He carried her still unconscious body through the huge, wooden doors of the castle. The foyer was decorated sophisticatedly with red accents. The floors were white and grey marble, and the walls and doorways were lined with white crown molding. The well-dressed man looked down at the girl and sighed, knowing that everything was about to turn into chaos—his favorite thing next to blood.

He then called out for someone to come and was greeted by Henry, the main butler of the house. "Sir Julian. Who—"

"Where is the Prince?" Julian demanded in a tone that meant business.

The butler responded, "Prince Tristan is in a meeting with King Gabriel, sir."

"Go tell him that I need to meet him immediately in his bedroom. I'm going to the medical wing first and will meet him in ten minutes," Julian ordered before disappearing out of the room.

Julian laid her limp body down on the hospital bed and brushed her tangled, brown hair out of her face. Sighing, he ran his hand through his dark, brown locks and watched the sleeping stranger intently.

He whispered in his Spanish accent, "You better not die on me, princess. You're my lucky charm."

He stole one last glance before he whisked out of the room to meet with the Prince. As he approached the dark, wooden door, he contemplated how he was going to handle this situation. Tristan was stubborn and dismissive, so it was going to be hard to convince him that the girl was important.

Through the door he could hear, "Come in." Julian entered as ordered and stood before a man with one hand rested on his hip. One could tell he wasn't happy by how he tightened his lips into a thin line.

"How'd you know I was there?" Julian asked, eyebrows raised.

"I could feel your big ego radiating through the door," he quipped and Julian smiled. "What is so important that you interrupted my meeting with my father?"

Julian sniggered and sat down on the arm chair. "Tristan, before you dismiss me like I know you are going to do, hear me out."

Tristan crossed his arms and chuckled while shaking his head. "What did you do now?"

"I'm serious." Julian pointed his finger at him, giving him a stern look. "I know you."

"And I you, which means that whatever you are going to tell me is nonsense."

"I don't speak nonsense," Julian defended himself. His demeanor turned into one of a five year old boy.

Tristan laughed. "Yes you do. You are the reason I have gotten in so much trouble since we were kids. You're a bad influence, and I am sure whatever you have to say is going to cause trouble."

"You know, I have had one lucky night, and you are being a downer." Julian frowned and paused while fidgeting with a coin between his fingers. "Actually, I think it might only trouble you, which gives me pleasure."

Tristan groaned while sitting on the arm of the couch. "Just get on with it, Julian."

With that, he clapped his hands together and sat forward. "There's an unconscious, human girl in the infirmary that I found running about in the woods. You should go check her out. She's quite a sight."

"A human girl? Why on earth is a human girl important enough to pull me from my schedule? Why is she in the infirmary? Why didn't you just eat her?" Tristan shot questions at him and his eyebrows lifted.

"Ah, curious aren't we?" Julian wiggled his eyebrows before standing. In a flash, he was out of the room and the door slammed, leaving the Prince dumbfounded.

***

My eyes fluttered open to see I was hooked up to an IV and in a hospital bed.

No! No! I can't be back in the hospital. I was free!

Hearing the heart monitor and seeing the machines made me panic. Quickly, I sat up, which was a mistake because my head began to pound, and I quickly became dizzy. I grabbed the side of my head in response.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a figure. Standing in the doorway was the man with the aqua-colored eyes. I thought I was dreaming again, but this felt too real to be a dream.

"You," I said.

The man looked surprised at my recognition. He took a step forward with curiosity burning on his face.

"You—You're actually real. Your eyes," I stuttered and turned my body towards him.

I felt drawn to him for some reason. Even though his lips were parted, nothing came out. Instead of talking, he disappeared out of the room. He was there one second and gone the next, which should be impossible.

What just happened? Where am I?

I tried to yank the IV out of my arm to escape when a woman in a white coat came in. She was flawless with her tanned skin and big brown eyes, all the way to her curly black hair. My staring caused her to laugh.

"You were in pretty bad shape when you were brought in. We've found that you're anemic, underweight, and malnourished. I threw out those hideous clothes you were wearing. What were those anyways?" She stated while looking through papers on a clipboard.

"I—uh..."

"This all must be a lot to take in. You probably have many questions. I do too, frankly." She gave me a warm smile while touching my shoulder.

"Where am I?" I asked her.

"You are in the infirmary. That's all I can say for now. As for why you are here, I cannot answer that. Julian just dropped you off and disappeared. You must be special since he didn't kill you," she answered nonchalantly while replacing the IV bag.

"All I remember is something chasing me and me tripping." I decided to lay my head back down. "Julian... Is that who was chasing me? Why would he kill me?"

Her lips quirked up. "Julian tends to play with his prey. He must have liked you a lot to not eat you."

"Eat me?!"

"Well, yes," she mused. "A vampire's gotta eat."

"Vampire? There's—" I paused, feeling dizzy. "There's n—"

The woman pushed me back down and cooed, "Shhh. Your questions will be answered. I gave you some pain medicine. It will make you feel a little weird and make you tired. Get some rest."

Her curly, black hair bounced with each step she took out of the door. My vision became blurry as I fought to not fall back asleep.

"Vampires?" I whispered before darkness claimed me.