~~~

Neither did he offer a response.

His lips came down on mine fast and hungry, robbing me of breath. I felt his firm grip on my neck, sending shivers down my spine. His tongue explored the depths of my mouth, igniting a fire within me.

I broke away from the kiss, pressing my lips against his neck, leaving a trail of soft kisses that i was glad elicited a low moan from him. The electricity between us intensified, and he swiftly lifted me onto the table, the cool surface contrasting with the heat radiating from our bodies. With a sense of urgency, he continued to kiss me, his lips moving hungrily against mine.

And then I felt the evidence of his desire, just as Mistress Elena had taught me. I had also felt it the first time we kissed, right before he had ordered me to leave, I wasn't sure of the other times, but I was sure of now.

I moved away from the kiss, gazing into his eyes. "You desire me."

He pressed his pelvis against mine, and a moan escaped my lips. "Isn't it obvious?" His voice was gruff and deeper.

"Mistress Elena told me that a master's desires should always be fulfilled. I would like to pleasure you like you did to me at the lake," I confessed. I felt thrilled that he truly desired me. That was the answer to my second question.

He closed his eyes briefly, as if in pain, and then stepped away from me. His back turned towards me.

"I don't want to hurt you," he admitted. He faced me, his hands in his pockets. "You're definitely not ready for any of that."

"I have practiced," I assured him. When his eyes grew darker, I quickly fell silent.

"With whom?"

I shook my head, quickly clarifying. "Mistress Elena used various toys and cucumbers to teach me how to please a man. And I am good at whatever I do, it's part of the blessing."

His head dropped to the floor, and he muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear.

"I just want to please you."

He lifted his head. "You already do. More than you'll ever know."

Although his words warmed my heart...

"You mentioned that vampires need blood for their bodies to function, yet you haven't fed from me."

"Do you want me to feed from you?"

"I don't want you to get weak. I want to be good to you."

"You are good to me."

"I want to fulfill your true desires. Those rules you gave me," I shook my head, "They didn't sound like your true desires."

He crossed his arms.

"I wouldn't have given those rules if I didn't want you to follow them."

I pouted.

"But you're partly right," he began moving closer to me. "I have other desires." He stopped when he was standing between my legs, his gaze locked with mine. "And trust me, they will be fulfilled. Your blood is unlike anything I've ever smelled or tasted," he traced a finger along the veins on the inside of my wrist, and I watched as his eyes turned crimson and his canines transformed into fangs.

I should have been frightened, but instead, I was captivated.

"It drives one mad, and drinking directly from you could led to me unintentionally draining you, which would kill you," his eyes and fangs returned to normal, "Until I can control the madness, I won't harm you by feeding from you."

My voice was barely audible. "Where will you feed then?"

"What do you think I was doing when I left earlier?"

"Oh, you've already fed."

He nodded, his hand resting between my legs. I gasped as he began touching me there.

"As for your other concerns," a finger entered me, and I gripped his shoulders. "When the time is right, you'll show me what your Mistress taught you."

And for the second time that evening, I saw stars behind my closed eyelids.

~~~

...The next day

"My name is Prefon."

The expression on King Lucien's face was more amusing than the name itself.

The house was located on the outskirts of the village, and King Lucien had suggested that we take a stroll to the main village to explore and find some food, as I had already consumed what we had and needed ingredients for the cake we planned to bake. I was filled with excitement.

"What language is that? It doesn't resemble any of the 384 languages I know."

I stared at him in astonishment. "You know 384 languages? How did you manage to learn them all?"

He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, which appeared broader due to the cloak he wore as a disguise. The hood of the cloak covered a significant portion of his face, and it appeared worn-out and faded, not what one would expect the vampire king to be wearing, making it the perfect disguise.
"I have had plenty of time, and I still do, to learn more," he replied.

I sidestepped a large stone as I continued walking beside him. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you exactly? I have always been curious about that."

He chuckled. "My name can be found in every ancient history book imaginable. How old do you think that makes me?"

It made him an ancestor. Physically, he resembled a man who should be...

"I stopped aging at twenty-seven," he revealed.

We walked in silence for some time before I inquired, "At what age were you turned?"

"Fifteen."

"And your sister?"

"Twenty-two."

"What was it like to be turned?"

"We all had to die in order to be reborn as the creatures we are now. It was excruciatingly painful, agonizingly slow, and incredibly vivid. I could never forget that day, no matter how hard I tried. It continues to haunt me. The blood, the screams, my father standing over me, watching as I died. We are technically walking corpses, forever trapped in a world that was not meant for us, forever cursed. Sometimes I try to convince myself that we are not real."

To me, he was undeniably real.
I reached out to touch his hand but hesitated, retracting it.

"What about your father?"

His jaw clenched, and a dark expression overtook his features. Even from the side, I could perceive the blazing rage within him. I could see the shadows of pain taking shape in his eyes, the scars concealed beneath his flawless skin reflecting off of them.
"The last time I saw him was in the year 400 BC," he chuckled, devoid of humor. "After he had destroyed our lives, I spent years scouring the earth in search of him. It brought me satisfaction to see him damaged. I wanted to know that he was suffering just as we were."

At that moment, I took his hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. He glanced at our joined hands before shifting his gaze to me.
I wasn't sure what to say regarding everything he had told me, so I said, "It's not a real language."

When he seemed confused by my statement, I clarified, "Prefon is a name given to me by Madam Fray because she hates me. It's like an abbreviation. Pre means pretty, fo means for, and n means nothing."

"Pretty for nothing," he repeated, and then he burst into laughter, causing the shadows on his face to disappear.
"She is awful," he remarked.

"You're laughing at me." However, there was a smile in my voice.

He shook his head. "No," he continued laughing. "I just never imagined it had that meaning. How did she come up with something like that?"

His laughter was contagious, and soon we were both laughing until my stomach ached, until I accidentally pulled him down with me when I stumbled over a stone I didn't see on time. Yet, we continued to laugh, finding humor in something that had caused me sadness for many years. It was a relief.

~~~
Who else knew the meaning of her name?😊
Thank you reading 😘