Undead

49

Lilith's pov

My hand tightened around Kadence's hand. We were walking through the castle halls. I was on my way to introduce Eric the crown maker to Kadence.

"Why are you crushing my hand so damn tight?" Kadence asked. I immediately let her hand go. I look at Kadence.

"Sorry, love," I mutter. We stopped in front of a door. "I wasn't aware how tightly I was gripping your hand," I say. Kadence tilted her head to the side as she looked at me.

"Why are you so nervous?" Kadence asked. I purse my lips before licking my bottom lip. Kadence's eyes shift towards my lips. She looked away.

"I'm not nervous," I say. Kadence raised an eyebrow.

"So you almost broke my hand for what fun?" Kadence asked.

"I'm excited. I spent a good amount of time in this room before I turned 7 and was allowed out of the castle grounds. You get to meet the crown maker!" I say excitedly. Kadence chuckles. I lean forward and peck Kadence's lips. I open the door and walk into the room. There were other workers here preparing the gems or metals. They all bow when they see me. I pull Kadence with me to Eric's station.

"Eric," I say, walking up to him. My eyebrows furrowed when I noticed it wasn't Eric. The guy turned around. I push Kadence behind me. My arm slammed the boy into the wall. I smell him. He's human and he was a feeder. How was he up here? "You are not Eric."

"No, he isn't, princess so if you could just let him go, that would be greatly appreciated," Eric says from behind me. The boy was avoiding my eyes. I let the boy go.

"You have a feeder above the basement," I state. I turned to look at Eric. Eric bowed his head.

"I just figured since you had a human beloved you would understand," Eric says. Kadence looked at me. I look at the boy. My eyebrows furrowed.

"He's a little young to be your beloved. Isn't he?" I asked. Kadence hit me in the side.

"Oh, no, he isn't my beloved. That's Levi my son. His mother is my beloved," Eric says. My eyes widened.

"Oh," I say while nodding my head. "That makes much more sense."

"Every once in a while I let him up to roam this room," Eric says. I nod my head slowly.

"Right, so, I came down here for a reason. This is Kadence, That is Eric. Great, you know each other now. Set her up with a new crown before Friday and I will like you even more than I already do," I say. Eric looks at Kadence.

"This is who the first crown was for?" Eric says. I nod my head.

"I know it is custom for me to always design her crowns but I am not doing that. Kadence will have full control over what she likes and doesn't. She's the one going to wear it, not me. What she says goes," I say while walking over to the desk. Levi flinched when I got closer to him. I grabbed two binders. I walk over to Kadence

"These are full of different designs and different cuts of the gems you can have. Pick what you like and tell Eric. I have things to do. So you can stay here and look through those, there is a couch over there. Or you can go wherever until you find something you like," I say. Kadence took the books from my hands. Kadence looked down at the binders before looking at me. Her eyes were wide. "Relax, my love. Eric will help you out. He's the best I know." Kadence nodded her head. I lead her to the couch and have her sit.

"The rings?" Eric asked. I raise an eyebrow at him. "You're getting married Friday along with getting crowned. It's human custom to have engagement rings and wedding rings. It is the human mark."

"Oh... I trust Kadence to handle that," I say. Kadence gave me a smile. I peck her lips. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you and will see you later," Kadence says. I smile at her as I watch her flip to the first page in one of the binders. Her eyes widened. I look at Eric and he nods.

"Levi, Follow me," I say. Eric looked to his son quickly. He didn't say anything as Levi followed behind me. Tilly appeared in front of me. She follows behind me and Eric. I go to the basement door. "Retrieve his mother and meet me outside," I say. Tilly nods and ushers Levi into the basement. My feet carry me outside. I wait for Tilly and Levi.

"Princess, As you requested," Tilly says. I look back. Levi's black hair stood out against his mother's light brown hair.

"Great, go help Kadence with the crowns and rings. I think she may be drowning in all the options," I say. Tilly looks back at the humans before looking back at me. "I can handle two humans on my own," I state.

Tilly nods before walking back inside. My eyes scan the two humans before me. They both had their eyes casted onto the ground. The woman doesn't wear Eric's mark.

"You don't wear his mark," I say. The woman shook her head. "You can look me in the eyes and talk to me. Both of you can." They both slowly look up. A small smirk was on my face when they both quickly looked away.

"We were told not to look the queen in her eyes, or speak to her," the woman says quietly.

"It's your lucky day then, I'm not the queen. Well not yet. The guards were referring to my mother. You know the one who was behind your capture," I say. The woman looks at me. "I'd like to apologize for that," I say.

"You just said it was your mother who had all the humans captured," Levi says. I start walking and they follow me.

"It was her, but when my fangs grew in the hunger was bad for me. I'm half demon and my demon loves the taste of blood. So when I became hungry it was bad. So bad that I killed all the feeders before you guys. There were around a thousand or more humans. My mother had them for generations. They were bred to feed us. If it wasn't for me then you both wouldn't have been snatched. And your child wouldn't be feeding a good majority of my people," I say. We walk past the gate and follow the road. I found it odd that her and her son were both captured and had a relationship with a vampire here before their capture.

"Oh," the woman says.

"You don't have to worry about me anymore. I only drink animal blood. It keeps the demon at bay. Anyways. I'm Lilith," I say.

"Ayleen." We stopped in front of a house. It was Eric's house. Yes I was freeing them sort of.

"This is how it's going to go from now on. I will allow you to live here and have as much of a normal life with Eric and your son as you can for being a feeder. Twice a week you will still donate blood, both of you. The only difference now is you will get paid for it. Find a job in the town. Do whatever as long as you're still feeding the vampires. I feel it's a good compromise," I say.

"Of course," Ayleen says. "Thank you."

"Let him mark you. It will most likely keep you from being jumped by a vampire. You still smell like a feeder," I say before walking away. I hear them enter the house causing me to run back to the castle. I take a shower before I head over to Rylands.

The smell of Kayla was the only scent I got from the house. Ryland must be at the pack house. I push the door open and walk in. Kayla's scent was mixed with Ryland's. "You smell like a new woman," I say. Kayla spun around and narrowed her eyes. She smiled at me.

"I guess I have you to thank for that, don't I?" Kayla asked. I chuckle before leaning against the counter.

"Yeah I guess you do. He wasn't going to do anything without a little nudge. Either that or you were going to have to jump his bones before he got the hint to take the next step. Two years with nothing but kissing. I could never," I state. Kayla laughs while nodding her head.

"I believe you. Three weeks is all it took before you took my best friend to bed," Kayla says. I raise an eyebrow at her.

"Trust me I was going to wait longer. She let me mark her but then her moans and her telling me not to stop was all I needed to continue," I say. Kayla shook her head.

"You really have no filter," Kayla laughed. I shrug my shoulders.

"I don't really find the need for one," I smirk. Kayla rolled her eyes. "So where is this mate of yours?" I asked.

"Jack had a problem he couldn't handle himself. Ryland has been gone most of the day," Kayla says.