Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Vincent froze, bringing us both to a halt. My eyes went over his shoulder, where Luca and Joel were standing. Slowly, Vincent turned around, setting me onto the ground. When he caught sight of Joel, he narrowed his eyes. “Joel?”

“S’up, Vivi?” Joel responded, waving. “How’s life?”

Vincent stared flatly at him.

“Where did you come from? Are you really stupid enough to not notice what’s going on?”

He frowned. “You’re the stupid one.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You can’t figure it out?” Luca said, rolling his eyes. “You’re a lot dumber than you look. Emily figured it out quickly.”

Vincent turned to me.

“Figured what out?”

“Joel’s on their side” I told him quietly, squeezing his arm.

“He was the traitor, Vincent.”

Shock passed across Vincent’s face before his expression turned to complete rage

. “You asshole!” he spat at Joel. “Come over here so I can tear your head off!”

Joel feigned a scared look, holding his hands in front of his face.

“Please don’t hurt me, Vivi!”

Vincent easily pushed me to the side. “You’re going down.” Out from nowhere, he produced a stake.

“Wait!” I cried, but it was too late. He’d already lunged at Joel.

Luca took a step away from them, letting their fight begin. It was hard watching the two attack each other- after all, even thought it may not have seemed like it, they’d been best friends. Vincent definitely cared about him.

“You’ve always been a better fighter than me, Vivi!” Joel called, stumbling backwards as Vincent swung out his fist, the stake clenched in it.

“How do I know that’s not an act too?”

“You’re getting sharper!”

“You’re a fucking bastard,” Vincent growled.

A heavy sigh came from behind me, making me gasp in surprise. Twisting around, I came face-to-face with Ashton. Anger boiled up inside me and I swung my fist out at him, landing a hit on his jaw. He winced slightly, but otherwise seemed unaffected. My fist, on the other hand, throbbed painfully, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.

“Are you angry? You had to do that to Sebastian,” he told me calmly, taking a step forward.

I took a step back.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I do believe you were holding the stake.”

“I didn’t kill him,” I said through gritted teeth.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You shoved that stake right through his heart. It’s okay though, Emily. He needed to die.”

My heart lurched in my chest. “You need to die!” I retorted, clenching my fists. “You’ll pay for what you did. You’ll never become King. You’ll burn in hell.”

He laughed. “Hell? You expect me to believe such a silly thing like that? Don’t think I’m that foolish. Hell is a silly mortal idea.”

As he continued to advance toward me, I carried on moving backward. We were slowly closing in on Sebastian’s body. The sound of Joel and Vincent fighting met my ears- slander being thrown, the sound of rustling clothing, and swearing. Ashton glanced at them briefly, an amused smile on his face. “I see they wasted no time in getting at it. Poor Vincent. He must feel so betrayed.”

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“How did you get Joel to be on your side?”

“It’s easy to convince someone who needs money to do something for money,” he explained, shrugging.

“He’s actually a pretty good actor. Sometimes he was so happy I thought he was double-timing me. It’s good to know he’s always been on my side though.”

I glared at him. So Ashton was the type of person to use another person’s weakness against them.

“I hope you enjoy the next few minutes because it’s the last few minutes you’ll have in this world.”

He laughed loudly.

“What? You think you, a scraggily, weak human girl such as yourself can kill me?”

“I don’t think. I know,” I corrected him, narrowing my eyes.

“Wait!”

The abrupt cry from Joel made both Ashton and I turn in his direction. Vincent had him pinned against a tree, the stake placed at his chest. Joel was struggling, trying to push him way, but Vincent wasn’t having any of it.

“Please don’t kill me,” Joel pleaded.

Vincent scoffed.

“Begging for your life? After what you did? For a man, you sure do lack dignity.”

“Vincent, please.”

Ashton shook his head. “Well, if he doesn’t kill Joel now, I’ll do it myself later. What a pathetic excuse for a vampire.”

“My family needs me,” Joel continued desperately.

I stared at them, forgetting to breathe for the moment. It was strange to see someone begging for their life. Sebastian hadn’t done it. Sebastian had faced death calmly. Sebastian… I clenched my teeth. It hurt too much to think of him right now. I needed to focus at the moment, not wallow in guilt and pain.

Vincent pulled the stake back, ready to bring it forward and pierce Joel’s heart. I sucked in a breath, ready to shout and tell him to stop, but his hand was too quick. I closed my eyes, unable to watch another death. Joel cried out, but stopped instantly as I heard a dull thud echo through the open space.

Slowly I opened my eyes, relief filling me when I realized the stake had been stuck into the tree, and not the blonde.

“I won’t kill you,” Vincent started, his face close to Joel’s, “because I considered you a best friend. Even if you acted the part, and I seemed like a horrible friend, I still appreciated it. And for that, I’ll spare your life.”

“Vivi, thank-”

“In return, never speak to me again,” Vincent finished in a growl, punching Joel straight in the face. “And that’s what you get for betraying us.”

Joel’s eyes snapped open and his hand went to his nose, which was bleeding profusely. The stupefied expression on his face almost caused me to laugh. Almost. Ashton’s next words gained my full attention. “Luca, kill Vincent.”

“No!”

Ashton switched his gaze to Joel, who was staring at him in disbelief. “What, Joel?”

“You told me you wouldn’t kill Vincent! You promised!”

“Just like I promised not to kill Sebastian,” Ashton responded, shrugging. “If I lied about one, why not the other?”

My eyes shot to Joel. He didn’t know Ashton was going to kill Sebastian?

“You can’t kill Vincent!”

He rolled his eyes. “Please, Joel. Why would I throw away the chance of killing both Rutherfords while I had the chance?”

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“You promised me!”

“I told you. I lied.”

Joel’s eyes formed slits. “You bastard…”

Ashton cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you grew attached to the little brat while playing make-believe with him, Joel.”

“I-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Vincent interjected snippily. “I beat Luca once, I can beat him again,” he continued confidently, turning his gaze to Luca, who was prowling around the outskirts of the forest.

“We’ll see about that,” Ashton commented casually. “Now Emily…” He faced me. “I guess we should have a little chat.”

Now at Sebastian’s body, all I had to do was bend down to pick up the stake. It took all I had not to gaze at the deceased man’s face. Just thinking about it was making my eyes prickle.

“Are you upset over his death?” Ashton asked mockingly. “You’ll get over it, I promise.”

I clenched my fists. “Shut up.”

“While we chat, we can watch the little brawl going on behind us, shall we?” he inquired, suddenly disappearing from my view.

Surprised, I whipped my head around, searching for him. Cool hands wrapped around my bare arms and once again I was chicken-winged into an immobile state, my back pressed against Ashton’s muscled chest. “Let me go!” I cried.

“Shut up and enjoy the movie.”

My gaze went to Vincent and Luca, who were both circling each other threateningly. For a brief second I imagined them five hundred pounds heavier as sumo wrestlers, but I quickly shook that idea away. This was serious.

Luca made the first move, lashing out at Vincent. His movement was so quick it barely had time to register in my mind before he made his next attack. Vincent managed to avoid all assaults with ease, gliding to the left or right swiftly. Once again I realized as they fought that Vincent was at a disadvantage because of Luca’s nature. Vincent, like Sebastian, wasn’t a rogue vampire. He didn’t know how to fight like one. However he seemed to fare better than Sebastian did.

“Vincent!” I screamed as Luca smashed him into a tree. Even from where I was I could hear a bone snapping somewhere inside him.

“Ah, it seems that Luca has the advantage this time…”

Vincent recovered from his assault promptly, moving forward to retaliate against Luca. To my relief, he still seemed perfectly okay. That or he was incredibly skilled at dealing with pain. “You caught me off guard,” I heard him saying to Luca. “You’re stronger than last time.”

Luca smirked. “I’m stronger than you.”

“It must be nice to have such a delusional way of thinking.”

“You piss me off,” Luca stated, narrowing his eyes. “Let’s finish this quickly.”

Vincent nodded. “Agreed.” Within the blink of an eye, he had Luca pinned to a tree. “I’ll give it my all now. For revenge for Sebastian. You’ll die painfully.”

A flash of steel entered my vision and my heart sunk in my gut when I realized Luca had produced a knife. Vincent hadn’t noticed yet though. “I don’t think so.”

I opened my mouth to warn him, but Luca already had the blade in his shoulder. It seemed to have the opposite effect than what he was expecting though. Vincent had no reaction whatsoever. He simply held Luca with one arm while reaching for the knife in his skin. “Knives won’t work on me,” he stated, pressing the blade to Luca’s throat. “But will they work on you?”

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“It may just end up being you and me from now on,” Ashton murmured in my ear. “If Luca can’t defeat Vincent he’ll be useless.”

“You’ll kill him?”

Ashton nodded. “If Vincent doesn’t.”

“You’re a horrible person. A murderer.”

“Aren’t you the same as me?” he questioned in an amused tone. “You killed Sebastian.”

I stiffened. “I didn’t.”

There was a crash from where Joel and Vincent were standing and a glance toward it told me that the knife had been abandoned and now they were fist fighting again. Blood ran down Vincent’s arm, but he paid no attention to in. Unease washed over me and I prayed he’d take down Luca quickly.

“Yes you did,” Ashton spoke up, gaining my attention. “Don’t you remember the feeling of the stake sliding through his skin like butter? Right into his heart?”

“I didn’t do that!”

“Your hand was on the stake.”

“I didn’t kill him! It was Luca!”

He chuckled. “Whatever helps you sleep at night. It’s your fault he died, you know. You were a distraction to him. You brought the stake to the battle.”

My heart clenched in pain. It wasn’t true. I knew it wasn’t true. Luca had control of the stake, not me. I wasn’t the one who pierced it through his heart…

But at the same time I was.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head.

“Yes,” Ashton breathed. “How can you live with the guilt?”

My knees suddenly gave out from under me and I collapsed back into his chest. He let me go, letting me fall roughly to the ground. Pain didn’t register in my mind as I glanced at the body next to me, noticing Sebastian’s hand only inches away from my own. My eyes began to sting as I stared at it. It wasn’t my fault… It couldn’t be my fault… but I’d brought the stake. I’d tried protecting him and failed…

“How can you face his family?” Ashton questioned happily.

My hand went to my chest, clenching the material covering it. I couldn’t face his family. How could I tell his parents? How could I tell Fiona? There was no way. Not when it was by my hand…

“Wouldn’t it be better just to run away?”

Would it? No. I couldn’t run away. That would be shameless.

“You killed him.”

“I didn’t kill him!” I shouted, finally snapping. My hand went to the stake next to Sebastian’s body. I clenched it tightly in my hand, twisting around to jam it into Ashton’s chest. He managed to avoid the attack though, grinning in amusement as he did so.

“That was close,” he sighed, putting a hand to his heart. “You almost got me. Now put down the stake like a good girl.”

“No.”

“Do it or I’ll break your wrist.”

I narrowed my eyes. “No.”

Suddenly Ashton was thrown off his feet, falling down hard next to me. I blinked, realizing a few seconds later the thing that knocked him down was Luca. The blonde groaned, rolling of Ashton quickly. “Bastard,” he growled, jumping back to his feet and glaring in Vincent’s direction.

“Did that hurt?” Vincent asked in mock concern. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw you that hard… You were just a lot easier to toss than I expected. Weaker, too.”

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