Sonia and Carlos lead me outside to one the picnic benches and watched me sob. In between, I ate the ice-cream. I felt childish. Here I was crying and eating ice-cream at school. This was embarrassing.
"Cry or eat," Sonia said. "You can't do both."
Sniffing, I nodded. With the back of my hand, I wiped my tears but they just kept coming.
"Leave her alone," Carlos said. "She's been through a lot."
I nodded, unable to speak. As the ice-cream finished, I managed to calm down. Sonia gave me a tissue from her bag and I dabbed my eyes and nose. Underneath the warm sun, we sat in silence. What was there to say?
"Those corpses are nothing but trouble."
Carlos's slur made me flinch.
"I can't believe you have to go through something like this . . . again."
I heard Sonia smack Carlos's arm.
"What?" he asked. "Are we gonna pretend that Rin hasn't been attacked before? That thing was even a prince and he got away with it."
"This – is nothing like last time," I said. I couldn't meet their eyes. "When you're trying to help someone, you would think they wouldn't want to eat you."
With a sigh, I looked at them. "This is just one of the Prince's phases. Soon, he'll get bored and leave."
Neither of them seemed convinced but neither of them spoke. However, I wasn't quite done.
"I'm sorry for putting you guys through this. It's not really-"
"You didn't force me to do anything," Carlos interrupted. "Did you really want me to leave that blood sucker treat you like a snack?"
He had a point.
"Just – thanks."
Sonia shook her head. "You should have started with that."
I blinked away the tears. "Next time I will."
#
As soon as I walked into school the following day, I knew something was off. All the news vans around the school were silence and the Vampire Prince hadn't ambushed me. I was expecting him to jump out of somewhere and spook me. But that didn't happen. Instead, Sonia fell in step beside me and followed me to my locker. Surprisingly, there was nothing written on there today. I turned to Sonia.
"Cleaning that Sharpie must have been hard, right?" I asked.
"Don't look at me," Sonia said. She pointed with her chin.
I followed in the direction she had pointed and saw Carlos opening his own locker. My eyebrow raised on its own.
"Why?" I asked.
Sonia gave me a look. "We're friends," she said. "What did you expect him to do? We all heard the same conversation yesterday."
I turned to my locker. For some reason, I was having trouble processing all of this. Carlos did things because he liked me but as friends . . . sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the two. Sure, he had saved me from getting munched on by the Prince – maybe because of guilt – but I knew that, regardless if it wasn't for me or guilt, he would have saved anyone else.
"The Prince isn't here today," Sonia whispered.
My heart lurched. Call me paranoid but I was certain it had something to do with what I showed him yesterday.
"Oh really?" I asked. To my ears, my voice sounded high pitched.
"I don't know how you stand him," Sonia continued. "You still have the thing, right?"
With a sigh, I patted my bag pack. I really wanted to call her out on the illegal merchandise but I didn't want to risk getting expelled from school. Plus, the vampires wouldn't stay quiet if they knew I had lethal spray. On top of that, it felt strange talking behind the Prince's back.
"Why does he have to come here? What does he want? I just don't think this is one of his phases. It's too weird." Sonia crossed her arms and leaned her back against the locker.
Feeling uncomfortable, I concentrated on opening my locker and getting my stuff. I wasn't a really good liar. Honestly, I wanted to tell Sonia everything. At least I would have someone to talk to but I knew I couldn't. If she got involved, I'm sure Carlos would know soon after and the vampires would be up in arms. I couldn't do that to them.
"Maybe," I said.
"But why do you have to with him?" Sonia asked. "You're in self-study in the same room. What's the deal with that? Have you even looked at the news? The Royal family is not saying anything."
"We don't talk," I said trading my books. "I don't know what's going through his head." Not technically a lie.
Someone cleared their throat behind me. Somehow, that pissed me off. I wasn't in anyone's way. I swirled around ready to verbally attack someone but the sight of three freshmen girls stopped me. In their arms, they held books and paper. They nudged at each other until finally one of them grew a pair and stepped forward.
"Um," she began.
"Yes?" I prompted.
The girl blushed. "Is the Prince not coming to school today?" she asked.
For a moment, I didn't know what to say. I wasn't his secretary. Sonia rolled her eyes beside me.
"Why would I know that?"
"You're always with him," the girl said. "The Prince only talks to you and you two seem close."
I had to force down a laugh. Second by second, she lowered her gaze. Maybe it was because of the obvious look of disgust on my face or confusion – or both.
"I not his babysitter," I said through clenched teeth. "We aren't close at all."
The girl reached into the stack of paper in her arms and held it out to me. "Can you get me his autograph?"
"Please," they all whined.
My eye twitched. "Hell no."
I slammed my locker shut and headed towards homeroom. Sonia was right beside me. I saw her shoulders shaking but I chose to ignore that.
"The nerve," I said. "I'm not his personal secretary. Who do they take me for? Just wait until I see him. I'll give him a piece of my mind."
But he didn't attend school that day or the next. The vampire lawyers had said they were only a conference this week but no one had informed me of anything. No one even contacted me. I did get back those blood results in the mail from when the Prince bit me – they were happy to announce that I wasn't turning into a vampire.
The absence of vampire contact was somewhat comforting. It almost seemed like my normal life before all of this. The media vans left and went to crowd the King's palace and the security detail was removed from my house now that "the threat had vanished." My school media wall flared up with questions:
-where is da prince?
-when is he comin bck?
-the Prince 4ever!
And:
-Good Riddance
-so gld hes gon.
I blocked all of them.
That Thursday night I helped my mom bake some cookies for Ian – the coworker that helped me on my paper (I got an 85). He wouldn't be able to eat them but the thought counts. Plus, if he soaked the cookies in blood that would somehow work, I think.
Despite the distraction, my gut kept twisting. I wasn't worried about the Prince. I was worried about myself. So far, there hadn't been anymore threats and nothing bad had happened to my parents – I wouldn't put it past them. Yet the bad feeling followed me around. Honestly, the Prince's disappearance made me uncomfortable. It was as if he was planning something; it was like the calm before the storm.
Leaving the cookies to cool on the counter, I headed upstairs. My mom joined my dad in the living room for the 6 o'clock news. I lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Violet's poster was gone. With a frustrated sigh, I stood. Why was I so restless? Was I worried?
Well, yes but only because I could get threatened again . . . but if the Vampire Prince was gone then that would mean the terrorists would leave me alone. This was a good sign. With the Prince gone, there was nothing to worry about. He could stay away for all I cared.
I felt a slight chill in the air. There was supposed to be rain this evening. It was strange because I hadn't opened my window today. Frowning, I turned around.
"Miss me?" The Vampire Prince asked. He gave me a toothy grin.
My eyes widened. "H-how did you get inside?!"
My window had been locked. My dad had even installed a deadbolt on that thing. We were even thinking about getting a vampire proof security – I think the government would allow us to get one.
"Did you honestly think that vampires can't enter into a house even if it's locked?" He clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"What happened to being invited inside?" I asked.
The Prince raised an eyebrow. "What nonsense are you spouting now?" he asked.
"It's common courtesy to knock!" I shot back. "You know what's better? Coming in through the front door!"
Angrily, I stalked towards the door. I didn't doubt that the Prince had already noticed my phone on my desk. He wasn't going to let me call the police. Plus, he stood between me and my bag pack where it was. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to use the spray. If something happened to the Prince in my house, I would go to jail and parents and sentenced to death.
"I didn't give you permission to leave."
As soon as I opened the door, it slammed shut. The Prince's hand was firmly on the wood.
"I asked you a question."
His low tone made me shiver. He was too close for my liking.
"Downstairs," I forced out. Then I added, "What have I told you about personal space?"
He ignored my question and instead said, "Calling for you parents won't work," he said. "One thing your films got right – we can control people."
"And I apparently materialized in someone's home," I muttered.
"We can't reveal all our secrets, now can we?" His breath tickled my ear and I shivered.
A sudden thought hit me. "If you can control people," I said. "Why couldn't you make everyone do your bidding? You could have prevented this whole mess from happening."
Strangely enough, the Prince didn't respond. Then he said, "Now that wouldn't be very entertaining, now would it?"
He always knew what to say.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
I felt him step back. Only after a few moments had passed that I turned around. From his back pocket, the Prince took out a rolled up piece of paper. It was thick. He held it out to me. Frowning, I took it from him.
"What is it?" I asked rolling out the packet.
"You can't read?" the Prince asked with a sneer.
Any other day, that would have pissed me off. But come to think of it, he wasn't very relaxed and he kept looking at the window. His uneasiness made me feel . . . frightened. Was my house being watched right now? Was I going to get another threat? The thought made my stomach churn.
"Are you done yet?"
My face flushed. I hadn't even started reading. Clearing my throat, I turned to the first page. The Prince made a noise at the back of his throat.
"I'm sorry I can't read a thousand words per second," I said.
"Just hurry up."
There he was being nervous again.
"If you're so eager to leave then leave," I told him. "Your twitching is making me nervous."
The Prince growled at me. "I'm not fidgeting."
"Yeah, okay."
I read as quickly as I could manage. Even though the Prince wouldn't say, I knew something wasn't right. The document was more like an itinerary. Conference dates, scripted words . . .
"You guys are holding a conference about all of this?" I asked. "Are you crazy?"
The Vampire Prince's eyes blazed red. "You signed a contract." His voice was low.
"They can kill my family!" I shouted. "I'm not doing this!"
"You don't have a choice."
"Yes. I do." I took a step forward until I was inches away from him.
"I have been harassed and threatened," I hissed at him. "If you think for a second-"
"You're mine."
I stopped. What?
"I have already claimed you," the Prince said. He walked around my room like he owned it. "If they harm you or your family, they won't live to tell it. Those terrorists won't be able to run."
Anger burned through me. "I'm not your property!"
The Prince swirled around. "I own you," he repeated.
He walked towards me and stopped. Without an expression on his face, he leaned forward and I leaned back. He pointed with his chin.
"Memorize those lines."
Then he left.