Mated To A Vampire-Hunter Princess

Chapter 4

Mate? 

That's the best he could've come up with? 

I actually felt relieved when he said that stupidity, because all the 'emotion' I thought I had been feeling flew right out the window when I realized that he's crazy. I've never seen a crazy vamp before, but this surely gave me a shocker. 

My face was in a stunned state for a while, but then I found myself busting out in a fit of laughter. I had to cover my mouth with my hand, so that I didn’t disturb the ball that was still in full swing just a few meters away. 

Drew, as he said his name was, stared at me in annoyance. What did he expect? That I'd fall all over him and accept what he just said? What does 'mate' even mean? 

"You're crazy," I said as my laughter died down. "I actually won't kill you tonight, because you made me laugh for the first time in days." My words made him look pleased for a second, as if he liked that he made me laugh. But then it fell back into mere annoyance. 

"I'm not too thrilled about the union either, Amber. But the fact still remains that you are my mate and-" 

"I'll go back to my ball now. And since you scared off my groom, I'll probably go straight to bed," I retorted as I turned on my heels and made for the door. 

I almost yelped in shock when a sudden whoosh of wind blew past me, and Drew was in front of me again, glaring this time. 

"Listen to me, Amber-" 

"No you listen to me, Drew." I cut him off, hating that he was blocking my way. "I'm not going to play along with whatever sick game you're hosting. Let me go before I have to reconsider your liberty of living." 

Like before, his lips tilted in a wicked smile as he reached out to touch my face. Again, I didn’t flinch away. "You are so confident that you can kill me. I already told you, I won't let you and you couldn’t if you tried." 

"And what makes you so sure?" I asked simply because I hated that he was challenging me. "What’s to say I can't kill you right now?" 

He laughed humorlessly with a wicked glint in his eyes. "You haven’t accepted it yet, but the mate bond is still affecting you. You couldn’t hurt me if you tried." 

"I-" 

"And." He jabbed a finger over my lips, stopping my speech. I bit down on it hard, but he didn’t even wince. "I've been watching you for years Amber. I know your stance when you're about to attack." His voice fell an octave as he slowly circled me. "I know the look on your face when you're annoyed." He lowered his lips to my ear as he continued to dictate my habits that I didn’t even notice. "I know that you grit your teeth before you plunge that little dagger of yours in a vampire's heart." He dropped his voice to a whisper as if he was telling me a secret before continuing. "And I know about your little bracelet." 

"So if you've been watching me, how have I never seen you before?"

 He just confirmed my theory of being crazy. He's been stalking me, and that gave me even more reason to end him. But the fact that he's been watching me and I haven’t noticed it greatly unnerved me. I needed to know how he did it. 

"I know how to get around, Amber. And once you kill a vampire, I leave so that your pretty little bracelet doesn’t remain glowing." 

"You're a freaking stalker," I spat, grabbing his jacket and halting his maddening circling. "Why would you watch me?" 

"I just told you," he gritted out, sounding annoying. "You're pretty brave and slightly badass, but what if you met a vampire who you couldn’t win? I'd have to intervene of course." 

Slightly?

"I don’t need your help." 

"But you need my protection. I’m your mate," he shot back, and it was my time to be annoyed. 

"Stop with this mate crap! What are you implying? That we're soulmates?" I asked and he nodded. I laughed again. “You’re a sick vampire. I'll give you a few days to get out of Consok. But if you're still here by the end of the week, you're done." I ended, turning on my heels to leave again. 

"If I could've left this wretched place, I would’ve a long time ago, Princess," I heard him say in a small voice, but when I spun around to ask what he meant, the spot that he once occupied was empty. 

Call me psychotic, but I felt a pull in my chest seeing that he was  no longer there. Could he really... 

No! Of course not. 

Great. Just great. Now his crazy is rubbing off on me. 

"Amber?" My mother's voice called from behind me, pulling me back to reality. She looked at me in disapproval as she stomped over to me. "What are you doing out here while your ball is in there?" She huffed as she held onto my hand and pulled me along. 

"I'm sorry, Mother. I was just getting some air." I gently yanked my hand away from her, hating how it felt as if she was pulling me along as a child. 

"And where on earth has Duke Derulo gone?" she asked, frustrated as she adjusted my hair and dress before pulling me back inside. Guilt rose in me from the memory of what happened earlier. 

"I think he said he wasn’t feeling well," I lied smoothly. "He had to go suddenly." 

My mother smiled at that. "I hope he recovers well. Now tell me, Amber. Will there be a wedding?" 

My pulse raced at the thought. Nathan will have no memory of what happened tonight according to Drew and whatever he did to him. 

Come to  think of it, I realized that all those times when I held vampires at death point, they would always look me deep in the eye and try to tell me to let them go and forget who they are. I simply just thought it was a desperate attempt to be free, but they were probably trying to vampire voodoo me too. 

After seeing Nathan looking so...controlled, there was no doubt about it. So, why didn’t it work with me? 

"I think he would be the best suitor, yes." I decided to answer nonetheless, hoping that tomorrow by some miracle, Nathan still wants me as his wife. "I'm going to head up to bed, Mother. I think I contracted whatever Nathan had." 

It was a lie again, but I really didn’t feel like staying for the rest of the ball. 

"Oh heavens. Go, go!" My mother hopped at least six feet away from me. "Don’t get our guests sick. I'll send Ruby up with some tea." 

I smiled in gratitude and relief that she let me go, and headed straight for my room. I didn’t even feel like going out anymore. My mind was filled with stormy gray eyes, a metal grip and most importantly, whether I'll be having a wedding soon or not. 

That vampire better haven’t ruined my chances with the duke. 

*** 

I stirred in my bed as the bright sleep killer shone through my windows and directly in my eyes. 

I hate when that happens. 

Groaning, I pulled the sheets over my head even more and pushed my head under the pillow, but I soon realized that sleep had completely left me. I should’ve known better than to try and get a little extra hours of sleep. 

There was no sleep for the wicked, after all.

"Awful ain’t it?" 

"Aaaah!" I screamed after a male's voice had me jumping to my feet. On impulse, I grabbed a dagger that I always had on my nightstand and hurled it in the direction where I heard the voice. 

My eyes landed on none other than Mr. Dream invader himself--Drew the freaking vampire. 

He had his hand up with the dagger pinched between his finger where he caught it, and he was perched on my window as if it was the most comfortable seat in the world. 

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" I snapped, annoyed that he managed to scare me, and even more pissed that he caught my dagger instead of making it plunge deep into his chest. 

It then occurred to me that he opened my curtains and woke me on purpose. 

My eyes narrowed in slits as I pointed an accusing finger at him. "I thought I told you to leave," I said, which only made him seem more pleased. 

With a light chuckle and a devilishly handsome smirk on his lips, he hopped from the window with the dagger still spinning between his thumb and pointer finger, and I watched in anticipation as he placed it back on the nightstand before turning to face me. 

"Good morning." 

"Oh f**k this," I spat as I stomped to my closet, grabbed my crate and pulled  my longest golden dagger out of it. He was getting on my last nerve. 

"You wont kill me." He sang as he sank in my bed. In my freaking bed! The audacity. 

I had enough of his bullshit, and I hadn’t even known him for 24 hours. 

"First you invade my ball," I rambled as I screwed a sound compressor on chives-bullets loaded gun-- almost deadly to these blood suckers. "Then you almost killed my groom," I continued as I closed back my crate and shoved it to the back of the closet. "Then you ruin my sleep AND feel like you have some freaking obligation to come into my room." 

I raised the gun at him, and he raised an eyebrow at me as if challenging me. 

"Then you have the gall to act like you freaking know me." And with that, I fired a shot straight to his shoulder. He yelled in pain as his eyes grew wide. 

"f**k that hurts," he hissed as he rolled from my bed. 

Who's smirking now?

Slowly, I dragged my feet over to him and hovered over him with the gun pointed to his face. I knew chives would weaken him long enough for me to kill him, just like all my other victims. Chives wouldn't do it all. Only a golden dagger to the heart could end them. 

"Then you dare say that I won't kill you?" I lowered my voice as I placed the dagger over his heart. His eyes drifted to it for a second, but he met my eyes again looking anything but scared. 

Despite his now red face and his hand clutching his shoulder, he still smiled up at me. "So do it." He smiled through the pain as if he had won. 

I hated it, so I pressed the dagger further into his chest but couldn’t find myself plunging it deep in him. I couldn’t even understand why. 

Slowly, my anger lifted and I moved from over him. I ran my hands through my hair and I even felt sudden guilt for shooting him with a herb I knew would hurt and weaken him. 

I spun on my heels to see him pulling the bullet from his shoulder, wincing as he finally got it out. His blood trickled on my dark carpet as he finally met my gaze. 

"What did you do to me? Is it that vampire voodoo s**t?" I demanded since I wanted to know why I was so weak to him. I was never weak to anyone, especially vampires.

"You mean compulsion?" He chuckled, shuffling from the ground. "No. I can't compel you. No vampire can." I wanted to ask why, but I was too busy focusing on the fact that I can't bring myself to kill him. 

"So why do you have so much power over me?" 

"I told you," he said, holding a rag over his wound. 

"If you dare say we are mates..." 

"But we are." He snapped and he  sounded and looked more than annoyed. I could see that he didn’t like being called a liar much. "I wont f*****g prove it but you'll have to accept it sooner or later. " 

I huffed. He couldn’t be serious. "Okay. Pretend we actually are mates-" 

"Which we are." 

"Why did you just seek me out now?" 

His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the door. "Because I didn’t want you." 

I almost scoffed. I actually felt offended. "Yet you stalk me all my life." 

"I'm trapped okay?" he said. "The minute you came into existence, I can't leave this damn island. I figured I'd just suffer through it until you die of age or marry but then I heard of the ball and its intent and I-I couldn’t okay? Don’t you see? I cant stay away from you, and now that you've touched me physically, I'm even more f*****g trapped." 

Gee he's acting as if it was my fault. 

"So if you don’t want me just leave," I mumbled, feeling like a petty teen. I couldn’t believe I was actually listening to his messed up reasoning. 

"Did you not hear what I just said?" His eyes were blazing and the edge in his voice revealed a hint of an accent. It sounded a bit Irish. It was undeniably sexy. 

What? 

Shaking my head, I decided to end this messed up conversation once and for all. 

"Get out of my room and get out of my life. I don’t know who or what you are. But since I can't kill you, you need to leave me the hell alone. Am I clear?" I tried to put as much sternness in my voice that I could muster, and I didn’t wait for a reply as I made my way to my attached bathroom. 

Peeking through the door, I saw that he was still standing there. He's so stubborn. 

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" 

"Yes." 

"So why are you still here?" 

"Because that Duke is downstairs," he gritted out and he had that deadly look on his face again. 

Shit. It's Nathan.