Prince Darrius

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I find a baggy black dress to sleep in before crawling under the covers of my soft bed, where I finally fall asleep, exhausted. I wake up later when I hear voices speaking in the connecting room. When I see the digital clock on the bedside table it reads 7am. 

“…stop trying,” Darrius says quietly, annoyed, “I’m done talking about him.”

“You never listen to me,” At first I don’t recognise the strong, deep voice, then I realise it is Johnathan. As quietly as I can, I slide out from under the covers and tiptoe my way to the side of the archway that separated my room from Darrius’. I hide around the wall and peek out to see where they are. Johnathan is dressed all in black, black jeans and a black top, standing with his arms crossed over a very muscled and bulky chest. Standing he seemed quite tall, but not as tall as Darrius. Darrius was sitting on the end of his bed with a book in his hand which he wasn’t reading. Johnathan was facing him, frowning. They looked almost like twins except for the different colour of their eyes.

“I’m done with the lectures,” Darrius says, “I came here to have some peace. You’re alive, be happy and spend your time with Claudia.”

“I’m just sick and tired of you avoiding our father. You both have the chance to rebuild the relationship, you just have to try and stop being so stubborn –”

“John!” Darrius snaps, standing up threateningly, “I’m done talking about this. Now get lost,” John smiles despite Darrius’ lost temper. Suddenly John’s eyes look to the side and meet mine. His smile widens.

“I didn’t come here just to see you,” John says, looking back at Darrius, “I came to thank Jennifer for her help in all this. She didn’t know me, but she tried to save me,” his piercing green eyes meet mine again and Darrius turns to see me walk out from the archway. I yawn and run a hand through my messy hair and I see the side of Darrius’ mouth twitch up in a momentary smile. 

“It’s okay, thanks. Darrius explained you are the good brother,” I say in my slightly-scratchy morning voice, “That you’d be worth saving. He told me this when he was trying to convince me to stay here.”

“He convinced you to stay?” John looks surprised.

“I don’t know. He kidnapped me three times, I don’t really have a choice,” I also think it’s not too bad staying here but I don’t say that out-loud. 

“And I’m the good brother, he said?” John asks. I nod and John grins, giving Darrius a funny look.

“Go back to bed, Jennifer,” Darrius says, suddenly annoyed. 

“No, I just woke up,” I reply back, feeling like my confidence was growing with Darrius with each day that past. Darrius shrugs and throws the book he was holding onto the bed behind him.

“Well then good morning, sweetie,” Darrius changes tactic, “Would you like to have breakfast and then I can have my breakfast?” 

“Why do you say it like that?” I ask, confused.

“He is saying he wants to drink your blood,” John says, still grinning, “He’s an ass.”

“I know he is,” I say calmly, though deep inside I am feeling uneasy about the thought of Darrius wanting more blood off me.

“You blood is delicious, sweetheart,” Darrius drawls deeply. I blush. I don’t know why the hell I do.  

“I’m going to go and leave you two alone,” John says, and my heart beat kicks up a notch. He was going to leave on purpose? So Darrius could drink my blood? Uh, um… oh crap! 

“I can hear your heart beating, darling,” Darrius says, “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” I lie.

“Jennifer,” John says, “Don’t believe any of Darrius’ crap about him being a bad-vampire. He gloats about it, but he is just fooling himself. Deep inside he has a soft, squishy, ooshy-mushy heart in there. Somewhere,” I laugh as John’s tone changes to a little girl’s voice and Darrius glares furiously back at his brother.

“Leave already,” Darrius growls. John raises both hands in surrender, nods at me with a smile and then turns around and leaves the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Darrius turns to face me. He starts stalking towards me without hesitation and I freeze. What was he doing?

Before he reaches me I put both my hands up to stop him getting too close. He stops in front of me, my hands rest on his chest and he gently grabs a hold of my wrists.

“What are you doing?” I whisper, scared. He gives me a smile and tugs me closer and I see his two fangs glinting dangerously. We are nearly chest to chest now and I frown up at him, “I’m not comfortable yet with you drinking my blood,” I say.

“I wasn’t going to do that, sweetheart, not yet,” he says dangerously. I give him a confused look.

“Then what do you want?” Just as I finish my question he leans down and kisses me gently. I relax almost instantly and think oh good, he just wanted a kiss! That I could do! I liked kissing him. His lips were full and nice, easy-to-kiss lips. I press my lips back against his and he releases my wrists before pulling back, a small smirk on his lips, “What was that for?” I ask quietly.

“A good morning kiss, beautiful,” he says simply.

“Uh, thank you,” I say.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart” he laughs, an amused look in his eye. I look towards his bed and the book he threw on it. The bed looked made, only slightly ruffled.

“Did you sleep there before? Are you going to sleep now?” I ask him.

“Vampires don’t sleep, not usually, we occasionally lie down for a rest however,” I nod and at that moment my stomach growls.

“Oh god, I’m starving,” I say, frowning. I hadn’t eaten in ages. 

“Mmm, I’ll get you some food,” he says seductively, like he is planning something else.

“O-okay,” I reply, worried all of a sudden.

“What’s the matter, sweetie? Why are you scared?” He asks. But his look is very knowledgeable, he knows…

“You said not yet,” I reply, “Before, about drinking my blood –”

“Jennifer,” he says, leaning down to my level, “I’m going to have a shower and then we’ll get you breakfast. You get ready, ok?” I nod and he turns to walk to the shower. I narrow my eyes at him, why was he avoiding the subject?– 

He turns around at the door to his bathroom, facing me.

“Sweetie,” he says, “Don’t be scared of me drinking your blood. I’ll be doing it often,” he smirks and walks into the bathroom, closing the door and leaving me gaping. He was still a prick, damn it!

I try not to think about what he just said and spy the book on the bed. I stalk over and pick it up. I haven’t heard of it but it looks like some historical fiction story. A short one. I skim the blurb. It was a lot of politics and war but also about love. I open the book to where he left the bookmark.

My eyes widen.

He was reading a part where two vampires, a man and woman, were talking sweetly to each other. Loving things, caring things. Romance. 

I carefully close the book and place it back on the bed where he left it. 

I walk back into my room, ready to dress into something different. 

While I get ready I have the biggest grin on my face.