He embraces me as is, and I do the same.
Every piece, the paintings I did while human of an unknown man, fills the different areas side by side with its sinful counterpart in animal form.
My king’s reign.
Tero’s deadly poise.
Marcia’s strike.
Meera’s knowledge.
Elise’s greed.
Isabella’s sight.
My touch.
We are the seven deadly sins, and I've embraced my truth. Hold it close to my heart because it is a part of me. I won’t deny it. Us.
What home will always mean.
A round of applause rings throughout the room as those with V.I.P. access watch us walk toward the main stage. They're looking at me, then Theo, sensing something’s off but they can't put their fingers on it. Instead, they celebrate my interpretations while behind two glass enclosures a familial set of predators awaits.
Marcia, my beautiful girl, has been given a treat along with her brother. A meal. Their favorite kind.
Their individual sizes vary, with Tero being the largest, making the choice easy.
Theodore steps toward the mic and the room grows quiet; if a pin dropped, it would be heard.
“Thank you all for coming out tonight in support of my talented wife.” Applauses grow louder, the confirmation of our relationship I’m sure will make the front-page news of some magazine in the next few hours, but I could care less. “Please enjoy the show with an open mind. Her interpretations of the seven deadly sins are incredible, and I hope you imbibe in a bit of the macabre with us tonight.”
The covers are removed from the glasses and the audience gasps at the brutal scene.
Two beasts.
My favorite snakes are in rare form, letting go and feeding. It reminds me of the yellow anaconda display that Theo took me to where I watched the beautiful animal feed. They’ve already broken down their victims.
Marcia was given my human mother.
Tero, my father.
They’ve already killed each, one by suffocation and the other by envenomation before the crowd could fully see what they’d be digesting. I might have a disturbing mind, but I won’t expose my kind to the idiocy of humanity.
A part of me admires them after living amongst them.
Tero’s jaws are unlocked, his bloodied cage a mess as he swallows my father head first, the carnage left behind from the kill making his body unrecognizable. Too much blood mixed with the low lighting only let the audience see what we want them to.
Marcia’s cage is much the same. My mother was already swallowed, leaving behind the giant bloat on my special girl’s stomach where her meal is.
The applause that thunders in the room is deafening, the ground shaking, and I smile toward the crowd. They love what they see. They have no idea that they’ve just witnessed the murder of two of their own, and yet, I’d bet money that some wouldn’t care either way.
After a bit, when both snakes lay in contented bliss, the crowd disperses to walk the rest of the room. The murmur of people inquiring about purchasing a few doesn’t surprise me, but the sight of Xadiel standing in the middle of the room, his face etched with worry, freezes me in place.
“Xadiel,” I call out, voice too low for the humans, but everyone else hears and are on alert. “You guys didn’t let us know you were coming?” His features tighten at the word them. Him and my sister. “Where is she? I don’t smell her?”
“Gabriella, she’s…I don’t—”
“Where. Is. She?” Dread fills my veins, and Theo beside me tenses.
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Theo pulls me down the stage, not stopping until I’m standing in front of a man whose suffering is palpable. “Xadiel, what’s going on. Whatever it is, we’ll help—”
“She’s gone, Gabby. Isabella disappeared, and I can’t find her.”
Outtake
The day they met…
Theodore
There’s a change in me the moment I step inside the castle, an overwhelming hunger that pulls a deep rumble from my chest as an intoxicating scent infiltrates my senses. It’s sweet—so fucking alluring—and I follow it to my private wing.
Every vampire in the palace has made themselves scarce; I can still hear the whimpers of many as they ran from me, and the low warning growls escaping the back of my throat. And they’re completely right in doing so because the volatile emotions rushing through me will blind me.
My mate is here, and jealousy is an unpredictable emotion. I will kill without remorse if anyone were to come near her.
Every muscle in my body—every single molecule in my vampiric DNA accepts her—and I don’t pause until I’m outside my bedroom door.
It’s then I make out her heartbeat. This thump, thump, thump that lulls me into a state of serenity I’ve never experienced before. That I don’t know how to feel about. It’s confusing yet intriguing and I’m hungry for a taste of the woman responsible.
“Motherfuck,” I hiss out, rubbing a hand over my thick cock—pressing down hard enough to alleviate the uncontrollable need to mount her, but it only serves to make it worse. So much fucking worse when I hear her take in a deep breath of her own, pulling me into her small lungs and letting out a breathy sigh.
Such a sweet little sound. So perfect.
Then, there’s the shift in my mattress, the small rustling of sheets I can clearly hear, and I’m barging in without a second thought. The door slams against the wall, her plump mouth lets out a squeak, and her head turns toward me.
The second I see her face I’m done for.
Nothing fucking matters.
I’ll live and breathe for my pretty girl.
Gabriella
“Pompous, arrogant jerk,” I grumble, stealthily walking the hall toward the vampire king’s bedroom. “Like I don’t have better things to do than come and kick his butt.”
The palace seems empty today, and I’m wondering what poor kingdom is feeling the wrath of his search. He’s been looking for me. Plowing through small covens in search of mine, although we’re in plain sight.
That alone lets me know that
