What's at Stake

Chapter Twelve

"No!" I said immediately and loud enough that people turned to look at us. I hunched my shoulders. "It means a lot to hear that. It gives me that same hope. True peace."

She grinned at me. "I think a lot of students here are too shy to approach you, but I'm glad I did. You're not intimidating at all."

Was that a good thing? I supposed it was. "Really?"

"You hanging around Prince Claude, Kaz, and Adora doesn't really help though."

"What do you mean?"

She looked past me at Kaz, but he was in conversation with San and wasn't paying any attention. "They're intimidating."

"Because Claude's the prince?"

"Hmm, amongst other things."

"They're really nice," I said. "Well. Kaz and Adora are."

"I've never tried talking to them. They all hold that air about them. Like they can't be touched. Like all three of them are royalty."

I could see that. The way they held themselves, spoke, presented themselves. It was very similar to how Claude did. The other two were nicer, though. I knew the students avoided them, but didn't know it was for that reason. Did they really look that hard to approach? Did I just think they didn't because they'd been nice to me first?

"I'm Esin, by the way."

"Oh, I'm Cleo."

"I'm curious about your plan."

My heart skipped a beat. "My plan?"

"Yeah, for when you return home. You must be planning on becoming the head of your family, right? That's probably the easiest way. If your father is out of the equation, I think there wouldn't be anything stopping us from achieving the peace we want."

My father out of the equation? What did that mean? Her question made me uneasy. What was my plan after this? Talking to my father and trying to convince him? That would never work. And there no way I would be able to become the head of the family. Even if my father retired to some random part of the world and never caused trouble again, my sister would be the next to step up into his position, not me. I hadn't even thought about that.

"Judging by your face, it won't be that easy, huh?"

"My father is very... stuck in his ways."

"Bloodthirsty is what he is. And he says vampires are? Ha."

I bit my lip. No matter what, it felt weird to hear people talk negatively of my father, even if what they said were true. I couldn't imagine what he would do if he heard what they were saying. I remembered when I'd back talked him once. He made sure I learned to never do it again.

"Well, I know it can't be easy to go against your family. If you want to brainstorm or anything, I'll lend an ear. My parents work for the Scouts. I think no matter what the Scouts will need to have more responsibility over Leechers. That might be a good first step. The fewer humans going after vampires might lead to less hostility toward them, you know?"

Leechers were the vampires who broke the laws and preyed on civilian humans. Not only that, but that was their main offense. The blood from the hospitals wasn't enough for them. They wanted fresh, flowing blood. Scouts were the group of vampires in charge of hunting down the Leechers and dealing with them. My family dealt with Scouts directly, so I knew a lot about them.