Eden Salvatore

I spat out my blood as his fist made contact with my jaw. Gritting my teeth, I sucked up the pain and looked up at the man. My eyes flared at the sight of his face, scanning him up and down I zoomed onto the visible tattoo on his forearm. Fucking cocksucker.

I lunged for him. Turning my revolver over, I gripped it into my fist. A punch met his jaw. He tipped his head back as the revolver hit him across the face. I exhaled sharply, listening to the satisfying sound of his bone cracking under my knuckles.

Catching my breath, I felt my body shook slightly at the pain shooting up my side. I clutched to the annoying bullet wound on the side of my stomach. Blood oozed through my shirt and I cursed under my breath.

Another punch thrown my way, I tilted my head sideways and looked at the new coming man. I swung my arm up, breaking his nose and kicked his torso. I made sure I aimed for the ribcage, taking him down.

Blood dripped down my head and nose. I wiped them away with the back of my hand as my head started to spin. A powerful kick hit the back of my kneecap and I lost my balance. Falling to ground on my knees felt pathetic even at the verge of death.

I stared at the bodies scattered on the ground. I killed them. Now this would have been much better if I still had more bullets.

Gunshots echoed across the air like a never ending thunderstorm. I tried to listen for the sound of Thane or perhaps the sound of her footsteps running away.

Nothing. A gun pressed on my forehead.

I broke out of my haze and looked up at the man. He grinned at me like he had won. For a moment it felt like they did. But, to hell with them. I wasn't going to die under their hands.

Satan would laugh in my face when I went to hell and told him the cause of my death. My father might as well joined in the laughters with him to ease the embarrassment.

It took more than a bullet to kill a Salvatore.

" You know we will win, my prince. " he chuckled humorlessly, tapping my forehead with the gun.

I cocked an eyebrow at him through my dizziness. His eyes widened. I wrapped my fingers around his loaded gun, pressing it harder to my head.

" And, you know I will fight. " I muttered under my breath.

They dropped Thane beside me, on his knees. He had his hands tied behind his back. Bloodied face and unarmed. I brought him here to die tonight.

" Where's the princess? " the one with his gun on my head asked. I snapped my eyes back up at him.

" I'd be damned if I let you get to her. Go to hell. " Grunting, I turned the gun over and pulled the trigger.

His body fell to the ground making a loud thud. A bullet hole between his eyebrows. Thane chuckled through his red teeth. I barely scowled at him when a bat hit the back of my head, taking me down.

It was dark.

The air was stuffy. I wonder if there was any oxygen in here at all. I was tied to a chair with my hands behind my back. I stretched my body in pain. My eyesight blurry and unfocused as bright light above my head hit me full force. I let out a breathy groan of frustration.

" You're up. "

" No shit. " I muttered back at the unknown voice.

It was when his face came into view that I wondered if he was in the royal family or if I knew him from somewhere. He did look familiar but not important enough for me to remember who he was. Now that said a lot about him as a person.

My opinion about him being the most irritating bastard on earth only became clearer when he started to blabber on about how he wanted my wife dead. The same story about the rightful heir bullshit I heard for the hundredth times since I married into this mess.

His voice faded away into the background and the voices in my head thumped inside my eardrums. I was in pain and annoyed. So much so that I wanted to break his jaw apart and slit his throat, ripping his vocal cord and veins out one by one until he could no longer utter another bullshit to the world.

He narrowed his eyes at my unamused face. I cocked an eyebrow at him. He must have taken it as an offense that he decided to start torturing me with his girly tactics.

I watched him burnt the blade of his knife until it turned bright orange. Listening to the sound of his boots thumping on the concrete floor, I tilted my head upward lazily.

He pressed the burning blade on my bullet wound first. I mentally cursed inside my head because it hurt like a fucking bitch.

Wanting to see my reaction, he pressed the pointed end of the blade on my wound, slowly digging through the hole. I felt my face started to get heated from pain as a sear of sweat appeared on my forehead before it began to drip down my face. He smirked as the knife went halfway in. I stared at him blankly, feeling every bits of pain inside as he suddenly twisted the knife.

Thane exhaled sharply from across the room, cursing the man in every languages he knew while analyzing out loud how he was going to tear him apart limp by limp for touching me.

I snapped my head up to meet his face, acknowledging that he was indeed alive. He was a good man, loyal and noble. I took a mental note to give him a raise later.

I let out the sharp breath I didn't realize I was holding when he abruptly took the knife out of my wound. I tipped my head down to look at it and almost groaned. It was going to be a pain to treat it now. I had no doubt it was infected, by his bullshit of course.

The mental bat that came swinging the side of my head was a surprise. I took it in silence. Blood oozed out and dripped down like water work. He smirked in satisfaction while I kept my blank expression on.

Mother should be very proud. Father would have bought me a golden fucking trophy.

I snapped out of my thought when he started talking again. He punched me square in the jaw throwing my head backward. Adjusting my mouth, I spat out blood. Another punch then another one and another one. He threw hands like a fucking bitch.

I had this urge to teach him how to punch.

" Untie him and fight him like a fucking man, you fucking pussy bitch. " Thane gritted through his teeth, trying to break out of his rope.

He would have succeeded if it wasn't for the two men holding him down with a gun pressed to the crown of his head. I looked at him in amusement.

" The fucking princess would've been dead if it weren't for you and your fucking low life criminal family. You should have fucking stayed out of this. " he continued, punching and stabbing me with his knives.

I looked at him dead in the eyes as he talked his shit. Except I didn't hear a single word he said.

By the mention of her name, I wondered if she had made it back. How long had her pretty little feet carried her away, was she hurt, or she had come back for me.

Then like a fairytale came true, the door was kicked open. Snapping me out of my own head and stopping him mid action as his knife froze in the air.

I clenched my jaw, showing my anger for the first time since they took me here.

I watched her. Eyes followed her. Fists clenching at my back. She was dragged across the room and thrown at my feet, his feet. I scanned her bloodied shirt carefully as she looked up at me through the fallen strains of her hair.

Lifting herself up from the ground, she cupped my face between her palms. She looked at my face thoroughly, eyes burnt into mine.

I would never understand what the fuck was wrong with people but at the moment I was certain that my wife was dropped on her head as a child.

Mild traumatic brain injury might affect her brain cells temporarily except I figured it was a more serious trauma in her case. The drop totally caused torn issues and other physical damage to her brain and it resulted in long term complication.

Because the woman was fucking insane. A total nut case. Her sanity be damned, along with mine because she was taking it down with her.

" I told you to run Adalina, darling. " I spoke.

Through her tears, she chuckled softly. " And, leave you to die? Never, my prince. "

She had come back, for me. It was reckless and stupid. I felt a smile ghosted across my lips.

Looking at the small bruises on her face, I murmured under my breath. " You're being rather stupid. "

She mumbled something under her breath in response but I couldn't quite hear it when the laughters echoed across the room. Pushing a chair into the space beside me, they shoved her onto it.

" You've got me, right? " Whispering beside me, she let her eyes strayed at the faces around the room.

She turned her head sideway to look at me when I didn't respond. I looked at her face. Doe eyes, chocolate brown and addicting.

In the moment that I knew I should be wanting to spend the rest of my life avoiding the shit out of her.

Except I wanted this. Protecting her. To take care of her and shield from the world because in my opinion it wasn't even close to being good enough for her. I wanted her safe, happy and irritating like she always was. I couldn't explain why but it was all I wanted to do.

The ziplock around my wrists felt like a metal chain burning slowly into my flesh when a slap spattered across her cheek. I had never wanted to murder a motherfucker more slowly and painfully before.

He signed his own fucking death.

Gritting my teeth, I struggled to get out of the ziplock and ropes. Her head fell on my right shoulder from another smack. It was the blood that bled out of her mouth and the silence pain she tried to bite in that felt like a knife stabbing into my heart through my ribcage.

I needed to get her out of here.

It was when he had his gun pressed to her cheek that the sound of my heart pounding rang through my eardrums like a fucking siren.

I broke free from the ziplock and wiggled my way out of the rope. Grabbing the gun, I turned it over and shot his leg. Only because I had special plan for him.

The gunshot went off and the other men in the room stood still on their guard, guns raised as I grabbed their leader up from the ground and placed the gun on his throat.

" Show him your loyalty. Turn your guns around and shoot yourselves. " I said, staring at them.

I held the bastard in a chokehold as I moved forward, stepping to stand in front of my wife. She took a moment to take in what was happening before rushing over to untie Thane.

God blessed her brain. I almost sighed in happiness.

Three men dropped dead to the ground. Some loyal motherfuckers they were. Thane shook his head slightly before carefully went over to pick up the gun. Two for himself and threw one over at my wife.

" I thought I was going to die for a second but I never doubted you, boss. " he heaved out a sigh. I narrowed my eyes at him.

Adalina clung to my arm the moment I shoved the man into Thane's arms. She held her gun tight as I did mine. I shielded her away from the bloodbath as much as I possibly could. I made sure she didn't kill a soul.

That was my job and so I murdered them all.

The torture room turned out to be the one we were in just awhile ago. Thane helped us out and proceeded to take the woman abuser to the warehouse. I instructed him to save his life for me before walking back to the palace because I was basically dying from the bleeding wounds.

The night seemed to only get darker and darker as we went on our way. My wounds hurt but it was nothing compared to the twinkling feeling on my skin every time she glanced between my bruised face and bloodied wounds.

Concern seared in her eyes and for the first time I didn't mind people minding my business.

" I'm fine. " I muttered, stopping by a tree. I was not. I got glimpses of hell every fucking seconds.

" You're hurt because of me. " she said, brushing the tip of her fingers gently on my purple bruises.

I tried my best not to wince under her touch.

" He hit you. " I said, looking at the red marks on her cheek. Anger burnt through my bloodstream all over again.

" I know you're going to give him hell for that so I'm fine. " she mumbled.

" Can I kiss you? " I asked.

She snapped her eyes back to my face, narrowing them in accusations. I felt my heart thumped louder under her gaze. My brain was fuzzy and I wanted to kick myself for saying that, wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.

Existential crisis was at it finest. Adalina Salvatore had to be the only girl on earth who managed to make me lost my shit everywhere and anywhere she was concerned.

Stepping forward me. She brought my head down to her level and wiped my blood away with her thumb. " He must have hit your head pretty hard. Poor baby. " she pouted.

I gaped at her in utter shock. I barely showed it but at the end of the day I was still a man and I wanted to kiss my wife. She made it as if I was some emotionless walking statue.

" You're so fucking irritating. " I muttered, dipping my head down and brushed my lips at the corner of her mouth.

She stilled for a second before clearing her throat. " You missed. "

" I never missed. " I kissed her senseless with tongue and all. I felt her smile against my lips as she kissed me back, throwing her arms around my neck.

It was the last thing I felt before I blacked out. One could only bleed so much. I was human after all.

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A/N: >.<