“Katy, why are there no vampire children on the island? I’ve not seen one of them,” I ask.
This time her smile drops. “The last king banned all children after Maddox was born, because of the curse. Without the witches’ elixirs, vampire women cannot get pregnant. Neither Maddox or Reign will overthrow that decision until they are king.” She pauses. “And the orb has been missing for twenty years. Twenty years of no vampire children on this island. You can imagine how much people despise you for having a connection with the first supernatural children seen for a long time.”
“I get it,” I whisper, my eyes widening. “This island and its laws are messed up.”
She laughs as she walks away. “Finally figured out you’re in hell, have you? Congrats. You’re not a newbie anymore.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Stepping out the car, I resist the urge to puke all over Cross’s shoes. On the walls of the castle are four men’s bodies, their heads missing and their blood dripping down the walls and into the red snow.
“What happened?” I whisper, shutting the door behind me and hearing Reign take off instantly, wanting to get the hell out of here. I don’t blame him right at this moment.
“I solved a problem and had fun,” Maddox answers me, his voice coming from my back, his breath blowing against my ear. Cross bows his head and turns around, walking into the castle, but I stay very still.
“What was the problem?” I ask him, feeling the heat from his body warming my back. His fingers reach out and trace my lower back, drifting around my hip as he walks to my side before dropping his hand. I can’t help the sigh that almost leaves my lips. “Why did you kill them, Maddox?”
“I like it when you say my name,” he informs me, amusement in his voice. “I like many things about you, Riona.”
“Maddox, why did you kill them?” I repeat, trying to ignore the effect his seductively spoken words have on me.
Rather than answer me, he starts to walk towards the castle. I jog and catch up to his side, grabbing his arm, and he stops. He could easily throw my grip off him, but he doesn’t. “I need to know you’re not a monster, so give me a reason why you killed these four men. I know there is a reason, this isn’t you.”
He steps into my space, his face drifting into the cold heartless monster he pretends to be. He roughly grips my neck, pulling me against his body. “We have barely known each other, Riona. I’ve been alive for nearly a hundred years, and you are only just twenty-two. We can’t know each other, and you should be running as fast as you can away from me. Haven’t I made it clear I am a monster?”
“Yes,” I bite out, even as this very moment reminds me of how we met. “But I don’t believe you.”
He growls as he lets me go, just like I suspected he would, and then he grabs me, holding me to his body. He uses his vampire speed, the force of the movement plastering my body to his and stealing the air from my lungs. When we stop, I dizzily stumble back and breathe in the cold air surrounding us before I see the view. We are on top of the castle in a tiny circular room, and the views are just of clouds. I’ve seen this view from an aeroplane, but it is nothing like this, this is out of this world. I grip the stone brickwork around the window, staring out at the clouds for a long time before I turn back. There are no doors, no other way to get up here unless you are a vampire, I suspect.
Maddox stands in the middle of the empty room, his eyes never leaving mine as he lifts up a strange dagger. The blade of the dagger glows white, hurting my eyes to look at for too long, and I can’t see the hilt from the brightness of the light. Very slowly, Maddox walks up to me and picks up my hand, curling it around the handle of the dagger as my heart pounds away in my chest.
“This dagger killed a witch and trapped her soul inside of it. There are only two of these on the island, and they are the only way to truly kill a vampire,” he somewhat softly tells me, letting go of the dagger. He moves the blade around and places the tip over his heart. “I’ve done nothing but think since the night I took you. I’ve done nothing but think about you and what I should do. I’ve never done the right thing in my life.” He laughs and picks up a strand of my hair, running it through his fingers. “I’ve never wanted to do the right thing by anyone, but then you turned up and, fuck, I wanted to push you away for your own good, but I couldn’t. I’m a selfish bastard.”
“Maddox...”
“But I’m giving you this one chance. You can kill me here and now, I won’t fight you. You should kill me, Riona, because I am a monster. I am a killer.” He leans into the dagger a little, and a trickle of blood starts blooming onto the white shirt. “And I can’t resist you. I can’t stay away, because you are mine.”
“I c-can’t do this!” I exclaim, my hand shaking around the handle. “Just tell me why you killed those men?”
“I’m a monster, Riona, and I won’t change. This is the only chance you will ever get to escape me, because if you let me live, I will never stop. I will never let you go. I will never stop claiming you as mine,” he firmly tells me, his voice rising with each word, anger spilling into the space between us and forcing one of us to make a decision. He looks me dead in the eye. “Do it, Riona!”
Suddenly I realise he wants me to do it. He knows it would be the best thing for me and him. We are destructive towards each other, two people who really, really shouldn’t be together. We both know it.
But I don’t think either of us feels like this is something we can walk away from. I just can’t.
I could tell myself a million reasons why I should stab him in the chest and let him die.
But I can’t.
I let the dagger fall to the floor, the clanging of the metal is the final bit of resistance gone from my chest, and I lean forward, kissing him with everything I’m feeling inside. He groans and picks me up, pushing my back into the brick wall and ripping my top off. I tug at his shirt, and he pulls it over his head, pushing his trousers down as he kisses my neck. Maddox puts me down long enough to pull my jeans, boots and panties off before picking me up and thrusting into me in one long stroke.
“God,” I moan, throwing my head back at the sheer pleasure coursing through me.
“I prefer the name Maddox,” he teases against my neck, sucking and nipping on my skin as he thrusts in and out of me.
“Maddox...I...can’t...” My words are a jumbled mess until his lips claim mine once more, his tongue slipping into my mouth. The mixture of my nipples rubbing against his hard chest with every thrust of his hard cock inside me sends me over the edge in seconds. I moan into his mouth, and he swallows the sound as I contract around his cock, and he thrusts harder, staring into my eyes as he stills, his hot come filling me.
We both stare at each other as he holds me against the wall, his hand buried in my hair, his other holding my ass. “You’ve just signed your soul to the devil.”
“I know,” I whisper, and then I kiss him again. I might as well get my soul’s worth.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“I’m surprised to see you outside Maddox’s bedroom or the conservatory with him,” Cross states, making me jump out of my skin. I spin around, nearly dropping the plate in my hands, and glare at him.