I yawned as I checked the messages on my phone. It was ten in the morning and I was on the dining room, waiting for Xayranne’s cooking. Flynn was reading the newspaper—it was still bugging me that a teenager was reading the newspaper—as we waited for Xayranne to finish cooking.
I already told my Mom, Melissa, Jasper and Amanda about me staying here for a week. The response and reactions I received really threw me off guard. I guess I can’t blame them. Try to lose someone you really are close with suddenly and doesn’t tell you where you are. Of course you’ll panic.
Mom’s reaction was like this: “What?! A week?! A freaking week?! What the hell are you going there for a week?! You told me you’re not kidnapped! Then why are you staying there for a week?! It’s inhumane! Now tell me if you really have a secret boyfriend! Or maybe—oh my God. Melanie, are you pregnant?! Is that why you suddenly disappeared?!”
Melissa’s reaction was like this: “A week? What the hell are you talking about?! You’re staying away for a week? That’s not really like you, Melanie! I really need you to be here now because Mom is not letting me go to parties or hang out with my friends! She said she doesn’t want to lose me, too. And it’s Tommy’s—that my new latest boyfriend, just last week—birthday in two days! I need to go the party and Mom wouldn’t let me go! You. Need. To. Come. Back. Now.” I rolled my eyes at that. Apparently a party is sooo much important than a sister that was missing. Huh, a typical Melissa.
Jasper’s reaction: “A… week? What—.” I, uh, not really going to tell you about Jasper’s reaction. Most of what he said next was a lot of profanities that you don’t need to hear or know.
Amanda’s reaction was the calmest that I have received: “A week? Well, that’s better than you disappearing forever, right? Just promise me that you’re okay and you’re well-fed. As long as you are fine and okay, I’m good with that. I know you don’t want me to know what you are doing right now but… I just want to wish you good luck. This must be really important.” I smiled gratefully. At least someone who can understand my situation.
Anyway, back to the present. I was reading my messages on my Inbox. Mom and Melissa greeted me a ‘good morning’. Amanda texted, ‘Hey, Melanie! I just want you to know… a senior asked me out! He’s name is Keith Robin. He’s a really nice guy and I know you would like him once you get to know him. Hope you’re here. I miss you. XOXO.’ Jasper, however, was a lot different. He texted, ‘Good morning, I love you, I miss you. :( Hope this week will come and pass quickly. I want to see you now.’
I sighed as I placed my phone on the table. I really do miss Mom, Jasper, Amanda—even Melissa! Even though some of their reactions of me going away to a place I don’t know for a week were a little bit funny, I still can’t help feeling guilty that I’m making them worry about me. I don’t want them to feel so stressed worrying about me. I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.
Another reason why I don’t have a boyfriend. I never, ever, ever don’t want to be a burden to anyone. I already lost my Dad when I was twelve and there’s something about that incident that made my Mom a lot braver and tougher than she ever was. From that early age, I realized I don’t want to be a burden to her. I know she’s alone and she doesn’t have Dad anymore. That’s why I don’t want to add up her problems because of me. That’s why when I have some problems, I keep them to myself or talk to Jasper and Amanda about it—but that’s only rarely. I don’t want to burden them with my problems, too.
And that’s why I’m alone.
“Deep thoughts?” Flynn asked, looking at me, amused as he handed me a plate of bacon and eggs.
I smiled at him gratefully and placed the plate on the table in front of me. “Yeah, deep thoughts.”
“The doctors are going to be here at twelve,” Xayranne said conversationally as she sat across me and beside Flynn. “You up for that?”
I shrugged. “I guess so. I think it wouldn’t hurt or something… would it?”
“I really don’t know. I never had someone take my blood. Funny I do that five times in two weeks.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Flynn stared at me. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Our schedule?”
“Schedule? Schedule of what?”
“Our drinking of blood.”
I almost choked on my bacon. Immediately, Xayranne handed me a glass of water, looking over at me nervously. I grabbed the glass of water and gulped every last drop of it before looking at the couple incredulously. “You have a schedule for that?! Are you kidding me?!”
Xayranne nodded slowly, watching my expression intently. “Well, yes. We drink five times in two weeks. I know, you must be really disgusted with us right now but… yeah.”
“Besides, we can’t live with human food,” Flynn added. “Sure, we might eat some human food but we can’t live with it. We need human blood.”
I gulped, registering the fact inside my head. We need human blood. Of course vampires need human blood. So why the hell am I here in a house with two vampires eating breakfast like nothing’s wrong? I really am a weird girl. I wonder what Jasper sees in me.
“Okay… Let’s just change the topic,” Xayranne said, looking at me apologetically for bringing up the subject.
I sighed gratefully. “Yeah, let’s. I’m sorry, guys, but I really don’t want to talk about you drinking human blood. It just really bugs me. I’m a human, you know.” I cleared my throat. “Um, where are Garret and Roxanne? I haven’t seen them all morning.”
“Well, aren’t they in school?” Flynn asked, frowning.
“Oh. Yeah. I forgot about school,” I said, biting my lip.
For a moment, it was silent as we ate our breakfast. Suddenly, Flynn cleared his throat, looking at me expectantly. “Uh, Melanie, were you wondering last night what we were talking about? Like, the girl that Garret had found?”
I nodded, trying to maintain my poker face. But inside, I was jumping up and down in anticipation. And at the meantime, butterflies were flying inside my stomach in nervousness. “Yeah, I was wondering about that. But I didn’t ask because I thought it wasn’t my business. Why? Should I know something about it?”
Flynn shrugged. “Just wondering.”
“So? Are you telling me who that girl was?”
“I think I’m not the right person to tell you about that. It’s not my business.” He smiled at me apologetically.
I nodded and smiled back, ignoring the sinking feeling of disappointment inside me. Of course it wasn’t Flynn’s business. It was Garret’s and I doubt it if he wants to talk to me about this. Clearly, he doesn’t want to talk about it with his parents, much less me.
After thirty minutes of talking about random things with Flynn and Xayranne, I finished eating and went to the kitchen to do the dishes. But Flynn stopped me, telling me that I’m a guest and guests weren’t supposed to be washing their dishes.
I looked at him incredulously. “I’m a guest?”
He nodded, looking at me as if I was stupid. Whew, I guess I am. “Of course! Didn’t the King and Queen told you about that? You’re a guest here in the house. Don’t worry, I’ll do the dishes. You and Xayranne go to the living room and talk the stuff all girls talk about.”
Xayranne and I laughed but left Flynn with the dishes. I walked to the living room with Xayranne trailing behind me. I slumped down to an armchair as Xayranne threw herself on a beanbag chair. She smiled secretively at me. “Garret told me about the girl last night while you slept at the car ride home.”
I smiled, trying not to remember the way Garret was holding me. I might have not remembered sleeping on the car ride home but I do remember waking up slightly as Garret put me down to my bed late last night.
“Oh?” I said conversationally.
She nodded. “Yep. I was a little bit shock but then slowly, I understood why it was her. Roxanne was there, too…”
I frowned, not really getting it. “I don’t get it.”
She nodded again. “I know. And I think you have the right to know why, knowing you know about us and you’re really growing closer to us. But you need to promise me that you won’t tell anyone—especially Garret—that I told you about this.”
I bit my lip. This seriously wasn’t my business and sometimes, I can’t really keep a secret. I always spill the beans. But curiosity was killing me this time. I want to know who this girl is and what the hell is she in Garret’s life.
Reluctantly, I nodded. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone.”
She took a deep breath then looked at me right in the eye. “Remember what Garret said? That he’s the last person who will kill a human being? Remember?” I nodded slowly, recalling the moment back on the living room last Saturday. It seemed like a million years ago. “Well, there’s a reason why he couldn’t kill a human. Before Flynn met me and Roxanne, Garret fell in love.”
I frowned. “Garret fell… in love?”
She nodded. “I know it’s hard to believe because of his cocky attitude. But he did fell in love… a long time ago. But he didn’t fell in love to just to anyone. He fell in love with a human.”
My jaw dropped. “A human?”
“Yeah. It was shocking, I know. When Flynn told me this, I was pretty shocked, too. Garret never told me but he knows that I know because of Flynn. He personally told Roxanne about this so he’s okay with the two of us knowing. Anyway, that girl knows that vampires exist but she doesn’t truly love Garret. She used Garret.”
Suddenly, anger bubbled inside me. Who would dare use Garret?! Garret might be a cocky arrogant bastard sometimes but I know he’s different if he’s in love. “Used him? Why?”
“Because he’s Garret Stone. Philip and Fiona Stone are very popular in the Vampire World. They’re one of the richest vampire families—mine included and of course, the Scotts. By the way, the Scotts are the King and Queen. So, well, anyway, the girl—I never knew her name, Flynn wouldn’t tell me—used Garret to have every amount of power he possesses. Garret was gullible; it was his first time to fall in love. And, of course, he gave in.”
I gulped. “So what happened?”
“As you very well know, Fiona despises humans. So when Garret told them that he was in love with a human, she went crazy. She screamed at him to leave her alone and blah, blah, blah. Garret was angry so he and the human eloped. Eight months later, Garret came back, very, very much hurt.”
“Hurt? Did the girl… leave her?”
“No, she did something far worse. She got pregnant to another person—a human. Of course, she tried to make it up. She doesn’t want to lose Garret, her source of power. She said she didn’t mean to get pregnant, that the guy raped her and all that. Garret believed her. He trusted her because he loved her so he believed her. He got angry, thinking that the poor innocent guy raped the girl. So he beat him up—but not kill him. After, the girl and Garret moved to another place. The girl was still pregnant but she was weak and sick. Garret doesn’t want to her die so he appointed someone to take care of her. Unfortunately, he appointed a man, not a woman. After three months of pregnancy, the human girl fell truly in love with the man who was taking care of her. When she told Garret about this, he got angry. The human girl explained to him that she didn’t truly love him—only because of his power. Garret was shocked but didn’t hurt the human girl since he still loved her. Instead, he killed the man.”
My eyes widened in shock. My head was spinning so fast as I registered the fact that Garret had killed somebody. Garret had killed somebody. “But—but…”
“Let me finish first,” Xayranne said, looking at me nervously. “The last five months of the girl… she was depressed. Very, very much depressed. The only man she had ever loved died. She refused to eat, she refused to talk to Garret, she gave up the will to live! So after five months, she died, still pregnant. Garret was broken, blaming himself for her death. If he hadn’t killed the man she loved, she would have lived. But he couldn’t live in this Earth knowing that the girl he loved loves somebody else. So he came back and that’s when the cold arrogant Garret started. Only Roxanne had made him smile again. Flynn told me maybe that Roxanne is really the girl for her. But Garret told him that he just doesn’t feel it. He looks at Roxanne and sees her as his little sister, nothing more.”
“So how is this connected with the girl that you were talking about last night?”
“I’m getting to that, Melanie,” Xayranne said, smiling slightly at my impatience. “Every King and Queen of the Vampire World has one hundred years of service. Next two years, the King and Queen will give up the throne and Garret would be the next to rule. But in order for that to happen, he needs a wife.”
“A wife?” I repeated. “So he went to school to look for a wife? But we’re humans—.”
“Garret has a soft spot for humans,” she interrupted. “And anyway, he doesn’t feel like to have a vampire for a wife.”
I frowned. “What? Isn’t that your rule?”
“Yes. But you can also turn a human to a vampire.”
“Really?” I said, my eyes wide. You can turn a human to a vampire?
“Yeah. Anyway, that’s the reason why Garret went to school with Roxanne, to look for his wife. And he found her.”
“I wonder who it was,” I wondered out loud.
“And I wonder why you need to know,” a familiar voice said.
Xayranne and I gasped and glanced at each other before turning to the person who last spoke. He was frowning disapprovingly, folding his arms.
I swallowed, raising my hands defensively. “I… uh… What are you doing here?” I asked, biting my lip nervously.
Hey there! :) So who do you think busted them? xD Hahaha, sorry for the cliffhanger but hey, at least you have something to look out for, right? :p Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. :) Thanks.
And oh by the way, I think I won't be updating much from now on. :( School is starting. Yeah, schools in the Philippines starts in June. :> I'm starting my sophomore year in high school so I think I'll be really busy. Zzz... But don't worry, I'll still be updating. <3 Thank you for reading! :D