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  My little voice cautioning moderation and grace faded to something more sinister. I knew I had a bloodlust goblin inside me, but this was the first time I’d met drunk goblin. She seemed fun and popular at first as she spoke inside me. Sure, show them your fangs, maybe even hiss a bit and then laugh like a psycho.

  Oh? Is that music? We should dance. We should get everyone dancing. What’s a little nipple slip to these beings? Kiss the girl? Alrighty then.

  Wings? Who wants to see my angel of death wings? Well, watch this. No, they’re not supposed to be feathers. They’re supposed to be leathery membranes with spikes on top and… wait… why is everyone laughing at me?

  What was that? Did she just call me an odd creature? Poor thing? Malformed? Was I malformed? I wasn’t a normal vampire, but I wasn’t malformed, was I? Was I?

  “She’s supposed to be Queen? No wonder the King hasn’t come for her!”

  “No wonder their species is dying.”

  My gaze found Atalanta. These people had fawned all over her all night but now they were saying things to her like, “You are such a generous soul for taking this poor wretch in.”

  “My Atalanta, you must have the patience of… what do humans call it? Oh, a saint. Ha ha ha.”

  “You should take her on the road. People will pay fortunes to see this.”

  Atalanta laughed and soaked up all the… worship these people were lavishing on her. My stomach rolled. My wings wouldn’t retract. I knocked over an expensive statue with one to the delight of the crowd. A crowd of jeering faces. A nightmare worse than any I’d ever experienced. I was an idiot, a fool. Entertainment.

  I fell to the floor, picking up an arm holding a torch. Horrified at my clumsiness. Why won’t my wings retract? Laughing, Atalanta pulled at my arm. “Don’t worry about it. The servants will clean it up.”

  I mumbled, “I don’t feel well.” That’s when my fangs shot out and the growl formed low in my throat. That’s when my bloodlust goblin woke up with a snort.

  She recoiled as I focused on her. I needed to go, now. My gaze jerked away from her as I searched blindly through the crowd of laughing ass wipes for the nearest exit. Finding the door, I pushed through the crowd at supernatural speed, ignoring the shouts and comments. They had no idea they were about to be dessert.

  I pushed open the heavy door well before the butler could even react. Without even looking for Mason, I shot through the empty streets of the village, fighting the tears and sobs that threatened to consume me at any moment.

  I’d shamed myself. My behavior would horrify Alexei. I’d made my race look ridiculous to a race of gods who already thought themselves better than everyone else.

  The moment I was around the side of the high village walls, I fell to my knees with a ragged shriek. My wings had drug through the dirt of the streets as I ran. My dress tore as I fell, and my heart shredded. The blood tears came fast and hard as I fell forward and pressed my forehead into the soft mud in the sparse trampled grass.

  Sobs ripped out of me. “I should have never come.”

  Mason landed somewhere behind me. The wind from his powerful, normal wings ruffled the feathers of my malformed ones. What was I thinking? Queen of Vampires? More like Queen of Jokes. I’d played the fool tonight. The dancing, idiotic, messy drunk girl.

  “FUUCK!”

  I crawled forward, just wanting to get home and under the covers… under the bed… under the manor and never come out. The sound of my dress tearing more had me pressing my forehead back into the mud and sobbing anew.

  I just wanted to curl up and die. Mason was beside himself, pacing back and forth as he purred, growled and then made that cooing noise. I couldn’t even comfort him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The Dark Realm

  “Get up Nevaeh.” Ryzier’s voice was the stern command of a father figure.

  I lifted my head and gazed at his shiny, knee high pirate boots. Great. Just fucking great. Now Ryzier of all people will know what a stupid fool I’d been. It’s bad enough that my behavior tonight will ride on the wings with Hermes throughout the God Realm.

  A clawed finger crooked under my chin and lifted me. “Stand up.” A tight jawed growl.

  I jerked my chin from him even as I noted he was in full on demon form. Tail swishing angrily, large demon wings tight to his back and wearing black leather. His face more angular and sharper than his fae form. Angry eyes dark and loose hair gunmetal gray. His horns gave him an extra foot in his already tall form.

  If I wasn’t thoroughly invested in my drunken doomsday, it might have intimidated me.

  “Okay, I’m up.” My voice sounded like a petulant child even to me.

  The vice like grip of his hand on my bicep had me jerking to attention as he leaned in close. “Straighten up like the queen you are.”

  I snorted as I looked away from him. “Had you been at that party, you wouldn’t call me a queen. A fool, maybe. Moron but queen? Nope.”

  He jerked my arm. Why is he so fucking mad at me? He growled, “I don’t have to be there to know what that party was all about. I’ve attended and held thousands in my lifetime. I’ve destroyed people at parties and been knocked down at a few myself.”

  I met his gaze then. Demon eyes. Was he pissed at them then? He leaned in closer, “Yeah, I’ve been in your exact shoes many times as a boy. Here’s what distinguishes us from them. We might get knocked down but we don’t stay down, Nevaeh.”

  His black eyes surveyed my dirty and torn appearance. He waved a hand with a scoff and I was wearing a long-sleeved, light purple and cream, floor length heavy dress. My feet enclosed in fur-lined boots. My hair done up and something rather heavy setting on top of my head. I reached up and felt a large crown up there.

  He growled, “Pick your wings up out of the dirt.”

  I whispered, “I want to put them away.”

  His jaw tightened as his dark gaze narrowed. “No.”

  His gaze left mine as he glared at something over my shoulder. By the corner of the wall stood the group of party goers watching me. I cringed, and he growled. “They’ve come to watch you wallow in the dirt they knocked you down in. You don’t wallow. You made a mistake. We all have. Now stand the fuck up tall and show them you’ve got a spine of steel.”

  He waved a hand and opened a large portal. When he offered me his arm, I smiled slightly as I took it. I didn’t care where we were going, just that we were leaving. He shot over his shoulder at Mason as we stepped towards the portal.

  “Come on gargoyle, your genitalia is welcome where we’re going.”

  The sheer beauty of this new place left me speechless. We stood on a rise overlooking a small village surrounding a golden palace. It was still nighttime, but it wasn’t pitch black. Three large moons lit the night like dusk. Bioluminescent plants, flowers and trees reflected colorfully on an inch of snow.

  “It looks like Christmas.”

  My gaze slowly took in Ryzier, now in fae form. Still wearing black leather, his white-gray hair gleaming in the moonlight. He gestured broadly towards the town below. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

  Nothing about my voice hid my astonishment. “This is the Dark Realm?”

  He laughed slightly. “Not as dark as you imagined it to be?”

  I smiled, though I still expected him to laugh and tell me we were somewhere else. “No.”

  He smirked, those silver-gray eyes twinkling. “Our nights are longer than the other realms. The sun isn’t as bright here, and it’s only up for a few hours a day.”

  “Hence the name.”

  He nodded as we moved down the rise towards the village. I remarked, “A golden palace? Really?”

  He snorted, “Gold plated.”

  Unlike Atalanta’s village, Ryzier’s people were out in abundance as we entered the village. Markets were open, and the people looked rather… normal. We passed the occasional demon, ogre, dwarf and were-creature but mostly, nothing seemed overly evil here. They were all behavin
g as any human might as they went about their day… err… night.

  They smiled openly at the Demon Prince, even greeting him informally as friends might. “What? No majesty or highness?”

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “Nah, that shit is for the royal court. This is my personal home. My sanctuary.”

  I relaxed a bit more at his confession. At least I won’t be meeting mommy dearest anytime soon.

  “Any jealous lovers inside the golden castle?”

  He smirked as he watched me from the corner of his eye. “None that ear locked in cells under my palace, if that’s what you’re referring to.”

  I watched him as we walked towards the grand entry of said palace. He was taking a pot shot at Alexei’s betrayal. Was it to remind me he’s just as untrustworthy as my mate, or was he implying the opposite? I want to believe the latter. I really do, but I’ve been blinded by love before.

  A large shadow fell over the palace and slid through the town. The moons created enough light for shadows. Incredible. I looked up in time to see the light underbelly of…

  “Is that a dragon?” My mind confirmed it even as I said it. A huge, traditional, mother fucking dragon!

  Ryzier didn’t have time to respond. Mason apparently notice the dragon at the same time I did and took flight immediately. He was a quarter of the size of this massive beast, but he was after it in a heartbeat.

  “Mason no!”

  Ryzier’s arm tightened on mine. “He’ll be all right.”

  I whirled on the sex demon. “He’ll get hurt.”

  Ryzier chuckled. “Probably. Though Luna will probably want to play dragon sex games with your Mason.”

  “Luna? That dragon’s a female?”

  Ryzier smirked. “Yep. Hopefully Mason can handle her.”

  I shook my head as I watched Mason engage with Luna. She shrieked, curled around him and then let him go. He flapped backwards and then tore off after her as she fled, making high-pitched sounds.

  He caught her again, but this time he grabbed her tail. She swung him off, flinging him through the night sky. Instead of falling to his death, he righted himself and pursued her again. They flew high, ducked and dove towards the earth in medieval style air combat in which no real harm seemed to happen.

  Ryzier laughed, “Well, well. Your Mason seems to impress the shit out of Luna.”

  I drug my gaze from the aerobatics in the sky and asked, “That doesn’t impress me as much as the fact that you have a dragon.”

  He snorted as we turned to go inside. “One simply does not own a dragon, Nevaeh.”

  The golden door opened, and a huge, hulking demon greeted Ryzier.

  “Welcome home Sire.”

  Such a cultured voice for such a classically frightening creature. This fellow was red and burnt orange in color. His skin was leathery with swirling tattoos that seemed seared into his flesh. His name is probably Satan or Beelzebub.

  Ryzier paused with a relaxed smile. “Thank you, Cesar. I’d like to introduce Nevaeh Lykaios, Vampire Queen.”

  I shifted uncomfortably as Cesar bowed his greeting to me. “My Lady, welcome.”

  Cesar? Really? Not Deathfang or something cool? “Thank you.”

  We moved from the antechamber and into a large receiving hall. From the golden outside of this mansion, I expected to see opulence in abundance. What I discovered was that interior of Ryzier’s home was comfortable. Maybe at one time the artwork on the walls and ceiling were accented with sparkling and gilded furniture, tables and sconces. But not anymore.

  This room had a large stone fireplace. The dark wood of the furniture and large comfortable couches set in intimate conversation areas were charming and quaint. Where chandeliers might have hung from above, modern lighting lit up the room.

  Ryzier waved a hand and Marilyn Manson’s song, Cry Little Sister, played quietly. I found the modern speakers neatly hidden around the room and smiled. Somehow this is exactly how I pictured Ryzier at home. He had no respect for the traditions of realms. Of course he’d make his home in the Dark Realm his own. He was a creature who lived in the in-between, after all.

  Ryzier moved to a sideboard and poured a drink as flames leapt to life in the fireplace. He also used his magic freely here. No worries about draining his source at home. I accepted the offered glass and sipped the brandy he poured for me. My body had already consumed the alcohol I’d drunk earlier.

  When Marilyn Manson continued with Sweet Dreams, I smirked. “The music suits you.”

  He smiled indulgently, “I take requests.”

  I laughed, and he said, “No, really. If I’ve heard it, I can replay it.”

  My gaze narrowed as I cocked my head curiously, “The music comes from you?”

  He smirked as his head cock slightly. The music changed to Breaking Benjamin’s Angels Fall. He pulled me close and moved with me. I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my face as we danced slowly to this song.

  The next song he played was Uprising by Muse. He released me and sung the words as I let the music wash over me and move me. Ryzier could move too. He impressed me as he let loose and danced like a demon. I laughed and released my own inhibitions.

  Imagine Dragons, Believer came on and we continued to move around one another. Was Ryzier showing me his soul with these songs? When Butterfly by Crazy Town came on, I knew the answer. We got a bit raunchy with our dancing then. He mouthed the words to me as we ground against each other.

  We were kissing as Crazy Town’s Come Inside came on. Our clothing disappeared as his lips moved down my collar bone. He lifted me and I wrapped myself around him as he moved us to a chaise lounge. His lips were slow, coaxing my body to heady heights.

  Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay came on and my heart just about burst in my chest. If he was trying to make me fall in love with him, he was succeeding.

  When Hoozier’s Take Me To Church came on, I corrected my first assumption. He was telling me how he felt without admitting it. Was Ryzier falling in love with me?

  His cock slid into me slowly and stayed slow as his lips took mine once again. I gasped as he filled me completely. He moved to the beat of Skillet’s, Feel Invincible, and I came hard on him. Where he led, I followed and gods damned… it was complete bliss.

  We reached the pinnacle of our pleasure to Lifehouse, Hanging By A Moment. He shuttered and groaned in my ear as his arms secured their hold around me. I haven’t felt this cherished in a long time.

  I pressed a kiss to his pointed ear and moaned, “I love you, Ryzier.”

  Instead of jerking away and saying something to push me away, he turned his mouth to mine and kissed me gently. His voice was hoarse with emotion as he whispered. “Feed from me little dove.”

  Hymn for the Weekend by Coldplay came on as I sank my fangs into his neck. He didn’t need to say it back. His blood told me how he felt and exactly how broken he truly was.

  I fought the tears that threatened to fall as my heart broke for him. He wanted to trust me with his heart, he just had more trust issues than I could ever imagine having myself.

  When I pulled back I whispered, “lovelytheband, I Like The Way.” He gave me a half laugh and played the song for me. This time, I sang the song to him in a whisper as we held one another. He chose the next lovelytheband’s song, Maybe, I’m Afraid. We kissed the entire song.

  I was surprised he knew my last request. “Pink? Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken?”

  He smirked, and Pink sang my new anthem.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  True Friends

  Ryzier magically returned my dress to my body but said he’d hold on to my crown for me. That was fine with me, I wasn’t sure I wanted any crown anymore. We walked out of the golden palace hand in hand, fingers laced together. Maybe I was seeing this beautiful dark and cold realm with rose-colored glasses, but even the monsters here seemed to smile at me.

  I didn’t want to leave. Ryzier showed me the beauty of the darkness and I didn�
�t want to go back to the light. We meandered as if he too was reluctant to let me go. I breathed, “I love your realm.”

  He glanced over at me as we walked a moment before he said just as quietly, “We can come back anytime you want, Nevaeh.”

  We were quiet a moment before he added, “I’ll share my sanctuary with you when you need it.”

  I glanced up at him as he stared ahead. “Thanks.” He smiled tightly.

  Mason found us and landed on the hillside we’d climbed in relative silence. He dropped his big head and blew in my face. I scrunched up my nose as I inspected him for injuries. He had a few scratches, but he radiated happiness just like I did.

  I touched his huge maw and said, “Your breath still reeks of death, Mason.”

  Ryzier barked a laugh as Mason lifted his head and glanced off into the distance at something I couldn’t hear. I turned to my sex demon, and he pulled me close. “I’ll swing by soon.”

  I reached up and pulled his face down for another kiss. He opened the portal as we kissed, and Mason went through first. He’d still be dry heaving when I finally caught up with him. Moving through these portals always affected him much worse than it did me.

  Ryzier touched my cheek tenderly. “Go.”

  I nodded and left him silently. No more words of love, no more songs with feeling behind them. That’s the way it was with Ryzier. He’d let me in just an inch only to push me away. It’s all right, I can take inches.

  Imagine Dragon’s song, Demons played in my head as Mason followed me back to the manor house.

  A worried Jah and Rah met me at the door. Rah didn’t hide her relief as she said, “Oh good. Atalanta came by worried about you. Said you left the realm with Ryzier?”

  I nodded, “I left the party after she displayed me like a pet to her horrible friends.”

  Jah gasped and Rah admitted, “She said you left the party in a rush. That something was wrong.”

  I shrugged past them. “They pushed me down and almost became blood cakes for my bloodlust goblin. I left before I ate them all.”