The Vampire Prince by Lissie (online e book reading .TXT) 📖

my genetic makeup is human, unlike my siblings’. The baby you are carrying in you is neither human or vampire. I don’t know exactly what will happen when it comes out of you. It’s never happened in the past, except once” he started, stopping when he saw Elara open her mouth.
“Once before? What happened to her?” she demanded.
“She got very sick and then she died. But that might not happen to you. You could be fine” Jayce replied, making an attempt to calm her down.
Elara stared at him, panic stricken.
“Can’t you get it out of me?” she asked him, her voice turning shrill and frightened.
Jayce walked back towards her, his footsteps silent and fast. He stood before her, his hands on her shaking shoulders.
“No. It has to come out when it’s ready to be born. But it won’t live; it will perish very quickly, so you don’t need to worry about feeding it” he mumbled.
Elara threw off his hands and stalked to the door.
“I won’t be feeding it if I’m dead!” she yelled at him, terror in her eyes.
Jayce started toward her, but she held up her hand to stop him.
“I’m going to find Talor. He will help me” she hissed, turning on her heel and swishing away from him.
Jayce moaned and broke into a run. He ran the other way, out of the castle and into the long grass still growing outside. He ran until he reached the edge of the blue crystalline lake and jumped in, cutting right through the surface without a splash.

Talor heard Elara searching for him before she came into view of him. He sat on a window ledge, waiting for her. She arrived next to him, her shoulders bowed from the effort of walking that far alone.
He looked up at her, a placid smile on his handsome pale face.
“Yes, Elara?” he asked politely.
Elara jabbed a finger at her stomach and he nodded, understanding. Her eyes were alight with fire and pain as she glared at him.
“Get it out of me. Now!” she instructed him, her mouth trembling.
Talor nodded again and hopped off his stone ledge. His boots made a ringing sound when they hit the stone floor, but he ignored the annoying noise. He cocked his head to the side and placed his hands on either side of her tummy, feeling the strange life form inside her twitch and turn. Then he gripped the flimsy fabric in his fists and tore it apart so he could see her skin. Elara gasped at the shock of it, but she said nothing, unwisely trusting him with this thing.
Talor grinned at the trust he knew she bore for him and then opened his mouth wide, revealing his pointed incisors. Elara saw him and took a startled step back from him.
“What are you…” she began, but then was cut off quickly.
She heard Jayce’s agonised cry in her head when Talor sank his fangs into her belly, ripping easily through the fragile skin. The cry in her mind surpassed her own physical pain and she hated herself for knowingly putting him in such agony. For Elara knew the voice in her head was the Prince’s, as well as she now knew that Talor was a far darker prince of the realm than his brother was.
She sank down onto the flagstones, Talor satiating his thirst on her life’s blood. She felt the tormented baby slip from her as he ripped his fangs through its tiny chest. She began crying, her sobs weak and tortured. Her baby was surely dead now, but she was dying, too.
And then Talor looked up, dark blood dripping from his lips and chin. Elara turned her face away from him, but he reached up a hand and forced her to look at him again. She trembled as she stared into his eyes. Only pure evil remained.
“If you want, I can help you, Elle. I can give you what you really want: a nice, pretty human baby. Do you want that?”
Even as she realised she was being hypnotised by him, Elara nodded. Suddenly, all she wanted was a baby of her own, and not a monstrous one.
And if Talor could get her that, then well…

Down at the bottom of the blue lake, Jayce opened his mouth and screamed. His lungs filled with water and he sank like a stone, landing on his back. He thrashed and rolled, but the grey vines wrapping around his wrists and ankles were too strong. He hadn’t the right strength to break away from his brother. So his one love would suffer because of his stupid foolishness. As he drowned, he cursed the day Talor had ever been born.

Chapter 10
Talor was carrying Elara again when she woke up, stirring against his chest. He looked down at her briefly and smiled.
“I see you’re awake now” he said casually.
Elara struggled and he put her down, her bare feet touching on the damp grass. She looked around her, bewildered.
“I don’t want you to hold me up” she muttered sullenly, moving away from him.
Talor chuckled and shrugged his wide shoulders, not bothered in the least.
“That’s fine, but I need you to hold my hand though. I can’t have you running away from me now, can I” he replied calmly.
Elara half heartedly glared at him, then allowed him to take her hand in his. She hated him then, despised the feeling of her skin touching his. He was warm, but right in that moment, she missed Jayce’s coolness.
She walked by Talor’s side toward the blue lake, pausing just beside the edge of the gently lapping water. Puzzled, Elara glanced at her brother-in-law and saw his handsome gloating face. He was gazing down through the water, past the water vines and the occasional fish. She followed his stare and saw everything that he saw. She gasped and squeezed his hand unintentionally, her eyes wide. Her blunt nails bit into his skin, but no blood leaked from the tiny cuts. The thin lacerations healed immediately after they occurred.
Elara exclaimed in rage and terror and yanked her hand out of Talor’s grip, falling to her hands and knees beside the lake. She stared into the water, down to where Jayce was floating, suspended right at the very bottom. She could see that there were dark green vines wound around him, and his black eyes were shut. He appeared to be at peace, but when she glanced farther down at his hands, she saw they were clenched into tight fists, and his skin was paler than ever before.
Slowly, Elara stood up again, turning to face Talor.
“Why are you doing this to him?” she asked, her voice dark and lonely.
Talor shrugged again.
“Because I hate my brother, little Elara. He always gets what he wants, but for a change, he just might not. He cannot father your children, but I know someone who can. I know someone who can give you what you want, and who won’t kill you in the process” he told her coolly, holding out his hand once more.
Elara stared blankly down at it, shaking her head.
“I’m not going with you, you sick freak. I will not bear your illegitimate children” she spat harshly, holding her head high.
Talor burst out laughing, bending double at the waist. She gazed at him, her eyes darkening and her arms crossed.
“What?” she demanded.
Talor glanced over at her, sheer amusement in his eyes.
“Not my illegitimate children, my dearest girl” he replied, smiling at her.
“Then whose?” Elara queried, morbidly curious.
Talor stared straight at her then, his gaze piercing through to her vulnerable human heart. Her questions amused him, she knew. She could see now that all she ever was to him was a plaything to be used up and discarded as soon as something, or someone, more fun arrived. He wanted to ruin Jayce, and by ruining her, he would get his truest, dearest wish.
“Elliott Turner’s” Talor said clearly, so there could be no mistake in her hearing.
Elara stared back at him, her face ghostly white. Her hands started to tremble, and she clenched them hard. Her nails left crescent moon marks in her soft skin. She stood there shaking her head, her long blonde hair swinging back and forth in front of her face. She couldn’t do it; she would not do it. It would hurt Jayce, and it would hurt her. She was tired of being the one who let everybody down.
“Just leave him to Cleo. She’ll take care of him” she murmured quietly.
Talor shook his head this time, his features hardening slightly.
“No can do, little one. He made a deal with me. He’ll give you what you want, and I won’t murder him. Settled? Hurry up now” he said briskly.
Elara closed her eyes, thinking of poor Elliott. He had no idea of what fate was about to befall him.
“But it’s not what I want” she whispered softly.
Talor whipped back around to stare hard at her, eyebrows raised high.
“Yes, it is” he said sharply, his dark eyes focusing on hers again.
Elara shook her head, shutting her eyes and smiling very faintly. There had to be some game he could not win.
“No, you’re wrong, Talor. If never having kids is the consequence of being with Jayce, I have no qualms. I won’t complain to him, ever. I don’t want anybody else. Never have. Never will. You can’t have known that I have loved him since I first saw him on my twelfth birthday six years ago” she explained calmly.
Talor hissed in annoyance and lunged forward to grab her arm. With a swirl of dust and blonde hair, Elara was transported to a terribly familiar place once more.

At the bottom of the lake, Jayce fought to open his eyes. He had heard their conversation, and he had no doubt that Talor wanted it to be that way. But he would bet on his brother’s life that he had not desired for it to end the way it did, with Elara defying him, and what he thought of her. He almost smiled to himself at the thought of his fragile bride standing up to an angry vampire prince; when the angry vampire prince wasn’t him. She had no problem getting angry with him, that he knew.
But Elara still loved him; she had said so much herself, and that knowledge and certainty he could cherish.
Jayce reclosed his eyes and stared instead at the insides of his eyelids. The thin skin was cut through with lacy blood red veins again. He was starving, and his stomach was beginning to revolt within him. He twisted in the water, his lungs burning again. When would it stop? When would his agony be enough for his brother? When was Talor going to give up and let his wife go?
Better she be somewhere else, with somebody else, than here in the vicinity of such darkness.

Elara opened her eyes, and there was Elliott, yet again. She forced the tears back from her eyes and looked away from him. Talor stepped forward to stand directly in front of the terrified eighteen year old.
As Elara gazed at the carpeting, Elliott stood toe to toe with Talor, their own gazes locked on each other. She didn’t want to listen.
“Well, human. I’m here now and she’s here now. It’s time for you to hold up your end of this cursed bargain” Talor instructed curtly, jerking his thumb at Elara.
Elliott snuck a peek at her, and Talor smacked him across the face.
“Look at me when I’m addressing you, mortal!” he ordered loudly.
Elliott’s attention snapped back to him as he