Falling for the Predator

Chapter 3- The King

-----------------------------------------------------------
Geralt POV:

I rushed into the room, not caring for my own safety, not registering the shouts of my officers.

"Get back, m'Lord!" "Careful, they could still be here!" "Where is young Emily?" They all joined into one chorus of caution, reason, and rational thinking; 'to Hell with it all', I thought to myself as I kneeled down and ever so gently placed the head of my dead wife on my lap. And I did something I hadn't done since I was a child of 8 or 9.

I cried.

I cried for me. Not for Emily. Not for the kingdom. Not even for my wife.

For me.

And in that one moment of fleeting, grief driven selfishness, I felt more human than I ever have in my entire life.

----------

I sat slumped in my throne, wallowing in eternal self pity as I gazed longingly at the empty vessel next to me, wishing that above all else the gold plated seat was taken. Occupied. Not for sale.

But it was. The elder council, a collection of the longest surviving, most respected vampires in the kingdom, had made their intentions clear; they wanted the monarchy to be a strong one, and so I was to remarry by the time the year was out, to keep the monarchy strong, the elite vampires satisfied, and the halfbloods away from rebellion. A selection of suitable candidates would be chosen, so I was told. 'Suitable my ass', I thought. 'How could anyone ever replace you?'

I tried to shake these thoughts away, and focus on my daughter, Emily, who was no doubt coming to see me now. 'She's so pretty, just like you', I thought as I glanced once more at the golden throne beside me, a constant reminder of my loss, a golden gravestone right in the centre of the Grey Kingdom. Emily had to learn to control her bloodlust, and her anger, and find an outlet another way. Now was a particularly bad time to start shedding blood slaves too; the human stock in the city was thinning, waiting for the new, fresh students to start attending university in the big city. Someday I would have to relinquish the throne to her, and her then-husband, a high ranked pureblood no doubt, and then what? A leader with flaws is weak. 'Oh Christina, I thought, 'I cannot control my child. OUR child. Have I failed you, like I failed you when you died?'

Then again, I told myself, Emily was an adult, although only just by our age standards. However, she knew the blood slave stock, knew the students were coming soon, why couldn't she-

And then I had an idea.

Emily POV:

And there he was. Sitting slumped in his elegantly decorated gold throne, dressed in kingly attire, with the vampire world at his command, worldly riches at his feet, powers beyond imagination for most humans, and yet looking more depressed than any person in these castle walls, gazing longingly at the empty throne next to him, as if waiting for something to happen. King Grey. My father.

He didn't even acknowledge me as I strolled into the room and took a seat on his other side of him, while he just stared at the empty throne on his other side. I was used to that by now, it had been so long since...since my mother died. The silence was deafening and we both knew it, but we didn't care. Nothing else mattered anymore. 'Oh Daddy', I thought, 'Why hide the pain you feel, when you can share it with me too.' But I didn't say it. I stayed quiet. Emotion was weakness.

After what felt like an age, I cleared my throat, and he seemed to almost awaken from a trance of some sort. "Father, you sent for me?" I asked.

He looked at me for a moment, studying my eyes and face, pain etched across his face, before answering "Yes Emily, I did", his gruff voice, once filled with joy and surrounded by laughter, now bleak, abrupt and harsh, containing all the pain in the world. I knew he hurt when he saw me; I looked too much like...her. He glanced back at the empty throne again, and despite all the walls I have built around my emotions, I still felt a stab of pain right there, in my heart. He'd always been like this since...since....