Just One Drop

Chapter 17- The Dinner Date

Felicia's POV

I gulped, feeling both Morina's and Master's eyes on me.

"Uh- I-"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Of..." I started. "Of c-course I'll have dinner wi-with you, Master."

He turned to look at Morina, and she nodded subtly. Oh god. There was no way this would end well.

Braith's POV

Perhaps... Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. Perhaps... Perhaps something would happen, just something, like, like a spark. Oh, who was I kidding? It was going to be torture. Absolute torture.

We sat down at the table, one on each side. The table was mahogany, draped with a red cloth.

A girl, a few years older than Felicia, came with the first course. Felicia smiled at her. Did they know each other? Oh, right, wasn't that the girl I handed her over to on the first day? I truly couldn't remember.

I cleared my throat. "So..."

She looked up at me, green eyes darting around the room nervously. She met my eyes for a split second, then looked away. Her eyes fixated on her plate and the food on it, suddenly finding it extremely interesting.

Surprisingly, she was the one to initiate the conversation. "Your little sister, Imogen, how is she?"

I frowned, confused. "Imogen?"

"Yes, how is she? She seemed so... So worried for you when you were... You know..."

I felt a twinge of pity. She was trying, after all.

"Last I saw her was... A few days ago, I think. I think she's fine."

My words were meant to be comforting, but I could see they hadn't been.

"And..." she began nervously. "What about your parents?"

Silence reigned in the room for a few seconds. My parents... I pushed the terrible thoughts away.

"I regret my decisions, but..." I cleared my throat. "But perhaps it was time."

I was lying. I was also pretty sure she knew I was lying. It was a terrible mistake to kill off my parents, caused by the potion. I tried to blame Morina, but I knew it was all on me. My fault. My fault.

"And what of Duchess Morgana and her father?"

I shrugged. "They leave tomorrow. They'll be back, though. Morgana has set her heart on marrying me, and she has many supporters."

Felicia nodded quietly, and I decided it was time to put my plan into action.

I decided to approach this carefully. Whatever mystical creature she truly was was surely very powerful, to have kept up such an extensive glamour for so long, whilst still managing to bewitch me in such a powerful way. I had to admit- I was impressed.

I thrummed my fingers on the table as she began picking at the food.

"You have a very rare aura," I stated.

She looked up, startled. "I- wha- eh... Aura?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Yes, aura."

Why was she playing dumb? She knew what I was talking about.

"Oh, eh, thank you, I guess..."

She bit her lip and looked up at me, before looking down at her plate again.

I took a bite of the food. It was chicken with seasoned rice; it was quite nice, actually.

"Where do you come from?" I asked.

"Oh, eh, just a small town by a river."

Wow. Just wow. So incredibly helpful. Sarcasm intended. I rolled my eyes.

"Where?" I asked again, starting to get annoyed.

I didn't appreciate her avoiding my questions. I wanted my answer and she wasn't going to keep me from it.

She gulped. "It's a s-small to-o-wn, y-you wouldn't have hea-eard of it, but umm, i-it's near R-Riverton."

I raised my eyebrows. "Riverton? Where's that?"

"It's uh, in W-Wyoming," she stuttered, her hands shaking.

I opened my mouth to ask her where exactly that was. But then I realised.

"Wyoming, the United States? As in, the human realm?"

She nodded, and I sighed to myself. Perhaps I'd need to be a bit more straight forward with my questions. A bit more... Forceful.

Suddenly her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes turned dark, displaying a confused emotion.

"What do you mean, 'human realm'? Where are we now?" she asked, biting her lip.

I laughed. "You haven't figured it out yet? We're not in the human realm! What did you think I was king of?"

"Uh, I don't know..."

"I am the vampire king. The king of the vampire realm; the very realm you are in."

"R-Realm? Wha- Bu- Uh-"

Up until then I had mostly been playing along. But I was having doubts. Was she perhaps simply a human? It was, after all, possible for a human to have an aura such as hers; it was just extremely rare.

"Listen here. There are several realms in this universe, entire worlds such as your own. There are holes, portals if you will, that connect them. Human to vampire. Vampire to fey. Fey to werewolf."

I growled the last word, my fangs elongating at the simple thought of that horrid species. Werewolves were like vermin to us; they were disgusting and not permitted in our realm. Lower than even humans, our slaves. They were strong, yes, but vampires were so much more powerful. We kept them at bay quite easily.

I looked at her to see her reaction. I knew that how she reacted to this would finally clear all of my doubts. Either she was human, or... Not.

And as I saw Felicia's face, in that one moment, I had my answer.

Felicia's POV

I felt my world come crashing down in mere seconds; nothing would ever be the same. The small piece of chicken in my mouth suddenly seemed extremely dry, impossible to swallow.

His eyebrows furrowed; he looked angry, but also kind of... Worried? No, of course not.

"I... I'm going to go now..." I said, starting to stand up.

The chair scraped against the floor, making a terrible noise best described as screeching. I shuddered at the sound.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

"I think I have some... Eh, some chores to do or, something... Uh..."

He continued to just frown at me, so I turned away slowly and took a deep breath. I exhaled and left the room, my short heels click-clacking on the marble floor.

What was up with him today?