"You and her cousin have hit it off also," my mom said with a smile.
I had to smile too. "He's amazing," I said, unable to believe I had admitted that to my mom.
"He seems nice," she said. "That family seems to take very good care of you. When they lived here, it was almost like they were as much your family as we were."
I was surprised to hear my mom talking so kindly about both myself and my friends. Who was she and what had she done with my disapproving, snooty mom? I didn't know how to respond.
"Make sure that you're here for your birthday," she told me. "Your dad and I have a surprise for you."
"Please don't let it be a party," I said. "I can't handle any more attention."
"We're not planning a party."
"Good. Well, I can't wait to see the surprise. I better get some studying done before my grades suffer."
"What do you consider suffering? Getting an A-?" She was smiling.
"Goodnight, Mom."
***
I had been studying for about an hour when Natalie came into my room. She had her arms full of salty snack foods.
"Hungry much?" I asked, trying not to laugh.
"I'm starving," she exclaimed. "Want to eat a snack with me?"
"Sure, but I don't think I can eat all of that."
"Good. I don't want you to," she said. "I just want some company." She sat down, opened a bag of chips and practically inhaled the entire bag.
"Don't eat the bag," I exclaimed, half afraid that she might.
She ignored me.
"Where were you tonight?" I asked, curious to hear what she would tell me.
"I went out with some friends after practice," she said in between gulps.
"Maybe you should have had some dinner," I told her.
"I did. I'm just starving that's all. Maybe I'm having a growth spurt. That's what dad always says when I eat a lot, I'm growing."
"Right. What friends did you go out with tonight? You look a little freaked out," I said. "Are you okay?" She didn't actually look freaked out, but I wanted to find out what I could about what she saw in the field. She might have thought that was me, and if she did I would have to do damage control.
"Why are you so nosy?" she asked me. "You're never nosy like this. Is it because you're popular?"
"I don't care. Don't tell me who you were with," I said. "Just tell me why you look so freaked out."
She sighed and opened a bag of flavored popcorn. "Well, we were outside and something strange did happen. One of the guys that was there was being rude to one of the girls. Then out of nowhere, some girl roughed him up, threatened him and just disappeared. It was really strange."
"Do you know who it was?" I asked.
"No. If I did, I would have said."
"She didn't sound like anyone that you knew?" I asked.
"No, she didn't really sound like a person," Natalie said. "I know that sounds crazy, but it was like she was some kind of…oh I don't know. Not a person, like something on movie."
"That is strange," I said, relieved that she didn't think it had been me.
I was trying to read her mind, but was unable to. I wasn't sure if it was what she had been smoking or because I needed to work on that skill some more. These powers all seemed different in the ways that they worked.
She started chatting about unimportant things as she finished off the bag of popcorn, so I tuned her out and went back to my homework. She noticed, but didn't seem to care.
***
Later that night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I suddenly had the very strong sensation that I was not alone in my room. I was suddenly wide awake but frozen in place, afraid that if I moved I would somehow be more vulnerable to who or what was in my room with me.
Wishing for stronger night vision, I looked around my room as best as I could in the dark, lying down without moving my head. I couldn't see anything unusual.
I tried to breathe normally once I noticed that I had been holding my breath. The creepy feeling would not go away and continued to become stronger as I laid there.
I debated with myself about what I should do. I could sit up quickly and turn on my light, using the element of surprise to my advantage, or I could announce that I know that they were there.
I decided that I would get up and turn the light on so that the intruder wouldn't have the advantage. Before I budged, I thought I saw a movement on my left. I tried to focus on that spot, but I couldn't see anything at all. I knew that I needed to do something fast before they were able to act and harm me.
I tried to move but was frozen in fear. Some fearless leader of a vampire princess I was. If all of vampiredom was going to rely on me, I might be the downfall of an entire species.
Suddenly, I jumped up, turned on the light next to my bed and grabbed my Aboriginal rain stick, ready to hit someone with it. I looked around my room and felt silly since I didn't see anyone.
I turned around and saw him behind me. He was right next to me before I could blink.
"What are you doing in my room?" I exclaimed. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Cliff said. He reached for my hand.
"What exactly were you trying to do?" I asked him, as my heart rate returned to normal.
He looked into my eyes with his chocolate eyes and I started to melt. "I didn't get to see you today and I just wanted to get a glimpse of you. I just thought I would see you sleep for a few minutes."
If anyone else had said that, it would have been completely creepy, but coming from him it was so sweet. I couldn't get over how mushy I was toward him. This was still such a new side of me. I wasn't sure that I would ever get used to it.
Finding out that I was turning into a vampire princess was even stranger, and I was getting used to that, so surely I could get used to having a romantic side. That should be less strange than becoming what I had always believed to be a mythical creature.
"That's okay," I finally said, still lost in his eyes.
"I couldn't go a full day without seeing you," he said, stroking my hair. "I don't know how I managed all of those years. Now that I have seen you again, I can't stay away."
"You don't have to," I told him. "I don't want you to stay away. I would be happy if we could spend all of our time together and forget about everything else."
He smiled and the way that the skin around his eyes crinkled nearly turned me into a puddle. More than anything, I wanted to kiss him, but I suspected that he was raised to be the perfect gentleman. That only made me want to kiss him more. I feared that I would give into my craving, so I leaned against him so that I wasn't looking into his face. He wrapped his arms around me.
"I missed you so much all of these years. It feels unreal to actually be near you. Like I'm living in a dream and I don't want to wake up."
"I don't know how I managed to forget. Obviously, the memories are still there since I've been having such clear, realistic dreams. I'm sorry, Cliff."
"You have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing at all. You were little and the people who were supposed to protect you failed. Your mind wasn't controlled, but when Mattie told you that you had a new family, you were susceptible to believing her because of your age. Then when your new family told you that your memories of being a princess in a castle were only fantasies, you were still so young and came to believe them. You had to deal with the reality that was in front of you. I think that you've handled everything with such ease."
"I don't feel that way, but thank you. I wasn't able to keep my…uniqueness a secret. I have always been freakishly smart and learning has been too easy. When I read something once, I can't forget it."
"That's because you're a vampire. We rarely forget anything."
"Brooke told me that. Among people, it's freaky."
He hugged me tightly. "There's nothing freaky about you. You knew you were different, and now you know why."
A tear rolled down my face. "Why did this happen to me, Cliff?"
> He reached for my hand and I felt calm. "It was meant to be for some reason. Everything that we've been through will make us stronger."
"Why does your touch always make me feel calm?"
"I have the ability to calm emotions with my touch. I can't control the emotions of others, but I can feel them. I don't know if this will be something that I'll be able to develop further or not. Don't worry. I wouldn't use this against you. Only to help you."
"I wonder if I'll have any gifts like that," I said and yawned.
"I know you need your sleep," he told me. "But you don't need beauty sleep, because you couldn't get any more beautiful. I'll get going so that you can rest, but promise me you'll come over after school tomorrow."
"Of course. I have a lot to share with you, because so much happened today. But I would be up all night telling you about it."
"I can't wait to hear about it," he said. He lifted up my hand, which he was still holding, and kissed it. My heart raced and my face flushed red.
"For someone who can calm my emotions you sure have a way of exciting them."
He smiled.
TEN
The next afternoon, I had managed to avoid all of the people who wanted to talk to me at school.
I was sitting outside in the cold with Amanda while she poured her heart and soul out to me. She was heartbroken over Emma deciding not to be our friend anymore. She was worried that I wouldn't want to be her friend either because I was becoming so popular. She was also afraid that her parents were going to get a divorce.
She started crying and told me that her whole world was falling apart.
I quickly tried to think of something I could say to make her feel better, but I couldn't think of anything at all. I gave her a hug and asked what I could do.
"Maybe we could just get out and do something after school," she suggested, sniffling.
I had promised Cliff that I would get together with him, but I couldn't tell Amanda no while she was sitting there crying. "What do you have in mind?"
"The volleyball team has a game here after school," she said. "Let's go watch it. I know that you don't like going to the games, but I would like to go, and not alone."
"I hate to ask this, but could I invite Cliff and Brooke to join us?" I asked. "I already promised Cliff that I would hang out with him after school, but I want to hang out with you too."
She gulped for air, still crying. "That's fine. Emma always brought Chase with her when he wasn't wrestling."
I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Cliff asking him if he wanted to join us. He said he would meet me at the gym after school. I told him he could bring Brooke and Steve if he wanted too.
"Okay," I told Amanda. "It's set. We'll all meet at the gym after school to watch the game."
She smiled. "This time it's not just a practice."
I laughed. "Hopefully there won't be any exploding lights this time."
She laughed. "Or exploding smoothies."
***
That afternoon, I exercised all of my restraint not to run at lightning speed to the gym to see Cliff. I wanted to look deep into his eyes again, even if I only had a few minutes alone with him.
When I saw him from a distance, I couldn't help myself and I did run at him at full speed.
"Alexis," he exclaimed. "You look so pretty. But try not to run so fast around people. We want to blend in, remember?"
I smiled at him. "Then you're going to have to stop looking so alluring. I can't help myself."
He smiled back and wrapped his arms around me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed being in his embrace, knowing that it wouldn't last long enough. Forever wouldn't even be long enough.
"Aw, look at the lovebirds," I heard Steve's voice behind me.
"The perfect couple," Brooke chimed in.
Cliff let go of me and I turned around and I said, "Hi guys. It's great that you could make it too. So much has happened that I need to fill you in on."
"More than just the birds attacking you?" Brooke asked me.
"Huh? How did you—? Oh, right. Your visions," I said. "Yeah, that's only part of it."
"Can you give us the short version real quick before your friend shows up?" Steve asked.
"Well, I can try," I said. "I'll have to fill in the details later though."
"That's fine," Cliff said. "Just give us the headlines for now."
"I hope I can remember everything," I admitted. "It seems like so much happened yesterday."
"Just spill it," Steve demanded.
I sighed. "For starters, a football player named Tanner Monroe told me that he knows what I am because he knew a vampire who had taught him how to recognize one. I denied it of course, but he's not going to let up."
"Wait," Brooke exclaimed. "Did he say who the vampire was? Is she still in town?"
"I don't know who it was but it sounds like she's been gone a while."
"We haven't known of any in town for a long time," Steve said. "This could be bad. Hopefully, it was just one passing through. But she could have been working for the Moretti's. If that's the case, they could be on to you or even know that you're here."
"Which could explain the crows," Cliff said gravely.
"How?" I asked.
"We'll explain later," Brooke said. "Did he say anything about the vampire?"
"He said that he could teach me more about vampires than you guys ever would," I said.
"That means that he's trying to get you to doubt us." Cliff furrowed his eyebrows. "He's definitely been in contact with the Moretti's or one of their minions." His eyes became red momentarily before returning to brown.
"Don't doubt us," Brooke said quickly. "We're your true family and you know looking into Cliff's eyes that you're destined to be with him for centuries to come."
I blushed. "I can't deny that."
"Okay, what else do you have for us?" Steve asked.
"One of my best friends, Emma, has ditched Amanda and I. Emma joined up with Hailey, the girl who thinks I stole her crown at homecoming," I said. "I don't think that they have any supernatural plans against me, but Hailey does have it out for me. I shoved her against a wall and told her to leave me alone, but I doubt that will last long."
Brooke nodded, "Anything else?"
"There was the…."
"Alexis. There you are." Amanda ran up to me. "For some reason, I thought you were on the other side of the gym. Hi Brooke, Steve, Cliff." She sounded shy when she saw the others.
"Hi Amanda," Brooke said. "I haven't seen you in so long. We'll have to catch up during the game. Does that sound good?"
Amanda smiled. "I'd like that."
"Great," Brooke said. "Let me treat you to some nachos."
We all started walking into the gym and Cliff whispered to me, "Brooke is going to work on being Amanda's friend too. She can see the pain that Emma caused her by siding with Hailey."
I whispered back, "How on earth do you know all of that?"
"I read her mind," he said, as if that were the most obvious thing on the planet.
"Oh, right," I said, as if it were that obvious. "So do you read my mind too?"
"No," he said. "Nobody can read our minds. Not even other members of royalty, unless the royal vampire wants their mind to be read. We can speak to each other through our thoughts."
"There sure are a lot of perks with being royalty."
"There's also a whole lot of responsibility," he told me. "There is a lot that you need to learn and a lot of training to go along with your emerging talents, which is one reason that it's best to bring me when you feel like training."
I looked down. "Oh, sorry."
He put his arm around my shoulders. "Don't feel bad, princess," he said. I didn't know if he was calling me by my title, a pet name or both. "I'm glad that you're taking initiative and that you want to learn. I'm proud of you for that. But it really is best if I'm with you, especially since we don't know what's going on with the crows. The fact that they attacked you last night
worries me."
"Okay," I said.
We chose an area on the bleachers to sit, and Brooke asked, "Does anyone want something to eat?"
We each took turns telling her what we wanted and she asked Amanda to go with her to the concession stand to get the snacks. Amanda looked really pleased, and I was so glad to see her looking happier after moping around all day.
Steve turned to me and said, "While we have a minute, why don't you fill Cliff and me in on the rest of what you know?"
I told them the rest of what had happened over the last couple of days and was finishing up just as Brooke and Amanda were returning.
"I'm going to need to give my parents a call," Cliff told me. "I need to get their opinion on the crows. It just sounds too fishy to me, but I don't know the answer."
"You can just give them a call?" I whispered. "Do they use phones in a castle?"
"This is the twenty-first century," he said with a smile.
Amanda and Brooke handed all of us our snacks, and Brooke kept Amanda occupied chatting about the players and the game.
I turned back to Cliff. "If you can call your parents, can we call mine? I know that I can't meet them but I would love to at least talk to them."
He gave me a sad look. "I wish that were possible. They are off somewhere in Europe right now, looking for the Moretti's and taking care of some issues with a vampire settlement that is having some major problems. They are off the radar because they don't want anyone to be able to track them down. If nobody knows where they are, then nobody could be forced or tricked into telling."
I sighed. "I hope that I can see them soon."
"I'm sure that you will be able to," he said. "When you do see them, you'll have centuries to spend with them. This time of waiting will be a distant memory."
"I hope so," I said, wishing that I had never been separated from my parents or Cliff for even a moment, much less the majority of my life.
He put his arm back around my shoulder. "Besides, we have each other. I feel that everything is as it should be now."
I looked into his eyes and knew that he was right. I really couldn't have asked for anything other than to be sitting there with his arm around my shoulder right then.
We watched the game and mostly just enjoyed being in each other's presence. At half time, we got up to walk around and stretch our legs. Those bleachers were definitely not comfortable.
The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 Page 9