Princess of the Wolves

Chapter Thirteen:

I knew I was dreaming, but then again, I was still terrified. I was back in Genna's creepy room. The room was dim except for one light shining over a figure in black. The dolls' heads were shattered on the floor. He man, who had an angular face, was a paper white color, had ruby red lips, sharp protruding fangs, and jet black hair that was slicked back to reveal a severe widow's peak. Not all vampires had as pronounced features, but this one was an Old World/Old Dynasty vampire that stayed true to the old ways of living. They were now the minority of vampires, because most looked like average humans that happen to be dead and drank blood. This one was staring at me with his eyes that had blood red irises. I moved backward to try and escape. My back hit the wall, where the door should have been, but there was no door. I was trapped. 

"Going so soon?" he asked stepping forward; I recognized the voice. Where did I know it from?

I couldn't speak to him. I was like my words were choking me. I tried to scream, but no sound. I fell to the floor. "Don't recognize me do you? No matter. We will find you if you say a word." I tried to cry for help, but still no words. I didn't know what to do, so I focused. I tried to become calm enough to shift into my wolf form to fight back. Wolves typically, even of my size, tended to be able to overpower werewolves and destroy them depending on how strong the vampire was. I hoped he hadn't fed in a long time, but this was to no avail. I  tried to shift, over and over, but I heard a loud shattering sound instead.

It was followed by another familiar voice, "Shhh...it's okay. You're okay."

My head began spin, and visions that flipped from the approaching vampire and light went back on forth. I felt someone lightly stroking my arm. I then snapped out of my nightmare. It was dark all around, but it was not an eerie darkness. It was the familiar darkness of my bedroom at night. I immediately asked, "What happened?"

"You were screaming..." Dimtri said, tilting his head to the side, "Really loudly too."

"Sorry..." I mumbled.

He held up his hand, "No, it's no big deal. What was your nightmare about?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I responded, shaking my head.

"C'mon," he said, "That was really intense."

"I don't ask you what yours are about." I had said it. I let him know that I knew his greatest secret: that someone so strong was often torn down to fear in his own subconscious. I was not the kind of thing that was taken lightly, especially for someone who is supposed to be the strongest and most stable, a king, the leader of a nation. I didn't mean to mention it, because it felt like my own secret, something that I knew that made a special situation.

"Fair enough," he responded plainly. He and I both settled back down in the silence. He didn't acknowledge it or put off that it bothered him. He instead pulled me close to him, and his arms were protectively around me. My heart beat was finally slowing, which was a very good thing. I thought of my mother, and her own heart condition, the one I had inherited. It was the one that stopped me from participating in youth sports clubs or why I had to sit and watch at community games. I was so envious of these children that I hardly left my apartment anymore. I focused on academics, reading, writing, and anything but what I couldn't do. My mother was confined to the couch often for fear that she would die if overly excited or overly taxed. I worried like an old woman worried about my own heart, like I was old and gray. I had a huge amount of things that made my heart pound today, which was not good. I made a mental note to take my medication in the morning. I foolishly chose not to for the most part, because it allowed me not to think about it. I didn't want to become like my mother, so in fear of everyday life that she stopped living. I had never told Dimitri or anyone at the castle for that matter. I would have to soon, because I was running out of medication. I didn't go through it nearly as fast as I ought to, but it was running dangerously low.

I tried to quiet my racing mind at the same time. Who was the vampire? What did it mean? "Try to get some sleep," Dimtri said, kissing my cheek. "You're so tense; relax."

I took a deep breath. "Thanks...."

Then he squeezed me even tighter, romantically muttered, "Mine," in my ear, before he drifted off to sleep. I eventually did too, lulled to sleep by his soft in-out, in-out, in-out breaths.

The morning came quickly. I felt groggy and unnerved as I woke up to the sound of a maid knocking at the door. Anne spoke in her pleasant and upbeat voice, "The Queen requests everyone's attendance for a  family breakfast to honor Princess Geneivive's return." I lightly whacked Dimitri with an extra pillow.

He woke up startled, then he gave me a fake look of disapproval. "I was sleeping."

"It's time to get up...the Queen wants everyone for a family breakfast for your sister."

"Ugh," he let a frustrated noise into his pillow like he did every morning. We were ready about thirty minutes later. Dimitri read through some of the new reports that were on his desk while the maids made me up. Since we didn't have much time, the maids, thankfully, let me put hair up instead of working on it. They never had, but I always feared that they would burn me. 

The breakfast, which had been planned by the Queen for a long time, was carefully planned down to a t. There were candelabras lit on the table, which had a long ocean blue runner going throught it. The finest silver was say, and the meals were already on the table with a cover overtop of each plate. Pitchers of orange juice, coffee, creamer, and tea sat on the table. There were ellaborate placecards in front of everyone's seat. The King and Queen were already seated, and after we had sat down, we all waited together for twenty minutes before Genna had arrived. When she sat down, she shot a look towards me that unsettled me. I then realized where I knew the man in my dream was the voice that had been talking to Genna before I knocked on the door.