Salazar's Caged Love

Prologue

She didn't know whether she was shivering with dread or from the cold wind hitting her body. Her quivering breath was evident of the turmoil she was into. What she learned a few hours ago compelled her to end her life; she thought there was no going back, and instead of letting a beast claim her for his ulterior motive, she would instead choose death.

At first, she thought, it was all staged by him, Czar, as he introduced herself to abduct her. She assumed him to be a delusional mental patient facing a disorder of living in his imaginary world of vampires and humans; however, she was dumbfounded when she saw the reality from her eyes.

"Drop the knife, love," his hoarse voice brought her out of her trance.

The way he called her love made her skin crawl. Her chest heaved with rapid breathing, and she was afraid, before death, her heart would rip out of her chest with anxiety.

If she dropped the knife, it would mean she would oblige him and would surrender to him, let him devour her. For argument's sake, she could have allowed him to claim her unless he was a human and not a monster.

"Drop, now!" he said, but this time, it was accompanied by a snarl, and Alexis's breathing hitched when she saw his fangs emerging. The tears that were welled in her eyes soon started trailing upon witnessing the scene before her.

She still remembers the moment, he was ready to pounce on her like a hungry beast, and if not for her quick thinking, he would have already ruined her.

"My Lady, I beg you," a woman was kneeling on the floor, in front of Alexis, with folded hands.

"Please, I beg you to save my son," she cried and bowed before her.

The frantic cry of a two years old boy was breaking Alexis's heart. She was frightened, but not for her, for the human boy, whose life was in danger. Czar held the boy by his neck, ready to rip his throat if Alexis didn't follow his order.

This all was happening because he was eager to bed her, and she denied him. How can she let a vampire take her? To escape the horror, she was ready to kill herself and would have succeeded if he had not taken the kid and threatened her with his life.

"Please leave him; he is innocent," Alexis replied, still holding the knife to her throat.

"Innocent or not, he means nothing to me. But you, my love, mean everything to me. If you try to even scratch yourself, I will rip this boy and throw his mother to the beast. And you have no idea about the beast of this world. She will die a painful death and not only her, all the humans in this castle will do," he said, in a calm voice, but there was nothing calm about it.

"I won't...let you have me," she replied in her shaky voice.

"I'm not afraid of you," she added when she saw his orbs changing color.

"I know, love, but you are scared for them," Czar said, moving the boy closer to his fang, earning a loud shriek from his mother.

"You have an innocent heart, which beats for others. I will count till three, if you didn't drop the knife, I would first feed on his young one, make his mother, see his death, and then throw her into the beast's pit, where they would devour her body and then rip her into pieces," he added.

"My Lady," the woman who was bowing on the floor abruptly raised her head, and her eyes were filled with fear.

"Please," her voice filled with desperation.

Alexis saw that the woman's body started trembling, and she didn't need to know the horror that would be inflicted on her in the beast's pit if Alexis didn't oblige.

"One," her trance was broken when she heard Czar's voice.

She gulped hard, the lump formed in her throat. She was torn between morality and humanity.

"Two," she let out a shaky breath, letting tears fall over her cheeks.

"Th—" before Czar could call out the number, the knife fell on the ground, and she leaned on the wall behind her in helplessness.

"Get out," she heard him order.

She never cried out of helplessness or desperation, but she couldn't help sob at her state. She couldn't muster up the courage to think about herself and let the remaining humans suffer in the castle. She chose to save lives and surrender herself to him.

He stood closer to her and raised her chin, making her look into his black orb. She trembles in dread when she sees lust in his eyes. She knew the first time would be painful, but a horror passed through her when he anticipated how her virgin wall would take him. When she felt him pulling down the straps of her satin gown, she closed her eyes in disgrace.

"No! Open your eyes," he growled, and she had to oblige to his command.

With no other way, she had to keep looking at him with teary eyes while he pulled down the straps, making her gown pooled near her feet.

"Mine!" With that, he dipped his head and captured her quivering lips to mark the beginning of the night's horror for Alexis.