The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

She wasn’t even exaggerating when she said that she was too tired to deal with him.

The meal she had eaten-if it could be called that-was something she wasn’t even sure the servants back at the palace ate. But she guessed it was better than nothing. After all, the worms eating at her stomach walls has ceased for now.

“Stand up.” He commanded.

She would have rolled her eyes had she found the strength. “You realise I don’t have to stand for my mouth to work, right?”

He squinted as if she had sprouted a second head within the space of five seconds. “You realise I’m the one doing the questioning here, right?”

This time, she did roll her eyes. As if she didn’t know that.

“So ask your questions.”

He looked like he wanted to bite her head off, but then he exhaled and he returned to looking like his usual hot, annoying self. She absolutely detested how much she found him attractive. It was simply a fact, staring back at her everytime she saw him that he was good-looking. What she hated, was that she, particularly, noticed it.

Why couldn’t he just be like the other good-looking guys that she saw? Handsome men amongst the Sorcery weren’t uncommon. In fact, what was uncommon, was seeing Sorcerers that weren’t good-looking. But she never ever found anyone attractive. Maria thought they were all sleazy.

But with this man, one look at him and she was wondering about all the things that they could do together. Thinking about how he would feel if she were to touch him. How she would feel…

Too bad that the man didn’t look at her with anything but hate. Worse, he wanted to kill her.

“What are you doing?” The rushed words snapped her back to the present and when she looked at him, she saw that his eyes were flared and… panicked?

“I’m not doing anything.” She frowned.

“You are. Don’t deny it.” His nostrils flared, his eyes dipping to her chest before bouncing back to her face. “You’re trying to distract me.”

She looked down at her shirt to see what he had seen, and her eyes widened when she saw that her nipples were poking through her shirt. If they were distracting him, then he had better leave. It was his fault after all.

The cell was incredibly hot and her dirty clothes had started to itch on her skin. Continually wearing the same bra she had been captured in, wasn’t an option. It was was sweaty and would have probably started to smell if she hadn’t taken it off. And she wasn’t wearing panties either under her shorts.

If he had simply let her have a bath, then she would have found a way to wash her underwear and hung them to dry. It wasn’t something that she usually did herself, but seeing as she didn’t have a choice, she was willing to try. If only he would let her.

But the asshole was keen on making her life a living hell.

“That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

“What was?”

She was repeating his questions like an airhead, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She was exhausted and tired of dealing with his attitude. Not to mention, frustrated. What did he want with her? Why was he keeping her locked in this hellhole?

“Seduction.” The scowl he levelled on her was cruel and it filled her blood with ice. “Since you don’t have your powers anymore, you thought that the best way to get out of here, would be to seduce me. First, you change your appearance into something you think a man like me would like, since the first one didn’t work out well for you. And now, you’re… reacting. So that I can see.”

Gods! But the man was crazy.

Maria stared at him, shocked at his words and the way he was thinking. Too shocked to even come up with a reply for him.

The cruel smirk on his lips told her that he had read another meaning into the shock he saw on her face. “Didn’t think I was going to find out, did you?”

“You’re crazy,” Was all she could say.

“Call it whatever you want,” He snapped, his eyes blazing. “But know that it’s not going to get you anywhere with me, witch.”

“Don’t call me a witch.” She snapped back. That seemed to give him pause. She wasn’t sure whether it was simply the fact that she had raised her voice at him that shocked him, or if it was her adamance about not being referred to as a witch.

“Why?”

The simple question surprised her.

“Because I’m not a witch.”

“Then what are you?” He asked in that same tone. She was finding it hard to suppress her surprise at him speaking to her that way. Whenever he talked to me, it was either to bark out orders or yell at me-and of recently, accuse her of wanting to seduce him into letting her go.

She hadn’t even thought about it once. And even now that he had planted the idea in her mind, she wasn’t even feeling up to it. Both mentally and physically.

She was too dirty to attempt pulling something like that. The mere thought of it made her want to throw up inside her mouth. Not to mention that she was so tires, she couldn’t even put effort into doing something like that.

“A sorceress.” She finally answered.

Before her very eyes, she watched the calm, cool expression on his face morph into one of utmost disgust and hatred.

“Thanks for reminding me what you are.” He dragged scornful eyes down as much of her as he could see since she was sitting down cross-legged on the cot. “Needed that reality check.”

She hated his yes on her. She had always hated his eyes on her-but for a few seconds ago when he had been looking at her with something other than hate in his eyes for once. She hated how little he made her feel. How he made her feel like she was worthless and undeserving of the air she breathed.

He made her want to hate herself. And if he kept on more of that, she was sure that she would. Hate herself, that was.

“Glad I could help.” She delivered flatly. He could talk about how much he hated and wanted to kill her, but he had not done anything about it yet.

She didn’t know whether to be glad or terrified.

His jaw tightened. From their interactions-which weren’t much, but definitely enough-she had gathered that he didn’t like being talked back at. Didn’t even tolerate the merest sarcasm even if he dished it out first.

Gods, he was such an infuriating male.

And she couldn’t believe that she was being held against her wills by him. Why couldn’t he have been someone more reasonable? More agreeable? Perhaps, she would have found a way to get him to let her go.

“I’m going to give it to you straight, Princess-”

“Before, that wasn’t you giving it to me straight?” She couldn’t hide her surprise.

His glare had her swallowing and clamping her mouth shut in fear. “I’m going to ask you questions and you’re going to answer every single one of them.” He paused. “Every single one and if you lie, you’re not going to like the consequences. So, friendly advice-not that I give a quarter of a fuck-don’t.” His eyes took on a wicked glint. “I’ll make the deal sweeter for you-again, not that you have a choice-and ask Edgar to give you something better than these scraps you’ve been having for meals. I know you hate them.”

She did. She really did. She hated the ‘meals’ more than she hated being locked inside the palace.

One thing Maria never joked with, was food. How sad was it that she was now being tortured by not giving her enough of them?

She mulled over his deal. Should she take it? Should she not? What were her options?

Lie and face consequences even worse than the things she was going through? Could that even be possible?Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Or tell the truth and have her meal plan upgraded to something actually edible?

But her options all boiled down to the kind of questions that he wanted to ask her. Could she answer them? Would she be able to? What if he wanted to know about some of Ariti’s deeply hidden secrets? Things that she herself didn’t even know about? Would he believe her if she told him that she didn’t know?

And what if his aim for asking her was to seek revenge?

She scoffed inside. Of course it was. But the downside-really, really, bad downside-to that was that Ariti would find out-since she was the only one that knew about said things-and he would retaliate.

By hurting the one thing in the whole worlds she cared out.

She couldn’t tell him the truth if she actually knew it. It was too risky. The result would be too much for her to bear.

“How would you know if I’m actually telling you the truth?” She asked him, mainly because she actually wanted to know and partly to buy time.

“I know what I know and they’re accurate. I’ll ask you a few test questions. If your answers contradict what I already know, then I’ll know that you’re lying.”

She swallowed.

This man was a man on a mission and he didn’t look like he was joking when she said that if she lied, she would pay for it. Dearly.

Maria wasn’t one to lie to herself. There was no need pretending like she could even try to lie to him. She was a bad liar. A terrible one.

And this man…

This dangerous man that she didn’t know what exactly he was or what she had done to incur his wrath, was going to smell her bullshit from a distance.

She was screwed.