Crimson Flame ~ Book 1 - The Royal Blood Collection

Chapter 5

Alaric was in the dining room, waiting for me. Hidden behind a newspaper, his long legs stretched up on the table and grossly, his dirty boots on it. I guess to the vampire that hardly ever used a table, it didn't seem gross.

Finding Alaric in this place had taken a few minutes of searching. Beyond the lounge room, there were a few doors to choose from but I followed the corridor and found the kitchen and the dining room was directly opposite.

Putting the jacket over the back of one of the seats alerted Alaric to the fact that he wasn't alone anymore. The paper was lowered, almost crushed against him as he stood.

"Is everything okay?"

He was staring at first, his eyes darting away and then returning to me.

"Sure. Feeling better?"

"Much. Nisha has great taste in clothes."

Alaric nodded, gesturing to the plastic containers on the table in front of me.

"I hope you like Chinese."

"Love it."

I pulled the chair out, sitting down to the meal that looked like it was enough to feed a tribe. As I peeled back the lid, I thought that Silas sure knew how to buy good food but the man needed to dial down the amount he purchased.

"So, would you like to air your grievances first?"

I nodded, swallowing the chicken. Damn, that was good.

"Jumping me like that was wrong. Saying I need to turn you into a hybrid was the right thing to do. You scared me and put yourself in a really bad position in my mind. Trusting you is incredibly difficult in the best of situations, now it's shot to pieces."

"You didn't seem too concerned when you slept beside me."

"What choice did I have? My point is that you need to speak first. Then I wouldn't have freaked out and you know, telling me that I'm going to go into a deep sleep and when I wake I'll be in a coffin would be another good idea."

"Duly noted." He said softly.

Alaric folded the paper, setting it aside. Stretching back in his seat, Alaric gestured for me to continue.

"Can I go out in the sun?"

"You can but you will burn instantly. That pale skin will go pink and your skin will peel and blister. I, however, can't. Your ability to go into the sun is because you are still human but the vampire in you can't handle it so it tries to regenerate the skin when it burns and it can't cope. I would suggest that you refrain from going in the sun unless you like looking like a pink, bubbly mess."

Okay then, no sun. That was a little depressing. I guess that it didn't matter now that I was going to be a part of this world.

"How long is this going to take?"

"The agreement or the grand plan?"

"The grand plan."

He shrugged, almost like he didn't know.

"This is my life that you're toying with Alaric. I'm getting older by the second and at some point, I'd like to find someone and have kids."

"Okay, you're not getting older by the second, you're a hybrid which means that your life is in limbo. You can go one of two ways, become a vampire and have eternal life and beauty or let the clock run out on being a hybrid and slowly settle into being a human again. That would take a few years but after that, you'd be free to pop out as many kiddies as you want and then grow old and die."