Bloody Chains that Bind

Victoria (3)

He reacted better than I expected him to. I have no idea what I would do if all of that was unloaded onto me. 

I imagined him differently. In my head, I thought he would be some typical daft human who enjoyed simple minded things like high school football games and teenage parties. I also pictured him with shaggy blonde hair and warm puppy dog eyes. I guess you can thank the limited number of human movies found on the Red Market. 

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised with curly ebony locks and icy blues. I assume he hasn't had blood yet, because his eyes were a human shade of blue. Yet they weren't completely ordinary. There was something fiery in his eyes. His demeanor is calm and steady, but if you were to truly gaze into his eyes, you would see untapped anger. Passion? Potential maybe? At first glance, I had no idea how he would manage being King, but those eyes... he may be a great leader yet.

I internally scolded myself for these musings. My duty is to protect him, not have an opinion about his eyes. I refuse to allow myself any more of these unproductive thoughts.

I put his suitcase in the overhead compartment and sat down across from him in the plushy cream leather seats of the plane, which were becoming all too familiar to me. I told the flight attendant to bring us a bottle of sparkling water, which he did diligently. I made sure to inform the workers not to disturb us for the duration of the flight.

Pouring the Prince and myself a glass each, I mentally prepared myself to be bombarded with questions. As if his goal was to keep surprising me, he remained quiet.

"How long is this flight?" he huffed and tapped on his thighs.

I felt my lips slightly curl into a smirk. I was amused. He resembled a toddler asking this, as if he was bored out of his mind. I honestly expected him to be losing it.

"A little over eight hours, Your Highness," I responded, as I was trained to do so.

"None of that 'Your Highness' crap okay Victoria? It's already getting old. If you're going to be my personal guard or whatever, please just call me James."

"Okay, Your High--, James," I smiled back. I'm not usually one for smiles, opting for a smirk most times. But in the short time that I have been with him, I found that James isn't actually that bad. Then again, we haven't started training yet. He may hate me after that. 

"I'm sure you have questions."

"You and my grandmother seemed to answer most of them. I'm still processing the whole 'oh by the way you're a vampire prince' thing. I don't really look like one. No fangs or sparkly eyes you know?"

"Those come after you drink blood for the first time, which you will do tomorrow morning. King Uther wants your transition to be as quick and smooth as possible. That's why he asked me to help oversee it. It's also the reason he assigned me specifically to be your guard."

"You seem kind of young to be in a high-ranking position."

"I was best at the academy, top of my class. They crowned me Vesper. It's sort of the equivalent of valedictorian in your high schools."

He looked at me as if he had more questions, but he stayed quiet. I stared at him for a while before pulling my phone out and making sure we were on schedule. I wasn't sure how long I stayed entranced with my phone but when I looked up, James was asleep. I must've dozed off not long after him, because the next thing I can remember is me waking up hours later. 

"So, you are going to make me drink blood tomorrow morning?" James inquired. I jerked my head and looked at him. Damn. Who knows how long he's been up just...staring at me. Totally not weird at all. 

"It's to complete your transition." James looked confused, which, considering all that has happened in the last 12-ish hours, was the first time I've seen him like that. 

"Yes, you are a vampire but not truly. Tomorrow you will drink blood for the first time and your fangs will come out. It hurts, but only for a few hours. Like getting your wisdom teeth taken out. Then your eyes will shift. Uther's are a crimson red, some have yellow, mine are green. You currently have blue eyes, so I'm guessing you're going to get some violet shade," I elaborated. 

"I have no qualms with the color purple." He was smiling. He has a nice smile. This is of course important, as the people will take more easily to an approachable King. "Oh, and you're wrong."

"Excuse me?" I could feel my brow quirk up at his statement as I poured more of the fizzy water into our glasses. Had I misinformed James? Surely not.

"Your eyes aren't just green. They are an emerald shade of green with golden flecks scattered throughout." He seemed so smug with that grin on his face, his eyes crinkling in amusement.

I wanted to punch that stupid grin right off his stupid face. How dare he make such unprofessional remarks regarding the hue of my eyes!? Still, I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, making my face feel hotter.

Before I could retort anything snide, the captain announced that we were landing in France.

I sighed, as I was fully aware of the two-hour car ride that awaited us once we stepped off the plane. The castle was up in the snowy mountains, near the cloud bank. It was breath taking, both in beauty and in temperature. I enjoy living there, as behind the castle there lies a vast forest. It's a great place for training and clearing your head.

Feeling the plane halt on the runway, I stood up and grabbed both James' grey suitcase and my black pack.

"I can help you with that," James offered, extending his hand.

"Not necessary." Little did he know I could sprint and carry two tons comfortably. Partially because of the strength and speed all vampires have, but mainly because of my training. I got to the top of my class by working the hardest. It wasn't dumb luck. I'm a small vampire and I'm fully aware of this, so I got up at the crack of dawn to lift weights at the gym. Before the others came, I was already done. I spent all of my free time lifting weights, sprinting laps, and training in mixed martial arts.

We walked to the car and I popped open the trunk, setting our things in. I opened James' door and we began our drive to the castle, which was again silent apart from a few smirks that James threw in my direction. Every time he smirked at me, I could feel my cheeks grow a little pink. I rolled my eyes disapprovingly towards him.