Bound to the Shadow Prince

Chapter 13 -The Wolf

Erevus turned away angrily and hit his hand against his leg. What happened in that village was beyond words that the human language could use to describe the horror and devastation.

It seared into one's soul, imprinting upon it a lasting haunting memory.

I approached Erevus from behind, touching his arm.

“I’m sorry.”

He bowed his head.

“Me too. I am sorry I wasn’t here to protect them. But this is why Elithor and other vampire villages are building up their defenses. This is why we are destroying the source of silver. This is why Torrin must be killed. My people are frightened and their fear is turning into hatred for the living, just like the fear the living has for the Dark Kingdom has made us out to be rats in need of extermination.”

He turned to look at me. “This is why you have to go back. Your attack happened near Elithor. I can not have Torrin take his revenge on them.”

I looked around again. I couldn’t let that happen either. Not to Elithor, not to my own kingdom. Yet, I trembled thinking about it.

“What will happen when he discovers what I am now?”

“He’ll kill you.”

I took a shaky breath.

Erevus’s thumb went over my face as he wiped away the remnants of my blood tear. His touch soothed me. “If he finds out.” He tilted his head back towards the forest. “It’s time I took you back.”

In silence, we walked away from the destroyed village. It was well past midnight when I saw the castle walls. Erevus paused just inside the tree line. He pulled a necklace from his pocket.

“This is a blood ruby. This necklace will give you the appearance of the living. It will even protect your skin from the sun for a few minutes. This is only a disguise, a mask so to speak. It will not change what you are now.”

I nodded, feeling more relieved. Erevus took a step closer as I turned around. He placed the delicate necklace against my skin. Immediately, I felt a warmth overcome me as it burst from the ruby across my body. Observing my arms, I could now see my skin had color again. It felt both relieving and a bit unnerving because I knew I would not be returning to the castle as the same Isadora I was nearly forty-eight hours earlier.

Erevus said, “Any food you eat cannot be digested. You will throw it up. You have about thirty minutes after you eat. Same with liquids.”

I nodded. This was going to be tricky.

“The rest is up to you. You must act like you always have. I will come the night when there is no moon. You can do this, Isadora. You have to do this.”

I nodded again, taking a deep fortifying breath. I quickly put my arms around Erevus, hugging him. The gesture must have surprised him, because he hesitated before he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to him. After a moment, I pulled away.

Noticing my boots, I tugged them off before handing them to Erevus.

I said, “No woman in the living kingdom has these. It would be hard to explain, though they did grow on me. Hold onto them for me?”

He gave a small smile as he took the boots. I turned towards the castle when he whispered, “Please stay safe.”

I gave him a smirk. “Such a ridiculous word.”

Despite not having any shoes, I did my best to jog along the soft grass until I reached the wall. Glancing back towards the tree line, I could still see Erevus standing next to one, watching me. I lifted a hand before jumping into the canal and opening the grate to slip through.

Checking the surroundings, I sprinted to the sequoia tree. It was still unreal how fast I could move. I felt like a blur of shadow. You blink, and I’ve been missed.

Without any real effort, I climbed the tree. My window was miraculously open. That was a relief. I didn’t want to have to break any windows trying to enter.

I leaned over, appreciative of my dress being designed the way it was to allow for movement. I put my bare toes on the window seal and leaned over to pull myself in. No one was in my room. It was dark. My toes slipped on the window seal and I fell head first into it. I landed on something hard, but it gave a bit at my impact.

A person groaned as they simultaneously threw me off the bed and landed on top of me. Lord Torrin was over me holding a knife just above me. My breath halted. Had he already identified what I had become over the last day? My chest pounded at realizing this was it, he was going to kill me.

“Isadora?” King Torrin whispered.

I matched his quiet tone. “Yes.”

“Dang you, you foolish girl.” He threw the knife down. I closed my eyes, but it landed right next to my head. I could feel the silver blade close to my ear. It began to burn me. But I didn’t move. I couldn’t, because I knew my first moments back would determine his suspicion of me.

He rose off of me, roughly pulling me to my feet. He threw me onto his bed before, once again, pinning me against it and holding my wrist down.

Erevus said vampires had increased strength. I wondered if I could fight back, something told me I could shove him off. But the old Isadora wouldn’t be able to, but she would at least resist.

I wiggled underneath him trying to remove him from me. I could feel his satisfaction growing.

He growled, “Where have you been?”

“I got lost.”

“Lost? Going to the same place you’ve been traveling to for years and you got lost?”

“Get off of me.”

“No. There’s no escape this time. My answers, Isadora. What happened?”

I pulled the emotions forward of my last fateful night I was once living. “I got attacked,” my voice shook, “I don’t even know what happened exactly. But I was nearly left for dead. I was able to… to get up after a while and make my way to an outer city house where I was cared for while I regained my strength to come back here.”

I could see King Torrin was evaluating my story.

“What attacked you?”

“I don’t know. Robbers?”

Torrin grabbed my dress and ripped it apart at my shoulder. I struggled more furiously against him without calling on my newfound abilities. He was going to find the bite marks, it was inevitable. But I couldn’t let him believe they had turned me into one. That was all I had to hope for at the moment, that he would believe my story, my fearful voice, my raspy breathing, my warm skin, and my inability to fight him.

Finding nothing on my left shoulder, he ripped my dress on the right shoulder. He froze, rubbing his warm thumb over my shoulder and the bite marks. I stopped fighting. His jaw clicked as he firmly clenched it. His hand curled around my exposed shoulder, gripping it, and his nails dug into my skin. Pain started to radiate through my shoulder and arm.

“Torrin.” I rasped out. “Torrin, you’re hurting me.”

He immediately let go.

“You were bit by a vampire?”

“I don’t know what happened. It happened too fast.”

“Do you know what your attacker looked like? Only purebreds would dare bite.”

I hoped he wasn’t suspecting Erevus. “It was dark, I couldn’t see. I didn’t see anything. I don’t know… know what you mean by purebred.”

King Torrin was silent as he grazed his fingers along my exposed shoulder and collarbone. I feared for the necklace that was momentarily thankfully hidden behind my neck, no doubt it had swung around when he threw me.

His finger slid down towards my chest, then lifted to my left collarbone. I inhaled sharply. His touch felt like it was burning me. I shifted under him, trying to relieve myself of his sting.

His hands roamed down my exposed shoulders to the tattered fabric of my dress, then up to my wrists. I tried quickly to move my wrists from him, but he gripped them hard. He leaned down towards me. I tried to move away, but his lips found mine, and he pressed against them. His tongue parted my lips before he deepened the kiss, kissing me in ways I had never experienced.

His lips moved down to my shoulder where he gently kissed my puncture marks.

Against my skin, he said, “I will heal these, Isadora. You will never again feel the touch of one of those rats.”

Rats. I thought about the village that was thriving with families and children and the village that was massacred because that is what the living thought about vampires. Rats. I was now one of them.

I shifted uncomfortably underneath him. He got off of me.

“Get dressed. Sleep. You need it.”

I sat up, quickly holding my dress up over my chest. I glanced around the room.

“Do…do you have a light? I can’t see.” It was a lie. I could see perfectly, but the old Isadora wouldn’t have.

Torrin lit a candle near his bed. The candle illuminated the small area. Torrin slowly looked me over, desire and satisfaction glowed in his eyes. I turned my head away, embarrassed and uncomfortable. My dress had been falling off since he ripped it.

I quickly stood and ran to my closet, leaving the door slightly opened to let a little bit of light stream in. I kept the warm tights on and was still curious about what they were. They were not stockings, but not normal pants, yet they hugged against my legs in such a comforting and securing way. I pulled my nightgown securely over myself, tucking in my necklace underneath the fabric.

When I opened the closet door more, I found King Torrin standing by my bed.

“We are not married. You will not sleep in my bed with me.”

“I won’t. But that doesn’t mean your actions won’t have consequences. I can not control your mind, but you will obey me.”

I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me.

“Come here.”

Slowly, I approached.

He said, “You will not leave these castle walls again.”

“I won’t.”

He grimaced. “Yet, I still don’t believe you. I can see it in your eyes. One day we will be free, you will be free to

visit the ocean at night. But until we eliminate the disease upon the land, you will not go anywhere outside this castle, including the courtyard and garden without me.”

I involuntarily took a step back.

Torrin said, “What you did will not happen again.” He tilted his head towards the bed. “Lie down.”

Something told me if I lied down, all freedom would be taken away from me. I remained standing.

He repeated himself. “Lie down, Isadora.”

I needed to comply with him. I needed to keep him unsuspecting of me and what I was. Against every muscle in my body screaming to tell me to run back to the woods, to run to another galaxy, I crawled into bed.

Before I could even fight, he quickly placed an iron lock around my ankle. I gasped and tried to reach for it before it closed, but it closed with a resounding, sealing, deafening click.

I flung myself off my bed, but Torrin walked back towards the door to my room. My chain stopped me before I could make it to him. I glanced back, testing the chain. The length of the chain would allow me to walk around my room, but I could not leave it.

“How could you?” I exclaimed. “I am the High Princess of Fildira. You can not treat me like this.”

“Can’t I? It was your father’s idea. He was quite livid about your disappearance.” He took a step forward. “As was I. I informed your father that I would marry you, or I would abandon this kingdom to the plague and destitution and return only to finish it off.”

I involuntarily trembled at his threat.

He gave a small smile. “There’s nowhere for you to go. You’re mine, Isadora.”