Poisoned in Red

07:59

          "Raven," he called. "Are you feeling alright?"

          She grins, letting him know she's fine.
          Reluctantly, he says, "About the inhuman creature you spoke of the other day."

          Looking up at him, she breathed, "Oh, don't worry. I'm not insane. I didn't lose my mind or anything—"

          "I did."

          "What? You've gone mad?"

          "What, no. Listen, this may sound crazy but I've—" he paused. "—I've encountered an inhuman creature, too."

          "A vampire," they both say, in unison, staring at each other in shock.

          "I think Prince Cross saved me from one, the first time I met him," she admitted.

          "And I loved one, when I was really young," he confessed. She's also probably why I visited you a second time, then a third. And so on, despite your frightening father. Her hair was as long and black as yours is, he thought, silently.

          "What made you think she was a vampire?"

          "I remember this one specific time, my family had to visit the neighboring kingdom. I snuck away from the guards and got lost in the woods. I recall cleverly climbing up a tree and well, I fell. That's when I first met her. She was awfully cute and nice. She helped me find my way back to the palace," he spoke, leaning in as they got deeper into the conversation. "We played in the woods the following day, and the next, and the next. She used to have unrealistically sharp senses for a kid; she'd always know when my guards were nearby, way before I did. I also think she used to, well, instantly heal whatever wound I'd accidentally inflict on myself. I sound stupid, don't I?"

          With a serious look on her face, Raven asked, "Sorry, I don't quite get what's wrong? No, you don't sound stupid, Scott."

          "I'm aware that Prince Cross, your dad and I are the only three people in your life but Raven, I think it's pretty clear that not everybody can decipher a presence a mile away from you, let alone actually take pain away from someone else."

          Not everybody can do that, she repeated in her head. Prince Cross wasn't a special case either, he can't perform magic. She had a hard time differentiating reality from fairytales. What Scott was implying forced her come to a conclusion that her prince was a vampire. The throbbing sensation in her head returned, her visuals flashing colorful spots. An unfamiliar, celestial voice rang through her ears before darkness consumed her, "Got you."