Riley
Our last night at Archer’s pack was perfect.
Delilah ended up staying the night at the packhouse and the two of us shared a room. Caleb seemed elated that she decided to stay, even though she did keep him at arm’s length. Brandon wore Harry and Todd out, they started playing a bunch of virtual reality games that were physically demanding and he ended up carrying Todd to his bed.
I think Archer is a little irritated with me though, we haven’t had much time alone. But I think it’s a good thing, we don’t need to grow too attached. We’ve had this casual friend thing going for about 3 months now, it’s less than a year left before I’ll be leaving, and I don’t want to hurt him.
I pace around my room nervously knowing that I should see Leviticus tonight. At least, I hope he’ll come to see me tonight. I have so many questions.
A huff slips through my lips as I start to do my night routine because it seems like he won’t show up tonight and I don’t want my mom to find out that I’m up. Tomorrow’s the first day of school and she wanted me in bed an hour ago.
I take out my contacts, wash my face, brush my hair, brush my teeth, and I turn out the lights before I get into my bed. The moment my head hits the pillow I hear a soft tapping against my window.
My eyebrows knit together as I sit up and look towards my window. I don’t see anything from here, so I let out a huff as I walk over and open it up.
A breeze blows but I still don’t see anything, so I stick my head out the window and look around. I let out a gasp as suddenly ruby red eyes appear right in front of me. I stumble backwards and suddenly he crawls inside my room and says, “So-sorry, I was just making sure the coast was clear. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
I nod slowly, and he walks quietly across my room and then stuffs a towel under the crack in my door and puts something towards the top. I notice that it’s misting and putting off some weird sound and I start to ask, “What’s-”
He cuts me off, “To hide my scent and to hide our conversation.”
My eyebrows knit together as I try to understand what he means and he explains as he turns towards me, “The mist hides specifically my scent so they won’t know that a vampire is in their home and the low humming sound you hear it’s causing a block on the other side of the door so no one could hear us talking.”
I nod in understanding and we both stare at each other awkwardly. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen him even though it’s only been a few days, but now that he’s in front of me… I don’t know how to act.
He is devilishly handsome. He towers over me, and his ruby eyes are captivating. He startles me when he reaches out to touch my face as he murmurs, “Your eyes.”
I stumble back as I touch my own face and mutter, “Shit.”
I push past him and go towards the bathroom to find my contacts and all I can think about is how upset my family would be if they knew I slipped up. I jump when he grabs my arms gently and tugs on my arm so that I face him. He looks at me with a furrowed brow and a pouted lip as he asks, “Why are you trying to hide your eyes from me? I know who you are, I know what you are.”
My lips press together as I nod and move away from the bathroom. I look at Leviticus and ask, “So… how about you tell me about you, Leviticus Adams?”
The corner of his mouth twitches up and he says simply, “I’m a vampire.”
I can’t help the chuckle that slips out of my mouth before I say, “Yeah, that much was obvious.”
He shrugs as he sits down on my desk chair and says, “What do you want to know?”
“Why- out of all the vampires in the world- was it you who got assigned to protect me? Is there more than just you?”
“No, it’s just me. We don’t want to draw too much attention to you so there won’t ever be more than one of us assigned to you at this time.”
“Do you guys like switch out in intervals?”
He shakes his head no, “It’s just been me, Rieka. I’ve been watching over you for about a year now and I’ll continue to do so until it’s time for you to take the throne. And to answer your previous question on why it’s me… well, I needed to hide out too and my parents thought this was the best thing for me.”
I cock my head to the side as I say, “Your parents? How old are you? I thought you’d be like hundreds of years old like other vampires, why do you have to listen to your parents?”
This caused Leviticus to lean his head back as he let out a hearty laugh. My eyebrows scrunch together, I was being serious, I don’t understand what he thought was so funny.
He shakes his head as he says, “You’re something else, Rieka. But to answer your question, I’m 700 years old and yes, I have parents and I don’t have to listen to them, but I choose to. It’s a matter of respect and on top of that my parents are considered the equivalent to what your parents are. We don’t have Kings and Queens in our species, but my parents have the purest lineage and are very powerful, so everyone looks to them for guidance.”
I nod in understanding and hear a noise inside the house. Leviticus breathes out and says, “I’ll come see you again soon, Rieka. We must be careful so our interactions can never be long. We both need to stay hidden.”
I nod, “I understand. Have a good night, Leviticus.”
He smiles as he bows his head and says, “You too, princess.”