Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)

Xavier was right. The hotel where Maximilian is staying conveniently located just a few minutes from the palace. After parking his car in front of the hotel, Xavier swung himself out of the car. He then walked around the car to open the door for me.

When I didn’t hop out of the car as expected, Xavier snapped at me, “What are you waiting for? Get out of the car now!”

I shook my head vehemently. “No!”

Impatiently, Xavier grabbed my arm and hustled me out of the car before marching me into the hotel lobby.

The arrival of Prince Maximilian took the hotel staffs who were in the reception area by surprise. They all finally bowed down before the prince.

Shortly after that, a man in a business suit whom I assumed to be the hotel manager went over to us and said politely, “It’s a great honour to welcome you to our hotel, Your Highness.”

Prince Xavier only replied with a curt nod.

“How may I help you, Your Highness?” the hotel manager enquired.

“I demand to see Prince Maximilian of Ambersky,” Xavier answered coldly.

“Just a moment, Your Highness. We’ll check it first,” said the hotel manager. Afterwards, he instructed the receptionist to check Prince Maximilian.

The woman behind the reception desk nodded in understanding, and she began to type something on her computer.

My heart was in my mouth as I waited for the receptionist’s response.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but you’re out of luck. Prince Maximilian is not here. He has just checked out ten minutes ago,” the receptionist said regretfully.

Relief surged through my heart after hearing the receptionist’s answer. It was very fortunate for me that Maximilian had already left when we got here.

Meanwhile, Prince Xavier’s face registered disappointment. “Oh thank you,” he said stiffly.

“It’s a pleasure, Your Highness,” the hotel manager responded.

“Come on, Angela!” Xavier seized hold of my hand, then bustled me out of the hotel and towards his car that was parked in front of the building.

The vampire prince gallantly opened the passenger side door for me.

Murmuring my thanks, I ducked my head and got into the car.

Shutting the door, Xavier walked around the car and hopped in before finally driving off.

I frowned in puzzlement as I realized that we were heading for the opposite direction of the palace.

“Xavier, I think this is not the right way to the palace,” I told him.

“I know,” said Xavier flatly, “We are not going back to the palace now.”

“Where are we going, then?” I inquired

“We’re going to run after Prince Maximilian. I’m sure he hasn’t gone too far from here yet,” replied Xavier.

It was hard not to smirk after I heard Xavier’s reply. 'Well, I doubt Maximilian is still around here. I mean, since he is with Jasper, so they must have teleported to the other side of the world by now. But there’s no way am I telling Xavier this. I want Xavier to find out the fact by himself,' I thought.

At last, we lapsed into silence as the car began to roll down the road with a long line of trees at the either side.

“Watch out!” I suddenly shrieked in fright when I saw a little boy darting across the road in front of us.

Xavier slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a halt just in time, narrowly missed hitting the boy.

Prince Xavier muttered a curse at the little boy. I touched him lightly on the arm, trying to pacify him.

Unbuckling his seat belt, Xavier unlocked the door and banged the door as he got out. Afterwards, he stomped angrily towards the boy who was now sitting down on the ground. The little boy was clearly still in a state of shock.

I hopped out of the car and caught up with Xavier.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing, crossing over the road recklessly like that? What if my car hit you?” he yelled at the boy.

The little boy looked up and his eyes rounded with horror when he found out that the man standing in front of him was the vampire prince.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.” The poor boy whimpered and cowered at Xavier’s feet.

“Stop it, Xavier! You scared the boy,” I told him off.

Prince Xavier took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

I crouched down beside the little boy and asked solicitously, “Are you okay, Dear?”

The little boy nodded his head feebly.

“What’s going on? Why were you running across the road like that? It’s very dangerous, you know,” I enquired gently.

The boy glanced at Xavier fearfully.

“That’s all right. You can tell me,” I convinced him.

“My mother, brother, and I were being waylaid on my way home by some rogue werewolves. Mom told me to run and ask for help.” The little boy was on the verge of tears as he told us this.

Springing to my feet, I spoke urgently, “We must help him, Xavier.”

“Wait! I will call for back up.” Xavier reached into his pocket for his cell phone, but I put out an imperious hand to stop him.

“No, Xavier. We have no time to lose. We must save this child’s mother and brother now before it’s too late!” I said with a note of urgency in my voice.

Xavier’s head reluctantly nodded in agreement. “OK, come on!”

I helped the little boy to his feet and requested, “Could you direct us to the location of your mother and brother, Sweetheart?”

The little boy nodded meekly, and finally, he showed us the location of his mother and brother.

“That’s my mother.” The boy pointed a trembling finger to the direction of a middle age woman who was lying in a pool of her own blood in the middle of a gang of rogue werewolves that were circling her. I also noticed there was a ten-year-old boy beside the injured woman. His tiny arms were wrapped around his mother’s waist in a desperate attempt to protect her from the evil werewolves.

“Please help them!” the boy implored.

“Angela, stay with this boy! I am going to help his mother and brother!” Xavier ordered.

I nodded my head. “Be careful, Xavier!”

Prince Xavier gave me a reassuring smile before he emerged from behind the bushes where we were hiding.

“Stay away from them, the lot of you!” Xavier roared.

The rogues turned their attention to Prince Xavier, gnashing their teeth when they saw him standing a few feet away from them.

“Who the hell are you?” one of those rogues demanded angrily. It was apparent that they didn’t recognize Prince Xavier.

“Who I am is unimportant,” Xavier retorted, “The most important thing is I want you to keep away from the mother and son!”

One of the rogues spat. “Why the heck should we listen to you?”

“If you don’t listen to me, you’ll only regret it,” Xavier stated confidently.

They all guffawed at his remarks.

“Do you think we’re afraid of you, Little Boy?” one of those rogues said mockingly.

“If you all are not afraid of me, you should leave the poor mother and son alone, and fight with me now!” Xavier challenged.

“What? Fight you?” a rogue sneered, and the other rogues soon laughed sardonically.

“If you dared to attack this defenceless woman and her son, why didn’t you want to fight with me? You know what? Only a coward who will think of attacking weaker people. A real man will only fight with someone who is his match,” Xavier said calmly.

“So you think you’re so tough to fight us, Boy? OK then, bring it on!” one of the rogues growled.

Leaving the injured mother and her son, all the rogues began to circle Xavier. The vampire prince stood in a defensive stance, ready to fight his enemies.

As I watched Prince Xavier being surrounded by the rogues like that, sudden panic overtook me. 'Oh, no! I think it’s a very bad idea to ask Xavier to fight all the rogues alone. The rogues are too many and all of them look very dangerous and strong. There’s no way Prince Xavier can defeat them all by himself. And it’s also impossible for me to help Xavier beat the rogues because they are surely much stronger than me. I should have agreed with Xavier when he said we had to call for back-up. If something happened to Prince Xavier, King Joaquin would certainly kill me.'

One of the rogues ran at Xavier and shot out his right arm, trying to land a punch on his head. Fortunately, the prince managed to parry the blow to his head. The rogue swung another punch in Xavier’s direction, but the prince was able to deflect the blow.

Before the rogue was able to launch another attack at Xavier, he took a swipe at the rogue that deposited him on the ground.

Another rogue pounced on Xavier and the two of them started exchanging blows. By sheer luck, Xavier could bring the rogue down easily.

Next, two rogues advanced on Xavier. The vampire prince launched himself towards the two of them and he finally struggled with those rogues. Much to my relief, Xavier managed to knock both of his opponents down.

“Good work, Xavier! Way to go!” I squealed.

To my horror, all the rogues suddenly lunged at Xavier at the same time.

“Xavier!!!” I shrieked in fright.

I thought Prince Xavier was going to lose this time. However, to my amazement, he was able to knock all his opponents out.

Seeing all the rogues lying unconscious on the ground, the little boy, who was standing beside me, ran up to his mother and older brother.

Meanwhile, I approached Prince Xavier. “Wow you’re so cool, Xavier! I can’t believe you could defeat all the rogues by yourself,” I complimented him.

“I can’t believe it myself,” I could hear him mumbling to himself.

“I heard that every vampire has a specific power. So, is that your power? You have a superhuman strength, that’s why you’re able to beat all your opponents by yourself, right?” I said enthusiastically.

“No, it’s not my power,” he refuted.

“Really?” I said in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s really not my power. I am not always this strong, you know. But I don’t know why after I drank your blood last night, I felt an extra energy course through me until I was able to defeat those rogues very easily,” Xavier elaborated.

I tried my best to hide my astonishment. 'Bugger me! So my blood has the effect of invigorating him? Heaven knows what else the effect of my blood. It is probable that what the werewolves told me is true: my blood is able to give the vampires the immortality,' I thought.

“Too bad it’s not your power. You know, when I saw how easily you defeated all your opponents by yourself, I thought you really have a superhuman strength,” I finally commented with a grin.

“I—” There Xavier stopped, and then, he regarded me suspiciously. “Wait! How in the world can you know a lot of things about vampires?”

“It’s... it’s... it’s because... because my mate told me everything about vampires,” I replied haltingly.

“But your so-called mate is a werewolf,” Xavier reminded me.

“Vampire and werewolf are the same, right? Both of them are supernatural creatures,” I reasoned.

“But it’s very strange how well you know about vampires,” he muttered.

Before Xavier could ply me with more questions that would only fuel his suspicious of me, I hastily changed the subject. “If it’s not your power, so what is your real power?”

“That would be telling!” His face broke into a wide grin.

“Why won’t you tell me?” I whined.

“I have my own reason,” he replied, with a nonchalant shrug.

“And what is your reason?” I demanded.

Xavier unexpectedly pinched my nose. “It would no longer be a secret if I told you the reason, Little Pet.”

What he did infuriated me. “You—” Before I could finish my sentence, I was interrupted by anguished cries.

Xavier and I snapped our heads to the direction of the voices and we found the two little boys kneeling beside their mother’s lifeless body. The both of them put their arms around their mother while crying their eyes out.

We could tell at a single glance that the mother was dying. And the boys seemed to have known that their mother had come close to death too. That’s why they cried hysterically.

I and Prince Xavier ran up to the mother and sons. I clasped the children in my arms, trying to console them. Meanwhile, Xavier squatted down beside the injured woman and examined her wounds.

“Xavier, vampires are able to heal their wounds by themselves, right? But why isn’t she healing?” I asked anxiously.

“Her injuries are very severe, so it will take a long time for her wounds to heal,” Xavier explained.

I nodded in understanding.

The older boy suddenly detached himself from my embrace and knelt before Prince Xavier as he pressed his hands together. “Please help my mother, I entreat you, Your Highness.”

“Yes, Your Highness, please help my mom,” the younger brother implored, strangling a sob.

“Yes, Xavier, please do something to save their mother’s life!” I pleaded, tightening my embrace of the younger brother.

Xavier edged closer to the older brother and ruffled his hair. “There’s no need to worry. Your mother will be okay. I’ll save her,” he said soothingly.

“Are you sure you can heal my mom?” the little boy in my arms asked hopefully.

Xavier smiled reassuringly at the boy. “Yes, I’m pretty sure.”

I was touched by Xavier’s solicitude for the boys. This was a side of Prince Xavier that I never knew existed. Who would have thought that beneath his strict and arrogant exterior, Xavier was actually a very caring person?

Prince Xavier inched nearer to the boys’ mother. Rolling up his left sleeve, he sank his fangs into his wrist hard enough to draw blood.

“What are you doing, Xavier?” I asked apprehensively.

“Just watch!” Prince Xavier gave me a curt reply.

Without another word, he moved his left wrist to the injured woman’s lips before letting a few drops of his blood drip into her mouth.

Miraculously, the woman’s wound healed slowly. And a few minutes later, she finally regained consciousness.

“Mama,” the two boys squealed with delight and flung themselves into their mother’s arms.

The mother managed a weak smile and hugged her sons to her.

“Wow! It’s amazing! How come her wounds heal so quickly?” I said in awe.

“It’s all because of my blood,” Xavier said with a complacent smile.

I raised my eyebrows. “Your blood?”

“Yes. A royal pureblood vampire’s blood has miraculous powers of healing the others,” he explained.

‘Oh well then, that explained why I still survived after I had fallen from a great height. It’s all because my grandfather had given me his royal blood,’ I thought.

“If you knew the blood of a royal pureblood vampire has miraculous powers of healing, why didn’t you try it on Mariana?” It’s not that I wanted Mariana to wake up so soon. I was just seized by curiosity. That’s why I asked Xavier about it.

“My father has given his blood for Marina,” Xavier replied.

My eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

Xavier nodded his head. “Yes, but we don’t know why his blood didn’t work on her.”

'It seems that fortune still smiles on me. But I can’t push my luck. I hope everything will go according to plan. My letter can reach Sigmund on time so that he’ll be able to get me out of this place next week! And I wish Mariana wouldn’t recover consciousness until that time,' I thought.

“Um, Xavier, I think you’d better call for backup now before the rogues come around. Besides, the mother still has to go to the hospital, right?” I suggested.

His forehead was bunched in a frown. “Hospital? But why?”

“The doctor needs to examine her to make sure that she’s really okay,” I explained.

“Ah, you’re right,” said Xavier, “OK then, I will call for backup now.” He pulled a mobile phone out of his pocket and dialled the number. Next, he clamped the mobile phone to his ear and talked to someone at the other end.

After Xavier hang up the phone, he spoke to me, “The guards will be here in five minutes to arrest the rogues. We’d better get moving now. We’re going to drop the kids and their mother in the hospital first before going home.”

“OK.” I nodded in agreement.

Prince Xavier and I, along with the mother whom we’d just rescued and her sons, finally made towards Xavier’s car that was parked at the side of the road.

Like Xavier had told me, we drove the mother and sons to the hospital first. After we made sure that the three of them were all right, at last, we got back to the palace.