Prince of Vampires Read online

  Prince of Vampires

  Vampire Kingdom Book 1

  by Jody Morse & Jayme Morse

  https://www.facebook.com/Jayme-Morse-Jody-Morse-158320107584568/

  Copyright © 2016 Jody Morse & Jayme Morse

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the authors.

  All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  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

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  The Vampire Kingdom series continues with Book 2: Mark of Blood!

  Chapter 1

  Lila

  IT WAS A SUMMER CAMPING trip with my friends in mid-July that changed everything.

  Not that there was any way I could have known that the world as I knew it was about to flip upside down. That night started out just like any other Saturday night did that summer.

  My boyfriend, Sean, and I went camping with our friends at Sapphire Lake. Since my two best friends, Krista and Juniper, were dating Sean’s two best friends, Mike and Josh, the six of us were camping at the lake every Saturday night.

  That night, we were all sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows as the crickets chirped and fireflies lit up the night sky all around us. My friends were all drinking rum that Josh had snuck out of his dad’s liquor cabinet, but I was just sipping on some Cherry Coke. It was probably weird, but I’d always wanted to wait until my 21st birthday before I took my first sip of alcohol. What would be the fun of turning 21 if I’d already started drinking during my teen years?

  I also felt sort of guilty. I’d lied to my parents and told them I was sleeping over at Krista’s house, just like I’d told them every other time we’d gone camping together that summer. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust me... I just knew my parents wouldn’t have liked that I was going to be sleeping outside. They were overprotective sometimes, which I was sure had to do with me being their only child. Anyway, it was bad enough that I’d lied about camping with my friends. The last thing I wanted to do was add to that by drinking, too.

  “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see your face on a milk carton?” Juniper asked, her dark brown eyes flitting over to each of us.

  “Do they even still put faces on milk cartons? I thought they stopped that,” Josh said with a frown.

  “I don’t know.” Juniper shrugged. “But we had to read that book The Face on the Milk Carton in the college class I’m taking this summer—novel to film. Anyway, it just made me wonder what it would be like to find out that you’ve been kidnapped.”

  “Well, Lila would know. Right, Lila?” Krista glanced over at me with a serious look in her light eyes.

  I shifted in my lawn chair uncomfortably. “How would I know? I wasn’t kidnapped.”

  “I know you weren’t kidnapped, but you were adopted. It’s sort of like the same thing... isn’t it?”

  “No. When you’re kidnapped, you’re taken from your parents. My parents—my biological parents, I mean—willingly gave me up.” I hoped my answer wasn’t too defensive, even though it made me uncomfortable. I knew my friends meant well, but they didn’t understand what it was like to be adopted.

  “Have you ever thought about trying to find your birth parents?” Krista asked, pulling her marshmallow away from the flame and making a s’more out of it.

  “Not really.” It wasn’t like looking for them would have done any good. My birth parents had made it crystal clear they wanted no part of me, since they’d requested a closed adoption when they gave me up at eighteen months old. I had no memories of them, but I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, Thomas and Jacqueline DeHaven were my real parents. They were the only family I’d ever known and the only family I wanted to know.

  An awkward silence hung in the air. I could tell my friends must have sensed they’d hit on a sensitive topic, so Mike changed the subject. “So, I’m having my birthday party in two Saturdays from now. My parents will be out of town on business, so I’m going to have a huge bash. It will be a pool party, so there will be hot girls in bikinis”—he glanced over at Krista, his girlfriend, with a wink— “and lots of booze. Are you all down?”

  “You know I’ll be there, baby,” Krista said with a smile.

  “You can count us in, too,” Josh spoke for him and Juniper.

  “Yeah, me and Lila will be there,” Sean chimed in.

  I glanced over at him, trying to conceal my annoyance. We hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk about Mike’s birthday party. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go. It was just that I wanted Sean to ask me before speaking for me. He’d been doing a lot of that lately and it was starting to get on my nerves.

  Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t that I didn’t love him, because I did. I’d secretly been in love with Sean for years. We’d been best friends long before we’d considered dating. It wasn’t until he asked me to be his date for our junior prom that he’d confessed how he felt about me. My own feelings came pouring out and the rest was history.

  It was just that lately, it felt like I was beginning to lose my identity. People no longer saw us as “Lila” and “Sean.” They now saw us as “Lila and Sean,” two peas in a pod, two people who couldn’t do anything without the other. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

  At that moment, my cell phone started to ring. I glanced down at the caller ID. Blocked caller.

  I hit the ‘Ignore’ button. Seconds later, my phone began to ring again. I didn’t usually answer calls from blocked callers, but what if it was something important? What if something had happened to one of my parents?

  I rose to my feet, and even though I was pretty sure no one was paying attention to me, mumbled, “I’ll be right back.”

  Once I’d distanced myself away from my friends’ talking and laughter, I slid my finger across the screen of the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hello. Is this Lila?” an unfamiliar deep voice asked into the phone.

  “Yes.”

  There was a brief pause on the other end of the line.

  “I want you to meet me tomorrow at ten a.m. on Winchester Ave. There’s a little coffee shop called Frappe’s. I’ll be wearing a suit with a black top hat. You won’t miss me.” He paused and then added in a cautionary voice, “In the meantime, you need to be careful. You are in grave danger.”

  Shivers crept down my spine. “W-who is this? Is this
some sort of prank?”

  “I assure you, this isn’t a prank. Who I am doesn’t matter right now. I’ll reveal my identity when you meet me tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

  Before I could ask any more questions, the phone beeped because the call was lost. The guy had already hung up.

  LONG AFTER SEAN AND I had crawled into our tent for the night, I kept tossing and turning on my pile of blankets. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t seem to get the phone call off my mind.

  The logical side of me thought that it was nothing more than a prank, but another part of me couldn’t help but wonder... what if it was real?

  Of course that didn’t make sense. What type of “grave danger” could I have been in? If I was in some sort of danger, surely I would have known about it.

  As I rolled over onto my side, I found Sean’s brown eyes staring back into mine.

  “Hey. You okay?” he whispered.

  “I’m okay. Just a little anxious,” I lied.

  “Yeah? About what?” Sean asked as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

  “Just... stuff.”

  “I’m anxious about stuff, too,” he whispered, pulling me closer to him and pressing his lips to mine. “You know there’s a way we can make ourselves feel better, right?”

  “How?” I asked.

  Slipping his hand beneath the cotton material of my shorts, he met my eyes. “Let’s do it.”

  I just stared back at him. He wanted us to... have sex?

  The confusion must have been written all over my face, because he went on.

  “I want you, Lila. More than I’ve ever wanted anyone,” he whispered as he began to climb on top of me.

  Sitting up, I pushed him away. “I’m not ready for that, Sean.”

  Frustration filled his eyes, and I was pretty sure there was some hurt mixed in with it, too. “I don’t get it. We’ve been together for three months now and we’ve known each other our entire lives. If now isn’t the right time, then when will be?”

  “I-I don’t know. I can’t. I’m sorry,” I murmured before grabbing my flip-flops and climbing out of the tent. I didn’t feel like dealing with him, and I needed a chance to clear my head.

  I stared up at the full moon, which hung brightly in the night sky. The moonlight reflected against the water in such a way that it almost felt like I was being drawn to the lake.

  Sean was right. We had known each other forever. So why wasn’t I ready yet?

  I’d never been with anyone in that way, but I’d always figured that when the time came, I would be ready to go there with him. Now I wasn’t so sure.

  As I climbed on the high rocks that lined the shore of the lake, I wondered if maybe the only reason I’d turned Sean down was because my emotions had been all over the place ever since the phone call. I couldn’t shake the bad feeling that had formed in the pit of my stomach. I was probably being ridiculous, but something about it just didn’t feel right.

  At that moment, I lost my footing on one of the slippery rocks. As I fell into the lake, I was shocked by how cold the water was.

  The strangest thing happened then. It felt like I was being pulled under, even though I didn’t seem to be caught in anything.

  I tried to kick myself above the surface, but the water above me was weighing down on me like a ton of bricks.

  I was going to drown.

  Chapter 2

  Lila

  THE MOTION OF SOMETHING moving beneath me startled me awake. My eyes fluttered open and I took in my surroundings.

  I was lying on a long wooden board in the middle of the ocean. At first I wondered if I was dreaming I was Rose in Titanic, but it felt too real to be a dream.

  When I glanced up at the sky, I gasped.

  It wasn’t blue and full of clouds, nor was it gray and ready to downpour. It wasn’t white like snowflakes or even that gorgeous mix of cotton candy colors you sometimes see right before the sun starts to set.

  The sky was a shade of crimson. The color reflected against the ocean, giving it the appearance of blood. I’d never seen anything like it before.

  I silently began to panic. Why did the sky look the way it did? More important, where was I?

  I racked my brain for my last memory. After Sean had made things uncomfortable, I’d taken a walk around the lake and then... I slipped on the rocks?

  Falling into the icy cold water of the lake was the last memory that came to mind. So how had I woken up in the middle of the ocean?

  I considered the possibility that I’d drowned. Maybe this place was Heaven... or Hell. With that red sky, it seemed believable that it could have been Hell.

  As the slow waves gently rolled beneath the wooden board, I glanced around. All I could see for what looked like miles and miles was a stretch of red sea. There was no sign of shore in sight.

  I was stranded.

  One question circled through my mind. How was I going to get out of the ocean?

  Glancing down at my clothes, I realized that I was no longer wearing the same shorts and tank top I’d fallen into the lake in. They’d somehow been replaced by a plain black cotton dress, one that I didn’t remember owning. On my feet, I wore a pair of hot pink flip-flops that I’d never seen before, either.

  At that moment, I heard the sound of water breaking, a few splashes, and then laughter as two girls appeared on each side of the board. One of the girls had long, curly blonde hair, while the other had sleek, shoulder-length black hair. I couldn’t help but notice that both girls were topless.

  “Look, Rosie. Sleeping Beauty’s awake now,” the blonde girl said.

  Rosie, the black-haired girl, giggled. “We should tip her over. Wouldn’t that be funny?”

  “Funny for who?” I asked out loud, but they both ignored me.

  The blonde grinned. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  As they both grabbed onto the wooden board, I glanced around for something to hold onto. I knew how to swim, but not that well—not well enough to swim to shore. That wasn’t even to mention that there may have been sharks lurking in those dark waters.

  But it looked like I was going to have to swim, because there was nothing for me to hold onto.

  Just as the girls began to tip me over, there was a splash in the water behind us.

  “What are you girls doing?” a male voice boomed loudly. I glanced over my shoulder as the guy swam toward us. He looked like a surfer guy with longish blonde hair, sun-kissed skin, and... a shiny, blue fin that splashed in the water after him.

  My eyes did a double take. He had a fin... an actual fin.

  I glanced from him to the topless girls. Were they... No, that was crazy. They weren’t mermaids, were they?

  Of course not. Mermaids didn’t actually exist.

  But then, both of the girls began to flap their own tails in the water. The blonde girl had a vibrant orange tail, while Rosie’s was purple. All three of their tails were beautiful.

  Was I dreaming? It was the only explanation. There was no way this could have been real life.

  I pinched myself. I definitely wasn’t dreaming.

  “Ty, what are you doing here?” the blonde asked. She looked caught off-guard by his presence. Actually, both girls seemed shocked by his presence—so shocked that they’d moved away from the wooden board, allowing me to breathe easier.

  “I have every right to be here. And I’m glad I happened to be passing through. What’s wrong with you girls?” Ty asked.

  “Nothing’s wrong with us. We were just going to tip her over.” The blonde grinned proudly.

  Ty gave her a cold, hard stare. “Is that what you really want, Kara? To kill this poor innocent girl?”

  “You know what her dying would mean for us,” Kara replied. “We would get to feast.”

  “You feasted a month ago!” Ty roared angrily. “You’re just being greedy now.”

  “But she’s really pretty, isn’t she?” Rosie asked, moving closer to me and running a hand over my hair. “Imagine how muc
h more beautiful we’ll be if we eat her.”

  Unsure of what was going on, but not liking the sounds of whatever it was, I trembled at her touch.

  Ty must have sensed my fear, because he said, “Look at how much you’re scaring this poor girl. Leave her alone.” He turned to me and smiled. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”

  “Lila,” I whispered.

  “How did you end up in the middle of the sea?”

  I shook my head. “I-I don’t know. I can’t remember how I got here.”

  “I bet you want to get back to shore, don’t you?” Ty asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I just don’t know how to get there.”

  “Don’t worry, love. I’ll take you there,” he promised before turning to Rosie and Kara. “You hear that, girls? I hate to ruin your lunch plans, but I’m going to make sure that Lila here gets to shore.”

  “Party pooper,” Rosie said with a sigh before diving beneath the water, flapping her tail behind her as she swam.

  Anger flashed through Kara’s eyes. If looks could kill, Ty definitely would have been dead. But she didn’t say a word as she swam after Rosie, her tail smacking hard against the water, likely fueled by her anger.

  Once they were out of sight, Ty turned to me. “I’m really sorry about that.”

  “What... are... you?” I blurted.

  He laughed. “Do you want to take a guess?”

  “It sounds crazy, but I think you might be mermaids.”

  A smile tugged at his lips. “Bingo.”

  “Mermaids actually exist?” I whispered, trying to make sense of it.

  Ty nodded. “Indeed.”

  “Where am I? I’m obviously not in Pennsylvania anymore.”

  “Pennsylvania? Oh my. You sure are a long way from home.” Ty sounded surprised. “You’re in the Deadwood Sea.”

  “Where’s that?” I frowned. I knew I wasn’t a straight-A student, especially when it came to geography, but I’d never heard of the Deadwood Sea before.

  “Somewhere I’m sure you’ve never been before now.” He met my gaze with a soft look in his eyes. “I’m just glad I got to you in time... before those girls ate you for dinner.”

  “What would make them want to eat me?”

  “So, mermaids are immortals. As much as I hate to admit this, the way we stay alive is by devouring human flesh,” he explained.