The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

Death.

One word that evoked thousands of emotions in a person.

How could it not when it was a thief that stole from people when they least expected it? When it robbed them of their friends and loved ones, plunging them into an eternal life where they would have to bear the loss of those people. Where they would have to think of them every single day, knowing that they would never see them anymore.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Maria. Was it not just a week ago when she’d been praying for death to come for her because she was tired of living the way she did?

And now death had come. But it wasn’t for her.

It had come for Bran.

Okay, shit, she might be taking it too far. Bran wasn’t dead. He was just terribly injured and unconscious and was currently being attended to in his room.

But in that moment when she’d seen him so lifeless, his body pale up on the stretcher, his hands hanging limply by his sides, eyes shut, she’d thought that he was dead and cold, terrifying fear unlike anything she’d ever felt had gripped her.

It had been terrifying.

Maria hadn’t seen him since he’d been taken into his room but from what she’d seen when he was being carried away, she knew that he was only alive out of sheer luck.

Several cuts marred his body, so deep that one could see the insides of him. There was also a gash on his head and the missing leg which was the worse of his injuries.

She’d held the urge to throw up for as long as she could but the moment she took one look at his leg again, she dove for the nearest bathroom and emptied her guts into the toilet.

Olivia had been there to hold her hair back as she threw up and Maria silently thanked the woman since she couldn’t do it out loud at that moment.

She hadn’t said a word since they came back. She was still in shock.

What had happened? How did he get so badly injured?

It was glaringly obvious that there had been a fight. Even Corey had been badly wounded too, but he wasn’t as worse off as Bran. He’d been angry, his expression tight with something that looked a lot like pain although she couldn’t be sure.

When he’d turned, she saw that one of his horns had been cut halfway and it was then she understood the reason for his pain.

She knew what a demon’s horns were to them, knew that they were incredibly sensitive and it was probably the part of their body that they cherished and protected the most.

Having his horn cut… She couldn’t imagine what pain he must be going through.

“Are you just going to keep standing out here?”

Maria turned and saw Olivia standing beside her, her hands folded across her chest and a wary, somewhat reprimanding look on her face.

“They won’t let me in.” Maria sighed from the depths of her soul, only now realizing that she was terribly exhausted.

“They won’t let you in because you cannot see him now, and I believe they’re not going to change their mind anytime soon. Please come into your room so that you can rest.” Olivia tried to reason with her.

Maria, however, was not having it.

She wanted to see him. To know that he was okay. Or at least she wanted to speak to Corey or one of the men inside the room so that they would tell her the status of things. Things, being Bran in this case.

“I will,” Olivia nodded immediately, satisfied with what she thought was Maria complying, before she heard the remainder of the sentence. “As soon as I know that he’s okay.”

“Oh, Maria,” Olivia sighed. “You’re being so stubborn. What if you don’t hear from them untill tomorrow?”

“Then I’ll keep standing right here,” Maria said without hesitation.

Olivia sighed again then proceeded to wait with Maria for a few minutes longer. Maria, happy that she now had a companion-misery needs company and all that-was quite saddened a while later when Olivia huffed and walked away.

Well, she was just going to have to do this herself. Just like she’d been doing it.

About half an hour later, Maria started to have a change of mind. Her legs had lost all feeling and were now numb. Her stomach, too, was growling with hunger.

A man had stepped out of the room a few minutes ago and from the way he was dressed, Maria thought he was a physician. She’d tried to approach him and get him to talk, but he’d refused.

Ever since then, no one else had come out of the room.

Maybe she should really just go back to her room, rest and ask after Bran tomorrow.

She pushed away from the wall and took a step, bracing for that walking-on-needles feeling as her legs came back to life.

Still, no amount of preparation could have readied her for the sensation.

A whimper escaped her lips as she jumped from foot to foot, waiting for the feeling to pass before walking.

And that was exactly how Corey found her-hopping from foot to foot with her lips clamped shut as she tried to contain her whimpers of pain.

She stopped hopping, cursing herself for not being more careful. She’d taken her eyes off the door for what? Not more than a few seconds and it was then someone had decided to come out of the room.

This was exactly why Maria believed that good things didn’t happen to her. She had bad luck.

It was the only explanation for how unfortunate she always was.