Morgan Sinclair
"Can someone explain?" I ask once more.
"Let's sit." Kellan says already heading over to the living room with Chloe following.
I walk over as well, sitting down across from them. "Well?"
"So you know how we referred to your father and mother as being King and Queen?" Kellan begins.
"So I am a princess." I say.
"You're a High Royal. We all are." Kellan corrects firmly while Chloe presses her lips together preventing a smile.
She shrugs. "Same thing. Different title."
"So you're all royalty? Or we all are." I'm no longer surprised by anything. Although this is probably the coolest thing I've been told lately. "I know one of your parents are a queen or a king but what do you all do?"
"Responsibility wise, we have our city- our territory to rule over." Kellan answered. "Enforce rules, attempt keep peace within our species, and sometimes with witches and lycans."
"So you rule over them too?"
"No, they have their own hierarchy and rules." Kellan responds. "We- or at least some of us keep our relations with those two peaceful or at least neutral."
"Oh. Wait if you guys rule over a whole territory why are you here? Wouldn't it be noticeable that you're gone?"
Kellan smiles at me, amused by my- not knowing anything. Normally I'd be annoyed at that kind of smile. How could I know any of this? I'm not the biggest fan of being perceived as ignorant but that smile coming from him? I'm more than okay with. His eyes are practically glowing, he's excited to be able to inform of me of all of this, bring me into his world. "Sort of. A lot of us will leave our territory to our nobles for x amount of time for whatever reason. If anything needs our approval they can call or text. So it's normal for a High Royal to come and go. This happens to be a special occasion- you, and well you've experienced the hunters."
"They were fun." I roll my eyes. Didn't completely appreciate them shooting me and breaking my spine.
"We told our parents and whoever else that we're going after them." Kellan states.
"Specifically their creator. They're not just normal human hunters they're enhanced. They're stronger, faster, more durable." Chloe adds. "We know it's witches but we'd like to know exactly who's making them like that."
That explains why that guy lifted me over the railing like I was nothing.
"It's causing a lot of unrest." Kellans eyes harden, like memories of whatever these hunters have done just pushed to the forefront of his mind. "So to everyone we're all combining our resources and searching for whoever or whatever is giving them these abilities. Not a complete lie since we do have our nobles looking, but generally it's a cover. Everyone just thinks we're looking for them way more than we actually are." Kellan says getting up from the couch. "Do you either of you want water?"
"No thank you." I say as Chloe shakes her head no. "What's a noble?" I ask, while Kellan grabs a water bottle out of the fridge. I catch myself staring at his body- his back, his ass. It's very nice.
"It's the rank anyone gets if a High Royal turns them." Chloe responds, pulling my attention back to the issue at hand.
"People can get turned?"
Kellan makes his way over to the couch. "Yeah, there's a lot of vampires out there." He sits back down.
"And how do you do that?"
"The person has to die but you have to have their blood in your system, creating that connection as their sire. Most people just drain them then once they're freshly dead you give them your blood then they come back." Chloe explains.
"So you guys have done that." I cringe at the thought of any of them ever doing this to anyone. Hopefully not forcibly.
"I only turned people because for my family we're obligated to have at least 5 nobles." Kellan states. Obligated? "My nobles are like brothers and sisters to me."
"I have no nobles. Long story." Chloe immediately lowers her head refusing eye contact.
I look over at Kellan. "So you all just get land and people to rule over?"
"Yes but we're not handed random land it's corresponded with a city." Kellan unscrews his water bottle.
"So New York City- that's Victoria's right?"
"It happens to be where her territory is near but not that kind of city." Kellan's lips curl as he takes a sip of his water. "When celestials ruled they had these small hidden cities. Invisible to the human eye thanks to celestial magic. When the Fallen killed all of them, they took over their cities to be a safe haven for our kind."
"It also benefitted them because each had a palace fit for royalty." Chloe ever so slightly rolls her eyes.
"Celestials had a hierarchy similar to ours. The High Celestials would rule over their cities now it's High Royals." Kellan continues, ignoring Chloe's faint disdain.
"High Celestials were princes and princesses too?"
"Not really they were just royalty. They were more powerful than an average celestial so they held more power- had status." Kellan says.
"More powerful how?"
"Everything about them was magnified. They were much stronger, had enhanced senses, they had special abilities. Our fathers were High Celestials." Chloe noted motioning to me and herself.
"They both had abilities?"
Chloe nods. "They still do but thanks to the vampirism curse it's a lesser version of them. My father was a healer. He can still heal people just not to the extent that he could before. Lucien had mental manipulation."
"Like mind control?"
"That and so much more. He can get inside peoples heads, see their memories, feelings- He used to be able to manipulate memories and feelings." She says.
"He can't do that anymore though, right?" I ask with panic rising within my body. Dane mentioned him getting in peoples heads once before but I didn't think much of it.
"No. Not anymore." Chloe says. Oh thank God. "Dane and Victoria can explain all of that a lot better than I probably can."
I nod, making a mental note to ask Dane later. "Wait, Kellan what about you? Isn't your mother Kendricks sister?"
"Half sister, she wasn't a High Celestial." He says.
"Oh okay. So there's just a bunch of random secret cities all over?"
"In North America it's pretty much 3 across, 6 down- with a few outliers. Getting closer to southern Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America it's two across." Kellan sips his water once more.
"South America is pretty much the same." Chloe added.
"The Eastern Hemisphere is a whole other issue." Kellan says. "But think of it all as giant rectangles of land with the city at the center."
"Oh." I register my own thousand yard stare and pull myself out of it.
Kellan puts his water bottle down on the coffee table in front of him. "It's a lot. Well everything's been a lot lately I'm sure." His bright and inviting eyes fixate on mine.
"Yeah." I half smile, agreeing but a lot is a bit of an understatement to be honest.
"We didn't want to tell you about the royalty part of all this yet. We're throwing a lot at you, other stuff was more important- didn't want to add this on top of everything all at once." He says.
"Honestly. Being told that I'm not just royalty but basically a princess is the most exciting thing I've been told over the past couple of days."
"Really?" Chloe raises an eyebrow in shock.
"It's still worrying with the context of it all, but I was in love with The Princess Diaries when I was younger. It's like I'm living a much more fucked up version of that."
"Sure." Kellan says his brow flattened. I guess they both expected me to freak out, or start crying, or something but genuinely this is the most okay I've been with finding stuff out about me. Not that I'm ever going to do anything with it. Can't exactly go become a princess and run a secret city while in hiding from my apparent psychotic biological father... but it's still cool.
Kellan excused himself to go shower so for hours Chloe and I sat in the living room and talked. Not about anything that mattered but almost everything else? Yeah. She talked about Dane a lot- not in an annoying way. Honestly I loved it. I have like second hand excitement or happiness for her. I love how in love she is- the way she talks about him? I mean if I had a guy talking like that about me, or if I could talk about a guy like that? I'd throw myself a parade.
I've never been in love. I've been in what I thought was love, but I think it was more that I loved having sex with him. I've only ever had two official boyfriends, I've had things with 2 or 3 guys, and one night stands? Only a few but each one was more pointless than the last.
It's my fault. I am whoever and whatever you want me to be.
I'd let them walk all over me. I'd do pretty much anything they wanted because they seemed happy, all the while I was doing anything and everything to convince myself I must be in love or at least really like them. I mean they'd give me attention; text me, kiss me, call me, fuck me- so I should feel something for them. I was an actress stepping into whatever role they assigned me to and still none of them stuck around. All of them, boyfriend or not got bored with me.
I desperately craved this attention, this feeling of love everyone real or fictional raved about but I never got anywhere close to that. Only one empty, sometimes emotionally abusive, and unfulfilling relationship after the other. But how could I get anything else? I'd lie about how I felt- physically and mentally. I'd fake orgasms, smiles, and laughs. Everything, all to try and trick myself into feeling "love" and to keep them around. I figured that if I was what they wanted and they stuck around long enough then I'd feel it eventually. I didn't really know who or more so what I was in general and my relationship with men did not help.
Being a chronic people pleaser doesn't necessarily lend itself into having a sound perception of the self.
Neither does repressed vampirism apparently.
Chloe and I ended up watching some random reality tv show, laughing and commenting on whatever bullshit was going on. She brought out a bottle of wine for the both of us to drink while we watched- we're nearly finished with it. I glance around the living room area really taking in its decor. It's very clean and modern but also homey and comfortable. Then it dawns on me.
"Question."
"What's up." She turns, pulling her attention away from the dramatic argument on screen.
"Why are we in a house in Tennessee and not in a secret hidden city palace? Especially since they're invisible to humans, wouldn't that be perfect for hiding from hunters?"
"We still gotta hide your existence. There's nobles and servants and guards around, never know who's listening. We thought hiding from literally everyone would be best in a brand new house that no one knows about." She clarifies. I suddenly hear blood curdling screams, wincing at the volume.
"What the fuck was that?" I hold onto my ears, trying to lessen the sound and the pain from it. It felt like someone just stuck knives in my ears.
"What?" Chloe frantically looks around.
I hesitantly remove my hands from my ears to check for the screaming, thankfully there was a break with the yelling. "Someone was screaming."
Her worry fades from her face so quickly. "Oh that's probably Grayson. He's in the cellar on the edge of the property." She says like that's supposed to make sense.
"Does he normally go to the cellar to scream? Is he okay?"
"He's fine, it's just a full moon." She shrugs grabbing her almost empty wine glass and taking a sip.
"And?- Oh tell me he's a fucking werewolf." I say staring at her in disbelief but also not surprised.
"They prefer the term Lycan but yeah."
"I thought he was a vampire?"
"Yeah and he's a lycan. A hybrid."
"Those exist?"
She nods. "They're rare. Most hybrids die during the transition. Only a few survive but he was born like that so..."
"Ah of course. Anything else? Are you part mermaid or something?"
Chloe giggles. "No he's the only one." I hear the anguished screams again, wincing again I see Chloe pull a face. "I know, if you like... turn off your hearing you won't hear it." I shoot her a confused look. "You're new, so it'll be constantly on overdrive. If you breathe and unfocus from Grayson to only this room, you'll be fine."
I do as she says. Breathing in and out, I pull my thoughts away from Grayson and his screams. I turn my mind to this room- to Chloe, to the TV, to Chloe's heartbeat, to the humming of the refrigerator- Why is it so loud? "Don't think too much about the stuff in this room. Just relax like before."
"I'm trying. What the fuck happened? I was fine."
"Graysons screams were an outlier. Just talk, talk normally. Um..." She looks around trying to find something to say.
"Uhh..." I go through my thoughts quickly to find something to talk about. "He has to do that every full moon? Scream in pain?"
"Yeah hybrids still gotta turn. It kinda sucks."
"He's really out there just... turning into a wolf. Is it like a wolf wolf?"
"Not a legitimate wolf. Think large bipedal wolf creature. It's actually kinda terrifying."
"Oh that's fun."
I eventually got my hearing back under control. I did continue hearing Grayson scream but at a much lower, less painful volume this time. A little while after we both went back to our rooms. I stayed up, I was still on a high from the modicum of energy I had. It was new, I couldn't exactly calm myself down enough to go to sleep. I walked out of my room and out the front door. I needed some fresh air.
I stood outside next to the front door and took a deep breath. The flowers, the trees, the air. It all smelled beyond intense, it was like I was smelling it all for the first time. Chloe had told me that my senses will only get stronger but I can't imagine it getting more than this. I smelled the minor differences and intricate little aspects of each scent. It was fantastic.
I hear footsteps in the distance, each one closer than the last. My heart rate instantly spikes, I go to rush back inside until I see that it's Grayson- wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants making his way up the small hill. I hate where my eyes immediately went so I looked anywhere else. His hand tightly grips the handle of the duffel bag making his veins protrude from his forearm. When he sees me, he smirks through his visible fatigue. I must look as startled as I feel- I assume he's delighted by that.
"Relax." He says, his body and face now completely in view by the lights next to the door.
He looks drained. His hair's a mess. His broad shoulders and muscular chest covered in dirt and sweat. Not to mention his eyes look hollow and tired and despite this he manages to make it look good. I really hate that he's hot. "How are you doing?" I say looking over his whole being, as I tense up- my nerves always spike in his presence.
"Chloe informed you I presume?" He says in a gravelly tone, resembling a morning voice.
"Yeah."
He exhales. "Lovely." He slowly walks past me, opening the front door. He flings it open and stands there. "Are you coming in?" Taking a step back with his hand out, he invites me inside.
"Yeah." I say lowly. I walk back in the house with him following closely behind.
He drops the duffel bag to the floor, the sound of what I assume to be chains rattling together cuts through the silence. He makes his way to the refrigerator in the kitchen while I stand unsure what to do. He pulls out two blood bags.
"Oh I don't want any, I'm okay."
"That's great they're not for you." He says ripping off the top of one immediately drinking it.
Now incredibly embarrassed, I clear my throat, "Are you okay?"
"Why do you care?" He snaps but his voice lacks any strength.
"Well you look... not okay."
"I will be after this." He raises his blood bag finishing the rest of it. He puts it on the counter, picking up the second. A tiny puddle of blood forms from the finished blood bag. It's so tiny but the scent of it practically fills the air.
My heart jumps. A small voice in my head is encouraging me to have it, to go to the fridge and grab another bag for myself. I clench my jaw and tear myself away from the sight of it and hopefully those thoughts as well.
I look up at Grayson who's in the middle of his second blood bag. He narrows his eyes at me, as he stops drinking. Chuckling, he turns around to the cabinet grabbing a glass and proceeds to pour out a small amount of blood into the glass. He places it on the counter and slides it across- stopping right before the edge. "Go ahead."
"No, no I'm fine." I stammer.
"You're clenched jaw and arm rubbing implies the opposite." I un-tensed my jaw as I took a glance down at my hand unconsciously rubbing my arm. Quickly I put my hand at my side, keeping it there. "It's literally a shot, it's nothing. You're allowed." He says.
"I already had before-."
"You've never had a midnight snack before?"
"It's 4am."
"And?" He cocks an eyebrow as he motions to the glass once more.
I reluctantly walk forward and pick up the glass. I look around us- feeling like I'm breaking some unspoken rule.
"There's no one around." He whispers. I turn back to him, meeting his still tired eyes. "I won't tell." He raises his half empty blood bag to me and winks. "Our little secret."
I half smile back raising my glass with him. I drink the inch of blood in the glass and I can't help but want more. But I quickly shove those feelings down.
I watch as he finishes. He grabs the two empty bags and holds out his hand motioning for me to give him my glass. I slide it back to him. He throws out the two bags and places the glass in the dishwasher. "I have to shower and pass out. Goodnight Morgan." He says shuffling away while rubbing his eyes.
"Goodnight Grayson." I say back.
That was the most normal encounter I've had with this man since the first night out. I'm chalking it up to him being overly exhausted from whatever turning into a wolf- or lycan is like. But still... it was normal and pleasant.
I probably shouldn't have drank that blood given that I couldn't go to sleep at all with this newfound energy. The next day I noticed Grayson was unusually not present. He stayed in his room the majority of the day- according to Kellan, the day after a full moon, lycans are wiped. Which is completely understandable given what I heard last night. I feel bad for him. His agonizing screams were burned into my mind, I can only imagine what he went through and continuously goes through every full moon.
I wanted to see him, only to make sure he was okay. He seemed not like himself last night, it was kind of worrying but also nice since he wasn't actively antagonizing me. I know I don't have to be worried, I was told by Kellan and Chloe that he normally gets really tired after turning but there I was... worried.
It wasn't until 9pm that night that I saw him leaving the house ready to go out to party in Nashville. He's fine.