The Vampire King

33. Mates.

What I got out of that was something I would rather not think about. But a voice still whispered at the back on my mind.

He just didn't care.

Realizing this isn't the time to be stressing over him, I blinked back tears. I had much more important stuff to sort out. Much more important things to find out.

I looked to my left to find Eric standing next to the bed, hands in his pant's pockets while Emma sat beside me, I made an attempt to sit up as well, but she stopped me, "No, it's okay, you shouldnt move around. Just lay down."

I listened to her and let my head hit the pillow gently before I threw any questions towards her.

"What happened to me?"

She glanced at Eric for a second before giving me an answer that seemed confusing even to her, "the doctor shrugged it off by saying it couldn't be anything but a minor stomach ache. He took your blood sample and everything, he didn't find anything wrong."

My frown mirrored hers, "a minor stomach ache? That was not a minor stomach ache. I felt like I was on the verge of dying!"

When I tried to sit up this time, Emma helped me and placed two pillows behind me so I could lean back.

"I know. I saw the pain you were going through. I can't believe my idiotic brother just stood there like a statue. I'm telling you, it must have something to do with Katrina. My brother turns into her puppet whenever she's around. That's what I've always heard, but now I've seen it."

Eric joined in, "there's another possibility as to what might have caused that pain."

"What's that?" Emma asked.

He turned towards her as if the information was private, "that type of pain usually occurs when someone's mate... When their mate sleeps with someone else, Em."

Emma's eyes widened," why didn't I think of that?"

Suddenly, her eyes became more distant and angry. As if thinking of different ways to kill someone, but who? Emma was the kindest person I knew, besides Maria, who I barely saw anymore since she was always busy with her work. So when someone as nice as Emma fisted their hand in pure rage, there was bound of be something wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked Eric.

Eric was in deep thought for some time, his eyes concentrating on the floor, as if the answer to all his problems would soon be written there. I took the silence as an opportunity to finally make my presence known.

"What's a mate?"

I quickly scanned my brain to remember if I had ever heard that word before. But I came up with blank, which meant I had no idea what it meant. If it had anything to do with the minor stomach ache I experienced last night, I had to know what it meant.

Eric and Emma exchanged a look again, probably communicating through their minds. Finally, Eric turned to me and tried to explain what it meant.

"A soulmate. Beloved. Mate. They're all the same thing. It's when a person is destined to be with you, romantically, they're your soulmate. Your other half. I don't know much about humans but every Vampire has one. It's pretty unheard of now since barely any Vampires find their true mate any more. But those who do, they're the lucky ones. Because having a mate is one of the best feelings in the world, as corny as that sounds."

More questions were growing in my mind but I decided to ask the most important one, "how do you know someone's your mate?"

"You can tell by many different way. Like you might feel your entire body becoming calm once they're near. When they touch you, you will feel these tiny little sparks on that spot. I've heard Vampires can usually tell if someone is their mate by looking in their eyes. It all depends on how educated one is. If someone who's never heard about mates might not be able to figure it out when someone is their mate."