The Demon's Pa

Alexander’s POV

I could barely see as the vampire girl turned tail and ran, through the mors est in sancto that was eating away at my eyeballs. Bloody hell damn it! This stuff was freaking eating my face off!

I braced a foot against the ground and prepared myself to get to my feet. I growled lowly. I couldn’t see a damn thing anymore. Was there even anything of my eyes left?

Pushing those thoughts aside for a moment I stumbled to my feet, relying on my hearing and sense of smell to navigate me through the vampires that were surrounding me.

Filthy creatures.

“Grab him!” I recognised the irritating voice of the blonde haired vampire who’d been so close with my target. Too close actually and it had really pissed me off.

I dodged the female vampire that came at me with ease and caught her by the arm. Using her momentum against her I sling shot her right into my so called brother’s arms.

He was nothing to me. He was the traitor, not me, I was loyal to my father, to Clades, who else was there to be loyal to?

I could smell the vampire who had thrown me with the cursed mors est in sancto a mile off. He smelled like the holy substance. Well, damn my life, he still had a whole bottle of the liquid. Where was he getting it? Hadn’t I been there to witness as my father had his demons throw sand into the dam to dry it up? This mors est in sancto shouldn’t exist.

I was quickly regaining my vision and the moment I found that I could make out rough shapes of objects I grabbed the nearest human girl by her neck. “How much do you care for this blood bag, Viktor?” I questioned with a low hiss. Even I could have seen that there was some form off attraction between them, he’d been protecting her like she was gold.

My brother paused his slow movements for a moment when he saw that I had her and he crouched low as if to strike. “You wouldn’t kill her, you don’t have permission to kill her, or any of us for that matter.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. He was right, but he didn’t have to know that, “She’s a human, Clades will be glad if I told him that I’d taken care of the human problem as well while I was away.”

“She’s mine.” Viktor growled and the human girl let out a gurgled sound.

Crushing her thin neck would be so easy… so very easy indeed, but after a moment of weighing my options I dropped her to the ground. “Take her then.” She lay there for a moment, gasping for air until Viktor pulled her up and held her in his arms. I didn’t understand it. Viktor hadn’t been like this the last time I’d seen him. He’d been a better and viler demon than I was. What was going on? “What happened to you?”

He looked at the human girl’s neck carefully and pushed her behind him protectively, “What happened to me?” He asked mockingly, “Nothing. You on the other hand were killed and brought back from the dead by dark magic.”

I could hear the vampires moving around me, preparing to attack and hold me here so their dear royal could escape. They had another thing coming. “What does it matter how I came back?” I asked.

Viktor’s eyes darkened, “You have no idea. That girl,” he said, pointing after Ash Carson, “before you were killed, she was your Promise angel.”

I didn’t feel a single emotion at the newfound knowledge, “A being who loves purely.” I simply stated, “That girl?” Viktor nodded and I shrugged. “I don’t know why you would think that I would care, I will kill her no matter what she is.”

“You’re mated to her.” Viktor continued.

“Oh?” Now this I found interesting, it was no wonder she smelled so divine.

“You really did love her, Alexander. She was dying and even though you knew that she would hate you if you turned her, you did it anyway because you couldn’t bear the thought of her leaving you. But then you went and got yourself killed and reanimated in full demon mode while she’s been mourning you.” He paused and gave me a calculating look, “What do you feel?”

“Nothing, I couldn’t care less about whatever went on between me and that girl in my previous life.” I blinked twice, my vision was back completely.

“Then I’m sorry. I tried to bring you back by reminding you of who you are but it doesn’t seem like that is going to work.” My brother said.

I raised an eyebrow sarcastically. “Really? And why would you say that?”

The vampires came at me from all sides, all holding mors est in sancto and I laughed as I dodged them and threw them into each other, their precious water seeping into the earth as it spilled everywhere.

“That is worth nothing if you can’t hit me.” I said with a laugh as I started to walk away.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, it seems I’m going to be killing my Promise angel.” I started to walk away, they would be able to stop me now, I was back at full strength.

With one last pathetic attempt to stop me he blonde male tried to tackle me to the ground but I threw him off like he weighed less than nothing.

I snorted as I looked back upon the fallen vampire, “Like something that pitiful could actually stop me.” I said with a smirk.

I took off after the scent the vampire girl –Ash Carson- had left. It was easy to follow because she smelled… absolutely edible.

It was because she was mine.

Mine to kill.

The vampire girl travelled faster than I’d initially thought. She was not match a match for the speed I had, but she was still really fast for a vampire.

Her scent was growing stronger the farther I ran and it was starting to make me crazy. It made sense. If she and I were truly mated- as Viktor had said- then her blood would be the one thing to satisfy my never ending hunger.

Now if only I could find her and rip her throat out to get to it…

I was aware of my eyes that were burning bright yellow with hunger. I couldn’t even remember the last meal I had. I could only remember the red trail that had dripped behind me after the slaughter, but this girl, this Ash person, her blood would put an end to it.

Even if she got killed in the process it would still be highly interesting and fulfilling.

My thoughtful smile faltered a little. To kill her seemed so, so… needless. She was too weak to truly represent a threat towards Clades.

I was almost shocked at my own thoughts. Why would I even think of sparing her life? I had my mission and I was going to compete it.

However, Clades hadn’t said that I wasn’t allowed to have a little fun with her before I killed her. A wicked grin took hold of my features once more.

To have fun with that little vampire…

I was hot on her trail, but a I couldn’t help but wonder how stupid she was when I followed her scent into a small village like place.

Did she want me to kill all these humans?

Her scent was all over the place, almost like she’d run around in circles to try to throw me off of her trail. What a pathetic attempt at losing me. I was sure the only thing that could possibly throw me off of her trail was rain and looking at the sky –cloudless- her luck wasn’t about to take a turn for the better.

It was a good thing too, Clades would kill me if I failed to kill her. Not that I could actually die permanently but dying still hurt.

My head snapped towards a human female who’d dropped the basket that she’d been carrying and food that most likely was her rations rolled across the dusty ground.

I frowned, why did the image of the falling food seem so familiar?

“Y-y-you’re t-t-the-” she stuttered like some fool and she up when I took a step towards her threateningly.

“I’m what?” I questioned.

“Royal,” she said, “You’re the royal who died a few months ago.”

It took me a moment to understand. Of course! If I’d been mated to that Ash girl and she was the royal of Africa, that made me royalty too. How interesting. Did that mean that in my past life I’d ruled over this continent and that everyone listened to what I had to say and obeyed my orders without hesitation? And if so, what was stopping them from obeying me again? I grinned widely as I pointed towards the human female, “You there, state your name.”

She looked around and pointed towards herself questioningly.

“Yes you, you stupid woman, there’s no one else around.” I snapped with a snarl and she cowered. In less than a second I was bearing down on her and I’d roughly taken hold of her arm. I growled in her ear, “Name, now, or I’ll crush your arm and snap your neck like a twig.”

“P-p-p-paula.”

“And tell me Paula,” My grip on her arm tightened, “If I were to tell you to kill yourself right now, what would you do?”

She hesitated, “I won’t.”

I shrugged and pushed her head back with my hand, “Well that’s just too bad.” I only applied a little more pressure before her neck snapped and she dropped the ground, lifeless.

The humans around me were staring and it only took them a few seconds to begin screaming. I rolled my eyes, what the hell?

“I just killed one little human so I don’t see what the big fuss is about.” I exclaimed and my eyes flashed in the direction of a human with brown hair and large brown eyes, frozen in place. An involuntary growl came from my throat. The beast was hungry and that human looked a lot like something he wanted to devour, looked a lot like that Ash Carson girl. I’d pounced on top of the human before I could find some way to control myself. “Make that two humans.” I muttered to myself before my fangs sunk into her neck.

Her blood wasn’t nearly as tasty as she’d looked but I drank her dry anyway.

I had really thought that the humans would listen to my every command but it seemed like that wasn’t the case at all. I pushed myself off of the ground and wiped my bloody mouth. What about the vampires? Would they listen to everything I said? Would they kill for me?

My slow thoughtful walk came to an abrupt halt when I noticed the curious circle of vampires that had formed around me. I wiped my mouth one last time before I grinned, “How nice, my very own welcoming committee.” I paused to give them a thoughtful look, my thoughts about having to kill Ash momentarily gone. “Are you all here to wait on me?”

They seemed almost hesitant to answer but eventually a female with blonde hair and green eyes said, “No, you are a demon, we don’t serve demons.”

“Our royal has forbidden us.” A male said with more certainty, “Even if you used to be our royal, you aren’t any more.”

“We’ll kill you.” A voice said with more power and determination than the rest and I curiously turned around to face the speaker.

I raised an eyebrow at the person, “No you won’t.”

“I won’t?”

I shook my head, “No, because my blood made you what you are, you should obey my every command.” I took a step towards the woman and bent down so we were the same height, “Sit down.” I ordered in a firm tone.

She dropped the dusty road without hesitation and the surprise of her actions were clear in her eyes the moment she realised what she’d done. “What just-“

I didn’t even realise I’d burst out laughing until I stopped when I felt everyone’s eyes on me. They were afraid. Good. Let them fear me. “Hell! This is just so amusing!” I exclaimed at the woman sitting on the road, “That Ash Carson girl declared war against Clades but I have control over her whole army!” I continued to laugh and the dark sound echoed through the sudden unnatural silence.

When my laughter died out a menacing expression overcame my face, “I’ll be sure to order all of you to attack each other when the real battle starts.”

I had control over the coming battle, I would be the one who brought all the vampires to their knees, where they belonged. Clades would reward me with anything I wanted and I- Ash Carson.

No I needed to kill her before that battle, I didn’t have a choice.

But if I’d created her, that had to mean that she was just as obedient as any of these other vampires. I smirked to myself. I was going to pay a game with her, one I knew she couldn’t win because I made the rules and she had no choice but to obey.

“Alex.”

I snarled at the sound of half of my name, I hated when people called me that. I wanted to kill them all.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” The person tried to reason with me, “This isn’t you, I know you. I’ve known you for hundreds of years and you once told me that you didn’t believe in killing innocents.”

I snorted as I regarded the person carefully, “What a fool I was for thinking such idiotic things and confiding in someone as stunted as you.”

The vampire didn’t flinch.

“You’re a noble.” I observed, the vampire stood with more pride than the rest common vampires surrounding us.

“Yes.” The noble admitted, “And Ash is our royal now so I will protect her, even if it is just from you.”

“Just?” I asked mockingly, “You don’t have the strength to protect her. None of you do. I will kill her.”

“Alex you-“

I punched the noble at lightning speed before the filthy creature could say anything else and as it’s head bounced back like a rubber ball I grabbed it by the throat. “And you,” I hissed lowly in the noble’s face, “I will make sure that you are the first to betray her.” I threw the vampire away from me and stood over it, “Betray Ash Carson to the demons,” I ordered with a dark scowl, “And become loyal to me once more.”

Something changed in the noble’s face then, without a second more wasted, it agreed. “You will tell no one of this.” It agreed. “None of you will ever speak of this again!” I roared so the vampires could hear me and understand my authority. One by one heads hung in submission and I grinned.

I had a spy on the inside who was loyal to me, I had almost tracked down Ash Carson and I had control over a whole continent of vampires just by speaking.

So as I continued after Ash Carson’s scent everything was going splendid.

Until I entered the Sahara desert and her scent disappeared like it had never even existed.