The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

“Oh. Co-Your master trains there?” Maria had just been about to call him Corey when she remembered that he was called ‘Master Corey’ by Olivia and she felt like she should refer to him the same way when speaking to her.

If Olivia noticed her little slip, she didn’t say anything about it.

Olivia shook her head. “No, not him.” She jerked her chin in the general direction of the houses. “The kids in those houses. He has his men train them.”

Maria frowned. Why would Corey ask his men to train them? And most importantly, why did they live inside his compound?

“Why does he train them? And these houses in here, do they belong to him? Who lives in them?”

Olivia blinked at her rapid fire questions. “You’re awfully inquisitive today, aren’t you?” But there was no malice in her words. That trace of warmth and smile still lingered on her face.

Maria pouted at her and the smile Olivia was trying so hard to suppress, finally broke free.

She and the woman had gotten so close over the time they’d spent together, but they’d been holding some bits of themselves back because of the status of their relationship, but it was like Maria’s capture had broken something inside them. Ever since yesterday when she came back, they’d gotten closer.

Maria loved it. She genuinely liked Olivia.

“Are you going to answer me?” Maria pressed and Olivia sighed, her eyes darting to the men behind them.

When she spoke, her voice was hushed. “About sixty years ago before the tenure of the current king, the late king sent a great number of families packing-”

“Why did he send them packing?” Maria cut in.

“Well, he was a tyrant and he believed that there was not enough food to go around for everyone, which was why he asked some to leave.”

Maria gasped, angry at the unfairness of it. The king sounded a lot like Ariti.

“The families had nowhere to go. Even if they decided to go into other realms, what would they do? Where would they start from?” Olivia’s eyes darted to the men again. “Master Corey decided to take in most of them. He kept the ones he could in his home and for the rest, he asked that houses be built for them. Since he didn’t want the king to find out, he built the houses inside his land and has been helping them ever since.”

Maria’s mouth gaped in surprise and wonderment.

“The children he’s training are from those families. He’s trained quite a few that have turned into good soldiers for the present king.”

“Wow,” Maria breathed, shocked to the very bones of her.

She’d assumed Corey was a cruel man. She knew that the loss of his mate was what made the man so dark and terrifying but she’d always assumed that he was not a kind man.

Hearing these things, knowing the kind of person he was…

It floored her. He’d gone out of his way to help people he didn’t even have familial ties with. People he didn’t even know.

He’d risked his life for them. How much more selfless could a person be?

Olivia smiled when she saw Maria’s surprised look. “I had the exact same expression when he offered to help.”

Maria blinked. “You were….”

“Yes, my family was one of the ones sent packing.” She pointed to a house in the distance. “My parents live over there.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

Sure, Maria was surprised by the information. But that wasn’t why she was suddenly blinking like something had entered her eyes.

“You said this happened sixty years ago.” Maria frowned. “How old are you?”

“Eighty-five.” She supplied. “I’ve been working for Master Corey for eight years.”

What. The. Hell.

“Hell, I would never have guessed.” Maria admitted. “I mean, I knew you must have frozen into your immortality, but I just… I don’t know, I assumed you were in your late twenties.”

“Well, technically you are right.” Olivia chuckled lightly. “I froze at twenty-nine.”

“Wow.”

Maria probably sounded like a broken record at this point but she was just shocked-by a lot of things.

Olivia was very beautiful with light brown hair that was always held tightly in a ponytail by a band, beautiful pale skin and a lithe figure that Maria admired so much.

She had that kind of lovely beauty that drew the eyes and it made Maria wonder why she was alone. Didn’t she have a mate? Or did she? Maria didn’t really know anything about her because she was being very careful.

One wrong question and Olivia might close down completely.

They continued walking, the cool breeze blowing at Maria’s gown and making it stick to her legs. She held the gown away with one hand and with the other, pushed her hair away from her face. “Can I ask you another question?”

Olivia’s lips thinned but she said, “Sure.”

“How did C-Master Corey and Br-His Majesty become friends?”

Shit. She really had to get used to their titles.

“They used to train together when they were younger.”

Maria frowned. “How did that work? His Majesty is a vampire and Master Corey is a demon. They live in different realms.”

Olivia shrugged, gripping her shawl to prevent the breeze from taking it away. “I really don’t know much, but what I do know is that they used to train together when they were younger and that’s how they met, I believe.” She turned her lips to Maria and whispered, “Another thing, Master Corey is both a vampire and demon.”

Maria’s eyes widened in surprise and she stuttered a step. “What?!”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so surprised. There-”

“Open the gates! Bring him in!”

Maria’s eyes jumped to Olivia’s, twin expressions of panic on their faces. The shouts sounded like they had come from the front of the house and fear raced through Maria at the thought that something might be happening.

Corey and Bran had left earlier in the day but she didn’t know where they’d gone, of course. She had only seen them leave in one of the cars through her window.

The voices weren’t familiar, but could one of those people be them?

Conversation forgotten, Maria and Olivia broke into a run to the front of the house, the guards following closely behind them.

They reached just as two cars parked haphazardly in the compound. She recognised one of them as the one Bran and Corey had gone in this morning, but she didn’t recognise the second.

“Oh,” Olivia muttered, her voice filled with something like sadness.

“Shit,” One of the guards commented and Maria was just about to ask them what the hell they were talking about when the car door was pulled open and three men rushed forward with a stretcher that she hadn’t even seen them holding, and a body was carried from the car and deposited on it.

Maria’s heart dropped to her stomach when she saw how badly injured the person on the stretcher was. When she saw that the person was missing a leg, she rocked on her feet, fighting a sudden incredible feeling of nausea.

The person’s head lolled to the side, facing her and her skin went cold when she saw who it was.

Bran.

Lifeless.

Her legs gave out.