Playing Dead for My Vampire Husband

Playing Dead for My Vampire Husband

Juniper Marlow · Completed · 5.4k Words

1.2k
Hot
1.4k
Views
6
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Five years ago, I stepped in front of a crossbow bolt for Lucian Vael, and he turned me into a vampire before I had the chance to say no.
He told me I was the first person he'd loved in six hundred years. He bought a castle and named it after me. He reserved a spot for me in his family's crypt so we'd lie there together when the time came—right beside his parents, in the inner ring where only blood and the most beloved go.
While I spent four years bleeding myself dry over ancient rites, trying to carry his child, he was across the city watching another woman do it on her first try. Using my research to get there.
He named one of the twins Soren. That was the name I'd chosen.
The night I found out, I was seven weeks pregnant.
I didn't tell him.
I called Mira and said: I need him to think I'm dead.

Chapter 1

I found out Lucian Vael—the man I took a crossbow bolt for five years ago—had been living a double life behind my back.

I don't know exactly when I blacked out. I remember the archive room floor coming up fast. Then nothing.

When I came to, he was already there.

He was on the phone at the far end of the physician's room, and his voice had an edge I almost never heard from him. Something about the ritual components. Something about whoever had let this happen again. The physician was waiting him out patiently, the way you learn to wait out powerful men.

For a moment I almost believed it. That he was that furious on my behalf.

Then I remembered the crystal. Those two new silver branches. The name carved into one of them.

The physician got through half his update before Lucian ended the call and crossed the room.

"Was it the Accord?" he said, low and tight. "Did someone get to your materials?"

"Nobody got to anything. I just pushed too hard."

He looked at me like he didn't believe it, then looked at the physician like he was deciding whether to find someone to blame anyway.

"Blood loss," the physician said firmly. "Third time in six months. No more rites until she's recovered. Two weeks minimum."

Lucian pulled a chair close and sat. He reached over and put his hand against my face—same angle, same weight as five years ago, the night I first woke up changed, when he'd steadied me because I didn't know how to hold my own head up yet. I wondered if he knew he still did it that way.

"What's wrong?" he said. "Something else."

"I'm tired."

He held my gaze for a second, then leaned in and pressed his mouth to my forehead.

That's when I caught it.

Under the cedar-and-copper that was specifically him: something cold. Old. A pureblood's presence clings to skin and fabric differently than anything else—floral in a way that has nothing to do with flowers, something you can't place until you know what you're looking for. I'd been in the same room as Seraphine Moreau three times. I knew that scent.

And beneath it, so faint I nearly missed it: something sweet and warm and milky.

Infant blood smells different. It's one of the first things you learn.

I pushed him back, said something about needing a moment, and barely made it to the bathroom before I was sick.

He followed. He gathered my hair back with both hands and said nothing, just stayed there, kneeling on the tile floor in a coat that probably cost more than most people's rent. He'd always hated mess. He'd always been worse around illness. He was kneeling on a clinic bathroom floor not caring about either.

I almost told him. I was right on the edge of it—I'm pregnant, seven weeks, I just found out yesterday—and maybe if I had, everything would have gone differently.

Then his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. Something moved through his face, there and gone. "Clan business," he said. "I'll be right back."

He wasn't back in twenty minutes.

What came instead was a vision—images that pushed into my head uninvited, sharp as memory, except they weren't mine. It happens between two people who've shared blood long enough. Someone can send things through that connection without a phone, without warning.

Soft light. A pale nursery. Lucian leaning over a crib, his mouth to a baby's forehead. Unhurried. Like he'd done it before.

Seraphine in the background. Her hand on his arm. Watching.

One line of text threaded through it after: He moves fast when they need him.

I stayed on the bathroom floor until my hands steadied. Then I called Mira.

"Two days," I said. "I need to be dead in two days."

A beat of silence. Then, carefully: "Corbin's been lying to me too. I found the messages." Her voice was controlled but only just. "I can't stay, Vera. Not anymore."

She was wrong. He'd spent eight months saving for a ring, had her old Hunter insignia worked into the setting, wanted her to know he accepted everything she'd been before. I didn't know that yet.

"Okay," I said. "We go together."

That night I came home to an empty house. Late, his message said. Handling things.

I went straight to the archive room. Four years of notebooks on that shelf, his handwriting in my margins, time that had looked like partnership from where I was standing. I pulled them down one by one and tore them. I'd expected it to feel like something. It didn't.

The gown from my first clan gathering went into a bag without me looking at it too long.

My ring caught the light when I tied the handles shut.

I left it on. The plan needed it.

My phone lit up on the countertop.

Mira: Everything's ready. 48 hours.

Forty-eight hours, and Vera Cross-Vael would be dead.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Kaged In

Kaged In

3.2k Views · Completed · BurntAsh3s
Kage enters the foster system in New York at the age of five. The reality of his life seems bleaker each day as his circumstances worsen, and he becomes closed-off, cold and distrusting of others. When he gets adopted at the age of sixteen, his belief in humanity has withered. Kage doesn't live, he exists, day by day. He has lost all hope, and he doesn't dare to dream of something better. Alexander Hawthorne gives him a new lease on life, a family and most importantly, hope. Kage has his own past trauma to deal with and he carries that burden with him when he gets drafted into the NHL. Hockey is his life, his passion and the only thing that is a constant form of happiness.
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.
Let Them Kneel

Let Them Kneel

239.1k Views · Ongoing · My Fantasy Stories
Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
BROKEN TRUST

BROKEN TRUST

9.2k Views · Completed · O.J Thewriter
She broke their marriage. He walked away.

Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.

Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.

Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate

Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate

7.3k Views · Ongoing · Miranda Carr
I never knew my blood could kill a king—until I met one. Sebastian, the ruthless and immortal King, rules with precision. For centuries, he's ruled with ruthless precision, his heart as cold as the stone throne beneath him. One moment, I'm nothing. The next, I'm his obsession. His touch burns like ice fire. His stare follows me through shadows. And when he feeds from me—God help me—it feels like drowning in darkness and craving more. He tells me my blood is unlike any he's tasted, that my scent drives him to the edge of madness.


He reached for the back of my head and pulled me up just enough to reach my neck. When his fangs slid into me, the pain was instant, electric. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My hands found his shoulders, clawing for something to hold. My legs kicked. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

He moaned against my throat as he drank, and the sound was devastating.
Iron And Glamour Just Don't Mix

Iron And Glamour Just Don't Mix

4.5k Views · Ongoing · Kit Bryan
Have you ever seen a screaming toddler and thought, wow, they just can’t be the same good-natured kid who was eating cereal ten minutes ago?
Well… Sometimes you just might turn out to be right.
It turns out, the fae stole my little brother. In his place? A pixie with boundary issues and a talent for home repairs.
I’ve spent my life taking care of everyone else. So when my baby brother is taken, I don’t hesitate. I walk straight into a faerie mansion and make a bargain with its infuriatingly charming master.
Kie is everything you’d expect from a dangerous fae, beautiful, political, and entirely too amused by me. Power wrapped in a smirk. Sensual, mischievous, and far too aware of the effect he has on people. He agrees to help me find my brother.
For a price.
Now I’m bound by a faerie bargain and navigating a world of glamour, manipulation, and ancient rules I definitely should have learned sooner, enchanted forests, political games, magical contracts, and a fae lord who treats seduction like a perfectly reasonable negotiation tactic.
Iron is how I keep people out.
Glamour is how he draws them in.
And apparently, they just don’t mix.
Oops. My Boss Was Seventeen

Oops. My Boss Was Seventeen

3.8k Views · Completed · Selena Maeve
The Plan: Travel back in time to high school, identify my insanely intimidating future billionaire boss before he gets rich, and suck up to him so hard I secure a six-figure job for life.
The Execution: Perfect. I brought him coffee, cheered at his games, and basically operated as his unpaid teenage executive assistant. He’s totally buying it.
The Problem: I was trying to network my way into the C-suite. I think I just networked my way into his bed.
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha

Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha

18.2k Views · Completed · Christina
I woke up three years into a marriage I barely remembered—pregnant with twins that weren't my husband's.

Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.

Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
Bella and Her Beast

Bella and Her Beast

20.6k Views · Completed · Sheridan Hartin
For all the little girls who grew up wondering what happens after the prince kisses the girl—this is the story they never told you.
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?

.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
The Spy Who Left

The Spy Who Left

1.8k Views · Completed · Orion Vale
"She's naive. A pretty little socialite who got lucky marrying above her station."
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon

Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon

500.2k Views · Completed · Riley
My name is Audrey, and I'm the adopted daughter of the Bailey family.
Four years ago, the Bailey family faced a devastating financial crisis.
Just when bankruptcy seemed inevitable, a mysterious benefactor emerged, offering salvation with one condition: a contract marriage.
Rumors swirled about this enigmatic man—whispers claimed he was hideously ugly and too ashamed to show his face, possibly harboring dark, twisted obsessions.
Without hesitation, the Baileys sacrificed me to protect their precious biological daughter, forcing me to take her place as a pawn in this cold, calculated arrangement.
Luckily, in those four years, the mysterious husband never asked to meet in person.
Now, in the final year of our arrangement, the husband I've never met is demanding we meet face to face.
But disaster struck the night before my return—drunk and disoriented, I stumbled into the wrong hotel room and ended up sleeping with the legendary financial mogul, Caspar Thornton.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

2.9m Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
“Burn those who burned me!”

“Burn those who burned me!”

191.5k Views · Completed · Toddria Holiday
Follow several different stories of betrayal and revenge as the main characters finally seek justice and payback of those who betrayed them!

Burn those who burned me is an anthology book circulated on truth; justice; and REVENGE!

Story #1 The Ballad of Rabena Price.
Story #2 The rebirth of Clara Granger
Story #3 The violin of Graceland Teague
Story #4 The list for Josie Taylor

Story #5 COMING SOON!