"Well, I...could if you wanted me to, I suppose that would help it heal faster" she had never seen Solenne so unsure of herself, the Queen of Vampires was deep in thought, contemplating what could go wrong if she gave her some blood.

Before Solenne could say anything else Aerilyn interjected. "I was only joking, I'm not drinking blood that's gross" Aerilyn scrunched her face up which Solenne found to be the cutest action.

Solenne laughed, happy that she had applied enough cream. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your room, I have to work, Nilsa will be by shortly"

Aerilyn stood up and stepped away from the bed, trying resist the urge to touch her sore neck. "My room is literally next door and oh I'm surprised you are letting her come into my room after what you said yesterday" remembering yesterday's events where she accused Aerilyn of liking Nilsa.

Solenne halted and for a moment Aerilyn thought she was going to be punished, her eyes flashed red and back to gold. "Are you giving me a reason to not let her in your room little one?" She corned the girl in her room like prey. Aerilyn's back hit the wall.

"It was a joke, you have nothing to worry about" the Queen was still stalking towards her, she could have been on her in seconds with her speed but where was the fun in that.

Aerilyn felt a hand slip underneath her chin lifting it up to make her look at the Queen, they were ever so close, the human girls heart raced wildly, she struggled to breathe for a second, their eyes were lost in each other's. Maybe this was the seduction that Luanna had spoken of.

Solenne reached out to stroke the girl's hair, Aerilyn froze, but this time it wasn't quite out of fear, rather curiosity and excitement, which is why the Queen didn't stop. Had she of smelt the fear or disgust she would have stepped away, was the girl finally coming round to her.

She leaned into her ear whispering "I know I have nothing to worry about, I can smell the curiosity and excitement all over you, besides she's the only one I trust around you" Aerilyn closed her eyes, not knowing what to do, her cheeks were pink and she couldn't believe how quickly she became flustered by the vampire.

Regaining control she pressed her hand against the Queen's chest, pushing her away, snapping them both out of whatever was just going on.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not that strong to have pushed you" Aerilyn whispered.

The Queen gloated at how she had the girl flustered. "Because your not little one" she smiled warmly.

Shaking her head Aerilyn opened the door and walked down to her room, flopping herself down on to her bed with a long sigh.

It was after lunch when Nilsa finally knocked on the girls door. "Long time no see blood bag"

Aerilyn threw a pillow but the vampire caught it. "Ugh you lot and your speed, it's no fun"

Nilsa smirked and then noticed something was different about the girl, she couldn't make it out at first then it hit her.

The girls eyes were smiling for the first time since she had arrived.

Not only that but the gold collar around her neck had all but disappeared.

"What happened to the collar?" She asked Aerilyn.

The human girl spoke animatedly "She's taken it off for a day to let my neck heal, it was quite funny actually, I asked if I could have some blood and she was actually going to let me, can you believe that. I had heard it would heal faster but.."

"Hang on" Nilsa interrupted by holding her hand up. "She offered you her blood?" The vampire was in shock, she hadn't expected that. She sat down on the chair opposite Aerilyn.

"Yes, but I wouldn't drink it that's gross" scrunching her nose up for the second time that day.

Nilsa shook her head in disbelief. "You are either really stupid or just I don't even know" the vampire knew what it meant but she didn't want to be the one to say it.

Aerilyn didn't know what the vampire was talking about. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Do I have to spell it out" she groaned. The girl nodded, intrigued.

Giving in Nilsa told her, realising how hard it must be as Aerilyn seemed to know very little about their ways. "Fine, for a vampire to offer you their blood is very rare, especially if you share blood at the same time" Nilsa explained seriously.

"So have you given your blood or shared?" The girl questioned. Her friendship with the vampire has blossomed into a beautiful connection between the two and so Aerilyn felt comfortable asking these questions.

Nilsa spoke sadly at the thought of finding her mate. "No, It's only something you do with someone you care deeply for like very close friends and family or your mate" Nilsa carried on.

"Maybe she was just joking then" Aerilyn frowned.

"She's not someone who jokes around Aerilyn" Nilsa's tone was stern.

The Queen had been at her desk in her room when heard the conversation, it was only a matter of time, little did Aerilyn know that the Queen was becoming to be wrapped around her finger.

"What would you like to do today?" Nilsa enquired changing the subject.

Aerilyn thought long and hard but she knew there was one thing she had wanted to do but couldn't because they never had the ingredients.

"Please please please can we bake some cupcakes" she pleased with the most puppy dog eyes she could try.

"Sure come on" they made their way down to the kitchen where Nilsa dismissed the servants to allow them to cook.

Nilsa gathered all of the ingredients whilst Aerilyn prepared them and baked them.

"Do you think we can hand some of these out to the staff?" The girl was too kind.

"I don't see why not" Nilsa thought she was so selfless even after what she had been through.

"It's a shame you can't try them though" Aerilyn thought of Nilsa as one of her best friends and wanted her to enjoy the taste of the cakes even though it would never satisfy her.

Nilsa chuckled to herself "I can still eat a little human food, I just don't need that much" that was news to the human girl, she was ecstatic that Nilsa could try them and began jumping up and down. She had used most of the ingredients to make at least 40 cupcakes.

As they were baking them, Aerilyn's thoughts turned to the vampire Queen, she had wondered if Solenne ate food as well, or if she only drank blood. "Does that mean umm" the girl fiddled with her clothing.

Nilsa could sense the impending question "Yes we can save one for her majesty, I'm sure she will love it, she does eat human food now and again" Nilsa rolled her eyes and nudged the girl.

"How did you know what I was going to say" Aerilyn was sure she wasn't that easy to read.

Their playful banter had allowed them to become such good friends. "It's written all over you, not sure I even needed my powers to figure that one out" she chuckled.

"Would she actually eat it?" The girl asked, unsure about their eating habits, the most she knew was that they only consumed blood.

Nilsa noticed the seriousness of Aerilyn. "Yeah of course she would if you asked her, she can eat food too, don't fret over it. We will take one to her later" the vampire clarified, that made the human relax some more.

"Great" Aerilyn nodded going to get the cupcakes from out of the oven as the timer had gone off.

Once the cupcakes had cooled down Aerilyn decorated them with icing, keeping them simple.

As she was so kind, she decided she would hand them out to staff as there was no way she would eat them all and she had wondered if the servants had had such a luxury ever in their life.

Solenne had been in a meeting room when she had a vision, Aerilyn was stood in the grand hall with cupcakes when a servant came in with a bow and arrow aimed at the girl.

The Queen's heart if it did ever beat was still, if this was a true vision she had to get to the girl, it was only a matter of seconds.

Running through the castle to reach the girl her only chance was to get in front of her.

Aerilyn didn't realise what was going on until she felt someone had pushed her out the way with such force that she ended up a 10 feet away from where she was stood.

Looking up she saw Solenne, but something wasn't right, her body had gone limp.

Nilsa and the guards had grabbed a girl from the other side of the hall, dragging her away.

Aerilyn started to panic, the Queen was not getting up and that was when she spotted arrows in her back. She ran over to the vampire, tears falling down her face.

"Help her" she screamed.

"We need a doctor" Aerilyn cried and screamed in despair.

The guards raced over and a doctor appeared straight away with Luanna and Matheus. They looked horrified at the scene before them.

Aerilyn couldn't believe the Queen had put herself in front of that, she knew she couldn't be killed easily but she looked it from here.

Luanna came to the girls side and stroked her arm "she'll be okay, it's because it's silver, normally she would get back up straight away. With a few days rest she will be fine, she's had worse" she tried to soothe the girl.

"It's poisoned Prince Matheus, I'm afraid this isn't as simple as it seems, we need to get it out of her, a dose like this is lethal" the doctor explained.

Matheus bent down to try and smell the poison.

"It's nightshade, explains why she is paralysed, let's get the arrows. Guards we need blood" he ordered.

The doctor pulled the arrows out one at a time, it was unbearable to watch. The Queen had barely moved. The guards arrived back with the blood and began to feed it to her.

"Let's take her to her room, someone will need to watch her" the doctor spoke.

"I'll watch her" Aerilyn's tear stained face spoke before she could control her words. Aerilyn had a weird feeling wash over her, as if she could feel the pain that Solenne was feeling.

In that moment a vision flashed in her mind like it had before, it was Aerilyn holding the cupcakes and the girl aiming the bow at her.

Was this what Solenne had seen?

But why could she see it too?

Luanna snapped her out of it.

"It's okay, we have people who can do that" Luanna spoke.

"No, I'm not leaving her" Aerilyn defiantly stated. They weren't going to sit and argue with the human so they let her. Once placed down in her bed, Aerilyn sat next to her placing a rag on her forehead to help with the fever that had set in. She couldn't leave her, especially not after what Queen Solenne did for her.

Aerilyn was losing herself to her human emotions, she was beginning to care for the Queen.

"If the fever doesn't settle down in the next two days we will have to find something stronger" the doctor said as he pulled her clothes off. She was lay on her front as he cut down the back to patch her up.

Her bare skin was on show and Aerilyn wanted to growl at anyone who looked, she had become fiercely protective but didn't know why.

The holes where the arrows had been were awful but at least they had stopped bleeding, seeing the Queen like this was awful.

Once everyone had left, Nilsa stood outside, Prince Matheus was dealing with what had happened and the guards were doubled.

Aerilyn lay with the Queen checking on her and staying awake to make sure nothing happened.

The following two mornings she hadn't slept maybe two hours as the fever had still not disappeared, it in fact seemed worse.

Nilsa had been outside her door the whole time when Aerilyn came and got her at lunch time.

"Look, she's still really bad, we need to do something' Aerilyn was stressed.

"The doctor is on his way" as the doctor entered the room he realised she wasn't in good shape.

"I think we need more blood" he indicated.

"Surely she has had enough" Nilsa countered.

"I said we need more blood yes, but not just any type of blood" he spoke quietly.