Chapter 35: Vlad’s headache

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Vlad’s headache

The room reeked of cigarettes and alcohol, sweaty air thick around drugs scattered across the table and floor.

Vlad sat leisurely on the couch, leaning back, his red hair so vivid it looked like actual fire burning in that dimly lit room.

He held a cigarette between his lips — one from Govani Company, the very best — and took a slow, deliberate drag, releasing smoke that curled out of his mouth like chimney exhaust.

He did it slow, controlled, his shadowed eyes fixed on the ceiling with an empty, distant expression.

The people around him — two men and a woman in a maid’s dress — watched him nervously, faces wary. They didn’t know what had happened, but whenever their master acted like this, it usually meant someone was about to die.

Yet other than the three, one person didn’t seem to care about Vlad’s mood at all.

A woman in a college uniform, drinking juice, eating a burger, her expression one of deep, dramatic grievance.

"I hate you, Vlad," Alissa said, staring at him, legs crossed. "You told me I’d get to drink today. You even promised I’d try the drugs. Where are they, huh? Liar!"

"Alissa, shut the fuck up."

"You shut the fuck up!" she screamed back, flipping him off, making the onlookers flinch, half-expecting Vlad to pull a gun and put a hole through her forehead.

But, as always, Vlad only sighed, lowering his head, staring at Alissa across the table separating them.

"Look, baby girl, I’m already pissed off over some bullshit that just happened to one of my distributors. I don’t need your pretty face adding to it," Vlad hissed.

"Let this pretty face drink, then!"

"Ah, for the love of god." He sighed, deeply exasperated. "Alissa, I just lost a box of money and Gifter drugs. On top of that, my gun’s gone too."

The room went dead silent, apart from the muffled music drifting in from the nightclub outside.

"You know what that means for me, don’t you? So shut up. And besides," he checked his expensive watch, "it’s time for you to head home. Marcus, make sure she gets there safely."

"Ye—!"

"I don’t want to," Alissa shook her head, crossing her arms. "I don’t want to go back to that house with that woman playing pretend-mother."

"She’s your mother."

"Stepmother!" she corrected sharply. "Not my mother. My mother’s dead. And my sister doesn’t even live there anymore. She barely visits. Why am I the only one stuck with that woman? I want to live with you, Vlad."

"I already explained my situation," Vlad said, stubbing out his cigarette. He glanced at his subordinates, and they filed out of the room immediately.

He turned his attention back to Alissa. "After what just happened, my standing within the Reds is worse than it’s ever been."

"But—!"

"Alissa, for fuck’s sake, you don’t seem to get something." He rose to his feet, kicking the table aside, stepping towards her. He crouched down close, taking her hands in his. "For you, this is nothing but rebellion against your family. That’s why you want to drink, smoke, get high. That’s why you’re with me, Alissa."

"I love you."

"You fucking don’t. You love the dark corner of life I’ve dragged you into," Vlad said. "But if you think this is some game, you’re more foolish than I thought."

"I’m not foolish. I know people can die. That you sell drugs. That you kill people yourself, regularly. Do you think I don’t notice the bloodstains on your clothes sometimes?"

Vlad went quiet.

"Don’t mistake me for some innocent girl," she narrowed her eyes. "I’m not. I’m here because I choose to be. I’m here because I want to be with you."

"But you can’t. And I can’t," he replied, helpless. "I’m the twelfth heir of the Reds, Alissa. And the monster who calls himself my father has forced all his children into an Inheritance Trial, to choose who inherits his throne, who becomes the next Red. I lost a great deal today—"

"My sister is the captain of the Local Protectors," Alissa cut him off. "I can help you through your Trial. And I’m not useless either. My Gift lets me tell when someone’s lying or not. My father, that useless piece of shit, is the Mayor of Paris’s right hand. That bitch who plays my stepmother owns a five-star hotel in the heart of Paris. And I attend the most prestigious college in Paris, surrounded by rich kids desperate to fuck their brains out."

Alissa grinned, and Vlad caught something dark, twisted, lurking behind those red eyes.

"I can help you, Vlad."

"Why are you doing all this?"

"I want to live my own life," she said. "I want to do what I want, not what my family or society expects of me. And what I want is to stand beside you and make you the next Red. So, will I be your Red Queen, hm? Sounds good, doesn’t it?"

Vlad hesitated. In that hesitation, he finally understood something his father had once told him — that he wasn’t cut out for this life.

Vlad was soft by nature, sentimental. Maybe because of his mother, who’d smothered him in love his whole life. That softness put him at a serious disadvantage in this Inheritance Trial.

Alissa wasn’t like that. She was dark, and she loved dark things. Something inside her felt hollowed out, and the only way she knew to fill it was with every sin the world offered.

Maybe that was exactly why he loved her. Maybe that was exactly why he didn’t want her becoming who she thought she wanted to be.

As if reading his expression, Alissa frowned. "If you turn me away, I’ll never forgive you."

"I can live with that," Vlad smiled. "What I can’t live with is the thought of you destroying yourself over me."

"You’ll die, Vlad. Keep going like this, and you’ll die. And if you die... if you die..."

Alissa’s red eyes darkened for a moment, emotion churning dangerously in her chest.

"I already lost my mother. I can’t lose anyone else. I can’t, not mentally, not physically." She scowled.

"But you’re ready to lose yourself?"

"Yes," Alissa said. "If losing myself means not being who I am right now, then yes."

"You’ll regret it."

"I can live with that," she threw his own words back at him.

"Heh. That’s what everyone says, until the regret actually shows up," Vlad replied, studying her, then sighed, defeated. "Honestly, I knew getting close to a Protector’s sister just to use her was a bad idea. Turns out you’re the one using me here."

"And you still fell in love with that sister," Alissa smiled. "You’re hopeless, Vlad. I worry you’ll get yourself killed without me around."

"Argh." Vlad groaned, standing, dragging a hand through his hair. "I’m in a tight spot, so I need whatever help I can get right now. I need to find someone. Someone tied to this whole mess with that useless pig, Loris."

"Who?" Alissa asked, rising too, wrapping her arms around him from behind. He smelled so good despite the smoke and liquor haze around them.

"A man named Mars," Vlad said, lighting another cigarette. "Mars Fox, Alissa. You want in on the dark side, don’t you? Fine, welcome, but you don’t do anything I haven’t cleared first. I don’t want my siblings finding out about you."

"They won’t. I’m just a rich 18 years old student who likes clubbing," she said, innocent.

Vlad wasn’t fully convinced. Still,

"First mission for you..."

Alissa smiled, dangerous.

"...find me that little fucking bastard, Mars Fox. What a fucking name. And for the last time, go the fuck home."

...

Night passed, and Mars had never slept so well before.

Maybe because he’d been so exhausted the night before that good sleep was practically guaranteed.

Or maybe because of the smiling woman currently sitting atop him, watching with unmistakable mischief, tongue tracing her lips.

"Good morning, sweetheart. How about some morning sex, wake our bodies up?"

She leaned in closer.

"I’ll be doing the riding."