Who is Cuter

Sera’s POV

I stormed past Nix into the room, bumping her out of my way. A little bit of disorderliness dented the small, familiar space I call home. I had practically spent the whole day preparing for my most important mission ever, which turned out to be my worst.

Books and magazines were strewn around the sofa and couches. Some were Cosmopolitan magazines opened to pages with semi-nude male models striking erotic poses; the rest were erotic and romantic books.

When I wasn't killing vampires, I was reading and fantasizing about my prince charming. I bit my lips as I stormed further into the room, grinding my teeth so hard I could chew out the agony in my heart. Why in hell did fate have to betray my well-curated fantasies and give me two vampires—not one, but two—two fucking leeches?

Once inside, I stuck the sword into a sofa and turned to Nix. My face tight with rage as I eyed her. “Why didn't you warn me that I was going to be a bride? I could have fucking avoided it. I could have postponed the mission entirely or turned it down,” I yelled at her.

Nix sighed softly. She slammed the door shut before returning into the room. I watched her come, following the careful swing of her legs. If she weren't my best friend, she’d be having her ass whooped already for a half-made prediction that led me into a fucking disaster.

“Postpone the mission. Perhaps you will, but turn it down. You and I know you will never do that, Sera. You would still go ahead on the mission. You are just built that way.” Nix said casually.

My face crumbled fast into a frown, not at the truth in her words, but at how casually she spoke.

She doesn't understand the gravity of this disaster. How could she—she was a witch. She wouldn't know of the scorn, the disgrace, and the consequences of being mated to a vampire as a vampire hunter. It was no better than a death sentence.

I would be exiled from the clan, stripped of my position, and targeted so the clan can capture my vampire-groom. My enemies would come for me also, the thousands of vampires whose friends and relatives I have mercilessly killed.

“At least you could have warned me, Nix,” I screamed at her again. “You could have fucking warned me of what I was walking into, and I would have prevented it somehow.”

Nix fell onto a sofa, pushing some of my magazines aside to make a comfortable space for herself, deliberately avoiding my gaze. “There is no avoiding fate, friend. Hence its name. It was bound to happen one way or another.” She said, going philosophical on me again. “If you didn't meet Adrian and Cassian Valerius tonight, you'd have met them another night. If the order to kill them hadn't come to you, you’d have been asked to rescue whoever was sent in your stead, and then you would meet them. Fate has a way of tying up loose ends. Fate is unavoidable.”

She picked up one of the magazines, flipping casually through its pages, skimming through images of scantily dressed male models. “And fate, my friend, isn't always as we dream or want it to be,” she added.

“Don't give me a lecture about fate, Nix. All I asked for was a warning, an idea of the fate that had awaited me,” I demanded.

I still couldn't help but yell at her, nor was I able to keep off the aching pain in my heart, the suffocation of the air around me as it stung my nostrils, coagulating in my lungs, so that breathing, a once effortless task, became a tortuous one as I panted.

My whole dream was crushed, my ambitions and aspirations snapped out of existence by the cruel hands of fate.

Nix dumped the magazine and rose gently to her feet, strolling over to me. Her face was dank, her eyes clouded with the emotion I hated most, pity.

She attempted to wrap her arms around me, but I slapped them off. “Get off me, Nix. You aren't my friend if you can't tell me my fate when it mattered the most.”

She struggled with her words, almost stuttering as she tried to speak. Her jade green eyes darkening into a duller green. “I couldn't tell you because I didn't know, Sera. Even as a seer, there is a limit to what I can see. I did only see Adrian and Cassian finding their bride tonight. I never knew it would be you, Sera. By the time the vision came, fate had already happened,” she said, sounding very sincere.

I searched her face, but there was nothing to hint at the lie I prayed she was telling.

I grunted, my jaw clenched tight, as I turned away from her. Now, it was harder to hate her. It was harder to hurt her. I snatched my sword from the sofa and began heading for the bedroom.

I paused in my stride as her arms wrapped around my shoulders. “I am sorry, friend,” she whispered.

I wanted to push her away, but I couldn't. She was my only friend, one of the two people I ever truly cared about. Reluctantly, I let her spin me around, turning me to her. She held my shoulders and pulled me nearer to rest my head on her chest. It was hard to hate her and harder to stop her. I heard her slow, steady heartbeat as her breast rose and fell against my ears.

“I heard the brothers are cute; is it true?” she teased.

I knew she was trying to get me to relax, to calm the nagging ache in my heart, so I refused to be angry at her question.

“Maybe,” I answered, my thoughts straying to my memory of the brothers. Cassian was just like the men in my magazines, the big, powerful, well-toned, confident, and athletic brutes I had fantasized about—my prince charming. I bet under that suit of his was a well-sculpted body I'd love to explore, if he hadn't been a leech.

Adrian, on the other hand, didn't quite fit my prince charming criteria. He was a bit too lean, the planes of his face were too harsh, his jaw was barely shaved and riddled with stubble, and he seemed to loath himself. Yet, there was something about him that would make my heart race if he weren't a vampire. Perhaps it was the fact that behind that wall of self-loathing was a dangerously handsome and kind man I would have loved to meet.

“They are cute alright. Devilishly cute, except they are leeches.” I answered.

“Which is cuter, Adrian or Cassian?” Nix teases again. I could practically hear her grinning.

I didn't think twice about my response. “Cassian,” I responded. “He could have been the perfect prince charming if he weren't a vampire.”

A strange, familiar voice suddenly boomed in the room. The hoarse, low voice I thought I had run away from. “I should have known you would say Cassian. But I kind of hoped it would be me, bride.”

My heart took a deadly sprint beneath my chest, thrashing so loud in my ears it almost deafened me. I snapped away from Nix’s chest, looking over her small shoulders to the owner of the voice behind her. I had already known who it was, but even that hadn’t prepared me for the sight.

I gasped, my eyes growing round—Adrian Valerius—the leech was leaning onto my sofa.