Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince

So far today I had missed three classes. When the bell rang for lunch, the principal managed spotting me among the dense crowd. She practically mowed me down with her glare, so I quickly ran over and started making excuses. It took some explaining, but I finally finagled my way out of detention. Notes were sent to my teachers, excusing my absences from a minor cold. It didn’t take much to convince her, probably because I was last around Seth when he fell ill according to her knowledge. Plus I had called in sick the day after he left school, which added emphasis to my condition. I really didn’t care how she believed it, just that she believed. But before I got cleanly away from her, she mentioned that I had a tardy for this morning, even though I’d been in the school since it started. Apparently Ms. Ingram left out my surprise stay in her class for second period and naturally failed in excusing me from my other classes like she said she had. Already my calculus teacher queried Principal Hawkins as to whether I showed up for school or not.

After dodging a near miss with detention I headed off for lunch, already dreading the thunder dome. I really wished I could go elsewhere, even though I was drawn into the room, not only by my friends but also by Finn. I had promised we would talk, though I wished the conversation wouldn’t take place in this room. However, it was too late for me to turn back.

I walked into the area, concentrating on the pitter patter of feet and swept my eyes through the crowd. My friends sat at what was becoming our regular table, seemingly chatting up a storm. I could hear them from here, but didn’t want to focus my heightened hearing onto their conversation mostly because my eyes caught a peculiar sight. What distracted my attention happened in the middle of the room where Finn awaited me, seated at a separate table with only one other empty chair. His two pals sat nearby at their regular table in the middle of the throng. Both of them looked wary and tense upon my entrance, but that was probably from the conversation that might follow concerning Finn and me. Naturally because of the new shift in seating arrangements, a whole section of the cafeteria casted glances at Finn’s lonely position. I wondered who he bribed to let him have their table.

Several girls passed by Finn, going out of their way. They suggested that the empty seat was for them and them alone. He didn’t acknowledge their presence, nor did he push out the chair for anyone else. His foot was wrapped around one of the legs, keeping it firmly in place. I walked into the room and headed directly for my friend’s table first, because I owed them an explanation. As I neared them, they noticed and welcomed me with smiles and waves. I really wanted to sit down next to Mallory with my back at the window. But once I reached the middle, Finn made a small noise and moved the chair slightly. I paused in place, completely distracted now.

From the corner of my eye, he languidly fixed his gaze upon me. His expression looked smug. He must’ve planned this from the beginning. Already my friends had noticed the change and shift in my attention from his reaction. He wished we would talk now, in the cafeteria, surrounded by countless teenagers eager for gossip. I was sure his gesture caused such a stir currently.

“Why don’t you sit?” he suggested casually as though nothing was wrong.

I frowned while turning my head so I could return his gaze. “My friends are expecting me.”

I wasn’t in the mood to play his game today. Plus I didn’t want to have our talk here, in front of everyone. Already I spotted Krista’s mouth drop open in shock. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Mallory looked the same way, only more introverted than Krista’s outlandish display. Even Nate and Seth were in shock, and I knew exactly why.

I made a slight movement with my feet, planning on heading to the table despite his wishes, but the empty chair Finn held on to with his foot suddenly flew out from under the table, blocking my path. “Sit.”

This time I scowled and threw him a fiery look. “I’m not your dog.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, his chair scraped across the floor and he stood up, like my equal when he clearly didn’t treat me that way. The effect his gesture had on the entire room was instantaneous. Everyone got quiet. Every single person stopped what they were doing and stared at the two of us. Pairs of eyes I had never seen clearly before until now met my face, while they switched their gazes back and forth between our faces. A few of the girls frowned at me, probably full of jealousy and envy for he paid me attention instead of them. But despite how they felt, they all waited for my reaction, which frightened and excited me all at the same time.

“Abelia Harper.” He announced my full name to the entire lunchroom. If people didn’t know me before, they certainly did now. “Will you please join me?”

There were so many eyes on my body that the feeling of being stared at was overwhelming. From my point of view, most were shocked by his sudden offer, but there were others, mostly girls, who looked murderous. Only one thought crossed my mind. He had put me on the spot when I had devoted my life in remaining inconspicuous. Now it was not the case.

I tried so hard remaining anonymous and unknown, and that plan unraveled faster than I could thwart his intentions. If anything bad happened, I would be forced to move… again. I was invested now, something I wished to avoid.

If I didn’t sit with him, the gesture could be disastrous. He obviously knew what I was otherwise he wouldn’t have made the flamboyant expression. But his curiosity of me didn’t make him flinch like the others when they found out, unless this was all a show while he planned for my downfall. Although, he wasn’t like Ms. Ingram who tried attacking outright, so I knew that his intentions might be somewhat honorable. It was possible I had found someone who admired my uniqueness and wasn’t intimidated by it.

But there was only one way to find out if he respected me.

I whirled around, deciding quickly what it was I should do, and planted myself in the chair in one fluid movement. He followed suit and returned to his lazy composure. He leaned against the back of his chair pushing it slightly off the ground while giving me that pointedly creepy puzzling facial expression he always stared at me with.

Chatter resumed in the lunchroom once we were seated, but it was more vibrant than ever. I actively focused in on the rain falling outside the building, because it was softer than what took place in the room currently. The soft pitter patter of water on the roof replaced the stomping feet and hurried footfalls. People suddenly took an interest in the development between Finn and I, and they squished themselves in between their classmates just to discuss the situation.

I flashed my burning eyes at Finn, making sure I backed them up with some power. He needed to know at once how dangerous I was, and that I could kill him at any moment. I knew he wouldn’t miss the gesture. “How dare you draw attention to me,” I nearly growled.

He smiled slightly, never taking his eyes off my person. For some strange reason I felt like my show of power was lost on him. He apparently wasn’t intimidated by me when he should be. “How dare you reject my first offer,” he retorted quite easily.

So that’s what it all boiled down to. We were at an impasse.

We remained staring at each other for the majority of lunch as though if one of us tore our eyes away from the other we would forfeit our life. The groups around us talked nonstop about our odd behavior, but I stopped paying attention to them because they all said the same thing. Odd thing was I could stare at his eyes for days, without blinking and without moving, but once forty five minutes passed I realized that we were getting nowhere. Eventually someone would discover the truth about me, and that I didn’t want happening.

I shifted my face slightly and leant forward. “As much as I enjoy the staring contest, we’re running out of time. Spit it out and say whatever you need to.”

Another smile played at the corners of his lips, but he remained silent. Shortly after I spoke, the bell rang. Groups of students hastily left the area. Usually by this time, many would have already left the lunch room, but due to our staring contest and Finn’s odd behavior, people remained in the room desperately waiting for a conclusion. Currently they retreated, but only because it was time for fifth period and they couldn’t linger any longer.

I kept my focus on Finn’s eyes. He called the shots now. I couldn’t speak up anymore than the little headroom I gave. Now I was stuck, in a staring war, with a boy I knew nothing about except the fact that he wasn’t frightened by me. If I looked away and headed off for my last class, then I might never know what he wanted to talk about. But if I stayed, I could learn what brought us to this impasse.

What the heck, I had already missed three classes, four according to Principal Hawkins. I could miss another, only because it was gym anyway. Besides, I needed his trust. Some of the last people to leave the lunchroom were my friends with a few stragglers. They each cast glances in our direction as they headed off to whatever class they had, but I figured they were making sure we wouldn’t kill one another. For a while there I was sure my facial expression looked murderous. Now that I had relaxed a bit, I wasn’t feeling as angry as before. Currently I was intrigued by Finn’s resolve.

The bell signaling the start of next period rang. We both hadn’t moved, and I knew we wouldn’t until Finn said something or made a gesture of some sort. The doors opened once more, and eventually from my peripheral vision I spotted our Principal, glaring at us. Well she mostly glared at me, not at Finn. I resisted the urge to drop my gaze and give her my full attention. Obviously this day had turned sour.

“Miss Harper, you’re supposed to be in gym. Are you still not feeling well?” She demanded before turning her eyes onto Finn. Her voice softened at once, which surprised me. “Mr. Tierney, aren’t you supposed to be in calculus right now?”

Without turning his head Finn smiled and spoke to her, but when the words left his mouth they dripped like molasses on a creek bed. “Mrs. Hawkins,” he began.

I actually moved my eyes up so I could see her face. I watched as her worried and stern expression melted into a blissful complexion, full of understanding and adoration as he spoke.

“You saw us in class, where we belong. We were never here.”

She nodded slowly, believing his lie. “Ms. Harper and Mr. Tierney are in class.” Her eyes glazed over once more and she turned, heading for the door. “Excuse me,” she apologized and walked out of the room.

Now no one was left. There weren’t any lunch ladies or cleaning crew. It was only me and Finn. During the commotion from the student’s departure I hadn’t noticed how his pair of friends had left with the others. They weren’t here either, which was odd. The three were always together whenever I saw them, except for now.

He must’ve never thought of me as a threat, and judging from the way he used his compulsion on the principal I knew he was powerful, much more powerful than the average bear. I may have been a novice with some of my gifts, especially when I used them on humans, but I was still stronger than he. It helped that I was immune to other vampire’s compulsion, so I knew he couldn’t use that ability on me. However stronger I was, I understood quickly that he was fierce and adept in the way he used the compulsion. He was able to turn the principal into a walking rag doll without meeting her gaze. That kind of control took talent and practice. There were not many vampires I had come across who used the ability with the finesse and poise he did.

Now I understood why he desperately wanted to speak with me. We both had secrets of our own, secrets of power. I took in a deep breath, one of the first ones since we started the staring game.

He shifted his eyes slightly to the left. “You don’t have to tell me what you are. I already know you’re a vampire, a young one at that.”

I wasn’t going to argue this, there would be no point. But then he said something I hadn’t prepared myself for.

“You aren’t alone. You have never been alone.”

I arched an eyebrow. No matter who said it, that statement wasn’t correct. I would always be alone, but he didn’t have to know why. “Who says I was the only one?”

He shook his head slightly, but never stopped gazing into my eyes. “I knew from the first moment I smelled your blood that you were different. I have never smelled a scent like that before. Why do you think I keep staring at you the way I do?”

So he was conscious of his obscure behavior. I shrugged, desperately hoping he found me indifferent. “Maybe you just like to draw attention to me. Did you ever think I didn’t want to be found?”

His chair legs touched the floor and he straightened his back. His posture was no longer sloth like, but regal and commanding. “It is my job to know if there are vampires in my territory.”

I leaned forward and lifted my chin the tiniest bit. “Your territory? You know I’ve been here for three months, and you’ve never said a word to me. In fact, until Monday, I had never seen you here at the school before. That makes this my territory, as I was here first.”

He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “You read the journal, so you already know my darkest secret. But you know nothing of our world. Either that or you pretend to be ignorant.”

Ignorant? Me? I knew a lot about vampires, probably more than he did. I knew their weakness and how to track them. I was stronger than they were. I overpowered other vampires who tried taking advantage of me. But during this whole affair with the club and my friends and my life, I hadn’t realized that he was one of them, which was odd. I should’ve been able to pick up on the fact that he was dead.

I actively listened in for his vitals. They were there, subtly. His pulse paced at a slow rate of 50 beats per minute. He had blood in his body, circulating and not feeding his extremities in the way the undead vampire bodies were structured. His body was built the way a human’s was, where the pulsing blood fed the tissues via arteries. He even had veins upon closer observation.

Finn was alive… and not dead.

This new development startled me. He needed to know the truth of things. And I needed to know more about him. In all my years of wandering the world, I had never known there were two different types of vampires before. I was completely ignorant in this subject.

“You’re alive,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

His smile dropped. Now it was his turn to look confused. “You’re just now figuring that out?”

I froze in place, completely ashamed that I knew nothing about his kind, the alive kind, the mythical kind.

His body language shifted. He produced the journal from some hidden book bag I hadn’t seen before. He placed the thing on the table, in between us. “I assumed you read it.”

I stared down at the thing. No wonder he was afraid at first, knowing what I was. The black notebook scared me suddenly. Did he honestly know what I truly was? Or was he just guessing? I wished we could return to earlier, where we stared at each other, gleefully unaware of what was about to unfold. But it was too late. We were past formalities and flirtation. We both crossed a bridge without realizing we’d gotten this far. It was too late not to peek inside the box. Already knowing what I did, I wouldn’t go back and change the situation, no matter how daunting and serious it was.

“You were created weren’t you?” he asked me. Usually that kind of question was personal. But in this case, we were past personal issues.

I nodded slowly.

“But you have a conscious, a soul…” His voice was really quiet.

He let that sentence hang. I knew what he meant by it. The majority of vampires I met in my line of work were bad men and women. They played with their food and tormented humans, like their hearts were dead and full of evil. I had never known that there was a different sect of vampires that hadn’t given themselves over to their desires and embraced the demon within.

“You didn’t read it did you?” he whispered suddenly.

My eyes met his, and in the depths of his dark blue irises I saw forgiveness and regret. I shook my head. “No.”

He pocketed the journal once more. “You already know too much. I’ve given myself away, unknowingly.”

“It’s too late to go back,” I whispered, already following his thoughts.

He nodded, agreeing with me. “I think it would be best to tell you who I am, and go from there.”

I didn’t respond. I was too overcome with shock. I imagined he had his own personal shock to deal with, but this realization of born and created vampires I couldn’t shake from my mind.

“My family has resided in this area for many centuries. They were a part of the first colonizers to land on America’s shores. Most of the immigrants knew that we were different right from the start and so we flocked north, living away from the majority of society, which is how we own a lot of the land and establishments here. Our ancestry though traces back to the Tierney’s of Ireland and the Cassian’s of ancient Greece. My name is Orion Finn, and I am the last prince of the Cassian Coven.”