by Dima Zales
"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 Morettis. 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 Morettis 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 walked 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 to being royalty."
"There's also a whole lot of responsibility," he told me. "There's a lot you need to learn, including training for your emerging talents. That's one reason it's best to bring me when you train."
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 Morettis 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.
As soon as we stood up, people flocked to us. Everyone remembered him vividly from the dance. He was hard to forget.
When the game was about to start again, everyone gave us some space and headed back to their seats. Everyone that is, except for Tanner, who made a beeline for us as soon as everyone else had left us alone.
I whispered a warning to Cliff, letting him know that Tanner was headed our way. He had a couple of the other football players with him.
The other two stood back, and Tanner came up to us with an arrogant look on his face. "If it isn't the special couple."
"Go away, Tanner," I told him.
"It's a free country," he said with a snarl. He turned to Cliff. "So how long have you known this lovely…lady?"
"We knew each other as children," he said. "We were reunited the night of the dance."
"Isn't that sweet?" Tanner asked sarcastically. "So you know about her little secret?"
My face heated from anger, and I knew light bulbs would explode soon.
"What little secret would that be?" Cliff asked, daring him to say it out loud in the gym in front of all of our classmates.
He grinned and rolled his eyes. "Whether you do or you don't doesn't make much difference to me."
"I told you that he's crazy," I said to Cliff, trying to calm myself down.
"I'm flattered that you would tell your boyfriend about me," he said. "To think that I didn't think you thought very highly of me."
I glared at him. "Go to—"
"Alexis," Cliff interrupted me. "Let's go sit down. It looks like the game is about to start."
"I can walk with you back to the bleachers," Tanner said as if he was doing us a favor.
"Super," I muttered.
As we were walking back to the bleachers, we had to pass by the volleyball court, and as we did, I saw Tanner push a boy walking near us into one of the football players.
"Hey—watch it." The football player glared at the boy, even though he had seen Tanner push him.
>
"He pushed me," the guy said in his own defense.
I gasped as the football player punched the guy in the nose. It began bleeding profusely.
"What was that for?" the boy yelled, and punched the football player in his nose. The football player's nose started bleeding just as bad as the other guy's.
I stared as the blood poured from their noses down to the ground. I had zoned in on the blood, aware of it and nothing else. Everything else disappeared from my sight.
I was fascinated by the dark red color and the smooth texture. I could even see it pulsate as it gushed out.
It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
My heart began beating rapidly, as if I were about to step onto the most exciting ride at the carnival. My nose came alive with the sweetest and most tantalizing scent I'd had the pleasure to smell.
I wanted to reach out and touch it, to experience it through all of my five senses. I wanted to roll around in it so that I could feel it all over. I want to eat its glorious goodness and see if it tasted as magical as it smelled.
I wanted nothing else, except the blood.
Suddenly, I had the sensation of flying, but I was not going in the direction of the blood. Instead, I was heading away from the blood and began losing sight of it. The smell was barely clinging to my nostrils.
I reached for it in vain as I flew further and further away from it.
Once the blood was completely out of my sight and the scent of it out of my nostrils, I realized that there were arms around my stomach and that I was being carried. We went through the gym doors, and were outside.
I blinked a few times and looked around. Cliff was the one carrying me and Steve was next to him. They were both staring at me.
I fought my way out of Cliff's grasp. "What are you two doing to me?" I demanded. "Take me back there."
"Not a chance," Steve told me. "We're going to take you home with us."
I scowled at them. "I want you to take me back there now. I've never seen anything like that, and I want some."
"No," they both said in unison.
I pointed to the sky. "What's that?"
They turned around to look in the direction that I pointed. I ran for the gym door to get back to the blood. I was at the door before I blinked and had it opened before they noticed I had bolted.
Unfortunately, the sound of the door opening alerted them to what I had done, and they were at the door grabbing me before I could enter.
"Let me go." I hollered, squirming to get away from them.
"We need to get you home NOW," Cliff told me.
I yelled at the top of my lungs, and hit and kicked at them.
"You've got to help me out here," Cliff told Steve. "She's surprisingly strong."
Steve grabbed me around my arms. I wasn't able to kick or hit with the two of them holding me.
"I said to let me go."
They dragged me into Steve's car and somehow got me buckled in even though I was kicking, hitting and yelling at them. I looked right at Cliff and bit into his neck.
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed. He pushed me away. "I can't believe you just bit me."
I jumped for his neck again but was held back by the seat belt. I saw that the bite had already healed.
"It's not her, Cliff. It's the blood," Steve said.
The ride home was a blur as I fixated my mind on reliving the experience of seeing and smelling the liquid perfection.
When we got to their house, they dragged me inside and set me on the couch.
"I need to get some of that," I told them.
Cliff ignored me, turned to Steve and said, "Tanner did that on purpose. I saw him shove that guy into the football player."
"No doubt he wanted to see Alexis' reaction," Steve said. "He got his answer."
"Did you see her eyes?" Cliff asked. "I've never seen anything like that."
"Me neither. I don't think there's ever been a vampire before with a blood lust like that. I've never seen a reaction that intense."
"I am sitting right here, you know," I said and scowled at them. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm somewhere else."
"What should we do?" Steve asked, ignoring me. "We were not prepared for her to be exposed to blood yet. Especially with the way that she's reacting."
"It's going to accelerate her transition," Cliff said. "I don't know what that's going to mean for her process now."
"Should we call my parents and have them come home?" Steve asked. "Or do you want to call your parents a little early?"
"I'm not sure," Cliff said, irritated. "Let me think."
"How do I get some blood?" I asked. "You said that you would train me and now I'm asking nicely for some training."
"You're not ready for this," Cliff said without looking at me. "We haven't even had the blood talk with you yet."
"The blood talk?" I asked. If my body hadn't been screaming for blood, I would have probably found that funny. "Is that like the sex talk that mortals have with their kids?"
"Pretty much," Cliff said, not laughing either. "In the blood talk, you learn about how our minds and bodies react to the sight, smell and taste of blood. You also learn how to handle them before you're ever exposed to blood."
"Now would be a good time for that, don't you think?" I asked.
"No, actually it isn't a good time," Steve said. "Not while you're in the heat of the moment. We need to get you calmed down."
"I'm pretty calm," I pointed out. "I'm just sitting here on the couch and I've stopped trying to inflict bodily harm on you two for taking me away from the blood."
"We can see it in your eyes," Steve said. "You're completely blood crazy right now. It may be getting better, but you could turn on us at any moment."
I pouted. "Well, how do you two deal with blood then? If you were able to react well enough to pull me away, obviously it doesn't have the same effect on you as it does me."
"That's because we've been trained, and we don't react to human blood the same way that you do," Steve told me. "You'll get to this point, but it will take a lot of work now that you've been exposed like this. Once in the transformation process, you are extremely susceptible to human blood. Before you started the transformation, you reacted to blood like a human. You didn't desire it."
My mind started wandering back to the images of the blood, and I was reminded of the delectable scent and the strong desire for it. I've never desired anything in my entire life the way that I had desired the blood in the gym. The pull was nearly as strong nearly an hour later.
It wasn't simply a desire like wanting a dessert or a meal. My body hurt for it. My body was screaming at me from everywhere. I thought I might even die if I didn't get to touch or taste it. How would I live without it?
I was vaguely aware of Cliff and Steve talking to each other. I thought about pretending to go to the bathroom so that I could sneak out of the house. Surely I could find some blood somewhere. I would do anything to get it.
I stood up slowly and started inching my way toward the bathroom.
"Where do you think you're going?" Cliff demanded.
"I'm going to the bathroom, if you don't mind." I glared at him.
"Oh, no you don't."
"I have to pee," I lied. "Let me go to the bathroom. I'm fine."
Steve laughed. "You are certainly not fine. Your eyes give you away."
"Let me go to the bathroom," I demanded. "I'm royalty, aren't I?"
"Fine, but one of us is going in there with you," he said.
"No way. That is so not happening."
"Then you'll have to hold it."
"Maybe I'll just leave a puddle on your couch." I glared at him.
"You know what? I'm going to take you to the bathroom where you can look at your eyes in the mirror. Then you can decide if you want to pee in front of me or not," Steve said. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."
He grabbed my arm, pulled me to the bathroom, and shoved me in front of the mirror.
I was about to object to his rough treatment until I saw my eyes. I forgot all about him.
My eyes were a glowing red color, not unlike the glorious blood that had been pulsating from the two noses.
"Why are my eyes so red?"
"Because you are overwhelmed with the desire for blood," Steve said. "You care about nothing else. It's a vampire's downfall—we can't hide our desire for blood. The redder our eyes become, the more we're overwhelmed with desire."
"Mine are really red," I said.
"We've never seen eyes anywhere near as red as that," Steve said. "Not even close. I'm curious to see what my parents will have to say when they get home. They've been around for centuries, so maybe they've seen this."
I stared at my eyes. I had never seen that shade of red before. It was almost unreal.
"Do you know that Cliff can't even look at you?" Steve asked me.
My face fell. "I'm acting like a lunatic."
"That's putting it lightly," he said. "But we've all gone crazy when first exposed to blood, so I'm sure he understands. Though not even he went this crazy. You royals really do go through everything to the extreme."
"I hope this doesn't make him think less of me."
"Me too," Steve said. "It would be detrimental to our entire kingdom if the two of you weren't in love and ruling together for the sake of vampires everywhere."
"I'd better pull myself together," I said.
"That's right," he said. "You can't afford to wallow in your emotions and desires. You're the princess, and you need to learn to put your own needs aside for the betterment of the entire kingdom."
"Okay, let's go back out there," I said and walked to the couch and sat down.
"I'm sorry, Cliff," I said. "I'm sorry that I acted like that. I'm sorry that you had to see me like that. I've never acted like that before in my life, and I don't intend to again."
He looked me in the eyes, and they were full of kindness. "I don't blame you, princess. You were not prepared for your first encounter with blood. I'm just so glad that we were there to help you out. I can't imagine what would have happened if you had been exposed to blood by yourself."
"Yeah," Steve said, "you could have killed everyone there."
My heart sunk. "Is it always like that?" I asked.