Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince
Chapter 10

My eyes nearly widened when he toldme his true title. A vampire prince. A living and breathing vampire that was aprince. One minute ago I had learned there were vampires that were alive andnot dead like the ones I ran across weekly. Now I had discovered that he wasroyalty like Krista had suggested when I first met her. But what did thatentail? I knew nothing about the vampire monarchy and I got the feeling that hethought I did.

“You’re an actual prince?” Thisquestion was the first to leave my mouth, not the more obvious, which I wouldsave for a later time and date. I didn’t want to discuss the why’s and how’shere.

He smiled perfectly. “Yes, so whenI told you it’s my job to know who’s on my territory you’ll understand why now.In the better interests of my safety I need to know every single vampire livingin the city and surrounding suburbs. Most know I exist and are not allowed tocome within a thousand yards of my home. Born vampires are allowed near me, butmost of the created ones are not. That’s only because they usually let go oftheir consciousness and give in to their desires, unless they’re created by oneof us, the born, and raised upon our guidelines. Those created by us develop asense of self awareness and actually blend into society adeptly.

“But you were created and weren’traised by one of our kind. You could pose a serious threat to me.”

I shook my head, nearly laughingwith the thought. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

He raised an eyebrow, not from awebut playfully like he didn’t believe me. “We’re just as strong as createdvampires. And I saw the look on your face when I used my compulsion. Yoursisn’t as strong right?”

I shook my head, unable to lieabout that. He would know.

“But my compulsion works on createdvampires, while yours doesn’t.”

I blinked. I did not know that…More interesting thoughts sprang to mind, but I had to quiet them so I couldhear the rest of what he said.

“I suppose I could use it on you,and make you forget about me. I could make you leave here and never come back.But you’re already invested here, something I could not have foreseen. Yourabsence would be missed by Krista, Mallory, Seth and Nate.”

I couldn’t believe he knew theirnames. He never acknowledged their presence whenever they passed him.

“And to a certain degree, I wouldmiss your wonderful scent. It’s been refreshing to smell something that doesn’ttaste like vinegar in my mouth.” He pulled out a bottle of grape soda andopened the lid. “Want some?” he offered.

I shook my head. “I’m not hungry.”

“When did you last feed?” he askedafter he took a swig of the dark liquid.

I didn’t see how it was any of hisbusiness what my eating habits were like. But I didn’t see any alternative inhow I should answer his question so I went with the truth. “A day or so ago.”

He swallowed some more of thenectar. “And what exactly did you do with the body?”

I shook my head thinking hisquestion rude and impertinent. “I don’t leave messes.”

He smiled and set his drink down.“I’m liking you more and more.” He glanced back at the set of doors that led tothe rest of the school. From one of the windows I spotted his friends’ faces asthey awaited him in the hall. He caught my attention once more and leanedforward. “Just between us, we need to keep your creation a secret from them.They’re my body guards and if they knew what you were you’d be dead, and I’m notready to let go of you yet.”

I crossed my arms against my chest.So he thought that he had power over me here. Boy was he in for a shock. “It’snice to know that you’re not threatening my life at the moment, but it wouldn’tmatter much even if you did.”

His body rippled somewhat. Hemust’ve held back a laugh. “You have spunk.”

“It comes with the territory.”

We sat in peace for a few minutes.But eventually he broke the silence once again.

“Where are you staying?”

I raised an eyebrow. That was apersonal question. “Why do you wish to know?” I questioned him.

He shrugged. “Do you have anyfamily or friends here?”

He must’ve thought me as a threatjust from the way he phrased that question. Either that or he thought I hauntedmy beloved ones. Unfortunately for him, they were all dead and buried. “Itravel alone.”

He eyed me. “So you’re probably ina motel.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course he’ddraw that conclusion. And up until a few days ago, I practically lived in one.If I had my way, he’d never know.

The dark blue in his eyes twinkled,like a falling star. “I’ll figure it out eventually, you know. I have my ways, and I know people.”

This time he was caught by his ownwords. I smiled, unable to hide how amused I was by the conversation. “You canuse that magic of yours on them all you want, but I’m not sharing the locationof my only hide-a-way that easily.”

He studied my face for a fewseconds. His blue eyes shone like a lamp lighting the path. I wondered how hecould pull off an effect like that. “I could use it on you,” he drooled out.

It took me a moment to figure outwhat he was doing. He actually turned iton. He used his compulsion on me like I was a common mule that belonged to him.The sad truth was his ability didn’t have the same effect it had on Mrs.Hawkins. Instead of bending to his wishes, my mind rejected the power andinstead I caught a glimpse of how it felt to be on the receiving end. Hisentire body shone like the constellations. The light was not only in his eyes,but surrounding his head like a halo, and glowing from underneath his skin.From this perspective, he looked… inhuman. It was no wonder that peoplecouldn’t look away from him when his appearance changed so dramatically. Eventhough the effect didn’t work on me, I had a hard time looking away myself, butmostly because he was so handsome in this form.

“You can’t,” I blurted out,breaking his spell.

His smile disappeared and the glowreceded instantly. He turned back into his normal everyday appearance while hisfacial expression morphed into confusion. “How can you thwart that? Or do youhave some unique growth on your brain that blocks the communication?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know the why’sor how’s of why it was that I was able to block compulsion. Maybe it wasbecause of what I was. But he needn’t know those details yet. “Possibly thelatter.”

The bell rang again. Another hourand a half had gone by. I arose from my chair and snatched up my bag. “Look, asmuch as I want to keep having this lovely discussion I have homework to catchup on.”

He stood up as well. “I could helpyou out?” he offered.

That was an unusual request. Fromthe look of things I got the impression he didn’t do homework, but compulsedhis teachers into giving him no work at all. I shook my head. “Unlike you, Iactually want to learn something here.”

I didn’t wait for his reply,figuring that he would only offer his compulsory skills on my teacher’smemories and modify them to his liking. I made a break for the doors. He caughtup to me in the hall once more, still holding his bottle of grape soda.

“We still need to talk,” heprodded. “I’m not done with you yet.” He blocked my progress, extending his armout to the wall and blocking my path while he really turned on his compulsion.If I thought that his glowing body was the extent of his powers, I was deadwrong. His eyes glistened like two stars in the night sky, turning a shade oreplaceigo and holding a silver flame against the pupil. For the first time, Ididn’t just think that he was only handsome I thought he was probably the mostbeautiful person I had ever seen, especially his pair of eyes. They were sorich and colorful and lovely to gaze upon, I knew I hadn’t ever seen anythinglike them before. In fact, they were the first set that I was attracted to in mylong life.

But however he made his body morebeautiful towards me, more appealing, the effect didn’t work like he wanted itto. I was immune to his charms, whether inherent or not.

I sighed softly, giving him theimpression that I might cave and spill my guts, but really I was upset thatwhat I was about to say would ruin the moment and take away the galaxies Istared into. I pursed my lips, unable to tear my eyes away from such a prettysight. “It doesn’t work, Finn.”

As soon as the words were out of mymouth, the magic stopped and his eyes returned to the dark blue I wasaccustomed to. I truly met his attention rather than stare at the color in hiseyes, and threw him a smirk.

“You were unable to look away…” hewhispered, partially awed yet frightened.

I don’t know why my staring scaredhim so. “Maybe… but you can’t control me that way.” I ducked under his arm andcontinued on to my teacher’s classrooms so I could retrieve my homework. “LikeI said, I’m not your dog,” I stated under my breath. I knew he heard thecomment, but he didn’t catch up to me again. He let me go.

I had work to do. My teacherseagerly handed me the stack of homework and didn’t bother by asking where I wasall day which was a bit of a relief even though I knew their memories had beenmodified. I nearly gulped from the extra paper packets that were given - it wasa lot. I would be up all night with this stack, which was why I hated missingclasses. There was only one class I could skip and not be counted absent ormissing, and that was my free period. Instead of studying in the library oroutside in the courtyard for my sixth class, I headed for home. But on the way,I stopped at a grocery store and bought a few snacks, like a box of hot cocoa.It was going to be a long night and I wanted something familiar and deliciousfor a snack.