Fuck!

I take off into the woods, climbing through the trees and then running through the branches, trying to get away from Nikita and her tempting lips.

She was scared and her pain was like a mounting volcano, ready to burst and damage her remaining sanity. She sat there in front of me but her mind was somewhere else. In the past.

Something bad has happened to her.

Something traumatic enough to last for a lifetime. And I should know about it. It's my responsibility to bring her out of it.

But I cannot.

Not yet!

I have to avenge Charlotte first.

Engrossed in my thoughts; I speed through the thick branches, not caring about which direction I end up in. For a long moment, I do not realize that I have reached my castle in the far woods, away from Crimson Shadow and the wolf territory. A meeting with Dima is anyway overdue, so I decide to meet him. It might help calm my frazzled nerves.

Jumping down from the highest branch of the pine tree, I land on my knees, right in front of the castle's entrance. The guard's eyes widen in surprise before he conceals it.

Bowing his head in respect, he stands straight. "Good evening, your highness."

"Good evening, Malcolm. I hope Prince Dimitry is home?"

"Yes, sire. The royal couple along with the Princess's mother is inside," he replies while I try to hide my own surprise. What is that woman doing here?

As far as I remember from my last encounter with her, Viviana appeared to be very leery and weird. The aura around here was neutral but with a tinge of something. I didn't have the opportunity to investigate Anya's family as I was busy wallowing in guilt and self-pity.

Looks like I cannot ignore this meeting any longer. Taking a huge breath and yearning to have Nikita by my side, I take a step towards my home.

I knock on the door once and wait. The door is opened by our butler, Roelf. He bows in courtesy and then moves aside to let me in. It has been years and he is familiar with my surprise visits. He is the only one whom I trust in my home while Dima gets a hold of himself and tries to pull out of the depression.

Just as I take a step inside, I am greeted by the lemony scent of Anya's mother. I scrunch my nose in distaste as the scent threatens to burn my sense of smell. It's disturbing to have this scent in my home.

One more step inside, and I am greeted by the woman herself.

"Oh, look who's here. The king himself!" gushes Viviana as runs to me and then embraces me in her cold arms. I freeze as unease spreads through my body.

The last time I had seen this woman, she had dark hair and now she dyed it, having some pink colour in them. Her reddish-gold eyes sparkle with a mischievous glint as she wraps her long-nailed fingers around my waist and squeezes me.

Her head rests on my chest for a second too long and I stifle the urge to move away and shrug off her wandering hands but tolerate her embrace when I see Anya walking into the room with a frown on her face.

She's a second late to hide her irritation. And I catch it. I am not sure about the reason behind her irritation though. Her slip of emotions makes me recall Dima's words and I wonder if Anya really did not like my presence in this place.

"Hello, Viviana. How are you?"

I ask the mother as I move to hug my sister-by-mating and notice the lack of warmth in her embrace. There's a change in her attitude. There always has been whenever Viviana is around her.

I assume it might be Viviana's presence that might be irritating or disturbing her. It might be wishful thinking on my part. Sighing, I let go of Anya, hoping that I am able to pull my brother and his mate from this depression.

"I am fine, better now that you are here," replies Viviana, pulling me out of my thoughts and making me frown at her words.

"Oh, what she means is that it's a pleasant surprise to have you with us tonight," interrupts Anya quickly, before I could reply to her mother's statement. Ignoring Viviana, I smile at Anya and ruffle her hair in affection.

She's like a little sister to me, just like how Jenna is. I just hope Anya has the best intentions for my brother and fights for him through these dark times.

"Is Dima home?" I ask even when I know that he is. I do not want to sound too interrogative, especially when one of these women is staring at me with a glint in her eyes. I need to find out what's wrong with Viviana. If she is the reason behind Anya's strange behaviour.

Because something is really wrong with her. She has a different look in her eyes, a different agenda hidden in there and perhaps I had been wallowing in pain too much to have observed it before. But this time, I will not let her off the hook so easily.

Not when she's threatening my brother's mated life. I am almost certain of it.

"Oh, he's upstairs in our room."

Anya's words take away my focus from Viviana. Smiling at the two women, I excuse myself and head toward the first floor. I do not knock on the door and just head inside, only to stop in my tracks in shock.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I ask as I snap the bottle of blood away from his hands. Taking a closer look at the bottle, I confirm that it's not blood wine. It's just blood. Unadulterated, fresh blood. I haven't seen such a bottle for half a century.

Dima is shocked at my interruption as his eyes glow red while his fangs descend in rage. After getting a close look at my face, he calms down a bit. I notice his struggle as he tries to get a hold of his emotions.

"Nico, when did you come home?" asks Dima while getting up and embracing me. He thumps on my back loudly making me sigh in relief. At least he hadn't drunk that. A bottle of pure unaltered blood is poison to vampires.

A vampire can drink pure blood only through the veins when it is not coagulating.

From a bottle or through packets, chemically mixed blood is safe to drink but only with those chemicals that are vampire friendly.

"I came just a few minutes ago. Now, will you explain why you were drinking this?" I ask as I raise the bottle for Dima to sniff. He frowns and shakes his head as if confused.

"Was I? I don't remember," he murmurs and then runs his fingers through his hair, frustration pouring out of his body. He lets out a huge breath and then goes to sit in the armchair across the room and away from me.

I take a seat on the empty sofa and lay back, resting my head on the headrest. Closing my eyes, I try to push away the horrible image of Dima drinking that blood and dying because of the coagulating reaction.

The image scares me and I have this urge to smack him on the head. For fuck's sake. He's the older twin; shouldn't he have more sense than that?

"I can almost hear your thoughts, little brother," snaps Dimitry while rubbing at his temples. I snarl at him silently, hoping that he understands my fear and concerns. I do not have any other blood relative left and even if we have a wedge between us because of the political issues going around, it doesn't mean that he's someone dispensable.

"Well, then. Be a little alert next time, will you?" I snap at him and watch as he shrugs as if it's a silly matter. "Who the hell gave you that bottle to drink?" I ask, hoping that it's not Anya or her mother. I might not be responsible for my actions if it was one of them.

"No one gave it to me. I picked it up from our dad's private bar," he whispers while frowning in thought. "Who must have kept it there? Dad?"

His question raises another mystery inside my mind but I cannot focus on it. Not when I am so desperate to avenge Charlotte.

"Dad was a very mysterious ruler. He did things with some agenda. But I do not know about this blood bottle," I reply instead and wait for Dima to speak.

A few minutes pass by and the tension in the air increases by a notch. Suddenly Dima sighs and then looks at me with a sad chuckle. "I think we are suffering from the depression of longevity," he whispers and I know that he is trying very hard to make his voice come out steady.

I can almost sense his tears at the thought of his mate wanting to be away from him.

"What?" Getting up from my seat, I walk toward my brother and pull him out of his chair. "Come on, let's get out of here and to some secluded place. I don't want the mother to hear about this."

"That's a good idea, I suppose," says Dimitry and without further discussion, we walk out of his room and then try to sneak out before Viviana finds us, or me.

~~~~

Sitting on the tallest peak in the region, I settle myself against a tree with my left leg folded and the right one spread out in front of me, in a comfortable position. "Now, Dima. Tell me. What's Viviana doing here?"

"I invited her," he replies while staring off into the snow-clad mountains. It's cold but I presume his heart is much colder at this moment. "Anya wanted to meet her mother again but this time I stopped her and instead requested her mother to visit us. I also extended the invitation to Anya's brother."

To say I am shocked would be an understatement.

"What? Are you crazy? Haven't we heard enough about this notorious brother whom we haven't met till date?" I ask, outrage clear in my voice.

"Yes, we have but I wanted to invite them. The last time when Anya returned from her mother's, she had complained that I never invite her parents or her brother to the castle. As an attempt to keep my mated life from failing, I invited them," whispers Dimitry while looking at me and then glancing around.

"I don't know what to say, brother. I just do not want them to snoop through the castle. You remember what Dad said about Anya's family, yes?"

Dima nods his head while smiling sadly. "Yes, I know and that's why I have invited them. If they do anything, I'll be the one to catch them." He looks at me once, his gaze sharp as he assesses me. "Stay here for a couple of days. I want you to be here just in case anything happens."

"But you said Anya doesn't like my presence here," I question despite knowing that he needs me now.

"I don't like her mother. She knows that. Still, I invited her because I want to keep her happy. She can tolerate you for a couple of days," bites Dima and I can clearly sense his rage and mixed emotions. He's angry with his mate but at the same time, he's worried that she's slipping through his fingers. That she is somehow being influenced by her mother.

"Let's hope for the best, Dima. I'll stay. We will take on her mischievous brother when he comes," I whisper instead and offer a smile full of confidence when I am feeling none.

~~~~

The past week has been an emotional rollercoaster. Watching Anya and Dima fake their happy mated life makes me want to shake both of them and force them to realize the treasure of finding their soulmate.

It only happens once and they are fools to feel the depression, so early on in their relationship.

I have been trying hard to keep Anya and Dima together in the same room for more than an hour so that they can speak, talk, fight, make love, and do whatever the fuck is needed to reduce this distance between them.

Their bond is too cold, lacking the warmth of love and I am cursed to feel each and every emotion that the couple is facing at this moment. The regret, the misunderstandings, the assumptions, everything; it's like watching a person die.

And the sole cause of this destruction is the mother.

I am sure of it now!

The woman is a snake, slowly poisoning Anya's thoughts against me. She has been filling Anya's head with lies about me and about Dima. Just like she is doing now.

The mother and daughter are sitting in the guest quarters, away from Dima as he broods in his room. My presence is hidden by a witch-powder given to me by Fenris. Alcina had given him the powder after he lost his ability to go invisible while saving Sierra.

However, Fenris had given me some of it claiming that I might need it if at all I had to spy on some rogues for him. How unfortunate of me that I have to use this powder to spy on my brother's mate because I hold her a suspect in the political distress in our community.

After Dad's death, Dima made the decision to pass on the throne to me. There was chaos in the elder's council as they claimed me to be unfit because I didn't have a mate to anchor me. I had accepted the same fact as well but Dima being the stubborn fucker that he is, became the king for a day and then made me his heir.

The very next day he handed over the reins of the Vampire Kingdom to me, making me the Korol. The elder council had to accept me as their new King because the previous King, Dima, had passed it on willingly. However, the elders had a condition that since I don't have a mate to anchor me, the elder community will act as approval authority, to make sure that I do not make any rash decisions.

Bullshit!

Yes, the fact pissed me off. It made me feel incompetent. I had outright refused this hypocrisy but for Dima's sake and to keep Dima's respect, I had accepted the elder's decision to rule over me. To this day, I have to consult the elders before passing on a new rule over our Kingdom.

It's torture that I do not control my own people directly but their acceptance and their love for me and Dimitry is the only reason why I am still tolerating the elders' meddling.

However, I am starting to assume that Dima's decision to hand over the Title to me might be the reason for Viviana's creepy behaviour. Anya's family has always tried to challenge the Creighton's for the throne but our forefathers, our father and now us; have managed successfully to keep a war from breaking out within the Vampire Kingdom. 

If it ever happened, it would be our downfall.

When Dad warned us about the Callahan men, he also mentioned that Anya might not be as evil as her family. After all, it's the female who has light in her. She is the sole reason why the vampire's darkness is unable to consume him. She anchors her male, keeping the darkness at bay with her light. It slowly destroys the evil and the light shines upon them.

Only when the light shines upon them does a couple become pregnant. A vampire female can become pregnant, only once. There has been no biological reason for it. It is more of a fact because never before has a female become pregnant twice. Twins are a jackpot but very rare. However, if a female became pregnant once and if at all she loses the child, then it's her mate's duty to keep the depression at bay because they might never conceive again.

It's cruel but it's a fact. And maybe, our longevity is the reason behind this. It's nature's way of maintaining balance.

"What is Dominic doing here?"

The voice, as it calls my name, brings me out of my thoughts. Focusing on the emotions of the women, I try to gauge their auras. It's heavy with secrets. So many secrets and so many misunderstandings.

"I do not know mother. He usually visits on an annual or a biennial basis. This is the first time that he is visiting twice in six months. The last time he stopped by, I was at your castle. Thank fuck that I wasn't here. It's a pain in the ass to keep smiling when all I want to do is kick him out," she whispers and my eyes widen at her words and at the venom seeping out from her.

Never did I imagine that Anya had such bitter thoughts about me. I treated her with so much respect, so much love. She's like my little sister, yet the anger rolling out of her pores clearly shows that my emotions are not reciprocated here.

"Hmmm. When you met Dimitry, we were all so happy. Finally, a Callahan will rule over the vampires. A King or a Queen doesn't matter. All that matters is the throne and that crown. It would have made your father so proud if Dimitry had just done his duty. But the mutt had to hand over everything to Dominic on a platter. What a waste of opportunity," speaks the mother, pouring out dominance in her tone. She douses her words with so much dominance that Anya becomes mesmerized by them.

It is like Anya is in a trance to listen to her mother and agree to it. As I keep listening to their conversation, it becomes clear that Viviana is using her gift to influence her daughter, a very bad influence.

"Dimitry should have consulted you once before handing over the reins to Dominic. It's not fair to you. Because of your mate, the vampire Kingdom doesn't have a Queen. Just because a mate-less man is ruling over us."

A growl slips past my throat at the mention of my mate status but at the last moment, I cover my mouth to muffle my voice. My presence might be invisible but my growl definitely isn't.

"The elders still rule over the Kingdom through Dominic. And so far, Dominic is a fair ruler," replies Anya and I sense a bit of fatigue in her voice. She's mentally being drained by Viviana. It appears that Viviana's putting Anya under a spell.

What if Anya is being used unknowingly? The sudden thought strikes me right in the head and a gasp threatens to escape from my throat. If Viviana is putting Anya under her spell and turning her mind against me and Dima, then it's going to be our entire family's downfall.

What if there's a possibility that Anya is unaware of her mother's plans? No!

I cannot let this happen. Making a decision to protect Anya, I close my eyes, focusing on my little sister's mind and trying to find a route inside. Anya's mind is closed but Viviana is using her bond of motherhood, to drill those evil thoughts into her mind.

Finding a soft spot where I can enter Anya's mind and not hurt her, I dig further and push inside; making Anya feel tired, thus protecting her from Viviana's evil words.

"Mother, I feel tired all of a sudden," says Anya and that quickly I walk out of her mind, escaping Viviana's soft curse as she is broken out of her trance.

It is clear that Viviana is using some kind of a Blackmagic. But who is providing her with it? Who is aiding her to cause this depression between her daughter and her mate?

I need to find answers.

Raising my palm to wipe at my face, I let out a huge sigh while Anya walks out of the guest quarters and away from her mother's evil presence.

Turning to look at Viviana, I watch as she curses and then gets up from her seat, taking off into the wind through the large window.

Shaking my head, I start to make my way toward my room and realize that I still did not find out who put that bottle in Dima's hands? Was it given to him or was Dima manipulated to drink it?

Looking at the recent encounter between Viviana and Anya, I feel that the latter is very much a possibility.

And if Anya proves to be innocent then she is going to feel heavy guilt to put her mate on the death's doorstep.

Fuck! I just landed from one problem to another.

What a mess!   

~~~~~

Thank you for reading!

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