The Vampire Prince goes to High School (Book 1)

Proposal

A/N: Rin was attacked by the Vampire Prince at her home then, again at her school. Carlos defended her and now Rin is at the police station.

The leeches he called lawyers were no doubt trying to win their prince's freedom back. Just the thought of his actions going unpunished was enough to aggravate me.

I sat back heavily on the cold metal chair. It had been hours since the people had driven me away from school to a more - how had they put it? Oh, right - "a safer place". My parents were probably getting treated better than I. They were the ones receiving an explanation with apologies. I also hoped the vampires would compensate; a girl could only survive so much shock and stress.

It took me more than a moment for me to realize I wasn't alone in the room anymore. It started with a small shiver then paranoia until I finally looked up.

And there she was.

Violet.

I was shocked to say the least. This was a dream come true; though it wasn't under the circumstances I had envisioned. I sat up straighter, placing my hands on my lap. Though nervous, I still didn't forget that Violet was the Vampire King's tenth wife which meant that she was probably here to talk about her step-son.

The media displayed her as a human loving vampire, with compassion for everyone. She was an excellent diplomat. I didn't think she was here to kill me. She didn't seem like a kill-first-then-ask-questions-later type to me. Then a thought struck me.

"How did you get in?"

"Aren't you cool headed?"

I shrugged. "I'm in a sealed room with a vampire," I told her. "Panicking won't help me."

It was the truth. Sure, my heart was thundering wildly and my body was frozen stiff. Even if I wanted to run to the door, I doubted my body would even follow those commands.

Violet walked toward the table; her teal dress shimmered underneath the lights "That doesn't matter, does it, Miss Borek?"

"I guess not – Violet."'

Calling her by her first name was bold. But I didn't feel like mispronouncing her last name and embarrassing myself in front of my hero. She smiled and I melted. Heat flooded my cheeks. I was mortified. This wasn't the time to be squish and admirable toward the vampire who might kill me . . . there is was again. I was really paranoid.

"Why are you here?" I asked, gaining confidence. "You must have seen the news." Another nagging though hit me. "What's going to happen to Carlos?"

He wasn't my favorite person in the world but, he was Sonia's cousin. He was defending me so, the least I could do was put in a good word for him.

"I can't say," Violet said. She leaned on the table with one pale arm. "He attacked a royal member of the vampire race."

"It wouldn't have happened if that so called member didn't come to a non-threatening civilian area and attacked an innocent civilian in a public school."

Violet smiled again but this time, I was ready. I glanced past her shoulder, feeling the effects wane. Thanks to my parents and their vampire friends, I knew a bit about vampire abilities. I also watched a lot of TV and watching vampire abilities through the safety of a screen enabled me to quickly see which ability was affecting everyone else. I had been duped before and I wasn't going to fall for the same trick again.

"I'm here to talk about your predicament."

All the smoothness of her voice had disappeared. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine.

"I hope you're not going to kill me," I blurted out. "I have a right to know about Prince's punishment. He deserves one after all."

"That's not up to you to decide."

Her silky voice sent shivers down my spine. I could feel my embarrassment burning my face but I wasn't ready to roll over just yet.

"Don't you think it's about time that prince brat realized he can't do whatever he wants because he is a vampire and a prince?"

I realized my mistake too late. I expected the room to become cold and dark. I also expected my heart to be plucked out from my chest and displayed in front of me. And though none of that happened, I did feel a disapproving stare on me.

"He is still learning to adjust himself in this era," Violet said.

Her words slapped me. Sure, I was no angel myself but could she really be pulling that card right now? Violet had never defended him before. During conferences and meetings, she had never denounced for supported the Prince. He signified everything that we – as humans - feared in vampires and Violet wanted to show us that vampires weren't blood thirsty monsters.

"Do you really believe that?" I asked.

Violet didn't reply. I looked down at my hands. It has been a great dream of mine to meet Violet. I had imagined my conversation with her to be so different from what was going on now. The disappointment gave my words a bitter undertone; it made me angry and I blamed the Vampire Prince.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked to break the silence. "Just so we're clear, I did act in self-defense."

"This incident won't go to court," Violet said firmly. "We want to resolve this as painlessly as possible."

"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered.

"In a few minutes," Violet continued like I hadn't spoken. "Some men are going to come in here and propose something to you."

"Why can't you give me a straight answer?" I looked at her. "We both know the Prince can't go around disturbing the peace. Do you really want hate crime rising all around you?"

"Is that a threat?"

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't twist my words," I said. "Come on. Give me something. My . . . friend is somewhere because he defended me. I'm being targeted. Can't you guarantee that he won't come after me again?"

"The same proposal is going to be presented to the Prince," she said, ignoring me. She pushed away from the table and paced around the room. "If you agree, he has to agree. There is no other option for him. The King isn't going to tolerate any more disturbances. This is his last chance."

I swallowed. The conversation certainly took a different turn than I had expected. She made it sound like it was all up to me.

"What exactly is this proposal?"

Violet's expression softened. "The Prince is a difficult person to be around, let alone get along with," she said. "He holds your race to be inferior. He needs to be shown that, that is not the case. Humans have so much more than vampires ever will. Are you willing to show him how much value there is in the human race?"

I blinked. Those words weren't what I was expecting. "What do you mean show him our value? Isn't that something you should be asking a person with authority? Or some kind of qualification?" I finally said. "I wouldn't know where to begin, if I was going to do it which I'm not saying that I am."

"Is that your answer?"

I nodded, unable to speak and I kept my gaze fixed on my shoes. This was crazy. Why would I want to teach the Prince about being a human and our values? We could barely tolerate ourselves. I wanted peace in my own little bubble and thanks to the Prince; I doubted my peace was going to return.

When I glanced up again, Violet was gone. The room somehow felt colder than before. Angrily, I crossed my arms over my chest. How could she expect me to answer that question? How could she ask me to do such a thing? It was obvious that I had no respect or love the Prince. It was unfair. And yet the guilt was churning my stomach. Violet had said I was the last option, so to speak. Did that mean the fate of humanity rested on me?

As a mulled over that question, the door opened and a pack of men walked into the room. I couldn't help but assume that these were the leeches defending the Prince.

"Hello," one of them said. "We are here on behalf of the Vampire Prince."

I glared at them with evil eyes and made myself comfortable. By their tone of voice, this was going to be a long conversation.