The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Mate

Selection

Kara POV 

Piper gripped my hand as we walked over to the large group of women who were assembling themselves in front of Norah. Most of the women had nauseous looks on their faces, almost like they were going to be sick. Some looked down-right scared. A few looked resigned to the possibility of their death. I myself, was a mixture of all three.

“Right, ladies, I would like you to assemble yourselves into age groups,” Norah instructed, her tone simple and no-nonsense. “Sixteen to twenty over there to the left, twenty to thirty in the middle and thirty upwards on the right.”

I glanced nervously at Piper, and she met my gaze, her green eyes wide.

“Don’t worry, I’ll see you soon,” she whispered and walked off to the left.

I stayed in the middle and watched as Jo followed after Piper and stood next to her. Piper’s hand curled around Jo’s, giving her the comfort that she so desperately needed.

Much to my disliking, Raven stayed beside me and gave me a dark smile.

“I suppose I’ll stay here with you then,” she muttered with a small roll of her eyes.

I gave her a tight grin, fighting the urge to scowl at her, and then fixed my attention to the front as Norah helped guide the last few women into their groups.

Norah stood before us, her mouth a tight line and her eyes brimming with unshed tears. Her hands clung together as she watched us all.

I glanced around. The group was split into three. I was standing in the largest group with around sixty other women. Piper’s group had about twenty and the third group had slightly less. Most of them in the oldest group were reserved, their eyes cast down in resignation as if they knew something the rest of us didn’t.

The door behind Norah opened and she jumped slightly as four tall vampires entered the room. The strong metallic smell of blood lingered around them. The first was dressed in a dark black suit, his wheat blonde hair slicked backwards. He scanned the crowd with his red eyes, narrowing slightly as he moved among us. 

The other three vampires were huge, and I mean huge. Their shoulders were almost as wide as the door, and their eyes were the darkest red I had ever seen, as if they had fed very recently. They stood just inside the door; their arms folded as they scanned the room as if waiting for the women to move or make an escape attempt. Weirdly, the three of them looked so much alike, I wondered if they were brothers.

“Norah,” the first vampire said softly, nodding his head slightly to the matron.

She gave him a tight smile. “Reuben. They are assembled as you requested.” She pointed at each group in turn identifying our ages and Reuben smiled approvingly, his fangs glinting in the light.

“Anyone of interest?” he asked in an off-handed manner, his eyes roaming over the older group.

Norah met my gaze and I tried to contain my panic. “A few.”

Reuban glanced her way, his brow raised, but then continued moving around, glancing over all of us. He would stop every now and then and ask a few questions. Each woman would stutter a short reply, their faces losing all colour.

I watched with interest when Reuben stopped in front of Raven, and she smirked up at him. He looked down at her, his face unimpressed. 

“Name?”

“Raven,” she replied with a simper.

“Age?”

“24.”

Reuben’s brow lifted and his lips pursed but he made no other comment.

Annysia was going crazy in my mind, whining and pacing. She was nervous and so was I. 

The metallic smell grew stronger as Reuben walked closer to me and I thought my heart was going to explode in a near panic when he stopped right in front of me, his blood-red eyes scanning my face. His mouth twitched slightly, and he tipped his nose upward as if he could smell something.

My heart hammered so loud I swear he could hear it.

God, I’m going to die.

I won’t let that happen Annysia whispered, but there was a slight growl in her tone, as if her hackles were raised, ready to pounce.

“Name?” Reuben finally asked, drawing out the word.

“Kara.” I kept my face down but lifted my eyes to just manage to see the bottom of his face. I didn’t think I could look into his eyes without wanting to run far away.

His head tilted, and a small smile tipped up one side of his mouth.

“Are you afraid of me, Kara?”

I blanched at the question. He could hear my heart beating, I knew it! He probably assumed that I was so afraid of him and that was why my heart was beating out of control, and why I kept my eyes cast down.

I forced my gaze up to meet his, my eyes narrowing. 

He smiled widely at me.

“No, I’m not afraid of you.”

Reuben analysed me for a moment longer before he nodded. “Good.”

The moment he moved passed me, I let out a quiet breath.

Shit, that was close. I instinctively pressed against the thread of magic holding my cloaking spell in place and was rewarded with the soft vibration against my skin. Still working.

Reuben circled the women a few more times, picking out a few people to ask questions of.

I took note that he asked questions mostly of the younger ones and the women over the age of thirty weren’t really questioned.

He returned to the front of the room and his gaze washed over all of us before he turned to Norah and whispered in her ear. Fortunately for me, I could hear everything he said, which meant Piper would hear it too.

“All under twenty-five are to be taken to the arena but I want them kept in the two age groups. The rest are to be escorted to the bank.”

I watched as the blood drained from Norah’s face and her watery eyes widened, but she nodded solemnly.

“Ladies, those under twenty-five, please follow Ezekiel and Gabriel.” Two of the huge vampires stepped forward. “But keep in your separate groups.” My eyes flicked to Piper who met my gaze, her lip between her teeth as she chewed it in worry. “The rest of you will follow Azrael.” The third vampire moved forward and to the right so the women could stand in front of him. A lot from my group moved in to stand behind him leaving only about twenty or so of us left.

We all did as we were told once he was satisfied, Reuben gave Norah a nod and then walked from the room. 

Azrael, moved off with his group and they left the rest of us behind. It was strange watching them leave. The two girls Raven had been gossiping with left with him, leaving her looking some-what pale.

I had no idea what he meant by the bank, but my assumptions were horrible. My first thought was blood bank, which made my skin crawl and my stomach want to revisit the idea of breakfast.

Ezekiel or Gabriel, whichever one was which, grunted at us for us to follow. They looked identical.

Piper’s group left first following one vampire and my group followed the other as we walked down the long corridor and up several flights of stairs.

Some of the trek was familiar from when we were brought into the room which seemed like so long ago.

Annysia, do you think by arena, they meaning fighting arena?

I felt Annysia physically shiver, sending prickles out along my skin. If they are sending the other group to what we think might be a blood bank for collection, I wouldn’t put it past them for it to be a fighting arena. Although I don’t know what joy vampires would get from watching humans kill each other.

My legs stumbled at her words as fear spread through them like weights pulling me down. Was I ready to kill some humans just to survive?

Ahead, the two vampires stopped at a large metal door and spoke with another vampire whose skin was so white it almost looked translucent. The one thing I noticed about all these vampires was just how perfect they looked. Apart from their eyes, they looked practically drool worthy. All of them were tall, toned and so gorgeous. And blonde!

This vampire was the first girl I had seen and she had long pearly hair that was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of her head. She glanced over at us and gave a wide grin, flashing her fangs.

Some of the women stepped back, and I heard some gasps within the group.

“Calm down ladies,” she laughed. “I won’t bite… yet. Tell them Gabriel.”

She elbowed the vampire that stood in front of my group, who gave her a dark stare.

“Just open the door, Evangeline,” Ezekiel growled.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine.”

She must have pressed a button for the door began whirring and slowly lifted, allowing glaring sunlight to enter the dim corridor.

We all squinted in the light, having not seen daylight for several days.

Gabriel gestured for us to follow him, and we moved as one group through the large door and into the outside.

Suddenly Annysia was alert and whining in the back of my mind, scratching and fighting to be free.

What is it?

She whined louder. I don’t know, but do you feel that? Something… it’s something. She whined again, the sound piercing. 

I fought against her to stop her breaking free. I forced my gaze down and let out a forced breath, earning a sharp look from Raven as I tried to focus on what Annysia was talking about. A strange sensation pulsed against my skin, sending tingles along my arms and raising the hairs. I had no idea what it meant but I couldn't imagine it was good news.

Once I had regained control, my eyes darted around taking everything in.

We were in what looked like a large circle arena, the ground made of gravel. It was bigger than anything I had ever seen before. I would have bet our whole village could have fit inside this arena.

Surrounding us were stands filled with hundreds of empty chairs. The stands were so tall I could barely see up to the top of it.

Ahead, was a group of half dozen vampires who had the blondest hair I had ever seen.

“Pure Bloods!” I heard one of the women gasp softly, her voice pinched in fear.

There was a collective intake of breath.

Shit! Pure-blooded vampires. My parents had warned me about their kind. They were the rulers and believed in purity over anything else. Which meant that Piper and I were the exact thing they hated most – hybrids.

We stopped before them, Pipers group on one side and my group on the other.

One of the white-blonde vampires stepped forward. He looked to be about fifty, but I knew that looks were deceiving. Vampires aged slowly, extremely slow. He could be half a millennia old. 

As it was Piper and I aged slowly, but vampires were on another level – and pure-blooded vampires even more so.

“Welcome,” his voice boomed loudly.

“Bow to the King,” Ezekiel growled, flashing his fangs in warning.

As one, we all lowered our heads and then lifted them slowly.

I scanned the faces of the vampires before me, trying to recall anything my family had told me about the vampire royalty. Just beside the King was a woman with long, flowing white hair, her face petite and beautiful. I assumed the Queen. Beside her were two men with the same colour hair, but taller. Most likely the Prince’s. The first was well built, his body tense as he surveyed the crowd of women before him. There was an almost bemused expression on his face. He looked young – maybe only twenty. The second was taller again, his body slim, his shoulders broad. He had a dark expression on his face, as if he would rather be anywhere but here. A woman clung to his side, her nose turned up in disgust as she glared at the people before her, but he seemed to pay her no mind. A small girl stood on the other side of the Queen, her long, white hair braided down her back and she held the end in her hand, twirling it around her fingers.

Annysia continued to claw and whine inside my skull, itching to get out. Something was wrong. She was never normally this insistent. The tingling sensation running along my arms became more obvious, and harder to ignore.

The King smiled, his arms wide in welcome.

“We welcome you humans here as our guests and to partake in a little game. For two of you that succeed, you will be rewarded immensely.” He glanced back at his children, the first glancing at his father with a wry smile, but the second glared at the King, his eyes narrowed in hatred. The King’s smile dropped as he turned back to face us.

“You see, I am looking for partners for my two sons.” He smiled conspiratorially at all of us before him. “I won’t bore you with all the details, but there is a defect in the Pure Blood line… and, of course, humans are the easiest species to obtain…”

I blinked furiously. Was he saying what I think he was saying? That we were going to…

“So if you prove yourself to be the smartest, and the strongest among each group, you will win the chance to breed with my sons,” the King finished, looking proud.

I wanted to throw up.

The King pointed to Piper’s group. “This group will be competing for my son, Daniel.”

The broader Prince lips lifted in a small smile, his eyes nervous as if he wasn’t sure what at all to think.

Annysia whined again and I felt my heart quicken in my chest and a strange heat building in my stomach.

What is it?

Mate! Mate!

What? Are you kidding?

I glanced along the row and my gaze met the dark eyes of the brooding vampire prince, whose face was frozen in an emotion I couldn’t quite read. My heartbeat stuttered as if time stood still in his gaze and the world clicked into place.

“And this group will be competing for my son, Dominik.”

The King’s words registered in my mind just as realisation hit me. 

The vampire Prince was my mate.