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Why was the king not in his room? Could it be that he was perhaps spending the night in the room of one of the many maiden servants or a concubine that she was not aware of? Did the king have concubines?

The thought annoyed her. To imagine that all this while she had been ignored by his majesty who was supposedly busy but now it seemed that he had enough time to spend gallivanting with women.

How lucky for her to have to end up with a man who would not be faithful. That was an error she decided that she would need to correct.

No one had the right to cheat on her. She refused to act like those proper ladies who chose to close their eyes to their husband's extramarital affairs.

This mistake the king had made would have to be corrected this very night.

She would find him even if she had to set the East wing ablaze. Her effort in coming here would not be in vain.

She walked out of the king's room with murder in her eyes but still was careful to close the door quietly to avoid alerting anyone.

She walked past his room and deeper into the East wing. When she was about to give up and check another part of the palace, she heard a sound she couldn't explain.

It sounded like someone panting and then heavy breathing that sounded almost painful.

She wondered if she was finally close to finding the king.

She moved closer towards the direction where the sound had come from but she heard what sounded like a scream of someone in pain.

Perhaps she was wrong.

Something told her to turn back but she refused to. She wanted to be sure of what she had heard.

The deeper she moved into the East Wing, the darker it became and with that darkness, a threat lingered in the air. Still, Clarissa felt no fear, only curiosity.

She stopped one more time waiting to hear the sound again but met with deadly quiet.

She was starting to wonder if she truly had gone crazy again when the sound finally came again but this time it was right next to her ear.

Her heartbeat skipped a bit but she calmed herself down.

She thought about the sound she had heard that sounded human but at the same time inhuman. She turned slowly and came face to face with a door that had markings surrounding it.

She heard the sound of someone taking in heavy, painful breaths. She turned the knob which seemed locked at first but the markings on the wall glowed and the door opened.

The sound of chains rattling and feet landing on the floor came to her, then someone seemed to take a deep breath, a choking sound between a snarl and painful yet quiet hiss sounded from within the room.

Clarissa knew this was not the room for the king's rendezvous with his women but what was the king keeping in here?

She heard something moving closer to her and then she heard someone gulp and the sound of the chains dropping to the floor.

Then a scream from a deep voice echoed in the room.

Clarissa felt a bit afraid but she also felt the need to help this person.

It was odd, she had never in her life felt a pull such as this to help a stranger she didn't know.

" Leave from here. " the voice said in a painful hiss. " How did she even get in? " he asked himself.

The voice sounded familiar.

She ignored his question since it was not exactly directed at her. " Who are you? " she asked instead, having the need to know more about the man in front of her.

Still, a part of her questioned why that seemed important.

He chuckled, the sound a mix between bewildered and amused. " Are you not scared? " this time his voice sounded angry.

Clarissa raised her head trying to hide her fear " Why should I be? I can hear the chains holding you down. "

" Do you think these chains can hold me...? " he gasped and let out a painful hiss.

Clarissa's heart jumped within her and something that sounded like the flapping of wings went past an open window she hadn't noticed earlier which caused the curtain covering it to shift and she felt a slight chill enter the room.

She also saw the moon coming out from behind a cloud and with it, the gasps and hisses of pain from the man increased as well as the pace of her heartbeat which increased with fear. He dropped to the ground writhing and his nails clawed against the ground leaving scratch marks.

When the moon was almost full, he snapped his head at her and she saw his fangs as well as a crazed look in his eyes.

A deranged vampire.

He whispered. " Run "

This time Clarissa did not wait nor disobey, she ran out of the room and even as she ran as fast as she could, the sound of the chains unlocking and falling to the ground was loud and clear.

The pain he felt in his throat, the burn was too much but he fought against it even as his senses went crazed and the network of veins formed within his eyes.

Even as he moved forward thinking that perhaps the spell cast on the door would stop him from moving further, his only thought was to drain her.

But as he placed his hand on the door, he felt immediately that the spell had been lifted and he tried to hold himself back. He held the door and tried to force himself to stay in but in his deranged state, his mind was no longer his.

He moved past the door with his ability to move fast as a vampire but sometimes he managed to stop himself. Still, the sound of her feet hitting the floor was too tantalizing to the predator that he was at that moment.

He wanted now more than ever to drain her. He imagined each drop of her blood like dew from heaven, rich, tasty, sweet and irresistible.

Clarissa did her best to run but for the first time in her life, she felt fear like no other. Now more than ever, she regretted her decision to leave her room in search of the king.

She felt something move beside her and turned to see what it was only to feel a slap so hard land on her face to send her flying forward.

She looked up afraid, wondering if she should reach for the knives or gun hidden within her clothing. But the fear she felt was such that her hands shook and her legs seemed too weak to stand. All she could do was crawl backwards on her knees away from the vampire that was after her.

As he drew closer, she was still unable to see his face and it felt like she would die not knowing who her murderer was.

Would this be her end?

Author's note

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