14. Hayden

14

HAYDEN

"She'll be dead as soon as the sun goes down. She's bleeding all over herself. I shouldn't have bit her. Fuck!" I push a chair over after snapping it in half.

I miscalculated. I made a mistake. It's an oversight because she's distracting. Her beauty and blood will always have me at my weakest.

I was always going to bite her, but I chose the wrong time and place, and it cost me my little Bambi. My future powers.

She's…gone.

No .

"We'll find her big brother. The sun goes down in an hour or so." Kallum walks behind me as I grow tired. I should be resting. His eye has fully healed like Millie never stabbed him in the first place. I've got to give her more credit. She's capable of playing us so well. I let my fucking guard down, something I've never done with anyone. Not a friend, a family member, another vampire, my one-night stands. No one holds a candle to the wall I've built up since I was born… except Millie .

Again…it must be a Valkyrie trick.

Our King's guard steps behind me as I uncurl the cuffs on my suit. He's tense, and his nerves get the best of him.

Good.

The sleepiness I once felt drifted away once I heard Kallum cry out for help. I took a private plane with my father to attend the meeting. Our plane had just landed, and then I entered chaos. I'm tired. Beat. And longing for sleep. But that'll have to wait. I can only go so long without sleep, but I'll sacrifice anything to get my Valkyrie back.

Immortals need sleep, or they grow extremely weak. Our energy depletes completely, and we can't risk being weak in the presence of our enemies.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was—" I don't let the guard finish.

I turn around, and with both hands, I rip his head off. His headless body falls to the floor, and I throw it in the massive fireplace that sits in our living room. The flames turn to bright green as he burns. Usually, our bodies turn to ash when our heads get detached from our bodies but I don't feel like getting our floors dirty from an incompetent immortal.

"Hayden. That's the fifth fucking guard you've killed!" Holland roars behind me. He rubs his brows as he holds onto his crane with a limp.

I'm seething. It's his fault. It's Kallum's fault. Everyone's fault that she's gone. I'm wholly blinded with anxiety at the thought of anyone trying to get a hold of my little Bambi. She's a fucking goner. I know it. Her scent leaks into the air like a meal ready to be devoured.

"Then hire competent guards that can do their fucking job right. I lost her because he wasn't doing his job, and baby brother over here wanted to get laid, and Millie escaped! Which reminds me." I flash to Kallum's face. My teeth are pointed, and I'm ready to murder my only brother. "Breathe the same air Millie does again, and I'll make the immortality ability a myth." I point to the deceased vampire on the floor.

My threat sinks into Kallum, and he swallows hard like he's ready to hide. His glasses fall to the tip of his nose, and he disappears into his chambers.

"Son, what is going on? Why is Mr. Pool dead?" Mother says sleepily as she studies our King's guard. Her trembles shake her nightgown, and she palms her mouth to disguise the gasp she wants to let out.

Then she looks at me like she always does.

Fear. Sadness. And most of all, disappointment. She's shocked that her son killed another immortal like it's a natural thing to do. She walks from me as the rage continues to thrive. I'm blacking out. I won't remember any of this in just a few minutes. I pace around, wanting to tear down the entire Cathedral. Growling like a feral hungry beast, I pace around, wanting to inflict more pain and hurt. The only thing that can satisfy my hunger is my little Bambi.

Mother shakes her head as she retreats to the fireplace, just as our cleaning staff comes into the room and removes Mr. Pool from the floor.

"Your son lost the Valkyrie. She's out there." Holland walks toward my Mother with disillusion. Every time I fuck up or make mistakes, it fuels his hatred for me further. I am proud of that, actually. But right now, at the brink of my interest in taking over the region, it backfires.

Holland continues to roar with an authoritative tone, "Now some commoner will get a hold of her blood and kill her. Who knows what kind of powers they will unlock? Never mind how hard it will be actually to kill them! You would be condemned to hell at the inferno if you were any other northern immortal. You?—"

I've had enough .

"For a commoner yourself, you talk like you carry the Drago blood. You will remember your place in the Cathedral. I don't care that you're my father's best friend. I'll remind you to kneel and take orders." I spit. "I will be the King one day, and I will find my wife. And guess what?" I tower over him just as he shakes from his hatred. His green eyes flash to red. "You will sit in the first row at the wedding. Talk to me like that again, and my first order as King will be to cut off your tongue." Holland gulps as I threaten him. "And I'll cut it off over and over again for a month."