NIGHT, I. Rin [ebook reader with highlight function TXT] 📗

by its luxury. In the middle of the room there was a large canopied bed, next to it there was an elegant armchair with clean clothes on it. Lica locked the door and change clothes quickly. Then she dived under the blanket and fell asleep. However she could not sleep very well! Angelica suffered from nightmares. She saw Sophia pulling her bloody hands and asking for help, then a dying old man begging to kill him and stop torture ... The girl woke up in a cold sweat. Her heart was just in her mouth. She jumped out of the bed, dressed up and began pacing the room. But she couldn’t calm down. In a moment Angelica was so afraid that she could not be alone any more.

 

The girl slowly pushed the bar and opened the door. The vampires -servants were quite far from her room and standing back.

 

“Excellent,” thought Lica.

 

She tiptoed out of the bedroom and went to the Prince’s room.

 

“And what if his room locked?” she thought with horror. Angelica pushed the door and it opened easily. The girl slipped into the Lord of Vampires apartment. A dim candle was burning in the room. Surprisingly, the Prince was not sleeping. He was sitting on the window sill with wide open window, looking up at the starry sky. He was wearing open shirt and black trousers tucked into boots. Hearing the creak of the door, the Vampire turned around and saw the girl.

 

“Angelica?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Prince,” breathed Lica, “I cannot sleep at all. I saw night-mares with seas of ​blood. May I stay with you a little?”

“Yes, come in,” the Prince shrugged.

 

“And why are not you sleeping?”

 

 “Vampires do not sleep.”

 

“But why do you have this bedroom then?”

 

“I thought you were a big girl and had to guess,” the Vampire Prince smiled. “But if seriously, then I usually have a rest here. Sometimes you just need to be alone. Come in, please, sit down in the armchair!”

 

“If it’s possible, I’d rather sit down on the windowsill with you? I love looking at the stars!”

“You know... so, do I!”

 

The Lord of Vampires moved slightly, and Angelica sat down near him.

“Can I ask you something?” she said.

 

“Ask.”

 

“What is your name? Everybody always say Prince, Prince! It makes me sick to hear.”

The Vampire laughed...

 

“Nobody has asked me about that for a long time,” he said. “My name is Arthur.”

“Just like King Arthur!” Lica blurted out.

 

“What?” the Prince did not understand.

 

“Forget about that! Once upon a time there lived famous King Arthur.”

“Can you tell me about him?”

 

“Next time, okay?”

 

Arthur took the girl’s hand and kissed her gently.

 

“Tell me, Angelica,” he said, “and about my heir; was it seri-ously saying today?”

“Absolutely,” she assured him without batting an eye.

 

“You know, at first I liked you because your beauty, but later I saw that you are very intelligent and brave. That’s unusual for a pretty girl. So I was thinking about my bachelorhood.”

Lica looking at his bottomless eyes realized that she was losing her head again. She gave his black as night hair a smooth, leaned over and kissed him. Arthur strained her in his arms. His breath hitched, and veins appeared on his high forehead under the thin skin. The girl moved aside a little, but did not completely.

 

“Angelica, you torture me,” the Prince sighed. “I have never wanted one as you. Be my woman, please!”

 

“Arthur, I am losing my head when I am with you. But you forget about my fiancées. And I cannot be false with them. Give me a little more time!”

 

“This defeats me,” whispered the Vampire and strained her in his arms again.

 

He passionately stuck her lips, and his hands started to undo button on her blouse.

 

“You are tempting me! Don’t you think that you have come to my room and I let you go?” he said quickly.

 

Then Angelica felt strange metamorphosis inside her. Suddenly she wasn’t a weak and naive girl but experienced sensual woman. Passion had muddled her. She jumped from the window sill, grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him. The shocked Prince did not even resist. Lica took him to bed and pushed. Arthur fell on the pillows, staring in amazement at the girl. And Angelica climbed on top of him and pressed his hands to the bed. Then she began to kiss him passionately - on the lips, neck, chest, lower and lower... The Prince groaned and leaned toward the girl. And then the cold sobering thought literally pierced her brain...

 

“What am I doing?” she thought. “I will lose both Edward and Swein!”

 

But to refuse Arthur Angelica also did not want to...

 

And it was incredibly difficult for her to pull herself together. She quickly pulled away from the Prince, jumped out of the bed and went to the window. Blood had pounded in her temples, heart was beating quickly.

 

The Lord of the Vampires came up to her, put his arm around her shoulders and buried his face in her long hair.

 

“You go to hell if you continue goofing on me! That’s where we’ll meet!”

 

She turned to Arthur and whispered:

 

“I’ll go crazy! But ... there’s something I need to decide before I become yours. You’ve been waiting so long, Prince, please, wait some more. I beg you!”

 

“Strange ... I would say “no” to any other woman. But with you I feel like a confused boy. I’m losing my head and you are turning me round your finger. I cannot refuse you. But I do not know what I will do, if you choose another man!”

 

And Arthur began kissing Lica again.

 

“Prince, Prince!” cried the girl, feeling his body tenses. “We are going to have a hard day, and I haven’t slept yet. Let me get some rest!”

 

“My bed is at your disposal!”

 

“But...”

 

“Do not worry! If I give my word, I will wait for your deci-sion, and will not hurt you.”

 

“Excellent! Maybe next to you I will not have nightmares.” Angelica slipped from the Prince’s embrace and jumped into the bed. Arthur laughed.

 

“But you are going to sit there on the windowsill,” said Lica. “Otherwise, I will beat with my pillow!”

 

“Agreed,” the Prince smiled.

 

The girl put her hand under the soft pillow and soon fell asleep.

The Prince’s requirement

 

Lica woke up because a fresh breeze was cooling a skin on her ear. The girl opened her eyes and looked around. She saw Arthur beside her, leaning on a pillow and slowly blowing on her.

 

“Prince?” Angelica surprised. “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m trying to wake you up. But you enjoyed a balmy sleep so much that I would not risk just call you. It’s time to meet with your friends.”

“Okay,” nodded Lica. “I am ready, so we can go right now.”

 

“Would you like to have breakfast?”

 

“Oh, no! Yesterday I ate so much that I wouldn’t be hungry for a long time.”

 

“Well, let’s go downstairs. Our horses are waiting for us!” Angelica got up, shook the hair and went after Arthur. While they were coming, the Prince gave final instructions  to his servants. In the yard he helped Lica to climb on the horse, and after that jumped on his horse.

 

“Well, come on!” he said, and pulled the reins.

 

The riders left the yard and raced toward Sleepy Lake. The Vampire’s Prince’s face became cold again. Angelica felt as if all that happened in Arthur’s room at night was only her dream! Suddenly the girl’s horse neighed and she heard neighing ahead.

 

“They have been already waiting for us,” said the Prince. Indeed, soon they saw the silhouettes of two riders under a tall spreading tree. Shortly afterwards Angelica and Arthur came up to them. It was Swein and Edward.

 

“Hello, Prince, and thank you for having saved my soul from the Well of Oppression,” said Prince Night.

 

“Do not thank me, but my lovely companion,” the Lord of Vampires said coldly.

 

“Of course,” Edward smiled.

 

He came closer to the girl and said:

 

“And thank you, my lovely Angelica!”

 

With these words, the Prince kissed Lica’s hand. Arthur’s eyes glared unkindly and Swein only screwed his face into a smile.

 

“Prince, I think we are not here to exchange pleasantries,” the Vampire said coldly.

 

“Yes, Prince! The circumstances are such that we are forced to ask your help. I think Angelica has already put you in the swing of things, and it is not necessary to explain you everything in details.”

 

“Of course!” the Vampire nodded. “But you and the Goblins’ King haven’t known yet where I and Angelica had been. We went into the Well of Oppression, to find the answer for the question - how to get the evil back into the abyss? The result was very disappointing... Our armies can fight with the evil in the form of monsters endlessly, but we will never over-come them. In order to lock the evil spirits in the abyss, you need to find the sorcerer who will agree to seal the way from the other world into ours with his soul. He must be a pagan, capable to control the elements. Usual people here are helpless in this case.”

 

“We didn’t know that,” Swein said slowly.

 

“Yes...” the Prince Edward said. “It significantly changes our plans. We have already been ready to attack and were only waiting for your decision, Prince.”

 

“I will agree to join your army, if only you find a sorcerer! Otherwise, I see no reason to settle my men hash.”

 

“Gentlemen, I’m sorry, that I am chopping into men’s con-versation,” loudly said Angelica, “but I can see only one way out

 

– we should first go to Margo!” Men looked at each other.

“But Margo is not a pagan!” said Swein.

 

“Wait, she is right,” said Edward. “The main thing is that Margo is the witch. Who, if not her, knows all the sorcerers?”

“Margo?” the Vampires’ Prince Surprised. “Are you talking  about the witch who lives on the other side of the kingdom?”

“Yes, we are, Prince!” Angelica smiled. “She has known you as well and told me a lot of good things about you.”

The Lord looked at Lica and grinned.

 

“Well, gentlemen! We need to make a decision!” the Prince Edward said. “Prince, why don’t we go all together to the witch right now?”

“No, save me from that,” the Vampire smiled. “We have al-ready met once, and we had a little misunderstanding. So ride to the witch without me. And I will go back to the castle to prepare for the war. When you find the sorcerer and specify the war date, send me a messenger. I will join your army. Just hurry up! The old evil will not wait long.”

 

“Of course, Prince. It is in our common interest,” said Edward. “We are leaving immediately.”

 

“Prince, I’ll go with you! I need to talk to Margo!” Lica said quickly.

 

The Vampires’ Prince approached the girl, kissed her hand and said quietly:

 

“Goodbye, Angelica! I hope you will not forget about our conversation?”

 

“No!” the girl promised him.

 

The Vampire said goodbye to the Goblins’ King and Prince Edward, turned his horse and rode away.

 

“If it is not a secret, what conversation?” asked Swein riding closer.

 

“And that’s really personal!” Lica retorted.

 

“I see you are too independent,” continued speaking maliciously Swein. “Did not even afraid to go out of the cave at night...”

 

The girl blushed, but said nothing.

 

“Okay, Swein, enough!” the Prince Edward laughed. “And you, Angelica, I want to say that we were worried