Darkest Prince (4 page)

A set of hands steadied me and I giggled as I tried to make my way to Dario’s side. “Ma’am, it’s best to let the Prince
deal with his business.” I swatted the guards arm away and said in a rather drunken voice “It is my business you overgrown buffoon, one of the hunters tried to kill me and presumably this guard thought that Dario should know that something important has happened.” I made a silent prayer. ‘Please god, don’t let me down now… if I have just made a total fool of myself to try and save this vampires ass, and he has nothing important to say, I will gladly kill him myself!’

I
heard a couple of chuckles; I slapped a hand over my mouth. My silent prayer hadn’t been silent at all. Dario’s expression had transformed to one of amusement, and my Dario was back. I held out my hand to him, he shook his head in mock annoyance and smiled at me as he came to stand at my side. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he tugged me close and said, “Hurry, I have unfinished business with my wife.” The wicked glint in his eyes told me to let his choice of possessive words go, I had done enough damage to his reputation for one night.

The guard informed Dario that the hunter had b
een taken care of. He handed Dario the hunters standard issue dagger. Dario turned it about in his hand a few times before giving it to me. I tucked it into the waistband of my trousers, not caring about the hunter – he had tried to kill me after all, no, I was a vampire now, Dario’s vampire. I held out my hand and let Dario lead me into the castle.

I took more notice of my surroundings th
is time, I was aware that there were lots of vampires here. I didn’t remember there being this many last time I visited the castle. Maybe my vampy radar was highlighting them to me now. It was scary to think that I had put myself in so much danger when I had come here with Dario to satisfy my lustful thoughts, and boy, had he satisfied me. I felt my body heating up as I remembered how skilful Dario was as a lover. I saw that the corner of his mouth was turned up as he hid a smile. Yeah, he knew just how he affected me!

Dario led me to a rather grand sitting room. Huge oil paintings hung on every wall. They were his
ancestors; I noticed the striking resemblance between each family member. Each member had cool ice-blue eyes with midnight blue flecks appearing to swirl in the black pupils. Each male was handsome in their own right, similar in looks, but a different expression or tilt of their lips setting them apart. Their hair was similar in colour, a midnight blue-black, although each member wore their hair at different lengths and styles. Their clothing depicted which era the paintings were from, but Dario’s painting was the one that held me most captivated. His stood out from every other painting on the walls.

His hair was tousled and messy, his expression dark and brooding
. The painting clearly was intended to intimidate anyone who looked at it.

M
aybe the reason Dario bought me to this room was to show me the other side of him, the one that I was yet to see. Dario looked powerful, an essence the painter had managed to capture. His eyes followed you wherever you stood in the room, making you feel uncomfortable under his intense glare. If I hadn’t seen the nicer side of him, just looking at the painting would make my blood run cold at the thought of meeting this tall dark vampire at night.

I flicked a quick glance at
Dario; he was watching me, waiting for me to accept that this was a part of who he was. I gave him a small smile to show him that he didn’t intimidate me; maybe I was foolish to think that Dario would never show this side to me, but I couldn’t fit the painting to the person that I had come to know over the last few months. This painting reflected someone else, my Dario was less intense, and my Dario went out of his way to make me feel cherished. I let myself hope that I had filled the void in his life that made him want to appear so formidable. Let myself hope that I was the reason that he no longer looked like that.

M
y fingers trailed over various objects as I wandered about the room. There were small tables dotted about that held various pieces of fine art, and antique sofas and a coffee table that gave the room a rather grand feeling. Finally, I came to a stop in front of a Dario. He’d said nothing since we’d entered the room, but had watched me like a hawk as I’d moved about touching anything that caught my eye. I reached up and gently tugged him down so I could kiss him softly on the lips. I saw relief flash in his eyes as he stepped away from me. “I will give you a grand tour tomorrow, the sun will be up in a couple of hours and I need to speak with my day walkers.” I don’t know why I found this information so surprising. Given that he was a Prince, it only stood to reason that he had people that he trusted to guard the property and him, whilst he slept. Hunters had no such need for day walkers, we only hunted vampires and they were dead to the world during daylight hours.

I had so many questions buzzing through my head, but I still felt a little bit tipsy
from his blood. I decided to wait until I could actually ask the important questions and not some of the drivel that was whizzing through my mind.

“Would you like to see your bedroom?”
My bedroom? I felt my mouth drop open and a flash of annoyance sweep through me. We had been apart for so long, I needed him with me, not because I wanted to sleep with him per-say, but if the moment arose, then I’m sure I would jump at the chance, but I felt safe with him at my side. I was in a castle surrounded by what felt like hundreds of vampires (okay that was an exaggeration) but you get my point. When he was with me, it didn’t feel like anything or anyone would try to harm me. I was nervous; I could take on one or two vampires at a time, but several?

The guards
were tall, muscular and all looked as though they worked out regularly, not your average vampires that roamed the streets.

When I
went on a mission, my contract kills had never been on someone with such a high profile. I was usually sent to take out someone who had wronged one of the government or embezzled money by underhand deeds. My last contract kill had been on a vampire who had trafficked humans. Young girls were being plucked off the streets, families were filing reports of their missing loved ones and the hunters had been called to deal with the problem. It still troubled me as to why I had been given a kill order on Dario. It didn’t make sense.

Dario held out his arm and said “Come, I will show you your room and t
hen we can work out the details that will suit us both.” With a heavy heart, I caught hold of his arm and let him lead me from the room.

He looked nervous as he glanced at me as we climbed the stairs. I couldn’t help noticing that there were more oil paintings lining the walls, small lamps lit each painting.

I had never walked up a set of stairs that were so grand. Chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, the crystal droplets making rainbow patterns on the burgundy walls. Statues and busts, even a set of armour were displayed beautifully as we approached the next level.

A couple of things struck me as
odd as we walked down the long hallway. It was quiet, too quiet. The other thing bothering me was – where did the guards sleep? Before I had a chance to voice my concerns, Dario said, “This is my private quarters and only my most trusted employees are allowed on this level. During daylight hours, state of the art motion sensors will detect movement and alert my day walkers to the activity. They will act accordingly.” I nodded not really knowing how else to reply. I noticed all of the little sensors fixed to the wall and wondered if I would be able to cross from one end of the hallway to the other without setting them off, if I could do it, then one of the hunters would be able to. “Mackinley and Arius have full access to this level and I will appoint a hand maid to help you dress and for anything else that you females need help with.”

I arched an eyebrow
and set about giving him one of my hardest stares. It was meant to make him fear me, but the smile on his lips only served to annoy me further. “Dario, I have been dressing myself for longer than I care to remember, I really don’t need help pulling on a pair of jeans or doing up my bra! Trust me; I have no use for a servant!”

His grin spread across his face, he gently cupped my chin in his hand and said “Keera
is human, she will see to your needs.” I knew then that he had appointed me a donor. No more visiting night clubs in search of a dinner date, I had my own willing participant. At least I hoped she was a willing participant.

We continued down the long hallway, lots of door lined the walls on either side. My curiosity was piqued
, but Dario had already told me I would get a grand tour tomorrow. I was a guest and it wouldn’t do to be caught snooping about.

His hand paused above a door
handle and he took a slow breath in before opening the doors. He pushed them open and stood back waiting for me to enter. It was beautiful. It was so much better than any of the little B&B’s that I had grown accustomed too.

Deep reds,
gold’s and soft yellows were the theme of the room. A large four poster bed dominated one wall. It had massive wooden headboard that had been hand carved with vines and small leaves. The four posts were carved with the same detail as the headboard. The pattern was twisting and climbing up each post and continued across each plinth that ran around the top of the bed. It was truly beautiful. Deep red drapes with gold embroidered swirls hung from each post. I noticed that bedding was in the same design.

Wooden window shutters were already closed and thick drapes were pulled. I was glad to see that the sun wouldn’t be able to burn me to a crisp whilst I slept away the new day.

A fireplace warmed the room, logs sat crackling away, but what made me smile more than anything, was the candles that covered most of the surfaces. They were flickering away, giving the room a beautiful feeling. On a cabinet next to the bed was a vase holding long stemmed red roses. I glanced up at Dario; his eyes searched my face as I tried to keep it as neutral as possible. “It’s lovely Dario, thank you.”

His eyebrows drew together, concerned that I wasn’t happy with my room.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like my room, but I really hated the sleeping arrangements that he deemed necessary!

“
Really Dario, thank you, I will be fine in here.” I omitted telling him that I needed him with me. If he wanted to stay, nothing I said or did would sway him. No, he obviously wanted us to have separate sleeping arrangements. I had to respect his wishes, no matter how much I hated them.

He paused
, unsure if he should stay with me to get me settled or leave. I could see him keep looking down the hallway and knew that business would win his internal battle.

“Goodnight Dario.” I went into the room closing the door behind me. I knew he could feel my
emotions; they were swirling all over the place. I had nearly been murdered and now had returned to where my nightmare had begun. Only this time, I was finding out just how powerful Dario was, but what I was finding more unsettling, was the fact that I wanted him, I wanted him like I had never wanted anything in my life before. I would’ve happily got under the covers and let him hold me forever. Discovering that only you felt this way, was hard to swallow.

I w
aited for a few minutes until I was sure that I was alone on this level of the castle. My natural inquisitiveness got the better of me and as he’d left me to my own devices, what did he expect? It was the hunter nature in me to snoop about and gather information, well, if I got caught for snooping, that would be the excuse I would go with!

I made my way to the beginning of the hall way and opened the first door. It was like command central.
Every item in this room screamed of modern technology; the furniture was modern right down to the décor of the room. It wasn’t what you expected to find in the middle of a castle.

M
onitors lined the walls, covering pretty much every outer part of the castle and grounds. The images changed and displayed was several entry points to the castle on the lower level. I could see that each computer was recording whatever the assigned camera was viewing at the time. I’m sure that if I messed about with the keyboards I would be able to monitor every room in the castle. I made a mental note to inspect this room more closely when I had more time, it would be in my interest as a vampire to know where the weak spots of the castle were. I would also be checking my room for hidden cameras before I settled down for a sleep! I didn’t like the idea that someone was watching me – it didn’t do much to encourage a peaceful sleep!

I
moved on to the next room and found it was a huge office. Decorative wooden display cabinets held fine pieces of art. They were lit up by subtle lighting. These objects were very old, but each item was still in pristine condition. I was glad that someone such as Dario held so many artefacts that were a part of history. Maybe one day these items would be on display so that they could be enjoyed by others.

A
huge wooden desk sat proudly in the middle of the room. Leather chairs sat in front of the desk so Dario could talk to four people at once. Fancy lighting lit up different parts of the room. The whisky decanters and glasses sat on a decorative end table caught my eye, I was tempted to pour myself a glass but knew that one drink would lead to another and then who knew what trouble I could end up in. I drew in a deep breath and sighed in contentment, this room smelt of paper, books, leather and wood. These were the scents that you didn’t get living in and out of B&B’s and hotels.

I made sure that the door was closed as I made my way down the hallway to mystery door number three.

If I’d taken bets at what was behind door number three I’d have lost. A wooden drinks bar stood the other end of the room and beckoned me with its crappy neon sign and various bottles that hung from the wall. I grabbed a crystal cut glass from under the bar and filled it from one of the optics. The liquid amber burned like fire on its way down telling me this was the good stuff. I guiltily took another swig and moved closer to the large snooker table. I smiled when I saw that the cues were hanging in a proper holder that was attached to the wall. I lay a hand on the green baize and walked the length of the snooker table. I had never played on one so big.

One of Dario’s tr
usted guards came into the room with a confident smile on his face. I plastered a polite smile on my face and headed for the door. I felt out of place, like I was intruding on his favourite place. Before I’d made it out the door he said, “Ma’am, can I speak freely?” I nodded my head and dreaded what he would say next. Although I smiled, inside I was cringing. On the couple of occasions that this guard had spoken to me, it was to advise me to not do something; he was also the guard that I’d nearly skewered with my knife when a hunter decided that I needed executing.