My Vampire Prince..-Chapter 131: Uncovering the uncovered.

"What? What are you talking about?" Elyria asked, surprised.

"The man you just mentioned."

"Uh huh?"

"Jesse is his name right?" Jude said, his voice shaking.

"We already established that genius." Elyria punched in.

"Then that’s the king yuh gunches!"

"What do you mean that’s the king?! He’s a prince of another freaking country!"

The old man looked like someone had just slapped the hell out of him. He shook his head then sucked his teeth at the duo.

Jude looked left and right then scrambled back to his bike before they could even react.

"You’re on your own fellers." he called out, trying a piece of already chewed wood in his mouth. "And one more thing. If y’all value your heads, don’t go about saying the-name-that-must-not-be-said especially around the local folks."

With that, the old man pulled up the stopper and peddled faster than his age could carry him.

Once he was gone, Elyria turned to Lio.

"What was that all about? What are we going to do now?"

Lio bit his lip, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don’t know but whoever this Jesse or prince is, he’s a fuvking keeper."

He let his hands down, his face becoming sharper. At first, he had planned on just wanting to find out what the deal with this man was and if he could help Elena in any way. But now, he was intrigued beyond return. To Lio, he was more of a threat than an ally.

"Whoever or whatever he may be, we’ll find him...the jerk named Jesse."

Lio and Elyria continued their journey on the long stretch of land before them.

"What should we say when we get to town?" Elyria asked.

"Well we can’t mention ’Jesse’ that’s for sure."

"But we don’t know if the old man was lying or not." Elyria argued.

"Still, El. It’s better we play it safe. Since he said he was the ruler, it means he lives in the palace right? So we’ll just ask directions for there instead."

"Not bad." Elyria nodded. "Let me warn you about something though."

Lio turned to her as they kept walking. They could see people moving up and down just a few meters ahead.

"What is it?"

"When I came here last, the people were very mean." she looked up at him. "Very, very, very wicked." Elyria said again, emphasizing each word.

"Was it day like this?"

"No, it was night."

"Then maybe it won’t be as bad." Lio said. He slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to himself, leaning her head on his breast. Elyria knew he was just saying that to make her feel better. Deep down, she didn’t want to dig deep into this Jesse of a person.

Her first encounter with him said a lot about the kind of being he is. She had only agreed to go with Lio because wel...

’Why did I agree to go?’ she asked herself.

But there was no answer. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t have a solid answer to why she came to search for the man that had brazenly assaulted her.

"... Elyria? Elyria!"

Lio’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Huh—uh?!"

His eye brows furrowed together.

"Just what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Are...are we there yet?"

Lio eyed her for a bit before looking in front of him.

"Uh."

"Fuvk...here we go again." Elyria murmured to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zerathane ~~

Elena laid on the queen-size bed with Damien right next to her. His arm hung loose around her but his hand gripped her waist tight, occasionally pulling her closer as he slept. The dark room and ambience provided the couple with peace, something neither of them had experienced for a while.

Damien’s eyes fluttered open to meet Elena staring right at him, her fingers caressing his face mildly.

He smiled gently, leaned in and kissed her lips gently.

"Since when did my wife start waking up before me?" he asked playfully, flicking her forehead lightly.

Elena chuckled softly. She took his hand in hers and placed it on her cheek.

"You know you can tell me anything right?"

Her question was a light blow on Damien.

"All of a sudden?" he said quietly, brushing a strand of her hair over her ear. "What’s bothering you love?"

"Why do I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me?"

Damien raised a brow. "Why would I keep something from you my love?"

Elena shifted closer to Damien who cuddled her under his arm. "The day of the fire...how are the kids reacting to it? Are they ok?"

Damien fell silent, unable to say anything. He had already made up his mind never to reveal what he had discovered concerning Eden and what he had done to Edna. Although he had expected her to ask questions, he still was unsure about how to maneuver himself out of the situation.

"The kids are doing fine dear. Since they both passed out, the didn’t remember much about it. Isn’t that good?"

He could feel her breathe out on his arm. The pangs of guilt for lying to her hit him hard but in his defense, it wasn’t entirely a lie.

’I’m just keeping some things back... I didn’t lie to you sweetheart.’ he thought silently, stroking her hazel hair slowly.

"How about we go out tomorrow? Just you, me with the kids. We need it." Damien said in a hoarse yet gentle voice.

A minute passed in silence until Elena broke it.

"You go without me."

"What?"

"I don’t want to cause another disaster for the kids...and you."

Damien sat up immediately and turned on the bed lamp. "Don’t say that my love. It was an accident not like you did it intentionally."

"Of course I didn’t but...but..."

"But what?"

"What if they don’t forget this one?" she lowered her head into her knees she had brought in front of her chest. "I don’t want them to have a childhood worse than mine. I don’t want them to hate me."

"You’re their mother, darling. They can never hate you."

Silence shrouded the room again thicker than the darkness they sat in despite the light from the bed lamp.

"I don’t want to take any chances. Not with the kids or you." Damien sighed heavily. He began to imagine what she would have said if he told her what he had done to Edna and what Eden had told her. Though wrong, he knew Eden’s revelation was something she must never hear of or else it would break her. How can a kid not remember almost killing his own sister?

Afraid that she’d blame herself for his memory loss, Damien decided to be tight-lipped.

Elena’s sobs dragged him out of his thoughts. It was quiet but he could hear it plunge deep into his person...and he hated it.

He shifted closer to where she sat curled up in the small healing bay bed and guided her gently on to his laps.

His hands reached for her face, wiping her tears away then smearing it beneath his own eyes. He watched as her tears dropped one after the other on his arm. A sharp, veiny pain tore through his rib cage into his heart, affecting both. He thought long and hard on what to do to calm her down. As she sat in his arms, he rocked her gently, continuously wiping her tears, smearing them on his face and patting her head.

Her tears were his only weakness. Seeing them fall helplessly from her eyes knowing fully well there was nothing he could do for her made his blood boil. Beneath the large blanket that wrapped around her bare body, Damien felt hot anger rush towards him and the sudden urge to punch himself or hit his head on glass.

’Why...why am I always useless to you?’

’Why can’t I for once comfort you?’

’Why...’ he kept murmuring to himself.

Elena’s tears continued to fall unrelenting as if mocking his vain admonishment to himself. By now, her tears had covered half his forearm so he moved her instead to rest her head on his shoulder so she’d have a dryer place.

"Your sadness is my sadness, your joy is mine also. I would gladly suffer this pain for you instead if you let me. Even if you don’t, I’ll give you the little joy I have in exchange for your pain. Please let me..."

Elena stopped crying at his last plea. It was then she noticed his hand that repeatedly came to her face and back to his.

That voice, his tone, it sounded grieved. The kind that made the heart stop because of the sorrow it brought with it. She felt him.

His pain, fear, depression, all because of her. He leaned down and rubbed his face over her hair and face.

"How can I be so cruel by letting you do that for me?" she replied in a small, shrill voice, her hand reaching out to wipe her own tears under his eyes. She caught his slit eyes.

Those eyes had looked at her disgustedly when she had first came. Those eyes had nonchalantly killed one too many people without a single flicker of pity in them.

Now, those same eyes gazed at her with pained, sorrowful love. She was tearing apart piece by piece, losing ever inch of herself just by looking at those eyes.

Her heart thumped wildly that she could hear it.

"You’re my wife, Elena. I’d go to hell and stay there if it meant you would never shed a single tear again."

His arms wrapped around her tighter this time, his face nuzzled by the side of her face. His warmth, breath, everything mingled with her senses.

"Damien..." she said drowsily, her head swaying but Damien caught it right on time.

"We’ll be fine my love... everything will be fine. I’ll make sure of it."

"I think we need space...Damien."