CHAPTER 4
♣Third pov♣
"So this is how princes travel now? In the belly of a beast with wheels?" Lucian said with contempt.
He would rather have run, to let the wind scream past his ears and the earth splinter under his stride.
Marcus bowed slightly. "With all due respect, my lord, it is for the best. Your look… is not much appealing at the moment. A car draws no suspicion for our speed. You would draw too many eyes."
Lucian's nostrils flared, he nearly struck the younger vampire down for daring such words. But then he remembered the mirror. The hollow face.
He slid into the leather seat without another word, seething.
Marcus shut the door carefully, relief ghosting across his features as he rounded to the driver's side.
The machine rumbled alive with a growl that almost pleased Lucian, though he would never admit it.
They tore through the night, city lights unfurling ahead.
Some minutes passed before the car hissed to a stop outside a building pulsing with sound and color.
A line of mortals snaked along the curb, eager for entry. Lucian's crimson eyes flicked toward Marcus. "You brought me to a tavern?"
"A club, my lord," Marcus corrected. "The easiest place to find… prey. No questions. No names. Disappear before dawn."
Lucian's lips curved, half amused, half disdainful. "Mortals gathering like cattle, begging to be drained. The world has grown pathetic."
Hunger burned through his veins as he followed Marcus inside the club that was filled with bodies.
Lucian's nostrils filled with the stench of sweat, perfume, and living blood pumping beneath fragile skin. His fangs ached.
Suddenly, hands reached for him, bold and careless. A woman pressed against him, whispering, " Hi, gorgeous." Her throat tilted to the side, as if she was offering.
Lucian inhaled once. Hunger sharpened, but disgust burned hotter. As if a prince would feed from scraps tossed at his feet.
He shoved her back, watching her dissolve into the crowd with a laugh.
"This is no hunt," he muttered, pushing past the mortals.
The night air hit him again as he stepped outside the club, carrying something far older than perfume or sweat.
Lucian stilled, nostrils flaring. It was faint at first, then rising—thick, potent. Not the sour tang of mortals. Not beast. Something richer. Hotter.
A few girls leaning by the wall gave him long, hungry stares, one even licking her lips at him.
He ignored them, only if they knew the danger he brought. His long black hair hid most of his face.
His chest rose, fangs aching, the strange smell getting stronger.
He stepped off the curb, ignoring the mortals. A pull dragged him down the street, through alleys, faster, until the city thinned.
Marcus was nowhere behind him but Lucian no longer cared. The streets turned to dirt, the air cooler.
He was in a forest before he realized it and there it was again. That scent. Wild, intoxicating—like fire spilling from flesh.
He inhaled deeply, the smell tantalizing. He walked further into the woods trying to find where the smell was coming from.
And there—caught in the thorns—was her.
A girl. Pale skin shining with sweat, lips parted as if every breath cost her strength.
Her body trembled like it was on fire from the inside. Lucian froze, staring.
Not wolf. Not vampire. Human… yet not. The heat rolling off her hit him in waves, each one sharper than the last.
Impossible. Only female wolves entered heat. Yet this was no wolf but her scent wasn't human either.
His lips curled into a smile, half-amused. He stepped closer, watching her flinch.
Isabella shrank into herself, praying for the earth to swallow her whole. She had no strength left. Her foot was caught in a metal trap, blood soaking the ground.
Lucian throat burned at the sight of it. His fangs ached. He tilted his head, watching her with cold fascination. "What are you?"
Isabella lips quivered, breath breaking. What was she?
She is a nobody, she wanted to snap but she saw the thing moving closer to her and she rasped instead."G–Get away from me!" She could only see the red glow of his eyes in the darkness.
He moved like a predator and clearly she was it's prey. Lucian stepped into a narrow slice of moonlight through the trees and Isabella eyes widened.
it's face, sunken, bone-like, monstrous. Her stomach lurched in horror. "What… what are you?" she hissed.
"Some nightmare they dragged out of a coffin?" The creature face was hilarious and if it wasn't the fact that she was scared shitless, Isabella would have laughed.
Lucian's mouth curved faintly. "You wouldn't want to know, little abomination." Isabella scowled at the nickname, her hands clawed weakly at the trap, frantic and desperate to escape.
But the more she struggled, the more blood poured from her torn flesh. And the more Lucian's eyes followed the flow.
"If you're here to kill me, at least do it quick. I don't do begging." Isabella snapped, she saw how the monster was looking at her like she was it's meal.
She had read of them, but never in a thousand years would she. think she would be in a situation like this.
These creatures were non existent if not extinct and the one looking down at her look like it had been starved.
Lucian watch the abomination fierce look with fascination. Hunger raged inside him and he didn't want this. Feeding on prey already near death was no pleasure.
No thrill. Yet the scent was too tantalizing. it felt like it was calling to him to just have a thirst and him not still being feed worsened the situation.
His last control over his thirst left him as a growl rumbled low in his chest, he finally gave in.
In a flash, he lifted Isabella into his arms, her body limp but still burning. His hands pushed back her curly white hair as his lips brushed her pale skin.
His sharp fangs teased her neck before sinking deep into her.
Isabella screamed in pain—but the pain dulled, melting into something hot and unbearable.
Pleasure. The heat in her smothering as wave of lust drowned into her. Her trembling eased even as blood poured out of her.
Lucian suck and sucked, clutching the girl tighter. The hunger was ecstasy, but what ripped through him wasn't just that.
Pleasure, yes, always pleasure when feeding—but this was different.
Darker.
Sharper.
Lust. His chest tightened as if her very blood set him aflame, his nether region growing in size.
Shocked, he tore his mouth away, lips stained red. Lucian froze as his body reacted weirdly to her blood,never in a million years had he feed and got hard.
He looks down and froze at what stared back at him.
On her neck, glowing faintly, was a mark. His mark. "No…" His voice cracked with disbelief.
The girl sagged weak in his arms, eyelids heavy, her strength nearly gone. And still she looked up at him, her eyes glassy but clinging to the sight of his face.
Isabella vision wavered but now she saw him not as the hollow creature in the shadows.
Feeding had transformed him. His face sharpened. Sculpted beautiful in a way that was almost unbearable.
His red eyes was still glowing sharper but his body cheeks had filled and he looks so handsome like a prince of death.
Lucian's hands shook as he dropped her as if she burned him. He hadn't meant to. He had marked her, but how?
"Prince Lucian!" The shout cut through the trees.
Marcus.
Lucian's head snapped toward the voice. He looked back at Isabella— pale, broken and still bleeding from her ankle.
He vanished into the dark, racing toward Marcus before the younger vampire could stumble on what had happened.
Lucian blurred through the trees, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand though the stain still clung there.
His chest rose and fell sharply as the taste of her still burn on his tongue. That strange fire still coiled in his veins, leaving him shaken.
Marcus was just entering the forest, scanning the shadows. Relief flickered over his face when he saw Lucian appear.
"My lord!" Marcus whispered in shock to see lucain face and body transformation. He looked much healthier.
Lucian straightened his coat, masking his expression. "I feared I lost you in the crowd." Marcus started but Lucian growled already irritated.
"Do not mistake me for something you can misplace. I go where I wish." Marcus lowered his gaze, unoffended.
"Of course. I only thought you'd return hungry." Hungry. The word grated against Lucian's skin. He swallowed hard, looking down at his hands guilty.
"I'm not hungry anymore, I drank from an animal." He lied