Married To The Mad Vampire Lord - Chapter 472

Chapter 472: To kill him_Part 1
“Are you going to tell me, or will I have to cut you limb for limb to force you to talk?” Rohan shook her violently, blood from her face dripping onto his hand that was still gripping her neck. He had no idea what condition his wife was in or where she was, whether Cordelia had taken her life or hidden her somewhere, but the thought of the former made rage curl through his chest, a violent heat that made him want to squeeze her neck until it snapped, throw her into the fire, and watch her burn. But doing that wouldn’t bring Belle back, nor would it tell him where she was.

“I… I don’t know where your stupid wife is!” Cordelia gritted out, hatred curling inside her stomach, not just for the human, but for Rohan himself. Couldn’t he see why she had done this? She had done it for him, to make him king, a position she knew he wanted. She had known him before and how he liked to rule and command, he wanted the throne just as she wanted it!

She felt his hand tighten around her throat and cried out again, her face turning red as she gasped, “You won’t get any other answer from me besides this! I don’t know where she is, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you anything. I hope she suffers and dies!”

Rohan lost his patience. He decided to use the only way left to make her talk, by compelling her. Just as he stared deep into her eyes, ready to force the truth from her mind, he heard his son call for him. The sound was loud and filled with terror, making his head jerk toward the door and his heart to give an automatic thud. Immediately Rohan knew something had gone wrong.

He instinctively almost dropped Cordelia and run out to see what had caused such a cry from Angel, but he remembered his wife’s life was in danger and he had to force the truth of her whereabouts from the vampiress.

Still, the thought of something happening to his little boy, the memory of Angel’s sad face when he once told Belle how his father had neglected him when she wasn’t there, the moment Rohan had promised never to let him down again if he forgave him, and the way Angel had actually forgiven him and trusted him once more, those thoughts pierced through his fury and the selfish part of him that wanted to always put his wife before anyone else.

Cordelia, who had also heard the boy’s voice and knew Rohan wouldn’t spare her life now, looked at him.

“Your… little brat is calling,” she smirked, blood trailing down her face as she taunted. “Are you going to ignore him? That’s the Rohan I know. Stay with me, and I’ll tell you what you want to hear about your human. I… know you don’t give a fuck about that little thing, like your human…”

“Nice try, Cordie. I am not done with you yet.” Saying that, Rohan released Cordelia at once. With one swift movement, he struck the vampiress hard across the neck, knocking her unconscious to keep her from escaping, before bolting from the room at a speed that stirred a violent gust of air in his wake. He would deal with her later once he caught what had made Angel call for him like that.

He followed the sound of Angel’s calling, racing toward the backyard garden. Just as he arrived, he saw Rav’s teeth sink into Angel’s upper arm and tear a large chunk of flesh from it. Angel’s scream was so loud that birds flew from the surrounding trees of the castle into the dark sky.

Rohan surged forward and kicked Rav, who had turned rogue, away from his son, sending him flying across the yard until he hit the magnolia tree that was far away in the yard with a sickening thud. But the kick didn’t hold him down. Rogues were known to feel no pain, no sense of awareness, just hunger for any flesh and blood. Rav rose again, eyes blank white, lips drawn back in a snarl, and lunged toward Rohan.

Rohan was already kneeling beside Angel, who was injured and thrashing in agony, blood seeping out of his arm like water from a broken dam. Suddenly, Rav jumped on Rohan from behind, knocking him to the ground with the wild, stubborn strength of being a savage creature.

“Papa!” Angel cried as he saw his uncle Rav pinning his father down, snarling and trying to bite him too. His arm burned with unbearable pain, and though he tried not to cry, he couldn’t hold it in, tears spilled as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Looking down, he saw the large wound on his arm where a chunk of flesh was missing, blood pouring out endlessly. It scared him into crying for his father even more.

“Papa… blood’s coming out so much. It hurts…” Angel said with trembling lips, his eyes wet and cheeks flushed red as he moved back, clutching his wounded arm that wasn’t healing like normal while the two adults fought, one trying to bite and devour, the other struggling to fend off the attacks.

Angel had never seen anything like this before, nor had he ever felt such pain, it spread through his whole body as he tried to get up and move away from the fight.

“Max, don’t move! Stay where you are or the venom will spread faster through your body!” Rohan warned sharply, seeing the boy trying to get up but he fell back down and cry out in pain. Rohan knew too well the agony of a rogue’s bite, his son was in unbearable torment.

Cursing under his breath, Rohan kicked Rav hard in the stomach, sending him crashing across the yard and away from him. But Rav got up almost instantly and lunged at him again as if the blow meant nothing.

Rohan jumped to his feet and grabbed Rav by the throat before he could attack again. Holding him at arm’s length, Rohan watched as the rogue clawed wildly at the air, his teeth snapping, his face turning gray and decayed, the clear signs of a body beginning to rot, the horrifying stage of decomposition that came right after a rogue’s transformation.

“Damn you, Rav! Snap out of it, my son needs me!” Rohan shouted.

Rohan desperately wanted to check Angel’s wound and cut away the infected flesh before the venom could reach his small heart. But if he turned his back, Rav would attack again. There was still a faint trace of life left in Rav’s heart, Rohan could sense it, which meant Rav had not finished turning completely and could still come back to normal for awhile.

Rogue transformations sometimes happened gradually: some people turned and then returned to normal for a few hours or even days, while others changed immediately and completely. Right now Rav’s heart was still beating faintly through the corruption. If he could fight the corruption, the process might slow.

Rohan had not expected Rav to turn so soon; he had thought there was more time. Now that it had happened, if Rav could not fight it, Rohan would have no choice, the only way to stop him from attacking would be to kill him.

Yet for the first time in his life, Rohan hesitated to take a life.

He looked into Rav’s eyes that had turned cloudy, with streaks of red veins spreading through the whiteness and the skin around them. Rohan had killed many rogues and people in his life, people he couldn’t even count on his hands, and he had never felt anything at the thought of killing them.

Now, looking into Rav’s unrecognizable eyes, he saw flashes of the fifty years Rav had been beside him and had served him:

Rav tending to him in the madhouse, Rav dragging him out of the dungeon where his parents had locked him for months, Rav taking punishments from the king in his stead because he had failed to stop Rohan from slipping away from the castle. Then he saw Rav laughing more recently because he had fallen in love with Evenly and had begun to dream of a family after decades of being alone and silently grieving.

Something twisted painfully inside Rohan’s heart.

“Come on, fight it before I have to kill you. Don’t make me fucking do this,” Rohan said through clenched teeth as he shook Rav, as if to snap him out of it. If he snapped out of it now, there might still be a chance Belle could save him if he found her in time, but no matter how much Rohan shook him, there seemed to be no hope at all.

This was no longer Rav. The man before him was gone. His eyes were dead white, his skin ashen with faint streaks of red.

Before Rohan even saw her, he heard Evenly’s footsteps and her voice.

“What’s going on out here?!” came her panicked voice.

Rohan cursed under his breath. He didn’t want the vampiress to see this because he might have to kill Rav.

Evenly had followed the sound of Angel’s cries and the animalistic growls into the yard. She froze at the door, her eyes wide as she took in the sight of Angel sitting in a pool of blood, tears streaming uncontrollably down his flushed cheeks as he stared toward a spot in the yard where she could tell someone was there.

“Papa…”

Evenly couldn’t see Rohan clearly through the fog as he was further away from the door, but the sound of the struggle made her heart thunder in her chest, knowing he was fighting whoever it was who had hurt the boy. Nonetheless, the sight of Angel was more concerning to her at that moment.

“Angel,” she cried, dropping to her knees despite the strain of her heavy belly. “What happened to you?”

Angel couldn’t speak anymore, only broken sobs of pain escaped his trembling lips. Evenly’s hands shook as she lifted his arm and saw the large, gaping wound. “Oh my goodness!” she gasped in horror. The boy usually healed faster than any normal vampire, and the fact that he wasn’t healing now meant something was terribly wrong.

She was about to turn toward the duke, sensing his presence behind them, when Rohan’s voice cut sharply through the fog from where the sounds of struggle were coming.

“Cut off the flesh around the bite! He was bitten by a rogue, cut it before it spreads to his heart! Now!”

Rohan still held Rav at arm’s length, fighting off his savage attempts to bite. Every muscle in his body strained as Rav thrashed and snarled, his strength unnatural and wild. Rohan knew the best thing to do was to end him, to free him from the thing he had become, but he couldn’t. By everything sacred within him, he couldn’t take his life.

Evenly’s eyes widened at the word rogue. She didn’t stop to think how one had entered the castle. Without hesitation, she pushed to her feet and dashed toward the kitchen with supernatural vampire speed, despite her condition. She grabbed the sharpest knife she could find and raced back to Angel, her mind focused on saving his small heart before the corruption reached it.