The Vampire Vigilante
Chapter 21

When we got back to the castle, Erik hung up the phone and looked over at me. "I hate to run, but I have a couple of meetings lined up through lunch until later this afternoon. If you would like, we can do dinner together?"

"Sounds perfect," I answered, "I'll be there waiting." His eyes lit up as he realized I used his line from last night. He smiled and gave me a long, slow, sensual kiss. "I won't keep you waiting long, my love." We both got out of the truck and Erik went up the steps inside. I ran after him, realizing I was going to ask him for something.

"Hey!" I called out as he walked across the ballroom. He stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

"I have a question," I said, "The first night I was here, in your office, I saw a book that I wanted to flip through. It was about the Royal families. Do you think I could borrow it for a few days?"

"Of course," he answered, "My office should be unlocked. Feel free to grab however many books you want, love." I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you!" I walked to the back staircase that led to his office and went up, taking the third door on the right. I walked in and looked over to where I saw the book. I instantly noticed it was poking out more than the others, so I grabbed it and went to the library to start reading.

I had been skimming through it for a few hours before I came to some journal entries from the late 1800s. I squinted my eyes to read the cursive writing. Some of it was worn out, so I could only make out a few sentences.

...the connection we held was an array of magic and lust. It appears that our hearts are entwined into one; we are soulmates.

Most of the passage after that was blurred out from wear and tear, so I flipped through a few other pages and almost threw the book across the room when I came across a drawn picture. It was a woman and a man, naked, with their fangs out. They were wrapped up in each other with lines all around them. It looked like their fangs were extended and they had bitten each other. I squinted my eyes to read the description at the bottom and my jaw hit the floor.

The Copulatio

Or, The Coupling, in English. Most of the reading was in Latin, French, or Spanish. Basically it was the first vampires in history who were true soulmates. It happened rarely, but there were stories of it happening.

I looked at the picture hard, trying to figure out if this might be what was going on between Erik and me.

Surely not. You have enough crazy power shit going on.

But the picture looked exactly like what happened the first time we were intimate. I stared at the picture for a long time before I put it back in the book and closed it. I put my hand on my chin and looked out of the window, lost in my thoughts.

If it were true, we would have to find out by biting each other and tasting our blood. The stories say that your soulmate's blood tastes better than any fresh kill you can find. The bond between soulmates was supposedly insane; you could practically feel what the other person is feeling. I had not felt anything like that with Erik yet, but I knew if I drank from him it would more than likely chance everything.

I looked up at the clock and saw that it was 6 in the evening already, so I grabbed the book and headed to my room to get ready for dinner.

Of course, there was a box on my bed waiting on me. I opened the note that was attached and smiled when I got a whiff of his cologne.

Dinner tonight will be a little different.

I want to celebrate the achievements you made today.

Be ready at 7, I'll be waiting outside.

-With love, Erik

I opened the box and held up the dress inside. It was deep red, ankle length, and halter-style. It was made of soft silk fabric, with a necklace attached. The necklace was simple and beautiful; a single teardrop diamond. I went to the bathroom and decided an up-do would be perfect with the dress. I curled it and pinned it up in the back with loose strands falling all around. I put on some concealer, blush, light grey eyeshadow, a small wing with the eyeliner, and finished with some mascara. I lined my lips with a dark red liner before I topped it off with some ruby red lip stain. I peeled the stain off to make the color slightly more subtle, since I wasn't one for a bright lip color.

I walked out of the bathroom and put the necklace on before I slipped the dress on. I paired it with some black heels and looked in the mirror one last time. I sprayed a little bit of perfume and checked the clock to see I had 5 minutes to get downstairs.

I walked out of the bedroom and hurried down the steps to outside. Erik was standing next to the black SUV we took earlier.

My god, this man never ceases to amaze me.

He was wearing a black suit with a deep red tie and had his hair fixed perfectly in place. He had shaved his beard down to show his jaw line, which was perfectly chiseled. Any woman would ooze at the chance to talk to him looking like this.

And he's all yours.

My core throbbed at the thought of those words as I looked him up and down. His lips turned into a seductive smile as he looked back at me before he grabbed my wrist and pulled me close.

"You look delicious," he whispered, "I'm not sure if we can make it through dinner."

"There is always dessert," I replied, looking at him as I placed my hand on the side of his neck. His eyes began to glow with intensity and he gave me a passionate kiss before the driver opened the door. When we finally finished sucking face we got in and practically sat in each other's laps.

"So," I said as I ran my fingers down his tie, "Where are we going for dinner?"

"There's this fancy Italian restaurant downtown," Erik answered, "I have had some takeout there before, but never sat down to eat, I know it's white-collar, and I figured we could use a change of scenery."

"Sounds perfect," I replied, "I love Italian."

We drove into the city and the driver pulled into the valet area. We got out and, of course, the people who were waiting outside almost broke their necks trying to get a good look at us. When we walked into the restaurant, the hostess immediately grabbed menus and took us to a table on the far left of the restaurant. Erik pulled my chair out for me and we both sat down for the first course.

"Wine?" The waiter asked, coming up to the table with a bottle.

"Yes, please," Erik answered. The waiter poured both of us a glass and I took a sip. He started naming off popular first courses but I couldn't think straight because I could not take my eyes off of the gorgeous man sitting across the table.

"Ma'am?" The waiter asked. I looked up with embarrassment, looked down at the menu, and then smiled at him. "The Caesar salad will be fine, thank you." He nodded and walked off, leaving Erik and I alone.

"Are you alright?" Erik asked, looking at me worriedly. I chuckled and took another sip of wine. "I'm perfect, promise."

"You seem like your mind is somewhere else," he replied, leaning back in his chair and putting one arm on the armrest with his hand on his chin.

God he looks so sexy when he does that.

"To be honest," I answered, "You look good enough to eat. And I can't stop thinking about it. Or staring at you." He burst into laugher as his position relaxed.

"Well that puts my mind at ease," he replied, leaning forward just a bit, "Because we can fix that problem later." My underwear became instantly wet with the thought of our dessert later.

The waiter brought out my salad and some type of calamari for Erik. We ate and talked for a while about random things, such as what he knew about Maya's new boy-toy. He said he didn't know much, other than he knew the man was a royal guard in some king's army over in the Netherlands.

We were about halfway through our main course, which was a delicious pasta, when my bladder interrupted everything.

Why must alcohol do this?

"I need to run to the ladies' room," I said, wiping my mouth and folding the napkin next to my plate, "I'll be right back."

"I'll be waiting," he replied, smiling. I gave him an eye roll with a smile as I got up and walked to the bathroom.

I finished my business and went to the sink to wash my hands. I heard a stall door open and didn't think anything of it as I dried my hands with a towel. I suddenly felt a sharp stab in my neck and turned around to see a woman holding some type of injection needle. She had short black hair in a pixie cut with gray eyes, was tall in stature, and wore all black. I reached my hand up to my neck and looked at her in confusion.

"Wha-?" I attempted to talk, but I couldn't get any words out. I started to see the room fade in and out, and the only thought I had in my mind was if Erik was safe or not.

I collapsed to the floor, unable to move or think due to whatever this bitch just injected into my neck. My veins were on fire, and I instantly knew it was some type of silver compound that she gave me. I tried to call out for help, but no sound escaped from my mouth. The last thing I saw before everything went black was that same woman smiling at me menacingly.

I noticed I was starting to become more conscious when I felt my head pounding with excruciating pain. I groaned and tried to put my hand over my forehead, but realized I couldn't because both of my hands were chained. I tried to open my eyes but every little movement caused me to grit my teeth in pain. I finally got my eyesight to focus and I began to look around the room.

The floor was made of brick and there was a metal door in front of me. The walls were brick with nothing else in the tiny room but me shackled to the floor. My wrists and ankles were locked down tight; there wasn't even enough slack to raise my hand to my face. Nothing of this room was familiar to me, so I had no idea where I was at.

I knew Malachi had to be behind this. The girl who stabbed me with the syringe was dressed in the all black attire that Malachi's soldiers wore.

I hope Erik is okay.

Surely he wouldn't have gone after Erik; he had nothing to do with what went down in the past between Malachi and my family. I decided at that moment I would rip Malachi's body apart limb by limb if he landed a finger on Erik.

The thought caused my tattoo to sear into my skin and my eyes began to glow bright blue. I balled up my fists, imagining the shackles exploding to free me.

But nothing happened.

No mist, no power, nothing. My tattoo died down and my eyes went back to their normal color. I sat up as much as I could and looked at the shackles.

Fucking silver.

I had to give it to Malachi: he wasn't stupid. He knew that continuous silver touching me would keep my powers from evolving. I gently held my head backwards and closed my eyes to try and cope with the searing pain in my wrists and ankles. I had sat like that for a while before I heard the door unlocking.

I looked at the door with glowing eyes as Malachi strutted into the room. He had a malicious smile spread across his face as he crossed his hands behind his back and looked down at me.

"Looks like the cat finally caught the mouse," he said, squatting down and getting close to my face, "That sneaky, slutty, stupid fucking mouse." I gritted my teeth and gave him a death stare but I refused to speak to him.

"Did you loose your voice?" He asked, "Maybe Idna gave you too big of a dose." He stood up and backed up a few steps before crossing his arms in front of him, never taking his eyes off of me. "I haven't figured out exactly what to do with you, although the thought of leaving your dead body at King Donovan's front door does sound like a good idea."

"Leave him out of this," I hissed. Malachi's eyebrows shot up and he began to laugh. "How did I know that would hit a nerve?"

"Malachi," I said, "If you so lay a fucking finger on Erik I will-"

"First name basis, are we?" He replied, "Don't worry, little girl. I don't want anything to do with your little fuck-boy. Thankfully he distracted you enough so that I could finally get to you while your guard was down."

"The council will eat you alive," I growled, "They know about everything."

Malachi took his right foot and kicked me square in the jaw, sending me to the floor. My face slammed into the brick and I tasted the blood in my mouth. I spit and turned to face him.

"You think the council will find me?" he laughed, "They are nothing to me. We are in the middle of nowhere, my dear. Miles away from any civilization. And don't try to scream either; nobody will hear you. These walls are sound proof."

"Just do whatever you want," I coughed, "I don't fucking care anymore. If you want to kill me, get it over with and quit taunting me like a fucking animal." He squatted down next to me and grabbed my jaw with his right hand. "But that takes all of the fun away." He attempted to kiss me but the minute his lips touched mine I bit down as hard as I could, ripping his bottom lip away from his face as I turned my head. I spit his lip on the floor and smiled up at him. He reached up and grabbed his bleeding mouth and growled before he grabbed me by the throat and squeezed with all of his might.

I lasted about 20 seconds before everything went dark again.

Sᴇarch the FindNovel.net website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.