Pleasing the Darkness

Ch.1

Vidiya POV
The cool cavern walls seemed to get colder as we abandoned the civilization above us, and went into the prisoners' quarters. It wasn't uncommon for all the cells to be full, but it also wasn't uncommon for them to be empty either. We don't hold seemingly innocent people hostage very often, and our captives usually aren't of the human variety, unless they're hunters. Our captives usually consist of various species all kept for the purpose of interrogations and the rare hostage negotiations. That is of course if they aren't human, if they are hunters that we manage to catch we either kill them on site or we hold them for questioning. Those interrogations are usually a little bloodier, not only because they are trained not to give up information, but also because hunters don't deserve to live in the first place.

"Why isn't there any more light in here, and why does it have to be so cold? Is it always this cold in here?" When I nodded her follow up was, "Have you ever thought that maybe the prisoners don't like it being so cold?"

"Princess Lavina, this is where we torture people, it's not a five star hotel for people passing through. The cold weakens them, and it helps to make them brake faster. If we treated them with kindness we might never learn anything from them." I'm still not entirely sure why she volunteered to come with me. She's been acting weird towards me since her birthday. Maybe she finally met her mate and is trying to act normal towards everyone so they don't catch on to who it is. Only problem with that theory is that her recent behavior is not normal, not even close. I can't even begin to imagine who is crazy enough to be her mate, or who could put up with her for the rest of their lives. I pity that poor soul.

"What information are you even trying to get from this person? Which dingy little cell do they even inhabit? This is a lot of walking for someone who isn't even worth our time." I took a deep breath in an attempt not to roll my eyes or say something disrespectful to my future queen. Why was she even here again!?!

"We are trying to gain the location of any exits the werewolves might use to flee the mountain in the event of an attack. I had Nikanor put him in solitary confinement. Being by himself will hopefully make him crave the need to talk to someone and that will lead to him giving more information than he should to us. He is a werewolf and they naturally crave the presence of others that's why they run in a pack so hopefully being alone will push him to the brink and break him down." I tried so hard to keep the irritation from my voice, but some of it might have leaked through.

"Vidiya there's no need to patronize me; I know why werewolves run in packs. I'm not a complete imbecile, and I do not appreciate being treated like one." Well at least she knew one of those factoids.

"I don't mean to patronize but I know your parents have a desire to make sure you lead a sheltered life so that you aren't burdened by the world around you." That was the nice way of saying her parents wanted her to be blind to the horrors of the world and kept her in the dark about almost everything. Which although I saw the merits in their plans, I also saw all of the major faults. What would happen when she stepped up to be the queen and couldn't properly lead her people due to the fact that she didn't have a true understanding of the world around her?

She donned a childlike grin and said in a soft, lilting voice, "What can I say; my parents taught me the true values of the world, like mates." When she said the word mates she proceeded to bite her lip in a tantalizing way and give me hooded eyes. My stomach did some odd flips and I forced myself to look away, because I wasn't sure what just happened to me but I knew it was entirely due to her and that was not okay. My stomach was not allowed to flip and flop due to anyone currently alive, and certainly not to a female.

I gave a nervous chuckle, and picked up my pace. We were so close to his cell and I was not prepared to be slowed down by her odd antics. "Come one, the night is young and there's still a prisoner to interrogate." I looked back at where she was trying to catch up with me, and I hate to admit it, but the princess looked utterly enchanting in the dull glow of the wall sconces. Her pale skin looked enchanting, her long black hair only added to her ethereal appearance, and her pale blue eyes seemed to glow. I lost myself for a moment, taking in the view, but quickly jolted back into reality. I was definitely not supposed to look at my future queen that way, none the less, a female. But she was everything I was not.
​
Dark hair, blue eyes, and pale skin is a standard among vampires along with being about six feet on average, and yet I was five nothing at best, with wild dark hair, plain brown eyes, and an olive complexion. I was everything a vampire was not supposed to be and if anyone ever found out why, I would be cast away and banished from the clan. My mother went outside of her mating bond and had a child with a shifter. Not a werewolf, just a run of the mill shifter who was able to take the form of any creature he desired and was not bound to the moon like a werewolf. Sometimes I wished I had taken his ability along with his appearance so I could turn into a bird and fly away from this place, or so that I could enjoy the rays of the sun and not have to be locked inside when morning came. Sadly for me however, that was not the case, nor would it ever be.
​
The cell we approached was colder than the hallway itself, dark, and smelled of rot. The werewolf within, Cedric, must be going out of his mind. Normally we hold a prisoner anywhere from a week to two or three, but since we're going to battle soon, we need to get the information soon before the other wolves realize he's been captured and change their location or anything else that would create a complication in the plan.

"What now?" I could practically feel the princess trembling behind me.

"Now, we question him and see what he knows about possible escape routes," I told her. I wasn't going to sugar coat this for her, if she wanted so badly to come down here with me, she could see the truth of what happens when she's not looking. All the truths mommy and daddy royal failed to show her.

"Oh, I watched a show on human television once where they did this! Can I try?" I don't know what comes on human television, but I doubt it covers what's about to happen. Not wanting to spoil her momentary excitement though, I gave her the go ahead.

"You're going to tell us all you know about the escape routes, and in exchange I might get the judge to offer you immunity." She sounded so proud of what she had remembered, but at the same time it was impossible not to see her as a child trying to act like an adult. I wanted to snicker at her attempt because of how poor it was, but at the same time that would be considered being rude to the royalty. Cedric had no problem laughing though.

"What even was that? This isn't some procedural cop show, and I have a feeling the only judge in this room is the one in the corset and she's judge, jury, prosecutor, and probably eager to remove my head." Although I didn't understand some of the fancy lingo, I know he was talking about me and removing his head so I'm guessing he was on the right track.

"It didn't work because I didn't have a cup of coffee, or is the magic in the notepad? Either way, he should have just divulged all his secrets with some long backstory no one cares about!" Her pitiful attempt was well, pitiful, but at least she made one. I don't know if she actually wants to watch what happens next, but felt the need to give her an option.

"Listen to me very closely, what's about to happen will more than likely get bloody and I'm not sure if you want to watch. It's one thing to drink blood, but a whole other to spill it or to watch it be spilled." I didn't want to frighten her, but she needed to hear the truth. "The option to leave is always available. No one will think any less of you if you want to back out. Now might be a good time to leave." I didn't want to force her out, so she just might have to learn the hard way that her place was on a throne not in an inmate's prison cell.

"No, I wish to learn what happens when I'm not around. What I should know already but everyone refuses to inform me of, acting like I'm some fine china."
"And that's fine, but maybe the best way to learn is not first hand." I don't know what made me want to protect her from this particular evil, but suddenly I did. I didn't want her to watch as I sliced into this wolf as if he was a slab of meat already dead.

"This is my choice, and I refuse to let you take that from me."

"Yes princess," I simply replied instead of drawing out the whole argument. Besides, she's my future queen and I'm really not supposed to argue with her in the first place.

"I'm still not telling you anything, not even after that little love fest. It was a lovely little argument though, I almost had high hopes she would leave and I would get you all to myself." The words were said mockingly, but the princess actually reacted. Her eyes turned red and she hissed. I've never seen that kind of reaction from her before, usually she's pretty docile.

"Okay then, I'll pose the question one more time before things get bloody. Are there any escape routes on the sides of the mountain?" I pulled my dagger out from the holster latched onto my leg, just for emphasis on the bloody part.

"Still nada, sorry but I'm not that easy. You're going to have to try harder. Maybe give the princess another go at it, she seemed real close to cracking me," he said smartly.

"You know, as good of an idea as that is, I'm going to give my dagger a shot at it. You feel this?" I pressed the tip to his neck, "it's your carotid artery. I'm going to let my knife slice it as many times as necessary. It's going to bleed more than any other spot on your neck, and then it's going to heal, and I'll keep carving into it until you lose enough blood that I give you some of mine." I watched his face curl in disgust. "My blood will put you at full strength again and again forbidding you to passing out. I have all night, and the rest of your short life. So let's have some fun shall we?" I sliced into his neck. At the first sign of blood, it must have been too much because the princess fled the room.