The Second Prince

Sera's POV

A vampire begging for death was unusual. Much more a vampire prince, one of the two greatest vampires in the world.

Every vampire that had come this close to my sword either groveled for my mercy, charged at me, or tried to escape. But this vampire prince was different. He was begging me to take his neck.

My hands turned clammy around the sword, fine tremors running through me like an electric charge. The sword almost came loose in my hands, but I held on tighter, gripping onto it like it was my life.

“I’ll take your neck, Vampire. I have long waited to take it too.”

“Then do, human,” his deep voice grazed the air. His face impassive, holding not even a flick of emotion as he shut his eyes and raised his neck for me. “Take my neck, human,”

I raised my sword high again. This time I promised myself to strike him down. I couldn’t afford to be sentimental. I had come for his neck, and I am going with it.

I swung down a second time, my sword slicing cleanly through the air with a noise like a whiplash. But once again, it hung at an inch before his neck. Once again, it refused to go lower, refused to cut down his neck.

Why? I had killed thousands of vampires. Why can't I fucking kill this one?

“I should have known you can't kill me.” He mocked, his upper lip lifting with slight disgust, making my failure sting harder than it already did. It made me loathe myself more than I already did.

He grabbed my sword, his fingers tightening around it, until he bled, dark red blood trickling down his arm and smearing my sword.

The sharp, coppery tang of blood beat the air between us as he held onto the sword, prancing closer, his emerald green orbs pinning me down like a peg.

I was Sera, the cold-blooded killer of vampires. The vampire's biggest nightmare. I should be the one bending the vampire to my will before I slice down his neck. Instead, I found myself taking a step back each time he took one forward. I found myself retreating for the second time in my life, not from fear of him, but the fear of something else—something I couldn't pin down, and yet, felt greater than both of us.

My heart raced so hard, it thrashed in my ears in a harsh, pulsating melody as I continued to move back until I slammed my back into a wall.

He leaned low, and our faces were barely an inch apart. His eyes swept my face carefully, as if studying me. I had a feeling he was.

His lips twisted with a frown at some point, and he flung my sword away. Because I held tight to it, it dropped back to my side instead of across the room.

“I will let you go, human. But come back only when you can kill me. I won't be so magnanimous a second time," he said, harsh and cold, his voice sending cold tremors rippling through me. I quivered against the wall.

Usually, it was the vampires quivering and begging for my mercy when I had them against the walls like this. Now, it was the other way around.

My cheeks burned with heat as the humiliation stung harder, my insides twisting with hate, at myself, at the vampire for reducing me to a powerless nobody.

I was glad no one witnessed it. I would have had to die with the humiliation. To a hunter like me, my reputation was everything.

He moved to turn away from me, but he stopped. Our eyes shifted sharply to his chest at the same time, at an almost quiet thud from around him. His chest heaved carefully beneath the thick fabric of his suit. Then air flowed raspily from his nostrils for the first time in centuries. He was so inexperienced with breathing, he coughed out air from his lungs. It brushed my face.

He whipped his eyes to level with mine. This time, the emerald pair burned harder, burned hotter. His impassive face broke into a tentative smile. “My bride,” he whispered, the word rolling out of his tongue like it was something he cherished, something he had waited centuries to say.

Bride. Yes, he was blooded now. That's why he could breathe now, but what does that have to do with me…?

Suddenly, raw, unfiltered terror screamed through me, cold tremors coursing inside of me. The sword fell from my hands. I grabbed my head tight as I screamed, a raw, primal scream that tore down the restroom and vibrated my lungs. “Nooooo.” Realization hitting me like a brick wall.

Nature wouldn't be so cruel as to make me a leech’s bride. Never.

Fuck Nix and her stupid visions. Why couldn't she see through her vision who the vampire prince bride would be? Why couldn't she warn me of this fate?

The vampire continued to stare at me, his smile filling his lips. His eyes moved over me now, burning with unfettered lust. Then suddenly, they hardened, taking in my overly skimpy dress.

“Why are you dressed like this, bride?” He demanded, his voice authoritative and critical. His eyes took in more of the dress, and his lips twisted with disgust. “You are mine. No one should get to see you like this, except me.”

He took off his jacket and leaned to wear it on my shoulders. I shifted away from his arms furiously as if they intended to scald me. “Get away from me, leech. I am not your bride. I can never be,” I yelled into his face, meaning every word. I’d rather die than be a bride to a bloodsucking leech.

I snatched my sword from the floor. “I’ll be back for your neck, vampire,” I whispered to his face. I spat on the floor just by his feet, letting him know how dreary he was to me. Then I hurried fast for the door.

I braked in my run as he traced to my front. He planted himself in my way.

I sucked in a deep breath, shutting my eyes for a moment. I opened them back, and I steered them to him. I didn't try to filter the hate in them. I had no use for his feelings. Perhaps if he knew how much I despised his existence, he would back away.

“Get out of my way, vampire,” I scowled. “Don't tempt me to use my sword. I could still change my mind about killing you now.”

He tilted his gaze to the sword, standing firm beside me. His eyes flicked away from the sword, like it was nothing. Then he grinned, a wry grin that lit up his eyes, the emerald pair burning like green flames in his head.

“You can't kill me, bride. A bride can never kill her vampire groom, and vice versa. We are bound by fate. You have blooded me, so you must be my woman.” He said.

“You might want to rethink that,” I shot back, letting my hate flow out raw from me. I heaved the sword into the air. Showing him that I meant business. “I have always wanted to make history. If you don't leave. I think I am going to make history by being the first bride to cut down her groom.”

He wanted to say something but stopped. He froze, rigid and alert, and his emerald pair shifted uneasily.

He snatched my hand, his warm, lean fingers clasped around my wrist. “We have to leave, bride,” he said.

I jerked my hand free, glaring at him. “Can't you get it into your bloodsucking skull that I am not your—” The rest of the words froze in my throat as I heard it. Long, heavy, and powerful strides marching for the restroom. Someone—no—a group was coming. A group that could only be—the other vampire prince and his men. Heat clogged my veins, rising like a wave inside of me. A wave that burned like fire.

Damn. I wasn't mentally prepared for a fight with someone as powerful as a vampire prince right now.

I shoved the first vampire prince from my way and ran blindly out of the restroom.

I collided into something hard and sturdy, yet warm and a bit comforting. I winced softly in pain, rubbing my shoulder as I raised my eyes up. I sucked in a breath, enough to fill a balloon all at once, as my gaze met the second vampire prince.

Behind him, and flanking him on both sides, was a wall of guards—all vampires, their fangs denting the structure of their lips.

He steered his eyes down to me. Icy blue eyes that quizzed me carefully, slowly taking in every one of my features made bare by my skimpy dress. I felt like a specimen under his hot gaze, his eyes seeming to molest me.

“A human,” he chuckled, his lips stretched from amusement. His eyes jumped over my head to the other prince. “You kept me waiting, Adrian. You kept the summit on pause because of a mere miserable human. I thought you swore never to drink from the source. But you have a human vessel stashed in the restroom.” He laughed, a mirthless laugh that made Adrian Valerius growl from inside the restroom.

“This is none of your business, Cassian. Just leave. I will come join you and the elders after I am done here," Adrian Valerius snapped, tracing closer to us.

Cassian held Adrian's hostile stare for a moment, and suddenly, he broke into another laugh. “Since you care about this human, how about I take her as collateral until you give up the throne to me? It rightfully belongs to me anyway." He grinned.

He reached for me, and I jumped away from his reach, raising my sword to the air. I might be mentally unprepared for a fight, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't defend myself.

He tried to reach for me again, but his hands froze mid-air. His eyes jumped fast to his chest, carrying my gaze to it also.

I watched him jerk forward as a force collided within him. Then I saw his chest heave. I saw him drag fistfuls of air into his nostrils, like an asthmatic patient suffering an attack and without an inhaler.

He was breathing. He was blooded. I stared around fervently, throwing my gaze around the whole place. Yet, there was no other woman in the scene but me.

My sword fell from my hands again, clattering noisily on the floor, the noise filling up my ears, blurring out every other sound, just as chilly cold hands gripped my soul.

How was this even possible? I had blooded not just one vampire prince, but two—the two bloodsucking leeches. I was going to kill Nix for this. She could have just fucking warned me this would happen, and I could have avoided this, avoided the club, avoided tonight, avoided this mission.

My pulse quickened, beating loudly in my ears, as Cassian Valerius ambled towards me, carrying himself powerfully. His icy blue eyes could as well drill a hole through me as they locked on me. Then he whispered, his voice sharp, stinging my heart. “My bride.”