Here's the next chapter. Thanks for all your patience. Enjoy!
"How was your day?"
My mom's voice jolted me out of my thoughts. I shook my head, the plate of spaghetti in front of me came into sharp focus. My head snapped up and met her gaze. Her brow was furrowed and she had stopped twirling her fork.
I cleared my throat. "Y-yeah," I said. "For the most part, I just lounged around. It was nice." I nodded more to myself than to her. Mostly, I was trying hard to make her believe me.
"Are you heading back to school tomorrow?" Dad asked.
I nodded again. "I am," I told him. "I just needed to take a break today."
"You know you can talk to us about anything, right?" my mom asked. "We're here if you need to tell us anything."
A smile managed to appear on my lips. "Yeah, I know," I assured her.
After dinner, I mingled with my parents downstairs watching the news before heading to my room. They seemed convinced that I had stayed at home all day. At least, they gave off that impression. I didn't have the energy to look for subtle clues or question every glance. Whether I liked it or not, the only thing my mind could focus on was the fact that Carlos was part of the hate group that had threatened me. He had known about it too. How could I ever trust him or anyone for that matter?
My house was probably being watched right now – by vampires and/or humans, who knows? Honestly, none of this would have happened if I had just allowed the Prince to drink my blood. I should just gone to the hospital and donated blood specifically for him. Nowadays, I heard that you could request your blood to go someone specifically or a cause. Whether this was true or not, I didn't know. I must have heard it from one of the Prince's fans. But even as I thought that I knew I could never have done that and there was no use in wishful thinking. There was no way to go back in time and change things.
I grabbed the doorknob to my bedroom and stopped. Was I going to find another message from Carlos's so called friends? Oh, wait, no – they called themselves 'Purists' – humans were the only species allowed to be on top of the food chain. At least, that was the gist of what I got from Pat's rant.
Her words were seared into my head not because it was impactful and change my outlook on vampires but because of the sheer stupidity of what she had said. Sure, everyone could have their own opinions but this – this had been something different altogether.
Pat had taken me to a private room with only a table and some chairs. Honestly, it played out like one of those cops' scenes on TV. I'm sure there were some hidden cameras too.
"I'll be outside," Carlos had said but I'd ignored him.
The inside of the room had been hot. There was a fan that pathetically tried to cool off the room. It wasn't working. Pat had smiled all the time. We sat across each other and then she started talking about structure. Everything had a structure like a well-oiled machine but when a cog disrupted operations, the machine didn't work anymore.
'Why can't the machine adapt?' I'd asked.
Pat looked like I had told her to date a vampire. 'Why should a perfect structure have to change?" she had countered. 'When there's already a perfect structure in place, the unknown factor has to go. That is what we're trying to do here.'
I crossed my arms across my chest. 'Is that why you threatened me?'
My heart decided to lurch into a frantic state but I didn't have to worry. Instead of exploding, Pat laughed. 'If you aren't fighting to keep the structure in place then certain precautions have to be taken." Her laughter ended abruptly. She leaned forward. "Let's be frank. You've been talking with the enemy."
My eye twitched. I doubted she knew the real reason why the Prince went to high school. Pat would have a field day. 'Why am I here exactly?' I forced out.
Pat sat back. 'To make sure you've chosen the right side,' she's replied. 'After all, we have to keep this planet pure.'
Did Carlos really believe in all of this? Or had gotten himself into something where he might not be able to leave?
'I'm not on the vampires' side,' I had told her, choosing my words carefully. 'Truth be told, I don't want them near me. As for this 'enemy', I'm guessing you mean the Prince? You know how he is, it's just a tantrum. A cry for attention. He gets those a lot.'
I hadn't been lying. Not really. Honestly, the only vampire I wanted to be away from was the Prince. It had been difficult to tell if Pat had believed me. She might have because I got the grand tour of the place. Or maybe she wanted me to think that she believed me. At that point, I didn't care. I wanted to go home. I didn't want to be anywhere these people. My entire being rejected their ideas.
Feeling my temples pound, I went into my bedroom. Even if these Purists did leave a message somewhere, I could take it to the police and file it under 'breaking and entering.' The media would gobble it up. I could see the news. 'Terrorist group terrorizes citizen' or something like that. Either way, it would draw attention to the Purists. Whether they wanted attention or not, it was hard to tell.
In the darkness of my room, I closed the door and leaned my back against it. At least I had a lawyer. If things got out of hand, I could inform him of what was happening and see what I could do so I wouldn't feel so powerless and helpless. Sure, it was impossible to know who to trust but I couldn't develop a paranoia right now. That would be the opposite of taking control.
"Where were you?"
I flinched. I was more impressed than surprised that the Prince managed to keep quiet and his hands to himself. At this point, I wasn't surprised. The Prince would never follow the new contract but I was too drained to feel anger. Sighing, I flipped the light switch. The Prince wasn't in my room.
A knock came from my window. I jumped. I really needed to stop doing that. So, technically, he wasn't in my room – smart a$$. Defensively, I crossed my arms.
"Like you don't know?" I countered. "I'm sure you had your people follow me."
"I'm asking you." His voice was low.
My eyes narrowed. "I went on a drive and met . . . some interesting people that I will never see again."
"Why didn't you come to school today?"
"Because I didn't feel like it."
Neither one of us spoke. Then, "that's wasn't what we agreed upon."
Speechless, I gaped at the window. "A-agreed upon?" I sputtered out. "Since when have you ever done anything that was 'agreed upon'? Uh, hello? Did you forget you tried to kill me the other night?"
He didn't reply.
"Yeah," I muttered. "That's what I thought. "
Exasperated, I sat on my bed. I glanced down at my hands as my heart raged against my chest. I swallowed thickly.
"You know that symbol I showed you?" I asked. Pressure built in my eyes. "Well, surprise. I found out who was behind it. Carlos . . . he knew about it." I cleared my throat. "Sure, he could be a pain but I never thought –" I shook my head. "You think you know someone but in the end, you're the biggest fool."
I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. "You should have listened to their nonsense. It was all about 'top of the food chain' and 'the perfect structure' – it was ridiculous. The scary part: they believe that stuff."
"Did they convince you?" the Prince asked.
Angrily, I shot up to my feet. "Let's get something straight," I growled out. "I don't like you. I'm fine with all the other vampires and humans that want to get along and solve things instead of causing problems. It's you and everyone else that insists to spout the nonsense of them vs us that makes me sick."
I breathed heavily ready to smack him if he appeared before me. How could he think that I would join these Purists? My hands curled into fists.
"You haven't done much either," the Prince finally retorted. "All you do is complain. You haven't done one thing to convince me that humans are worth keeping around like equals. From where I stand, you all deserve to be nothing more than cattle."
I crossed the space between the window and myself and yanked the curtain back – the Prince was gone.
Bastard.
Did he really think that one person defined a species?