No Ordinary Princess

Raven

Raven

I woke up in the white walled room or the infirmary. My head was pounding and my side in pain. I tried to sit up, but the sudden spinning of the room kept me down. I picked up the rough baby blue blanket that was covering me and saw that my entire stomach was covered in white cause that had tinges of brown-most likely blood- on them. I turned my head looking for anyone to be there and saw no one. Not a single person.

I put my head down on my pillow and looked to the right noticing a folded piece of paper addressed to me. Gingerly moving my arm from under the blanket, I picked it up and looked at the writing. It had to be from one of the princes. The handwriting was a bit messy and there were clearly lines the sender had deemed inappropriate:

Raven,

I hope that this letter finds you in a good state. I wanted to apologize for, well, you'll hear when you wake up. Well I suppose you would have to be awake in order to be reading this. Sorry I'm awful at this, I hope this letter finds you well. I already said that. Anyways I hope that you are doing well and I hope there are no grudges to be had between us.

Sincerely,

James.

I was smiling at the end if the little letter and I was suddenly feeling. . . something. I wasn't sad, in fact, I was ecstatic. I thought that it was really sweet of him to leave me something, but I could feel a hint of sadness and deep regret. These emotions weren't my own and I had a sinking feeling in my gut that I wasn't going to like the outcome of the situation.

Where is everybody, I thought to myself. Where was Oliver and Nex and Monty and....James?

Where was he? I missed him most of all and I didn't know why. I wasn't especially close to him but suddenly it was like I couldn't get him out of my mind. The smell of him, the way his lips quirked up into a small smile when he's reading and how he was so sad to be who he was and how all those qualities made him so interesting.

As if my mind had conjured him up, James showed up in a, well, snap. He was there before I blinked. I jumped up and brought the blanket closer to me. "How did you move so fast? What are you doing here?"

James just looked around the room, eyes alert. "Is something wrong? You called me I here and-"

"I didn't call you." I took the chance to look him over. Something had changed about him. He looked tougher and taller but, looking at his red tinged eyes....wait, no. "You Changed? When?"

He wouldn't even look at me. "Yeah, I Changed, but I'm sorry about how it went down."

"Why?"

"Because I had to drink your blood to save you."

"What?", I yelled at him. "My blood? You're joking right? Why was I-"

That's when it all came back to me. The fighting, the robots, the cut. So much blood. So much of my blood. "So we're, what, Imprinted?"

"To put it simply," he sighed, frustrated, "Yes, we are."

"Is there a way to stop it?" I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice. James moved around to the side of my cot and puts a hand on mine. Inhaling deeply, he spoke so softly I almost didn't hear him.

"Does it have to stop?"

"Yes. It has to stop. I have to choose a husband and I don't choose you." It had pained me temporarily to say that and I now knew it was because of the imprint. I sighed, "At least I don't have to go into your head with magick anymore." He staggered back and looked at me like I had grown a second, third and, fourth head.

"You did what?" His eyes were wide and he seemed like he was ready to scream at either me or himself. "Why would you willingly go into my head?"

I was feeling a large amount of self-consciousness. It was the Imprint bond. Our emotions were being heightened and my feelings for him were becoming stronger. "I just, well," I was blushing and stuttering like a girl in love and that was not my style. "Look I'm sorry about this but I have a competition to run here and I can't have a bond formed between us that'll force me to make decisions that I don't want to make."

The look of pure pain on his face was enough to cripple me as if it were a physical force. I could feel his emotions leaking through the bond and guilt punched me in the gut. Before I could get a word out the door swung open and Reese walking in with Oliver right behind him. Nex was nowhere to be found. Thank God.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked, glaring hard at James.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because if you aren't then I can help you with that." Reese added, his voice a whisper.

Do they hate james for what happened?

Yes, they do hate me. I got you hurt and then drank from you. I'm nothing but a hungry vampire to them. I stared wide eyed at James and he nods knowing what it is that I am asking without me saying a word.