Chapter 3 The Curse

Viktor's Pov

I slammed the door to my room hard enough that the hinges protested.

"Impressive," Ellie said from the corner, a smirk playing at the edges of his mouth. "You only do that when you're about to lose control. So let me guess—the girl got under your skin?"

"Shut up," I bit out, loosening my tie with enough force that the silk nearly tore. I was still hungry. Still furious. Still feeling the phantom sensation of her hips moving against my lap, the intoxicating smell of her blood so close I could have tasted it.

Ellie leaned back in his chair, completely unbothered by my rage. "If she were in our realm and tried that shit, she'd be dead. Torn to shreds. No questions asked."

"I said shut up."

But he was right, which only made it worse. In the vampire realm, a human—a mortal—would never dare approach someone of my status without explicit invitation. And if they did, they'd pay in blood. Literally.

Here, in this cursed human world, everything was inverted.

I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at my trembling hands. They were still shaking from the effort of holding back. From thirty years of holding back.

Thirty years since the curse.

Thirty years since my father died—murdered, though I could never quite prove it—and my uncle slithered into the throne like the snake he was. Thirty years since I was blamed for a crime I didn't commit and exiled to this pathetic human world as punishment, my vampire powers slowly leaching away, my access to the throne forever barred unless I could find a way to break the curse.

Thirty years of barely surviving on blood that Maui, my loyal servant, brought me in small, insufficient quantities.

Thirty years of watching humans stumble through their lives, completely unaware of the predator in their midst.

Thirty years of keeping my distance, maintaining control, reminding myself that the hunger was just a test I had to pass.

And then she sat on my lap.

That girl—Elara, I'd learned her name was—had smelled like something I hadn't encountered in three decades.

Fresh. Alive. Intoxicating in a way that had nothing to do with simple sustenance and everything to do with the primal part of me that wanted to feed.

I'd felt my fangs descending. Had felt the hunger rise up in my throat like a wave threatening to drown me. For one terrifying moment, I'd almost given in. Almost sunk my fangs into her neck and drained her dry right there on the dance floor in front of hundreds of witnesses.

The only thing that had stopped me was sheer force of will.

And the fear.

"You pushed her away pretty hard," Ellie observed, watching me with those calculating eyes. "I thought you were going to kill her for a second there. Your eyes went full red."

"She needs to stay away from me," I said coldly. My hands had finally stopped shaking. "If she approaches me again, I won't be able to control it."

"Then let her approach you. Problem solved."

My head snapped up, my gaze fierce enough to make even Ellie flinch. "She's human. Innocent. I won't—"

"You won't what? Shed blood? Kill someone? Viktor, you're a vampire. It's what we do." Ellie stood up and moved to the window, staring out at the human campus below. "Besides, she's seem to be clearly infatuated with you. One less problem to worry about, and one step closer to breaking your curse."

The words hung in the air between us—dangerous, tempting, everything I'd been taught to want and everything I'd been taught to despise about myself.

A sacrifice. That's what my uncle wanted. That's what the curse required. A human life, shed by my own hand, would give me back enough power to potentially return to the vampire realm. But it would also cement my uncle's hold on the throne, because whoever made such a sacrifice could never rule. The blood-debt would mark them as unfit.

It was a trap wrapped in a noose wrapped in an impossible choice.

"Don't," I said quietly. "Don't suggest that again."

Ellie shrugged. "Your funeral. Literally."

Before I could respond, the window opened with a soft creak. A bat appeared, circling once before transforming mid-flight into the solid, muscular form of Maui—the vampire servant who'd been bringing me blood for the last thirty years, always arriving at the same time each evening, always carrying just enough to keep me functioning but never satisfied.

"My prince," Maui said, bowing slightly. He was still wearing the tattered remains of his traveling cloak, the one that protected him from the rare moments when the sun might catch him on his journey from the realm. "The King requests your immediate presence. The matter is urgent."

My stomach dropped.

I'd been expecting this. Had known it was coming ever since the last message. But knowing something intellectually and facing it in reality were two different things.

"What does he want?" I asked, though I already knew.

"He didn't specify, my lord. Only that you must return at once." Maui's expression was carefully neutral, but I could see the tension in his jaw. Maui knew what the King wanted. Everyone in the vampire realm knew.

The sacrifice.

The ritual that would either save me or doom me to a powerless eternity, trapped between two worlds—no longer welcome in the human realm, unable to function in the vampire realm, slowly dying as my powers continued to atrophy.

"How long?" I asked.

"The portal is prepared. We can leave immediately if you wish."

I looked at Ellie, who gave a small nod. My companion had known this was coming too. We'd discussed it over and over—the logistics of it, the impossibility of it, the way my uncle had orchestrated a perfect trap that left no good options.

"Give me five minutes," I said.

I went to the small mirror hanging on my wall and stared at my reflection. My eyes were still tinged with red around the edges—the hunger hadn't fully receded. My jaw was clenched. My hands were fists at my sides.

A vampire cursed to the human world. A prince without a throne. A predator forced to play human.

And now, a man who'd just been reminded—violently, intimately—of what I truly was. What I was capable of.

What I wanted to be capable of, despite everything.

That girl's blood had smelled like freedom.

And that terrified me more than anything else.

Twenty minutes later, Ellie and I stood at the edge of the campus.

We'd moved through the shadows, avoiding the few humans who might have seen us, until we reached the dead end—the place where the veil between worlds grew thin. It was marked only by the careful arrangement of stones that looked natural enough if you weren't paying attention. But to those who knew, it was a beacon.

Maui was already there, waiting in his human form. The servant's eyes were alert, scanning for any humans who might stumble upon us.

"Ready?" Ellie asked.

I didn't answer. I just nodded, and Maui began the incantation—words in the old vampire language, words that sounded like wind and blood and ancient power. The air around us started to shimmer, reality folding in on itself like a piece of paper.

The human world fell away.

For a moment, I was suspended between worlds—neither here nor there, caught in the liminal space where anything was possible. I thought of the girl. Of her scent. Of how close I'd come to losing control.

Then the vampire realm solidified around me, and I was home.

Not by choice. Not willingly. But home nonetheless.

The shadows here were deeper. The air tasted of magic and old blood and power. The castle loomed ahead, all gothic spires and ancient stone, and I could feel the weight of the throne room waiting for me.

My uncle was waiting.

And I knew, with absolute certainty, that this next decision would change everything.

The sacrifice, or my death.

There was no third option.

Not anymore.

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