The Vampire King's Contract Bride
pened
is hand on me, sneering like the bastard he
tongue lolled grote
ushed by an i
d across his skin, a pair of finger-shaped im
his own throat. Blood streaked his
slaughterhouse, dangling fro
n't s
oul
ust
s down, lungs burning, knees buckling,
d water. I staggered forward, arms
I hea
eam
see a group of girls poin
ixth
ssroom
s had sh
ke a grotesque gargoyl
ass ad
awed at the jagged frame, like he was t
n't ma
on, his body tilted
fe
it the ground be
kenin
e splas
... brai
ified. Two girls f
t stood there, trembli
is. He ki
wed me. Pr
red f
d against my e
e you c
g up-and found my f
ispered, voice hoarse from shock. "You've taken a life
ian mask gleaming like a death omen under t
write them. And for the rec
tly covered my eyes with his palm
you what a ghost
swallowed my vision. Then he pulled his hand away, and
when I
ough the sunlight-elegant, wrong, ot
a mouth painted red like blood. A voice slither
r Crimson Lord has far m
and stumb
t was th
else could see, adjusting spectral chains wrap
a ghost. That was so
yself acros
wasn't
I'd seen... something. Som
, mouth painted a grotesque red. When he smiled, his blood-colored lips curled
r who took my first ti
... then why wasn't he afr
Redd
t souls-judge, enforcer,
il of the Dead, the unseen realm where the l
at that entity with
en a s
ure dares to stare
c, locked myself in my room
know-wh
**
ght s
mmoned by the chime
d. Still... brutal in e
is voice suddenly flat and dangerous. "If another man
through the sharp pain, and fina
d. "If you're going to destroy me
eartbeat. Then ca
nd death. And yet... they raised
I whispered, tears pricki
a lamb for slaughter. How would I know tha
ons
go
was
word, because
sn't ev
ises, and humiliation wra
stilled fo
from my cheek and said quietly, "You are my blood-bou
l de
ave immediat
on Sigil Ring at my neck, the one
er pretty watching this glow over your chest... But n
d. "Don't make m
en found the ni
top the bloodstained altar beneath our family's an
ring. A bridal token. Left by a creature wh
y strung it around my neck with a thin cord of red silk-a f
ng to place it on my finger. But after his w
as perfect. Too perfect. Once it slid past the j
I knew it came from him.
glow faintly-its luster warm, like wine catching candlelight. Veins of brighter red shimmered beneath the
faded when I l