An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Seven

It's dark; too dark.

It's cold; too cold.

I didn't fall asleep here. I said goodnight to Acera, walked up the stairs and then clambered into bed and fell asleep within seconds. Something wasn't right. Was I dreaming or was I awake?

And then someone starts to talk to me.

I can hear the vampire's smile in his silky soft voice as he speaks to me through the ocean of shadows that engulfs me. Chains have me pinned to the stone wall; equally as icy. My head rolls, my lids droop and cool sweat sticks to my forehead in a clammy arrangement.

    "You probably won't have heard of me," he says to me, cold hands picking up my face. My flesh crawls at his touch. "I'm the Royal Darkness nobody talks about; the one absent from the reports. A secret."

I stiffen. There are fifteen Royal Darknesses, this has been the case for over four hundred years. There isn't a chance someone hasn't noticed whoever this one was.

  "You can't be an unknown Royal Darkness. We have everything on every one of them, or at least their names," I croak, my mouth so dry it's like sandpaper. I cough and the rawness of my throat hurts like someone is scraping their nails against the inside of it.

    "Hmmm, well I am not a Royal Darkness anymore. I was, but because of the bad, bad things I did, I get demoted. Though this offer that if I bring your head to my dear father, I'll be a Royal Darkness again, is one I cannot refuse," he purrs, kissing along my jaw.

I want to strike, defend myself, stop him, but there's no chance of it with both my ankles and wrists chained like a damn slave.

My brows knit together for a long second as I skim through the filing cabinet in my brain. There had been something...something about being banished...something about one of them committing such awful crimes they disgraced even vampires.

What was his name again...?

    "Wait, you said your father..." I blurt out loud, suddenly catching onto something, but his mouth claims mine with too much force for me to continue. He pushes my weak body back against the wall. Why do I feel so wobbly and unstable?

He groans into me, moving at superhuman speed to lift my legs and force them around his waist. I am too fragile and frail in my current state to even attempt fighting back. And so I just keep as floppy as I can, letting him do as he wishes, whoever he is.

        "Too bad this is only in our heads, Charlie," he pants and his teeth catch in the light as he grins; catlike. "I'm betting if I really got to touch you, we'd be trembling within several erotic seconds."

His body rocks against mine, strong and lean, and I abruptly picture it as Acera, stifling a moan. He grins, stroking my temple with an index finger. His lips drop to mine once more.

    "I'll see you soon, my love. Make sure to dress up nice for the occasion," he warns and then fades with the darkness.

I am left, alone, to stare into nothing and feel only fear. Is this real? Am I dreaming? Oh please let me be dreaming.

My hair is blasted back from my sticky, bare chest that has been smothered in my sweat. Someone starts to whisper – no, it's more than one person. There're several of them, all drawing closer.

    "Everyone is hunting for you, Charlie Rose. You'll never be accepted as a Royal Darkness's mate. Never. You don't deserve him," a female snarls, envy high in their tone. I try to find them with my eyes, but the darkness is impossible to cooperate with. My head throbs.