Mated To A Vampire-Hunter Princess

Chapter 3

"Hello Princess. May I have this dance?"

I squeezed my eyes shut to regain my composure, and when I reopened them, I analysed the crowd and setting, calculating the odds of breaking its neck right here, and then pull his temporarily lifeless body outside where I could finish him off with my dagger.

But for some reason, the thoughts didn’t seem as appealing as they normally would, as his lifeless fingers continued to draw circles on my shoulder.

"Who are you?" I gritted out, hating that I couldn’t have my way with him. His once gentle fingers suddenly dug in my shoulder and spun me around to face him.

My breath hitched, and my mind felt blurry when I saw his face. I should be killed for thinking this way, but his face was more than gorgeous. He was devilishly breathtaking--literally.

His eyes were grey and scrutinising, but something in them was fighting, as if fighting to form into one simple emotion. His hair was long around his ear and the base of his neck in dark brown waves that had my fingers itching to touch it, for whatever reasons. And his lips--God his lips so full and pink were pulled into a smirk that had me wanting to slap and kiss him at once.

Wait what?

"What's the matter, Princess? Vampire's got your tongue?" he taunted, and I almost gasped in shock. 

Never have I encountered a vampire that openly revealed himself to me like this. Did he know about my bracelet? Was that the reason why he sought me out?

More reason to end him.

I jerked my shoulder out of his hold and gave him my best glare, recovering from my star stuck moment. So what if he was gorgeous? Most vampires who I killed were.

But none had you staring like this one, my subconscious mumbled angrily. She was right. If we weren’t in a packed room, he could’ve easily killed me in those ten seconds where I was taking in his features. That was very stupid of me.

"Why don’t we take this outside where we can talk freely?" I asked, wanting nothing but to wipe that stupid smirk from his face. But instead of answering, he only smirked wider as his eyes searched my face. 

His hand reached up, and he used the knuckle of his forefinger to slowly caress my cheek. I should’ve flinched away, and I wanted to, but I felt a shiver run up my spine instead.

"Ah, yes. There is no doubt about it," he mumbled, but it was more to himself. Suddenly, his gaze grew cold as his eyes fixated on something across the room, or someone, rather.

I followed his gaze and I saw that he was looking at Nathan as if he would kill him. 

Not on my watch.

"Why are you looking at him?" I snapped, gritting my teeth and suppressing the tingles he surprisingly made me feel.

His eyes snapped back to me, and they were set in a dark stormy mess, as if ready to rain the worst storm planet earth has ever seen.

"Because he wants what's mine, of course." He stated as if what he said was nothing. "Look at him, like a damn love sick puppy." He pushed past me to head in his direction, and I moved on impulse and grabbed his hand. 

The way he whipped around to face me almost had me stumbling back, and I gasped when his previously grey eyes stared at me red as blood, with his fangs on perfect view as he directed his gaze to my hand.

I quickly pulled away, not out of fear but simply because I have never seen that before. I knew their eyes changed red when they emerged their vamp side, but there was something different when he did it. He didn’t look like he wanted to feed or fight. He looked...struck.

"Put those away," I whisper shouted as his eyes came back to normal, but his teeth still showed.

 He was risking the whole damn kingdom knowing that vampires exist. Of course, a few people knew. But most people believed it was only a scary legend. It kept peace in the lands and world, and now this sick fool was risking it.

I grabbed him by his collar, watching his eyes change back to red as he gazed at me as if I was a snack. Still, I didn’t flinch. Many vampires that I held at death point gave me a similar look to try and scare me away.

"Put. Those. Away." I gritted, hating that I couldn’t plunge my dagger in his heart right now. 

"This is harder than I thought. I shouldn't have come," he rambled, not once looking away from me. "f**k, your touch." He hissed as he pulled away from me.

My touch? What about my touch?

I watched him in confusion, and it was safe to say this was my weirdest encounter with an undead in my whole life. He closed his eyes, and luckily, we were at the end of the room away from the dancing, or else this would’ve been pretty awkward.

When he opened his eyes again, they were back to normal, and I heard him mumbling something about getting used to 'that' before he looked over his shoulder again.

Shit Nathan.

I quickly looked over to where Nathan was, seeing that he was looking at me in confusion and then a growl sounded from in front of me and he was gone. Gone in inhuman speed across the room.

"Oh s**t s**t s**t," I cursed when I looked towards where Nathan was at, and he was nowhere in sight. “That damn vampire!"

What did he want? Why was he targeting Nathan? 

I glanced around urgently, trying to see where he took Nathan. I grabbed a silver butter knife from a nearby table and ran towards the nearest exit. I knew this couldn’t kill him, but it should kill him long enough until I get my golden dagger.

If this vampire, whoever he is, wanted Nathan dead because 'he wants what's his', then he obviously needs to be put down. He's crazy and despite the butterflies he gives me, I can't let him live.

 I never let them live.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted something in the corner of my eyes as I ran past the door that led to the balcony.

My eyes widened in horror when I saw the scene in front of me and I wasted no time in dashing for them, but the vampire heard my footsteps and hung Nathan farther over the balcony. He held Nathan by his neck, dangling him over the balcony like a damn string.

"Don’t come closer Amber, or I'll drop him." How the hell did he know my name?

"Amber...r-run!" My Duke pleaded with me through struggling breaths. He didn't want this monster to hurt me too, but I'd be damned if I let him kill Nathan.

"Shut up," he hissed in his face. "You know you can never have her."

"Put him down," I gritted out as I inched closer, holding up my butter knife. He gazed at my knife and chuckled lightly.

"That won't hurt me princess. But understand that I have to do this."

"I said, put him down."

He smirked at me before looking back at Nathan murderously. Poor guy was gasping for air and looked traumatised. 

“Fine." He shrugged, and I realised my mistake when I told him to put him down. He would drop him and say something corny like, 'there, I put him down'.

"Wait!" I took another step closer. I needed to approach this differently. If Nathan wasn’t in his grip, I would’ve gone head on without care. But if I charge towards them, he’ll probably drop Nathan. 

"Okay you win." It took everything in me to do this. When we're married and old some day, I hope Nathan will look back and cherish what I did for his sake, because my freaking ego was being crushed.

I was about to beg a f*****g vampire.

"Just put him down, plea-" I almost gagged as the word struggled to come out of my mouth. "Please."

I stared him dead in the eyes, hoping he had an ounce of humanity in him to heed to my plea. He watched me for a moment, as if thinking hard on what I said.

"He will not have you," he finally said, and as desperate as I was, I agreed to it simply because he wont be alive tomorrow to know what should happen between the duke and I.

"Yes, I know. Just let him go." 

I released a breath when I saw him place Nathan on the safety of the balcony, and I didn’t even notice how hard my heart was beating. I watched as he looked Nathan straight in the eye, mumbled something to him and then let him go. I reached out for him as he walked past me, but he simply walked away as if he was in some sort of trance.

"What did you do to him!" I accused as I took two brave steps towards my enemy.

He had the gall to laugh. “Relax, Amber. I just told him to go home and forget he ever came to this ball. Once he's home, he wont remember a thing." He shrugged. 

"Ho-how'd you do that?" I asked, stunned.

He laughed again. "You kill vampires but you don’t know the first thing about them , do you?"

Once again, I was taken aback. This vampire--whoever he is--knew who I was. And I didn’t like that.

When I'm out, I tend to keep a low profile so that no one sees me, or better yet, no vampire gets even a glimpse of who I am. I did this so that if they should escape--big on that 'if'--they couldn’t hide from me again. I wasn’t dump enough to wear the same attire every night like a dumb superhero or whatever crap TV produces. It's all about smarts and technique.

So I was greatly offended and concerned that this vampire knew me. He seemed to know more about me than he was letting on too.

"Who are you?" I spat, holding my butter knife tightly in my hands.

"Your worst nightmare and your greatest dream, Princess."

"Done with the games. Who are you and how do you know me?" I hated that the closer I went, the hotter I got. 

His gaze got more intense and his fists were balled as if resisting the urge to touch me. Despite his smirk, I could see the internal battle going on inside of him. I could care less, but I simply wanted to know that my identity wasn’t leaked to the vampire world or whatever they call it.

"I'm not playing any games, Amber. You see, I'm Drew and-"

"I don’t care who you are! You'll be dead before sunrise." I raised the knife to his heart, and though I knew it couldn’t do much, I still held it confidently as if it was the deadliest weapon of them all. His eyes fell to his chest where I held the knife, and I was aware that he could've moved faster than I could blink or easily snap my hand as if it was a twig, but I oddly felt like he wouldn’t.

"You can't kill me, Princess". He smirked. "You can't, because I won't let you and deep down, you don't want to."

I wanted more than anything to wipe that stupid smirk from his stupidly gorgeous face. Of course I wanted to! I wanted to so badly because in some twisted way, he was right and I hated it. I hated that after so many years, he managed to do something that no vampire ever did. He made me hesitate.

So yes, I wanted to kill him. Maybe not for the same reasons like usual, but because he dared challenge my emotions.

"Oh I can and I will. Don't test me, Vampire." I poked the knife harder to his chest and stared him dead in the eyes. "Now, I asked you a question. Who are you and how do you know who I am?"

As if it was nothing, he grabbed my knife and threw it over the balcony. Rage grew in me, seeing that I was now defenceless, and he was looking as cocky as ever.

But then, his cool and collected demeanour disappeared, and his smirk fell as if it was never there. He gripped my waist and yanked me forward so that my body was flushed against his.

My breathing grew heavy and as much as I wanted to pull away, I couldn’t. At first I thought it was his vampy voodoo whatever, but then I realised that it was all me. I couldn't move because I didn't want to. 

What. The. Actual. Hell?

"You want to know the truth, Amber?" he hissed as if I did something and it was my fault. His breath was hot against my face and his fingers were digging wickedly hard in my waist.

But instead of pushing free, I only nodded, feeling utterly and completely at his mercy.

"Yes."

"I've known you all your life, Amber." He spat, as if it was a freaking burden. “I’ve known you, because you're my mate."