There was no doubt whatsoever that the couple in the portrait was in love.
Lizzie found that they contrasted greatly; she in all white, with hair the color of platinum, while he dressed in all black, his hair the color of the night sky. And yet they looked absolutely… perfect together.
She forced her eyes away from the painting, and instead, led herself over to her bag which was lying on the bed. She quickly changed out of the clothes she was wearing and into the more comfortable ones that she had brought with her – loose grey sweatpants and a comfortable shirt with Clint Eastwood on it. She adored Clint Eastwood. Men like him – masculine and protective - didn't seem to be made anymore, which was such a shame…
She laid on the bed, flat on her back, and her eyes once again took notice of the painting across the bed. Before she could consciously stop it, she felt her heart constrict painfully. She didn't want to think about it, but her mind wouldn't let her do anything else. Before she could even process what she was on her mind, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Miss Grant?" a voice asked on the other side of the door inquired. "It's dinnertime, mum. People are waiting for your presence at the dinner table."
"I'm not hungry, Carl," she said, her voice uncharacteristically soft, "but thank you."
She thought that Carl might argue with her, but after a moment of strained silence, she heard his footsteps tap away. Nikolai definitely wasn't going to be happy about this, but she didn’t particularly care. Her eyes found the ceiling again when her traitorous stomach rumbled, begging for sustenance. She furrowed her brow, ignoring it. She wanted a good night’s rest to prepare her for the tasks ahead. The faster she found out the threat, the faster she could return home. And the less she had to socialize with royal vampires, the better.
She closed her eyes in attempt to doze off, but her mind had other plans and was spinning in turmoil. She couldn't believe Jackson had given her this job when he knew – he knew that she didn't like vampires. She wasn't discriminatory of them or anything; she just simply did not like them. And the reason for her utter distaste of them spawned, as it usually did, from a man. Well, technically speaking, a vampire, but a male one at that.
His name was Brick Christler, and he was the most beautiful thing Lizzie had ever laid eyes on. With his pale skin, grey eyes, and black hair, he was a mess of contradictions that she wanted to spend the rest of her life trying to figure out. He was quite literally the love of her life, and she thought that was how it was going to stay, but…
Lizzie had never been a romantic, and that was working out just fine for her, but that didn't mean she didn't want to fall in love or call someone her own. She got lonely at nights, and there were times when she got scared at noises in the middle of the night. She wanted to feel someone beside her, holding her. She wanted someone to connect to, emotionally and physically… but that would mean opening up and that left her vulnerable. Too vulnerable. It wasn’t something she wanted to get mixed up in again.
She should have known that getting involved with a vampire was a bad idea. Her mother had warned her about vampires before she had passed away, and even then, Rachel's mother had done the same. Maybe that was why she had felt so drawn to Brick, because she wasn't supposed to be with him, to like him.
It was silly, really. She had met him when she and Rachel had gone out clubbing to celebrate her passing her midterms. How old was she then? She couldn't have been more than nineteen. When she had first seen Brick, she felt her breath leave her lungs and she couldn't help but stare at him. When she caught his eye, the two danced like there was no tomorrow and soon, they became inseparable. People warned her of a vampire's true nature – it was practically impossible for a vampire to remain faithful. Hell, it was doubtful they ever really fell in love.
That was why vampires chose to be with other vampires. Who better to understand a vampire's nature than another vampire? It was rare for vampires and werewolves to stray from their series when choosing their mates, but it was possible. Vladislaus and Elise were proof of that. However, werewolves and vampires intermingling were nonexistent. At the time, Lizzie paid the statistics no mind; she believed in the way she felt about Brick and thought that they would be different. The exception.
In fact, they had been together nearly two years, and during that time, Brick wanted nothing more than to transform Lizzie into one of them – a vampire. She always refused, making up random excuses when the truth of the matter was that she was scared. Once someone was transformed, there was no going back, and unlike werewolves, vampires didn't mate for life. While Lizzie was sure of her love, something inside her refused to take that final step yet.
When it came upon their third anniversary, Lizzie had decided to push away her fears and let Brick transform her. She felt herself become excited at the prospect, and as she walked into the apartment she shared with him, she found that she was actually looking forward to her sudden change.
Except when she opened the door to her bedroom, she found Brick in bed with another woman, a vampire no less.
Without a word, she left, heartbroken but resolved, a burning hate for vampires everywhere lodged where her heart used to be. Of course, after that, she made a vow to never fall in love with one of them ever again.
5
Carl walked down to the kitchen; his heart – if he had one, of course – would be beating incessantly. He didn't know the last person who refused an offer to dine with Prince Nikolai and not get reprimanded in some way. In the vampire culture, a decline at dining, polite or not, excusable or not, was incredibly disrespectful. Carl wasn't exactly sure whether Elizabeth Grant knew this or not, but she should have been privy to the information, especially since she would be lodging with vampires for an undisclosed portion of time. If anything, she would be finding out sooner rather than later.
When Carl walked into the kitchen, he held his breath. He knew his master would not be happy when he revealed Lizzie response to her dinner invitation. Nikolai's blue eyes glanced up at the butler from the head of the long, dark dining table, and when he found that Lizzie was not with Carl, he narrowed his eyes. "Where is she?" he asked in a crisp tone, and though he knew it wasn't Carl's fault that Lizzie had yet to show, he couldn't keep the snap out of his voice even if he had actually tried.
"Sir," Carl said, and after a moment's hesitation, decided just to tell him straight out. "She refuses to come down the stairs. She says she is not hungry."
"What?" Nikolai asked, his eyes flashing. His long fingers were interlocked, his chin resting on the flat of his hands. It was rare for him to get flustered, but Elizabeth Grant had not even been here for a few hours, and she was already crawling under his skin.
Lewis, currently sitting on Nikolai's left, skillfully hid a smirk by cupping the lower half of his face with the palm of his hand.
Nikolai was never as keen on controlling his temper as Lewis was, and it was a shame, really, because vampires were known for their indifference to most every situation. A true vampire would not show his emotions, and though Nikolai was getting better at hiding them, it was moments like these that tried his patience and caused Lewis to delight in. Anger was such a human emotion; Nikolai obviously got it from their mother before she was turned, and now, for the rest of his immortality, he would have to work on it. Lewis was looking forward to seeing his brother fail and fail again.
Carl wasn't exactly sure what else to say. "I'm sorry, sir," he said again. "I told her that you required her presence and she politely said that she wasn't hungry."
"I don't care how she said it," Nikolai began to say, his voice getting louder and louder until, at the last moment, he caught himself and let a sigh slip out of his hooked nose. Patience, Nikolai. How are you going to rule a whole nation of vampires if you don't have patience? Maybe it was a good thing this woman was here; she would help him learn the lesson. "I apologize," he forced himself to say. He hated apologizing to anyone. It meant that he was wrong about something and Nik
olai Dragulia was never wrong. "Well, if she says she's not hungry right now, did she give a time frame of when she would be hungry?" Each word he spoke was low and articulate and bit out through clenched teeth, as though if he thought about what Lizzie was doing, he would lose it and needed to control something.
"No, sir," Carl murmured, shaking his head. His pale green eyes flashed with worry. "I merely assumed that she would not be coming down at all. That was the impression she gave me."
Nikolai bit his bottom lip to forcibly keep himself from uttering something sarcastic about asses and assumptions. He was standing now, one hand on the surface of the table as he regarded Carl. "All right," he said and then looked over at the nearby staircase. "I will ask her formally myself. Maybe she thought it was rude that I asked her through you, Carl." He looked over at his brother who had on an innocent face of indifference to the whole matter, but Nikolai could see right through Lewis. Nikolai knew better. "Excuse me, my brother," he murmured, though his voice was still sharp. "I obviously need to take care of a matter. I will be down shortly."
"Of course," Lewis said, and politely nodded his head.
Nikolai slowly and calmly walked up the stairs and to the right, down the east wing of the second floor. He continuously flexed and un-flexed his hands, another strategy he had learned from his father, no less, in order to reign his emotions. Each step he took, there was purpose infused in him, and when he reached her door, he rapped on the sturdy wood with his knuckles. It took everything in him not to bang on it with his fist.
"Carl," Elizabeth called from the other side of the door. "I already told you that I wasn't going…" She let her voice trailed off, having opened the door slightly. Instead of seeing, Carl, however, Nikolai was standing there, and from the look on her face, he knew she could tell he wasn’t incredibly pleased. "Oh. It's you."
"Is that how you greet a prince?" Nikolai asked, his control suddenly failing at how abrupt her greeting was.
"I apologize if I have offended you," Elizabeth said, "but you're not my prince and I have no idea what you're doing here. I told Carl that I –"
"I know what you told Carl," Nikolai said, cutting her off. "What I don't understand is why you told Carl what you told him. I know humans and I know how hungry you can be. There's no way that you won't get hungry for your stay here."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, placing her hand on her hip and narrowing her eyes into Nikolai’s. "Obviously I'm going to be hungry in the near future. I'm just not hungry right now, and I don't believe I should be forced to have to endure a meal I won’t eat. It's a waste of food and a waste of my time."
"It's a waste of your time?" Nikolai asked with disbelief. Another flash of emotions crossed his angled features, and he immediately smoothed them out as best he could.
"That's what I said," Lizzie said, her tone firm.
"Fine," Nikolai said; his voice suddenly low as he regarded Lizzie with dangerous, ice-blue eyes. "Fine. You will not eat until you choose to eat with my family and myself. You are not among your humans, Miss Grant. We have different traditions and customs. As you are a guest here – a paid guest among royalty – I strongly suggest you adapt to them." He paused. “Consider yourself an ambassador. You are not making the rest of humanity look good to a future king.”
Elizabeth clenched her jaw, causing it to pop. "Fine," she agreed.
"And don't think you can just sneak into the kitchen when I'm asleep either," Nikolai warned her. "You'll starve. Do you realize that? You will starve."
"And you'll be dead," she told him. "You know what? I'm not going to explain to you how to treat house guests in your home because seeing as though you're royalty, you should know better. Guess what, Prince Nikolai? Not everyone is going to kiss your ass just because you're going to be a king. You hired me to protect you, not to dine with you. I'm sure if you're that hard up for friend, you can pick out a number of your people. Now leave me alone. I've had a very long trip and would like nothing more than to sleep." Before Nikolai realized what she was about to do, she took a step back and slammed the door into his face.
For a moment, Nikolai just stood there, mouth hanging open, completely flabbergasted at what had just occurred. No one had ever treated him with such disrespect; he honestly could not believe it.
So now what?
Well, Nikolai knew what he wanted to do. In all honesty, he wanted to stay there and pound on her door until she was annoyed by him as he was of her. Yes, it was decidedly immature and petty, but there was a part of Nikolai that still hung onto that side of him, refusing to give it up just yet.
But he was a prince, and he didn't have the time or patience to wait around for her.
Maybe she was right, however. Elizabeth Grant was his guest, and she really might not have been hungry. He couldn't force her to eat with him if she didn't want to eat. And maybe she really was tired. It wouldn't be right to force her to be there if she didn't want to be.
"Go away!" she exclaimed from inside of her room, as though she could see Nikolai standing there, staring at the door that was blocking her from him.
Nikolai's face contorted into a scowl and he all but stomped off, feeling the anger he had previously felt about the whole situation start to boil inside of him again. He could not let Lewis see the look of defeat on his face, or else his brother would obviously be winning the game. Any sort of frustration Nikolai felt, Lewis reveled in, so he would walked downstairs and into the dining room with his head held high, despite the fact that the woman he had ordered to dine with him wasn't with him.
She would get hungry at some point in the future. It was only a matter of time when that would happen, and when it did, he would know.
6
The next morning, Lizzie woke up to her insistent stomach begging her for food. She grabbed an energy bar from her bag and slowly ate it, trying to figure out what to do now that she and Nikolai had had their first fight. She had known that she would be like this; besides the fact that he was a vampire, and an arrogant one at that, it was generally difficult for her to deal with people (or vampires) that thought they were above others, simply because of their status, money, or name. However, as she looked back on what happened last night, she realized that she probably should have been more polite to him, only because he was a royal and she did work for the Nocturnal Defense Society.
Many people believed that the NDS was an agency that protected human society from the species that were obviously stronger and faster than they could ever hope to be. While there was definitely a unit that enforced the safety of human populations from corrupt members of vampire or werewolf civilization, the Nocturnal Defense Society's main goal was to keep everything equal between the three species and to keep the peace between everyone. Since she was a potent member – assassin – of the NDS, she knew she needed to respect the different societies that could be found in Somerset, even royal pain in the asses.
It took her another half an hour to finish eating because she wanted to let her food digest, but once she was satisfied, she put on her workout clothes – shorts, a loose t-shirt, ankle socks, and tennis shoes – before putting her hair up. She took a long gulp of water out of one of her bottles, grabbed her iPod, and headed down the stairs and out the door. It was early morning – she wasn't used to the time switch yet – and started jogging despite the fact that she wasn't familiar with her current surroundings.
Lizzie loved to jog, especially when she was frustrated with something (or, in this case, someone). She just put in her earphones and went wherever the wind took her. When she got out of the castle itself, she took a moment to check where she was and where she wanted to go. The castle grounds were huge and beautiful, especially given the fact that the fog encompassed everything – the trees, the trails, the flowers, and the sky. She made a mental map of what she knew and what she didn't, and after another moment, decided to explore a direction she wasn't as certain of.
As she started her run, her mind began to think back
to Nikolai. Something was bothering her about the entire situation, something she wasn't yet ready to admit to anyone, least of all to herself. Still, a part of her persisted until she actually thought about it. What if Nikolai's arrogance really wasn't his fault? He grew up as the first born son to the king of all vampires, and would most likely inherit it from his father. He was born, roughly, in the late thirteen hundreds, or at least, that was what Lizzie had been taught in one of her many sociology classes, so the man had lived to see wars, death, and famine. She was certain he had probably loved a few times, and since as far as she knew, he was single, had endured heart break as well. She wondered how he would treat his people, if he really was the right choice to inherit the throne. His father was supposed to be an excellent ruler, and his people seemed to love him. It must have been a shock to them to hear that he was stepping down.
The rumors ran rampant on why Vladislaus allowed such a thing was happening. Lizzie liked to think, though she would never admit it, that it was to spend more time with Elise. Being a king probably put a strain on their relationship unless he involved her in things, and she wasn't sure if he was the type of person to do that. She got the impression that both Nikolai and Lewis were too prideful to ever let a woman help them, and she wasn't sure if it was because their father was the same way, or if it was because he was decidedly different.
An Education in Royalty: A Somerset Novel (Somerset Series Book 1) Page 3