I am Twelve - Captive of the Vampire Prince

Chapter 25 - The new master

Youngblood Castle.

August 11th 2146.

*

Valeria POV

The cell door opened and two vampires walked in. They were both dressed in uniforms and I figured that they were warriors or guards or something.

“Get up, Princess.” One of them chirped.

I was too tired to point out that I was a queen and not a princess, but instead I focused on what was about to happen next.

They unlocked the cuffs on my wrists, but they were quickly replaced with new ones.

“And of course, a leash for the mutt.” The same guy sneered.

He took out a metal collar and attached it around my neck. He pulled on the chain making me wince as the collar dug into my neck.

“Get up.” He commanded

I staggered to my feet, trying to ignore the dizziness that came over me. They led me out of the cell and I tried to hold my head high even though the humiliation of being on a leash like some pet made me want to curl up in a ball and hide.

I followed the guards to a large door, and it swung open. They walked inside pulling me with them and I looked around.

It seemed to be a throne room. The large hall was surrounded by large windows and the sun streamed in. Seemed like the whole thing about vampires turning to dust in the sun was a myth. That made me slightly disappointed, it would have been a weakness for me to take advantage of.

I turned my eyes forward and saw the guards bowing to the man sitting on the large throne on a platform in the far end of the room.

“Queen Valeria.” The man on the throne greeted. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

I figured that he was the vampire king, but I wasn’t going to acknowledge him like that.

The king chuckled.

“Wow, you really are new to this.” He smirked. “I’m King Talon. This is my castle, and you are a prisoner of war.”

I looked around feigning boredom.

“You went to great lengths to bring me here.” I replied. “What’s the catch?”

Talon leaned forward, looking amused.

“You are the most powerful lycan that I’ve ever heard of.” He said. “Without you, the rest of the army will fall soon enough.”

I shrugged, trying to ignore the dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

“I think you underestimate the royal lycan army.” I replied.

“And you underestimate me.” Talon smiled, and I really wanted to wipe that satisfied smirk from his face.

I turned around when the door behind me opened and a tall man in his late twenties walked in. He had blonde hair that reached his shoulders and icy blue eyes. He was dressed in a black shirt and black slacks, and I backed away from him when I saw nothing but hatred and disgust in his eyes.

“What’s the mutt doing here?” He asks.

Talon smiled and gestured to me.

“Queen Valeria, meet my son Alexander.” He grinned. “He’s going to be your new master.”

I glared at Alexander.

“We’ll see about that.” I muttered.

Alexander looked surprised.

“You can’t be serious.” He exclaimed to his father. “What am I supposed to do with her?”

“This is an important lesson before you take the throne.” Talon replied. “Train her. Make her submit to you, and when you are finished, you’ll have a powerful weapon to use against the lycans.”

For a moment, Alexander looked just as gobsmacked as I felt, but he quickly covered it up.

“Fine.” He groaned.

“Leave.” Talon commanded. “And don’t go easy on her. We don’t have much time.”

Alexander took the chain from the guards, and I could see him rolling his eyes when his head was turned away from his father.

He started walking without a word, and a harsh tug on the chain made me groan in pain and follow him.

Alexander led me through a long hallway until we reached a flight of marble stairs. After only a few steps, my heart pounded like it was going to jump out of my chest, my feet felt like they were made of lead and I struggled to breathe. Alexander did nothing to help me. He just kept walking without a word, and if I didn’t keep up, the collar dug into my neck painfully.

After what felt like an eternity, Alexander turned away from the stairs and I followed him down another hallway. He opened a large door and I yelped when he pulled harshly on the chain, making me stumble and fall into the room.

I looked around. We were in a bedroom, and I figured that it belonged to Alexander. The room was all in navy blue and black, giving off a ‘bachelor’s lair’ vibe. A king size bed with black silk sheets was standing by the right wall, a desk at the far wall, a sofa by the window and two closed doors on the left. Rubbing my aching neck, I sat up and glared at him in annoyance.

“That’s just rude.” I muttered.

Alexander shook his head.

“Unbelievable.” He muttered. “What am I supposed to do with a mutt like you? I don’t have time for this.”

“Well, if you could just show me to the door, I can be on my merry way and stop wasting your time.” I replied.

“Right.” Alexander scoffed. “No way I’m letting a vicious murderer like you out of my sight.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Murderer, yes.” I agreed. “But not that village on your turf, if that’s what you’re referring to.”

Alexander glared at me.

“Of course.” He replied. “You have soldiers to do your dirty work now.”

I rolled my eyes.

“No.” I muttered. “We didn’t kill them.”

“You were caught at the scene!” Alexander yelled. “What else were you doing there?”

“We were attacked first!” I yelled back and stood up from the ground.

Sure, I was human and he could probably kill me with a flick of his wrist, but I couldn’t back down from this.

“Liar.” Alexander retorted. “No vampires attacked you.”

I scoffed.

“Alright, you fool, allow me to give you a reality check.” I muttered and pulled down the shoulder on the dress.

“I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but some a**hole came into the cell, held me down and bit me.” I explained, annoyance lacing my every word. “As you can see, it’s a perfect bite wound, unlike this one.”

I straightened out the dress and pulled up the sleeve instead, showing him the other bite mark.

“This is from when I was kidnapped.” I told him. “I still had my powers and my lycan strength, so I was able to push him off of me, making him scrape my arm with his teeth here.”

I traced the lines from the bite mark.

“As you can see, this one is more healed.” I said and looked up at him.

He was frowning, looking at me attentively, so I decided to push on since he seemed to be listening to what I was saying.

“Tell me, Alexander.” I said. “Were there any vampires in the village that got massacred?”

He shook his head.

“No.” He muttered. “You wouldn’t have been able to kill that many humans if we were there to protect them.

I nodded, trying not to smirk as I knew that I had him right where I wanted him.

“Then, what’s this?” I asked.

I pulled up the hem of my dress, revealing the bite wound on my calf from the first attack. It was almost healed by now, and there was a big difference between this one and the others.

Alexander stared at my leg, blood draining from his face.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” He mumbled.

I pulled my skirt down and folded my arms across my chest.

“It doesn’t unless I’m telling you the truth.” I sighed. “We were on our way here when we came across the village. We wanted to discuss the attack, because it seems like you have a group of rogue vampires breaching our territory.”

Alexander stared at me silently.

“So you’re saying that this war…”

“Is completely unnecessary.” I concluded for him and took a step forward. “The question is: Are you going to help me stop it before anyone else dies?”