Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince

I awoke in his arms. I had fallen asleep in them, dancing to the waltz that he hummed in my ear. The sun had arisen already, and strands of light broke through the curtains casting shadows on the wall I faced. His left arm was wrapped around my waist, while his right held my left hand. In sleep, his expression was peaceful and serene, almost childish and innocent. This felt surreal to me, as though I lived in a dream. Everything that happened last night flooded back into my mind, blinding me momentarily while I remembered the events.

His phone vibrated on the bed, and I felt like an earthquake shook my room. I somehow untangled myself and flew off the construct. Once I was standing on the floor, I knew that the earth wasn’t shaking. My senses were once more heightened, way above my normal average. This was probably caused from all of the blood I drank last night, in addition to the bottle of blood the witch had given me.

Thinking about the bottle gave me pause. Ms. Ingram was dead, killed by my hand after she changed herself into a vampire.

I sunk to the floor. No wonder I had trouble today. I would be out of commission all week. Jennifer Ingram once told me that she had warlock blood in her. If that was true, then there was no telling what might happen with my senses.

Finn stirred on the bed. He snatched his silver smart phone off the comforter and gazed at the messenger. With one click, the connection formed and he put his ear to the receiver.

Even though it was him that made the call, it felt like I had done it directly. I overheard the conversation between the two of them, like the phone was set on speaker.

“Finn, where are you?” some guy answered after the first ring. I had never heard his voice before, but I wondered if this was one of Finn’s many bodyguards. “Emery and Thalia are conscious and they’re asking about you.”

Finn rubbed his eyes as he answered. “I’ve been asleep. Are they discussing the attack?”

“Not yet. I’ve been telling them that you will be present for the brief. Your father’s already been here once asking for your presence in the hall.”

He groaned, sounding more like a train horn in my room. I covered my ears briefly, watching him sit up on my bed. “Tell him I’ll be right there. I’m on my way.” He closed the connection and found my eyes instantly. At first he was confused, wondering why I was on the floor. Then he looked down at the phone. “I take it you heard all of that?”

“Shhh,” I commanded him. “Your normal speaking tones sound like you’re yelling at me.”

He chuckled quietly. “Interesting,” he breathed. Once he stood up, he offered his hand, and I took it. He lifted me off the floor quite easily. “Listen,” he whispered, but he sounded like he talked in a normal voice. “My family cannot know about you, not yet.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course I knew that. Just because he didn’t have a bad reaction to what I was didn’t mean the rest of them wouldn’t.

“I need to return home. Emery and Thalia don’t need to remember that you were there last night. Jake is taking care of the details for me, and you’ll see him soon.” His hand found my cheek, and he caressed it.

If I thought that the burning sensation on my skin wasn’t hot enough, it got worse now, though the pain wasn’t pain but this overpowering emotion I couldn’t quite think through. Instead of speaking, my mouth dropped open and my breath came out in rasps, like I breathed heavily.

Finn’s fingers paused in his tracing of swirls on my cheek. He smiled. “You need time to calm down, I think.”

I nodded, not trusting my voice anymore. Now that he wasn’t touching me, the burning had stopped once more, but I missed the heat. “I take it you’ll be back later.” My teeth chattered, like I was cold. That was his effect on me.

“Should I draw you a bath before I leave?” he asked me, worried about the state I was in.

I shook my head hurriedly. “No, I’ve got it. I can handle myself.”

“I’ll send Jake by.”

“No. Go Finn, go take care of Emery and Thalia.” The sooner he got out of here the sooner I could fix myself.

His smile retracted for a moment as he stared at me, shivering from the blood rush.

Quickly, before I could react or stumble away from him, he swept me up into his arms, and kissed me right on the lips. Heat poured into me, filling me with warmth. My shivers stopped.

He let me go just as quickly and disappeared, already out of my apartment and headed for his manor on the outskirts of town. I stood there for several minutes after he left. I finally stumbled into my bathroom and turned on the water. Once I got into the warm bath, feeling like it was hotter than normal, I relaxed. I still felt the imprint of his mouth on mine, like it had been fixated permanently there.

I couldn’t believe it last night when he told me how he felt. I had thought that it was impossible for him to feel that way towards me, but now I knew better. He had fallen for me. He loved me.

I admitted to myself long ago that I liked the way his skin touched mine, though I wished that it didn’t make me feel that way. After what happened last night, and everything I told him, he didn’t run away screaming into the night. He stayed with me. He would never understand what I went through the night of my creation, but when I looked into the heart of his eyes after I told him, I saw forgiveness and love buried within their depths. Only one other person had ever looked at me like that, but he was not here. The solid truth, after I admitted it to myself, was that I liked Finn a little too much.

I loved him, like I loved Noah.

I stared out the window through the sliver between the curtains. The light was so bright and sunny that my eyes already hurt from the strain. I closed them and turned away. Things would be difficult now.

I should’ve ran when I had the chance.