Darkest Prince (2 page)

I joined the queue to the nightclub, a good place for a quick fix to my little
drink problem. I picked my donor; he was sober and cleanly shaven. I might be a vampire now, but I was still picky. The last thing I wanted was to suck on someone’s neck only to discover that they tasted of sweat and days old dirt!

All I had to do was convince him to a quiet little corner, make out a little and then
, whilst I took what was seriously becoming my guilty pleasure, make him forget. A skill that I was becoming quite good at, even if I did say so myself!

People felt safe around me, I guess it was because for all intents and purposes I still looked like a hunter
. My shiny red eyes offering them comfort because hunters were renowned for killing nefarious vampires. Little did they know that when I wielded my fangs now, they weren’t just a weapon, they were also eating utensils!

The boun
cer gave me the quick once over. I ran a hand down my tight fitting dress and put an extra sway in my hips as I made my way closer to the entrance. I flipped my hair over my shoulder and gave him a smile that was full of mischief. He saw the colour of my eyes and waved me through with no charge. There were definite benefits to having red eyes, if only they knew that I was now one that they should fear.

Dario would know the moment I started to feed,
he always knew. I think he got a rush of endorphins the same way that I did. It was the damn link that he had forged between us.

He’d coach me through the
bond; and tell me when to slow down so I didn’t kill my donor. As soon as he uttered those words into my mind, I blocked him out. Was I using him? I didn’t think so and I didn’t think he saw it that way either. He was doing his bit to keep me safe. I doubted he cared about the poor human that I was feeding from, but if I killed them, that would be a different story. I would drink myself stupid for days to block out any guilt that I would feel. I think Dario would feel it too, he’d told me that he knew when I was hungry, happy or sad, he’d told me that he could feel my emotions and that he was in tune with them because of the bond. I’d told him to get out of my head on several occasions but if I’m honest, I was getting used to him being there. He was the only constant in my life and hearing his voice every day for the last five months, somehow bought me comfort. He was always so tender and caring when he spoke through our freaky connection, he always made me feel cherished.

I would need him to help me feed on my latest lunch date. I still got a little bit squeamish about the whole ‘let me sink my fangs into you neck’ thing
, and Dario’s calm voice in my head gave me something to concentrate on, other than making out with a male, leading him on a little bit so that you could feed from him.

I made my way to the bar and ordered a single malt
whisky, and scanned the room checking out the clientele. The last thing I needed was to be in a room full of hunters. I could detect vampires since I had become one. That would’ve been handy when I was just a hunter, it would’ve made tracking your target so much easier. It was a subtle thing, but handy none the less. It was like an internal radar, and vampires showed up as little beacons of red light.

My eyes locked with three male vampires. I sa
w their confused expressions. They moved their heads closer together as they discussed what I was. I was getting used to vampires not really knowing and because I still had red eyes, they generally avoided me. It was a win-win situation for me. I didn’t want to get into pleasantries with the vampires, I wanted to eat my tea and then leave.

I’d been here for a couple of days, but i
t was time for me to move on to another town before the hunters worked out where I was. I had headed back towards Dunster because of a deep need to check on Dario. There was a contract out on him and even though I didn’t like him very much, I didn’t want him dead.

The bond hadn’t made me instantly fall in love with him;
if anything it had confused me. A part of me hated him for turning me into a blood sucking monster, but the mind connection had made me feel like I was missing a part of me. I could feel his loneliness and longing, it reflected my own loneliness and longing and made me want to wrap myself around him until he no longer felt like this. I cared for him and that was something that I wasn’t supposed to feel for anyone, let alone a vampire.

I searched
the club for my lunch date; he was sitting at a small table watching his friends chatting up some girls on the dance floor. I ordered a beer for him and another shot of whisky for myself and headed over to the table. I couldn’t help but notice that the male vampires were watching me. I was probably making them nervous. They would be wondering if I was there for one of them.

The
human male with incredibly green eyes and handsome face, didn’t even notice that I was standing there waiting for an invitation to ‘grab a seat.’ I followed his gaze and it all became clear. This lovely handsome male didn’t have eyes for the ladies; he was in fact sitting brooding, watching his best mate chatting up a girl. I slid the beer across the table at him and said, “It looks like you could do with this.” I wandered off knowing that any advances I made towards him would be a wasted effort. I could only use compulsion once my fangs were tapped into a nice vein, and to do that I had to get close enough to make out a little first.

I knew that I couldn’t for
m a sire bond with anyone, so, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally forcing my will on someone and tying them to me for all of eternity.

Only elders could enforce a sire bond
. It was like a cheap wedding with no option for divorce. I wasn’t really sure how or what you had to do, other than the elder takes lots of blood and forces their will into their chosen partners mind, and because the bond would be an eternal bond, it had to be with someone they wanted to spend the rest of their very long life with.

I guess I should’ve been flattered that Dario had chosen me out of everyone else he has met along the way, but I knew that the only way we could break the bond was death. I had no plans to die just yet, but if the
other hunters got hold of me, I wouldn’t have a choice.

My energy
levels were getting low. Dario was insistent in my mind that I find another male and get on with it. I swallowed my glass of whisky and to my delight saw a male on his own leaving the club. I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that I was going to follow him so I held back for a few minutes and when a few girls headed towards the exit, I tagged along behind them so I looked as though I was a part of their group. Once I was outside, I went in search of the male. He was standing outside having a cigarette.

It was time to turn on my charm
and get him to follow me down the alley at the side of the nightclub. As my female prowess went, it wasn’t bad. I was used to hiding in the shadows or blending into a crowd or a darkened corner of a room, waiting to kill my target, and now I flaunting my assets to get my intended donor to notice me.

Oh don’t get me wrong, I had tried the whole force your prey down a darkened alley and it hadn’t gone too well. I’d jumped him from behind, wrapped an arm around his throat and whispered in my best threatening voice
, ‘keep quiet.’ Now, as a hunter you have to understand that if I was close enough to wrap an arm around someone’s throat, then I was close enough to kill them and that would be pretty much it, kill and get out unnoticed. As I’d wanted to eat and not kill, this method had proved to be completely useless. As soon as the words ‘keep quiet’ had left my lips, it was a green light for my lunch to start screaming like a girl. He’d actually peed himself and the stench of urine was enough to turn you off your food. My lesson was learnt and I’d decided there and then, that flashing my cleavage and long legs worked better than trying to threaten them into submission.

I put an extra sway in my hips and searched my bag
, pretending to look for something. As I passed him, I dropped a set of car keys and kept walking. Okay, it was mediocre at best, but it worked! Not exactly me using my female prowess, but more a case of anticipating a male’s predictability. I kept walking and headed down the alley. I heard his feet shuffle on the ground and he paused briefly before he called out to me. I was nearly at the alley way. I stopped and turned letting my hair fall over my eyes and smiled. I let him walk the distance between us and I closed up my bag and smiled warmly in his direction. He was surprised to see my red eyes, but instantly, I knew that he trusted me. You could see relief register in his eyes.

He handed me the keys and I smiled, stood on my tip toes and gently kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d lost the keys to my Porsche.”

Oh yeah, I had keys to a Porsche, but I didn’t own the actual car. All guys were the same, pretty lady with a flashy car,
knickers that were ready to drop around her ankles, add hunter into the mix, no scratch that, I was female and had a flashy car, that was probably enough – and suddenly, they would go anywhere with you if they thought there was a chance of a ride.

He reluctantly handed me the set of keys and began smiling in earnest. “So, are you on your way home?”

Not the best chat up line in the world, but I had too play nice. “No, I was thinking of taking her out for a ride, do you drive?” Oh his eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. Dinner was served!

The corner of his mouth turned up into a smile, he said,
“I did until I lost my license for speeding.” His eyes kept drifting from my face, down towards the keys, and back up again. I clutched them close to my chest knowing full well that his eyes would stray to my ample breasts, and given the low cut dress that I was wearing, they would be hard to miss.

I
winked at him and said in my husky voice, “Porches like to be ridden hard and fast. Are you ready to take her for a ride?” I saw desire flare in his eyes as my words struck home. I began to turn to go down the alley way and discovered that I had an audience in the form of three male vampires.

I’m no exhibitionist
, but my lunch was standing right beside me and I hated people watching me eat! Irritation began to flare. I wasn’t sure if they were intrigued with me or if they were a threat. They appeared harmless, but as a hunter I was very aware that these guys could become antsy pretty quickly.

I turned to the male who was wondering why I
had stopped walking to my make-believe Porsche and said, “I don’t want to alarm you in any way, but you know I’m a hunter right?” I saw fear creeping into his eyes as he nodded. “Well, I think it would be better for you if you walk away, it seems I have piqued the interest of three vampires and things could get nasty pretty quickly.” I heard his heart beat faster in his chest and briefly wondered if I would be able to resist the call of his blood pumping through his veins. I gripped my hands into tight fists and managed to say, “Go, whilst you still can.” I watched frozen into place as he quickly made his way back inside the nightclub.

Dario was in my mind instantly asking me what was wrong. I could feel his concern but what shocked me more was the fierceness in his voice. It was protective,
possessive and darn right sexy as hell.
‘Tell me what’s wrong Shyla; I will not play these games anymore. You’re scared and hungry and that is a dangerous combination.’
I can’t say that I was too thrilled with the situation either; lunch with a new friend was turning in to a disaster.

I was
very aware that one of the vampires was talking into a phone. He was definitely talking about me. The other two were extremely focused on my every movement. I began walking down the alley thinking I could cloak the darkness around myself and if I had to defend myself. I’m not sure how Dario would feel if I had to kill one of his brethren, but if push came to shove, I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I spoke to Dario and for once I wasn’t snarky.
‘If something happens to me, will you be okay? I mean, will you die’

I needed to know, I hadn’t hung about to be given a quick guide about ‘vampirism and your sire
,’ and my training hadn’t covered what would happen if your target had sired a mate. All hunters knew was that the elder vampires could turn anyone into a vampire, but if they chose to ‘sire’ a female, then they had chosen a partner for the remainder of their life. Bottom line as far as the hunters went was – if a male had sired a female, what did it matter if they died? We were doing society a favour. If the vampire had made it to the hit list then he must’ve done something bad.

‘
Shyla, tell me what is wrong.’

‘
I’m not sure Dario; I think I’m in trouble. I’m weak and now I have three vampires following me into an alley at the side of...’

B
efore I had the chance to finish my sentence Dario said into my mind,
‘Liberties Nightclub.’

How the heck did he know that?
I glanced over my shoulder and the three males were confidently making their way down the alley towards me. I rounded a corner and slipped into the shadows that the alleyway offered. I grabbed my standard issue dagger from my bag and braced myself ready for my confrontation with the vampires.

As soon as I saw them come around the corner
, I made a snap decision and sprung free from the dark shadows. I grabbed one of the vamps, spun him so I had his back pressed against my chest and my dagger held firmly over his heart. “What do you want vampire?” He froze, unsure if I would pierce his heart with the dagger.