15. Millie

15

MILLIE

The sun is down, and the sky is black. After running over ponds, streams, and forests, surrounded by nature's elements, the sound of music called to me. It's muffled, but alas, I concentrated enough to pinpoint it. I kept following the sound like a light at the end of an obsidian tunnel until I found the treasure. I step over a hill, pushing through two thick brushes. My hair gets tangled in the leaves, but I keep moving forward until I see the opportunity of a haven ahead.

The wound in my neck clotted, and I stopped bleeding all over myself a while ago. Still, I've managed to cut myself through stickers, rocks, and trees. I'm hurting all over, but the thought of seeing my family again, my friends, Cole…even my mother again gives me the motivation to keep going.

My mouth falls open.

A concert full of people.

A concert. Full of people . I repeat in my head as my stomach turns into knots and my heart does backflips.

People. Humans . Non-vampire creatures!

Yes!

They're all dressed in costumes. Is it Halloween?

I walk down the hill, doing my best to stop myself from leaping over everything. If I take off running from the desperation, I'll just tumble down and hurt myself further.

I'm only a few feet away from what looks like a concert festival. A rock band playing 80s rock music gets louder. I smile when I spot young adults dancing and rocking their heads as the guitarist plays his solo. Everyone is lost in the song and laughter. A big sign on the stage says, "Bozeman Halloween Rock and Costume Festival."

Something I should be doing …not running for my life after being held captive by vampires. I'm still convinced I'm hallucinating everything, and this is all a horrific nightmare. Hopefully, the longer I'm away from Hayden, it'll feel like that—a bad dream.

Suddenly, I trip on a rock and tumble down the hill. I roll down, my body hitting every single rock and branch. I close my mouth, protecting it from dirt flying in as I crash. Finally, after a few moments that feel like forever, I stop moving, and gravity wins. I stumble into a crowd of men. Still lying on the ground, I face the night sky as they investigate me.

They circle every corner of my body. They all push their brows together and frown while they study me while holding beer bottles. They're clearly confused. I mean, it's completely valid. I'm covered in dirt, dried blood, and in my very thin pajamas with no shoes.

I feel like I can't breathe. I'm gasping for air, trying to focus on the moon above them. The stars aren't normal. They twinkle like they're moving, flapping their wings like small birds.

This can't be good. Unless birds are golden and they sparkle, I think I've given myself a concussion.

"Miss. Are you okay?" A man with a long red beard asks me.

I try to speak, but my voice doesn't work. My breath is caught in my throat. Finally, after a long moment of numbness and my vision spins in circles, my ribs scream at me. They got the most damage from the fall.

One of them reaches for my hand, and I take it without hesitation.

I'm able to stand, and I'm face-to-face with strangers. Energy kicks into overdrive, and I find my voice.

"I-I've been kidnapped! He's after me! They're after me! Can someone please take me back home or to the nearest airport? I don't have any money on me…I?—"

"What do you mean someone is after you, lady?! Who? Who is after you?" A man with a husky build grabs a hold of my shoulders. His breath is heavily stained with liquor.

I want to shout: a monster. A vampire. A creature of the night. I want to warn them that monsters are real, after all, and out for our blood. But the way they're already looking at me, I refrain, hold my tongue, and give them the shorter version instead.

"A man and his family! Please help me. You have to help me." I manage to rasp out, my throat threatening to close up on me. I'm on the verge of tears again, hoping they'll take the little pieces of nonsense I'm throwing at them and believe me.

"Of course, we'll help you. Here, come sit down for a second. It looks like you could use a jacket and a nice water bottle." The bearded man guides me with his hand. I nod and agree faster than I mean to, but I'll take help where I can get it right now.

The loud music is still blaring, making it hard to hear anything.

He pulls me more into the crowd, and I hold onto the stranger's hand with no shame. No one seems to notice a girl covered in blood and dirt on her pajamas. Everyone keeps dancing in their witchy, zombie, and skeleton costumes, singing like they're in their own simulation of entertainment. A bubble that not even my frantic state could pop and deter them from partying.

Everyone is drunk and happy. Something I didn't even realize I missed. A life before I knew vampires existed. The things I would do to go back to that. What I would do to have never met Hayden Drago .

The crowd is heavy and littered with alcohol, dancing adults, and the smell of cigarettes and funnel cakes.

Finally, the bearded man sits me down near a taco truck on an empty bench. Seconds later, he and his friend surround me. He extends his hand. A water bottle is in his grasp, and I reach for it.

Why isn't the man moving with urgency? I need to get out of here. I need to find a plane or a vehicle, at the minimum!

"I just want to see a pretty smile on your face. It looks like you've been through hell."

A small curve of my lips pulls, and he breathes out, satisfied. He lets me take the water bottle from his hand, and I gulp it down so fast that water trickles down at the sides of my mouth as I rehydrate.

I finish the water bottle in less than a minute, and all the while, their eyes are on me, watching me like I'm some wild animal who got caught.

"Is that your blood?" the other man asks as he scratches his cheek.

I nod silently.

"Listen, I've got a truck in the parking lot. We can take you home if that's what you want. Where is home for you?"

"Texas."

"I love Texas. My favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys."

"Mine too," I reply.

"I'm Cal, by the way." He gives me his hand to shake. The gesture scares me at first, but I give in, trusting him.

"Millie."

It feels weird to have a normal, friendly conversation again, unlike the usual fighting for my life the past few days.

Suddenly, a loud explosion of gasps erupts from one part of the crowd behind Cal and his friends. They all turn towards the commotion, and the heavy 80s music continues.

And like the Red Sea being parted by Moses...there stands the Devil's Advocate.

Hayden .

He's not alone. His eyes are beaming red like lasers, and he's dressed in all black and has more northern vampires at his sides. He's not even trying to hide that he's not human, which makes me believe that I'm not at any other concert.

The music still goes on. There must be thousands of people here, and most of them act oblivious to what's unfolding. The ones near Hayden begin to run the opposite way of him. Screaming and speeding their way out like blurs of rain.

Hayden and I lock eyes together. He stands with a vengeance, conviction written into his balled fists, a fuming creature ready to finish what he started earlier.

"He found me," I mutter sadly. I grab the man's wrist, standing from the bench, and hold onto his arm.

"We have to go. That's him! That's the man who took me!" I beg the man to turn and leave with me, refusing to let these men's lives be collateral damage.

"Millie, after all we've been through, we're still not on a first-name basis, my beautiful girl?" Hayden calls me over the music, and people watch him like he's a God. The way they look at him, it's evident they fear him.

I shudder at his penetrating voice. He plays with his watch on his wrist, ascending closer to me. The men gather in front of me like a wall.

"It seems my plaything got out of her cage. Please, hand her over to me." He motions his fingers towards him, but the men don't sway.

They block my vision from Hayden instead.

I'm about to say fuck it, and just run while I can. They're not listening to me anyway.

I spin around and take in my surroundings. Hundreds of cars and travel buses are parked in the distance, picking up and dropping off concert attendees.

I start to run, but someone pulls my arm back, and the husky man's fingers dig into my skin.

"What? What are you doing? We have to go! He'll kill us!" I stare at his curled grasp, but then a bright blue glow on the skin of my wrist catches me from the corner of my eye. My blood runs cold.

With a shaky, slow turn, I raise my head to see that the men who were supposed to be my saviors are actually Southern vampires. He pulls me in front of him, and the others swarm me. They force me forward, holding my limbs and the hollows of my cheeks, making me face Hayden.

"You think you can steal from King Davenport, Prince Drago, and there will be no consequences?" Cal taunts Hayden.

They pull my head to the side, and Cal hovers over my neck, baring his fangs like I'm nothing to him. I shout at them, but it only backfires. It fuels their tactics to restrain me more. People continue to dance to 80s music while these men stare each other down.

"I would think twice about what you are doing with her. She belongs to me. You are in my region . My kingdom . There will be fatal consequences for putting your hands on her like that." Hayden narrows his bright red eyes.

"You started this war, Hayden." Cal chuckles, knowing his presence provokes Hayden's wrath more.

"If that's what you want to believe, then so be it. But I'll tell you this. I always finish what I start, and I never lose," Hayden replies.

Concertgoers begin to walk away from the two groups of men. They sense the battle that's about to ensue. We all do.

"The Depraved Prince." Cal shakes his head. "What are you doing out here anyway? Word has it that you haven't shown your face in a long time. Ever since King Davenport executed your uncle." Cal spits his words like insults. He licks my neck, causing Hayden to clench his jaw tight. His brows pull inward, and he snarls like a creature, almost like a warning to stop.

His uncle was murdered?

"We're going to take this Valkyrie to the rightful King. But it won't stop there, Hayden. We're going to rape and torture her just to spite you before we kill her. But don't worry, I will mail her head to you." Cal's grip on me worsens. Fuck it hurts so bad. Not even Hayden has grabbed me like this.

I whimper at the threat. Cal's friend, who is also a vampire, pulls my shorts down, and they pool around my ankles, stripping me of my freedom and clothes. I muster the strength, bite down on the man's hand, and elbow the other in his balls.

I'm free for one second, but that one second gives me a chance of survival—a blip of hope.I pick up my shorts just before I begin my escape.

"Run!" Hayden instructs me just before an explosion of chaos ensues, and I can no longer see what's in front of me. I take off running through the crowd, desperate to escape everyone . I'm running from every single one of them, including Hayden .

It dawns on me. I can't trust any person here. This must be a concert exclusive to vampires.

I bump into body after body, weaving through the crowd frantically. Some swing around to confront me, but I don't stop moving. On any other day, I would apologize. Pushing and pulling through the crowd, I turn around to see if a pair of bright blue or red eyes is following me.

My head whips left, right, behind, and finally, a pair of familiar crimson-red eyes is right by me. About fifty feet from me, he looks at me with ferociously determined eyes, like I'm his prey. His deer. His little Bambi.

Suddenly, a southern vampire launches forward, blocking his tight vision of me. He raises his hand at Hayden, but before he can attack him, Hayden grabs his throat and tears it out. Red sprays everywhere.

I close my eyes again, praying and hoping it's a nightmare. He's killing each vampire that tries him, one by one, with ease. I tear my gaze away from the deadly battle he and his group of guards are engaged in.

"You know I love a good chase, Bambi. Especially when it's you running from me."

Hayden's voice echoes into my head like a fever dream. How is he doing this? What the hell is going on? How's he talking to me? Why does he sound so far, and yet it feels like he's inside me? Inside my head. Inside my fucking soul. I cover my ears as I continue my journey through the crowd.

"But you know what I love more?"

I don't answer. I feel like if I respond, I'm feeding this nightmare I'm so desperate to deny because I'm still trying to convince myself that monsters aren't real.

" Sending damned souls to Death himself. Granting mortality to immortality. The lives I get to take who try to look at what's mine, never mind steal. How does it feel knowing you will never escape me, little Bambi? Even when you close those pretty brown eyes to sleep, I'll chase you."

I continue to run as he continues to wreak havoc on vampires that get in his way to capture me—killing them one by one as I get closer to the travel buses.

"How does it feel to know I will never let you go? To know that I've engraved my obsession into you like cattle? The teeth marks on your neck were me branding you, little Bambi. It'll scar like a tattoo you'll never be able to get rid of."

Tears fall down my cheeks, blurring my vision.

He's in my head.

His enchanting voice taunts me. He's amused by the fact that he's in my skin. He's in me, and there's no way to get him out.

"How does it feel?"

His ominous tone paints his words as he repeats his question. His crazed voice echoes and bounces off the walls of my mind. It's soft, daring, and profound, making my cold blood spiral into fire. A riotous skip in the rhythm of my heart consumes me, and it beats all the way down to my core.

As soon as I emerged from the crowd, my feet hit the pavement—a straight road to the exit of the concert arena. I wipe the tears away, and my lungs constrict with that false hope again—a beacon of light in the darkness that has been thrust upon me unwillingly.

Suddenly, I get pushed up against a tree with hands around my biceps, pinning my back into the rusty bark.

I meet intense, bright blue eyes.

Cal .

"I wanted to take my time with you and bring you to the rightful, soon to be only, King in the country. But fuck, you're too good not to take for myself." Cal pushes my hair to the side, digging his knee in between my inner thighs, and he snakes his hand into my underwear. "I'll make it quick," he declares with a snarl.

I call the only one who can possibly help me at this moment. I'll probably regret giving in to the man who has taken me against his will, but I have this weird, sick sense that he might grant me mercy, unlike these men.

"No!" I shriek, my voice trembling with disheartenment. My hands and eyes dart anywhere and everywhere but his cruel, uncomfortable infatuation halo. "Hayden!"

Cal backhands me when I spill his name, causing my face and hair to whiplash. I'm seeing stars while the ground spins simultaneously. Cal's fangs grow abnormally long and his mouth opens wider than humanly possible. I brace myself for the final chapter of my short life, closing my eyes and waiting for the final impact.

But it never comes.

Cal is off me, but I can't see anything because I black out from the havoc I refuse to acknowledge.

I fall to the floor and cradle myself in a fetal position by a tree that's right behind us. I tune everything out just as I cover my ears and stare at the ground. All I see are snowglobes while the sounds of snarling, blood splattering on the ground, and bodies hitting the floor linger above my head. I open my eyes when a pair of bright blue eyeballs with veins attached gets flung near my feet. They roll with a layer of blood and dirt.

Oh, I'm definitely going to be sick now.

I palm my quivering lips to stop the high-pitched shriek that wants to pour out of me. My brows narrow down at the organs, blinking away my horror. I close my eyes again.

I escape into my mind, creating my own snow globe. I travel back to the day of my high school graduation. I don't know why this memory consumes me, but it does.

It had been a year or so since I'd been living with my father, but I would swing by to check on my mother every now and then. Unexpectedly, it was another dreadful start to her morning with Santiago.

I visited her for breakfast so we could celebrate my accomplishments and talk about the future I wanted.

"Mom, don't cry. Everything is going to be okay." I wiped away a tear that fell from my mother's cheeks. She got into another argument with Santiago, leaving her crying in the kitchen as she always did after a heavy, pointless argument.

She's quiet. She either can't hear me because she's too lost in her own mind, or she's choosing not to say anything.

"You know…one day, I hope you'll get your own happily ever after. Because, this mom…" My hands create an imaginary circle in between us. She pauses; the sponge in her hand stops moving in a circle as the soap drips down into the sink. Her red eyes and wet, long lashes meet mine. "This is not it for you. Just because you're older doesn't mean it's too late for you. You can still have your happily ever after…I know it."

She pauses, her once dull hazel eyes light up with hope.

"Maybe. Maybe some people are lucky enough to experience such a beautiful thing like that, or maybe some people are destined to have a life of suffering. Which one will you be?" She asked me. I watched her and asked myself the same thing over and over again.

I never understood that question…and I never had the answer.

My snowglobe moment shatters, depleting into a twisted reality. All of a sudden, I'm being pulled into another direction. I'm forced to stand straight up on my sore, cut-up feet. I accept my fate after I assume it's yet another vampire trying to sink their teeth into me and take my life. I see bodies everywhere. Music still plays as people crowd us in.

Then I finally register that it's Hayden who has me. He's covered in blood from head to toe—red streaks against his hauntingly vampire face.

He holds me with his big hands, squeezing firmly but urgently like he's begging for any reaction, but I'm still.

Death. So much blood. Teeth.

The terrifying snarls .

The way Hayden can go from charming with a devilish smile to a completely different creature and personality—the two clash against each other like different oceans from various directions.

I'm paralyzed with shock, and it settles inside me like poison in my brain because I know this is the beginning of something new, and I can't do anything to stop it.

I will never be the same again after seeing all of this. The trauma settles into my psyche.

Something washes over me. Everything gets tuned out, and all I can manage to decipher amongst the chaos I'm trying to wrap my head around is Hayden's soothing yet rushed, urgent voice.

"Are you okay, Millie?"

"Millie, you're okay, talk to me."

"Did they bite you?"

"You're safe. You're alive."

Maybe it's because I've never had someone care so much about me like this. No one has ever wanted to chase me. Nobody ever cared if I woke up the next day. I'm usually the one who does the chasing with friendships and my own mother and father, always begging to be loved in return. It's a fucked up way, but with each heavy deep breath, my eyes flicker between his red eyes and sharp fangs, and I react.

I react and send myself to hell, clashing my lips against his, and begin the ruin of my soul and spirit.

I kiss him, forcing the demons and doubts away and choosing to get lost in the only person that has made me feel cared about in a really long damn time…maybe ever.

Hayden stiffens, but he doesn't miss a beat. His brows furrow like he's in pain. I feel his fangs against my teeth as I kiss him, but they slowly fade away as we continue to brush our lips together like they were made for each other. I peek a glance and see that his eyes are still as deep, ruby red as ever. That hasn't changed one bit. He shuts his eyes and grabs both of my cheeks, pulling me closer if possible. He kisses me back harder and harder, pressing his massive body against mine, holding me like I'm his demise and his salvation.

His tongue quickly begs for entrance, and I grant it without hesitation. He travels deep into my mouth, exploring the depths of it, devouring me like he's trying to speak to me in a different language—a language of lust, sex, and danger.

I'm scared of Hayden .

I think I always will be as long as my heart beats. But at the same time, I fear him…he's the only one who could ever make me feel the safest in this world. A world I thought I knew but have no damn clue no longer.

Safe and fear can't go along with each other, can they?

He picks me up, forcing me to straddle him. My ankles lock together, and our height difference makes me look like a doll in his arms. He takes me toward the same all-black SUV I was in the first night we met. He's probably going to take us back to his Cathedral in the mountains. Miles away from the concert. Everyone continues to dance and party as if this is another Saturday.

My feet hurt from hiking, my lungs are sore from panting, and my body trembles like there's no cure.

His tongue dances with mine, and a feral groan escapes him. It's deep and mouthwatering, and it makes the pulsation in between my thighs accelerate further.

I want him .

I can't deny that, but I refuse to tell him that.

I don't think I have to. He knows when my body betrays my words. The way he makes me flush in my cheeks and my pussy. He just…knows. I assume it's a vampire thing.

I stop kissing him and instead bury myself in his neck, breathing in his cologne mixed with his natural scent like it's my new oxygen to survive. He cradles the back of my head closer to him, holding me like he's reassuring me that I'm okay.

"I got you. I fucking have you again, and I'm going to keep you," He whispers in my ear like it's an eternal promise he can't break.

Suddenly, he stops in the middle of the crowd when we're so close to his vehicle. I'm confused and exhausted, so I don't question him. I've witnessed this man kill for me over and over again.

"Does anyone else want to try and take what's mine?" Hayden dares the crowd, happily roaring with an ominous smile. His white, sharp fangs glisten across the concert lights. I breathe softly into his neck as I glance at the fearful crowd that stares at us like Hayden is an unpredictable, mad king.

By the very public fight, I think his own people now know I'm a Valkyrie.

He turns around while he holds me, coming face to face with strangers…other vampires; his hold around my legs tightens territorially.

We're returned with nothing but silence. I glance up at him, daring myself to watch my captor taunt his kind. Flames reflect in his red irises, and red-orange waves of fire dance back and forth from the stage where the rock band stands. He stands tall, holding his ground with me still in his arms.

"It's a beautiful night tonight, isn't it?" He questions the crowd again, and everyone takes a step back like they're waiting to meet their last day on Earth, the way their shoulders slant and their eyes peel from Hayden's to the ground, begging for redemption.

His nose scrunches with wrath, and he steps towards the crowd like he's ready to light the entire place on fire from the adrenaline that probably still simmers inside him.

I grab a hold of his suit, squeezing it tight in my hand.

Is he going to continue his wrath? Is he going to continue to embrace his depravity and unleash it on everyone and kill innocents? He's doing what he's best at…killing people. He suffers from a certain darkness that I recognize. Because I feel it inside me sometimes, I can only describe it as a vast emptiness that makes you hurt yourself.

"Don't," I plead with him.

He stiffens at my ghastly request like I blindsided him by my small outburst. I don't know why I'm asking him to grant anyone mercy…but I did, and there's no taking it back. He looks at my bloody hand, and his jaw ticks on and off.

He turns back to the crowd, and his enchanting face relaxes. His blue eyes return, and he glances at his bloodied, stony-faced guards.

"Hang their heads on spikes. Whatever is left of them…that is. I want to send a message," He commands them and walks away from everyone.

"Yes, Prince Drago." They all bow their dark-haired heads once, and the crowd disperses, leaving blurs of wind in their wake.

Blackness corners my vision, dragging me in, and my deprived mind wants to give in.

Hayden feels like my lifeline. It's because he is my lifeline now. Every single vampire that knows I'm a Valkyrie wants to take me for themselves.

He killed many vampires that got in his way while he chased me. He killed them to stop them from killing me . He did everything he could to stop me from escaping him.

As he walks toward a vehicle and away from dismembered bodies, I face my destiny.

There is no escaping an immortal vampire.

There is no evading his permanent chokehold.

There is no more life without this intoxicating man.

Hayden Drago, The Depraved Prince.