The Dragomir Heir (Watty Award)

Good luck Vladonov

“Lucius…there is an explanation”, stressed Vera, sitting opposite of him. “If you go over there, you will give away her position…you are easily recognised. Can’t you wait until she is done with her task?” They were in Lucius’ jet, flying as fast as they could to Rome. He will spy on his fiancée. He will give her a chance to prove herself because he saw the love in her eyes when she departed. It couldn’t be faked.

When they reached Rome, Lucius matched to the waiting car with Vera and Dante at his heel. “To Rome Cavaliari”, he ordered and his driver obeyed. Once they reached the hotel, Lucius took the suite that was opposite of Valentina’s own and waited. He felt that her presence was not in the hotel and sat glaring at Vatican City as he knew she was somewhere there. While he waited, he poured himself whisky and sat down seething.

Finally, two hours later, he felt her in the hotel, moving towards her suite. He opened the door to the hallway slightly and watched.

“Sweetheart…please not now”, Valentina said seductively as she swiped away Darim’s hand that was crawling up her yellow dress. Lucius growled at her flirting ways and grew jealous that she never attempted to flirt with him.

“Why not?” he asked. “Finally…we are here. Come my love…you have a debt to pay”. The vampire opened the door to his suite and as he lightly pushed Valentina into the room, he groped her backside.

Lucius was beyond angry and stormed at the vampire, who pushed Valentina into the living room. She landed on the couch. Darim turned back to Lucius and Lucius took the distraction to land a heavy punch to the side of the vampire’s face. Valentina screamed and protested but he ignored her.

He pushed the vampire up against the mirror, which shuttered and pierced Darim’s back. It was at this moment that Valentina grabbed onto Lucius’ arm to prevent his next blow. “No, Lucius please”, she pleaded, which made Lucius more angry and hurt. You care more about him, he thought. Instead he pulled his arm away from her grip to pull it back for another punch. This time Valentina put a bit more force and Lucius got annoyed.

To prevent further interruptions, Lucius pushed Valentina away and she landed on the floor hard. He returned his attention back to Darim just in time for the vampire to knee him. Pain blinded Lucius for a second and he doubled over until he was on the floor on all four. Pretending to struggle with the pain, Lucius pulled out his stake and as Darim came closer, he waited. When the vampire pulled at Lucius’ neck cuff, Lucius stabbed his stake to Darim’s side. He didn’t want to kill the prince…it was his warning and punishment.

To Lucius’ surprise, the prince only grimaced at the pain and continued to struggle with Lucius. Lucius could’ve sworn that the prince was aggressively bleeding but he felt that the prince had more strength than Lucius had originally thought. Is this why Valentina would not let you go? He questioned himself. Because you have strength beyond any vampire I know, little prince? Let’s see how many more stabs you can take before you break, Lucius grinned evilly. He wanted to punish this vampire for touching his fiancée. Deep down, Lucius hated the vampire in front of him with honour and strength written all over his face. A future king worthy of Valentina Dragomir.  

Lucius could see wisdom in the vampire and a gentleness that Valentina probably craves. His eyes narrowed when he thought of Darim and Valentina together and his anger go the better of him. He stabbed the prince on the other side but the vampire did not break.

It was at this moment that Vera and Dante ran into the room with the door closed behind them to prevent the noise reaching human ears. Derrick and Zach were already in the room but they angrily stood aside following Darim and Valentina’s command. Vera ran to Valentina, who was on the floor in pain with Derrick beside her. Derrick was helping her get on one of the couches and Lucius heard something about a broken ankle but he knew he had to finish of Darim first.

Dante approached Lucius and said slowly, “Cousin, please put the stake down. He is already hurt… this is going out of proportion.” When Lucius and Darim continued to throw punches at each other with Darim more bruised and beaten than Lucius, Dante shouted, “Stop! He is Crown Prince Darim, son of-”

“I fucking know!” Lucius shouted back and within seconds, he had Darim pinned against the wall with the stake stabbed at his shoulders. The vampire groaned and Lucius pushed the stake deeper. The vampire was very close to breaking and Lucius knew this but he never found out because he was quickly disarmed by no other than his fiancée. Valentina grabbed hold of Lucius’ stake and threw it across the room.

To his sadness, Valentina went straight to Darim, who have slid down the wall with a cut across his eyes and blood everywhere. She then pulled out her expensive silk scarf and forced him to use it to stop the bleeding at his shoulder, which was flowing heavily. “Please tell me that you are okay”, she begged. “Please tell me that you are not angry.”

“Of course not”, Darim answered with a charming smile and pulled himself up, grimacing throughout the whole process. When they were up, Valentina smiled adoringly at Darim, which made Lucius lose all rational mind and patience.

“Holidaying with your cousin?” Lucius sneered. “More like having an affair.” After Valentina handed Darim over to Zach, she looked sternly at him with her hands on her hips.

“I was doing no such thing”, she said evenly.

“Don’t lie to me”, Lucius said slowly. “I saw how he held you and how you enjoyed it. I saw something there.”

“It was all an act, Lucius!” she stressed. “I’m undercover!”

“Don’t lie to me.” He remembered the images from the crystal and it tore his heart. Her lies felt like stabs to his lungs…he couldn’t breathe; he couldn’t think. Valentina was his everything and still he loved her. She doesn’t love me. She loves Darim. Darim had always been her first choice, never me.

“Lucius, please listen to me”, she begged and quickly grabbed his hand. “I can explain.” There was that phrase again; ‘I can explain’. The universal phrase for cheating partners, Lucius thought amusingly. “I love you.”

“Don’t. Lie. To. Me!” he shouted with water in his eyes. He didn’t know why he did it. He has never done this before to another female but within seconds, he had her pinned to the wall with his hand tight around her neck. “Don’t. Lie. To. Me!”

She did not struggle or move but continued to stare at Lucius in the eye. When she blinked, tears fell and Lucius knew that he went overboard and released his hold. He stepped away from her, and kicked the coffee table in his despair and roared. The table broke and he kicked it aside. He didn’t mean to do it. He was just so angry. He turned to ask Valentina for forgiveness but what he found was a stony princess with her arms crossed. “Valentina…it was a mistake.”

“No Lucius”, she said softly. “It was a sign.”

Confused and uneasy as to where Valentina was going with this, Lucius moved towards her. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to show her that he wasn’t an abusive fiancé. Valentina moved aside to avoid the hug. “A sign for what?” he asked.

“A sign that we are not meant to be”, she said exhaustively.

“Don’t say that” he begged. He knew he looked completely pathetic with his bruised cheek but he didn’t care. Valentina was what he cared about. “I love you.”

“No Lucius…we are not meant to be”, she said finally. She grabbed his hand to pass him something and when he looked at the object, he found that it was her engagement ring. “You must go.”

“Valentina, NO! Listen to me”, he shouted. “I-”

But Lucius never finished his sentence, because after Valentina returned the ring to him, she nodded at Derrick and Zach, who respectively took out Lucius and Dante, causing them to go out cold. The two vampires were heaved back to their suite.

Before Valentina left for Montenegro, she instructed Vera to stay back and make sure that the two Vladonovs returned home. It was dark when Valentina left because Lucius was partially awake but too weak to move. They made him drink something and it was made strong for vampires. Lucius remembered that she kissed him passionately. He thought that the end of their engagement was a mere dream but he was wrong.

Before his love left, she said, “Good luck Vladonov.”