Blood Royal Read online

  The first night of Christmas Break, Augustine allowed Zack and I to go out to a restaurant alone. Zack even picked my favorite steak restaurant, Crimson, in Seattle. So we got in his truck and headed towards Seattle. We talked the entire way to the point that it was just a blur to my memory. My mind was so preoccupied. It was full of thoughts and old memories of Orion and I doing this. We finally pulled up the steak restaurant, Crimson. This is the restaurant that I thought we were going the first time.

  A smile was spread wide on my face and Zack noticed. “Happy to be here?” When I still did not answer, he went on to ask, “Hungry?”

  I turned to him with the smile still on my face, “I love this restaurant. I’m here all the time. I’m starving. Come on let's go.”

  We got out of his truck and the valet took his keys and drove off in the truck. We walked into the restaurant and the staff immediately looked at us. As if a cold chill had just run down their backs.

  The man, Josh, walked up with a genuine smile on his face, “Good Evening Miss Anna! Would you like your usual table?”

  I looked to Zack and back to the waiter, “Yes, Jared. I would love to if it is still available.”

  “The table is always available for you ma’am.” He bowed his head and signaled for us to follow him, “Just this way.”

  I smiled back at him when he turned around to make conversation. He seated us in the back of the restaurant with red curtains that hid the two seats back there. Zack looked around and turned to me, “Wow you must come here a lot to have a table this nice.”

  I just shrugged my shoulders. “Orion and I like our privacy. People tend to stare and it drives me insane.” I smiled at the memory.

  “It’s cool that they give you this table. It’s like V.I.P..” There was so much amazement in his voice. It was almost like he was at a loss of words. He acted like we were sitting in Celebrity Seating or something, it was a little annoying. He was acting like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were going to walk in and kick us out of their seats.

  Again all I could do was smile at him. “We spend a lot of money here and it is a favorite of mine. Plus, Orion says that the owner likes me. I don’t believe him.” Zack just shook his head, quietly laughing. “The guy, Josh that seated us…” I waited for Zack to nod in acknowledging that he knew who I was talking about, “He is the owner of the restaurant.”

  Zack started to laugh; his laugh was contagious as I started to smile at the sound of it. “For once, I agree with Orion. That guy does like you.” He was still laughing as Jared came back to the table to take our order.

  The meal was great. When we were finished we sat there quietly talking and laughing. Finally, we left the restaurant but I was not ready to go back. Zack seemed to notice that I was hesitant to go home. I like the freedom that I had at the time. My family did not let me out that often without them. “Would you like to go on a walk around here before we start back?”

  I was shocked that he would say the same thing that I was thinking about. “Yeah, let’s walk.” Zack took my hand as we started towards the door of the restaurant.

  We walked outside and turned so we could walk across the boardwalk. Still walking hand in hand, we were silent for several minutes. As we walked past several empty warehouses, it made me sad with all of the darkness and the abandonment of the buildings. All of a sudden, Zack was on the ground gasping for air.

  Scared, I looked over, “Are you ok?” I wrapped my arms around him and helped him over to the bench that was underneath a broken light post.

  “I feel weird.” He was still gasping as he laid down on the bench. His head was on my lap and his eyes were full of sheer panic. I wished that there was something that I could do but I did not know what to do. All of a sudden, the gasping stopped and Zack went limp. I looked down and I did not know what was happening. I checked for his pulse and it was nonexistent. I was so scared and I started to shake him. “Zack! Zack! Quit playing with me! This is not funny.”

  By that time I was so scared that I was crying. Still shaking him and still without any kind of a heartbeat. He softly muttered, “Annabella! Please stop shaking me. You are starting to make me dizzy.” There was a little humor in his voice. His voice was very different. It was like it was deeper and smoother.

  Now I was mad, I hated the joke. It was completely idiotic to scare me that bad. I thought that my heart was broken when I could no longer hear his heartbeat. I felt like I could no longer breathe myself. “That was not funny. I can not believe that you did that to me.”

  He looked at the tears in my eyes, his laughter stopped immediately. He put his arms around me and asked, “What happened?”

  I stared at him in amazement. “What do you mean? You made your heart stop and faked that you were dead.” I started to cry and shake again. He was suddenly sitting up straighter as his arms tightened more strongly around me.

  He started to stroke my hair that was hanging down on my back. “Anna please do not cry. I am sorry I did not mean to do anything to make you upset. But I did not do that on purpose. I do not know what just happened.” I looked up at him and the tears were finally coming to an end.

  I did not understand. “What do you mean? You were not just joking around to scare me?”

  He curtly answered, “No. I would never do a sick joke like that to you. I never want to make you unhappy.”

  All too sudden a lady walked past the abandoned warehouse, tripping on the uneven sidewalk. Before I knew what was going on Zack was flying towards the lady with lightning speed. He grabbed her and rushed her to the Shadows of the building. A scream barely left her lips. As I walked towards the Shadows I saw the most horrific scene that I have ever seen. Blood covered the lady and there was blood all over Zack’s shirt. The part that had me completely freaked out is the bloody handprint on the side of his face. Zack was holding the lady up as his lips were pressed to her bloody hand. I gasped as he finished draining her blood and pushed the woman away from him. As if he was disgusted at her.

  “Zack!” I gasped at the site. It was so horrific that I had to turn my head away from the innocent lady’s glazed eyes. I started to shake. “What the hell have you done?”

  Zack looked to me, shock flooded across his face. “What just happened?”

  I stared at him in confusion and anger. “What do you mean? You just killed that lady.”

  He was shaking his head. “No that is impossible.” Zack then grabs his throat, “I feel so funny; like extremely strong and very thirsty. There is a dry feeling in my mouth almost.”

  I knew what he was talking about immediately. I cautioned myself as I walked over to him, still shaking; I placed my hand over his heart. There was no heartbeat. I started to slowly back away. “You transformed. They thought that you would stay human, but you did not.” I backed away wishing even more that Orion was there with me. I was suddenly terrified. Unlike the other vampires, I still had a little blood flowing through my veins. I was a half-breed; I was special. I was so scared that he would turn on me and drain the rest of my blood.

  “Why are you so scared?” He seemed confused and then he looked down. He saw the blood all over himself. “Anna, I am so sorry. I did not know what I was doing or what was happening. Please, do not be scared of me.”

  “Zack, I want you to stay there,” I pointed to the bench, “I am going to call Orion to pick me up.” Zack then started to walk towards me and I threw up my hands. “Please, please just stay there.”

  “Anna, I promise you that I would never hurt you…” he stopped when he saw my head shaking.

  “You do not understand, Zack. I am a half-human and half-vampire.” He still looked confused so I continued, “Blood still flows through my veins.”

  “But you look young?” he still has not understood.

  “I do not age. The blood might set you off again.” Tears started to flow down my face. Zack stopped trying to go near me and he took off his massacre shirt and sat on the bench. I picked up my cell phone to call O
rion.

  Chapter 7

  Orion picked up the phone on the first ring. “Hello!” His voice was so pleasant and full of laughter. His voice was music to my ears, which started the tears again. I knew he must be having fun. I hated to interrupt him. He hardly ever leaves my side. I knew this must be an amazing break for him.

  “Orion, it’s me. Can you come and get me?” The tears made it almost impossible to talk.

  Orion was suddenly rigid, “What’s wrong?” I could hear the car starting in the background but I was too busy keeping an eye out on Zack to make sure that he never came close to me. He kept a safe distance from me because he could tell that I was scared of him right now.

  “I will tell you when you get here. I am too scared to tell you.”

  The word ‘scared’ got him as I heard the acceleration in the background. Orion drove up to the bench where I was sitting in twenty minutes. I knew that he had to of been flying to get there so fast.

  “What happened?” He demanded once he stepped out of his jet black Corvette and was at my side in a blur. The tears were still fresh on my face when Orion got there. All I could do was to look over to where Zack stood. Orion was suddenly at Zack’s side, growling in his ear, “What the hell did you do?”

  Zack motioned for Orion to follow him. “I don't know what happened. I just know that Anna’s scared of me and I would do anything to take everything back.” The sadness almost made me feel guilty for being scared of him. By the time he had finished his sentence, we were back at the woman’s dead body. Several emotions flew across Orion’s face when he saw the woman, but his face ended in almost a smile as he turned to Zack. “You two had me scared to death. I thought that he did something to you.” By this time Orion was laughing, which made me angrier than I have been in a while. “What did the woman do?”

  I turned to Orion, anger clearly shown on my face. “She was an innocent woman just walking by. She fell and he flipped out over the blood. He drained her dry.”

  At the announcement, he looked at the woman’s body with new eyes. He noticed her hand. “Anna get in the car, now.” He turned back to Zack, “You changed, didn’t you?” It was more of an accusation than a question. Zack just nodded, as he kept his head down, looking at the ground. Orion stopped, noticing just how upset Zack was. “You did not know what was happening to you did you?”

  Zack, with his head still down, answered Orion’s question. “Anna was the first one to say the word vampire after she realized what had happened to me. I did not know what was happening. No one has ever told me anything about it.”

  It was Orion’s time to be shocked and angry. “Your parents never told you anything? Never told you what you were or what you were destined to become?”

  Zack looked up and it looked like almost had tears in his eyes. “No one has ever told me anything. My parents are hardly ever home. They do not care what I am destined to become.”

  I got out of the Corvette and walked over to Orion. He positioned himself to protect me just in case Zack attacked. “Orion, I am so tired. Can we please just go home?”

  He turned to me. “Yeah, we better get you home. I think I scared everyone else as I was leaving.”

  I turned towards Zack, “Will you be alright?” He just shrugged his shoulders as I sighed. I hated leaving him there but I knew why Orion did not want me around Zack right now.

  Orion then got very serious as he turned to Zack. “I want you to come straight over to the house after you get the car from the valet. She has had a big night and I need to get her home. Meet us there?”

  Zack nodded, “I'll see you there.”

  When Orion and I returned home, the family was pacing in the living room; I could hear them from the car. Orion and I walked through the front door and Arianna ran to my side.

  “Annabella! Are you ok? Are you hurt?” She was talking so fast that she did not even leave a breath in between the questions for me to answer her.

  “I am fine. I am not hurt just a little shaken up. I am exhausted I am going up to bed.”

  I started for the stairs as Orion was mumbling to the rest of the family. I laid down on the bed as I replayed the whole evening over and over in my mind.

  Zack pulled up to the house not long after I went to bed. Slowly getting out of his car he walks up the stairs and rings the doorbell. Augustine was at the door in a second of the bell going off. “Good evening Zack. Come on in.”

  Zack looked reluctant, “I do not think that is the wisest thing.”

  Augustine shook his head, ”Zack you will be fine. Come on in, we need to talk.”

  Zack quietly entered the room, looked around to all of the faces and his eyes fell to the floor. Barely a whisper left his lips, “Anna’s still scared of me, isn’t she?”

  This time Griffin spoke up, “No Zack, she is not. She is asleep. She was exhausted.”

  As the hours passed on and Zack was questioned downstairs, my dreams became more vivid. The images of the lady’s face kept coming to my mind. Then the bloody handprint sent me over as I screamed.

  I awoke with Orion’s arms around me. He was silent as he stroked my hair and let me cry into his chest. Several minutes passed and he kissed the top of my head and I looked up to him. I was embarrassed as he held me in tears. I started to apologize to him. He placed his finger over my lips. “You are fine. I should have followed you two. I never imagined that this would have happened. I hate you being scared.”

  His words almost made the tears start coming again, “You should not feel like you have to protect me. You needed time off from me. You have to be sick of me…”

  The laughter stopped me before I could go on. “Anna you are hilarious. I could never be sick of you. I love hanging out with you.” As he was talking I started to blush, which made me more embarrassed. “Why are you blushing?”

  I smiled, “I am not blushing…”

  “Oh, yes you are. You suck at lying to me.”

  My pouting lip came out as I quietly whispered, “I know.” I signed in defeat.

  “So why are you blushing? You have to answer. I will not let you get out of it.”

  “I was blushing because what you said was sweet.”

  “Sweet? Anna, what are you thinking?” I started to shake my head. “Come on, Anna.” He started to tickle me and we suddenly stopped as our eyes locked onto each other.

  Suddenly, Orion leaned in and our lips locked, but not long enough to satisfy me. “Anna, I am so sorry.” I was so upset, he kissed me and then he apologized. “Hey, do not make that face. I enjoyed it profusely but you need to have your own life.”

  Before I even knew I was talking I had whispered, “You are what I want. I have liked you for too long.”

  “Really?” The shock was in his voice. “I did not think you were interested in me.” Uncertainty was still in his voice.

  “You are supposed to know the things that I am thinking, I thought.” We both smiled. “Oh well, I guess you are not as perceptive as you thought.”

  “Oh, I’m not am I?” He leaned over and started to tickle me again, then suddenly stopped. “Anna the feelings are mutual.”

  “Oh, so you love me?”

  “More than you know.”

  I thought about his words before I went on to ask, “So where does that leave us?”

  “Will you be mine?” Orion looked scared when he asked which made me laugh. At the sound of my laughter, he looked up. “What?”

  I was still chuckling as I answered. “You already have me, Orion. If you want me, that is.”

  Shock flooded his face before he realized that I was joking on that last part, “Anna you are ludicrous. Of course, I want you. I have liked you longer than you have liked me. I am glad that I finally got you back.”

  “Back?! What do you mean?”

  He kissed my lips as he slips his hand under the covers. He started to caress my thigh and I let out a quiet groan into his mouth. His lips left my lips, to kiss down my jawline and my neck. The
n he came back up and kissed the top of my head.

  “Now go back to sleep. You are safe. I am right here.”

  “You won’t leave me?”

  “No, you are my life. You always have been. I could never leave you.”

  Chapter 8

  Darren Warin adjusted his seat belt. He had always hated to fly. Modern technology was just not his thing. Knowing this new information would take him to the top of the Invader’s clan. He kept looking at the picture of Annabella with his son, Zachary. Cursing under his breath, but not quietly enough, brought the flight attendant to his side.

  “Sir, may I get you something? A pillow? Blanket?”

  Her painted-on smile annoyed him more than anything. Over his annoyance he smiled, “No thank you. I am quite comfortable.”

  As the flight attendant left, his mind drifted back to the picture. His wife, Amber, would kill him if Zack was injured. Only Darren knew the truth. His son would be put to death for befriending her. If the prophecy were true, if Zack did protect Annabella against his clan, he would not only die but he would be destroyed. Darren flinched as that unpleasant thought crossed his mind.

  The plane finally landed in France. Only an hour remained until he would be addressing the entire council and a decision would be made.

  “There he is!” Dragon looked towards his wife, Hazel. “Let’s go and bring him in.” As they walked towards him they saw him turn and look at them. The darkness shown within Darren’s eyes made them stop in their tracks.

  Suddenly, there was a voice in Dragon’s head, “Stop! Go to the car. I will follow shortly. I'm being followed.”

  Dragon and Hazel turned around and start towards the car. Once inside the car, they were safe because the dark tint of the car hid their pasty skin. Hazel jumped as the back door opened and closed in a Vampire’s speed. “GO!”

  The car started up with hardly a sound. Dragon looked in the rearview mirror, “What the Hell is going on?” All of them were fuming with anger.