The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

  "I know. There were a lot of mistakes made and we should have guessed that you'd take things into your own hands. It's all in the past now. Can we agree to start over today?"

  "No more keeping me in the dark? I think I've proven that I can handle the truth."

  He smiled. "You certainly have. I promise to keep nothing from you and I expect the same from you. No more secret blood-feasting rendezvous."

  "No more secrets," I agreed. "I don't think that a rendezvous would be possible anyway, now that we're both vampires."

  "Vampires can drink each other's blood. It just doesn't taste nearly as good as human blood. Ours works differently than the blood of mortals, so it tastes different too."

  "So where am I going to get blood now? I can't deal with that awful bagged stuff. I just can't."

  "We'll have to figure something out. It's been centuries since a ruling vampire has drunk fresh human blood, so it hasn't been an issue that I'm familiar with."

  "Leave it to me to change everything!"

  He smiled. "You could probably hunt animals or get a human volunteer. I know that some of the royals who don't live in the castle use humans. The volunteer would have to go through a thorough screening first, though. We're not taking any chances of repeating history. No more secret love potions, like with Tanner."

  An unknown vampire entered the room. "Sir Clifford, your presence is requested by your parents."

  He stood up. "Let them know that I am on my way."

  The other vampire left.

  I stood up and took his hand. "Stay here for a little longer," I begged.

  "I'll find you when I finish talking with them," he said. "I can't have them waiting."

  "Why not?"

  "We're expected to comply with our parents," he said. "It isn't the same as with the human roles. Vampires do not allow their children to act rebelliously and consider it normal, particularly in the royal families."

  "How did my father become king then? I keep hearing about how willful and rebellious he was in his youth."

  "He paid for his rebellious ways and learned to act like a proper king. These are stories that you will hear soon enough. Once we get back to Delphic Cove, we'll have a lot of time to talk about these things. For now, I must go." He kissed my hand before leaving the room.

  I folded my arms. "I'm always left with more questions than answers," I muttered to myself. "And they wonder why I do the things that I do!"

  As if on cue, Brooke entered the room. "We need to prepare you for your departure."

  "My departure?"

  "You and Tanner are going to return home and you can't come back from an abduction looking like that," she said pointing to me. I looked down at my elegant gown and sparkly heels, knowing she was right. "You two are going to have to get back into the dirty clothes that you came in and I'll fix you up to look like you've been through an ordeal."

  "We have been through an ordeal," I reminded her.

  She gave me an exasperated look. "Of course you have. But you don't look the part anymore and that's where I come in."

  "You're not going to make us get back into those bloody clothes again?"

  She laughed. "No, you're not going to get back into those clothes. I've actually made replicas of the clothes you were last seen in, since it was all over the news. I made them look worn and dirty, but they're actually clean so you don't have to feel gross wearing them."

  I hugged her. "You think of everything!"

  She smiled. "After you two are ready, you'll call your families and let them know you're coming home."

  ***

  "Alexis? Are you okay?"

  I blinked a couple of times and looked at my parents and Natalie. "Sorry, I was just remembering some of what happened."

  TWO

  I stretched in bed with my eyes still closed. I was finally in my own room, safe and sound. I felt more relaxed than I had in a long time. With as rested as I felt, I thought that I might have slept well into the afternoon.

  Rolling over to grab my phone, I opened my eyes and could not believe that it was completely dark. My phone showed that it was 3:25 in the morning! And I was ready to get up and start the day! I pulled the pillow over my head and tried to sleep.

  How could I feel so rested and ready to go when I hadn't gotten much sleep? Especially after everything I'd been through over the last week. My mind raced while my body begged me to get up.

  Throwing my pillow to the side at last, I sat up and sighed. What was I going to do now?

  My door opened and Clara walked in. I wouldn't have been able to tell that it was her except that my vampire vision allowed me to see so well in the dark. Although certain organs had stopped working, others were on overdrive.

  She smiled at me. "I thought I heard you waking up."

  "If we weren't vampires I would never have believed you. So, what? Fully transformed vamps only need a few hours of sleep?"

  "That's right," she said, sitting next to me on my bed. "We can even go days without sleeping if needed. It's wonderful!"

  "So what do you do with all of the extra time?"

  "There is so much to do! We can hunt, play, work or anything really. Humans are always complaining about needing more hours in the day. We have them!"

  "That does sound useful," I agreed. "Now maybe I'll have the time to figure out everything that I need to know as the Sonnast. There was never enough time before, and this solves that issue."

  "We can finally get in that training that we missed," she said. "Are you sure you didn't plan to get abducted? That was pretty good timing if you were trying to get out of our work."

  "I definitely wasn't," I reassured her. "I didn't want any of that to happen, especially having Tanner dragged into all of that."

  "You didn't drag him into it," she said, her face turning sour. "My hideous sister did that."

  "I still can't believe that she's related to us," I said in disgust.

  "I'll be glad if your parents decide to eradicate her," Clara said. "I have been sick of dealing with her for more than 200 years. Even when we were kids, I couldn't stand her. She was always power hungry and angry about not being in line for the throne."

  "Why aren't you upset about it?"

  "I was for a while when I was a kid. Every girl dreams of growing up and becoming a princess. But truth be told, I don't have any desire to be on the throne anymore. I enjoy traveling when I feel like it and being able to do what I want. Maintaining the throne is the opposite of that. Your and Cliff's parents are always running around, babysitting the vampire leaders around the world who can't take care of their own problems. No thank you."

  "You're babysitting me, aren't you?" I asked, half mocking.

  She laughed. "Is that how you see it? I was excited when your parents asked me about this because I haven't seen you since you were a toddler. You were always one of my favorites. I knew that you would still be feisty and that you would be fun to train. So often, royal kids are really stuck up. You were never that way. Plus it's kind of fun to pretend to be human and mess with the mortals." She grinned.

  "At least I'm not a burden to you. So, what do you do at night? I am ready to get up and get something done. I won't be able to stand it if I have to sit quietly and read or check my email."

  "The waves of energy will become manageable before too long. I heard that you and Cliff wanted to get in some time alone together," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "Why not go spend some time with him?"

  "Is he in town?" I asked, excited. "I thought he'd been called back to the castle on business."

  "He's back now. Go visit him. He's staying at that house down the road that Brooke's family owns."

  "You really think that I should just show up?" I asked. I expected my heart to start pounding until I remembered that it wasn't beating anymore.

  "I'm guessing that he'll be pleasantly surprised."

  "Okay. I'll do it!" I jumped off the bed. "Do you think anyone will wake up if I take a shower now?"


  "Trust me, they won't."

  "You sneak out a lot?" I asked, not surprised.

  "What else would I do with all this time on my hands?"

  "I'll let you know how it goes!" I grabbed some clothes and tiptoed into the bathroom. Before I knew it, I was going through my bedroom wall and running down the block to the house that Cliff was staying in.

  I knocked on the door excitedly. I wondered if he would be awake or not. Apparently he was, because he answered the door within seconds.

  "Alexis!" he exclaimed.

  I smiled. "You were expecting someone else?"

  He shook his head. "No, not at all. I thought you would need more sleep after everything that you've been through."

  "Apparently not. I'm refreshed and ready to go. I feel like I could face another castle full of Moretti's…not that I'd want to. I'd rather spend time with you."

  "That sounds good to me. Would you like to come inside or would you rather go somewhere?"

  "I don't think there's much to do this time of night," I said.

  "There are a lot of places outdoors that we could go to: nature trails, picnic spots, and many other similar destinations."

  "What kind of picnic spots?" I asked with a smile starting to spread across my face.

  He smiled, shaking his head. "I'm not talking about humans. I've never fed from a human and I don't ever plan to, Alexis. If you were raised in the castle, neither would you."

  "I wasn't and I don't do anything by the book, remember? I'll talk with Clara about that then."

  "I didn't hear that," he said, looking away from me.

  I smiled. It was a nice that he was so understanding of everything that I was going through. Brooke and Steve had thought that he was babying me, but he seemed to understand me more than anyone else, aside from Clara.

  "Would you like to go for a walk on a trail?" he asked.

  "That sounds nice," I said. Just spending time alone with him sounded like a dream.

  Cliff stepped through the door and locked it. We walked down the sidewalk holding hands in silence for a while.

  "There's a bench over there, let's go sit down," He said and led me across the street. He put his arm around me and held me close. We sat in silence, happy to be together until the sun came up when I needed to get back home, before my family discovered that I'd left.

  ***

  I was relaxing with my parents and sister in our living room. It was a school day, but they wanted me to rest and they let Natalie stay home too. Clara went to school to let us have time alone as a family.

  "We should have a doctor look you over," my dad said. "You've been through a horrible ordeal. Who knows what could be wrong with you that you don't know about?"

  I was already dead; how could it get any worse than that? I sighed. "Dad, really I'm fine."

  "He's right," my mom said. "It would be a good idea to at least have you checked out."

  How would I explain my lack of heartbeat? I couldn't let them take me to the doctor! "No, I'm fine," I insisted.

  My mom narrowed her eyes. "Did something else happen to you that you aren't telling us about?"

  "Like what?" I asked trying to sound as natural as possible.

  "They didn't…touch you, did they?" she asked.

  "No!" I exclaimed in horror. "No! Eww. No."

  "If you don't have anything to hide, then you really should go," she said, almost daring me.

  I sighed. "Fine." I would have to find a way out of it later. Pretending to still be a mortal was beginning to look trickier than I had first thought. At least when I was going through my transformation process, I still had my humanity.

  "Were you scared?" Natalie asked me, her big doe eyes full of concern.

  "Probably less than you guys were. I knew where I was, but you didn't know if I was even alive."

  My mom started to sob.

  I put my hand to my mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you."

  "I tried to be brave for everyone else's sake," she said. "But deep down I was terrified of losing you. I've never been so scared in my life."

  My dad wrapped his arms around her.

  Pangs of guilt stabbed at me as I thought of how I had believed that she didn't care about me before I'd been kidnapped.

  "Are we still having dinner with Monroe's tonight?" my dad asked, changing the subject. He was always so scared of emotions.

  "The Monroe's?" I asked. "You mean we're going to have dinner with Tanner's family?"

  "Is that a problem?" my mom asked, wiping away the tears. "Is that too traumatic since you two went through the abduction together?"

  "No, that's not it." I had no way to explain how complicated everything was. I'd promised Cliff and my vampire parents that I would let Tanner go.

  "What's the matter then?" she asked.

  I searched for a believable answer. There was no way that I could explain to them that I had turned him into a vampire. I finally said, "Nothing. I guess I was just surprised. We've never hung out with them before."

  "Well, we became quite close with them while you two were…away. We're going to be spending a lot of time with them."

  Things were becoming more and more complicated by the minute.

  ***

  We were at the Monroe's house and I was avoiding Tanner. When we had arrived at his house, he had smiled at me but I looked away. As I looked back at him in the corner of my eye, I could see the hurt.

  We were in the rec room with his brother and my sister. I was watching TV with Natalie and he was playing pool with his little brother, Charlie.

  "What's going on with you two?" Natalie whispered to me during a commercial.

  "It's awkward now that Cliff's back," I whispered back.

  "Cliff's back?" she exclaimed.

  "Yes."

  "What are you going to do now?" she asked.

  "Yes, what are you going to do?" Tanner asked, suddenly next to us.

  Natalie jumped. "What…how'd you…?"

  I had momentarily forgotten about his newly acquired vampire abilities. I looked up at him and into his eyes. I couldn't deny that I loved him, that's why I had accidentally turned him into a vampire. Tears filled my eyes.

  His face softened and he gently wiped away the tear running down my face. "Maybe we should go outside and talk."

  I nodded and followed him to their little back yard. We sat down on a swinging seat.

  "Would you like to talk or should I?" he asked.

  My lips quivered.

  "I'll start," he said. "I don't want you to feel pressured or uncomfortable. I love you too much for that. I also heard some of what you were talking about with those vampires after the battle, so I know that you're basically expected to stay engaged to him. But I also know that you can choose me because you made me into a vampire of royal blood. You're going to have to explain that to me at some point."

  "If I choose you, then his parents are going to start a war," I told him.

  "I have one question," he said.

  I looked at him.

  "Do you love me?"

  I looked at him without saying anything.

  "I knew it," he said. "I just needed to find out for sure. I'll keep my word and do my best not to let you feel pressured, but I'm not about to give up on us."

  Looking at him sadly, I said, "Tanner, it can't work out realistically. Cliff has been raised to be the king and it's our destiny to rule together."

  "You haven't been raised to be the queen and yet it's still your destiny," he said. "It seems to me that your family takes a lot of things into their own hands to change their destinies. Samantha's father chose to marry a common vampire and gave up the throne. You can choose me without giving up the throne."

  "Look what my uncle's actions led to," I pointed out. "His daughter tried to kill me, she used you, and now you're a vampire. Besides, I thought you weren't going to pressure me."

  "I'm not pressuring you, Alexis. I'm pointing out the facts and asking you not to gi
ve up on us."

  His brother came out and told us, "You guys need to come inside. It's time for dinner."

  The energy was buzzing when we sat down to eat. Everyone was thrilled that we were back safely. Our families were talking excitedly about future plans.

  It sounded like we would be spending a lot of time together.

  "Our families became good friends while you were gone," Tanner's mom told us. "Even Charlie and Natalie became unlikely friends."

  I looked at Natalie hoping that she hadn't become more than friends with Tanner's brother. She was sixteen and he was fourteen.

  She gave me a funny look. Just friends…seriously, Lex. Apparently she hadn't forgotten about my ability to read her mind.

  After dinner, Tanner and I went back outside.

  "Do you hear that?" I asked him.

  "Hear what?" he asked. "I hear so many new sounds all of the time."

  "I know how that goes," I said. "I can hear our parents talking about us in there."

  "I can't hear that. What are they saying?"

  "They're worried about us and what we've been through. We're both acting too normal for their liking."

  "What were they expecting? Massive emotional breakdowns?"

  "Probably. They obviously don't know that we're vampires now." I said. "How have you been doing?"

  "It's only been a day but I'm doing alright. Samantha did teach me a lot about vampires, so I have that much going for me."

  "Don't rely too much on what she taught you. She lied about the ring and about her true intentions."

  "I'm not. I'm going to stay in touch with Brad and Eric. They can help me. I won't lean on you too much. I don't you to feel smothered."

  I placed a hand on his arm. "Tanner, you've been the best friend to me. I couldn't feel smothered by you."

  His tone changed. "You know what I'm talking about. Cliff's back now. You'll be preparing to rule the world and you aren't going to need me like you did when he was gone. I get it. That's why you were avoiding me when you first got here."

  ***

  I was sitting in my room getting ready for school. I had missed a week of my classes and homework, though I doubted that anyone would have any expectations of me. I was sure that I'd be getting the royal treatment after being kidnapped. I might not have to do any homework for a while.