Blood & Honey #1

*Chapter Seven*

It's been a week since I have seen Kinley Shea Rylan, a week since I've hunted, and a week that I've been forced to deal with an annoying princess convinced I'm destined to rule by her side. To say I am merely agitated would be the understatement of the century.

"Having fun?" Dorian flashes me a knowing grin.

If only Alekos and Arianna's lone offspring had been Dorian instead of Kalista, my life would be more agreeable than it is presently.

"Yes. I'm enjoying this beautiful afternoon from the confines of my cage like all the rest of the animals in this zoo," I grumble under my breath.

Kalista has seen to it to attach herself to my arm and is refusing to let go. No matter how many times I shake her loose, she finds a new place to latch onto me.

I almost picked the princess up and threw her into the enclosure with the tigers. The expressions on my sisters' faces told me I better rethink that decision since we are in a public place.

"Oh my gosh, look! Giant Pandas," Kalista exclaims ecstatically.

Her enthusiasm for seeing new things got old after exhibit three. By exhibit seven, it's plain irritating. Alekos should not have raised Kalista in such isolation. Or maybe I should be blaming my parents. After all, they are the ones who helped raise her.

I stand my ground, at my limit of tolerance for letting her drag me around from stinky cage to stinky cage.

Don't humans realize all these poor creatures want is freedom? I know that's all I want—freedom to tear Princess Kalista's arms from her. That way, she can't grab hold of me until they have grown back. By that time I'll be long gone.

I have already made up my mind. In two years when Alekos comes to retrieve the daughter he has forced me to babysit, I am going off the grid for at least a two centuries.

"Don't you want to see the pandas? I've never seen a panda. I hear they are super cute."

My god she sounds just like an adolescent human the way she whines.

Dorian laughs when he sees my jaw bow out on the side from trying my best not to rip Kalista's damn hands off me as she attempts to pull me in the direction of the panda exhibit.

How Dorian has dealt with the princess for the last twenty-three years, I don't know. I'm about to go postal and slaughter every human within sight. This would result in the zoo being shut down and us being able to leave.

The plan is tempting, very tempting.

I've never had to do something this ridiculous. This is what I imagine it feels like when humans say they can't breathe. It's like being suffocated and I don't even need air to live.

We are vampires, yet here we are touring a zoo. That statement sounds almost as preposterous as when the human tried to stake me with a pencil.

"Come on, Tristan. It will be fun." Kalista smiles up at me.

Fun? I don't know what that word means anymore. I'm exhausted with always having to try and figure out how to avoid Kalista back at the house. I'm also frustrated beyond reason I can't find out anything about a human being able to survive a vampire bite.

From everything I gathered from the police report, the vampire who bit Kinley left her to die, yet she didn't. She survived. I also don't understand where all the blood came from. The police didn't think to test the blood in the ambulance until it was too late. The ambulance had been cleaned and sterilized while Kinley was being medically treated for the bite wound and questioned.