Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

The next few days rolled by without incident. I hadn’t seen that silver haired young man since the bowling ally and he was slowly easing out of my mind. Every now and again a random thought about him would pop up, but I’d shrug it away. It was weird he knew my name, but a lot of students at my school I didn’t know knew my name. It could’ve been one of them. When I walked the halls now I kept an eye open for the smoky eyed man.

Vincent, while not being quite the social butterfly, started being a little friendlier with my friends. Well, Alli and Leah at least. There was still some unspoken tension between him and Kai- which I didn’t understand. Unless Vincent thought Kai had a crush on me, or something. That was possible. Kai could be over friendly. And it was cute to think Vincent was jealous of him.

When Friday arrived again, my friends and I were planning out what we were going to do that night. To nobody’s surprise, Vincent was skulking in the corner while Kai did most of the planning. I personally didn’t care what we did as long as we went out. My brother had to stay home, so I didn’t want to subject Vincent to that. They still didn’t get along at all.

“I say bowling,” Leah suggested, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. “We should keep up the custom.”

Kai shook his head vehemently. “No, we did that last week. I say we go to the movies.”

“Or the carnival,” Alli suggested, cupping her elbow with her hand.

Leah gave her a crazy look. “There’s no carnival.”

“Yes there is,” she disagreed, shaking her head. “In the mall parking lot. I passed it yesterday and it wouldn’t only be opened on a Thursday and not a Friday, Leah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“I’m up for a carnival,” Kai said, a grin slipping onto his face. “How about you, Vivi?”

“I’m not going.”

I whirled around to stare at him. “What? But I want to go!”

Kai narrowed his eyes at me. “What does him not going have to do with you?”

“He, um-”

“It doesn’t. She can go.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “What? Really?”

Vincent shrugged. “Go for it. I have plans for tonight.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, with a pretty lady.”

Alli nudged him in the side with her elbow. “Eh? What’s this? I-Hate-The-World Vincent has a date?”

He shoved her away lightly, which to her, was roughly. “Shut up.”

“You have a date?” I repeated, an unusual tightness in my chest forming. Was that jealousy? Did he even know any girls to date? He never left my side throughout the school day, nor did he ever go out at night.

“Yes,” he stated, his sapphire eyes piercing into mine. “You don’t know her,” he emphasized.

Kai gave him a slap on the back. “Good going, Vincent!”

“Touch me again and I will break your fingers.”

Normally I would scold him for his words, but I was still in shock. Why would Vincent be going out on a date? He said he liked me! He even knew I liked him too, so why would he say yes to a date with someone? Unless he was the one to ask the girl… “You can’t go,” I blurted out.

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Everyone turned to look at me. Vincent smirked. “Why not?”

“I, uh, w-well I’m sure my parents wouldn’t let you. You do remember you’re hear because of your delinquency, right?”

“That never meant I was going to stop.”

Incredulity filled me as I stared at him. “But-”

“Someone’s jealous,” Alli sang tauntingly. “I never thought I’d see the day Emily got jealous.”

“I’m not!”

A hand appeared on my shoulder and I turned to see Kai shaking his head at me. “Wrong guy to get jealous over, Em.”

“I’m not jealous!”

Even Leah was giving me a pitying look. “There’s nothing you can do…”

“Vincent, can I talk to you alone for a second?” I muttered, grabbing his arm before waiting for his answer. Despite the fact I was using all the strength in my body to tug at him, he didn’t budge. Straining so hard I could feel the muscles in my neck tightening, I couldn’t to push him.

Without warning he started moving, causing me to tumble forward. My friends chuckled as my head went straight into his rear. Blushing, I erected myself and began to march away from them, rounding the corner to the stairwell. Within seconds Vincent caught up to me, smiling smugly again, holding the door open for me to pass through. “You wanted to talk?”

“What do you mean date?” I demanded, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. “Why are you going on a date? If you wanted to go on one, why not ask me?” The last words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Vincent cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you’d be up for another date.”

“Another?”

“Didn’t I say the movies was a date?”

I frowned. “Oh, yeah…”

“You don’t need to worry though. It’s not that kind of date. You don’t need to be

jealous .”

“I’m not! Geez! You’re a vampire! No way!”

His hand shot out to cover my mouth with enough force to cause my top lip to smash painfully into my front teeth. A muffled cry of pain left my lips and he gave me a harsh look. “Shut up.”

His words sent a shudder down my spine. An unreadable expression crossed his face, but I couldn’t determine what it was. It looked almost offended. After a moment of trying to pull his hand away, he finally released me. I licked my lip, feeling it burn painfully and tasting the tang of blood. “Ow…”

“Sorry,” he muttered, catching my chin in my hand. Without warning, he pressed his lips to mine in a deep kiss. Caught off guard, I tried to push him away as a blush rose to my cheeks. Unfortunately for me, he easily batted my hands away.

Part of me was enjoying the kiss while another part was panicking. What if someone walked in on us? Everyone knew we were living together. It would get incredibly awkward if they thought we were dating. The teasing would be endless. My worrying ceased when Vincent eventually pulled away, sliding his tongue over his bottom lip.

Giving him a disapproving look, I wiped my lips with the back of my hand, pulling it away to see blood. “Hey!” I cried, my head snapping back up so I could meet his eyes.

“What?”

“You did that for my blood, didn’t you?”

The corners of his lips twitched, but other than that he kept his face straight. Or at least tried to. He was failing miserably. “How could you accuse me of such a thing?” he inquired.

.

.

I scowled at him. “That’s gross!”

“Not when you essentially live off blood.”

“To me it is!”

He waved me off. “Are you planning on going to the carnival or not? If so, take Joel or Fiona with you.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“You know.”

“I thought you just said you had a date-”

“With my meal,” he clarified.

Realization set in and I wrinkled my nose. “Oh. In that case, go right on ahead. I’ll bring along Fiona if she’s interested.” And maybe I could drag Sebastian along as well…

“If you’re thinking about asking Sebastian, don’t. He’s busy tonight,” Vincent told me.

“How do you know?”

“I already asked him if he wanted to hunt for… my cat together,” he muttered as the door to the stairwell opened.

I nodded at him, watching as the passerby (Ben, one of the members of the baseball team) hurried past us, saying a quick hello. We exited the stairwell after that, going back to Leah, Kai, and Alli. They all had knowing expression on their faces that made my cheeks warm up. Hopefully not enough for them to notice though.

“So, are you going to go?” Kai questioned. “I’ll drive.”

“I’m up,” I told him, smiling. “But I’ll drive myself.”

“I’ll drive myself too,” Leah added. “No offense Kai, but you’re car sucks. It’s a hazard just look at.”

He stuck out his tongue. “Fine.”

“I haven’t been to a carnival in a long time. I’m pretty excited for some cotton candy,” I commented thoughtfully.

“I’m excited for the baked potatoes,” Alli said excitedly, her eyes lightening up. “If I could live off of those, I would.”

Leah laughed at her. “Yeah, but that’s a lot of starch. You’d be fat in no time.”

She rolled her eyes. “You take the fun out of everything, you know?”

“I’m just looking out for you.”

“So we’ll me up at eight?” Kai suggested, looking at all of us. “Make sure to bring a coat. It’s getting cold.”

Alli grinned widely. “That’s because there’s twenty-five days until Christmas.”

I blinked at her. “Wait, really?”

“Where have you been? It’s December first.”

It was already the first? That meant a month had passed since I’d met Vincent. Which meant it’d already been about two weeks since he came to live with me. And nothing had happened in that amount of time. There had been no attacks, not even any threats. Was he really needed after all? I glanced at him. He seemed to be thinking the same thing. Hopefully he wouldn’t think about leaving… Just in case.

“Eight?” Kai pressed, waiting for our answers.

“Sure,” Alli, Leah, and I chorused.

He nodded, turning to Vincent. “Sure you don’t want to come, Vivi?”

He shot Kai a dirty look. “Don’t call me that. And no, I don’t want to go if you’re going.”

“Ouch,” Kai responded, putting a hand to his heart. “Your words pierce me deep…”

.

.

“Shut up.”

I shook my head, smiling in amusement. “Come on, Vincent. Let’s get you home before you turn rabid.”

“Ha,” he said sarcastically. “Thanks to that comment, I get to drive.”

“What? No!”

“Too late,” he responded, dangling my keys in front of me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “How did you even get those?”

He smirked for a second before turning on his heel and heading for the school exit. Sighing, I said a quick goodbye to my friends and trotted after him.

* * * * *

At eight o’clock sharp I pulled up to the carnival parking lot. It was already dark, so the event was lit up brightly with different styles of lights. Four towering stadium lights were positioned at the four corners of the parking lot where the carnival was set up. From where I was, I could see countless tents and booths set up. Driving slowly, I maneuvered my car around all the people swarming the parking lot. Eventually I found and open spot and quickly pulled into it.

Kai was already waiting by the entrance when I came up to him. He grinned and waved excitedly as I hurried toward him. “I bought your wristband for you,” he told me, giving me a bright green piece of paper.

“Wrist band?” I repeated, furrowing my eyebrows as I slipped it around my wrist and snapped it into place.

“It’s to let everyone know you paid admission,” he informed me. “Apparently you have to pay this time to get in.”

I stared at the bracelet in annoyance. At least my sweatshirt would cover it. “Where are the others?”

“Already inside,” he responded, slinging an arm around my shoulder. “You’re late.”

“No I’m not,” I told him, glancing at my watch. “It’s only two after. I pulled in at exactly eight.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Rule of thumb, Em. Did you forget? Always arrive ten minutes earlier than our set time.”

“No one said that.”

“Well it just so happened everyone but you showed up early.”

I shoved him. “Whatever. Just bring me to where everyone is.”

“So Vincent didn’t want to come after all?” he asked, apparently deciding to change the subject. “Was it because of me?”

“No, he’s just, um, well he’s going on a date.” Might as well use the excuse he told them. Now that I knew it wasn’t a real date, it was okay.

Kai frowned. “Really? I thought he liked you.”

“You did?” I asked in surprise.

He snorted. “It’s really obvious.”

“It is?”

“Just not to you, I guess. Everyone else thinks so too.”

I shrugged it off. It wasn’t like it was untrue. A smile crept onto my lips. Kai noticed and smirked at me. “Guess you like him too, huh?”

“No-”

“Don’t deny it. It’s written in the stars.”

“Huh?”RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“A million miles away. A message to the main.”

It took me a second to realize the background music from the carnival. Kai smirked at me. “Seasons come and go, but I will never change. I’m on my way!”

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