Gabriella Monet POV
The room grew silent as no one said a word. Slade seemed shocked as his mouth was opened, and his hand was on his left cheek. "What's wrong with you?" Madam Hunter broke the silence by grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the room. I broke my hand free when she got to the entrance.
"Never lay your hands on me again." I pointed a finger of warning at her, and then I turned to face Luciana on the ground. "You!" I meant to her. She glared at me with her glowing red. Her fangs were already out, and she growled at me. She lunged at me but was stopped by Slade.
"Get out, Gabriella!"
"Why?" I scoffed and pointed at both of them. "You want me to leave so you can finish what you started!" I refer to the position I met them when I entered the room. "You both want to sleep with each other!" I sounded like I had something against them. "That was not what I wanted to say. I..." I stuttered.
"Get out!" Slade yelled at me. His left eye was ocean blue, while his right eye was golden. He glared at me with so much hatred and shouted at me again. "Get out, Gabriella," His fangs were now out, and he turned his head to the other side and growled out. "Rhoda!" He referred to Madam Hunter. "Take her out now!" He ordered.
Rhoda beckoned to the guards to drag me out of the room. The guards held my hands and pulled me out of the house while I yelled and kicked and struggled against them. "Let's me go!"
When we got outside the room, Rhoda closed the door and turned to face me
"You disrespectful being!" She slapped me hard on the face. Before I could say anything, she pulled me down the hallway with my ear.
"That hurt!" I fought and slapped her hand, but each time I touched where the ear she pulled, She either hit me on the back or slapped my hand away. Her grip on my ear grew tighter, and I screamed so loud that it resounded in the hallway. After walking for a few minutes, we got to the front of a door that didn't seem familiar. It was a silver door with different padlocks.
I tried to raise my head to look at the door, but Rhoda pulled me down with my ear. "Ouch!" I cried out. "Where are you taking me to?"
"The cold room." She replied
"The cold room?" I shouted. She had told me about the cold room, and as she explained, it didn't seem like an excellent place to stay. "Why are you taking me there?"
She lets out a dry laugh. "You slapped the prince, you useless human. You deserve to rot inside the cold room!" She pulled my ear hard, and it felt like I would lose an ear.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked opposite us, and when I tried to look up at the person, Rhoda pulled me down again with my ear. The vote was soft and comforting, sounding familiar like I'd heard. "Gabriella, is that you?" The person answered.
"Yes," I raised my head and slapped Rhoda's hand away from my ear. She let go of my ear and grabbed my arm. The person turned out to be Teale. The only vampire I was comfortable with.
"Let's go of her right now!" He commanded, and I smiled.
"But, your highness," Rhoda tried to argue, but I cleared my throat and whispered.
"He is a prince."
"Very well then," she let go of my arm and bowed to Teale. I rubbed my ear, which was aching so bad then I smiled at my savior. "Teale!" I smiled again.
"Trouble again?" He chuckled and grabbed my hand. "Come, you look a mess." He pointed to my head which had stopped bleeding, but the blood had dried on my face. "You are in a castle filled with vampires, and your blood smells nice." He sniffed my head, and his purple eyes glowed but became dim again. "Why are you taking her to the cold room?" He asked Rhoda.
"This..." Rhoda pointed to me. "She slapped the prince."
"And you think Slade will be happy if you take her to the cold room?"
"My apologies, your highness. I shall now take my leave," she bowed and left with the guards.
"Thank you," I smiled at him.
"Let's do something about your head," he walked forward with my hand still in his. We walked out of the hallway that led outside the castle. When we got outside, I sniffed the air and looked at the sun. It was bright, but I found it refreshing. Teale took me to the tree where we had come before. We sat under the tree and stared at the sun for a while. "Here," he bit his hand and offered me to drink.
"Hell no," I refused because it was disgusting. Although I didn't find Slade's blood disgusting, I couldn't bring myself to drink Teale's blood.
"Okay. This should do," he moved closer to me and brought his bleeding hand toward my head. He placed his hand on my head, and I felt the aching and continuous pounding of my head disappear.
"You can heal like that!" I was shocked because I had no idea.
"Yeah. But only the Royal vampires can do that." He explained.
My mind went to Slade, who fed me his blood, and I cursed him under my breath.
"What happened to you and Slade?"
"I rather not talk about it."
"Come," he stood up and grabbed my hand. He pulled me up and started running.
"What are you doing?" I questioned as I ran beside him. He said nothing and continued running until we got to a place.
"Wow!" I marveled and jumped when I saw a river. It wasn't the ordinary river that everyone knew about. It has two different colors. The right side was golden, while the left was deep blue, just like Slade's eyes. "They look exactly like Slade's eyes!" I couldn't hide my excitement.
"Yeah. Slade is a special child. When he was born, this river turned this color that day." Teale explained the story behind the River, and I couldn't wait to hear more from Slade when the right time came. "Can i..." I pointed to myself and then pointed to the river.
"Yes, Gabby, but we must ensure the king doesn't see us. Slaves are not allowed."
"Right." I pinched my hand and bit my lips.
"But you are special, so Let's dive in!" He looked around and started pulling off his clothing until he was in his underwear. I turned to the other side and did the same until I was in my underwear—a white singlet and black granny's pants.
We both dive into the river at the same time. Teale went to the right side while I went to the left side. "The truth behind the river is that it has healing ability and helps you forget your pain."
"Amazing!" I shouted and went deep into the river. I opened my eyes under the river, but I couldn't see anything. It was just blue with no fish or plants. The pain in my stomach where Rhoda had kicked disappeared alongside the Aching in my ear. "Wow!" I came to the surface and shouted Teale's name, but he was nowhere to be found. "Teale!"
"I'm here." He came behind me and grabbed my hair. "Your hair would have looked beautiful if you hadn't cut it."
"I had to cut it off."
"Why?"
"It was my weakness," I answered, and he didn't bother to ask any more questions.
"Wanna race!"
"Yeah!"
~. ~~~~~~~~~
"That was fun," I commented as we sat under the tree after we left the River. Teale didn't want the fun to end, but we had to leave the river because of the king. "Thank you."
"For?"
"Bringing me here. For a while, I forgot about the troubles of the world."
"You are welcome," he took my hand into his and smiled at me. His purple eyes grew brighter, and I pointed at them. "It happens when my emotions are high," he explained.
My hand found its way to his face, and I caressed it gently. "Your eyes are captivating!" My heart raced as I continued to stare at his glowing eyes. I didn't know why I was feeling that way. Teale was the only Vampire I could trust, and being with me made it feel safe.
"Thank you." He placed his hand on mine and stared at me. We both stared at each other, but I quickly looked away as I was getting lost in his purple eyes, and I felt the butterfly feeling in my stomach. "Don't look away," he bought his other hand to my face and stared at my lips. My heart continued to beat, and I felt I was going to burst into flames. He leaned in and closed his eyes. When his lips were inches away from mine, a gust of wind flew past us, and I opened my eyes when I couldn't smell Teale's cologne around me. He was gone just like the wind.
"Teale!" I shouted his name and looked around but didn't see him anywhere. "Teale!" I shouted again. I didn't know why he left. Maybe he wasn't happy to be close to me or didn't want to kiss me. I looked around again, and when I saw someone coming, I smiled, but it quickly faded when I saw Slade coming toward me.
For the first time, I didn't seem happy to see him.