Vampire King: Enemies To Lovers Protector Romance, page 1
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Vampire King
Enemies To Lovers Protector Romance
By: Nikki Grey
Table of Contents
Vampire King
Enemies To Lovers Protector Romance
Foreword
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
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Foreword
Your worst enemy is your best protector.
In a supernatural town that has always protected you, you don’t expect to stumble upon danger. Yet, there are threats around every corner. Lurking. Waiting.
In a town where everyone is different, where everyone is a shifter, being a human feels like being an ugly duckling in a goose pond.
When those I trusted the most turn their back on me, when those you trust betray you, who becomes your protector? The vampire king? The… enemy himself? He offers me a deal, and I know it is my only way out. I have to accept. He wants to find the secret well. I need someone to keep me safe.
But that means I have to be close to him. Closeness means affection. Affection turns to forbidden love, and eventually, enemies become lovers. Even then… are they to be trusted?
Vampire King
Chapter One
Bianca
“You think you are one of us, but you will never be a shifter,” I hear their voices echoing all around me, like daggers falling and aiming for the place where it hurts the most.
The woods aren’t my friend. Not tonight. Not after all the nights I spent here, listening to the hooting of owls or the soft murmuring of the stream, as the moonlight oozed from above, sprinkling us with its sparkly dust. All of that is forgotten now. All I see, all I hear is hate where there is supposed to be no hate, because I have done nothing wrong, other than be myself in a place that seemed to have accepted me as I am.
I was wrong. So dreadfully wrong.
“Why do you even stay here, huh?” I hear another voice, and someone from behind pushes me forward so forcefully, I almost fall down. But I manage to regain my balance quickly, and I remain standing. I plan on standing for as long as I can, because that is what they want. They want me on my knees, to admit that I am beneath them.
“I don’t want to fight you,” I say, much more softly than I wanted to.
“I don’t want to fight you,” Gala, the unofficial leader of this shifter torment pack mocks me with my own words, twisting them into a grimace.
I know these shifters. Every single one of them. I’ve known them all my life. We’ve never been friends, but I thought that we were at least tolerating the other’s presence. It seems I was wrong, once again.
This supernatural town inhabited solely by shifters has been the only home I’ve ever known. I don’t have a mother or a father. I don’t have family. I don’t have anyone. It’s a life I’ve grown accustomed to easily, because I never had anything else to compare it to. You can’t miss what you never had, is something I was once told, and the older I get, the more I realize what this truly means.
Sometimes, when I see other shifters with their parents, I feel a pang of jealousy. I wonder how come I can’t have that. How come I can’t have someone who loves me so much that they would do anything to protect me, to keep me safe from all harm?
Maybe I did something in my previous life, and now, I’m not deserving of someone like that in this one? No explanation makes sense.
My mind comes back to the present moment. I need to stay on my feet. I’m outnumbered. It’s five against one. I could maybe take on one, but that would leave four more. I’m not as strong as they are. I’m not as fast as they are. I’m not as skilled in fighting as they are. I guess they’re right. We can pretend as much as we want, but I’m not one of them and I will never be.
I know them all. I know the redheaded Gala, with her fiery hair and even more fiery tongue. I know Cassius, the dark curly haired boy who once lent me books from his dad’s library. I also know Willow, the soft-spoken Willow who is here because Gala is her sister, and she would follow her sister to the pits of Hell, if she had to. She won’t even look at me, but just by being here shows where she stands. On the opposite side to my own. I know the other two as well, but I don’t even bother thinking about them.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been accosted by them. I thought they would eventually leave me alone, if I didn’t antagonize them, if I just kept my mouth shut and didn’t tell anyone about their bullying, but the situation has been worsening. I never mentioned anything to the shifter leader. I don’t want him to think that I am turning my back on them in any way, the only family I’ve ever known. But this… I can feel it in my bones that tonight, they mean business.
I can see it in their eyes. Their bloodthirsty eyes. They don’t think I belong here. They don’t think I should be here at all and they will make sure I disappear. Maybe I never existed in the first place. That thought settles deep inside of me, frightening me even more than the look in my enemies’ eyes.
At that moment, something crackles in the bushes. They all turn their heads in that direction. A soft growl is heard. None of us knows where it’s coming from exactly or what animal made it.
“Gala?” Willow whispers softly. I can hear fear in her voice. I don’t want to say anything, because my voice might sound the same.
“Shhh,” Gala shooshes her, as always.
Once again, the same growl, only louder. They all take a step back, looking around, their eyes wide and cautious.
A wolf? A bear? There haven’t been any bears around here in years. But, whatever animal that is, it is my friend.
“This isn’t over,” Gala snarls at me, pushing past me and hitting me hard with her shoulder. It might leave a bruise, but I know that it’s far less than what she was planning on doing to me tonight.
They run away, leaving me alone. I swallow heavily, staring in the direction where the growl came from. The bushes rustle again. I dare not run. I am too close. The rest managed to escape a fate of being mangled to death. I might not.
Instead, I take a small step backwards. Then another one.
Suddenly, the bushes spread open, and a man appears. His dark complexion almost blends into the darkness around him, his charcoal curls falling over his head. The moonlight is illuminating only a part of his face. The part with a deep scar that looks like it healed a long time ago.
“Did I scare them away?” he asks, leaning against a tree. “Looked like you needed help.”
“I…” I start, unable to finish my sentence with a coherent thought. “Who are you?”
“Your savior, it seems,” he tells me, walking over to me.
I notice he inhales deeply, staring straight at me. It almost feels like he is trying to steal my scent. I want to forbid him, but I don’t dare say anything. I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him before. That means he doesn’t live in the town. I’m sure I would have noticed him otherwise.
His tall, muscular build is striking even in the darkness. He rakes his fingers through his hair, but the curls just fall back to their original place, defying his wishes. Now closer, I see the scar more visibly. His eyes are a striking light green, as if the sun itself is shining from inside of them, turning his irises into sunflowers.
“I didn’t need any help,” I say stubbornly, hoping he can’t read the trembling lies in that statement.
I don’t want him to think I’m an easy target. First the shifters, and now him. I don’t know what he wants, but whatever it is, he won’t get it. I’ll fight him til the last breath in my body.
“Didn’t seem like it,” he corrects me.
“This happens often,” I say boldly, raising my voice a little, to make him believe that despite what he thinks, I had the entire situation under control. “They know what line they shouldn’t cross.”
That was exactly what I’d been afraid of tonight, that they would cross that very line and something terrible might happen. Him appearing was truly a God send, but I would rather die than tell a perfect stranger that.
“Are you sure?” he asks, tilting his head a little to the side, as if to take a closer, more intimate look at me and decide on something he’s no
“Yes,” I snap. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to town.”
“You live there?” he is quick to ask.
I face him, keeping a safe distance. You never know.
“What if I do?” I ask back.
“You’re not a shifter,” he points out something we both know.
“How can you tell?” I ask, shocked.
Not even shifters can tell if someone else is a shifter or not just by looking at them. It takes more to know. Much more.
“I can tell a lot about you, just by looking at you,” he tells me, as if reading my mind.
This is where I’m sure that I need to go back. Gala and her pack of wolves are gone, but that doesn’t mean that I’m safe. This guy is another kind of danger. A threat. I need to get back. Right now.
I take a trembling step back.
“I really have to get back,” I tell him. “Someone will be looking for me.”
“Yes,” he nods, smirking at me.
I can see his scar more clearly now. Curiosity takes over me. I want to get closer to him, take a closer look, but I don’t dare diminish the safe distance that is between us. He can’t reach out for me from here. But if I get closer to him, I don’t dare think what might happen.
The story of his scar has to be mind-blowing. I’ve never seen anyone with something like that on his face. Yet, it doesn’t seem to diminish his wild beauty. In fact, it only makes it more striking.
Once again, I feel like my mind is an open book to him. Instead of me coming closer to him, he nears me. There is a scent about him that fills my nostrils to the brim. Earthy, musky. He smells like the woods, wild and ferocious. More dangerous than anything I’ve ever encountered before.
Then, why can’t I run away? What is keeping me frozen in this place, just waiting for him to devour me?
He is so close now that our noses are almost touching. I can feel his hot breath on my lips. It is spilling over me, tempting me to do… something. But what? I dare not act on any of the impulses, desires that he awakens inside of me.
Using the last morsels of common sense I have left, I manage to fight off his magic, and I pull back. He grins at this superhuman effort.
“Go back home, sweet human,” he murmurs so softly, that it sounds like a playful growl. The same kind that frightened Gala and her pack away.
I take another step back, feeling more bold. Maybe he’s a shifter from another town, come for an unannounced visit. I’ll talk to the leader about him. He’ll know.
“It’s late,” I say, as if my excuse to leave matters at all. He is still grinning.
I turn around and start running back to town, back through the beaten paths that I’ve taken so many times before, and yet now, they seem like a whole new path altogether.
I keep running until I am breathless, until I know that man’s grin isn’t following me anymore. When I finally stop, I see the outlines of the town, the houses, the street lights. It is a sight I know, a sight I recognize.
But, if that is so… then why does this path back still seem new and undiscovered?
Chapter Two
Edmund
“They won’t give us free access to roam the town and the outskirts, you know that, Edmund,” Kano tells me.
I frown. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
It’s of course, a statement that doesn’t require a reply. I sigh heavily, wondering what our best course of action should be. I look around. We camped out here in the middle of the woods, away from the shifter town. We’re protected by the lake on one side, and the mountain on the other. There is only one way they could attack us from if they found out where our location is. We’re as safe as it gets here. But I know that as long as we’re close to them, we’re far from being safe.
This feud between the shifters and the vampires goes way back. I think farther back than any of us can even remember. Sometimes, I think we’re fighting someone else’s war, not ours. But it is our history. It is not something we can just turn our back to. We know it. They know it. And this war keeps on raging.
“Do you have an idea where we should start the search?” Kano asks me.
The previous night, I went on the lookout, leaving the others to set up camp. That was when I met and saved that human girl.
Instantly, the moment I remember her, my mind brings up her image, the way she was trembling in front of me, but at the same time, trying to seem brave. Not every human would have the balls for that. Metaphorically, in this case.
“Edmund?” Kano calls out to me, and the girl’s image disappears.
“Yes,” I nod. “I didn’t manage to find out anything. The town is well guarded. There is no getting in, unless we get someone on the inside.”
“Yeah,” Kano snorts. “Good luck with that.”
I think to myself for a moment. Maybe that girl might help us. She isn’t a shifter. But then… what is she doing with them? It didn’t seem like she was one of them. They were going to attack her, or something even worse. Yet, she returned to that same place. The shifter town. It just doesn’t make any sense.
“Patience,” I tell him. “This is our only chance to find the well,” I remind him. “We have to take our time. We have to find it. Otherwise…” I don’t finish my sentence, but Kano knows exactly what I’m referring to.
We need that source of energy. We have stopped drinking human blood. Well, most of us have. It was a pact we agreed to and now it seems that we got the short end of the stick in that deal. The humans are safe. We, however, are not. Not in the sense that we are in danger, but rather in the sense that we cannot sustain ourselves on animal blood alone. It doesn’t have enough nutrients. We need more. So much more.
So, we have two options. One of them is to simply turn our backs to that pact and start attacking humans. But that will have devastating consequences to every single being on this earth, not just us and the humans. The shifters will be affected, the werewolves, the merfolk, the fairies, everyone. All the creatures that ever roamed this earth and that are still here. It is a delicate balance that needs to be upheld, and if one side turns their back on this, everyone suffers.
Our second option lies in one of our old legends. Heck, many vampires believe that we’re here for nothing, that it doesn’t even exist. But I’ve always believed that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. At least it’s worth checking out to see if that well truly exists. If it does, it would be the answer to our prayers.
However, we’re not the only ones after the well. Legends says whoever drinks the water from it, is rejuvenated instantly. It works on any special being, not just vampires. It’s no wonder then that the shifters won’t give it up.
But the question is… do they even know where it is or are they just pretending? That is what I’ve been wondering all this time. Because they aren’t more powerful than any other shifter clan we’ve encountered. And those who are drinking from the Well of Salubrity would be unable to hide their physical supremacy over any other clan of their kind.
As Kano has already pointed out, maybe they are just good at hiding it. But I doubt it. No one is that good.
“We will stay here as long as necessary,” I tell him something he already knows. “We have to find that well.”
“You know you can count on us,” Kano assures me, with a nod.
“I know,” I press my hand to his shoulder and squeeze him in a conspiratorial manner. “You’ve been my right-hand man forever.”
Neither of us says anything to that. My scar is enough of a reminder of a time when I trusted in the wrong vampires, despite Kano’s advice not to. I allowed myself to be blinded. It is so easy to do when you want to believe in the goodness of others. Then you realize you’ve been lied to, that the ones you trusted the most were the same ones who were about to stab you in the back. Trusting the wrong vampires almost cost me my life. Luckily, I had Kano by my side and now, this scar which will never disappear.
Maybe it’s for the better. I need a reminder not to rush into things, not to trust everyone. It was a lesson I paid for dearly, and it could have cost me even more.
