By My Decree

He frowned. She still didn't answer his question of why she chose him and not others but he decided that an Original didn't need a reason. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps he was simply lucky he tasted good. He'd managed to survive five hundred years. He wasn't ready to end his life now, when he still had plans for things he wanted to do. Now that he'd healed well enough to remain on his feet and wasn't ravenous, he returned to his cocky self and even when the guards grabbed his shoulder and roughly shoved him towards the door, he managed to turn and smirk at her. "Or what?" he asked her. "You'll break my legs next? Pain turns me on, sweet heart. You'll have to do a lot more than that if you want a groveling dog." He was smacked upside the head by the one guard and finally, he followed them from the room. Her blood set heavily in his stomach, a reminder that his life was now entirely hers. She could have left him on the floor, passed out like some normal human so her goons could find him and most likely drain him. He couldn't see it now but perhaps, somewhere down the road, he might even thank her for all she did. Since he'd been cast out on his own at such a young age, Nyk had slowly been on a downward spiral to becoming out of control. He had no one he put above himself and he certainly didn't follow orders. He did what he wanted, whenever he wanted and didn't care about the consequences. He'd never felt love before, nor had he any reason to care for anyone else. He'd killed in his mother in childbirth, abruptly ripping her insides apart as he was pulled from her. The nuns at the orphanage had feared him because of that and had kept him at arm's length. The other villagers had seen him as a monster and the women he'd taken to bed had either seen him as a rapist or just a good time. He'd never truly meant anything to anyone and, if he was going to be honest to himself, the only part of all of this that scared him was the idea that someone wanted him. Whether in a good way or not. No one had given him a second thought for any reason and it had made him out to be the cold monster he was today. 

24 HOURS LATER

He didn't even sleep. Didn't even close his eyes. His heart had pounded away in his chest all night, like a lion kept inside a cage. The first few hours in Kaia's penthouse had been fine. He'd managed to keep himself entertained, even with the silent gazes of her vampire guard who, Nykolae was surprised, were keeping excellent composure around him. After he'd seen the way they'd reacted to his blood, he'd expected them to take him to the penthouse, hold him down and drain him to an inch of his life. It was just one example of the power Kaia held. But as the night waned on, Nykolae began to feel antsy. He wandered from window to window, cursing loudly at each one as he went. Was there really a bond he'd created with kaia that kept him from being able to open a fucking window and jump out? He didn't even care if he died when he hit the ground. The fact that he couldn't even bring himself to open a window was only making his head spin and he ended up locking himself into the room the guards had given him the rest of the night. 

It wasn't until morning, when the guards literally busted his door down, did he realize he hadn't slept. Once more, like a criminal, he was roughly manhandled from his bed and pushed out of the room and into the elevator that would take them back down. Great, the Queen required his presence once more. He stood between dumb and dumber, wishing all sorts of misfortune on their lives until the elevator dinged and he was roughly shoved back into the office that had served as his entrance to hell 24 hours earlier. "Now, what the fuck do you want?" Nykolae asked, glaring after dumb and dumber as they closed the door behind them, leaving them alone  before turning back to her. "No, I haven't healed and no, I'm not hungry." he added mildly, moving further into the room and sitting down in the same chair he'd sat down in before. 

He froze; blood stream filling with ice. Did Queenie finally find a reason to keep him interested and less angsty? The only thing Nykolae had known about his father was that he had died. The severed blood connection had nearly destroyed Nykolae mentally. He'd always been alone, since the moment he'd been born, but he'd always known he was connected to his father in someway. But when the connection was abruptly severed, he'd never felt more alone in his entire life. It was just the catalyst he needed to become the person he was today. He used women as a means to fill the empty hole in his soul. Even if the returned feelings were only short lived, there were always more. It had become a sort of addiction that he no longer realized why he did it. But, Nykolae was still pissed from yesterday and he wasn't about to let her know how much he wanted to know about his father.

"My father wanted nothing to do with me. In fact, I'm sure I was conceived without his knowledge. Why do I give a fuck how hungry he was when he woke up? Besides, I didn't sleep so, you can't assume I'm hungry if I never actually woke up." He crossed his arms over his chest. If she managed to dig up information on his father, something he'd been doing for almost five hundred years and failing, he could only assume she'd be able to figure out, sooner or later, that he was lying and it both terrified him and irritated him. Was he not allowed to have secrets? Was he ever going to be left alone? He supposed he already knew the answer to that.

"Is that the only reason you brought me here? To tell me some dead guy was hungry when he woke up?" He returned her smirk with a mischievous one of his own. "I don't know about hungry but I am usually other things in the morning, whether I've slept or not. We could discuss that in full detail if you'd like..."

No, she hadn't assumed wrong... Damn it. He clenched his fists, hopefully out of range of Kaia's line of sight. And by the cunning way she changed the subject, he had the rising suspicion she wanted him to ask the first questions, proving her theory that he truly did want to know about his father, however the fuck she'd figured that out, but he wasn't looking to give her the satisfaction. He had remained without enemies for so long simply because he had learned to keep his true self hidden from others. Here, he was in a rather dangerous spot and now would not be the time to break his code be spilling secrets. He didn't trust Kaia further then he could throw her and it was probably not at all. 

Absently, as if pretending he appreciated the change of subject, he rubbed his knee. "Bones have mended thanks to your blood but I haven't had fresh human blood to finish the healing process. So, needless to say, it's swollen and throbbing and hurts. Oh and my chest? In case you forgot about that particular wound, still feels like I've got a stiletto shoved against my rib cage. An ever preset reminder of you." he said, flashing her a smile that was none too pleasant. And here he was again, smarting off again. He quickly decided to keep everything else he was going to say, to himself in case she was feeling less than human today and decided he hadn't experienced enough pain. Although, he was going to need to find out, sooner or later, what she knew about his father before the suspense had him begging her for it. He hated the idea of giving her the satisfaction that he wanted to know but he loathed, more, the idea of begging her to tell him.

He sighed as his mental war with himself came to an end. "Congratulations. You were successful in pinpointing a reason for my existence still. Congratulations further for forcing me to ask you to tell me what you know. I like the subject change. Using my own tactic against myself. You are commendable, Kaia." There. It was out. If he really put some thought into it, he could tell by the way she smiled at him that she already knew his deep connection to his father and playing it off as though he really didn't care would only amuse her more. He didn't know how she knew but he'd come to realize, through his years of existence, that you didn't question a vampire, especially an Original.

The moment all seemed to happen in slow motion. Her sarcasm didn't even register with him as his eyes focused on the locket dangling from her hand. He felt something twist in his guy and realized it was a feeling he hadn't felt since his father had first died. He wanted nothing more than to hold the thing in his hands, something that connected him to his father in a way he never thought would have been possible. His eyes were only torn away from it when she stood up from her desk and poured herself a glass, bourbon by the smell. You can thank me at your convenience. Thank her? For returning something that was very clearly his?Something that looked that old could only have been a family heirloom. He turned his eyes back to the locket sitting on her desk and he felt an itch to reach out and grab but he couldn't bring himself to do it. And honestly, it had nothing to do with Kaia. He'd searched and searched for something of his father's for years and had come up empty handed. He didn't even know his father's name. The nuns had only called him a monster and he'd killed his mother upon birth so she'd been unable to tell him anything. The nuns at the orphanage had told him that his father had killed his mother's fiance' and then attacked her when she fought back trying to save him. They had assured him that his conception had been purely accidental but a rape in that era was usually deemed the woman's fault and so, his mother had been condemned to live the rest of her life as a nun. That is, before he was born and killed her. The nuns wouldn't even tell him anything of his father. All he knew was that the Sovereign family had been a noble Italian family and his mother, their only child. His conception had been a great stain on the name and they had been forced to erase her name from their bloodline and move away leaving him with absolutely nothing after he was born except what the orphanage provided for him. This heirloom would hopefully open new doors for Nykolae to explore and maybe, just maybe, start to fill the empty void in his soul. 

He surprised himself by not hesitating as he reached for the locket, the metal cool against his fingers. It opened without restraint in his hands and he gasped, not even caring if Kaia heard him. He at least knew the face in the locket. It was a face he'd hid under his pillow at the orphanage when he'd managed to get his hands on a picture of his mother. She had been quite a beautiful young woman and Nykolae had been sad that he'd inherited nothing from his mother except the color of his eyes. It wasn't really the surprise of finding his mother's picture there as it was that everything he'd been told about his parents was apparently a lie. If his father had only used his mother and left, he would not have a picture of her in a locket that clearly meant a lot to him. He didn't even have the thinking capacity to figure out what had really happened. There were too many variables to consider. Instead of thanking her, he asked, "You knew my father...?" It wasn't a question per say, more of a question for her to explain herself. Something wet dropped onto the locket and he quickly realized he had started to cry, wet streaks running down his cheeks. He didn't even try and hide them. Being half human both had perks and downfalls and the biggest downfall was having his humanity. He'd suppressed his feelings about his father for so long, finally giving them a chance to resurface was like ripping his heart from his chest. He at least had the dignity to stay upright in his chair and not sob like a bitch. 

It was like all of a sudden the atmosphere in the room changed. It wasn't thick with resentment or tense with emotion but sudden freeing... It was almost as if everything fell into place and opened up a whole new world for him. How long had he simply searched for an answer? For anything? Now here, in the place he would have never come to on his own, he'd been able to find two pieces of the puzzle that was his father. But, even though he had two pieces, they didn't fit together. The picture in the locket clearly proved he had loved his mother, or at least, cared enough about her. But Kaia's confession of love towards him didn't seem to reciprocate. He suddenly felt a jolt of shock. Could it be possible...? That possible outcome seemed to fit together. If they had had a past relationship and he had turned his feelings onto a human woman instead, it would be only possible that Kaia would take drastic measures of punishment. For instance, his knee throbbed as an example. All he had done was smart off and she'd smashed his knee cap and stabbed him in the chest. He couldn't imagine what she would do if he broke her heart.

She pushed the bourbon towards him and he felt himself reacting, without really meaning to. In fact, he'd meant to turn it down but his mind and body were on two different wave lengths now. He no longer felt right in his own body or mind. There were too many feelings, too many thoughts, that he felt himself about to go crazy. He certainly didn't sip the drink as Kaia had. He threw his head back and downed as much of the alcohol as he could before his mouth was full and swallowed, letting the warmth spread down his chest as he did so. Did he dare voice his thoughts? Would she attempt to hide guilt by taking it out on him? A worse thought overcame that one. Had she actually tracked him down because of his father? Could that be the reason he was here?  As her plaything? Did she feel such loss and guilt that she'd managed to find the next best thing? He clenched his hands in anger, one hand closing over the locket. But no matter how mad his body was, his mind wasn't able to catch up. Being starved for so long, the alcohol had taken it's effect and rather quickly. So, instead of reacting in anger, he turned glaring green eyes towards her. "You killed him, too, didn't you?" he asked. "You couldn't stand the idea of him loving someone so inferior that you didn't want anyone to have him. And that's why you found me and made me your plaything! I'm the closest thing to him that you could find!" He had always known he'd had none of his mother's looks from the picture he'd had as a child so it only came to reason that he would resemble his father in almost every way. 

Banging her fist on the table didn't seem to have the effect she'd been looking for. Mostly because he'd taken up the glass of bourbon and managed to down yet another tenth of the glass in a single sitting. He didn't drink often mostly because he was a light weight but also because he hated his loss of control. Nykolae had always had a firm grasp on what he did with his life and hated the idea of letting others move him around without his consent. But the pain and confusion was becoming too great. He couldn't sort through the chaos and handle the situation. Not at this point. Not with so much information at once. His only other option was the glass sitting in front of him. Sure, probably not the smartest outlet but there would be time later to reconsider what he'd done. 

The one thing that managed to make it through his stupor was a name. Oliver.  And just like that, he managed to get a hold of another puzzle piece that was his father. He had always wondered what his father's name was, considering he'd been a stranger to his village when he'd gotten his mother pregnant and he wasn't even sure if his own mother had known his name. It seemed like, now, Kaia was going to be the only person in the world who could tell him about his father. And it seemed like she knew him a lot better than Nykolae previously thought, too.

"You turned my father?" It wasn't hard to put those pieces together. After all, he'd had his own blood connection with the man and he'd made him. Anger at everything else, he was genuinely curious about his father before he was a vampire. How long had he been alive before he was turned? What era  in history would he have been from if his father hadn't been turned? Once again, too many questions and he finally was able to finish the bourbon in the glass she'd offered him. Maybe another day. He had to try and remember to stay mad at her. He was supposed to be hating her still. No part of this got her off the hook of keeping him as a pet. "It seems I have no one in my life who gives a shit about me." he told her, glaring at her. "Everyone just wants to use me or thinks of me as a monster. Makes no difference to me how my father felt." But it did. He'd worry about that breaking feeling in his gut later. When the bourbon didn't make him feel so good...