Vampire Seekers

Chapter Fourteen

"Where the bloody hell have those two got to?" Maria wonders, directing her question to Velika who is none the wiser. 

Velika does not say it but she has a feeling that her and Maria becoming separated from Willow and Emily is no accident. Velika should have expected this from her old friend. 

"Knowing Willow, she is stirring up trouble." Velika tells the short blonde by her side whilst flicking through the rail of suits that seem to be getting more and more dull as she moves along.

Maria rolls her eyes, "I don't think Willow is that bad."

"She's not bad. She is just meddlesome." Velika replies, not thinking for a second that the way in which she speaks of Willow could present as her thinking ill of her friend. "I guess Willow being the way she is, is partly my fault."

"How so?" Maria asks.

"When I became heir I had to change a lot of things in my life that were not -appropriate - for a future Queen." Velika confides in Maria, "Willow felt cheated on my behalf." 

Velika releases a soft chuckle and Maria's eyes watch her curiously. "Willow actually threatened to kidnap me a year or so after. Well after Alex."

"That would have gone down well." Maria comments, holding a suit up that is made of softest material she's ever felt and has price tag that is jaw dropping. It is a good thing that they are shopping for Velika and not herself, otherwise Maria would not be finding anything within her price range in the shops Velika frequents.

"I believe I told her not to cause of diplomatic incident because I couldn't go to strip clubs anymore" Velika says with a tilt of her head and smirk on her face. 

"So you stopped going when you became heir?" Maria dares to pry. It would explain why everyone in the Last Drop group chat is speculating whether Velika will make a reappearence.

"A little after." Velika answers, "But if I am being honest I only kept going so long because my mother was so against it. I stopped do anything other than drinking there before Alex died."

"Oh." Maria says. She does not know why that makes her feel better but it does. 

"Anyway, because Willow feels that I need help breaking away from my royal duties she summons me to go out to the places I used to go to before I became heir and takes the blame for any fall out." Velika holds up a suit to her front and takes one look at Maria, who scrunches up nose at it, and puts it back on the rack.

"Where did you get the red suit from?" Maria asks.

"Timson Tailors." Velika quickly responds. 

As soon as Maria mentioned that on the phone call Velika had checked where she got it from and almost got another identical suit but then Velika over thought it. Does she really want to wear an identical one to the ball her mother has planned for the day of the draft which is quickly approaching?

"If they have you measurements on file you could order a similar blazer and pants in the material and we could just look for a top that's less business formal and more dressy upy" Maria suggests and inwardly cringes at her own wording. Dressy upy?  Where did that come from.

Heat rises to her cheeks as quickly as the corners of Velika's plump lips. Her mate is adorable when flustered. 

"You just want to see me all unbuttoned." Velika teases, using the words that Maria used at The Last Drop. The words that replay in her mind whenever Velika buttons up one of her shirts or when she has too much time to think about how Maria feels about her. 

"Oh shut up." Maria tells her with a huge Cheshire cat smile on her face. 

Maria hears a loud, sharp, voice growl out in protest behind her. How silly of Maria, she almost forgot that shops likes these so very rarely have human customers, and Vampires do not take kindly to her way of speaking to the Princesses.