Alina
Sleep easily came that night. After that conversation with Kenna, I couldn’t say I blame her for not trusting humans. I would too if I was in her position. Most of all, I was glad I got to speak to her about Emiel. Now, I was sure that deep down, she still loved him.
Until now, I had never really interacted with her so closely. When my parents were alive, I simply stood to the side and smiled politely as etiquette demanded and watched my mother do all the talking. It felt nice to get to know my mother’s friend more closely. It was like getting to know another side of her. For the first time in a long while, I felt peaceful.
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It was very late at night when I heard a knock on my front door. At first, I thought I had imagined it. After all, who could be knocking on my door at two-thirty in the morning? Then I remembered the guards outside, and a sudden fear grip
Alina“What do you mean you can’t come to the wedding?”“Honey, you know I can’t. There are certain rules for survival in the mortal world, and I have no wish of becoming their dinner,” Papa joked.“And yet you’d let me take your place?” I told him incredulously, putting on a serious face, but even Papa could tell I was joking.“Honey, I doubt Erick finds me that appealing,” he said with an affectionate pat on my head.I felt my eyes burn with tears. This was all happening too soon. I just wanted everything to slow down and to give me time to breathe. Every girl dreams of their wedding day, especially the time when her father would hand her over to her husband. I was no different. I had always wanted my wedding to be the same, a big church wedding with all my friends and family with Mom gushing about my dress and makeup and Dad walking
AlinaBy the time Jordan dropped me off in front of my apartment, it was almost eleven-thirty in the evening. I had never been out till this late. The traffic was awful tonight, but the ride had been good. Jordan was a very funny guy, and I laughed the entire night away at his ridiculous jokes. He even gave me an inside scoop on Erick’s childhood and about his hidden phobias. My thoughts did occasionally wander off to the conversation I had with Papa and how I could persuade Erick into confessing the whole truth, but other than that, I had a wonderful evening. Now, I was starving for some spaghetti that I made before leaving for the hospital.However, as soon as Jordan drove away, my mind drifted into darker topics. Did I even want to know the whole truth? I couldn’t also ignore the fact that I didn’t really remember much about that night four years ago. I remembered Erick coming into my old house drunk
Alina“Kendrick, it’s not stopping! There’s too much blood!” I screamed, pressing down harder on the wound to check the blood flow. “Tell me what to do, Kendrick!”“Alina, you have to stay calm. He’s a vampire. The healing will kick in soon.” Kendrick reassured me, driving as fast as he could without having the traffic police at our tail because only one of us could use compulsion, and he wasn’t conscious right now. Thankfully, he was not dead.I looked down at Erick again. He was lying on the back seat with his head on my lap and my hands on his chest, trying desperately to stop the blood flow. He wasn’t conscious yet and hasn’t been since I found him, except for when he called my name once Kendrick had wrenched the stake out of his chest. Well, that was another myth proved wrong about vampires.I could still remember how I found him ly
ErickEvery breath stung.Even a tiny movement felt like I was in that hell hole once again trying to get Alina to safety… and struggling to keep Emiel from killing me.“Ugh.” I opened my eyes with much difficulty. The light in the room felt blinding. I closed them again, groaning. God, why do I feel so weak?“Erick?” Was that Alina? She was here? She sounded worried. I might not be in enemy hands after all.“I—” My throat felt like someone had scrubbed it raw with sandpaper.“Hang on. I’ll get some water.” I felt the bed rise as she got up. She had been right next to me.“Here.” She didn’t touch me, but I felt the glass near my face. I opened my mouth a tiny bit and was rewarded with the cool flow of the liquid down my throat. I gulped it down greedily.A sigh left my mouth as my throat felt norm
AlinaErick wasn’t done yet.“Tell me why you care, Alina?” He sounded dead serious, prepared to peel away every layer of my defence. “You’ve kept in so much for so long. Let it out. Tell me why you care. Tell me why you’re ready to forgive me so easily after everything I did to you? Tell me, damn it!”It was like a floodgate being opened.“I don’t want to feel anything towards you, not even hate. Because what you did to me? No amount of punishment can ever give me back what I lost, and I’m not talking about my virginity.” His face paled at every word I spoke. “You took away from me my choice, my free will, and at one point, even my will to live—”“Don’t—” he interjected, but I didn’t stop. I wasn’t done yet. He wanted the truth, so I’ll give it to him“I kept on l
AlinaErick was right next to me when I woke up the next morning. One of his arms was folded under his pillow while the other was draped over my waist, and my hand was placed over his. He was fast asleep. His blond hair fell onto his forehead, swaying slightly from the sea breeze coming in through the huge open windows. He looked peaceful andnormal, not at all like the mean and arrogant prince of all vampires.Keeping my hand in place so as not to wake him up, I ran the fingers of my other hand through his soft hair. My eyes went wide when the early morning sunlight caught on the diamond and was scattered into hundreds of fragments all over the room. My engagement ring!Why doesn’t it work on you, Alina? Even Erick couldn’t escape it, so why doesn’t it work on you?Suddenly, the reason for not being compelled by Emiel was crystal clear. Erick had given me his great g
AlinaWhen I woke up, it was already five in the afternoon and Erick was nowhere to be seen. Giving him my blood made me weak, so Erick let me rest for the day. On the other hand, he had to leave to investigate the slaughter and find out who was helping Emiel by providing him the required arms.By now, all we could confirm was that Emiel had broken free of Marcellus’s line of descendants, and no one in their family could trace him. It was as if he had disappeared from the face of the Earth. But we knew for sure that he was getting help from somewhere because it would be impossible for one person alone to decapitate eight members of the Royal Guard. The question was, who could it be?Getting up, I took a quick shower and dressed in the coral pink top and black jeans that had been laid out for me yet again. Leaving my hair down to dry, I came out of the bathroom to find Kendrick standing by the bed with a glass
Alina“We’re here.” Kendrick’s deep voice woke me up oh-so-rudely from my power nap. Seriously, it was the second time today! When Erick informed us that we would have to wake up early to get to the venue, I thought early like six o’clock in the morning or maybe five... but notas earlyas three fucking am in the bloody morning!Since Erick was banned from seeing me until the wedding, it was Kendrick who had to wake me up. He came barrelling into the room, literally dragging me up from the bed and throwing me inside the bathroom. I finally managed to clean up, brush, and dress up in a pair of comfortable blue jeans and a full-sleeved white sweater with black polka dots after falling asleep nearly a hundred times. It was all thanks to Kendrick who threatened me every five minutes with various modes of torture.By three-thirty in the morning, I was ready and inside the