well, as it turns out, I can’t risk you running away from the palace, because as I said before, you’re more important to me than you were before.” He explained, confusing her even more with those words. “Of course, I would rather you keep staying in your room, but my hands are tied on the matter.” He lifted said hands and grinned, showing them to her. “Not literally.”

She stumbled back a step, then another, and another, until the back of her knees bumped against the wooden bench.

Oh gods.

He’d gone completely crazy.

During the short time that she’d been away from him, he must have plunged more and more into the darkness he was swamped in and must have started to go insane gradually.

If not, what did he mean when he said that she was more important to him now? If she actually was more important to him, didn’t that mean that he should treat her better than he used to? Why was he doing the complete opposite?

“When have I ever tried to run away?” She asked. “You know I would never-”

“You wouldn’t before, but you might now.” He cut her off, the smile vanishing from his face as his expression turned hard. “You think I don’t remember the look on your face when the vampire took you away from me at his castle?” His voice rose with his words, losing his grip on control. “You were shocked and maybe a tad scared, but you never once protested. You didn’t even try to!”

She frowned as she realised that what he was saying was true.

She remembered being shocked by the vampire’s sudden appearance, then the fear that had gripped her when she’d had both the vampire and her father in the same room, but she couldn’t remember ever struggling out of the vampire’s grip when he’d held her. She couldn’t even remember complaining when he’d traced them out of the castle.

Instead, she’d been apologising to him.

Shit.

Her father had taken note of something she herself had failed to notice and now, she was paying for it.

So, he was going to keep her locked in here because she was useless to him with the collar around her neck and apparently, until he found a way to take the collar off, she would remain in here.

In that case, she wanted him to get the collar off as soon as possible because if she stayed in this cell for longer, she would fall sick. It was so dirty, she couldn’t even stand to look at it.

Since she was on the other side of the gate and there was no way he could get to her with the gate in his way, she decided to take advantage of it and ask him some questions that would definitely spike his anger.

“How did you find u-me?” She’d just been about to say ‘us’ but if she’d said that, he might have taken it to mean something else and she would only be digging her grave deeper.

“Why, I had you followed, of course.”

“You did?” She asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her words.

He was obviously pleased with himself because his face broke out in a grin that was the very definition of evil. “I planted people everywhere. The nymphs, vampires, demons, witches, every faction of the lore, really.” Her heart beat faster in her chest as he clapped his hands in excitement. “Imagine how delighted I was when one of men came back and told me that he found the vampire in his mistress’s pub. It’s common sense that you would be with him, of course, and from then on, everything fell into place.”

Maria didn’t know what caught her attention more. The mention that Elizabeth really was the vampire’s mistress or the fact that the vampire had been seen in there.

She decided to focus on the latter and think about the former later.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

If they’d been seen that day, then it meant that they’d been followed all the way to Corey’s house, which meant that the spies had been patiently watching, biding their time and waiting for the right moment to strike.

They’d taken their chance to strike at the exact same time Maria had made up her mind to escape.

She swallowed as he continued.

“Now, I regret that the vampire hadn’t been around when the Queen arrived. I would have loved to watch her kill him as slowly and painfully as possible.”

Maria’s stomach roiled at the thought of the vampire being killed. For reasons she couldn’t possibly understand, the though hurt her even more than the thought of being locked up in here for another day.

“How did you convince such a powerful creature to help you?” She wondered out loud, still amazed by that.

He took one menacing step forward and although the gate was between them, fear coursed through her heart and she took another step back, almost summersaulting onto the bench. “You forget that I am an equally powerful creature?”

She nodded quickly, retreating physically as she did mentally. She wouldn’t want to get him pissed at her when she was still in here. He might just want to punish her by keeping her locked up for longer.

It was then that she remembered that she had one more question to ask him.

“What happened to the vampire’s sister?”

She expected him to look shocked that she knew about the vampire’s sister, but he wasn’t. Far from it, actually. The expression on his face changed from one of anger into a blank one.

“You don’t look surprised.” She observed and he shrugged.

“The moment I found out who he was, I knew why he captured you.” Ariti told her, not the slightest hint of remorse in his voice. “An eye for an eye and all of that. Fair, I agree, but I had to bring you back.”

Maria’s legs almost gave out from under her. All this time that she’d been suffering, everything that she’d gone through was all because of her father.

A small part of her had suspected that her father might know about the vampire’s sister, but she hadn’t completely believed it. Now that she knew the truth, it was almost too much for her to carry.

“I truly am sorry that you had to pay for it, but then again, you look well.” He shrugged again. “The treatment must not have been that bad.”

Anger suffused her, filling her up and covering her vision until she could barely see past the red haze.

This man she called her father was the cause of her suffering.

She stared at him as he walked out, barely able to bear the sight of him. She wasn’t sure that she should keep calling him that because he definitely didn’t deserve to be called one.

A few seconds later when the door shut behind him, she heard a voice speak.

“He’s such an asshole, isn’t he?”