The Vampire Queen's Resurrection

CHAPTER TEN: OLD MEMORIES

It hadn’t been that far-fetched as question, had it? Aaliyah kept ruminating over her silly mistake two weeks days later. Two weeks of total silence from Emir. It seemed like she’d said the only thing which she hadn’t supposed to say, and she had no idea why. He was so aloof and cold that she wondered if she’d imagined the intimacy between them or whether it had actually happened.

It was a normal question to wonder about kids, right. Considering that they’d been married for over a century! How the hell was she supposed to know that vampires couldn’t procreate?! That seemed to be a sensitive subject, so she would be steering clear out of the topic from now on.

If he could bring himself to talk to her again. It seemed that they had fallen back to their earlier routine. He would go to work before she would wake up, leaving her to on her own during the entire day. He would put in an appearance in late evenings, bringing some diner. Then, he would go hunting during the nights – without her.

She didn’t mind. The only problem was that she was still bored and alone. With nobody she could talk to. There was a visit from a doctor who examined her and said that everything was in order. She talked to the man for hours, probably scaring him off with her unstoppable babble.

Aaliyah wished she could start a job or do something useful with her life. The only thing which she found interesting lately was rummaging through her old things. It no felt like a violation – she was coming to terms with the old version of her.

Although Emir painted the old Aaliyah as a bad person, she wasn’t sure she was a typical villain. One which had lots of powers maybe, and a human killer. But that was a vampire thing. Not her fault. While she checked the boxes in her old room, she found photos of her father which she presumed was her family.

She halted over one particular photo in the album of a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. A complete different set of physical attributes than the Stoneheart.

Jadeite.

The name flashed in her head unexpectedly, and she blinked against the vivid image of the woman in her mind. Jadeite Meyer. Her best friend.

“Jade, what the hell are we going to do?” Aaliyah asked as her best friend was pouring the ingredients of her new experiment in the tablet press. They had been working for months over that new formula, and Aaliyah was finally ready for another simulation test.

“Al, you asked me to pour everything inside the machine,” her assistant and friend protested with annoyance. They had known each other since forever, both being vampires meant that time was of no essence to them. Aaliyah was the one who’d turned Jade into one of her peers when the latter had practically begged her.

“But she asked to measure the ingredients carefully. You messed up with the dosage again,” Matzah pointed out before Aaliyah could put in a word. She turned towards the demon with gratefulness. Jade hated being wrong and Aaliyah preferred to avoid being the one to point out the latter’s mistake.

“Thank you Matzah,” she beamed cheerfully at her, and Jade sighed defeatedly when faced against her two best friends. “I said three sunflowers and three tablespoons of honey.”

“Ohhh,” Jade sighed as she realized her mistake. “We’ll have to do it all over again?” she asked with such a crestfallen expression that Aaliyah didn’t have the heart to scold her. They were working in the lab during odd hours, doing extra time to cover for their mysterious experiments.

Aaliyah was looking for a way to make vampires break out during daylight. She’d been studying chemistry during the past years, and sunflowers seemed to have the necessary element to help them overcome this weakness. It would be such a revolutionary idea in the vampire world if they managed to break out that curse.

For the moment, only she was able to walk during the day without being burnt. Every other vampire she’d sired seemed not to possess that quality. That was why Jade and Matzah was helping her surreptitiously during the night with her daring adventures.

“Doesn’t matter,” she hastily replied putting a comforting hand on the other woman’s shoulder to soothe the latter. “I know you’re tired and have been working almost every night to help me out with the Sun elixir. Why don’t you go home and relax while I finish in here?”

Jade rolled her eyes arrogantly. “And leave you here alone for the guards to catch you working here without permission? No way!”

“It’s okay,” Matz intervened quickly with an intense look towards Jade, his violet eyes flashing with something intimate. Sometimes, Aaliyah had the impression that some secret romance was cooking between them, but she could never be sure. Vampires and demons were not allowed to mix – she had made sure that everybody followed that rule to the point. No vampire was allowed to mix with other species.

“I’ll look after her,” the demon said to her best friend in his bedroom rich voice. “I’ll make sure…”

He didn’t have the time to get any further – there was a loud noise which suggested that somebody was in the labs. There was a flash indicating that Jade had vanished using her vampire powers while Matz had transformed into a raven and flew out of the window.

Aaliyah could not follow them because she would not be able to explain the cameras which showed that she was still in the building. Unlike Jade and Matz, she was a full-time employee in the T.R Labs.

As the main door to the labs slid open automatically, she turned to look at the door to land her eyes on the most handsome man she’d ever seen in her entire life. Light brown eyes stared back at her in confusion for a moment and she almost forgot to manipulate his vision and replace sunflowers with the chemicals that was lying around.

He was a human, and she should have smelled him from miles away – the toll of working so many nights without relent was finally getting to her. She knew who he was of course. Emir Royal – owner of the T. labs, the one she’d been avoiding meeting since she’d joined the company two months ago.

Now, with his gorgeous face right in front of her, the words she’d rehearsed to cater for that particular scenario was lost on her. The man was nothing like the magazines and snaps suggested. He was much much more handsome in real life, but the impact of him standing inches away from took her breath away.

“Still working? Miss?” he queried politely, one lock of hair dislodging over his forehead as he walked towards her, giving him a rugged look. If the entire world gathered together right at that moment and begged her to drink their blood, she would not be able to blink an eye. That man was that mesmerizing.

“Ermmm…Aaliyah Smith,” she introduced herself, but her mind blanked for a gut-wrenching moment. She cleared her throat, switching from one foot to another and cursed herself for not having disappeared like the rest of her friends. “Just packing things up,” she said, switching the image in her employer’s head right one second before his eyes flew to the table.

Aaliyah knew she had the power to make him see what she wanted, and instead of seeing sunflowers, honey, and lavenders, he would be perceiving the usual chemical powders and potions.

“I was not very satisfied with the hair growth solution that the main engineer concocted, and I was just experiencing some things on my own, trying to change the formula,” she explained lamely when he just stood there with his arms crossed waiting for an explanation.

He seemed to buy it. “Alright, what gives?” he bent towards the table and the microscope in front of her, placing his eyes in the lenses. She’d been prepared for this scene, so she waved her hands in front of the telescopic vision to change the visual with the actual pill that his workers had designed.

“This is the original dosage that we’re producing. See those two little dots over there? It means that the liquid is not concentrated enough. I tried to add more propylene glycol but that would make hair grow everywhere on the body. So, I’m looking for another solution.”

Aaliyah had the powers to make him believe anything, but she usually avoided using magic in the normal world unless strictly necessary.

“You don’t trust the samples that the techs have produced?” he asked with a deep concentrated frown. “We’re supposed to be launching this new product in two months. I’m not sure we have the time to linger on another design.”

While she maintained the illusion, she quickly put the real ingredients of the Sun elixir away for later and replaced them with what they were actually discussing about. It was all true – she did believe that the pills had a design flaw. But she’d refrained from mentioning it only to use this as an excuse for her late-night sessions.

“I am not saying that they’re not efficient, but they could be better,” she insisted, knowing that she was right. She had the ability to retain information like no other, and judging that she’d lived almost two centuries, she had a vast knowledge.

To her surprise, he loosened his tie and removed his tuxedo jacket and Aaliyah nearly swooned at the delectable sight he was offering. The white shirt he’d been wearing under his Armani suit clung to every plane of his body sexily. His clothes looked custom-made, and his body was so hot.

When he unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt, she nearly fanned herself with her hands as heat engulfed her from everywhere. He seemed blissfully unaware of the furnace blazing inside her, and she was grateful for that.

“Let’s do this,” he said with a serious expression, and she snapped to his command without thought. It took her one full second to berate herself over what the hell she was doing. She was the queen of the damned, for vampire’s sake. How could she be impressed by a mere human?!

His charismatic presence seemed to beckon her, and his proximity was driving her mild. She practically stopped breathing to prevent his musky scent to invade her nostrils. No man had the right to look that sexy and smell so good at the same time!

The queen of f*cking vampires worked alongside a mere human for hours, trying to make him believe her. When she had all the powers and tools at her disposition to hoodwink the man. Why in the hell was she trying to impress him?!

“You were right!” he exclaimed after hours of them working together in total harmonious silence. His sharp wit matched hers, he seemed to listen and understand her more than anyone else. She had to get out of there before she made a bigger fool out of herself. “Why haven’t you said this to anyone?” he was keen to know. “Your idea is genius! It actually works. This is revolutionary for the Royal brand! Aaliyah, you’re the best!”

“Errmmm,” she was at a loss of words. His compliments were creating havoc inside her – she was no novice to attraction having lived through two centuries. The only time she’d felt desire so compelling, the whole folklore had rebelled against her. She’d vowed that she would never again allow herself to be so fatally attracted to any man in the future. She needed to leave immediately, her eyes were glued to the carpet, and her nostrils began to flare as the pungent smell of his blood invaded her senses.

No, no, no, that was not part of the deal. She hadn’t tasted a human’s blood for so long, she’d been feeding on animals for her survival. Not that she was a saint, not at all. She’d left enough c*****e behind her during the last centuries but had decided to feed on humans only when she couldn’t resist. She’d always fed on anonymous street people whose disappearances would be left unquestioned. Killing the CEO of the T.R Labs would definitely not go unnoticed.

No matter how much she craved him.