Vampire King: Escape Part 11

"Come closer please," I said.

"Oh, I'm going to come closer." He smiled. "And then I'm going to come all over that pretty face and all in that silky red hair. It will be white when I'm done with you."

I gagged a little.

He stepped closer until only half an inch laid between my face and his dirt-smudged mushroom tip. Without hesitating, I stabbed him with the dagger. The point sliced his snake in two. Cold blood sprayed my face. He screamed in horror and grabbed himself. I yanked the dagger out and pierced him in his chest. He punched me. The impact shoved me back, but I held on to the dagger and thrust it into him again. A stinging burn bloomed across my jaw. I gritted my teeth and focused on him instead of the pain. The wooden blade sliced through Leeb's skin with ease. Green slimy mucus and more blood spilled from the opening. His hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed. I struggled to breath.

"Tiny! Nico!" Leeb yelled.

Battling against his hold on my neck, I stabbed him again over and over, not even sure where I was putting the wooden blade. He growled, but his grip loosened until I was able to break free. I continued to spear him, spotted his eyes, and gouged him in both. He fell back, cras.h.i.+ng to the ground. The tent collapsed around us. I fought with the heavy material until I found the opening. Shrieks ripped from my throat. I stabbed more, not even sure if I was. .h.i.tting my target.

"Brie!" Samuel roared as the tent lifted off of me. " Stop!" He knocked the dagger out of my hands and picked me up. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." My lips quivered. Blood and green liquid painted my skin.

"You killed him."

Shock plastered Samuel's face. I began to turn my head, but Samuel stopped me. "You don't want to see it."

I buried my face into his shoulder. A cool breeze brushed against my wet skin and rushed through my hair. Samuel carried me somewhere. I shut my eyes, not caring where we were going.

"Everyone's dead," he said. "You're safe."

Crickets chirped ahead. The sound of water trickling made me look up over his shoulder. A large river was a few feet in front of us, full of violet water. The two moons reflected in the dark watery surface. Samuel laid me down on the ground. Soft soil formed around my body as he trailed his fingers all over my skin.

"Are you hurt at all?" he asked.

"No."

In a blur, he lifted me up and took me into the river. Warm water enveloped my toes and then rose up to surround my whole body as Samuel carried me farther into the middle. I climbed out of his arms and stood in front of him. The water ended at my nipples.

"I'm so sorry." Samuel cupped water in his hands and poured it over my shoulder. Leeb's blood washed away from my skin.

"That wasn't your fault." I closed my eyes, held my breath, and lowered into the water until I was completely submerged in the river. The warm violet liquid soothed my skin and the bruise where Leeb had punched me. My hair rose above my head and swayed with the waves. Bubbles skittered past my flesh and teased the tips of my ears. And then I stood. The water streamed down. My drenched hair stuck to my face.

"I've never been that scared in my life." Samuel wiped the strands away. "Please let me handle it from now on. Never put yourself in harm's way like that."

I sighed and gazed at him. "Don't worry. You only have to deal with me for another day or so."

"Meaning?" Samuel's fangs appeared as he washed his face.

"We're turning around and going in the correct direction to Zumaya or I'll get someone else to take me."

His hands paused in midair. He held them there for a few seconds and then dropped them. Water splashed around us.

"Why did you take me in the wrong direction?" I stared at the moons' rippling reflection in the water, unable to look at him.

"I needed more time with you. I longed for it."

"That's a very selfish want."

"But it's the truth."

"I trusted you." I combed my fingers through my wet hair. "I won't be trusting you anymore."

"We made a connection through blood and our bodies." He touched my chin with his fingers and lifted my view to him. "We united-"

I moved my face out of his reach. Tears streamed from my eyes. "In the end, I would have to go back to my husband."

"After what we've shared?" He growled. The noise echoed through the area. Birds flew from the trees. They appeared like dark dots in the starry sky. We said nothing else. Tension thickened the air between us.

"I won't deny I'm confused a little now that we've had s.e.x. I don't know how to feel or think. Everything is different from what I used to know." I sighed. "But my place is with my daughters, and...I do love my husband. My family comes before my new feelings for you."

Silence. Nothing but silence greeted my ears. I waited another uncomfortable minute.

"I'll get everything ready," I said as soon as I finished cleaning myself. "Should we burn the tent and the bodies?"

"No," he mumbled. "Wild tigers probably already feasted on them. If not now, they will soon."

I turned to walk toward the sh.o.r.e. Samuel grabbed my waist and pulled me to him, pressing his wet, hard body into me. "You really think you can just walk away from me after what we shared?"

"You knew I was married. That I have other responsibilities. Please don't make me choose."

"You can go back to Zumaya to see your girls, but-"

"I love my husband. I'll be with him and my daughters. Somehow Ethan and I will figure out the next steps we'll need to hide from the king." I turned to him. "But regardless, I won't be with you. Let me go."

"I don't want to." He picked me up and guided my legs around his waist until I was forced to straddle him. He kissed my neck. I trembled under his lips. His tongue lapped the water between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s as he raised me higher. He feels so good. His fangs sank into my breast. I cried out as pleasure swelled in my nipples.

Please, Brie. His voice whispered in my mind. Give me another week. A few more days.

I can't.

In seconds, his fangs disappeared.

"I'm sorry I took us north. It was wrong of me." He gently released me. A boom thundered in his chest as he blurred out of the water and headed in the opposite direction.

Chapter Ten.

"I can't just run off with you." I gnawed on my left hand's nails. My right hand held the horse's reigns as we galloped toward Zumaya. "I have a husband and daughters. I shouldn't have..."

"What? Let me make love to you?" Samuel's hands squeezed my waist as he kissed my neck. For the past two days when he wasn't groveling and begging me to stay, he was touching me nonstop. His lips devoured every inch of my skin. And when he wasn't landing pa.s.sionate kisses on my flesh, his hands explored me, taunting my nipples and stroking my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. A bonfire of need consumed my flesh. Every part of me blazed with want. I drowned in his scent and could hardly think about anything but him being inside of me.

However, we never had s.e.x. Each night, it took all of my energy to not yield to those desires when I slept next to him. He'd shown me when he led me in a direction opposite of Zumaya that I couldn't trust him or let my guard down. But I wasn't strong enough to stop him from not touching me. Deep down inside I craved those fingers on my skin. My flesh tingled and blood warmed with his caress.

"You have to stop," I muttered, struggling to catch my breath.

He hissed behind me. "Will you at least plan for alternative possibilities?"

"Not this again." I groaned.

"It's been two years. He could have moved on," he said. "Will you give me a chance then?"

A low sigh left my lips. The whole time I'd been in the Royal Court I'd imagined my husband Ethan falling for a beautiful woman. Each night I prayed he was happier than me and believed that the both of us shouldn't have to suffer.

And then a year pa.s.sed and was full of the killing of prince babies. My maid had said that since I'd come to the castle, five times more princes had been born. She'd never seen so many in the years she'd lived there. I didn't know why so many were all of a sudden born, but with each prince's death, I lost a part of me as though the little ones and I were connected.

Then Ethan's letters ceased. I wrote him daily, but nothing came back from Zumaya. I started questioning my logic for sacrificing my marriage and motherhood. Sure, it had been the right thing to do, but at what cost to me? Depression consumed me. I played with vampire children in the castle, imagining they were Lily and Rose. But they weren't and by the second year the prayers weren't enough and helping dominas raise vampire children made me miserable. I just couldn't be away from my husband or children anymore.

But what if Ethan has a new wife? Samuel whispered in my mind, disturbing my thoughts.

She'll have to step aside, I mentally replied and bit the tip of my thumbnail.

"I know you well enough now to realize you couldn't force his new lady to the side. You don't have it in you to be that selfish," Samuel said out loud. "Plus, you sacrificed yourself."

"So people wouldn't starve and die," I countered. "My town went from having no food to five big wagonloads of meat and vegetables once the contract for me to leave was signed."

"You did a great thing, Brie, but you also ruined your life." His hands squeezed my waist. I shrugged them away.

"You can have a second chance with me," he insisted.

"a.s.suming I'll need a second chance," I replied. His body tensed behind me.

"Loved ones always move on. People like to think everything stops for them, but it doesn't." He nudged the side of my right ear with his lips. "If Ethan moved on, you will leave with me."

"Is that some sort of order?" I raised my eyebrows.

He didn't respond at first. Instead he tossed all of my hair over my other shoulder and kissed my exposed neck. "Brie, I don't love you yet, but I will. I can sense it rising inside of me. When I close my eyes, your face is there. I smell you when I'm away. It's like your scent is attached to me. The thought of you not being near me, gives me a fear I've never experienced. I'll dedicate my whole life to you, every day, each second. Not one instant will be without you."

"We've only just met."

"Nonetheless, I offer you refuge from a king who oppressed you and sanctuary from a husband who treated you like material goods."

"And what will we do?".

"Make love during the day and at night we'll help more people escape the king," he said with clear certainty.

"It sounds like fun." I smiled. "But in the end I should stay in Zumaya. Regardless if Ethan moves on or not, I have my daughters to think about."

Samuel didn't reply as he leaned away from me and moved his hands. An uncomfortable silence hung between us. I wondered what he was thinking about. My stomach churned with guilt and regret. So many questions spun around in my head.

Why did I have s.e.x with Samuel? Did I hurt his feelings? I blew out air as Zumaya materialized miles ahead of us. What about my loyalty to Ethan? I'll have to tell him. And I absolutely can't see Samuel again. A grumbling sound boomed behind me.

"Our minds are connected," Samuel snarled. "We will see each other again. There won't be any escaping me."

"Stop reading my thoughts!"

"Make me." His voice sounded low with a deadly edge. He gripped my waist.

"Well, at least you're being mature. You talk about men oppressing me and how you'll save me and then turn right around and try to own me yourself." I wiped the sweat away from my face as the distance between us and Zumaya shortened. "We...made love. It was like nothing I've ever experienced...so great and mind-blowing, but...I have a family and in the end you don't love me."

"There is no doubt in my mind I could love you." Samuel's hand strayed from my hips to my thighs. "Be selfish for once. Stop putting everyone else before yourself."

"I did that by having s.e.x with you."

The iron gates of Zumaya gleamed in the moonlight. A few lit lanterns were positioned at the top of the gates. Other than that, darkness draped the town.

"Your husband sold you to a vampire king to breed," Samuel declared, "Surely your husband won't mind you having s.e.x with me in the future."

He laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"That's not funny. And I volunteered. Ethan didn't sell me. In fact, he didn't want me to leave."

Samuel snorted. "How long did you both argue about it?"

I returned to biting my nails. There hadn't been any fighting on the matter. When I stood up and demanded I take the young girls' place, Ethan had understood. We'd already lost both our parents to the food shortage. We'd combined all of the residents' supplies together and rationed out most of the food to the town's children and nursing mothers. All others suffered with small portions. The older citizens became sick. We had no medical supplies or energy to attend to them. And as if things couldn't have become any worse, death took the old and young. Before the king's guards had arrived, Ethan and I had buried too many of our friends and relatives.

I still would have fought for you to stay, Samuel proclaimed after probably seeing those suffering years in my mind.

"I'm still not sure if I'll let you stay in Zumaya," he said out loud. My body stiffened.

"As you please, prince. But mark my words. I'm starting to be pretty good at escaping vampires."

He grunted and then let out a laugh.

We entered Zumaya's gates.

"No guards?" he asked in shock.

"Zumaya is a peaceful town. We've never had any need to protect the gates."

He s.h.i.+fted. "Well Zumaya will need protection if you choose to remain here and the king discovers your absence. This town won't be peaceful anymore."

I'd considered that. I maybe had a month before the king was due to sleep in my bed, then he would realize I was missing and send people to search the city for me.

"Once he doesn't find you in the Capitol City, there will be guards delivered to Zumaya to sniff you out." Samuel moved his hands from my legs. "Whether you reunite with your family or not, you can't stay here."

"And if the guards don't find me in Zumaya, what will happen to my people?" I asked, finally seeing the full picture. Am I endangering everyone?

"If a runaway's scent isn't in the town, I've found that no harm comes to the people. The Quiet King would see them as innocent in your disappearance."

We traveled deeper into the town. No one strolled on the dusty streets. All of the wooden houses had their lights off. Cats crept along the sidewalks. Zumayans worked and lived on day schedules. No vampires existed in the town, so there was no need to have any night businesses.