Chapter 4

• I would have still forgiven him, considering that he was a young vampire who had no control over his hunger if it wasn’t for what happened next.
• I had just turned eighteen. It was Erick’s twenty-first birthday, and there was a party at their house. My parents wanted me to go, but I declined, making an excuse that I had a test the next day. In reality, I only wanted to stay away from Erick and his gang of browbeaters. My parents were always away on business trips, and I was often home alone. It was around two in the morning when I heard the front door of our house being forced open. I rushed downstairs to check and knew instantly that I shouldn’t have. Erick was leaning against the doorjamb with his clothes and hair in disarray. He was dead drunk.
• I thought he was going to feed from me again, which had stopped for a while since he had plenty of girlfriends to drink from in his college. I was so, so wrong.
• I didn’t remember what exactly happened that night, probably because of PTSD, but I do remember the next morning when I woke up bruised and bloody. My clothes were torn, and there were claw marks on the carpet all around me. Erick himself was in a similar state of undress.
• Erick’s expression was unreadable. He only stayed to put on a few bandages on me so he wouldn’t get caught and left immediately with the same warning of killing me if I told our parents. However, I’d had enough. I never wanted to keep it a secret in the first place. I wanted so badly to tell my parents about all of this. I promised myself that I would the second they came back even if it meant dying at the hands of a ruthless vampire... but that never happened.
• The next day, I had to rush over to the hospital instead. Papa had several serious injuries, and Mom was gone. They got into an accident on their way back home. An eighteen wheeler truck smashed into their car on a narrow road. After that, my life had never been the same. I completely closed off. I kept to myself and avoided company as much as I could. I no longer trusted people. What happened to me didn’t even compare to what happened to Mom, the person who never in a million years deserved this. Papa was so heartbroken, it was painful to watch.
• He recovered after staying in the hospital for six months. However, he was diagnosed with stage two leukaemia. Now, he didn’t have much time left. It had been four years since the accident and my mom’s death. My father was already on his death bed, and Erick had never once visited even though his mother had so many times.
• That was another reason why I was to be married to Erick as soon as the end of this month. Since my mom was dead and my Papa was nearing his, I would need protection from vampires who would gladly make main course out of me. After all, they couldn’t have me screaming to the world that they exist.
• It felt like the walls that I have built after all these years were breaking apart. My life was crashing down on me, and I had no way of stopping it.
• ****
• I woke up with a start. It took me a while to realize that someone was ringing the doorbell of my apartment and that I was no longer at the hospital trying to convince my father to call off the wedding.
• I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked at the bedside clock. It was nine twenty-seven in the morning, and since I took a few days off from work, I wasn’t expecting anyone.
• I hurriedly got out of bed and put on my robe. The lime green satin night dress that I was wearing reached my knees, and the robe went a little longer. My long dark-brown hair was in wild curls around my face and reached my lower back. Running my hands through it a few times to look presentable, I went for the door.
• “Yes?” I asked as I opened the door without checking first. I instantly wished I hadn’t.
• Standing on the other side of the door was none other than Erick Stayton, the man I hated and feared. He still looked the same, except he no longer had the boyish charm he had when he was younger. In its place were all hard angles and a chiselled appearance. He had a devilishly handsome face, broad shoulders, and long legs clad in grey dress pants. The muscles on his arms strained the rolled up sleeves of his navy blue shirt. His sandy blond hair was short and perfectly styled while his ocean-blue eyes sparkled with an unknown emotion, a smirk playing on his lips.
• “Hey there. Remember me?” he said as I visibly paled.
• “W-why are you here?” I asked, internally cursing myself for the stutter. How could I ever forget him? What he did to me aside, he had a face no one could easily forget.
• “Just came over to check on my wife-to-be.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
• “Well, now that you have, you should probably get going.” I went to slam the door shut on his face, but a sudden gust of wind blew past me. When I turned around, Erick was there in my living room, looking around my apartment.
• My apartment was small, but I loved living here. I decorated everything myself, from the colour of the walls to the furnishing. The dining room was a combination of light green and blue with a blue carpet and white couches. The kitchen was just next to the living room with two chairs before the counter and an open kitchen behind it. The walls were a light cream colour, and the boxes were made of wood. There was a twenty-eight inch LCD TV on the wall next to the counter and the entrance to the kitchen. A floor to ceiling glass wall stood facing the couches that gave a splendid view of the compound backyard and the fountain. My room was medium sized with white walls and had various false plants and flowers, as well as a green grass carpet. All the decorations made it look like it was in the midst of nature. The guest room was painted in red and gold with only a bed and small wardrobe. That was all, but the apartment was my safe heaven. I bought it with the money I received upon selling my parents’ house right after my father was hospitalised a year ago.
• “I like the decor. You did this yourself?” Erick asked.
• “Yes,” I said in a hard voice. “How long are you planning to stay here?”
• “You know, there is no need for us to be so tense, right? We are getting married in a few weeks,” he said, coming to stand in front of me so that we were chest to chest.
• “You’re right. We are getting married in a few weeks, but we’re not married yet. So it’d be better if I didn’t have to see you unless it’s absolutely necessary.” I didn’t step back even though every cell in my body kept telling me to run as far and as fast as I could.
• Erick raised an eyebrow, and his lips tilted up to one side. “You’ve changed. I like that, but you seem to have forgotten that you’re not marrying a commoner, Alina. You’re marrying the prince of all vampires, so look alive and get me some coffee.”
• The nerve of him! Yes, apart from being one of the most influential families in Canada, Erick’s parents were the king and queen of all vampires, making him the Vampire Prince, but that did not give him the right to order me around. I gritted my teeth together so hard, I was afraid they would crack. How dare he say such a thing as if he hadn’t done anything four years ago?
• I will not lose my temper, I had to remind myself. No, I willnotlose to this monster.
• “Get out of my house, and get your own damn coffee!” With that, I strode to my bedroom and slammed the door on his face.