To Claim A Crown Book One: The Half-Blood King (Complete)

3.

Naomi is certain she was fully conscious when she left class for the day, definitely conscious when she stopped at the drive through to order lunch for herself and Sarah and at least somewhat conscious when she left the drive through but now parked at this elaborate gate on a property that she's never seen before Naomi is convinced she must have zoned out or blacked out at some stage of the drive.

She pulls the hand brake up and opens the car door. The property is large with a long driveway and cameras on each corner. It's secured too excessively to be a regular house and so Naomi decides it must be an embassy of sorts. Maybe the Russians. The gate opens suddenly and there's a man marching towards her. He's attractive in a stop-and-stare breath-taking kind of way but the way he's walking towards Naomi causes her to take several steps back to the car.

Raurlin eyes the young girl, confused. She smells like fields of wildflowers in the springtime, her soft curls gently caress the frame of her angular and intriguing face. With every step that he takes closer to her the only sound to Raurlin's ears is the increased pounding of her heart. Raurlin can tell she's confused, maybe even afraid, but he can't stop himself from reaching out and grabbing her arm.

"Who are you?" He demands, a deep frown tugging his brows.

Naomi instinctively tries to pull her arm free but his grip tightens the more she struggles. She exhales loudly, the same frown on her face.

"Let go of me, now! Who the hell are you?" Naomi glares at the stranger.

The grip on her arm loosens slightly and immediately Naomi tries to pull away again. The gate opens again and another man jogs up the driveway to where she's standing, restrained. Her heart rate skyrockets. This man is equally as attractive but less menacing. He puts a hand on her attackers shoulder telling him to let go, firmly.

The hand drops from her arm and Naomi rubs it. She turns her attention to the new man, with the darker hair and black eyes. Or silver? Naomi shakes her head. Her eyes fall to the ground and her tongue is sandpaper dry. Everything about this predicament feels so familiar, as if she's lived it before.

"Are you okay, miss? My name is Jackson. I won't hurt you."

Naomi glares at him, her cheeks flushed. Raurlin clenches his fists to prevent him from reaching out and moving strands of hair out of her face.

"Your friend is psychotic, Jackson! Am I okay? He practically attacked me!" Naomi takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry. You know what this is probably my fault. I-I think I'm lost."

Jackson rests a hand on her shoulder and Raurlin glares at him.

"Calm down, slow down. What's your name? And where are you trying to go?"

There's a calmness in his voice and Naomi relaxes instantly.

"Naomi. My name is Naomi. I'm trying to get onto fifth street. I'm sorry I don't know why I stopped here. Of all places..."

"That's alright. Look to get onto fifth take this road straight down, your first left then your first right. Should be smooth sailing from there."

Naomi nods attentively, "thank you for the help," she turns to Raurlin "and I get that you may just be doing your job but you're lucky I don't sue." With that she flings the driver's door open and sits into the driver's seat. She bangs the door closed and starts the car. Her trembling hands grasp the steering wheel.

Jackson and Raurlin watch until the little car is out of sight. Jackson punches Raurlin on the shoulder "What the hell is wrong with you Raur? You could have seriously hurt that girl."

Raurlin starts walking to the car and mutters "I couldn't. Not if I wanted to. By the Gods this must be a joke. She's a child!"

Sarah nudges the door open with her hip as she bites into her burger. Naomi managed to make it back to Sarah's college fine. She decided to wait for Sarah to finish then come clean about her afternoon and the nightmare. They chatted in the car all while she drove home, uneasy, but she did nonetheless.

"So you don't even remember how you got there?" Sarah asks as she drops her bag on the floor and flops onto a couch.

"No idea, Sarah."

"And this insanely hot but insanely unstable guard assaulted you?"

"Well it was hardly assault" Naomi slips her cardigan off and examines her arm that, to her surprise, is bruised.

"Holy shit, Naomi! Let me have a look at that."

Sarah springs up and examines Naomi's arm closely. She traces along the finger marks gently, frowning the entire time.

"That looks so painful! Are you sure you don't want to take action?"

"I'm positive, Sarah, I'm just glad nothing more happened."

Naomi sits down on the couch opposite to Sarah's and sighs. She rubs over her bruised arm.

"Look Naomi, you definitely need to bring this up in your next session with Marsha. But for tonight what do you wanna do?"

Naomi is pensive a moment then she looks at Sarah with a grin.

"I want to go out, get slightly intoxicated and dance until I can't feel my feet."

Sarah nods excited and stands up "oh I'm keen for that! My first class is only at midday tomorrow. What are you going to wear? The black dress? The strappy heels?"

Naomi nods along to Sarah's excitement and watches on as Sarah jogs down the hallway to her room rummage for an outfit. Naomi remains seated for a few minutes, exhaustion creeping up within her being. She stifles a yawn and rubs at her eyes. She wouldn't admit it to Sarah but the nightmare had her terrified to fall asleep.

Naomi forces herself off the couch and to her bedroom. She pushes the door open and fights the urge to crawl into bed. She opens her wardrobe door and flips through the hangers until she finds the black. It's a plain black strappy dress that was an impulse buy but when she fitted it on it clung to her as if it was made for her. The heels were necessary to go with the dress. They were also on sale and it was as if it was meant to be.

Naomi peels off the crop top and jeans after kicking off her shoes. She pulls the black dress over her head and straightens it out over her body. It hugs her mid thigh tightly. She crouches on the bottom of the still open wardrobe and pulls out the heels. Naomi sits on the bed and pulls her socks off. She slips the heel on and wraps the straps round each calf. She treads into the bathroom and opens the bathroom cupboard.

Naomi pulls out her perfume and sprays it excessively. She gathers the shorter bits of her hair back and clips them out her face with a small brown butterfly clip. The look is completed with a slither of eyeliner, a wick of mascara and a nude pink lip gloss. Naomi examines her look in the mirror. She briefly considers covering the bruised arm, maybe with a leather jacket then decides against it.

Raurlin runs his hands through his wet hair then pulls a plain black t-shirt over his body. He can hear Jackson pouring two drinks in the lounge and there's a slight linger of whiskey in the air. Raurlin drops onto his bed and pulls a pair of socks on then laces up his boots. He walks down the passage to the lounge where Jackson is sitting, drink in hand. Jackson looks up at Raurlin then motions to the glass on the table. Raurlin picks it up and sips it slowly.

"You're probably just hungry" Jackson reasons, trying to convince himself more than Raurlin.

Raurlin shrugs "you're probably right. You ready to go?"

Jackson nods and stands up. He finishes his whiskey in a big gulp. Typically within the vampire community most of the species survived on blood bags from local hospitals and very few hunted. Since the reign of the first king, feeding on humans until death became strictly forbidden. It was after the Great War. The younger vampires either birthed or turned needed to feed more but at the age of Jackson and Raurlin feeding became a necessity but not a consistent requirement.