Dark Prince: A Vampire Paranormal Romance (Blueblood Vampires Book 1) Read online

  Dark Prince

  Blueblood Vampires Book One

  Michelle Hercules

  Infinite Sky Publishing

  Dark Prince © 2020 by Michelle Hercules

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design: Michelle Hercules

  Photographer: Michelle Lancaster (@lanefotograf)

  Model: Chase Mattson

  Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing

  Proofreader: Cara Quinlan

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Also by Michelle Hercules

  About the Author

  1

  Lucca

  Havoc. That’s the name of this club. Appropriate. It’s dark, loud, and brimming with humans more than ready to satiate my hunger. It took me a while to get used to the noise. Night entertainment sure as shit has changed since the last time I was awake.

  My latest snack is passed out on the VIP couch, utterly spent. Feeding and fucking go hand in hand, but unlike the human currently snoring next to me, I’m far from satisfied. My strength has returned, and thanks to all the blood I’ve drunk already, I’m almost caught up on what I missed in the past ninety-five years. Blood remembers.

  Opposite me, Saxon is busy getting it on with some random girl. Ronan and Manu have disappeared to I-don’t-know-where. So much for my reawakening party. That’s my inner circle in a nutshell—a bunch of assholes. Not that I’m any better.

  I catch the attention of the nearest bouncer, signaling him to get rid of the passed out human. I’m ready for the next one.

  Not a minute later, I find my new target. A pretty little thing in black leather is walking over, carrying one single shot on her tray. Slender yet curvy in all the right places, blonde hair cascading down her back, and full lips begging to be tasted, she’s exactly what I need.

  Immediately, my fangs descend, and my cock hardens. I watch her approach, not hiding the hunger that’s surely shining in my eyes now. When she stops in front of me, I can hear how fast her heart is beating; I can smell her fear.

  Interesting.

  Most humans who come to these places aren’t afraid of us. They know exactly what we want, and they give it willingly in the hopes of being turned. Little do they know we no longer have that power.

  “What’s your name, sugar?” I ask, not hiding the craving in my voice.

  “Re-Rebecca.” She clutches the tray harder while tremors run through her body.

  A lie. That’s not her name. I’m not surprised she wasn’t truthful. She’s not afraid; she’s gripped by terror, which makes her even more alluring to me. I’m a predator after all.

  Not taking my eyes off her face, I run my fingers up her naked legs. “What do you have for me, Rebecca?”

  She doesn’t answer for a couple of beats. In fact, she’s not even breathing. I suspect she might bolt out of here at any second.

  “A special shot. On the house,” she finally replies.

  My lips curl into a grin. I was wondering when Derek Blackwater, the owner of Havoc, would send me a welcome gift. He was the last human to be turned into a vampire, and thus, he’s almost as old as me. But that’s as far as my knowledge of his dark past goes. The guy is a mystery.

  “Is that so?” My hand disappears underneath her skirt, and when I squeeze her ass, she gasps.

  “Yes,” she breathes out.

  My pulse skyrockets. Damn it. It’s normal to be thirstier soon after an awakening, but my reaction to this human is stronger than I anticipated.

  With shaking hands, she gives me the shot glass. I don’t know what kind of drink this is, but I’m past the point of caring. I throw my head back and drink it in one single gulp. Immediately, my head becomes fuzzy.

  With a frown, I stare at the empty glass, seeing double. “What the hell?”

  I sense someone yank on my necklace, a piece of jewelry I never take off. The fucking human is trying to steal from me. My movements are sluggish now, which means she laced my drink with vampire’s bane.

  Motherfucker.

  The necklace chain snaps at the same time that I manage to get over the poison’s effect. I’m fully recharged, thanks to my ninety-five-year nap, and thus, I’m less susceptible to vampire’s bane’s effects. The thief is about to take off, but I grab her wrist, digging my nails into her soft skin, drawing blood. A single whiff of her scent changes everything. My vision turns crimson, my eyes zero in on her neck, and my ears only hear the sound of her blood pumping in her veins.

  The desire to sink my fangs into her soft skin is no longer about retribution. This is pure and raw bloodlust.

  I jump from the couch, trapping the girl between my arms. She struggles, she screams, but no one will come to her aid.

  Sudden pain shoots up the back of my head, clearing my vision for a second. The human is pulled from me by Saxon, and then Manu is blocking my way.

  “What the hell, Lucca! I leave you alone for a moment, and that’s what you do?” Her golden eyes are glowing in the dark, showing how angry she is with me.

  “She poisoned me with vampire’s bane,” I grit out, trying to control the feral instinct that’s demanding I rip the human’s throat to shreds.

  “Let me go!” She fights Saxon’s hold.

  “Take it easy, sweet cheeks. You’re not going anywhere.”

  I don’t dare to move. I’m not over the bloodlust yet. I haven’t succumbed to it since the worst evening of my life centuries ago. Why now?

  “What’s this?” Saxon pulls an object from the girl’s grasp.

  “My necklace,” I say. “Bitch came here to steal from me.”

  Saxon lobs it in my direction, and then Manu whirls around, displaying her talon-like nails. Fuck. Now she wants a piece of the human too.

  No. She’s mine.

  “Who sent you here?” my sister asks the girl.

  The thief doesn’t have a chance to reply. Ronan comes running, his face twisted in t
he deepest frown and his entire body exuding anger. He spares a fleeting glance at the puny human in Saxon’s grasp and then turns to me.

  “We’ve got company,” he says. “Tatiana’s sycophants are here.”

  Damn everything to hell. They had to show up now. I could simply kill the human with a single blow and be done with retaliation. But my body immediately rejects that idea. I can’t do it.

  With regret, I turn to Saxon. “Forget her.”

  His eyebrows furrow while he watches me as if I’d lost my mind. I’m not sure I haven’t. Releasing someone who poisoned me and tried to steal from me is not my MO, but my revenge will have to wait. I have an older debt to settle and a message to send.

  2

  Vivienne

  Fifteen Hours Earlier

  I give an overall glance at the small living room to make sure I didn’t forget anything. The ’70s trailer might be old, noisy, and smell funny, but it’s home. Not seeing any item that I forgot to pack, I scribble a quick note for my brother and attach it to the fridge. I haven’t heard from the dumbass in more than twenty-four hours, and I need to give him precise instructions for when I’m gone. Rikkon is five years older than me, but I’m the parental figure in our dysfunctional family.

  With a sigh, I check my phone again. Nothing from him. I can’t help the tightness in my chest. Rikkon is a trouble magnet, and if I have premature expression lines at eighteen, it’s thanks to him.

  Where the hell is he?

  A knock on the door brings my thoughts back to the here and now.

  “Vivi, are you ready?” Karl, one of my bandmates, asks.

  “Yeah, I’m coming.”

  I hoist the duffel bag over my shoulder, grab my purse, and then head out. Karl’s ginger hair looks fierier under the morning sun, and the freckles on his face seem to have multiplied. We never meet this early in the day. He looks younger despite the scruff on his jaw.

  Our other bandmates, Cheryl and Vaughn, are in the van, probably asleep already. We did practice until two in the morning.

  “Got everything?” Karl reaches for my bag.

  “I hope so.”

  Halfway to the van, I spare a glance at the trailer. Karl doesn’t miss the action.

  “Is something wrong?”

  I shake my head. “No. Everything is fine.”

  There’s no point in telling him about Rikkon. None of my bandmates understand why I put up with my brother’s shit. They think he’s a selfish junkie who doesn’t appreciate me. That’s true most of the time. But they don’t know he risked his life to save mine. I can’t turn my back on him, no matter how much I wish I could.

  As I suspected, Cheryl and Vaughn are napping in the back already. I take the shotgun seat, sinking against the familiar, worn-out upholstery. A yawn sneaks up on me, which I try to cover with my hand.

  “Here.” Karl offers me a cup of steaming coffee. “Drink this. I can’t have you falling asleep on me like those two idiots in the back. I need someone to keep me awake.”

  “Thanks. I’m tired, but I don’t think I can sleep right now.”

  “It’s exciting, isn’t it? I can’t believe we actually got a spot in the Battle of the Bands in New York City.”

  “Me neither. It all feels like a dream.” I take a tentative sip of the coffee, burning my tongue in the process.

  “It’s not a dream, Vivi. Good things are going to happen to us.”

  His smile is so open and genuine that I begin to believe him. Life has never been easy for me, so dreaming isn’t something I allow myself to do. Born to an absent father and a bipolar mother, my brother and I had to grow up fast. There were never unicorns and rainbows in our world. It has always been pain, struggle, and blood.

  A shiver goes down my spine when dark memories begin to crawl out from their hiding spot. I shove them back as far as I can.

  Karl turns on the radio, dialing the volume to the max.

  Not a second later, his sister, Cheryl, tosses a shoe at him. “Cut it out, jackass. I need my beauty sleep.”

  Vaughn doesn’t even groan. I’ve never met anyone who could simply fall asleep where he stood. He could sleep through a hurricane.

  To keep the peace, I turn the volume down.

  “You’re too nice.” Karl laughs.

  “Keep thinking that.” I smirk and then drink my coffee to hide my amusement.

  I love singing in the band, but it’s Karl who makes everything better. I’m not sure what it is about him that helps me forget my problems for a little while. When I joined Nocturnal, I crushed on him hard. I was only fifteen at the time and Karl nineteen. Cheryl used to call me jailbait. For obvious reasons, the feelings were one-sided. Karl treated me like a little sister, and with time, I got over my crush and started to see him as the older brother I should have had.

  Guilt sneaks into my heart every time I wish Karl were my real brother. Rikkon cares about me in his demented way. He wouldn’t have done what he did otherwise. We were both dealt a horrible fate in life, and while I found music as a coping mechanism, Rikkon got lost in parties and drugs.

  “A penny for your thoughts,” Karl pipes up.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “You had a frown, so I’m betting you were thinking about your brother. What did he do now?”

  “Surprisingly, nothing.”

  No sooner do I speak than my phone starts to ring. It’s Rikkon’s ringtone. Finally!

  “About time. Where have you been?” I ask.

  “Vivi, I need your help,” he replies, short of breath as if he had been running.

  The tightness in my chest returns. I knew something bad was coming.

  “What happened?” I ask. There’s the sound of a scuffle, followed by a yelp. “Rikkon! Talk to me.”

  “Rikkon can’t come to the phone right now,” a different male voice replies. Cold. Rough.

  “Who is this?”

  “I’m the one your brother crossed. If you want to see him alive, come to Ember Emporium. Alone.”

  The call goes silent.

  I let my phone drop to my lap, seeing nothing in front of me.

  “Vivi, what happened?” Karl asks.

  “It’s Rikkon. He’s in trouble. I have to help him.”

  “What did your douche-canoe brother do now?” Cheryl sticks her face between us.

  “I-I don’t know. But I have to go to Ember Emporium now, alone, to try to help him.”

  “That’s dragon-shifter’s territory,” Cheryl replies. “What is your brother doing there?”

  “I don’t know.” My voice is tight, and the only reason I’m not crying right now is because I don’t want my friends to know how scared I am.

  “You can’t go there by yourself,” Karl rebuffs. “Ember Emporium is Larsson’s domain. He’s the most ruthless dragon kingpin to ever set foot in Salem.”

  “I know that,” I snap. “But if I don’t go, I might never see Rikkon again.”

  “Good riddance,” Cheryl mumbles under her breath.

  “Cheryl! Come on,” Karl retorts.

  Balling my hands into fists, I look out the window. “I’m not asking you to understand or support my decision. But I have to help Rikkon. He’s my brother.”

  “Then we’ll all go,” Karl declares.

  “No!” I whip my face to him. “I was told to go alone. I don’t want to piss off my brother’s captor.”

  “Dude, that’s a very bad idea,” Vaughn chimes in. It seems my turmoil woke Sleeping Beauty up.

  “We can’t compete in the Battle of the Bands without a lead singer,” Cheryl reminds us.

  If possible, the guilt in my heart overflows. Stupid, stupid Rikkon. I can’t believe he’s putting me in this situation again. I hate him right now.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

  “Save it, Vivienne. We all know that the only reason you stick to your loser brother is because you’re afraid to take chances,” Cheryl retorts.

  “That’s not true. You don’t know anyth
ing,” I grit out.

  She returns to her seat in the back, hiding her face from me. “I think it’s high time we look for another singer.”

  “You want me to choose between saving my brother’s life and the band?” My voice rises to a shrill.

  “Yes,” she replies.

  Her answer feels like a punch to my chest. My eyes prickle, and when I stare at Karl’s profile, it’s hard to keep the tears at bay. His jaw is clenched, and his brows are furrowed together.

  “Do you feel the same way as Cheryl?” I ask.

  “I would never ask you to choose between saving a life and the band, but … I don’t disagree with her. You always drop everything when it comes to Rikkon. Today, he pissed off a dragon kingpin. What is he going to do tomorrow? Kill a Blueblood?”

  The wince is involuntary. I look the other way fast, hoping Karl missed my reaction. He has no idea how close he came to the truth.

  With a shudder, I say, “Can you please just stop the car, so I can get out?”

  “Wait, are you really going there alone?” Vaughn asks. “That’s crazy, Vivi.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I have to do this.”

  Karl lets out a resigned sigh. “I’ll drop you off there. You’re not walking all the way to downtown.” His tone is kind and understanding, but there’s also a finality to it.

  I’ve let the band down too many times before, and this is probably the last straw. Cheryl could be right. Maybe I do use my brother as an excuse to not change the status quo. Not trying means I can’t fail.