Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

OTF Chapter 1 - A Love Triangle?

ONE TRUE FRENEMY

Chapter 1

"PENNY FOR  your thoughts," Julian Namura said the car neared the pier. "Oh forget it, I know exactly what you're thinking. You're wondering how to break it to your boy Blake that I'm by far the more handsome of the two of us."

Vivienne rolled her eyes. They had only been in the car for a couple of hours, but it seemed like years with Julian's constant blabbering. Julian wasn't completely lying. He was a gorgeous man with a face that could have belonged to Adonis, and a muscular body that his tightly fitted dress shirt could barely contain. On his head, he had a mop of curly brown hair with shimmering strands of milk-chocolate. He had a way of looking at her with his eyes prominent and his chin tilted down that said he knew exactly how tantalizing he was. In the short time, she had known him, Vivienne already knew that Julian Namura was his own biggest fan.

"If you haven't forgotten," Vivienne said with her best fake smile. "I have a bag of stakes here somewhere, and I am not afraid to use them."

"Feisty, I like them that way. It makes the blood taste better," Julian said and showed her his fangs.

Vivienne turned her attention away from the bozo, Julian Namura, and stared into the nearby sea. They say that an enemy stabs you in the back, but a true friend stabs you in the front. Vivienne felt as though she was about to be stabbed as she faced the prospect of going back to Manna City. As the sun peeped over the horizon, she once again stood at the edge of the Anthias Sea, waiting for the boat that would take her back to that cursed place. Vivienne touched the cameo necklace around her neck as the ugly gray boat came into view. It looked like a floating cage, windowless and stark.

"Is this what vampires travel in?" Vivienne asked. Julian volunteered to answer first. He was one of the royal family's vampires, perhaps their chattiest one.

"No, not always. She sent this prison barge, especially for our friend. Hey, Thorne, I think she might be angry at you."

Blake scoffed at that. He stared mirthlessly as the boat docked at the pier.

"What's going to happen when we get off that boat?" Vivienne asked Julian. He was wearing a black wool jacket with gold buttons and a high gold brocaded collar. Vivienne assumed he had reverted to the persona of a man about town in Manna City and was dressing for the paparazzi photographers.

"Nothing good," Julian said. He winked at her under his violet-tinted glasses. "For our friend Blake. For you, probably nothing. She has a soft spot for you. Be apologetic, tell her the big bad vampire led you astray. With some luck, she might welcome you back with open arms."

"But he didn't! I kidnapped him," Vivienne snapped. After the trials of Remin, she felt fueled by a new fire. The last thing she wanted was to go crawling back sniffling and simpering.

"Vivienne," Blake said, finally speaking up. His eyes, the color of meadows of Remin in the morning dew, held only sad resignation in them. He reached for her hand to lead her above the bleak boat. "Do as he says."

"Yeah," Julian said. "You're not going to achieve anything running into her mansion guns blazing. You have one big bad vampire, she has about a dozen, not to mention armed guards and the Ignias army at her command. Why don't you start small and try to wrestle Blake from her control? Without that, we might as well all go and drown ourselves in Satan's Hollow."

~*~

His room on the boat was bare with steel furniture. It wasn't going to be a long journey from what Vivienne remembered. Crossing the Anthias Sea just took a couple of hours. She wished it would take days. Vivienne found him sitting in a corner hunched over. Even without locks and chains, Blake was beginning to resemble a prisoner.