Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince
Chapter 25

I returned back to the school,right as soon as lunch started. But before I went to the cafeteria so I couldbrief Emery and Thalia on my plans for the evening, I headed to the office toexplain my absence from earlier. But as it turned out, I only missed theassembly and nothing more, which the Principal wasn’t as put off by my disappearanceas I thought she might be.

Mrs. Hawkins didn’t bat an eye atthe fact that I had missed the school wide event. Somehow I knew this newrevelation behind her sudden dismissal of my absence was caused by Finn. Thatmeant that Emery told him where it was I had gone. She shooed me out of theoffice, and I reluctantly headed towards the cafeteria.

I walked in and quickly spottedhim, sitting down on the opposite side of the room and not where he usuallyperched himself in the midst of all our classmates. He actually sat at my table, the one surrounded by myfriends. Only Emery and Thalia weren’t seated with him, but seated separatelyin the middle of the room at their own table. I wondered why he would seathimself with my friends, especially after he pleaded with me to stay anotherweek, knowing that I needed to break the ties with them if I was leaving. Thisbehavior was totally uncharacteristic of him.

I strode in their direction, butpaused at Emery and Thalia’s table for a quick word. Emery glanced up at me,giving me his all encompassing gaze that he suspected what I had been up to,but he didn’t really know the gist at all. I twitched my mouth at hisexpression.

“Why aren’t you two sitting withFinn?” I whispered.

Emery cocked his head. “He chose togo over there.”

“He didn’t invite us,” Thaliaexplained.

I rolled my eyes, of course hewouldn’t. “Then I’ll invite you. Come on, pull up a chair. If he’s addinghimself to my table, so are you two.”

I made my way over to the emptyseat that was reserved for me. Again the lunchroom went quiet in anticipationas Thalia and Emery followed me with their chairs in hand. I glanced sidewaysat Seth and his girlfriend, who was the more recent addition to our table, andasked for them to make room. They scooted around, and eventually we had roomfor two more chairs.

I took my seat and glanced at eachof my friends’ faces. “I know you all met Finn the other night, but this isThalia and Emery.” I pointed to each person in particular. “They’re Finn’sfriends.”

Chatter broke out instantly. Acrossthe table, Finn threw me a smirk.

Mallory nudged Thalia, who sat nextto her. “Okay, so I’ve always wanted to ask, but never had the courage. Wheredid you get that gorgeous necklace? It looks like something that came fromTiffany’s but I wasn’t quite sure on the carat or the manufacturer.”

I smiled, satisfied with myself. Ihad no fashion sense - I had never needed it. It made me happy to know that shehad someone other than Krista to talk to about clothing and jewelry. Whenevershe launched into a topic about fashion, I usually focused on some other soundthat would drown out their voices. I hated discussing trivial things like thatwhen there were so many other serious topics that were important.

Emery took advantage of thedistraction between his girlfriend and Mallory and whispered in my ear. “Didyou replace what you were looking for?”

Across the table, Finn’s eyesnarrowed. Even with the chatter that filled the area around us including all ofthe other people that talked in the lunchroom amid the other random noises, hehad heard what Emery asked me. I wondered if Emery had told Finn what exactlyI’d been up to instead of giving him the gist, but the questioning look on hisface told me otherwise.

Before I got a chance to clarify,Nathan caught my attention by waving at me and blurted out a question I wasn’tprepared for. “So how did you like the assembly? We all fell asleep.”

I shrugged. It must’ve been boringfrom the snickers my friends responded with. When I glanced at each of them inturn, Krista looked like she was holding in laughter. “I didn’t really payattention.” It wasn’t a complete lie since I wasn’t present for it, butsomething told me I wouldn’t have heard it anyhow because my thoughts werefocused elsewhere.

Seth peered over at me. “When weleft Chemistry you were still in your seat. Did you join us later? I didn’t seeyou come in.”

Krista shook her head. “Yeah, cometo think of it, I don’t recall you being there.”

“She was with me,” Finn interjectedquickly before any more doubts on the subject could be organized.

All of my friends’ eyebrows raisedinto their hairlines. And then the chatter started anew, but on a completelydifferent topic - the fact that we were an official couple.

“When did you start hooking up?”

“Awesome girl, no wonder he’ssitting here with us.”

“I saw it coming…”

I sighed heavily. This was what I wastrying to avoid. I didn’t need another reason that tied me here. I needed toput distance between myself and the others so that I could flee here easily ifI became a threat, which my odds increased every day I spent with them. But itseemed like Finn took the opportunity to attach me more to these people than Ialready was. He wasn’t just attaching me to my friends, but also to the world Inow lived in.

Even as the others discussed thesupposed relationship between us, Finn and I stared at each other. Neither ofus said a word, but we communicated through our eyes. I glared at him, knowinghe’d done this on purpose while he languidly stared back at me with pronouncedhumor in his eyes. He enjoyed this teasing and playfulness of the situation,even if not one word of what my friends spoke of was true.

Finally the bell rang, and theothers grabbed their stuff headed for the door. They waved bye to me, but Ididn’t notice. Once everyone else filed out of the room, I was left alone oncemore with Finn and his bodyguards.

“Are you trying to anchor me here?”I retorted at him as quickly as I could before he could say anything back.

His smirk widened into a smile. “Idon’t see what the big deal is. You were anchored here the first day I noticedyou.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyesor shake my head and glare at him with pure fury. He was not making thingseasier for me.

Thank goodness Emery distracted mefrom the stare down. “So did you replace what you were looking for?” he repeated.

This time Thalia glanced at me,wondering what was going on between us. Finn too looked intrigued.

I caught Emery’s eyes and loweredmy voice, knowing that the other two would still hear me. “You didn’t tellthem?”

He shook his head. “I’m giving youa chance to explain.”

Finn fiddled with his grape juicebottle. “What is he talking about Abelia?”

I really didn’t want to reveal thishere and now, but I had no choice. “Ms. Ingram has found a link of your familymarrying into the Cassian’s through old newspapers. She already knows of theCassian Coven, being a vampire hunter and raised with the knowledge that youall were schooled in.”

Finn stopped moving the bottlebetween his fingers. He actually for once didn’t look relaxed. His body hadstopped moving completely - only by his breath did I know he was still alive,otherwise he looked like a stone statue. “She knows,” he finally breathed afterseveral minutes.

“She’s not quite there yet, sheonly suspects,” I interjected. “I’m trying to sway her from these thoughts,though it’s proving extremely difficult, but I think I found a solution.”

Emery leaned forward. “Tell himwhat she’s looking for.”

Thalia looked intrigued by thisstatement. Finn held no emotion. He instead met my eyes and understoodeverything at once, and though I knew I didn’t have to explain it for him, I’dhave to explain it for Thalia.

I took in a breath and began. “Shewants to fight and kill her own vampire. Even with as little training as she’shad, she will not survive. I promised her I would replace her one she could fight,and replace them I did.”

“Them?” Thalia questioned me, notmissing the wording I used. “You found more than one? And where?”

Emery touched her arm. “I take ityou went after one of the ones that we’re not allied with?”

I threw him a look. “If you meanthe crazed and wild ones that no one will miss from society, then yes. I founda whole nest of the created,” I explained with ease.

Finn leaned forward suddenly,breaking his statue-like pose. “She cannot take on a whole nest by herself.”

“I’m well aware of that,” I snappedback.

“Then what are you going to do?”

I smiled. “It’s simple. I’m goingto replace one leaving the nest tonight, lure him into an alleyway so that she canhave her shot. If she fails, she fails. If not, then we don’t have anything tofear. She wants her revenge. I believe if we satiate the part of her thathungers for the kills, she will back off. It’s either that or she’ll become toofrightened by the thing she’ll give up the notion that she can kill one byherself. A true vampire hunter shows no mercy, and they don’t live among thehuman populace, which is why I’ve never come across one before. They segregatethemselves away from their family and their society because they understand theimplications that come from that choice as a career. If a hunter kills a mateyou can be assured that the other mate will go after them and their entirefamily. It’s dangerous to be involved with anyone if you lead a lifestyle likethat. Ms. Ingram doesn’t know the first thing about killing a vampire, but onceshe feels it for herself, I believe she’ll back off. There are consequences shecan’t even dream of.”

I let that soak in for a while.Finn sighed and leant forward. “And what if she thirsts for more blood andcomes after us?”

I met his eyes. “Then it’s simple.I will kill her.” I hated talking about her death so easily, but death was apart of my life. I had seen it, lived it, and witnessed it. Death was somethingI couldn’t escape. But even though she was a simple human with a possiblefamily out there somewhere, it felt wrong talking about killing her. But I hadmade a promise, and I had warned her that if she got in my way I’d take herout.

Finn leaned back in his chair oncemore. “I guess then we need her to discover what it’s like to kill one of ourkind. If not, we’ll go to plan B.”

It seemed plan B was the plan forme to kill her since no one suggested what plan B entailed. I hoped it wouldn’tgo that far. “Alright. I’ll take care of it tonight.”

Emery frowned. “Tonight?”

I turned to him. From the look onhis face, this plan moved forward far too early for him. “Yes, tonight. Whenelse did you want me to do this? Next month?” Sarcasm dripped out of my mouthlike drool. I didn’t normally use sarcasm, but I felt it appropriate in thiscase, plus I used it whenever I was frustrated or tired.

Emery rolled his eyes. “Do you need us?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine onmy own. This won’t be the first time I’ve had to do this.”

Thalia went white. Her eyes widenedslightly. “You mean you’ve helped out other vampire hunters?”

I shook my head. “It’s not that.I’ve been dealing with death my entire life. It won’t be the first time I’vewitnessed something like what’s about to happen.”

She recovered herself. “Sorry, Ihaven’t had the chance to battle anything and have it threaten my life or thatof Finn’s. I know that I would attack them, but to hear you talk of it likeit’s the most natural thing in the world bothers me.”

I slowly stood up. “Take it from meand don’t wish for that kind of adventure.”

Finn was beside me before I couldblink. “Should I persuade Mrs. Hawkins for an explanation of your absences?”

This time I rolled my eyes. “You’reso buddy-buddy with her that she figures you’ll buy her a drink and then askher out to dinner. She didn’t bat one eye at my absence from the assembly, ofwhich I have no knowledge of discussing the topic with her before I left theschool. I figured you had something to do with this.”

He grinned at me, but kept his lipsclosed. “I see you’re getting used to my antics.”

“That’s not an antic. That’sbribery and something else that I can’t quite put my finger on…oh yes, there itis, manipulation. It’s malicious.” I met his gaze and bored my eyes into his.“Stop using your powers like you own the village.”

“But I do own the village,” heretorted.

“Well then act like you don’t,” Isnapped.

I stormed off to gym, arriving onlyfor the last fifteen minutes of class. I didn’t dress out and complained of astomach ache, but several kids gawked at me from the basketball court and Ibriefly caught jealousy mixed with envy written on their faces as they didn’tbelieve my excuse and looked to their own sense of intuition, which probablywasn’t a good thing.

Once I was free of the class, Iwrote a quick note and left it on Ms. Ingram’s desk. She wasn’t in her room,but the message was both clear and vague at the same time. If anyone else sawit, they wouldn’t know the kind of deal we had discussed, but that didn’tmatter much - she would know.