Daphne climbs to her feet and opens her mouth to spew more hate when something sharp slides through her throat like butter. I scream, my legs feeling weak as Daphne’s eyes go wide, and she coughs on blood, so much blood, until it is pouring down her chin. Everything feels so unreal, so slow as she falls to the floor, and I see her killer right behind her.
Prince Maddox. He smiles at me, like nothing is wrong, and pulls the tip of his dagger from her neck. In a damn fitted tux, he looks more human than I’ve ever seen him, even as he wipes the blood on Daphne’s dress and slides it back into his jacket.
He is cold and dead inside. He is broken.
A pretty picture with a rotted frame, and painted with sinful blood.
The silence becomes damning while I watch Maddox as his eyes run down my body, and I feel every bit of his gaze.
“Are humans all as violent as you are? If so, where do you come from?” Maddox finally speaks, and Cross lets me go. “I think we should claim more humans from your home, as you are quite amusing.” Quickly I look back at Cross, but his eyes are on Maddox, a blank expression on his face; however, the slight tightening of his lips gives him away. He doesn’t like that Maddox killed Daphne. I don’t like it, and I pretty much hated the woman from the second we met.
Still…it doesn’t mean she needed to die.
I narrow my eyes at Maddox, whose lips tilt up in amusement. His stupidly perfect lips. “There is that violent side of you I like. It’s burning in your eyes like fire.”
“Give me something sharp that can kill you and find out for yourself how violent I can be. And no, they aren’t all like me.”
His laugh fills the corridor, even while Daphne’s body lies on the floor between us. I doubt Maddox even knows her name. She is no one to him, like so many he has killed.
“Come, my violent little human. Our guests are waiting.”
“Your guests,” I correct him, walking around Daphne and trying not to look at her. “And I’m not hungry after what you just did.”
I try not to react as Maddox places his hand on the middle of my back, the lace doing nothing to protect my bare skin from his hot touch. “Shame, as I’m ravenous.”
Chapter Fourteen
Prince Maddox’s hand stays firmly on the middle of my back as we walk through the castle, heading back past the living room with the bookcases I was in earlier and through another door to the side. This leads to a long corridor that must stretch the entire back of the castle. One wall is pure stone from the mountain with gold old-fashioned fire sconces placed evenly down the wall. On the other side is a wall of mirrors with dark wood doors in the middle of them every so often. I try not to look at myself in the reflection, but my eyes are drawn to the mirror, and what I see is very strange. Maddox and I seem normal, like two people off to prom or something similar. He doesn’t look like a monster, he just seems like a guy. A handsome guy that would attract every girl’s attention, but a guy nonetheless. Maddox, feeling my eyes on him, turns and I quickly look away.
“We do look very fitting together.”
His comment only makes me shiver. Mostly because he is right. But what does that make me? Little Red Riding Hood standing next to the very wolf who would eat her?
And enjoy it.
“Who is here tonight?” I question, needing to fill the silence. Needing sound before my nerves get the very best of me and I run.
He doesn’t reply for a second, and I almost think he is going to annoy me. “My friends. Four of them, to be exact. I will let them introduce themselves. Tell me about you.”
“No,” I curtly reply.
He looks down at me, never pausing in our walk. I meet his gaze. God, why are vampires so alluring? Why is it fair a monster gets to be as attractive as he is? “Tell me something. It was not a request.”
I smirk. “Fine. I fucking hate vampires. Are you happy now?”
His deep laugh surprises me all the way down to the doors at the end of the corridor, and my cheeks burn brightly the whole time. “I have not laughed this much since I sacrificed all those male humans for my birthday for the bonfire. They did scream for mercy. Like that is a word I know so well.”
“Sacrificed?” I mumble in shock, but he pushes the wooden doors open and heads in, pulling me along at his side into a massive dining room. A long table takes up most of the space. It’s one large slice of white wood from what must have been a huge tree. The walls are dark red, with carved symmetric patterns on the layered ceiling. A huge fabric banner hangs on the one wall, displaying Maddox’s mark, as I’m now calling it. Two fireplaces are on either side of the room, roaring fires lit in them, and the doors we came through are the only entrance and exit I can find. There isn’t even a single window.
But there are other people. No, they aren’t people exactly. Vampires. The word still sounds foreign in my mind, and a part of me still thinks I’m going to wake up soon, and this all will be over.
Two men sit on one side of the table with a space in the middle of them. Both of them are stunning in a way I am figuring out only vampires are. Both blond, with similar features and matching brown eyes. They look like Vikings with their build and height, much more similar to the size of Maddox and his brother.
On the other side of the table are two women, again with a space between where they are sitting. One of them, I can only see the back of her red head, while the other slides out of her seat like a fox, but a black-haired one. Her long black hair touches the floor as she walks over, a silky black dress clinging to her body. When I meet her bright blue eyes, a strange feeling washes over me. Like I know her from somewhere. If she feels the same, she hides it well as she walks to Maddox and kisses both his cheeks.
“My dear prince, it has been too long,” she states, a thick French accent coming through. She turns to me and cups my face. Her hands are freezing cold, unlike how hot Maddox’s touch is. What is with that? “Ah, you are very beautiful as claimed. Yet I sense nothing special about you at all.”
Thanks a lot, stranger. She lets me go and sighs, turning to Maddox. “Have you tasted her blood yet?”
“A small amount tells me she is magical and something new to the island. I presumed the sirens would recognise her as one of her clan,” he replies somewhat truthfully. So he doesn’t bite his siren friends. Interesting.
“Sirens are real?” I blurt out, looking at the woman with new interest. They both turn to me.
“So very new to the magical world,” the woman rolls her eyes. “I am Natalia, and I am a siren if you must know.”
“How very lucky she is to meet not only a vampire and a siren in her first week here, but a witch as well,” one of the guys states, his voice easily carrying across the room. “Do bring her to the table to sit next to me. I wish to see her closely, my friends.”
For whatever reason I can’t make out to myself, I look up at Maddox. He smirks briefly before nodding once.
Like I need his permission.
Maybe witches aren’t as evil as vampires. Maybe. They are still friends with Maddox though, and I doubt they are highly moral.
Feeling like a goldfish in a bowl, I nervously walk past Natalia towards the table. The witch who spoke stands up and pulls a chair out for me. I sit down, looking at the gold plates and empty crystal wine glasses on the table. Everything looks perfect. Enough to make me nervous.