"You told her that I was still chopping people's heads off?" I snapped at my dumbfuck of a younger cousin, Avian. I swear to god if he wasn't family, I'd have killed him too by now.

"I told her the truth, Arian. She deserves to know what she's dealing with," he said with a callous shrug.

, my vamp-self Lucien reminded me grumpily.

It could be an accident?

? Lucien suggested.

I rolled my eyes at him. I don't want to touch them.

My phone rang. It was my mate calling.

I should just ignore it. It kept ringing and Avian's persistent stare was enough to make me answer it. "Alaska?" I asked cautiously. She probably isn't in the right state of mind since she decided to call me.

"Arian Ice. What a pleasant surprise," a thick, hoarse voice came from the phone. Why was a man calling me from Alaska's phone? He sounded old. Ancient, if I'm not being too judgemental.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"Someone you've been searching for," the man replied.

"Jesus?" I asked sarcastically.

"You know what they say, don't you? Time is money. Waste my time and your mate pays for it."

"Dryden?"

I hoped it wasn't him. Hell, in that one second that he took to answer, I prayed to all the gods above that it wasn't him whom my mate was with. Dryden was a white witch I'd been looking for to find my father but he was also one of the most dangerous witches one could ever encounter.

And now he had her.

"She can't be with you. She was with another man, coming home s-"

He sighed loudly. "Do I really need to go over all the details of how I kidnapped your mate or can we just skip to the part where you ask me what I want?"

I clenched my jaw. Avian has been listening to the conversation and trying to trace the phone call. So far all we knew was that she was close but not safe enough.

"Tell me what you want," I demanded.

"What I want is a beef burger but for now your presence will do. You know where to find me. Come alone." With that, the call ended.

"She's at the local church," Avian told me.

I nodded a thanks to him and vamp-sped to the church. It was barely a mile from the castle. Avian knew that I'd stop him from following me. I couldn't risk my mate's safety. I thought keeping myself away from her would keep her safe. Guess I shouldn't have behaved like the dumb actors in horror movies.

•

•

•

It was dark when I arrived; gnarled trees hung low over the baronial church, creaking ominously in the howling winds. The heavy oak doors broke open, echoing around the empty church. The moonlight shone through the heavily cracked stained-glass windows, casting an eerie glow onto the dusty alter. Thick cobwebs hung on every surface and my footsteps sounded deafening on the cold stone floor.

"If I perish to ashes in this church, it's on you!" I called out.

12 o'clock. The old church bells rang out into the darkness, sending a flock of pigeons into disarray, cooing and flapping violently away from the aged building. Each slow chime echoed through the cavernous inner hall, reverberating off the ancient stone, bouncing between each red velvet lined pew and finally laying to rest upon the altar.

"It's an abandoned church, son," a voice came from behind me.

Perhaps if I'd been human, I'd have jumped in fright but I wasn't a mere human so I heard him. Felt his breath behind me. I turned around and faced him eye to eye. He was old but had long silvery hair running down his shoulders and steel grey eyes that held knowledge and experience.

"You're as handsome as I imagined," I said curtly with a mocking bow.

He shook his head at me and I could've sworn I heard some of his bones creak. "You're taking this too lightly. Perhaps I should show you what you have to fear," he mumbled lowly.

A blaze of light came from the alter. A hundred candles were lit around it and the scent of vanilla filled my nostrils. All the statues of the gods and saints were still yet somehow it felt like they were looking at me. They were lifeless but on the table, was a body.

A living body.

Alaska.

"Want to see more?" Dryden questioned dryly.

"No," I hissed. I tried going to her but there was an invisible barrier-excluding the candles that surrounded her- that separated us. Plus, chances were that I would indeed burn to ashes if I stepped foot on the altar.

"It was a rhetorical question."

An angry hot gush of wind pushed me against the wall and held me there. I could feel the heat around me but what I saw was much worse.

Alaska's unconscious body slowly rose into the air until it was 40 feet above the ground. Her body was now exactly above the candles. If she fell to the ground, her clothes would catch fire if the fall didn't kill her first.

I shut my eyes and tried to keep my fear at bay. He would definitely see how scared I was to lose her. No villain expects to have a love story of his own but once he finds someone that accepts him and likes him for who he truly is, there's no way he can imagine living without that person.

If two people like each other, there's only one thing that stands in between them. Timing.

Timing is always a bitch.

"What do you want?" I asked defeatedly.

I couldn't look at him. I always got things done the way I wanted them. I wanted to rip him to shreds and feed him to the wolves but I couldn't do that without risking her life.

I'd been defeated as a king but I had failed her as a mate.

"Turn off your emotions."

My eyes opened and I stared blankly at him, waiting for him to burst into a fit of laughter and tell me he was kidding. The look in his eyes told me I was wrong. He could've asked for anything-money, property, luxuries- but yet he chose to take something from me.

The only thing that kept me human.

Vampires have a mental switch that can turn off their emotions and make them devoid of feeling guilt, remorse, fear or basically anything that kept them from being a ticking time bomb. There would be no reason for me to hold back my wrath.

She'll leave me when I turn it off.

Dryden yawned and Alaska's body suddenly fell a few inches.

"Okay!" I screamed angrily. "I'll do it!"

"I'm not a force to be reckoned with, boy. You've learned that the hard way so don't waste more time."

I shut my eyes and searched deep inside my mind behind all my memories. There was a door. A door to an old rusty cellar with grey cemented walls and no windows or alternate routes of escape. I touched the door and it creaked open. I stepped in and watched as my alter ego on the opposite side of the door shut it and smirked.

"I'm in control now," he teased.

I knew in that moment that I'd locked myself in here and let the evil side of me take control of my life and my actions.

There was just one problem.

.

😈

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♥️

This book reached the 6 in the Vampire genre a while

back!!!! That's soooo insane. It made me really really happy.

Don't forget to vote💕

~theNameIsHoran👩🏻‍💻