edited

|Adara De Clare|

I inhale then I exhale. I do it a few more times, I count the number of breaths I let out. I count the number of plants I can see in the garden. I don't look at Zeke I just pray in my head that he doesn't tell Nikolai about it.

I-I don't want him to know. It's my business and my business only, he didn't need to dig into my past to see if I'd hurt Nikolai or not. Matter of fact, it's Nikolai who'd hurt me. He's a vampire for Christ's sake and I'm a human, nothing but a mere, weak, puny human. The day I hurt Nikolai would be the day creatures from hell rise.

Zeke looks at me for a split second before explaining why I was crying to Nikolai. "I didn't do anything man, alright. We were asking her questions and she became very nervous so we stopped and went on to small talk, then she got up and walked off. I followed her because she looked riddled with anxiety and of course, she was, she was in an event full of people she doesn't know. I mean come on, Nikolai! She's literally the smallest one here and all those people are monsters who'd laugh at her for doing the simplest thing. I saw her come in here and she started to cry so I came in to help her." He lies without even having to think about anything, and my eyes widen a little before acting natural.

Nikolai looks at me as if to confirm things then he looks back at the Prince who holds my secret in his hands. "Alright, thanks, Zeke." He tells his friend then he turns to me, holding both my shoulders, "I'm so sorry that I left. I promised you that I wouldn't and I did." He apologizes and I crack a toothy smile.

His eyes sparkle, "W-What? What is it?"

"It's okay, Nick, I'm alright, I just had an anxiety attack, that's all," I tell him, that's technically not a lie. I did have an anxiety attack.

He moves his head to the side, smiling, "That doesn't sound too good, Adara. C'mon, let's go." He takes hold of my hand, and butterflies flutter throughout my belly.

"Go where?" I ask him and he smiles showing sympathy for me, putting his hand on my cheek.

"Your house." He says and the edge of my lips twitch with a small smile.

"Okay, but what about Flora and the King, won't they be mad that we're gone, and won't it be rude for us to just leave like this?" I ask him.

"I don't care about them. Let them think whatever the hell they want. They don't own us so if you want to go home let's go. They shouldn't have a say in that whatsoever." He tells me and I nod.

I look back at Zeke as Nikolai picks me up, his hands under my knees and on my back, I mouth a 'thank you' to him and he fake-tips an imaginary hat with a smile.

Nikolai whooshes off with me and I bury my head in his neck to avoid the pressure of the amount of wind that's going to be slapping me in the face. Gusts of wind blow past me, tousling my hair all about, and I use my hands to hold down my dress so it doesn't blow up and show what it's not supposed to show.

We arrive at my house and he puts me down on the floor. He stands right in front of me with his hands in his pockets. Now that we're alone, I begin to feel. . .nervous. Why? I'm not too sure. I bite my lip as I stare at the different designs on my walls.

Nikolai takes some steps toward me, then he lifts my head. "Are you sure you're alright, Adara?" He looks at me with complete care and concern.

A small smile decorates my lips, "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just. . ." I trail off.

He tilts his head at me, "Just what?"

I look away from him again. How can I tell him that I kind of, sort of, maybe want to kiss him? Like, how does one get that out?

He brings his hands up to my cheeks, resting them there. "Do you wish to kiss me, angel?" He asks, and my head snaps up to look at him.

His eyes twinkle and a small smirk plays at the end of his lips. I was going to ask him how he knew that when I realize that he heard me say it in my head. Gosh, I'm so embarrassing!

"Um." I fiddle with my fingers, looking away from him.

"Look at me." He whispers, and I do.

"Do you want to kiss me?" He asks, his voice a whisper as he leans down.

I tip on my toes, and heat surrounds us as we get closer and closer to one another. "Yes." I breathe out.

Finally, we kiss. His lips meet mine in a slow and slight fashion. A few seconds pass, and one of his hands falls from my cheeks, resting upon my waist. He grips my waist, pulling me closer to him until my body is right against his.

I move my hands from his chest up to his neck and into his hair. His very thick, wonderful hair. Our kiss deepens with every passing second until we eventually pull away. He rests his forehead on mine, and we stay there for a little while.

Goodness, this man.

|Monday|

Nikolai wakes me up at seven, and he tells me to get ready for school. I really don't want to, I just want to stay in bed and sleep. No, however, I have to go to school. Apparently, learning is more important than my sleep. It's stupid. I absolutely hate it.

Now, I'm in the car and he's driving me to school. Honestly, I feel very relieved that I've left the event. It riddled me with anxiety and gave me severe nerves. I can't believe that I got an anxiety attack, I haven't had one in a year or so. I feel defeated, I was on a streak but I lost it.

At least I'm at school, the place that doesn't give me anxiety. The only form of stress that I get at school, is whether or not I'm going to pass the class.

"Hey, are you okay?" Nikolai breaks me out of my train of thought.

My head turns to him, "Yeah, I was just thinking about the mounts of projects that I have to do." I tell him.

He looks at me then he looks back at the road. "What projects do you have?"

"Well, I have that History project, not to mention I have a Biology quiz today which I have not studied for in no way, shape, or form," I say.

"Well, it's only one project and one quiz." He corrects me and I roll my eyes with a smile on my lips.

"That project is so long. I'm lucky I only have a few things left to do before I finish it. Hopefully, I get it done today." I say, sighing as I lay my head back on the seat.

"It's the one about royal families right?" He asks to make sure and I pout, placing my hand on my chest.

"Aww, you remember?"

He smiles, "Of course I do, why wouldn't I?"

"It's so sweet." I coo and he blushes.

"It's not sweet or anything, it's just a normal natural thing to remember stuff." He tries to avoid his feelings and he focuses extra hard on driving.

I laugh a little, "You don't have to be nervous about your feelings, Nick." I say and he swallows, looking nervously at the road.

"Yeah."

Nick drops me off at school, and I head to History class. The bell's about to ring in just a few minutes. I get to class and Mr. Rick is inside getting the materials ready for class. I sit at my desk taking out my computer.

I really need to finish this project soon. It's getting on my nerves, honestly. Just as I'm pulling up the project, Justina sits next to me.

"Hey, Justina." I greet her with a smile.

She reciprocates it, "Hey, Adara. How are you?" She asks.

"I'm alright. You?"

"I'm. . .good, y-yeah, I'm good." She says, getting out her computer.

I crease my eyebrows at her. Is she alright? She doesn't seem all that okay.

"Are you sure?" I ask her.

She nods, "Yeah, it's just my pa―pregnancy. My pregnancy." She corrects herself.

I turn back to my work. Why did she say it like that? Like she was going to say something else but got corrected. Like someone was telling her what to say, and she slipped up but corrected herself. Could it be?

•

"I think someone's controlling her," I tell Nick the second he closes my house door.

He pauses, his body tense and he turns around to me. With confusion and surprise evident on his face, he says, "You sure?"

I nod, "Yeah, I was talking to her and she paused when she was talking about the pregnancy then as if she heard someone in her ear telling her what to say and she said it. I mean, it does make sense."

He puts his hand on his chin, thinking about it. "You do have a point. I was doing some research on the man who bombed the movie theater and I found out that he had some connections with members apart of this organization who had some things to do with the mysterious deaths of some vampires."

My eyebrows shoot up. "Are you serious? What vampire deaths?"

"There were a few cases a while back, like ten or so years back, it was right around the time that law was passed for vampires to be able to go to school. Vampire students would go home from school then they'd go missing. While they'd be missing it would be revealed that they killed some human students and there were these protests. Then later the vampires who got accusations thrown their way turned up days later dead—tortured to death.

Everyone was happy about the perpetrator being caught so they didn't think to look behind it and see how suspicious the entire thing was. Typical humans." He says with distaste, making up his face.

I place my hands on my hips and a smile graces my lips, "Hey, I'm a human. I'd like to think that I'm not that bad."

I turn his frown upside down and he cracks a smile, showing his perfect, straight teeth. "Not you. I wasn't referring to you."

"So you're saying that I'm not a human?" I squint my eyes, playing with him a little.

He sighs deadpanning at me, "All humans but you are stupid and naïve." He clarifies and I frown, feeling glum.

"So, when you become King what are you going to do about the humans since you hate them so much?" I ask him, nibbling on my lower lip.

He breathes out, "What do you think I'll do? They need to learn their place in this world. It's embarrassing to see powerless folk be in places of power, higher than us vampires. It's degrading. When I become King they will be put in their place, simple."

My eyes widen and my mouth parts a little. B-Be put in their place? What on earth does he mean by that? He doesn't actually mean that, does he? I wonder if he knows how psychotic that sounds?

"Umm," I swallow then I take a breath, "This supposed organization hasn't been revealed to the public? Does anyone know about them? Do my parents?"

He shakes his head, "No one knows about it. They're extremely secretive, everything they do is either hard to trace back to anything or they make it look like natural causes." He tells me.

"Oh, so they're who you think has been creating all those rumors about you and controlling them?" I ask him and he nods.

"So what do we do now?"

He walks to me, placing his hand on my cheek. "We take them down."

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