Prince Darrius

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I change into a purple dress that comes down to my knees and I slip on the same pair of black heels I had on yesterday. I sit on a chair near the fireplace in Darrius’ room as I wait for him to get ready. He isn’t long. The shower is soon turned off and he walks out wearing leather pants and his hair is still glistening with water. He smiles wickedly when he sees me sitting down waiting for him.

“Do you have any other clothes besides leather pants?” I ask curiously, and he shrugs and heads over toward me. 

“Why do you care, sweetie?” He asks, he stops in front of me and holds out a hand for me to grab. I roll my eyes but grab his hand and let him haul me out of the seat.

“I was just wondering if you have any other clothes,” I say, “Are we going to get breakfast now?” I ask, a hidden question also of when he will want my blood… he smirks, easily guessing what I’m thinking.

“You need to eat. I don’t want you getting dizzy-spells because of my appetite,” he chuckles and I give him a worried look. Didn’t he care at all how I felt about this situation? He tugs me towards the door and just before I work up the courage to say something, the door opens inwards before we reach it and Claudia comes in holding Johnathan’s hand. 

“You’re back so soon?” Darrius asks dryly. John smiles apologetically.

“This one wanted to suggest something…” John motions to Claudia who is giving me a massive smile.

“We want to have breakfast with you!” She says, winking at me when she quickly glances at Darrius. I think she is trying to save me… and I smile back.

“That’s a great idea!” I say quickly.

“Is it, now?” Darrius asks, irritated, giving my hand a squeeze. I roll my eyes and look back to Claudia.

“But you don’t eat…” I trail off, wondering how exactly we were all going to have breakfast together.

“I’ve got it all figured out, follow me,” Claudia walks out of the door way to let us through and she let’s go of John’s hand, coming to my side out in the hall. She glares at Darrius, who is scowling back at her. 

“I want to walk with her,” Claudia snaps at Darrius, “Go walk with your brother and catch up.”

“We did that already this morning,” he snaps back.

“Well do it some more,” she grabs my arm and tugs me away from Darrius, who reluctantly lets go of my hand. 

“Fine,” he growls, walking towards John instead. They lead the way to wherever we are going and Claudia walks beside me.

“Where are we going?” I ask her. She smiles and I see her fumble around in her jeans pocket for a note. 

“To a special place in the palace for feeders and vampires to dine together,” she puts a finger to her lips to shush me and she quickly hands the note to me. I take it and quickly open it. My eyes widen as I read the short message.

Your parents are safe. I found them in the dungeons. I helped them escape. I told them I’d keep you safe, that the palace is the best place for you to be. Out there it is more risky for you, when people start to find out who you are.

I grin at her when I finish reading it. She takes the note back from me because I have no pocket to put it in and she hides it back in her own pocket.

“We are going to a special place for dining?” I ask, a warm smile on my face now that I know both my parents are really safe and alive. 

“Yes, you’ll like it,” she responds. However she then glares at the two men in front of us, and I listen into what they are saying.

“…try harder next time to ignore her wonderful ideas,” Darrius hisses quietly to John.

“Hey, I love her, I like to please her. Hence we are all having breakfast together,” John replies, laughing.

“Shut your mouth, Darrius,” Claudia interrupts, her fangs showing in a scowl, “I’m not going anywhere and I’m certainly not leaving Jennifer to the complete mercy of you,” I try not to laugh as I see Darrius look over his shoulder and give Claudia a glare. She narrows her eyes and he shows his fangs in a scowl before looking back ahead.

“Prick,” she mutters under her breath before turning to me, “We’re here. You must be starving,” John and Darrius stop by two massive wooden doors with glass panelling. They open them up and when I take a look inside I gape. It was a massive restaurant with a buffet, the carpet was a light red with black swirls and the tables were a lovely dark brown wood. However my eyes stay focused on the buffet centred in the middle of the room. Food. 

“I am starving,” I whisper, and Darrius hears and turns around to give me a smile.

“Well eat up, sweetheart, the sooner the better,” John laughs at Darrius and Claudia tells Darrius to shut up. I ignore their exchange and walk past them all, making my way determinedly towards the buffet. 

Claudia and John find a table, Darrius catches up to me and helps show me where everything is, like the drinks and the hot food section, even though I can find that all myself. But I let him hover, because for a few moments Claudia was with John at the table and that must have given Darrius some relief. They really rubbed each other up the wrong way those two.

The restaurant is half full of vampires with humans willingly following them everywhere. When my plate is full, Darrius holds a glass of orange juice for me as we make our way to the four seat table. I see Claudia and John holding glasses of blood, but I decide not to worry that Darrius doesn’t ask for one from the waiters scurrying around. I sit down and dig into my food. 

“You should be more conscious that she needs to eat,” Claudia says to Darrius, they were sitting opposite each other, “Look how hungry the poor girl is!” I don’t bother to comment as I continue to devour my breakfast. I expect Darrius to snap something back but instead he just looks a little guilty. 

“So Jennifer is staying here with us now?” John asks hopefully. Claudia nods and Darrius smiles.

“Of course she is,” he says. 

“It’s not safe for her out there anyway,” Claudia says, repeating what was in her note, “There are too many people that might want her dead when word starts to spread.” I take a swig of orange juice and give Claudia a questioning glance.

“How many people know?” I ask. 

“Well –”

“Excuse me,” Claudia is interrupted by a vampire dressed in a suit which has stopped by our table. He looks toward Darrius, “The King requests your presence as soon as you are available to attend to him.”

“Why?” Darrius growls.

“There has been… threats, towards the palace. Because of her,” he looks to me with dislike, “I do not know all the details… you need to go see your father,” the vampire messenger turns on his heel and leaves as abruptly as he appeared.

“I’ll go with you,” John says to Darrius, who looks very pissed off all of a sudden.

“I’ll stay with Jennifer,” Claudia adds in, looking to me, “It’ll be okay.” I nod and look worriedly at Darrius. I hoped it’d be okay. 

I wonder what had happened? What threats? And from what Claudia had said… 

…how many people wanted me dead, exactly?