“Selene…?” Thana called out to me but my eyes were locked elsewhere.
My eyes were glaring at a vampire who was making me uncomfortable. He was smiling at me like he was wearing a mask of a joker. His eyes were like a cat purring and making everyone around him feel very intimidated. His mouth moved as he spoke the silent words before making a wide frightening grin. My frozen body felt colder and went numb looking at him.
I felt Thana’s hands touch my shoulder and I was brought to my senses. “Is something the matter, Selene?’
“No… I…” I huffed and turned back to the direction of the man from before but he wasn’t there anymore.
I looked around, still with my blazing red eyes but I couldn’t find him anywhere. The scent and the dark aura disappeared. There was no sign that he was even here.
“Death awaits you, Princess Selene.”
My blood started to boil, putting myself to remember the man’s words.
I took a deep breath as I wondered who that guy was. Who was that vampire? What clan was he from?
The doors suddenly slammed hard making everyone turn to the doorway and we saw the von Klein family rampaged outside.
“We will never accept that human girl as the queen of our clan! Never!” The current head of the family shouted.
“You ruined my wedding, Selene Carmen! Do not ever think that my family would bow down to you!” Jane shouted, loud enough for it to echo in our ears. I know she hated me but it seemed that she didn’t take it seriously either. She didn’t care that I was a royalty.
They soon disappeared, leaping from one tree to another, until their scent and shadows were gone.
“Don’t mind them, sister,” Thana whispered to me before turning to the crowd. “The party is now adjourned. I will see you at my sister’s coronation.”
“Thana…” I gulped.
Then she turned to me. “Have a good morning’s sleep, sister.”
Was sleep even possible after learning too much right when I was expecting and expected to forget every single memory I have? Now, I even acquired more stories of my real self instead of deleting them from my mind. I didn’t know what to believe in anymore.
I got back to my condo making sure no one followed me and went straight to the bathroom. I had no idea how that even happened but it did. I kept on staring at the girl looking back and mimicking my every movement. I slid my finger to the cold mirror, pressing the reflection of my eyes. Hazelnut but lighting into bright red. I didn’t even know how my contact lenses disappeared.
My skin was also pale like snow and my hair was so long it slid on the floor. I could probably pass as a hair shampoo model.
I opened my lips and the proof of being a vampire displayed on to me. Fangs and the taste of James’ blood… But for some reason, my head would always recall Leo’s face. I closed my eyes seeing his handsome reflection but he was silent the whole time learning who I really was.
I suddenly flinched when I felt a weird beat inside my body. I opened my eyes and looked at my face again. What was that?
It felt like it came from… I touched my stomach feeling a bit of pain from inside.
“Can’t be… That’s impossible.”
Initially, I thought maybe I was pregnant. But that would be too soon since I had only slept with Leo quite recently. It wouldn’t make sense for me to be pregnant. Besides, I had been under so much stress that it may have built up badly. Now, it’s getting exhibited in my body.
I washed my face, slapping both cheeks hard then getting on my bed. Shit. Why was I planning to sleep when I was already a vampire?
I was going crazy.
I turned to my side and hugged my pillows just thinking of everything that had happened.
My alarm started buzzing and that was when I figured it was seven in the morning already. I got up and opened the curtains. The smallest dust particles were clear to my eyes and I could hear a lot of buzzing in the neighbourhood.
I slid the windows open and looked down. My eyes widened with surprise.
“Good morning, Selene!” Thana waved at me excitedly.
Unlike the previous times I saw her wearing formal attire, she was just wearing skinny jeans, blue singlets and high heels. She absolutely looked like a model! There were four men in black surrounding her and people from the other houses were looking at my place. I chuckled and shook my head.
“Come on inside!” I waved to her and she smilingly skipped inside the condo.
I immediately dressed up in my shorts and white blouse. My hands swayed my crazy long hair to the back. I really need to get this cut.
The doorbell rang and I went to open it.
“Selene!” Thana jumped on me causing us to fall down the floor.
“Why are you here so early?” I pulled her up.
“No reason! Just wanted to see you, sister!”
“But you’re the Queen. You’re not supposed to be here.”
She pouted, not liking my response.“Selene, you promised me before. I’m just trying to make up for all those years we’ve been away from each other.”
I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. “Can you cut my hair for me, Thana?” The pouty face disappeared and was replaced with smiles.
“Are those vamps your bodyguards?” I sat on the chair as Thana got ready to cut my very long hair. We also took the mirror from my room to look at my reflection.
“Yeah, the Vampiric Council wants to, because of some incidents going on.” I heard the scissors start cutting my hair.
“Incidents?”
“Well… I’ll be honest since you’re my royal sister.” Her hands paused cutting then resumed again. “You know that we have different abilities bestowed on us, right?”
“Yeah, like how I made one of the visitors fly last night. Leo has the ability to make things fall his way.”
“Exactly. I see visions through dreams or nightmares, Selene. And I saw you in… one of them.”
“Really? What was it about?” She frowned as she continued cutting my hair. My head was already feeling lighter, thank goodness!
“We… Vampires and humans are after us—after the two of us.” Our eyes met through the mirror and she was damn serious.
“After… us? Because we’re royalty?”
“Because when they take both our bloods, they can replace and erase our existences. They will corrupt the two vampire clans and attack all humans, especially with your powerful blood, Selene… But let’s not worry about it now. You’re starting anew so you might still be in a state of shock. You got classes today, right?”
“Do I still have to go? And I don’t think I have the luxury of time to go to school when there are weird things happening around.”
“Yep. Humans suspect each other a lot so better be cool with it. Don’t worry about security, James will be beside you in human territory.”
“Who said I was worried?” She chuckled at my response. Suddenly, I experienced bloodrush in my head, making me flinch a bit.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, yeah. You finished?”
“Almost!” Her hands swiftly move before sliding off the scissors to the table. “All done!”
I stood up and looked at the reflection of my hair. It was still long but it hangs to my waist pretty well. “Thanks, Thana!” I hugged her. “I'll clean my hair mess then go.”
“No problem! Now, go get changed. I’m sure that James will be waiting for you. I’ll do it.”
“No. No. You’re the guest so I can’t make you clean.” She giggled cutely.
“It’s fine, Selene. I’m no stranger so just go now before I change my mind.” We laughed and I finally nodded, running to my room changing into my uniform.
I stopped midway when I felt another throb inside. My hands moved to my stomach. Was it coming from inside me or something? I could not recall anything bad.
Impossible. This should still be my imagination, right?
Thana gave me a lift to school and bade goodbye. As I walked through the hallways, other students kept looking at me with weird expressions. Do I look odd? I suddenly recognised someone’s blood scent from behind. I turned and saw James approaching me with a smile.
“Good morning, Princess,” He whispered.
“Morning. Hey, James, is something on my face?”
He displayed a puzzled expression. “No. Why?”
“They’ve been looking at me too much so I’m thinking that something may be on my face. It’s quite awkward being stared at when I haven’t done anything.”
James chuckled then turned to me again. “Not at all. I believe they’re wondering who the beautiful familiar lady is. You do look different before you ‘woke up’,” he explained.
I sighed. “Because now I have a very pale complexion and when someone touches me, they would feel how frozen I am?” I laughed.
“Not really. Your skin may be pale, but your cheeks remain rosy and your smile can warm anyone easily… even if you’ve turned into your R-clan vampire state.” He smiles.
“James…”
“Yes, Princess?”
I shook my head. “You remembered all your memories even before the ball, right?” His face drew curiosity then chuckled softly.
“You saw that, huh?”
“I guess I did. So care to tell me how?”
“Well… I actually didn’t remember until last year. I always have strong blood flow in my body and that’s when Lady Thana came into my life. She bit me and that’s when all memories came rushing back to me. She released me from your Father’s will. That’s a long story short.”
We entered our classroom and people continued looking at us. “This sucks. I feel like they’re the predators.”
“True. If they would just know what we truly are then this situation wouldn’t be happening, Princess.”
“I said to stop calling me ‘Princess.’ Just call me by my first name, James!” I pouted yet he chuckled. He really knew how to deal with me just like before.
“Oh, my gosh!” James and I turned behind and saw Doe giggling. “It’s really you, Selene! You look awfully… beautiful!”
I raised my brow at her. Not Doe, too! I think this was a disadvantage being a human. You wouldn’t know a real person’s identity.
“I’ll talk to you a bit, Princess.” He winked.
“James!” He just smiled back going into his seat and Doe ran sitting on the empty chair beside me. “So Selene, I heard you’re not Leo’s P.A. anymore. Is that true?”
“Yeah. Just recently.” News traveled that fast. It was inevitable. I was no longer a nobody.
“Where’d you get it from?”
“Heard it from his followers. You know… I just listen and observe so I compiled what the similarities were and it brought me to ask you personally. So what’s the real deal, my friend?”
I linked my arms. “Doe, why does it seem that you’re interested in Leo?”
“No particular reason. I got bored so I decided to do other stuff.”
“And by other stuff, you mean asking me about why I’m not his P.A.?” She nodded.
“Okay. There’s no particular scoop to dig into it. Besides, it’s been a contract that I would resign when he’s eighteen.”
“Meaning all the flirts would be stuck on him? Don’t you like him?” I smiled painfully.
“I’m not sure myself, Doe. I think that I…” I suddenly felt a quick blood flow inside me and the urge to throw up. I signaled her to give me a second as I dashed outside, running to the girl’s bathroom while holding my mouth and the other on my abdomen. Good thing no one was inside. I grab on the sink, throwing up and panting hard. I turned the faucet letting the mess off then I heard the doors open.
“You okay, Selene?” It was Doe.
I rinsed my mouth and wiped myself and the sweat. “Yeah. Just a bit off since yesterday.”
She locked the door and handed me a cold bottle of water. “Drink up. Have you eaten anything strange?” I shook my head. “Really? No allergies or anything like that?”
“No. I didn’t take in anything strange, Doe.” I turned off the faucet seeing the mess disappeared. I washed my face in the next sink then rubbed it with my handkerchief.
“Are you pregnant then?” My eyes immediately turned to her in disbelief. She suddenly bursted into laughter. “I’m just kidding! I’m just kidding! I think you need to go to the infirmary now and rest. I’ll wait for you outside.”
“Okay, thanks, Doe.” She got out. I looked at my reflection and water droplets continued falling from my hair.
‘Are you pregnant then?’ Doe’s words repeated inside my mind. My hands laid flat on my belly.
“Impossible…” I whispered, breathing heavily. “It can’t be.”
Leo and I just made love the other day so it shouldn’t have progressed anything inside me.
“A vampire bearing R-clan blood can reproduce when not careful like humans in a shorter span.” My eyes widened, remembering what I was taught during childhood.
Would it be true? What the hell was going on?!