Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince

I waited for him patiently. I chose the table, outside and away from the other patrons, where we could talk and not be overheard by anyone with human ears. The terrace was up high, overlooking the street. I never saw him arrive with the other people who milled about uncertainly. He was just all of a sudden there, standing among the mix of people below me, appearing in the space with hardly any noise or motion.

He made his way indoors and up the stairs, wearing a blue long sleeved shirt over a pair of khaki pants. He drew out the chair across from me and sat down under the umbrella that shielded us both from the November sun.

I drank my unsweetened tea slowly and placed it back on the table. He flashed his ID to the waitress and she returned with a bottle of some sort. It wasn’t grape juice, but some blood ridden drink that resembled tea. The idea that there was a blood flavored drink here bothered me. At this rate who here didn’t know what he was?

He pushed his sunglasses up and perched them on the top of his head, all the while gazing at me. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

I pointedly looked away from him, and his gorgeous blue eyes. There were times where I thought he couldn’t be real because he didn’t look like a normal kid. He sure didn’t act like it either. This was one of those days. “I’m here aren’t I?”

He sighed and leaned back in his metal chair, clearly appearing the way he always did, lazy and comfortable. “I apologize again for the actions of my sister.”

My eyes flicked back to his. I didn’t know he had a family, like a real family. It was odd to hear him say he even had a sister, and that meant he had a mother and a father who were both alive and vampires.

“Atria feels that she’s privileged and doesn’t follow orders, especially mine. I didn’t think she’d be there yesterday, though I think after what happened last night she won’t touch your friends again because of the scare you gave her.” He chuckled slightly, threw me a smirk and heaved a long drawn out sigh. “I didn’t know you could compel us.”

I froze in my thoughts. That was an odd thing to say. I could what? Compel them… vampires? I hadn’t known I had power like that. I knew that my power alone could stop them in their tracks, but my actual compulsion? I didn’t think I had turned it on at all last night, but only used a simple command that was followed because that usually worked. But he suggested actual full-fledged compulsion which was far more powerful than simple commands.

“Though, you knew our compulsion wouldn’t work on you beforehand.”

I realized what he was doing. He was trying to figure me out, verbally. He voiced his theories towards me, looking for confirmation. I nodded once because now that we both wondered about what it was I could do and what he could do, we were both studying each other like some sick weird and twisted science experiment. It was time to pack away the theories and voice our attentions aloud, otherwise we might end up in a war between the two of us and I didn’t want that when I had human friends involved. I somehow got the feeling he didn’t want that either. He may look fragile, but he was strong and powerful in his clan.

“It’s never worked that way,” I voiced the truth aloud.

He leaned forward suddenly like he wanted to be closer, like he was fascinated by whatever concept of my being formed in his mind. “What are you really?” he mused.

I averted my gaze from his and purposefully didn’t answer the question. He was better off not knowing. By now it was clear to him I was no ordinary vampire. Usually humans found out what I was first, and not the vampires. This whole situation was entirely different and new, and I didn’t know how I should react. Knowing from what I knew about humans and their reactions, he should know as little as possible.

“You’ll never tell me will you?”

His question interrupted my thoughts. I didn’t have to respond, though. My answer needn’t be given aloud when his second question was more of a statement rather than an inquiry. He knew I wouldn’t tell him anything about me willingly.

“Despite the fact that you do not know about my world and yet have this incredible insight on the life of vampires, I feel the need that I should let you in on other details that will be important later,” he stressed.

That had my attention. I met his gaze once more. “Like what?”

“Like my family.”

I blinked several times. Why would I want to know something like that? How was his family any different than other families or vampires?

“My family owns the Red Curtain and some of the other shops in the square as well. In fact, we own most of the city and surrounding countryside, if you’re talking in land ownership.” His tone held a slight sneer, but it was covered mostly in matter-of-fact cadences.

I resisted the urge to backfire, but not all of my agitation escaped my mind. What he stated was true now that I had time to think about it. I hated the idea that he was a part of the debacle at the club, but now I didn’t know how I truly felt about the fact that his family owned more than land and properties than I could possibly imagine. He had tried warning me, and already he searched for where I resided, but there were much bigger implications stated here than this simple fact. Did I live on his territory? Did I hunt on his territory? How had this piece of information escaped me?

I silently shook my head. His revelation had my mind running around in circles as new questions formed and they went unanswered leaving me to guess if what he said was a warning or if I was already too late and now receiving the penalty. “I sort of figured that out about your family owning the Red Curtain.”

“We needed a place to be ourselves, yet remain inconspicuous. It’s quite a modern idea.” He had relaxed his body again while I debated in my mind.

I snorted that time. “Spare me the description. We all know what that club really is.” Silence drifted between us. I pointedly met his gaze when he didn’t respond. “It’s a feeder club. Call it what you want, but you feed, you lie, and you allure. I stayed outside last night and listened to the conversations of the humans leaving the establishment. None of whom ever visits there remembers anything but about how good they felt. They don’t remember who they met or who they talked to, what they talked about, what they did… the list is never ending. And yet they return, night after night, letting you guys use them and feed from them and do heaven knows what else, and they never remember any of the experience.” I let that sink in before I continued. He needed to understand that I understood his breed more than he thought I did. “I’m only glad I rescued Nate before those two blonds completely drained him.”

“They would never do that,” he retorted much too quickly.

“They nearly did!” I snapped back. My response may have been too loud. Several other couples who dined up here glanced in our direction. I withdrew myself and controlled my tongue once more. We didn’t need any more outbursts.

He waited until the patron’s attentions focused elsewhere before continuing our discussion. “It doesn’t matter. I apologized for my sister’s rash action. Where you are concerned, all you need to know is that I don’t do those things. I never have.”

“Yet you still go there,” I accused. “You still participate, you allow it.”

His eyes moved away from me for the first time since he started staring at me. But when they met mine again they were full of hurt and anger. “I have to show my face to them. It’s required of my family. Once a week I have to attend and parade myself around that place and show them that I am alive. It is by my wish that I get to do half the things I want to. It is by their wish that I can’t be completely isolated otherwise I would have my ultimate goal granted. But it’s not so simple. My life has never been that simple.”

I was a loner. I only knew how to survive on my own. I didn’t understand how he couldn’t just walk away when I could. “So stop going,” I stressed. “I know you don’t do those awful things, but you still partake in the acts by putting up with that kind of behavior. It doesn’t matter if you got a few of them to back off and not partake of my friend’s blood. Not all of them listened. They’ll still try to break the rules, just like those girls.”

“Atria,” he reminded me. “And Celestia. Those are their names. My sister and our cousin.”

I shook my head. “Well my family never acted like that.”

“And where are they now?” The second the question left his mouth he regretted it.

I stood up quickly as the rage burned anew in me, and shook my head at him. How dare he… how dare he even think to ask me something like that?

I was out of the balcony and into the street before he could stop me. But I didn’t completely escape. A black limousine pulled up and the driver rolled down the window. I knew he was responsible for this before I saw him standing there. Finn stood behind me, having followed my footsteps. I stopped, knowing I couldn’t move too quickly in view of the public. Escape was impossible at the moment.

“Sir, you’ve been called back home,” the driver announced.

Finn didn’t mutter a thanks or anything grateful as the window rolled back up. But he did mumble, “Order’s more like it,” so quietly I barely heard it.

I turned back to him, making sure I didn’t have tears streaking my face. He had hit a nerve. “What do you want?”

“I went about this the wrong way, and I’m sorry.”

He was apologizing? To me?

He slid his hands into his pockets and squared his shoulders. “I don’t want us at odds with each other. I want us to be friends. But if you’re my friend, you have to know about my life. Whether it comes off as arrogant or selfish as it is, you need to know I was raised with pride. It is a part of who I am, and a part of being a Tierney.”

The window cracked a bit. He cursed softly and bent down to the driver. “Go to the next street and wait for me there. I was out running errands.”

The man drove off.

I shook my head. “You have to go.”

He touched my shoulder and the act alone sent shivers down my spine. It wasn’t the creepy kind but the exciting electrical zingers that make you pause and reflect on what just happened. It was also the kind that made me wish he would touch my skin more often, no matter how much that revolted me.

“I’m wanted back home, but I don’t want our conversation to end here. Will you meet me before school tomorrow?”

I swallowed, not trusting myself to speak. “Where?” I squeaked out, nearly spilling tears onto the sidewalk.

“In the parking lot, by my car.”

I sighed as he dropped his arm. I hated that his touch made me feel things I didn’t want to feel, plus I didn’t want him knowing exactly how I felt about his touch and close proximity. I didn’t want him thinking he had some power over me, if that’s what it was. “Alright. I’ll meet you.”

He smiled and for the first time since I talked to him or spotted him at school he looked genuinely happy. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Don’t be late.”

I watched him walk away from me, back down the sidewalk toward the limo that waited for his presence. As he got into the cab, the driver asked how his shopping went. The car pulled away and I knew then it was time for me to head home. I took the bus back, not bothering to buy anything. Already I felt the drain on my strength and recognized the signs that I needed to feed soon. Hopefully I could find a guy with extra cash on him, like the last one. But I wasn’t stressed yet, and I didn’t need sustenance any time soon.

I eagerly went back home, knowing that I’d see him come Monday morning. It was time for rest, plus I needed to figure out why I felt the way I did when his skin touched mine.