Darkest Prince Read online

  I’d been here for a couple of days, but it was time for me to move on to another town before the hunters worked out where I was. I had headed back towards Dunster because of a deep need to check on Dario. There was a contract out on him and even though I didn’t like him very much, I didn’t want him dead.

  The bond hadn’t made me instantly fall in love with him; if anything it had confused me. A part of me hated him for turning me into a blood sucking monster, but the mind connection had made me feel like I was missing a part of me. I could feel his loneliness and longing, it reflected my own loneliness and longing and made me want to wrap myself around him until he no longer felt like this. I cared for him and that was something that I wasn’t supposed to feel for anyone, let alone a vampire.

  I searched the club for my lunch date; he was sitting at a small table watching his friends chatting up some girls on the dance floor. I ordered a beer for him and another shot of whisky for myself and headed over to the table. I couldn’t help but notice that the male vampires were watching me. I was probably making them nervous. They would be wondering if I was there for one of them.

  The human male with incredibly green eyes and handsome face, didn’t even notice that I was standing there waiting for an invitation to ‘grab a seat.’ I followed his gaze and it all became clear. This lovely handsome male didn’t have eyes for the ladies; he was in fact sitting brooding, watching his best mate chatting up a girl. I slid the beer across the table at him and said, “It looks like you could do with this.” I wandered off knowing that any advances I made towards him would be a wasted effort. I could only use compulsion once my fangs were tapped into a nice vein, and to do that I had to get close enough to make out a little first.

  I knew that I couldn’t form a sire bond with anyone, so, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally forcing my will on someone and tying them to me for all of eternity.

  Only elders could enforce a sire bond. It was like a cheap wedding with no option for divorce. I wasn’t really sure how or what you had to do, other than the elder takes lots of blood and forces their will into their chosen partners mind, and because the bond would be an eternal bond, it had to be with someone they wanted to spend the rest of their very long life with.

  I guess I should’ve been flattered that Dario had chosen me out of everyone else he has met along the way, but I knew that the only way we could break the bond was death. I had no plans to die just yet, but if the other hunters got hold of me, I wouldn’t have a choice.

  My energy levels were getting low. Dario was insistent in my mind that I find another male and get on with it. I swallowed my glass of whisky and to my delight saw a male on his own leaving the club. I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that I was going to follow him so I held back for a few minutes and when a few girls headed towards the exit, I tagged along behind them so I looked as though I was a part of their group. Once I was outside, I went in search of the male. He was standing outside having a cigarette.

  It was time to turn on my charm and get him to follow me down the alley at the side of the nightclub. As my female prowess went, it wasn’t bad. I was used to hiding in the shadows or blending into a crowd or a darkened corner of a room, waiting to kill my target, and now I flaunting my assets to get my intended donor to notice me.

  Oh don’t get me wrong, I had tried the whole force your prey down a darkened alley and it hadn’t gone too well. I’d jumped him from behind, wrapped an arm around his throat and whispered in my best threatening voice, ‘keep quiet.’ Now, as a hunter you have to understand that if I was close enough to wrap an arm around someone’s throat, then I was close enough to kill them and that would be pretty much it, kill and get out unnoticed. As I’d wanted to eat and not kill, this method had proved to be completely useless. As soon as the words ‘keep quiet’ had left my lips, it was a green light for my lunch to start screaming like a girl. He’d actually peed himself and the stench of urine was enough to turn you off your food. My lesson was learnt and I’d decided there and then, that flashing my cleavage and long legs worked better than trying to threaten them into submission.

  I put an extra sway in my hips and searched my bag, pretending to look for something. As I passed him, I dropped a set of car keys and kept walking. Okay, it was mediocre at best, but it worked! Not exactly me using my female prowess, but more a case of anticipating a male’s predictability. I kept walking and headed down the alley. I heard his feet shuffle on the ground and he paused briefly before he called out to me. I was nearly at the alley way. I stopped and turned letting my hair fall over my eyes and smiled. I let him walk the distance between us and I closed up my bag and smiled warmly in his direction. He was surprised to see my red eyes, but instantly, I knew that he trusted me. You could see relief register in his eyes.

  He handed me the keys and I smiled, stood on my tip toes and gently kissed his cheek. “Thank you, I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d lost the keys to my Porsche.”

  Oh yeah, I had keys to a Porsche, but I didn’t own the actual car. All guys were the same, pretty lady with a flashy car, knickers that were ready to drop around her ankles, add hunter into the mix, no scratch that, I was female and had a flashy car, that was probably enough – and suddenly, they would go anywhere with you if they thought there was a chance of a ride.

  He reluctantly handed me the set of keys and began smiling in earnest. “So, are you on your way home?”

  Not the best chat up line in the world, but I had too play nice. “No, I was thinking of taking her out for a ride, do you drive?” Oh his eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. Dinner was served!

  The corner of his mouth turned up into a smile, he said, “I did until I lost my license for speeding.” His eyes kept drifting from my face, down towards the keys, and back up again. I clutched them close to my chest knowing full well that his eyes would stray to my ample breasts, and given the low cut dress that I was wearing, they would be hard to miss.

  I winked at him and said in my husky voice, “Porches like to be ridden hard and fast. Are you ready to take her for a ride?” I saw desire flare in his eyes as my words struck home. I began to turn to go down the alley way and discovered that I had an audience in the form of three male vampires.

  I’m no exhibitionist, but my lunch was standing right beside me and I hated people watching me eat! Irritation began to flare. I wasn’t sure if they were intrigued with me or if they were a threat. They appeared harmless, but as a hunter I was very aware that these guys could become antsy pretty quickly.

  I turned to the male who was wondering why I had stopped walking to my make-believe Porsche and said, “I don’t want to alarm you in any way, but you know I’m a hunter right?” I saw fear creeping into his eyes as he nodded. “Well, I think it would be better for you if you walk away, it seems I have piqued the interest of three vampires and things could get nasty pretty quickly.” I heard his heart beat faster in his chest and briefly wondered if I would be able to resist the call of his blood pumping through his veins. I gripped my hands into tight fists and managed to say, “Go, whilst you still can.” I watched frozen into place as he quickly made his way back inside the nightclub.

  Dario was in my mind instantly asking me what was wrong. I could feel his concern but what shocked me more was the fierceness in his voice. It was protective, possessive and darn right sexy as hell. ‘Tell me what’s wrong Shyla; I will not play these games anymore. You’re scared and hungry and that is a dangerous combination.’ I can’t say that I was too thrilled with the situation either; lunch with a new friend was turning in to a disaster.

  I was very aware that one of the vampires was talking into a phone. He was definitely talking about me. The other two were extremely focused on my every movement. I began walking down the alley thinking I could cloak the darkness around myself and if I had to defend myself. I’m not sure how Dario would feel if I had to kill one of his brethren, but if push came to shove, I wasn’t going down without a fight.r />
  I spoke to Dario and for once I wasn’t snarky. ‘If something happens to me, will you be okay? I mean, will you die’

  I needed to know, I hadn’t hung about to be given a quick guide about ‘vampirism and your sire,’ and my training hadn’t covered what would happen if your target had sired a mate. All hunters knew was that the elder vampires could turn anyone into a vampire, but if they chose to ‘sire’ a female, then they had chosen a partner for the remainder of their life. Bottom line as far as the hunters went was – if a male had sired a female, what did it matter if they died? We were doing society a favour. If the vampire had made it to the hit list then he must’ve done something bad.

  ‘Shyla, tell me what is wrong.’

  ‘I’m not sure Dario; I think I’m in trouble. I’m weak and now I have three vampires following me into an alley at the side of...’

  Before I had the chance to finish my sentence Dario said into my mind, ‘Liberties Nightclub.’

  How the heck did he know that? I glanced over my shoulder and the three males were confidently making their way down the alley towards me. I rounded a corner and slipped into the shadows that the alleyway offered. I grabbed my standard issue dagger from my bag and braced myself ready for my confrontation with the vampires.

  As soon as I saw them come around the corner, I made a snap decision and sprung free from the dark shadows. I grabbed one of the vamps, spun him so I had his back pressed against my chest and my dagger held firmly over his heart. “What do you want vampire?” He froze, unsure if I would pierce his heart with the dagger.

  The other two arched their eyebrows and one of them said, “What makes you think we will let you live if you kill Vincent?”

  I arched an eyebrow and snapped “And what makes you think I will let you live once I have disposed of Vinny here?” I never took my eyes of them. Vampires were sneaky bastards. “I will ask you one more time, what do you want?”

  A familiar voice, one that made me both cringe and feel excited at the same time said, “I would like to know the answer to that particular question too.”

  Dario and his two guards stepped forwards. Dario looked at the dagger that I had pointed to the vampire’s heart and grinned. “Nice works Shyla, now, answer her.” I swear to god, the three vampires visibly paled and the other two began to kneel before Dario. I couldn’t help the little snicker that escaped my mouth. Dario waved a hand dismissively and said “Why are you stalking my Consort?” Consort?

  I noticed his guards were getting ready to strike out. I didn’t want it to end this way without the vampires at least telling me why they were following me. I released the vampire, tucked the dagger into the waistband of my trousers and said, “No harm was done; just tell me why you were following me? I wasn’t disturbing your evening and if it’s because I have killed one of your brethren, let me assure you that my predicament now means I am no longer a hunter.”

  Dario cast a dark gaze my way. I think he was annoyed that I had referred to my transformation from hunter to vampire as a predicament.

  Feeling a little more confident now that Dario was here, I looked at the three vampires and said “Look, I’m hungry. I really need to feed and the world is going to get a little crazy if I don’t get some blood soon, so do us all a favour and tell me why you were following me.”

  One of the vampires looked between Dario and his guards before finally looking back at me and said, “You’re a hunter; we had to let the guards know. You’re also different, a vampire? We didn’t know that Prince Dario was your sire.” He instantly lowered his gaze and hung his head low.

  I quirked an eyebrow at Dario and saw a flicker of amusement on his face. He cleared his throat – getting ready to deal with the three vampires, but I wasn’t ready to let this slide.

  “A Prince? You’re a freaking Prince?” I know that we had gone to a castle, but I’d assumed that it was a distant relative that owned it or an elder that was letting him stay there. I mean, he didn’t portray an image of a prince, or at least an image of royalty, there were no crowns or velvet robes and in all honesty, all I had learnt in my hunter training about royal vampires were – that they were every hunters worst nightmare. Evil to the core and Dario certainly hadn’t been in any of my nightmares. In fact, he had star role as my leading man in many a fantasy. There was nothing evil about Dario, I was sure that I couldn’t care for someone evil even if there was the whole freaky bond between us. No, he had always been compassionate and caring.

  I stepped in front of Dario and began reciting from memory the email that I had received several months ago. It was my killing contract. “Dario DeLuise, male, age unknown. Height, 6ft 5. Execution ordered for crimes that are of a sensitive nature.” Dario’s jaw actually dropped at the description of his criminal activity. I continued, “Resides in Scotland. Has family ties in Somerset and may be residing with Marco DeLuise at Dunster Castle. Nowhere in my contract did it say that you were a freaking Prince!”

  Dario turned back to face the three vampires and said, “Spread the word, if my Consort is harmed in any way by a vampire because she used to be a hunter, then I will become every vampire’s worst nightmare. Now go, before I change my mind and end your pitiful existence for simply following my wife.” Oh god, there he goes again with the name calling!

  I was about to pull him up on it when one of the guards gently touched my arm and whispered “No Ma’am, let it go.” I huffed out a breath and was about to stomp my foot when I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate to behave like that in front of a Prince.

  Dario turned, offered me his arm and said, “I can feel your hunger beating down on me. I will take you back to the castle and give you what you need.” Just those few words and I was melting on the spot. I wanted more than blood, I wanted him.

  He breathed deeply and grinned a super sexy smile at me and said, “All in good time my Princess.”

  Scoffing and then snorting loudly were not qualities of a princess, but that’s exactly what I did. “Jesus Dario, will you not call me your Consort, or wife and definitely not a Princess. I’m having a hard time thinking of you as a Prince, you’re so… well, you’re not evil, if anything you have been well, almost human.”

  “I’m not human, nothing like it.” He regarded me for a moment before wrapping my fingers over his arm and walking me towards the road. “Shyla, I would like you to come back to the castle, I want us to start again. I’m a Prince and used to getting what I want, when I want it, but you have taught me that I simply cannot take what I want when it isn’t freely offered. It was wrong of me to turn you into my Consort without discussing it with you first.” He looked humbled, his words expressing just how sincere he was being.

  I doubted he had ever apologised to anyone for his actions before. He was a Prince for Christ’s sake. I nodded thoughtfully and said, “Dario our lives are so different, for starters you’re a real vampire and I’m, well, me. You’re a Prince, living in fine castles ruling your world and I hop about from guest house to guest house, not really fitting in anywhere. I’m not sure who I am anymore, hell, I’m not able to care for someone and live with them when I’m still trying to figure out my place in life.”

  “So you think you can’t care about someone? Is that why you left me?” I shook my head and was about to tell him it was because he had turned me, forged a bond between us and taken away everything that I was, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell him because I didn’t want to hurt him…

  Dario stopped walking and spun around so that we faced each other. “I know that you care about me Shyla, I can feel it in the bond that we share. Even when you refused to speak to me, I knew that you cared. I want you to give me a chance to prove that you belong with me, I want you at my side as my consort, as my wife.” His voice quietened down to a sexy whisper as he said, “I want you to love me.” His eyes took in my startled look and I saw the hope that was in there, fade a little. I wanted to tell him that everything would be okay, that we could work it out, but in a
ll honesty, I wasn’t sure if I was capable of being the other half of somebody.

  Did he really want me? More importantly, could I do it? Could I go against everything that I had known and love a vampire? One that had somehow ended up on a hit list with the hunters? I knew nothing about him, yet I had been attracted to him from the first moment we had met. Was attraction enough to base the rest of your life on?

  Parked at the roadside was a very flash Rolls Royce. One of his guards opened the door to the car and waited for me to climb in. “We need to go sir, now.”

  I had been so caught up in my thinking that I had let my own guard down and forgotten my training. He was right; I had a prickling sensation on my skin and knew that a hunter was close. Dario ushered me into the car and climbed in after me. One of the guards dashed off into the night and the other climbed into the driver’s seat.

  Everything happened quickly. The passenger window next to me took the hit of a bullet. It was meant for me. There was no doubt about it. If it hadn’t been for the bullet proof glass, I would’ve been history.

  Another bullet hit the window, this time the glass fractured making it impossible to see out of it. The guard wheel spun the car and we were heading down the road at extraordinary speed. Dario sat calmly beside me and I don’t know why, but it angered me. A hunter was making a hit, I had to stop him. “Stop the car, let me go after him.” Emotions were crashing around me; anger and annoyance were prominent in my mind. I was usually calm and focused, but all that was running through my body – was a need for revenge and a need for blood to be spilt. The guard ignored me and kept speeding along the road. I had my dagger out of the waistband of my trouser and slid from the back seat. I was just reaching around the front of the seat, to make the guard stop the car so I could go after the hunter, when Dario yanked me back. He threw me down on the seat and straddled me. My hands were pinned above my head and my fangs slashed into thin air trying to find something to tear.