Royal Pain (Book One)***Complete***

22. Sleepless Night

It was the night before the talent show. Deva still wasn't sure what song she was playing. She couldn't get her thoughts straight. It had been two days since Darius left back to meet up with his brothers, and she still couldn't stop thinking about him.

She hated herself for it and willed herself to stop thinking completely if it didn't stop on its own. She wasn't sure why it was him in her head but it was. Deva wondered if he ever thought of her the way she was thinking of him now, she dug her nails in her scalp from all the frustration.

"Just shoot me," she mumbled to herself. Why couldn't it stop?

She stood up from the cello, calling it quits. There was no more point in practicing. It was already really late and everyone must have be asleep. She wondered down the dark empty halls and for some reason felt a strange presence about. Like someone was watching her.

She turned every once in a while, but of course no one was there. It was all in her head, but then again she was in a castle full of sneaky vampires. That thought creeped her out even more. She practically ran the rest of the way to her room; shutting the door quickly and placing her head against it.

She heard a sound come from the other side of the room. Her eyes fly up and found a tall dark shadow figure standing a few feet away from her. He took a step forward and the small dim light from the lamp on her nightstand cast a glow to his familiar face. She sighed in relief.

"Loosh," she shot out and flung herself in his awaiting arms. She didn't realize how much she missed him until that moment.

"I've missed you," he said into her hair. "I couldn't wait to see you."

"I've missed you too. I'm even willing to forgive you for scaring me half to death a minute ago," she said pulling back to examine his face. He still looked the same except his eyes were somewhat distant.

He chuckled. "I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean to scare you, honestly."

"I forgive you. So you're back for good then?"

He nodded. "Yes. We finished what had to be done."

"What had to be done?" She questioned. If it were any other girl or person Lucian wouldn't even consider answering, but it was Deva who was asking.

"The villagers were right. We found one lycan in the woods who was hiding in the caves."

"What did you do to him?"

"We captured it and brought it back to one of our labs for testing."

She scrunched up her face. "Like a lab rat?"

"Yes baby. We don't know how it survived in these parts so we are testing it to find out. We think perhaps it has evolved, but we're not sure."

She silently nodded before pulling him closer into an embrace. "As long as you're okay."

"We promised we'd be. You shouldn't worry too much." She felt him kiss her hair and she shrugged.

"I can't help it."

After a while she decided to pull away and noticed his somber face. Something was wrong with him, and she didn't know what. Without really thinking she placed her hand on his somber face. His cold skin instantly sent shivers down her arm.

"You're hungry?"

He nodded not so proud of himself. "Yes, I shouldn't have come to you in such a state. We just finished, and I didn't have time to feed before I rushed over here." He dropped his head ashamed. "I'm sorry. I should go."

Her heart sunk because for some reason she didn't want him to go. "No," she quickly replied, and he shot his gaze back up to her. Her face grew sweetly soft at his confused face. "I don't want you to go so soon. It's been way too quiet these past few days."