Chương 10: A Prince's request

“We talked on the phone many times, too, Zoe!” I exclaimed, grinning at the young woman on the screen of my laptop. This was a rare moment of relaxation, catching up with a close friend–who was currently miles away on a business trip.

Even through the screen, Zoe’s cool-honey colored skin glowed in the sun of London peeking through the open window on her right. Her glossy black hair shimmered in the sunlight, and her almond-shaped eyes sparkled with intelligence. Combined with the bright gray-clouds colored wall behind her, she looked truly mesmerizing.

The only problem was her ever-present placid expression, eyes hard and unwavering like she was bored or judging everyone’s soul. Right now, the angry frown on her forehead indicated that she was baffled by my reasoning.

“You probably never called him until he did, right?” she asked, her words carrying a hint of accusation, a deep frown etched on her fair forehead. I knew she was just complaining, but it looked like she was about to smack me right through the screen.

She knew me too well. If Audrey hadn’t persuaded me into calling Alarcus twice, I’d have never bothered.

“I told you, Lily, you need to cling into him!” Zoe chided, her tone heavy with a sigh of frustration, as if she’d already found her answer within my silence.

“Zoe, honestly, that’s bullshit!” I retorted, “Wasn’t he around when the other girls died?” I watched as she tilted her head to the left, her frown deepening.

She gathered her dark hair and tied it into a messy ponytail, a sign that she was about to go busk.

Oopsss!

“How could you be so relaxed in this situation? I admit it would be foolish to believe in him, but we didn’t have many options!” Her words tumbled out rapidly, revealing her pent-up anxiety; or maybe the need to set me straight.

“Zoe, who I need to cling into was myself,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “After all, don't I know better than anyone else what was going on?” I reasoned calmly, attempting to ease her agitation.

Zoe believed a vampire prince must possess some power that could benefit us. From what I had seen in my dreams, or what Audrey said about the prince; as rarely as she talked about him; I knew that was more than true.

Still, the whole ‘let’s cling to him’ agenda was just nonsense.

If the other girls hadn't survived with him, why would I be the one to? Who took a path to doom knowingly!?

Not me!

Our argument continued until Zoe decided she needed to release all the stress I was giving her. Fine by me. I’d rather not suffer her wrath.

I waved goodbye as she disappeared from the screen, seeming like she'd rather smack my *ss than wave back. To be honest, I understood her point–I should have been willing to accept any help I could get, especially if a vampire prince was offering.

What she wasn’t thinking about were exactly those two words: vampire prince.

Alarcus was more than 500 years old, a god-damned prince, and a top and honorable student of the Nightshade Academy–an exclusive school exclusive to vampires only where they learned thirst control, maximizing their speed, controlling their abilities for those who had them, and other vampire shenanigans to, ironically, improve themselves.

My point was; Alarcus is strong, which left me wondering what he was playing at.

Geez, whatever!

Right now, I needed to focus on my primary job –sleeping. Questions could wait until tomorrow. A girl has to be responsible!

****

The first thing that registered in my half-asleep vision was my room bathed in the soft morning sunlight. Letting out a groan, I flipped onto my back, gazing at the ceiling sleepily, as a battle raged in my sluggish morning brain.

Get out of bed.

Go back to sleep!

Okay. Maybe not everyone’s ideal definition of war, but despite the clear sky outside, the chilly wind breezing through the room made it hard to let go of the comfort of my bed.

Grumbling to myself, I yawned and stretched before lazily going about making my bed, only to flop on it again, arms and legs sprawled out in all directions. I wasn’t really awake enough to care that I most certainly looked like a starfish right now.

I glanced at the wall clock on my left; I had to squint and force my brain to read the time.

Oh, crap!

It was already forty-five past ten in the morning! I had missed a meeting with Dad. Again! He was going to kill me.

“We don’t really care about that old man, you know it.” Ah, there was my lady.

Ha. Speak for yourself. I’d rather not get scolded first thing in the morning. “I don't want to listen to him talk about responsibility and compassion for hours on end.”

I reached for my phone, deciding to kick off the day by checking the messages that arrived while I was asleep. I started looking for my phone, only to find the cursed thing under the pillow after a moment of a mini-panic attack.

I opened the messages app, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise. Two messages from Alarcus.

Suddenly I was torn between shutting down my phone and wanting to read his messages so badly!

“So you’re going to hover up on it forever? Open it, lady!” Woman, I was taking on a battle here!

Oh well, curiosity killed Amare.

I opened his message and regretted it almost immediately.

Alarcus: Hello, good morning.

Alarcus: Please, call me once you have a moment. I want to talk about something urgent.

I scratched behind my ear and felt my eye twitch. My hand hovered above the ‘call’ button as I racked my mind on things he could possibly want to discuss.

Is this what he came to talk about when he last came here? Ugh. I shook my head, trying to get that embarrassing moment out of my head.

Still, I couldn’t think of anything that was ‘urgent’. Damn, he was a real headache.

“Well, one way to find out!”

I dialed his number, secretly hoping he wouldn’t pick up.

He answered on the third ring.

Boomer.

“Hello,” his thick but ever calm voice filled my ears.

“Hello, good morning.” I replied, cringing at the stiffness in my voice.

“Only you can be so insipid, honey.” Audrey scoffed.

Well, who tucked her tail when I finally called the man she had been forcing me to call? Audrey had this way of suddenly shifting into a blushing maiden sometimes when it came to Alarcus. Like they were playing hide and seek and I was the boulder separating them. So, not getting a response this time didn’t surprise me either.

“Good morning to you too. How are you?” Getting morning anxiety because of you.

“I’m good. So there is an emergency?” I could only hope I didn’t sound as eager as I felt about this “urgent matter”.

“Oh no, not an emergency.” I slowly scratched my neck, frowning. “But I want to ask a favor of you.”

Dumb dumb fish! I shouldn’t have called him.

“Oh, what is it about?” Eish, I could have hung up on the first ring. Then I could tell him I couldn’t reach him.

Works on my dad all the time.

“We are having a difficult time understanding a case here. I believe a priestess’ assistance would be helpful.”

I pushed down the urge to scratch at the area behind my ear, my left eye twitching for the hundredth time this morning alone. A favor? The prince was requesting a favor from me?

“Surely, I’m not capable of too much, but I can try my best.” I said instead.

He chuckled lowly before responding, “That will be enough, thank you. I wanted to confirm with you beforehand. I shall let you know when we can meet to discuss things in detail.”

“En, sure. I’ll be waiting then.” And praying that you find an answer to whatever problems you’re facing before involving me.

We finally said our goodbyes before ending the stress-inducing call.

He wanted me to stand between wolves and vampires with him?

If he didn’t get me killed, my Coven would surely take care of that.

I stood up and headed to the bathroom. I should start my day before Alarcus figured out ‘our’ next move.

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