SOMEONE TO STAY

[01]

chapter one

~

      I moved my paint brush along my canvas, watching as the dark colors collided with one another, creating more colors, and adding beauty to the rest of the painting.

"You're so lucky, Eve." Selena sighed. "You don't have to scrub floors like the rest of us. I wanna be talented." She whined.

"Don't be like that. One day we'll get to leave this stupid castle and be who we want." I said to her.

"Don't lie to the girl." A voice spoke, making me jump. I turned, already knowing the voice well enough to know who it was.

"Uh-Prince Jamison. I apologize. I was just-" Selena stuttered, struck with fear at the sight of him. He was covered in blood as he pulled his pack of cigarettes from his pockets.

"Calm down, Selena Erebos. I'm not going to harm you. You're needed in Rosita's Bedroom." Prince Jamison smirked. Selena bowed to the prince and quickly left the room.

The Royal family feeds on the servants. Selena doesn't seem to mind—she actually enjoys it. No ones ever fed on me before so I couldn't agree with her, though it looks painful. Sometimes feeding leads to other things...I never ask what Selena does with Princess Rosita because I'm too scared to hear the stories.

"And you. Miss Evangeline." He turned to me as I fix the mistake I made on the canvas. "Light my cigarette for me." He says, handing me the box of cigarettes, along with a box of matches. "My fingers are kinda soaked."

"Did you kill another bartender today, Jamison?" I asked, taking the items from his hand. "Or maybe it was a maid."

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that. It's disrespectful, Evangeline." He scolded, holding out his hand. I took a match and scratched it across his palm, watching as his skin regenerated after the flame was lit. "Call me that again and I'll light you on fire with the very flames you hold in your hand, darling."

"You don't scare me, your highness." I said, my words rolling off my tongue with pure venom as I lit his cigarette and handed it to him. "If you don't mind, I'm busy." I continued, watching as he took his lit cigarette in his mouth.

     "What is it that you even want, Evangeline? We gives you things we wouldn't give to anyone else of your status, we've sworn to never feed on you, we all but let you do whatever you want and you still have hatred for us."

"What I want is to leave this castle. But, I know that's never going to happen. I want you to leave me alone, Prince Jamison, and—"

"—And you want to live until you one day see your mother again, right?" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at the way he found amusement in mocking me. "You're so passionate about something that's never gonna happen." He continued. "Passion..." He repeated. "God, I wonder how you taste, Evangeline." He sighed, shaking his head as he went to leave. His feet left footprints of blood, footprints he'd make Selena clean.

"Why don't you find out?" I ask him. His footsteps come to a stop and he turns around. His blood-red eyes look to the ceiling as if he actually tried to think of an answer. He let out another smug chuckle. "To be continued, Evangeline."

~

     "You've finished them, all 9 paintings?" Selena asks. I sit down my brush and wipe the sweat off my forehead with my arm. The king wanted me to paint portraits of his best soldiers. One painting takes a while, almost an entire day. I've been working on them nonstop for almost an entire week.

     "Just about." I sighed, picking up the brush once again. I could feel myself getting lightheaded from the lack of sleep, plus the constant moving around and my anemia didn't mix well.

     "Eve, woah! You need to sit down before you fall down." Selena said worryingly.

     "No. I have to finish these before the Ball tomorrow night-" before I could even finish my sentence, I felt myself loose all feeling in my body and completely collapse before things went black.

~

"Oh eve..."

"Evangeline..."

I opened my eyes, hoping that the angelic voice would call my name once again, reminding me of who it is. I looked over and next to my bed stood Rosita Esperanza, aka, Princess Rosita. "You passed out, Evangeline. You should've listened to Selena, and even more important, to what your body was telling you." I was still in my bedroom, but Selena was nowhere to be found, just me and Rosita.

"I'm sorry." I sighed as I sat up. "I was in a rush to finish the paintings." I explained. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Around three hours." She said, writing something down on her paper. "Now that you're awake and stable..." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she exhaled, she showed her sharp fangs, ones that every member of her family dawned when hunger took over. It meant they were going to feed, and I was the only source of blood in the room at the moment.

Fear ran through my body as she reached for my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut and held out my arms in defense, but before she even got close to me, someone ran in the room. It was a normal run though, it was a vampire-speed run. The figure pinned Rosita against the wall by her throat and pushed against her.

"Jamison..." She chuckled.

          "What the hell is wrong with you? You were going to feed on her?" He asked angrily.

         "I know you were the first to notice but you're not the only one who's been craving her blood. You smell it too, don't you, Brother?"

"Shut the hell up, Rose!" Prince Jamison yelled, applying pressure to her throat. Rosita choked under his grasp but her pained expression turned into a sly smile. "You were told not to touch her!"

"I do what I want, James. You kill me here I'll just wake back up and try again. Her blood is mine, brother. If anyone's gonna try it first it's gonna be m-" Jamison then crushed her throat with his hand, and let her body fall limp on the floor.

"Just shut up."