The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

Shivers racked her body and she curved more on the cot, folding into herself as if it could provide more warmth to her icy cold body.

She had her hands wrapped around herself as she shook, her teeth gnashing against each other. Tremors racked her frame and as the next wave hit her, she held stiff, hoping that it would fend off the shaking, but all it did was worsen and when the next wave hit her, she whimpered.

Maria didn’t know how it was possible for her to feel both hot and cold at the same time, but that was what she was feeling right now.

Where her hand touched her skin, it burned her like she had put her hand directly into hot water. And yet she felt cold. So cold that she wished the small window in the room would suddenly disappear and she would be wrapped in complete heat.

She wanted to cry because there was no blanket or piece of clothing for her to cover herself with. She couldn’t even think about using her cloak because the damn thing was on a pile on the floor, covered in dust and riddled with dirt. It was a no go.

Was she going to die here? Down in the cell of a vampire king?

Was this her fate?

She couldn’t believe it. What would the people back home think or day when they heard that the great sorceress had died in a cell? She would admit that she had done a lot of evil things, taken a lot of lives that didn’t deserved to be taking and hence, she had often wondered what kind of death awaited her.

Never once had she imagined she would die this way.

Gods, why had she not at least reached her immortality before this vampire captured her?

One of the perks of being an immortal was that they never got sick. Never. Only things such as poisoning could kill them and even the oldest and strongest of immortals could sweat out the poison in their system.

She was sick and she was going to die down here. That was if Edgar didn’t come with her food sooner. If he came before she died, then she would tell him and hope that he was able to do something about it.

She really really hoped that he would do something about it because her captor hadn’t made any efforts to see her ever since the day she tried to escape. She was starting to believe that he had really abandoned her down here. Maybe after reaching the conclusion that she was useless to him after all.

But then why did Edgar still give her food?

Come to think of it, she had been getting better food lately. They weren’t exactly what she ate back at the palace, but they were a huge step-up from what she usually got.

She briefly wondered if her captor had anything to do about that. If he knew about it at all.

Another shiver worked through her body and this time, she let out a sharp cry, unable told it back. She had a terrible headache and on top of everything else, she felt like throwing up. She’d had the urge several times, but she’d fought it down each time. She had only thrown up once in her life and she hated the feeling of having food that already went down your throat some back up.

That was another level of sorcery in itself and she would do everything she could to prevent it.

She couldn’t even look up when the room filled with light. She was just too weak. She had not even heard the door open.

The steady steps told her that it was Edgar coming into the room. Apparently, she wouldn’t have to die before he came. He opened the gate, seemed like he paused while doing it, then dropped the plate of food on the ground in front of her cot-which meant he was standing in front of her.

“Are you alright?”

With great effort, she lifted her head and looked at him, surprised to see a concerned look on his face. She had to look even worse than she was feeling because she could count on one hand the number of times Edgar had talked to her.

And it definitely was not to ask how she was.

“I’m dying.” She gasped, surprised that she was even able to speak with the way her teeth were shattering.

“What happened?” Edgar asked, taking a step closer to her and putting his palm against her head. She realised that she was not even scared, not like she’d been with that man. “Shit. You’re burning up.”

“It started this morning.” Maria informed him, closing her eyes. All she wanted was to slip into a sleep where she would have beautiful dreams of her and her mother.

But then she was shaken roughly and her eyes flew open, darting around. It took her a while to remember that she was in her cell and that Edgar was standing in front of her, staring at her with a brows drawn look of fear.

“I think you’re having a fever.” He observed.

“You think?”

He ignored her. “I’ll be back shortly.” Then he locked the gate and hurried out, probably to tell her captor that she was ill.

Well, if that was the case then she had better make peace with the fact that she was going to die. Because he was definitely going to let her die. No way was he going to concern himself with something as small and insignificant as her being ill.

Edgar returned a few minutes later with her captor on his heels. She couldn’t gauge the reaction on his face, but he cursed when he saw her. His eyes swiped along her small frame on the bed once, twice, then another time, as though he couldn’t quite make sense of what he was seeing.

“Whats wrong with her?” He asked, his deep sexy voice filling the room and even managing to cause her lady bits to perk up at a time like this.

“She has a fever.” Edgar told him, standing by the gate, “I think she’s coming down with something.”

The vampire king cursed again, but she didn’t hear the next thing he said. She couldn’t because her eyes were already sliding closed as she succumbed to the welcome hands of sleep. She didn’t care if it was one that she never woke up from.

It felt too much like peace at that moment.

When she woke, she noticed that she was above ground. She was in someone’s hands. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know that it was her captor carrying her.

She forced her eyes open and they automatically locked on her captor. Since he was carrying her, she had to look up at him. His face was closer to hers and she used that opportunity to look at the things she didn’t usually have the chance to look at.

His chin was strong and as proud as the man was. The same could be said about his jawline. She noticed that he had a stubble, one that looked like two days worth of it. His face was not clear from this angle, but she could see how his ridiculously long lashes fanned out over his eyes.

Her heart gave a pang. Gods, he was such a beautiful man.

As if he felt her eyes on him, he looked down at her and she thought she might faint just from the sheer beauty of him. His face was hard and his expression was unyielding. Tense lines ran along his forehead and his lips were pressed in a flat line.

He was not happy. Probably because he was now forced to deal with her. She should feel sorry for him, but she didn’t. He wouldn’t have had to deal with her if he had not kidnapped her in the first place.

“Get a physician.”

She frowned. At first she thought he was talking to her until she heard Edgar respond to him. She looked behind her captor’s arm and saw that he was walking behind them.

They walked for a while until they got to a room where he deposited her on the bed, taking a step back when he had. Maria wasted no time in turning to her side and drifting right back to sleep.

She woke sometime later to a cold wet rag being draped across her forehead and she was about to shove the hand away when she paused, seeing that it was Edgar.

She smiled up at him gratefully. She owed him her life. She might have died down there in her cell had it not been for him.

A throat cleared somewhere in the room and she searched for the sound with her eyes, freezing when she saw that it was her captor. He was leaning against the doorframe with his hand folded across his chest as he watched them. He looked pissed as he glanced between her and Edgar.

Was there ever a time in this man’s life when he didn’t look pissed?

Well, she had seen him once with an emotion other than anger on his face. Twice actually. Those times, it had been lust, but yet somehow, he had managed to look like he was pissed about the whole thing afterwards.

She had never ever seen the man with anything akin to a smile on his face. In fact, she didn’t think he laughed at all. He had zero laugh lines. And yet, she was attracted to him.

She had questionable taste in men.

“You won’t be going back to your cell today.”