Simone's POV
Before I can even think about it, I put myself between Aldric and Baron. “Stop,” I say and put up my hands.
Baron stops dead in his tracks. He gives me a confused look, maybe because I’ve never given him an order before, I don't know. “Why are you with him?” he asks in a watery voice. “You are mine.”
It’s my blood doing that to him. I’ve seen it before. It changes him. Sometimes he'll be all giddy and nice, other times he'll be weepy like he is now. “I asked him to bring me up,” I reply and slowly walk towards him. “All those vampires were looking at me,” I make my voice small and try my best to sound more like the child I used to be. “I was scared.”
“You should have come to me, not him,” Baron spits. "I look after you. I protect you."
“You're right-” I lay my palms flat on his muscular chest -"but you were busy. You are an important man. You don’t have time for silly little girls that are afraid of silly little things like a few vampires looking at her.”
I kick my foot past Baron’s leg in the direction of the door, hoping Aldric will get the message and leave. I don’t know him, but I know Baron is older, which means he’s stronger. I like Aldric. He’s the first person, vampire, human or otherwise, that had shown me any type of kindness since my mother died.
I feel a gust of wind go past me and start to relax a little. I don’t care so much about myself, but I want Aldric to get away. The odds that Baron will truly hurt me are very low anyway.
I slip my arms around his neck and lift my face up. The overlord hesitates only for a moment before he closes his bloody lips around mine.
I hate it when he kisses me right after he fed, but tonight, he’s soaked in blood and holding me so tightly that it’s seeping into my clothes and clinging to my skin. I have to concentrate very hard not to gag which will infuriate him even more.
Baron lifts me off my feet and walks over to the bed with me. He throws me on the soft mattress and hovers over me. “Did he touch you?”
“Just when he carried me up here.”
If he wasn’t so high, he would have smelled Aldric’s scent in my hair, but Baron’s gone to cloud lalaland, which has probably been our only salvation. “How do you want me?” I ask.
“On your knees,” Baron says.
“Can you say no?” I hear Aldric’s voice echo in my head.
“No,” the word just pops out of my mouth before I can stop it.
Baron’s eyes widen as if he had just been slapped. “Excuse me?”
“I said no. You are covered in blood. It makes me sick.”
‘Shut up, Simone. Just shut up. He’s going to kill you.’
‘So what if he does kill me? What am I living for anyway? To sit in a dark room all by myself?’
Baron grips my face hard enough for me to hear my jaw crack, but I feel no pain. I’m filled with rage. I want to scratch his eyes out. I want to bite and kick and punch and make him feel every bit of the hurt he made me feel these last five years since he started coming to my bedroom every night. “I hate you,” I blurt out.
“Bride or not, I will kill you.”
“Oh please,” I say. “Please kill me. You’ll be doing me a favour.”
Something brown and sharp on the bed catches my eye. Something that doesn’t belong here. Baron hasn’t noticed - he’s too busy trying to figure out what’s going on with me. I flick my eyes away from him to look at the object on the mattress. It’s a piece of the broken door. It makes for the perfect stake.
It won’t kill him, but it will slow him down.
Slow him down and then what?
Get away, a very timid voice says in the back of my mind.
I don’t keep questioning that voice. I should. I really should. It would be better to die here in the only bed I’ve known since I was five years old than at the hands of starving and blood mad neophytes.
Baron grabs me by the shoulders and shoves me onto my back. He crawls up my body and plants a hand on either side of my head. “You don’t say no to me,” he snarls in my face.
Blood and spit drip on my lips. I gag and my fingers automatically curl around the big piece of wood. I lift it high and bring it down, sharp end first, driving it into the soft spot just below his shoulder blade. Blood spurts from the hole and washes over me.
Baron grunts and slumps forward on top of me. He’s just stunned, and they heal fast. So fast. In another few seconds, he’ll be fine and there will be hell to pay.
I grip the stake with both hands and yank. It comes out of his shoulder with a soft squelching sound. I jam it down again. This time I hear ribs crack and I meet a lot of resistance, but I keep going until Baron roars in pain and anger. His eyes are wide and confused.
I pull the stake out and bring it down again. Light pink blood froths from Baron’s mouth and he lands on top of me with his full weight, trapping me between his body and the mattress.
I shove my hands against his chest, trying to shift him off me, but I can’t even budge him an inch.
He’s going to heal. Any moment now. He’ll open his eyes and he’ll suck me dry.
I lose all ability to think clearly. Screaming like an enraged banshee, I yank the stake out of his back. Again and again, I plunge the piece of wood into him, not caring about the flood of blood soaking into my clothes, not caring about the consequences, I just want to hurt him.
“Shit. Simone!” someone says loudly.
I don’t pay attention to Aldric. If I’m going to die tonight, I’ll make sure that Baron remembers me for the rest of his life. Screaming and crying, completely out of control, I have enough time to bring the stake down one more time, shoving it straight through his neck. The sharp point comes out the other side, almost hitting me in the face.
Baron’s heavy body goes away and a moment later I hear a heavy thud to the right somewhere. “No!” I cry out. “He’s not dead yet.”
“Nor will he die. Oh, Jesus, Simone.” Aldric says. “What have you done?”
Aldric's POV “I said no. I said no. He didn’t care. You were right.” “Okay.” I get on the bed with her and pull her into my arms. “You need to calm down for me. Breathe.” “I can’t.” Her rage is quickly giving way to panic. “What did I do?” “Nothing. He won't even remember this in the morning, but we’re going to leave. It's the only way you'll stay alive.” “He’ll come looking for me.” My brain is in overdrive, I need to get her out of here, and I need to do it safely. “No, he won’t. I’m just gonna go ahead and assume that you can handle a little pain.” "Yes," she mutters. She's starting to go limp in my arms. She's going into shock, and we're running out of time. I don't have time to be nice. “I’m really sorry about this.” I grab a handful of hair and yank it out. Simone gasps, but otherwise doesn't show any outward signs of pain. I let her go and sprinkle the clumps of hair over the bed, then I reach into my jacket and pull out a pocket knife. “Hold out your hand.” Why?” “I’
Simone's POV I wake with a violent start. I inhale sharply and bolt upright. “Good afternoon, Poppet,” an unfamiliar voice says to my left. I let out an involuntary little squeal and grab at thin air, looking for something, anything, I can use to defend myself against a possible attack. It takes me a hot minute to realise I’m no longer in Baron’s mansion. I’m lying on a soft rug in front of a warm fire. For the first time in my life, I feel…cosy. I have no other word for it. “You are safe,” the man says, his voice calm and comforting. Frowning, I turn my head to look at the speaker. A vampire with long, spider-white hair, wearing a robe made from roughly woven material sits on a couch on the other side of a coffee table. He closes the book on his lap and puts it aside, then rests his head between his thumb and forefinger and gives me a little smile. I should probably be scared, but I'm not. It's just more of the same. At least I understand them - vampires. I am kind of relieved t
Aldric's POVBaron lets out a loud wail and comes straight at me. I leap into the air, and all he manages to do is to smash the chair I just vacated. “Yes,” I say. “Keep doing more of that. Destroy everything you’ve worked for and built. That’s a great idea.”“You took her,” he bellows. “You took her from me.”“I didn’t. She tried to defend herself. I saw it all. By the time I got here, you had already drained most of her blood. I tried to save her, but…she was too far gone.”“Lies!” Baron hisses and jumps back to his feet.My eyes fall on the stake still lying on the mattress. I throw it at his feet. “She tried to defend herself with this.”Baron’s eyes go wide and he bends over to pick up the piece of wood. “Why would I kill her? I love her.”“You lost control. It happens to the best of us.”The hand holding on to the stake goes limp and the wood falls to the floor with a loud clatter. “But I never have…I never…I never…”“She said no to you and you lost your damn mind.”“You heard h
Aldric's POV“Yes,” I say and step into the kitchen. That strange pull she has over me is compelling me to move forward. It’s almost as if I have no control over my own limbs. “I am sorry I didn’t come to say hello right away. Vesper said you were asleep.”“I can’t sleep at night,” she says.“Of course. You’ll get used to it.”She nods. “I guess so. I didn't really like it to be honest.”"The daylight?"Her head keeps bopping up and down. "It hurts my eyes and stings my skin.""You're just not used to it. You need to go outside. You need sunlight. It's good for you.""Maybe," she says and starts to chew the inside of her mouth.“Are you okay?”“I don’t…I don’t know what to do.”“Whatever you like.”“No,” she says and shakes her head. “No, it doesn’t work that way.”“Why not?” I take the seat on the bench opposite her and try to ignore her enticing scent. I just fed, and still my mouth waters for her.“Surely I have duties? If I’m not to be your or Vesper’s donor, then I must do somet
Simone's POV Dumbfounded, I stand in the kitchen, staring at the door. I don’t even bother to go after Aldric or go out to try to find him. There’s really no point. What happened? What did I do? I’ve never touched a vampire of my own free will. I’ve never trusted a vampire or wanted them near me. Aldric is different though. I want him here with me. I want to know what it will feel like to be possessed by him. There was a time that the thought of another vampire touching me would send me screaming to my death, but now I desire it. No, I don't, I realise. I just desire him. Why? Why am I suddenly like this? I can’t trust him. I can’t trust a vampire. Even the ones who claim to love you, like Baron, will hurt you in the end. It’s all they know. They thrive on it. Tired and confused, I leave the kitchen and go to my new bedroom. I pull the curtains shut so the sun won’t bother me when it comes up and get into bed, clothes and all. I lie awake for a long time, listening to the sounds
Simone's POV“I'm ready,” I say and yawn loudly.My arm still hurts, but not as much as it did five minutes ago. My head spins like a top, and my thoughts have slowed down to a crawl. Everything around me moves in slow motion, and I battle to focus on any one thing.What did Vesper give me?Aldric manoeuvres himself so he can sit behind me and gently pulls me back until I lie flush against him. Under any other circumstances, I’d question his actions, but the medicine has rendered me stupid, and having Aldric’s warm body against my back is comforting. I feel oddly safe. Protected.“Brace yourself, Poppet,” Vesper says.“Hm-hm,” I mumble.Aldric’s arms snake around me, and he pins me down. I’m aware that Vesper has my left wrist in his hands, but I barely notice. I’m too focused on Aldric and how good his mere touch makes me feel.The next moment a sharp pain shatters my happy little dreamland, and for those few seconds everything comes back into stark, clear reality. I think I scream w
Aldric's POVLeaving Simone was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my endless, immortal life. It literally felt as if I tore myself in two, and left a part of my soul behind.Despite my brother's dire warnings, I left, firmly believing that it would get better as time went on, even though I knew better and had seen other vampires battle with the same thing.Hubris is every vampire's mortal enemy, and I fell victim to it.Before I left that day, Vesper tried to talk me out of it yet again, but I wouldn’t listen to him. “Look after her,” I said before I walked out of the gates. “Keep her safe.”“You can’t just go, Aldric.” Vesper tried for the hundredth time to get through to me. “You’ll go mad with longing.”“No, I won’t. She’s human. It will be over before we know it, and I can go on with my life, empty and meaningless as it may be from now on. How long do humans live these days anyway? Sixty years? I have forty years left to go.”“That’s how long yours live. Mine often make
**TRIGGER WARNING: The next few chapters deal with abortion issues.** Aldric’s POV It’s not possible to feel even worse that I have this last month or so. This cannot be. “Did…how?” I say through dead lips. “Did you allow your humans to take advantage of her?” “Of course not. She won’t talk about it. She withdrew completely into herself. She just…she’s very unwell.” “Is the pregnancy making her sick?” Vesper nods but doesn’t say anything else. “So…could it be a vampire’s?” “It’s so rare, but yes…that’s the only other explanation.” “Well…she has to end it, Vesper! It will kill her.” “I tried telling her, but…she won't talk to me. I think she’s pining for you and maybe, just maybe, she is under the impression that the child will fill the void you left behind.” “Oh…she’s human, she has no void like that.” “Wow,” my brother says under his breath. “You really think that, don’t you?” “Yes, I really think that. Do you remember how they used to jump from one partner to the next? Th