Roses for Rachel

Chapter 4.

"Well, um...I..." My head was swimming.

He put a large meaty hand on the side of my neck, brushing the hair away. "I promise this won't hurt." He whispered leaning in.

"What exactly is it that won't hurt, Maxwell?" A voice boomed through the corridor, stealing my breath more than the dangerous man with his hand on my neck.

Maxwell dropped his hand and backed away quickly, bumping into the wall behind him. "Prince Calvin." He said in a shocked tone. "I was just...I..." He stammered for words, glancing between me and Calvin.

"Yes, I think I know what you were just doing." The prince said through his gritted teeth. He glanced over to me, then back to the man. "Guards!" He shouted, and a second later three men appeared from nowhere. "Take this man away, charge him with treason." He said dismissively. "He intended to harm this girl who is in line to possibly become our princess." The men bowed curtly, then vanished with Maxwell just as quickly as they'd appeared.

"I think I'm going to faint." I said stupidly, followed by some swaying.

The prince closed the distance between us and held onto my elbows, steadying me. He looked down at me questioningly, then he blinked slowly and shook his head. "You're drunk." He said in a weird voice, almost a happy one...almost.

I stared up at him in disbelief, shaking my head. "I most certainly am...not." I hiccupped.

A soft, musical chuckle came from his lips and I smiled at the sound. "You should never drink the drinks they serve at those horrible parties. They have enough elixirs in them to make even a scholar sound a fool." He mumbled. "Here, have a sit." He said gesturing to the ground.

I just stared at him. "I, um...I don't think I can sit down on the ground in this dress. Its a little snug." I said with the tilt of my head.

Prince Calvin looked me over, then with lightning speed, he knelt down and ripped the bottom of my dress, tearing a slit from the hem to midway up my thigh. "That should help." He said simply. "Sit." He repeated pointing at the ground. My heart was in a frenzy in my chest. I slid down the wall and sat on the ground, my legs stretched out in front of me, while he leaned against the opposite wall, looking down at me. "What on earth were you doing wandering around here alone?" He asked, furrowing his brows like he was trying to understand how I could be such an idiot.

I snorted and shrugged my shoulders. "Why the hell not?" I giggled senselessly. "I'm going to die at the hands of a vampire sooner or later, right? Or I guess it'll be their fangs." I muttered to myself, then I glanced up at him. "How come you don't have fangs? Your teeth look normal."

He rolled his eyes and looked up to the ceiling. "Vampires don't really have fangs. That's just a made up story that stuck."

"Then how do you...?"

"How do you think? We just bite...Hard." He shrugged. "Besides, civilized vampires so very rarely drink from an actual person. We have blood delivered to us." He waved his hand dismissively. "That's beside the point. What are you doing out here?"

I huffed a breath and started to talk but before I knew it I was crying every word. "I found out that people are getting eliminated and sold or they win and have to become a vampire, and I don't want to be a vampire, I just want to be me. Everything I've been told has been a lie, and I didn't even get anything to eat while I was down there because I got so upset, which really sucks because I saw cobbler. I just wanted to go back to my horribly pink room and just cry in my stupid pink bed about how completely screwed up this whole situation is." I stopped when he started to chuckle. "Are you seriously laughing at me right now?" I demanded, wiping tears from my cheeks.

He covered his mouth with his hand and stopped. "I apologize." He said formally, gathering himself. "So the real reason you're upset is because you're hungry and your room is pink?" He couldn't help smile again, and I couldn't help noticing what a perfect smile it was, his dimples sinking into his cheeks.

I gave him a look, the tears slowing now. "I like how you missed the part about me being prisoner here until I die, but yeah. I'm still freaking hungry, and I don't really like the color pink all that much."

"What color do you prefer?" He asked suddenly, looking a little surprised himself.

"You're asking me about my favorite color?" I questioned, feeling confused by this whole encounter, and not just because I was obviously drunk.

"I'm sorry," he said sarcastically. "I didn't realize that was privileged information."

"I like blue, ok?" I huffed crossing my arms.

"Ok." He said staring at the ground.

I took a moment to stare at him a little more. There was no saying he wasn't easily the most attractive person I've ever seen. "Why were you in such a hurry to leave earlier?" I asked, and he lifted his eyes to look at me for only a second before turning away again.

"I guess you could say you're not the only one who isn't thrilled with this 'completely screwed up situation' as you put it."

"Oh." I whispered.

Prince Calvin walked over to me, extending his hand.

I looked at it for a minute, admiring how long his fingers were and how clean his nails were before I finally reached out and took it tentatively. He easily helped lift me up from the ground, but he didn't drop my hand once I was standing. He looked down at me for a short moment. "I'm sorry this is happening to you." He whispered so low I hardly heard him, then he looked away, dropping my hand. "Guards!" He called out and two men appeared from the left corridor. "Levi, would you please escort Miss Rachel here to her room." He said to the man standing the closest to me, then looked at the man on the right. "Curt, may I have a word with you?" He asked and the two of them walked away, leaving me standing with Levi.

"Did you have a good evening, miss?" Levi asked politely.

"Um, I guess so." I lied and followed him through the windings of the tunnels. I had really gotten myself lost. It took a good five minutes alone just to get back to the elevators with how slow I was moving, feeling deflated. Apparently I was supposed to go left off the elevator, not right. My surroundings finally began to look a little more familiar and Levi stopped outside of my door.

"Here you are, miss." He bowed his head to me, then walked away.

When I pushed open my door I froze in place.

The dark pink silk that had been hanging down from the ceilings and covering the walls was replaced with deep, royal blue silk. Everything in the room that was pink when I left, was now blue. My bedding, the rugs, even the robe hanging on the back of the washroom door.

Even more amazing was the small dining table that was set up in the middle of the room with a large bowl of cobbler beside a plate piled high with turkey, gravy, and potatoes sitting beside a small handwritten note.

Have some damn cobbler and try to relax – Cal