Her Vampire Prince

Chapter I

As the doors slid open, Faith feasted her eyes onto the small yet homely lobby, with deep sea green walls, grey wooden floorboards and black décor. Two relaxed matt-black leather sofas sit facing each other to the left, with a glass coffee table displaying different leaflets to do with the vet and animals between them. A few people are already anxiously waiting to be seen by the next available animal doctor. On the walls were a series of colourless, candid photographs of different animals, Faith's immediate favourite being a particularly cute one of two Persian kittens. A curved ashen desk was straight ahead of the doors, with two Dell computers, black swivel office chairs and a humming printer ready for use behind it. A glass cabinet stood in front of the desk displaying plush cuddly toys, more leaflets, and animal accessories in abundance. The phones were ringing, and a flustered young lady was hurriedly trying to speak into both at the same time. It may only be 8:30 in the morning, but already there were three people in the waiting area, and more on the phone, each worrying about their precious animals. Faith awkwardly shuffled up to the counter, waiting for the lady to be free. As the woman put the phones down, she turned to Faith and beckoned her in with a beaming smile.

"Hello, are you Faith? I'm Nancy!" She exclaimed with a brightly painted on smile, secretly reminding Faith of someone's expression she had seen before whilst high on drugs.

"Yes I'm Faith; it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She responded, instantly feeling some of her nerves dissipate.

"I'm so happy you're here, ever since Brooke went on maternity leave it's been so hard working the desks by myself." Nancy complained, ushering Faith around to behind the desk.

"Oh, well it's a pleasure to be here." Faith chuckled.

"Come, this is your desk next to mine. I only work three days a week, so on Wednesday's and Friday's you'll be working with Cynthia, the office manager. A little tip? Don't talk too much around her, she is not the friendliest, and all she cares about is 'efficiency, efficiency, efficiency'. Blah, blah, blah." Nancy whispered to Faith in a mocking voice.

Faith nods in understanding, grateful that she has someone as nice as Nancy as her co-worker. Nancy has the straightest sheet of silky auburn hair, falling just short of her elbows. Her eyes are like liquid green, easy and soft, but there is something buried deep within the golden flakes of her eyes and sharp eyebrows, which reminds Faith of a cat – cunning, dangerous and deceptive. Of course, Faith was sure she was just over-looking into things.

"Of course, thank you for making me aware." Faith replies.

An hour later Nancy had briefly shown Faith around the premises, and introduced her to a few members of the team. Faith was of course most excited to see the animals, some poorly and some lively, unfortunately locked up. She wished she had a magic wand to take their pain away and free them, but of course, that was just wishful thinking. Faith was feeling rather comfortable and empowered; she could see herself settling in here. She had to remind herself more then once of the mood-board under her bed, stating just how much hard work and overtime she would need to do to get back into a good university by the time she's twenty-one. Also, she has to look after Hope. As her legal guardian, essentially her parent, it is her role to make sure Hope is being looked after and is playing safe. No matter how different they are, the sisters had an extremely close bond, what with no one but themselves to rely on now, and Hope will always be Faith's top priority. There was no room for distractions.

"So, when did you move to Blackstone?" Nancy asks, making small talk as she shows Faith how to create appointments in the calendar.

"Last week actually. I moved here with my sister from London."

"London?" Nancy splutters. "Your head must not be screwed on straight to want to move to here, a boing little seaside town that is never sunny and never has anything happening, from the great, exciting London."