Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

What do you want to eat?”

“I get to choose?”

“Not if you don’t answer me within the next ten seconds.”

I blanked at Vincent, trying desperately to think of something I wanted to eat. Nothing was coming to mind. “Um, chicken?” I finally asked, more than said.

Vincent snorted. “Chicken? Really?”

“I-I can choose something else then,” I murmured, biting my lip. Did he have to be such a jerk?

“Oh come on, it was a joke. You know, since you act like a chicken.” Vincent rolled his eyes as he moved towards the fridge. “Are you always like that?”

“Like what?”

“So passive .”

A frown crossed my face. “I’m not passive. I just-”

“Shut up.”

I abruptly shut my mouth, grinding my teeth in annoyance. What a jerk!

“See? Passive,” Vincent pointed out. “If you weren’t you wouldn’t have shut up just then, would you?”

“Actually, I would, since you’re a fricking vampire who could kill me if I didn’t obey you!” I snapped back at him, feeling my cheeks warm up in embarrassment.

He smirked at me. “Passive and yet feisty. You don’t get many vampires like that around here. Most are just flirtatious whores that want you because of your status.”

I blinked at his harsh words, yet amused face. “I…”

“Do you want any seasoning on your chicken?” he asked, changing the subject.

“You actually have chicken?”

He gave me an “are-you-stupid?” look. “It’s not like we try to starve to death. I thought you already knew we ate regular food too? Or are you as stupid as you look and forgot already?”

Would it kill him to be nice for three seconds? “I’d like seasoning… Please,” I added as a second thought. “So if you guys eat human food, why do you need blood to survive?”

“We don’t make enough blood to keep ourselves alive,” Vincent responded simply.

That threw me off guard. “But aren’t you dead?”

Vincent’s head snapped towards me and he gave me the glare he gave me when we first met. My breath caught in my throat and I took a step back, suddenly terrified of the vampire before me. After a few seconds he set his jaw and relaxed, closing his eyes for a moment. I tried to relax as well, but found I couldn’t calm my heart.

“We’re not dead,” he told me calmly.

“Y-you’re not?”

Without warning, he was in front of me, barely an inch away. My eyes grew wide as I took in his emerald orbs. His cool hand gripped my roughly. I tried to pull it away, but he held it tight, making me wince.

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“Feel carefully,” he growled, pressing my palm to his chest, where his heart was supposed to be.

I held my breath, my eyes unable to break from his gaze. After a few moments, I grew confused. What was I supposed to be feeling for? His nonexistent heartbeat? Was this supposed to prove something? Why… A quiet gasp of surprise left my lips as I felt the tiniest, feeblest reverberation through his chest.

“I don’t know who taught you about vampires,” Vincent started in a dangerously low voice. “But whatever you do know, I can guarantee it’s wrong. Humans know nothing about us.”

“I’m sorry,” I breathed, unable to pull my hand away from his chest. In fact, I couldn’t even move. Something was rooting me to the spot.

Vincent abruptly dropped my hand, flashing away from me. “Don’t apologize,” he snapped. “It’s not your fault humanity is ignorant.”

I licked my lips, trying to make the dry feeling in my mouth disappear. “No, I should apologize. I’m just as benighted as every other human. Before I met you and your family, I just assumed vampires were exactly how they are portrayed in movies.”

“Sparkly?”

I smiled. “I was thinking more 30 Days of Night than Twilight .”

” 30 Days of Night is more correct,” Vincent responded flatly. “While it may not be completely correct, there are vampires that do live by brutally attacking humans. The rouges.”

“Rouges?”

He gave me an irritated look. “Look, I’m here to cook you dinner, not answer all your stupid questions.”

“Well sorry for asking stupid questions! You said yourself humans know nothing about your kind! I was just trying to learn something! What is with you? You’re talkative one second and then the next you’re an arrogant jerk!”

Vincent scowled at me. “I think I liked you better when you were the timid mouse.”

I stared at him in outrage. “Look, I don’t like you having to baby sit me just as much as you don’t, but I’m your responsibility! If we just argue all the time it’s not going to be a pleasant experience for either of us!”

“It’s hard not to argue with an idiot.”

“You are such a-”

“Vampires that don’t follow our laws,” he cut me off, turning the knob on the oven so fast I barely caught it. “That’s a rogue.”

I abruptly shut my mouth, cutting off any retort. Now he decides to answer my question . “Are rouges illegal?”

“Yup.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I started slowly, debating whether I should ask my next question or not. “But… Why do you have a heartbeat? Why is it so slow? I mean I understand you’re not dead. But if you’re not dead, why…?”

Vincent snapped the oven closed with a loud bang. I flinched at the loud noise. I hadn’t even seen him open the oven. He came over to me again, stopping at an uncomfortable proximity. “I don’t know the reason why our heartbeat is so slow, but it’s probably because we have much less blood than humans,” he told me. “The reason as to why we have one is because we are alive. It’s not like you can be born dead from a dead person. That’s more like a zombie.”

.

.

So vampires were born from other vampires… “Wait a second.”

“No what?”

“Fiona mentioned she was human at one point,” I notified him, furrowing my eyebrows. “How can she-”

My air was unexpectedly cut off as Vincent slammed me against the wall, holding me by my neck. I gasped for air as he gave me another of his death glares. “Don’t ever speak about that again.”

My eyes were beginning to water from my lack of oxygen. “I-I won’t,” I gasped, grasping at his hands. “Let me go!”

“Vincent!”

Vincent immediately let me go and I collapsed to my knees, taking in deep breaths. Did he have to be so physical? I was going to die before this week was over if he kept up like that! Maybe even earlier- I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up having a heart attack after one of his surprise attacks!

“Emily, are you okay?” a soft voice said from beside me.

My head snapped in the direction of the voice and I found myself staring at Sebastian. He gave me a concerned look, putting a hand to the small of my back, and helping me to stand. I rubbed my sore neck, silently praying there wouldn’t be a bruise in the morning.

“What are you doing here?” I heard Vincent demand.

“I came to make sure Emily wasn’t dead,” his brother responded, frowning. “I guess I came at the right time.”

I shook my head. “He wasn’t trying to kill me, Sebastian.”

“Then what exactly was going on?”

“He…” My voice caught as I remembered Vincent’s words. Would it count if I told Sebastian what we were talking about? It was better not to risk it. “He was just showing me how strong vampires were because I told him he couldn’t beat me in a wrestling match.”

Sebastian’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “You were talking about wrestling?”

“I was planning on escaping,” I lied.

He sighed lightly. “Emily, there’s no way to escape. I really am sorry, but you just can’t go home right now.”

“I know,” I responded, frowning. I probably knew that better than he did.

“As everything goes according to plan, you’ll be out of here by this time next week,” he encouraged cheerfully. “It won’t be that bad, I promise. That is of course as long as you don’t ask me to make you dinner. Unless you like the taste of charcoal.”

“Please,” Vincent muttered, rolling his eyes.

I ignored Vincent, feeling a grin slip onto my mouth as I stared at Sebastian. Why did he have to be such a good guy? “Well I don’t hate it.”

He chuckled. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?” Vincent commented in an amused voice. “The heir to the throne cooking dinner for a lowly human?”

“Lowly?” I repeated, narrowing my eyes at him. Did vampires think they were better than humans or something?

He smirked back at me. “If you’re the heir to a throne in human society, then forgive me, but since you’re obviously not, yes, you’re lowly.”

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