His fingers drummed on the velvety cloth resting on top of his knee, matching their pace with the rhythm of clip clopping of hooves making contact with asphalt. Tinted quarter glass allowed the image of surroundings to fall before his narrowed eyes, reproducing a hazy reflection in his own emeralds.

His sensitive hearing could detect faint murmurs coming from a distance, getting clearer and clearer as he neared his destination.

He exhaled through his mouth, tearing his eyes away from the scene to lean back against his seat. His body maintained a stiff posture despite the slow jerky movements of carriage urging him to sway with it.

"We have reached our destination, Milord."

The carriage came to a halt just before Henry's thick accent reached him from outside.

The door to the carriage opened, revealing him before thousands of prying eyes. His leather boots made a crunching sound as they touched the gravel, drawing further unnecessary attention towards him. He could feel their lingering gazes glued to his skin, scorching his presence but as soon as he looked up, every single pair of eyes lowered down to the ground immediately.

A grave silence washed over all the crowd as they saw the tall imposing figure step out of the carriage, preparing to walk towards them.

He lifted his hands to grip the soft fabric of his cloak. With one swift motion, he pulled the hood over his head, shielding his face away from the sharp rays of glaring sun.

"Are you sure about this, Milord?"

He glanced at his side to see Henry looking up at him with worry linning his features.

"Yes."

His boots tapped lightly on the concrete as he started walking towards the crowd gathered at the town's square.

Apparently, the town's people had captured a Nosferatu. A rogue vampire caught drinking the blood of one of the villagers. The vampire's skills implied he was a newly turned vampire. Too inexperienced to control his hunger or hide his traces. And this ignorance of his had eventually lead him to his demise, costing him his life. Although, he didn't die alone, taking a bunch of villagers along with him to the gates of death.

The smell of blood hung in the air, invading his sensitive olfaction. The metallic odour was eliciting his primal needs while, on the other hand, the stench of rottening corpses churned his stomach with disgust.

He shook his head slightly, noticing people cover half of their faces to stop the stench from flowing inside their nostrils. 'If they do not like it, why are they so adamant on doing it?'

Humans... He could never understand their unreasonable logic. But one thing he had known during his continuous venture after being exiled was, humans can be one of the cruelest species present on the face of earth.

They wanted to set the Nosferatu's corpse on fire, symbolizing the town's bravery and sending out an open warning to other similar creatures.

These ceremonies were rare and unseen. For years, the town hadn't seen the face of a witch or night walker. It had gotten to a point that these creatures were started to be considered a part of a long lost myth. But now, a vampire had broken the rule, exposing himself to humans. The ceremony had to be performed and it was Ares' duty, as the town's representative, to burn one of his own with his very hands.

He didn't want to be a part of it. He didn't believe in killing anyone without having investigated their reasons yet nothing could be done anymore. The town's people had already killed the vampire. He just had to burn the corpse.

"Accept my humble greetings on behalf of this town, Milord." Father Gabriel's voice came from the centre of the circle.

He stopped some distance away from Gabriel, realizing he had reached the central sqaure. His eyes made a brief eye contact with the middle aged man before shifting to the caskets placed near Gabriel's feet.

Noticing his gaze, Father Gabriel opened his mouth to inform him of the details, "These, Milord, are our brave martyrs, lost at the hand of evil residing quietly amongst us. Wicked creatures striking only in the night behind our backs, just as the cowards they are."

He resisted clenching his hand at Father's cold statement.

'You know nothing! You're the coward, hiding a daughter behind everyone's back, betraying their trust in you. Pretending to be superior and righteous.'

He grinded his teeth, holding his words back, thinking how his words could lead to chaos in town, ruining the peace. Looking away, he took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before he ended up doing something regretful.

He was clenching and unclenching his hand to control his anger when, out of nowhere, his mind went blank. His senses had detected an unfamiliarly soothing scent amongst the rottnening stench of flesh, stopping him in his tracks.

Shock crossed his features as he realised what could possibly be the meaning behind this scent, 'Is it my.. beloved?'

An unexplainable feeling spreaded inside his cold insides, gripping his heart, melting the ice cold exterior with its tender warmth. For the first time in a while, a smile blossomed on his face, betraying his locked up emotions. In a span of mere seconds, his heart rate had turned wild. He felt alive.

Ignoring the weird stares he was getting from everyone, he turned his head hurriedly, following the direction of the scent. The urgency in his movements made him resemble an innocent child, eager to get the affection he had never been able to afford originally.

Spinning around abruptly, he looked straight in the direction his senses guided him to, with a big smile accompanying his lips. But, all too soon, it dropped when he came to see the scene before his eyes.

There, on a raised platform, bound to a wooden cross with silver chains, was the sickly pale dead body of his beloved.

The woman's expensive clothes were shredded wherever the silver chain touched her, digging inside and burning the already necrosed flesh. Her shoulder length blonde hair hung down her tilted head, casting a curtain between her and the cruel world that had sentenced her to her doom. There were bruises all over her body, hinting at the torture she had been through the previous night. Patches of dried blood marred her sickly pale skin, strengthening the previous evidence of torture. The next thing he saw was going to haunt him for a long time in his life.

It was her eyes. Her vacant grey eyes staring straight ahead at him. The rim of her lower lids was swollen, her cheeks streaked with a transparent liquid, exposing another thing to him.

She had been crying. The whole night.

He forgot how to breath, taking in the disheveled state of the vampiress dangling from the cross.

His beloved was dead. His only chance at getting unconditional love, was dead.

He was doomed to live alone, condemned to solitude for the rest of his life.

"Who killed her?" His voice was devoid of any emotion.

No one answered the cold command.

"Who killed her?" His tone was turning deadlier by the second.

"Thomas and Franklin did. They pierced her heart with a silver blade." Father Gabriel stated proudly.

He turned his head slowly to find two men standing behind Gabriel, giving Ares a big smile.

Their smiles ignited a fire inside him for revenge. He could never get to see how his beloved looked while smiling because those villagers tortured her to death. His sanity was slipping away from his grasp gradually as he looked at their smiling faces more and more.

He only had one thing in his mind. His dead beloved's face.

His inner demon was fighting for control. He wanted to tear apart those two men who dared to touch his salvation. The more he thought about it, the more it hurt. He was a mere inch away from losing himself to his primal nature. His darkest desires.

The villagers' smile fell as they saw him taking dangerously slow, predatory steps in their direction. He appeared as if he were ready to unleash all his wrath upon the cursed town.

He didn't care anymore. He didn't want to live. What was the point anyway? His beloved was no more in the world to share his agony with him.

He halted in his step as he reached them, scrutinizing them with his blood thirsty gaze. The urge to kill them was too strong to resist.

He raised his hand, wanting to snap their neck in half like a mere twig just before he noticed two small kids standing near those men. They peeked at Ares from behind their fathers' legs with terrified eyes, scared of Ares' tall stature, looming over their heads like an omnious sign of misfortune.

'They have.. kids,' His sanity battled to overpower his inner darkness, 'Their kids need them. I-I can't kill them.'

He looked with contempt at the two individuals, seeing what he could never dream of having again.

A family.

'On the contrary, nobody needs me. It'd be best if I die with her today.'

He was contemplating his next move when a familiar voice broke his chain of thoughts, "Milord,"

His casted a side glance to see a distraughted Henricus holding his gaze with furrowed eyebrows. Ares hadn't noticed him appear beside him.

"Is everything alright, Milord?"

Henry's warm chocolate brown stare embraced Ares' dying heart, merging with it to balance the coldness down with its own heat. His eyes were pleading Ares to hold onto his rationality. He probably thought that Ares was angry at the men for killing his own kind.

'Henry.. needs me. He doesn't have anyone besides me in this world. If I die, the purebloods would kill him.'

The decision was made.

He gave Henry a loop sided smile shocking Henry to the core. His lord rarely smiled. Turning back, he faced those men who were avoiding his gaze with uncertain fear lingering beneath the surface of their tough demeanour.

"I'm fine, Henry. I just want to congratulate these men for doing the unthinkable."

His extended hand patted both men's shoulders before his gaze found Father Gabriel, standing some distance away from them, holding out a burning torch for Ares to take.

Ares' eyes lowered down to take a look at the hand he had used to pat them. He had comitted a grave sin with that hand, using it to pat his beloved's killers with it.

And he was going to commit another unforgivable sin with it—setting his beloved's corpse on fire.

Suddenly a loud thump resonated inside the empty cell ending his trance. A tear leaked out from the corner of his eye, reminding him of the painful gape deep inside his heart, left by that horrible memory.

Blinking back, his eyes zeroed in on the girl standing in the corner of cell, clutching the wall behind her for dear support.

That woman.. she had his bite mark. But it had been sealed to conceal her scent mingled with his. That was probably the reason he couldn't recognize her before.

The seal on a vampire's mark can only be placed by the vampire himself. It hides the vampire's mark on his beloved's body, masking both of their scents, glowing only when the vampire intends to bite his beloved again to strengthen their bond. It was an ancient way of protecting your mates against your enemies.

The practice had become non existent with time. The only ones who remained to know this were.. royals.

He narrowed his eyes looking at his mark glowing in the dark on her pale neck, binding her fate to his.

The only problem was, he never remembered meeting her, let alone marking her.

'Should I.. unlock the seal to confirm my suspicions?'

He saw the woman jump with surprise as he stepped in her direction, his leather boots producing a crunching sound against the gravel. He moved slowly, inching closer to her with each passing moment. The woman clutched her hands to her chest, but made no other attempt to run or avoid him.

Reaching her, he extended his hand to touch her neck, the same hand he had to use for burning his beloved's corpse. His cold fingers touched her warm neck, shooting tingles wherever he made contact with her flesh, causing the woman to suck in a sharp breath of air.

His fingers continued to rub circles on the sensitive spot on her flesh, where the previously invisible seal had started glowing to an ice blue colour. The light illuminating from her neck scared the woman, turning her eyes to saucers, "What are you..."

"Shhh." He placed a finger on her lips stopping her sentence from leaving her mouth. Her eyes travelled side to side looking for a way to escape out of his clutches.

It was apparent, he was scaring her with his unexplained actions.

When he became sure she wouldn't go bersek on him, he lifted his hand from her lips, bringing it closer to his own. With one swift motion, his elongated fangs tore the skin at the tip of his finger to allow some crimson drops to escape from the wound.

The seal unlocking was a painful process but it had to be done. He needed to be sure.

Before the wound could heal, his hand encirled her slender neck, letting the blood drip down onto the seal, smearing her pale neck with his scarlet blood.

The woman screamed as the ice blue colour of the seal turned to blood red, scorching her skin in the process. A strangled gasp escaped her lips as her hands went immediately to her neck trying to scratch the seal away from her skin. Before she could cause some serious damage to herself, a bigger colder hand stopped her.

He held the woman's small fists in a tight grip trying to stop her from going out of control. The woman continued writhing in pain making him feel almost guilty for putting her through this. He engulfed her smaller frame in his icy embrace burying his face in the crook of her neck. His cold touch soothed her burning insides gradually, making her fall limp in his arms.

He had no idea why he was holding her but seeing the woman in pain was tugging at the frozen strings of his cold heart.

A moment passed in silence before the whole room was engulfed by the fragrance of freshly blossomed lavenders mixed with another familiar aroma, petrichor—his scent.

The room was filled with her peculiar scent intermingled with his own, uncovering their hidden blood bond to the world.

"My beloved."

There was no doubt that the woman in his embrace was his other half. The other half he had lost the hope of ever having. His miracle.

His heart threatened to jump out of his chest as he slowly lowered his eyes to see the woman lying in his arms. She was already looking up at him with a water filled gaze. His gut clenched at the sight of her tears.

He saw her visibly flinch as he lifted his hand to wipe away her tear streaked cheeks, making him ashamed of the pain he had to put her through. He clenched his eyes shut for a second before opening them again to reveal his bewitching gaze. His crimson orbs had turned back to those gleaming emeralds. Shifting her in his arms, he placed her against the brick wall before getting down on one of his knees. Putting his right hand over the place where his furiously beating heart rested, he held her glassy gaze with a sheer intensity as he spoke every word loud and clear.

"I, Ares Aléxandros King, vow to protect you, forever and ever, with my own life. Do not be afraid of me. I shall never hurt you. From this very moment, I pledge my loyality to you as the other half of your soul." He paused for a second, before uttering his final vow,

"I am yours, eternally, my dear beloved."