The Billionaire’s Baby(37)

She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she didn’t make any noise at all.

Unfortunately, Ellis quickly recognized that expression from a good percentage of his victims that he'd sucked dry. He knew all too well what happened when people made that face – death was soon to follow, Nia was losing too much blood.

"Humans who play with vampires are as disgusting as vampires themselves." The strange haired man said, clucking his tongue in pity at the dying girl.

Nia was quickly paling as the blood continued spilling freely onto the ground before her, leaving ugly red streaks down her pants and shirt, pooling around her feet as her skin faded from copper to a sick, disgusting yellow pallor. Ellis could tell she was struggling to stay conscious and on her feet, a slight whimper finding its way out of her parted lips.

Still, Ellis didn't move. He couldn't move. His body wouldn't respond no matter how much he screamed in his brain to help her. He wanted to help her, he honestly did, but he was stuck in shock.

When was the last time he’d gotten attached to someone? When was the last time he’d watched someone he cared about, even slightly, get mortally injured? It was too much, too shocking.

The man sighed, shaking his head and grabbing the back of Nia's head, hand bunching painfully tight in her red hair. He then looked up at Ellis, whose eyes had widened just a tiniest bit, fists clenching at his sides.

The vampire took a halting step forward, just as the man, who Ellis thought was about to shove Nia off the sword to the ground, yanked her backwards instead, so her back was forced against the hilt. She gasped then gagged, spots of blood appearing on the corners of her mouth.

The vampire desperately lunged to the pair, quickly in front of Nia, reaching out to yank her off the sword and away from the man and run for it.

The man, it seemed, had other things in mind.

Quickly, he plunged the sword further forward as soon as Ellis was in front of him, spinning them slightly as he pierced through Ellis's own stomach and pinned him to a tree right behind him.

"Dammit!" Ellis grunted, teeth gritting in pain as he caught Nia, now trapped between the thick hilt of the sword and Ellis, in a tight grasp to keep her from sagging against the sharp blade.

He felt her mortal body go rigid in pain, though she made no noise, head eventually falling forward limply against his chest.

He couldn't believe he'd fallen into such an easy trap to spot. They were basically shish kabobs now, strung out on the silver blade and waiting to die.

"I had intended to kill her quickly." The man said apologetically, shoving the sword harder so it now went all the way through the tree, trapping Ellis and Nia.

The pain flashed hot and white behind Ellis's eyes, jaw still gritted tightly. The only thing that could possibly hurt him worse was the ragged groan that Nia gave, and how her limp hands clutched onto him in anguish.

Ellis was an immortal vampire, blessed with strength and wit, he should have been able to save her…what good was he?

"Why?" His voice, which the man had expected to be angry and violent was instead calm. They both knew he was not asking about himself, it was all about the girl clinging to life.

"Do you remember the late Corsentil Prince whom you came across about seventy or so years ago?" The hunter asked, inspecting the bloodied hilt of his sword.

Ellis had been in the northern country of Corsentil so long ago. So, so long ago.

He'd been stupid then, new to the life of a vampire, and made many mistakes. When he finally realized his wrongs, he'd come crawling into Landrian, the country neighboring the much more violent Corsentil, and had brought the warring nation's wrath as well.

Many villages had been attacked in their hunt of Ellis, though Ellis did think the hunt was a bit strangely obsessive. He was just one vampire out of many who had attacked royalty. And one of the few who'd really done it on accident. He couldn't understand why Corsentil sent a whole army after him.

Ellis flinched, slowly opening his mouth to answer when Nia convulsed slightly in his arms, bringing his attention back to her. Blood was slowly trickling down over her lips from the corners of her mouth. She wasn't going to last much longer. His sensitive ears could hear each tiny drop of blood splatter against her neck. Drip, drip, drip all the way down till it disappeared into the collar of her shirt.

He was old enough to control his bloodlust, at least for now. He couldn’t be sure how much longer he would be able to resist the sweet scent of the crimson liquid, "She had nothing to do with that incident! You didn't need to hurt her!"

"She was part of my trap. As the General of the Corsentil army, we're trained in matters like these. It was fairly easy to tell that you would try to save her. I simply positioned myself near a tree and let you do all the work." He sneered, then added with a snicker and a slight glance over of the redhead, "Not much of a waste though, don't you agree?"