Alina
I slowly came to when I felt cool hands touch my forehead. My eyes fluttered open, and I woke to a dimly lit room I had never been to before.
“Sorry, did I wake you up?” a familiar voice asked.
I looked to my right and saw Erick sitting on a chair next to the bed I was on. I only shook my head when my throat felt too dry and scratchy. Taking in my surroundings, I sat up against the headboard with Erick’s help.
I was in a large room which appeared to be painted sky blue in the dim light. The lights were out, but several candles were lit in all corners of the room that gave it a warm glow. I could sense the cold sea breeze and the sounds of waves crashing on the shore, so I assumed we were somewhere near the sea. There were two large open windows with drawn curtains to let the wind in, andthe candle lights occasionally flickered with the wind but didn’t go off. I could see that it
AlinaMy eyes were burning.That was the first thought I woke up to. The second, however, was to realize that my eyes weren’t really burning. I opened my eyes a bit, only to shut them immediately. It was under the scrutiny of the direct sunlight coming in through the huge floor-length windows on the wall opposite to the bed.The third thing that crossed my mind was, I don’t have gigantic windows in my bedroom!Oww!I jumped up in bed, looking around the unfamiliar room to search for the source of the voice I just heard. However, all I got was a room devoid of any other humans or vampires for that matter.I could’ve sworn I heard someone talk. How come no one was here?I did talk, but it’s in your mind.Then I remembered about last night, of being escorted to the restaurant by Ryan, bumping into Erick, fainting in the bathroom, and ending up at his
AlinaMrs. Stayton was, just like all the other vampires I’ve had the pleasure of seeing, utterly gorgeous.With her long blonde hair in perfect curls that reached to her lower back, neat facial structures, and an hourglass figure, she could easily give Hollywood actresses a run for their money. However, she preferred to stay out of the limelight. She wore a sky blue knee-length designer dress embroidered with real silver threads and paired it up with a silver hat. Erick didn’t have that much in common with his mother in terms of looks, except for their ice-blue eyes. She had a more delicate build and a heart-shaped face while Erick was all hard angles and sharp features.“Nice to see you again, Mrs. Stayton. How have you been?” I greeted politely. She was, after all, a very powerful vampire of over three hundred years. Unlike popular belief, vampires weren’t immortal in the true sense
Alina“What on Earth is this?” I asked while holding up the red knee-length dress in my hand that Erick had just handed over to me.“Your wedding dress, of course!” Erick answered without even looking up from his tablet.“What the hell!” I screamed, turning every customer and salesmen’s attention towards me.“Sorry,” I mouthed before turning to glare at Erick.“Alina, there you are! Oh! What a lovely dress!” Kenna passed the fabric through her hands. “This’ll be perfect for the binding ritual after the wedding! Don’t you think so, Erick?”Binding ritual? Why don’t I like the sound of that?Of course, you wouldn’t. Erick smirked and placedthe ten point one inch screen of the tablet in front of his face. I glared at him anyway. What was with giving me only half the info?“Oh, dear
Alina“Alina?”“Alina, say something.”“Alina!”“Huh?” I was startled back into reality as Erick’s face faded away and Ryan’s face appeared in front of me.“What’s wrong? You’ve been spaced out this whole morning,” Ryan asked as he sat himself down on one of the chairs in front of my desk.“Nothing. I’m just stressed, I guess,” I answered, putting my pen down on top of a bundle of papers and running my hands down my faceThe article that we worked on in the restaurant was going to go on air today, and I had to write the speech that our Editor-in-Chief will be broadcasting since I was the one who took down the notes. Ryan had, thankfully, kept all the equipment on my desk yesterday and covered for me when our boss noticed my absence. All that hard work would be for nothing if I wouldn’t be able to w
ErickI decided to wear black dress pants and a jacket with a crisp white shirt underneath. Today, we were going to the inauguration of my new blood bank in Moosonee, Ontario. The main press release already took place this afternoon. Now, it would be followed by a tasting ceremony just for vampires. This day, our subjects would see me and Alina together for the first time after the announcement of the wedding.We already had blood banks in Ontario located in Ottawa and Toronto. However, supplying blood to all vampires in the north was becoming a problem, so we opened another bank for easy supply. It reduced chances of suspicion, too. Now, we didn’t have to explain to the government why gallons of blood were being transferred across the state to specifically those two blood banks when there was no emergency.A knock sounded at my door. “Come in.”Kendrick, my chauffeur for today and the chie
Alina“You know,” Erick stated. “You could at least pretend to be happy. Your dad’s gonna think I’m slowly torturing you to death, and that won’t be healthy for him.”“You know,” I deadpanned, “you could at least pretend to shut up sometimes. It’s really healthy for you.”“Ha ha.” Erick glared. “You’re not funny.”I glared back at him.Kendrick, Erick’s chauffeur, cleared his throat to get our attention.“What?” we asked in unison and turned to resume our glaring crescendo.“Master, ma’am, we’ve reached the hospital,” Kendrick said, all cool and professional as if he hadn’t just tolerated our bickering for the past twenty minutes.That was when we noticed that we were sitting in the parking lot of the city hospital.Erick was
Alina“We’re here!” Kendrick announced just as we entered the driveway.Erick, the chevalier, got off first and came around to my side to help me out in vampire speed.“What’re you doing? There are people in plain sight!” I grumbled under my breath so that any vampires in the crowd won’t hear us.“Contrary to what you think, I’m not an idiot.” He gave me a smirk while lacing my hand through his. “They’re all vampires.”“I thought we’re here for the press conference?” I asked as I watched several vampires, mostly in couples, stroll around the huge garden in front of the four-storied mansion that was the blood bank.“Press conferences are for dedicated, responsible people,” he said as if they were the worst possible qualities a person can have. “It’s the after party where all th
Alina“... na... Al... Alina...”I groaned as the pounding in my head increased. Who on Earth was calling me? Couldn’t they see that I was sleeping? What was this feeling... like something wet was hitting my face?“Ugh!” I covered my eyes with my hands even though they were closed. Why was there so much light? Where was I?“Alright, Cinderella, get up!” someone snapped near my ears, startling me into opening my eyes. I closed them again, a groan escaping my mouth.It took me some time to adjust my eyes to the bright light in the room. When my vision cleared, I saw that I was back in Erick’s beach house in the same blue room. This time, thankfully, I still had my own clothes on, and it was still daytime. Erick sat on the same chair next to the bed as he did the first time he brought me here two days ago.“Hmmm... I’m thinking Faintasia.