Chapter 16
Seeing Layton and Drew near each other, I could make out some similarities. They had the same eye color, almost the same build, and the shape of their heads was also similar. Their differences also stood out, like Drew's hair was a little bit longer than Layton's and was styled to the side. Layton seemed to be more built than Drew but I could tell that they both could hold their own during a fight.
"What are you doing here?" Drew asked, finally breaking the silence. He walked towards Sabrina and dug around the cooler for a second before handing her a bag of chips, which she gratefully took and began eating.
"Can't I just come by to see my big brother?" Layton responded, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. I saw Levi take the cooler from Drew and walk towards what I assumed was the kitchen, probably to put them away.
"You've had decades to come and visit me, and you chose now? I know you're here for a reason," he said, before finally having his dark gray eyes land on me. "Who's she?"
Before Layton could say anything, I stood up and introduced myself. "I'm Nebraska," I said, peeking a glance at Layton. I needed to show him that I was more than capable of doing things by myself.
Sabrina and Drew both cocked their heads curiously. "What? Like the state?" Sabrina asked.
It was a while since I've heard someone say that to me. "Yeah...like the state."
"Oh. Well I'm Sabrina and that's Drew," she said, pointing towards Drew when she said his name. I wanted to say 'I know' but not wanting to sound like a creep, I just nodded while remaining quiet. As much as I wanted to be able to talk about our current situation, Layton understood it more than I did. It would be better if he explained it.
"Can we talk?" Layton asked, motioning up the stairs towards Drew. Drew looked at Sabrina and then at me before I realized what he was doing. He was deciding whether it was safe for him to leave her along with me.
He whispered something to Sabrina, even I couldn't hear, before she nodded. He then nodded towards Layton and they disappeared up the stairs into another room.
Now it was just the three of us; Sabrina, Jason, and me. I had no idea where Levi was, but I'm guessing he must be in the kitchen or in one of the other rooms in here. Sabrina wrapped her arms around her stomach and glanced around, avoiding my eye.
Was she expecting me to start the conversation? I didn't know how to do that! Maybe if I ask questions it could get an actual conversation going. "Nice room," I complimented, looking around.
She smiled and tucked some flyaway hair behind her ear. "Thanks. Drew wanted to go for more darker colors, like black or gray, but we compromised on this," she said.
"This is a compromise?" I questioned, looking around the room. The entire room had lime green, baby blue, and white for colors. No part of the room except some parts of the wooden furniture was dark.
She smiled sheepishly. "Well, I didn't exactly specify who was stronger in the compromise."
I laughed along with her. When she wasn't being shy or cautious, she actually seemed like a genuinely fun person. "Wow, you practically have him wrapped around your finger huh?" I said, grinning widely to show I was comfortable with her.
She shrugged. "It's the same with you and Layton," she said. I scoffed. Yeah right.
"Doubt it. Layton's been too busy with all this stuff that he hasn't paid that much attention to me." Even as I said it, I could tell that I sounded disappointed with the fact. Was I really feeling bad for the lack of attention Layton was giving me?
A part of me didn't want to admit it. "Speaking of which, what is that stuff going on? Drew doesn't tell me anything unless I beg or bribe it out of him," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Same with Layton! Sometimes I have to get the answers out of Levi since Layton wouldn't tell me. Oh, and it's some hunters who keep hunting him down because his parents want him back in the throne. Also Karla and all but I don't really get most of it," I told her.
She nodded thoughtfully. "They're hunting Layton down because they want him on the throne?" she questioned. I nodded and she sighed. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't met Drew then he would be the one sitting on the throne and you guys wouldn't be hunted down."
"Don't say that! Even if Drew did have the throne, I doubt he would be happy. I mean, his eyes were practically glued to you the second he walked in. I could tell he really cares an awful lot about you. Besides, if it weren't for you he would be with that witch Karla," I told her.
She groaned. "Oh, her. Damn, I really thought she would have gotten over it by now," she whispered mostly to herself.
"What happened with her anyways?" I asked. I wanted some answers, and she seemed like the only person who was willing to tell me the entire story, not just some parts of it.
She cleared her throat. "When I first came to the castle, she was together with Drew. I instantly knew what he was to me the first time I saw him but I knew I couldn't tell anyone because then I would most certainly get killed. Karla sorta figured it out but she only suspected that I had a slight crush on him, and she made it her life mission to make my entire stay there hell. Whenever I came into the room she would make out with Drew thinking it would hurt me, if only she knew how much it really destroyed me on the inside."
"Wait," I interrupted, making her look at me. "So you knew he was your soulmate, but he didn't know you were his? How exactly does that work?"
"Girl vampires find their soulmates through sight, males find theirs through touch," she explained.
Oh. Don't exactly know how that works but she knew more about this than I did so it was best to just sit and listen.
"Anyways, back to the story. So yeah she tortured me with that while I did my best to avoid contact with him. Then one day, I was dragged into this ball kind of thing. It was a masquerade theme so I easily hid there once I disguised my scent. On an act of complete stupidity, I ran into him and just like that he knew. Well, more to be exact he didn't know it was me since I had a mask on, but he knew that I was there."
"I didn't see Karla anywhere, so I figured that it was safe to just be with him. That's all I wanted, just to be with him for one night without having to worry. Back then, to me that was too much to ask for so when I got the chance to be with him freely, I took it without thinking about the risks that were involved. We talked, we laughed, we hung out, it was the perfect night, minus the fact that he didn't really know who I was."
"But, good times never last. While he was making a speech, Karla and a few other desperate vampires tricked him that she was his real soulmate. I don't know what it was, but he actually believed them and...just seeing them on that stage and watching her...and then he wasn't doing anything about it, it just...it completely shattered my heart," she said, her eyes glistening from tears.
I was completely hooked on the story and was leaning forward. "So then what did you do?" I asked.
She wiped away a stray tear that fell. "I did what any other girl would have done in my situation. I ran, I cried, I ran, then I cried some more, before moving on and trying to pretend that nothing happened that night."
Not sure other girls would have done that but I was too focused on the story to think about interrupted her again.
"Key word here is trying. Drew found out they were tricking him and got pissed, to put it lightly. He was probably having a good day because he didn't kill them, only banished them. Karla was pissed but I wasn't gonna try and help her. He began searching for me, even when I was right in front of him, and eventually he found me. So he confessed his love to me, I revealed myself, his parents got mad, we got banished, and here we are," she finished.
I knew she was leaving out something that happened after the others got banished but judging by her expression, I knew it wasn't a good idea to ask her what it was. Instead, I smiled and thanked her for sharing that story to me.
Now that I knew exactly why Karla was mad, it made it easier to figure out how to get her no longer that angry at me, or Layton or whoever she was angry at. "Why won't the king and queen let Drew take the throne?" I asked.
"Please, like they would after knowing me. I know you know what I am, so I won't bother to repeat it. Not that the king and queen are bad people, but they're stuck in their ways, you know? It's hard getting them to change their opinions on anything, even when the rest of the world has."
"What do you mean?"
"I've proved to them again and again that I could control myself, and that I wasn't as bad as the dhampirs that they had a war against hundreds of years ago. But no matter what I do, they'll never change their ways. They're more traditional, and the tradition is to hate my kind, and so they do. I can't blame them, I hate what I am sometimes too."
"Well I happen to love what you are so it's no use in hating it," a voice coming from up the stairs said. Just like that, Sabrina's sullen expression suddenly disappeared and her entire face brightened up. We both turned towards the stairs to see Layton and Drew come down.
Drew took a seat next to Sabrina while Layton took one next to me. "Where's Levi?" Layton asked, looking around the room. I shrugged before seeing Levi come out of the kitchen with an empty blood bag in his hand.
"You're gonna want to get some more mate," he said, tossing the empty bag to Drew before taking a seat in one of the couches. Drew glared at him while I resisted a laugh that was trying to escape. Levi must have been gone for more than an hour and all he was doing was stuffing himself up with blood?
Can't vampires get fat from that? "You're seriously begging to get kicked out aren't you?" Drew asked, shaking his head at him disapprovingly.
"Kick me out then. See how Sabrina likes it."
"Actually that was my blood bag so I'm okay with that," she said, holding her hands up.
Levi scoffed and crossed his arms across his chest. "Well, I never..."
"So have you guys come to a decision or agreement?" I asked. Layton looked surprised at me but nodded his head.
"Yeah, we did."
"So what is it?" Sabrina asked.
"If mom and dad aren't going to be assholes towards Sabrina, then I'll try and take the throne back. If not, then Layton is going to man up and take the throne himself," Drew said, making Layton snap his head towards him.
"Hold up, that wasn't the deal-"
"Either way, we agreed those are the only two options that don't result in someone dying," he pointed out, making Layton sigh.
Everyone seemed to have come to the same conclusion since no one bothered to try and put out another idea. Levi made a groaning or whining noise making our heads snap towards him. "I was just on a plane ride for six hours, I'm not going through that to get to South America," he stated.
I didn't say anything, but I was silently siding with Levi on that one. I didn't exactly want to go on another plane ride too. "Then what exactly do you plan to do then?" Layton asked.
"You could train me," the words left my mouth before I even had time to register them.
Even if I wasn't planning on it, I wasn't going to take that request back.
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So my dog is being operated on for something involving his gums. I'm not sure if he'll be able to eat after surgery since I was zoning out durin the vet visit....now I feel bad.
Anyways, tell me what you think about the chapter so far! School is starting soon so I'm trying to write as many chapters as possible before my schedule becomes too much