“No, Jexin, it’s not you. If I have to have someone guarding me, I’d rather it be you and Refeu than anyone else. But I don’t want anyone right now, I just want to be alone. I’m not staying here; I won’t be a vampire any longer!” She started walking again.
“If you’re thinking of the clinics, you can think again,” Refeu warned. “No clinic would dare kill a royal vampire. Their guards would raze the clinic to the ground and kill every person who worked there.”
Rachel hadn’t been thinking of the clinics. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking. She just wanted to get away, to get back to her old life, somehow.
She was soon at the gates to the palace gardens, Refeu on her left and Jexin on her right, despite her multiple demands that they leave her.
“Open the gates!” Rachel looked up at the guard who had control of the gate mechanism. Immediately, he began turning the old-fashioned handle that opened them.
“Close the gates!” Jexin glared up at the guard. “Now.”
The guard paused, and Rachel pushed in front of Jexin. “I’m not going to ask again. As your Assa, I’m telling you to open these gates, right now.”
The guard paled and quickly started winding the handle, despite Jexin’s protests. As soon as the gates were open wide enough, Rachel slipped through, Jexin and Refeu on her heels. She’d half expected them to try to physically restrain her, but instead, they just followed.
Rachel was struck by an idea. She knew how to get rid of them. Her goal was only a fifteen-minute walk from the palace. Soon, she was back among the human population. She found herself sweaty and weak way before she should have been. It’s the sun, she realized. Vampires didn’t do well in the sun. She’d just have to deal with it until she reached her destination.
She saw a shop selling sunglasses and ducked inside, realizing they had something she needed. She walked up to the counter. “Do you sell contact lenses? Something that can change the color of my eyes?”
The cashier glanced up knowingly. “Of course. You’re certainly not the only vampire to want that. Here, these will change the red to blue.”
“Thank you.” Rachel dug in her pocket, only to realize she had no money with her.
“Here.” Refeu, still right next to her, pulled a gold coin out of his jacket and handed it over. “Keep the change.”
The cashier’s eyes went wide as he gaped, speechless, at the coin.
Rachel didn’t wait for him to gather his wits, but quickly put the contact lenses in, glancing at the mirror as she left. It didn’t look particularly good, but the red of her eyes was now brown. By the time she’d walked the last block, she was really struggling, staggering along. Refeu tried to give her his arm for support, but she pushed it away. He was stumbling almost as much as she was.
The police station came into sight and Rachel fell against the doors, banging her fist weakly on the glass. An alarmed officer pulled the doors open, catching her as she fell. “Help,” Rachel breathed. “These vampires won’t leave me alone.” She was still dressed in a royal gown, but the officer took one look at her eyes and, surmising she was human, helped pull her a few steps back from Refeu and Jexin, who were now both frowning at her.
“I have to ask you to leave,” the officer said. Refeu growled and took a step forward, but before he could get near Rachel, three more officers appeared, their hands on their guns.
“Assa, don’t do this,” Jexin pled. “We don’t want to fight these people.”
Refeu tried a different tack. “This is not a human but a vampire royal. She is not safe here. We need to take her back to the palace.”
A few of the officers peered into Rachel’s eyes, and seeing them brown, closed ranks before her. “Leave,” one of them said.
“She is wearing contact lenses! Take them out and see the color of her eyes for yourself.” Refeu gestured angrily at Rachel.
One of the officers reached for her eyes, but Rachel flinched away from him, curling herself into a ball, silently confirming the officers’ fears that she’d been abused. She hated to make them think that of Refeu and Jexin, but it was the only way she could think to get them away from her.
“OUT! Both of you out, now, or we’ll shoot.”
There were clicks throughout the room as guns were taken off safety. Rachel hoped that Jexin and Refeu would do the sensible thing. A glance up from between her arms showed them slowly backing out of the station.
Chapter Eleven
Jexin
Refeu was practically trembling with frustration, and Jexin wasn’t far behind. Assa was clever, he would give her that. Unfortunately, her cleverness this time would only result in her being hurt.
He backed into the shadows of a nearby bush, Refeu beside him. “We wait and watch. We follow from a distance.”
The prince nodded; his eyes fixed on the police station. Several minutes later, a police car left. The windows were tinted, but he was sure Assa was inside. “She’ll probably ask them to take her to her old apartment, the one she shared with Tim. I will go there and call you if they drop her off. Can you wait here? Just in case she’s still inside and this is a decoy?”
Refeu returned his attention to the station. “Yes. Hurry. Every moment she is alone is a moment she could be hurt.”
“I know.” Jexin took off running, that fact foremost in his mind. Despite his worry, he was at least relieved that he hadn’t done anything to upset Assa. In truth, he’d expected trouble before this. It was a lot to adjust to, and she still hadn’t fully grieved the loss of her old life. This was to be expected, though he probably hadn’t helped matters by letting her take things as far as she did in their date.
Not that he could see any situation in which he’d refuse her, but he’d think about that later. Jexin flew over sidewalks and fences. He could make it to her apartment before the police car if he took a direct route rather than going on the roads.
He made it first, but only just. The police hovered around Assa, wanting to accompany her, or guard her apartment, or have her lay charges. She refused all offers, insisting that she would be fine. Jexin wished the police didn’t listen to her. He and Refeu weren’t enough guard for her, and even humans would be better than nothing.
He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Refeu. “Assa home. Come now.” He included the address and sent it, knowing it would be only minutes before the prince arrived.
Before those minutes could pass, Jexin heard what he’d been dreading. Assa screamed, and a crash came from inside the house. Fear rushed through him as Jexin leapt up to the walls, scaling them quickly, using windows and small cracks in the stone as leverage. When he reached Rachel’s room, he didn’t hesitate but crashed through the window, leaving splintered glass everywhere.
With any luck, the police wouldn’t be too far off to hear the noise and they would come back. Jexin yanked his knife out of its sheath as he ran through to the room Rachel’s scream had come from.
He found her on the floor, surrounded by four vampires. By their uniforms, Jexin recognized them as guards from the Bokir palace. The Bokir family had been enemies with the Cherki bloodline for as long as anyone remembered.
Jexin had no chance against four guards. His only hope was to keep them from Rachel long enough for her to escape. He threw himself at them without hesitation. “Run, Assa!” he yelled. He’d made sure her phone was programmed with numbers for the palace and her uncle. Surely, she’d have enough sense to call someone to pick her up.
He didn’t have more time to think about it, because he was fighting for his life. Jexin was well trained and lethal, but so were these guards. He managed to stab one in the gut, but at the cost of a deep gash in his left arm. He kept fighting, kicking, stabbing and bighting.
To his dismay, Assa didn’t leave, but tried to help. She lifted a small chair above her head and cracked it down onto one of the assailants’ heads. The vampire spun to her. Jexin was too late to stop the knife, only deflect it.
Instead
of piercing Assa’s heart, it went into her shoulder. she screamed and fell even as Jexin snapped the neck of the vampire who did it. There were two still up, and Jexin was quickly becoming lightheaded from the loss of blood. He kept fighting, but he knew he was going to lose. Without realizing how he got there, he found he was on his back on the floor.
“Run, Assa,” he whispered, blood bubbling from his lips. He couldn’t see her; he could only hope she heard and obeyed. He tried to twist away as a guard raised his sword, ready to plunge into Jexin’s heart. In that moment, he made his peace with death.
It didn’t happen as he expected. The sword was coming straight for his heart.
At the last moment, it was deflected. Refeu stood above him, snapping his own sword around to impale the attacking vampire. The prince blurred in and out as he moved. The Alabsa bloodline trained their princes in combat from a young age, and Refeu was just as strong a fighter as Jexin was, if less experienced.
In moments, all the assailants were dead. Jexin staggered to his feet and went to Assa, Refeu right beside him.
Horror quickly mounted as he looked at her. Assa was hurt. There was a deep slash across her side that was bleeding fiercely. She was a vampire, which meant the slash should have healed already. The blades must have been poisoned with something to keep wounds open.
“What’s wrong with you?” Refeu looked on the verge of attacking him. “You let her get hurt!”
“I told her to run,” Jexin whispered, but he knew that was no excuse. Assa had been hurt on his watch. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t done something wrong on their date, she wouldn’t have been upset in the first place, and she’d never have been in danger.
“Help me with her, we have to get her to the healers.”
Refeu was dialing the palace number already. Jexin shook himself and quickly knelt beside his queen. “It’s alright, Assa, you’re going to be ok. The healers will fix this right up.” If she survived to get to the healers. He kept that bit of information to himself. He tore the cover off a nearby cushion and used it to bind the wound as tightly as he could. It slowed the flow of blood but didn’t stem it.
“Jexin…” Assa’s voice was so weak that it terrified him. She was deathly pale. If she didn’t get blood soon…
“Don’t try to talk, Assa. Just rest, let Refeu and me do the work.”
She ignored him, grabbing his wrist to pull him closer. “It’s not your fault. I was stupid. Don’t blame yourself.”
The words were a balm, even though Jexin knew he’d never stop blaming himself for this. “Hush, Assa. Be still, now.”
Ordinarily, he’d never give his Assa orders, but in this case, she needed to conserve her energy. Refeu was suddenly beside him. “The healers are coming. We need to start getting her back. We can meet them on the way.”
“No, we should fortify this place in case of more attacks. We’ll wait for them.”
“She’s too weak, she might not make it. Every second counts.”
The two of them turned automatically to Assa to settle the dispute, but she had passed out. There wasn’t time for a test of wills here and they both knew it. They stared fiercely at each other for a few moments before Refeu’s shoulders slumped. “You are her guard. You decide our course.”
Though Jexin had only moments ago argued for keeping her here, Rachel was paler than ever. Refeu would have done time with the healers as part of his training. He probably knew better in this case. As much as Jexin wished otherwise, they would have to take Rachel through the streets and hope there were no more attackers.
“We take her to the palace. I’ll carry her. You guard.”
No more needed to be said. Jexin silently cursed himself for following on foot and not taking a car. It was too late now. Hotwiring cars wasn’t a part of guard training, and he highly doubted that the Alabsa princes knew how to do that either. They would have to run.
Jexin lifted Assa into his arms, now glad she was unconscious and not able to feel the pain of their movement. He and Refeu didn’t speak as they started running. Jexin focused on speed, relying on Refeu to warn him if there was someone chasing them.
Assa was fading in his arms. Jexin knew that if she died, he would die too. He couldn’t live without her. He loved her, even if she hated him after what had happened earlier today.
He’d never been so grateful to see the palace cars. Refeu darted in and threw open a door. Jexin carefully laid Assa so that she was lying down on the back seat. He and Refeu squashed themselves in beside her.
Gali was there and already putting her hands on Assa. Jexin wanted to ask how she was, but he didn’t want to distract the healer. He was covered in Assa’s blood, and Refeu looked no better. There was silence in the car, a silence so terrifying that Jexin found his hands were shaking.
What would he tell Tim if Assa died under his watch?
He was barely aware of them reaching the palace, the location registering only when Assa was taken from his side and put onto a stretcher the other healers had waiting. Refeu darted after her. Jexin longed to do the same, but he knew he couldn’t. Before anything else, he had to tell Tim.
The palace was in an uproar already, so there was no time to change first, but not wanting the sight of Assa’s blood to scare the human even more, Jexin took off his shirt and tossed it aside. Bare chested, he ran through the corridors. Tim deserved to hear this from him first.
Chapter Twelve
Tim
Tim was trying to read, but he couldn’t focus. It was infuriating that he couldn’t go after Rachel, but he knew that he’d never catch up to Refeu and Jexin, much less keep up with them. Rachel had left her phone here, which meant he had no way to contact her. He could only wait.
His finger hovered over the bell to call a servant, but he resisted. He’d called someone just ten minutes ago, only to be assured that he would be the first to know if there was an update. He wondered what had happened with Jexin. He knew Jexin would never do anything to upset Rachel, which likely meant whatever the problem was, it was some internal struggle from Rachel’s side that had been triggered by something in the date.
Someone knocked hesitantly on the door. Thinking it was the servant coming to tell him once again that there was no news, Tim didn’t look up, but called, “Come in.”
Jexin stumbled into the room. The moment Tim looked at him, he knew something was deadly wrong. Jexin was trembling and there were tears running down his face. He shot to his feet. “Where is she?”
“With the healers. Come.”
Tim didn’t have the breath to ask anything more as the two of them sprinted to the healers’ quarters. Jexin kept pace with him, only stopping a few feet from the bed. Rachel was still and pale as the healers worked over her.
Tim tried to rush forward, but Jexin caught him by the arm. “Wait. This is critical, and the healers can’t be distracted right now, or they may lose her.”
He felt himself swaying on the spot, and only Jexin’s grip on his arm kept him from falling. Refeu came around from the other side of the table and stood on his other side. The three of them stared as Gali worked in silence. Rachel was hooked up to drips and machines, and the healer’s hands were glowing slightly as she worked.
“I’m sorry,” Jexin whispered. “It’s my fault. I let her get hurt under my watch.”
“It’s not your fault.” Refeu didn’t take his eyes off Rachel, but his voice was sympathetic.
“What happened? She was attacked, wasn’t she?”
Jexin closed his eyes, seemingly unable to speak, so it was Refeu who answered. “Yes. We followed her, but she managed to lose us by going to a police station and telling her we were stalkers. She went to her old apartment and was attacked there. Jexin was nearly killed, but I caught up in time. We killed the enemies, but Rachel was hurt.”
“The police station. You’ve got to give her points for creativity.” Tim couldn’t help smiling at that, but the sight of Rachel’s pale, blood-streaked face had the
smile sliding off his face.
For the first time in a few minutes, Gali moved from her hunched posture over Rachel. “She needs blood. I’m going to wake her up for a few minutes. Someone get a donor.”
Tim wished more than anything that he could give Rachel his own blood, but that would turn him into a vampire, and he wasn’t sure he wanted that. “I’ll get Bethany.”
He knew the way to the donors’ quarters by now, and a few minutes later, he was knocking on Bethany’s door. She flung it open, sweeping out before him. “Assa needs me? I heard she’s injured.”
“Yes, she needs you.”
Bethany had no trouble keeping up as Tim ran back to the healers’ rooms. Bethany went at once to Rachel’s side, pulling her hair to the side to expose her neck.
“When I wake here, she’ll only barely be conscious,” Gali warned. “Don’t try to talk to her. She’ll need blood, and then she needs to go back to sleep to let her body heal.”
Tim, Jexin and Refeu all nodded, their eyes fixed on Rachel.
Gali injected something into the drip, and Rachel’s eyes fluttered. Gali lifted her head carefully so that Rachel could reach Bethany’s neck. Bethany knelt, pressing herself close. Rachel didn’t hesitate, but bit into her neck, pulling the blood in fast, desperate swallows. Bethany didn’t pull away, even when Rachel drank for longer than she should have.
Tim reached out to steady the donor as Rachel finally released her.
Gali helped her into a bed. “You just need some rest, dear.” The healer turned back to Rachel, whose color was already much better. After checking some of her vitals, Gali finally said the words they’d all been waiting to her. “She’s going to be alright. The next day will be critical, and she’ll be weak for some time, but if everything goes well, she’ll make a full recovery.”
Jexin’s legs gave out, but Tim and Refeu managed to catch him before he hit the ground, helping him into a chair. Tim felt no less shaky.
Before anyone else could speak, Dasek burst into the rooms. “How is she? Is she going to live? I just heard, I was in a meeting with the Flarer royals, I only checked my phone when we got out.”
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