Dark Hunger

Elize snapped open her eyes when she heard him groaning against her skin. He was thrusting his hips inside her while nipping the skin on her mark. Not the mark. Ah! She began squirming beneath him as he took her from behind. He drove inside her with frenzy. Her juices overflowed as her muscles clenched around his shaft. Not able to resist it any longer, he came inside her with a feral snarl. Later, towards dawn, he wrapped his arms around her and slept. When Elize got up she found that the bed was empty. He had gone to conduct the court. She took her time in getting ready. And when she was getting ready, a servant informed that Urhan was waiting for her audience. 

She narrowed her eyes and wondered if it was a good idea to meet him without Caleb. At the same time, she wondered why he wasn't at the court. Did he come to know about Laurel already? How could he? Either way, she had to tell him about Laurel, but she hadn't discussed it with Caleb whether to reveal her death to him or not. "Where is he?" 

"He seeks your private audience, Your Majesty," said the servant. "He is waiting for you in the council room." 

She saw red, but she didn't want to show that she was a weak queen. "Okay, I will be there in half an hour." The servant bowed and left. Elize hoped that Caleb would come at that time. If he didn't, she would go to meet Urhan. She could handle the priest easily if he tried to act smart with her. She brought her hands to her eye level and red wisps of her magic hissed out from them. She took a deep breath and allowed her maids to dress her up. She chose to wear a black gown with golden vines that crept up from the hem and reached her neckline where they wove intricately to form a round cut. She wore a thick gold choker with matching earrings. The maids placed a tiara of golden vines on her head and left her hair open. Elize painted her lips ruby to enhance the color of her eyes. She wanted to make a statement in front of everyone that she was the vampire queen of Ixoviya and they better get used to it. Moreover, she was interested in seeing Urhan's reaction. 

As Elize sashayed down the main hall, and foyers, the servants bowed to her. While all of them were nonchalant, used to her, there was one who audibly gasped seeing her. She didn't bother about him. He was standing next to a rose vine in a tall golden vase. The vines crawled out of the vase and curled around him. The servant shrieked, but in a few minutes the vines encased him completely, flowers, leaves and thorns. They began eating him up. It was so rapid that the servant didn't have time to scream after that and instead of him, a hedge of rose vine stood in the shape of a man. 

It was the palace who punished the servant, not for gasping at the queen, but showing his hatred to her and trying to attack her with his dagger.

Elize didn't bother to look behind at him and heard other servants cutting the bush off and throwing it out of the castle. Norhall Castle recognized her as its queen from day one. And it was said that the castle had its soul. 

She reached the council room where she found Urhan waiting for her. He rose to his feet immediately. With a day-old stubble and clothes that were crumpled, he looked disheveled. "Your Highness!" he bowed to her after a moment of taking in her looks. 

Elize waved her hand at him, gesturing to him to sit as she sat opposite to him at the head of the table. She leaned back and rested her arms on the armrests. "How come you are not in the court, Urhan?" That was her first question. 

Urhan took his seat and straightened his body. "I am sure you have guessed that I wanted to talk to you about Laurel." 

She chuckled at his desperation. She tilted her head and shrugged. "She is dead. I killed her." 

Urhan's body shuddered visibly. Blood drained from his face and he looked like a ghost as he stared at her without blinking his eyes. When he found his tongue, in a strained voice he asked, "Why?" 

Elize tapped her fingers on the table. "Because she was aiding Edyrm. Because she tried to attack me. Because she tried to seduce Caleb. Because she helped my brother into something very dirty." She narrowed her eyes and slanted her head. "Do you want other reasons?" 

Urhan couldn't speak a word. So, they found out about his sister. 

"Because of her, Owen and Nessa were also killed," Elize continued without remorse. Then she leaned forward, and raised an eyebrow. "But what was it that you wanted to discuss about her?" She was judging his reaction. 

His throat bobbed as he tried to shove his bile down and the emotions that surfaced and tasted bitter on his tongue. Tears stung at the back of his eyes. He swallowed them down. The vampire had killed his sister. There was so much anger mixed with his gloom that his chest tightened. A shaky breath left his lips as grief sank its thorns in his heart. He stared at Elize for a long time, his mind numb. Did she reveal anything? Did they torture her into revealing information? The vampire queen—she sat opposite to him with indifference, with cruelty on her face. 

Elize was well aware of those emotions. She had gone through them a number of times. So, she sat back on her chair and waited for him to speak up. 

Last night when Laurel hadn't returned, he waited for the entire night to hear news about her from the messengers, but no news came. Even though he was completely exhausted and tired, he went to the human realm to find out about her. When he reached there, he saw that Owen's house was razed down. There was a fire brigade unit throwing water over the remaining fire. His mind stuttered. The neighbors and police shouted, and he heard something about charred bodies. Panic-stricken, he went to the hospital where Laurel and Edyrm were supposed to be present but they were not present. He came back to Ixoviya and waited for the day to come up. Since he had to meet Elize, he excused himself from the court on the account of feeling unwell. Caleb didn't know that he was meeting his wife. 

After a few minutes, when the shock precipitated a little, he said in a gravelly voice, "I wanted to warn you about her intentions." 

A smile curled her lips up. "That is very nice of you, Urhan, but she has been taken care of. "If there is nothing else, I would like to leave. My husband must be coming back from the court and he would need me." 

Urhan got up and bowed to her. 

Elize rose from her and turned to leave, when suddenly she heard two claps from behind. Air whooshed around her, clouding her vision.. She felt… euphoric, dazed.