This is Book 1 of the Arcelia Series.* Book 2 is in the works!
*Can be read as a stand-alone
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Malik Jackson needed help. After being exiled from the ocean, he washed up on the beach covered in injuries and missi...
Author's Note: Massive trigger warning for this chapter! As I've mentioned before, this book can get quite dark, and this chapter contains large amounts of blood and murder. Proceed with caution.
-Pix <3
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~ ~ Xander ~ ~
As planned, Malik and I went to Virgil's house to talk to him. I first had to work, since that's what I came here to do. Malik was also happy to take orders and complete some tasks that needed to be done. We delivered food, clothes, medicine, and answered any requests the patients might have had.
When lunchtime rolled around, we finally had some free time to ask Virgil about his powers. I was nervous, but Malik approached him first.
"Hey, Virgil!" He smiled. "Can I ask you something?"
Virgil eyed him suspiciously as he sat down at the dining room table, sipping his third cup of coffee that day. I swear he's addicted. "Sure, fire away."
"Can you tell me how you got those powers?" Malik sat down across from Virgil as I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms, content to passively listen for the time being.
"You're gonna have to be more specific, I have lots of powers. I am a vampire, after all."
"Right," Malik looked down at his hands as he fidgeted with them on the table. "But you snapped that vampire's neck without even touching him. Xander tells me that only royals can do that."
"Oh," Virgil looked up at me. "I figured you'd question that as soon as you heard the details from that night. I didn't think it would be so soon."
"How soon did you think it would be?" I raised an eyebrow.
"It's been two weeks since it happened," Malik shrugged. "Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong, I was really stressed and scared."
Virgil shrugged, looking down into his mug of coffee. "I used my speed. You must not have seen me, it was dark and it was raining. I killed him up close, and then I tried to move back towards you to shield you from seeing his body. That's why I was over there and then back so quickly."
"I see," Malik frowned. It didn't quite look like he was buying it, but I didn't blame him. "So.. you're not a royal?"
Virgil gave a wry chuckle and said, "if I was, I probably wouldn't be here. Besides, everyone knows the king's sons are dead."
"Well, yeah," I shrugged, stepping forward. I stood behind Malik's chair and rested a hand on his shoulder. I could feel him relax under my touch, like this conversation was stressing him out. Again, I didn't blame him. "It's easy to fake your death, y'know? Do you have anything else that proves you're not related to him?" Virgil gave me an odd look and I clarified, "not that we don't trust you. It's just to ease our minds."
