"I put your name on the bullet so everyone knows you were the last thing that went through my head."

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The King's bedroom,

Crystalline Castle.

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************ Alexis' POV************

"She's human, just like you." Damien started, "but she's a vampire hunter."

I took a step away from him so I could see his face. I've heard stories from Maria about Vampire hunters who existed in the human world. They brutally kill any Vampire they get their hands on. They had their own special way to find and torture the species they hated so much. Because of them having their own advanced weapons, not even a single Vampire had stood a chance against them.

But that's in the human world. How did they even get to this side in the first place?

Sensing my unasked question, Damien said, "They use to be just harmless humans brought here by one of the kingdoms to be used as slaves, servants, or just as a meal. But then that Kingdom was invaded by another king, and after that, everything just kind of turned into a chaos. The humans had no master because he was killed, so they just wandered around for a while looking for a home. The new King was so overcome with the amount of power he now held, that all the human activities going on was ignored by him. They formed groups, each one of them having a main leader. Then eventually, those leaders decided to combine their groups to form a larger community. An election was held and Aryan Mallow was chosen as their president. He holds a burning hatred towards our kind because his wife was killed while they were being transported here. He trained those humans day and night, turning them into the strong Vampire hunters they are today. About 10 years later, they are still trying to make us pay by killing innocents all over the Vampire world. They can hide their scents and block us from reading their mind. But I don't think they would have done all this without some help from a vampire. They are pretty smart too, I have to give them that. Nobody has been able to find their hideout because it changes every month. This is the first time we have captured one of them."

That made a lot more sense, "So the girl downstairs is a vampire hunter?"

"Yes, but wanna know the interesting part? She's the only daughter of Aryan." Damien smirked, as if he was proud of himself to have captured the enemy's weakness.

"She was leading a group of them, who burned down a small part of the city. My men got there as soon as they could. I guess she was left behind, her scent was hidden because of a spray that they invented. But it only lasts for about a day, so as the investigation was going on, they smelled her hiding in the piles of dead bodies."

The black eyes that once looked into mine, turned into a deadly, golden pool of emotions. His hands formed a fist, punching the wall next to him as his body faced away from me. A loud thunder boomed outside the castle and the sound made the wind pick up its speed. The balcony curtains moved furiously, somehow alerting me that a storm was coming. The King's clenched jaw made me notice the weather matched what he was feeling. Was it a coincidence or something else?

"I can't believe all of those people died under my watch. All those innocents were killed because of me. It was my job to protect them, and I failed. I fucked up again."

I understood why he was angry at himself, but that doesn't mean he should be the one to blame.

"It's not your fault." I placed a soothing hand on his back. His tense muscles surprisingly relaxed under my touch.

Shaking his head he said, "It is. Don't you get it? They killed those Vampires to provoke me. They want me to come out of the safe zone, into the battlefield. I am their number one target. Not to sound so full of myself, but I'm the pillar that keeps this place up and running. If I don't exist, everything will fall apart and that's what they want. They want my kind to suffer like they did. They don't want to take away their life, they call death an easy escape. Their plan is to take down one king at a t--"

Damien stopped talking abruptly. His eyes looked down at the floor, concentrating hard as if trying to burn holes in it. I knew then he was telepathically talking to someone.

I waited patiently but all sort of calmness left my body as his wide eyes snapped up and met mine. He hurriedly went to a drawer in the corner of the room and pulled out a gun.

Without any sort of explanation, he took a hold of my hand tightly, "we have to go."

His worried tone made me go stiff as millions of questions ran through my mind, but one of them stood out.

"What's going on?"

"Vampire hunters inside the castle."

He ran towards the door of the bedroom and quickly opened it, stepping out first to check if it was safe.

"We have to get you to the lockdown area. That's where all the women and children hide in case of an emergency. It's the deepest part of the castle. Let's go."

The fact that he was even thinking about my security made my eyes go wide. He noticed my surprise but shrugged it off as he pulled us out of the room. We ran down the hallway, me trying to catch up to his unnatural speed. Realizing I'm not much of a runner, he picked me up in less than a second and zoomed past the different rooms in a blink of an eye. I held onto him tightly, only focusing on his features to prevent myself to think about the scaring speed we were going at.

He suddenly stopped and pushed me against the wall, where I could barely stand still because of my mind being all dizzy. Through the blurriness, I could make out his body covering mine as I heard two gun shots pierce through the air, followed by a low thump as the two humans to my right fell to the floor, dead.

He killed them.

Before I could even recover from the shock, another armed human to my left shot an arrow, my eyes following the thing as if it was going in slow motion. But, Damien dodged it. In the process, he brought my body forward, towards the floor as well by holding onto my waist.

Right when I thought I was about to break some bones while crashing down, my body landed on his. It seemed as though he placed himself there so I wouldn't feel the impact of the fall. Right when my frame collided with his, he rolled onto the side untill we were on the other side of the hallway with him on top of me.

He supported his weight on one of his knees so his body wouldn't crush me. Our close position soon went unnoticed by me as he pulled out his gun again, shooting down the human. The loud noise of the gun was so close to my face that it had me shut my eyes tightly as my hands covered my ears.

I felt his fingers lightly touching my cheek, "are you okay?"

Reopening my eyes, a nod was all I could manage. He sighed, resting his forehead on mine. His eyes closed as if exhausted. The small moment was peace we shared was soon shattered as a few pairs of footsteps came closer to us. Damien quickly became alert but then relaxed as he gazed over my head.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" I heard someone speak.

"Yup, fantastic. You guys' timing is great," He stood up, offering me a hand which I gladly took.

"I'm sorry, your highness. We were all at the dungeons. That's where they decided to break through. Many of our guards are guarding every corner outside the castle, so no more of them finds their way in. There were about ten hunters, and only four are left. They are carrying either the bow and arrow or a gun which contains a venom that kills a vampire in an instant. Their scent is also hidden, must be that spray." The guard was talking in a rushed voice, not wanting to waste any time to find them.

Damien was quick to reply as well, "Go down to the lock down room through the secret passage, take Alexis with you. Make sure she reaches the other women. "

The guard nodded and took a hold of my arm but right as we were about to walk in the opposite direction, Damien said," Wait."

He closed the distance between us quickly, taking my hand in his once again, "Fuck. I don't wanna let you out of my sight. You're coming with me."

Without waiting for my response, he picked me up and we were running off faster than the wind again.

I felt like a rag doll, being passed around. As if I couldn't defend myself.

Okay, maybe that was the truth. I knew nothing about fighting and I didn't stand a chance against these hunters even if they were my own kind. But they didn't need to rub that in my face every so often.

A noise that came from my left made Damien come to a stop again. He returned to the position where I was secured between the wall and him. My feet touched the ground as he looked up to find a human with an arrow pointed straight at him.

"Your game is over, bloodsucker." He smile was the most evil thing I had ever seen.

I turned my head to the opposite way, to find an escape. I noticed another person standing there, but with a gun in his hand. His finger closed around the trigger, pointing straight at Damien's head. Before I knew what I was doing, I pushed him off me harshly. The blow caused him to stumble back a couple of feet, making the bullet miss him and hit the human on the left side.

Dude number one hit the floor, lifeless while dude number two let out a curse. I mean I would be mad too if I accidentally kill one of my own team members.

Damien didn't waste a second to take advantage of his shocked state. Using his Vampire speed, he made his way over to the person and pulled his heart out right from his chest making me gasp.

"It's always more fun this way." He winked at me.

The sight in front of me left me so disgusted that I couldn't even breathe. Everything around me smelled like death and blood.

"Hey, you okay?" I wasn't okay but I still nodded because we needed to continue moving. There were only two left, but they could be anywhere in this castle right now. I had a gut feeling they were close, if Damien was their number one target, why would they go anywhere else but the King's tower?

I took a shaky step forward because I felt like I was about to throw up from the overwhelming scent. That's when he took me in his arms, hugging me.

My eyes were half way closing as I noticed the Vampire hunter standing right in front of me. Damien was facing away from him, so he couldn't see the human carrying a bow and arrow. He was slowly trying to pull out an arrow from his back, getting ready to shoot. While doing that, he put a finger on his lips, telling me to not alert the King. It seemed like he knew I was human, too.

He thought I will help him.

I felt like I was about to make the most important decision of my life.

Do I tell the King and save him?

Or do I let that hunter kill him in a second.

I recalled the guard talking about the arrow carrying a deadly venom which will end him.

I opened my mouth to warn Damien but he shushed me, so low that it was barely heard by me while he whispered in my ear, "Don't. I know he's behind me. I think it's about time I get punished for all the things I've done, including everything I've done to you. Just say you forgive me and I'll die a happy man."

I watched as the hunter pulled back the arrow on the bow, aiming for the King's back. A few images flashed in my mind. The children crying as they find the bodies of their parents who were killed by these hunters. People losing their jobs and businesses as they were burned down to ashes by these hunters.

When I thought of all the suffering they caused to innocents just because a few of their kind was brutal to them, I knew what I wanted.

I felt a hardness poking my waist. The gun which was tucked in Damien's pants.

All sorts of thoughts were running through my head, but one of them was as clear as the day.

"I can't do that. I can't let you die."

One of my arms was occupied due to being wrapped around Damien's neck as he had embraced me. While my other hand ran down, parallel to his body until I felt my fingertips lightly touch the top of the gun.

A hint of energy was suddenly sucked into my body, making my senses brighten. As I looked up, no longer feeling like the naive girl locked away from reality, my determined eyes met the hunter's concentrated black ones.

I didn't think.

I just pulled out the gun and shot him.

As I was still recovering from the shock of what I just did, Damien said, "That's all I needed to know."

He then pushed me away, off to the side. Losing my balance, I ended up on the floor. I winced as my butt landed on the hard surface, making me lean back against the wall.

I quickly looked up to find Damien push back the curtains hanging in the hallway, to reveal another hunter. He was unarmed and looked a little bruised already. That didn't prevent the King to send a blow towards his face. Many followed after that. He kicked him in the stomach, the action was almost blurry because of the speed he was hitting him at.

"This is for killing my subjects."

Another punch made his nose bleed badly.

"This is for planning to hurt Alexis."

Damien grabbed his head and smashed it on the huge window located by him. The impact made the glass shatter. A piece of glass flew inwards and hit the top of my feet, making me gasp.

I found blood instantly dripping from the wound. Bitting my lip, I touched the glass, trying to take it out. But that only hurt more so I retrieved my hand. I felt tears coming to my eyes but I tried to keep them in. I tried to take out the piece of glass again.

I glanced up to find the King still torturing the human, but my gaze stayed glued at the scene in front of me. Behind Damien, Aryan's daughter, the one he captured, stood with a what looked like a leg of a wooden chair. Without wasting any time, I called his name to warn him.

But I was too late.

Right when he turned around, the human girl stabbed the wooden material in his chest.

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