The Vampire Queen's Resurrection

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE FORMULA

Once that the first memory had stumbled inside her head, it was like a dam had broken somewhere inside Aaliyah’s mind. She kept rummaging through her personal things to have more flashbacks from the past. Things didn’t progress until seven days later, during which Emir’s grumpiness became beyond endurance.

When she got another flash of the past, she was in the library reading a book when the word ‘eureka’ rung a familiar bell. She remembered her best friend Jade echoing that same word over and over again.

“Eureka, Al! Eureka, you did it!” Jade was screaming excitedly, clapping her hands as the latter jumped up and down like a child. They were in Aaliyah’s apartment the next morning after having worked throughout the entire night with the correct dosage. Two days after Aaliyah had clashed with Emir in the labs.

The moment she had realized that she was craving to taste his blood, she’d given a petty excuse and vanished from the labs. Her priority was clear – she was the queen of vampires and she had to derive ways to make her species evolve. The next day she was back at work, had made it a point to avoid the delectable CEO and had now concluded her research.

Tiny shiny sparkles caught on Jade’s arm as she tentatively put her arms near the windowsill where one large sunlight beam had penetrated through the room.

“Look at this,” Jade was saying in undisguised awe, her blue eyes glittering with happiness and excitement as she moved her hand from right to left to play with the light. “I don’t feel anything. Anything at all. Well, except the warmth of the sun on my skin which is very pleasant by the way. But no pain or burning sensation.”

“This is great news,” a sharp voice interrupted from the doorway, and Aaliyah turned to catch peculiar violet eyes shining with deep emotion. Matz was as happy and ecstatic as them about the innovative discovery.

The hackles of her hair rose, and Aaliyah’s chest swelled with pride at the loyalty the demon was showing towards her. Matzah Kingsley was a demon whose life she’d saved a few years ago, and in return she’d demanded he pledged his allegiance to her. One never knew how a demon could come in handy, especially when the going was so tough. The latter had the power to transform into any form of living being, animals and humans included.

Matzah had been very vocal in expressing his unhappiness to serve the vampire kinship. For him, to change side had been akin to betrayal his kind – he could not pledge himself to his own peers while he was under the service of the vampire queen. In short, Matzah was a modern slave.

Aaliyah had the intention of setting him free him now that her quest had been fulfilled. She had of course more goals in her head for the evolution of vampires.

Goals that she would have to achieve without one of her best friends Matz. With the years he’d served her, he’d been loyal to her without fault, and keeping him at her side against the latter’s will was no longer an option.

“Thank you Matz,” she replied wobbly, her eyes filling with unshed tears at the first milestones achieved. “Thank you Jade. This would not have been possible without you backing me up at every step.”

For some reason, she was feeling emotional, and her eyes welled further up when Jade took a tentative step outside and gasped enthusiastically. A gurgle of laughter spilled from Aaliyah’s lips as Jade did a three-sixty round in the sun with her hands outstretched. The light beams spilled on her naked skin creating glistening sparkles like flashes of gold making her sparkle like fairy dust.

Her friend was smiling contentedly, with Matzah staring at her with is lovestruck expression. The hunch about them having something ongoing was getting stronger, and Aaliyah was certain it was unrequited. Had Jade felt something for Matz, her best friend would have confided in her.

One more reason to let Matzah go. It tore her to separate herself from her much trusted and faithful friend, but under the circumstances, prevention was better than cure. She was going to stifle the situation before things got out of hands.

“It was our pleasure helping you,” Matz drawled in his enigmatic voice, the tender expression no longer visible in his violet eyes.

Aaliyah bowed her head in gratitude towards the demon. “The next steps for us is to…” She didn’t get any further as her phone buzzed in her bag. Frowning, she plunged her hand inside to fetch the ringing device. It was seven o’clock in the morning – who could be calling her at such an ungodly hour?

The number which flashed on her screen was unknown which made Aaliyah’s frown deepen. “Hello?” she murmured tentatively on the speaker, turning her back to both of her friends.

“Miss Smith?” a deep rumble immediately echoed at the other end of the receiver sending shivers own to her toes. The owner of the voice was unmistakable – it was Emir Royal calling her. She swallowed her nervousness, glad that she was not in front of him right now.

She’d used a fake name at the time she had applied for employment at the company, and at that time, ‘Smith’ had seemed a pretty good idea. Now, she cringed with embarrassment at how crass it sounded on his lips.

“Speaking,” she replied stealthily, pretending not to have identified him.

“I’m sorry to be calling so early. I have been looking for you for the past days to have a word.” There was a moment of pause during which she fidgeted on her side. Was he implying that she’d been avoiding him because that was exactly what she’d been doing?

“I have been busy,” she said carefully. “I have been trying to finalize the actual dosage we worked on. Have you been able to talk with your board?”

The assertive words were out before she could reign them in. Being a queen for centuries made her forget the façade that she had to put up sometimes. She’d nearly forgotten that she was speaking to the chief executive officer of a huge company, not one of her minions.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” Emir replied positively, not seeming to mind her question. “They were not very keen on changing the formula at the last minute and I had to showcase the samples to convince them. I am still having some of the seniors shareholders to deal with. Which is why I need your help.”

Which explained his early phone call. And foolish that she was, her heart had fluttered like a foolish Victorian maiden at the sound of his voice so early in the morning.

When she got back to the labs, she dealt with the problems of the hair loss formula for the rest of the week. The production of the pills would have to wait until the crisis in T.R Labs had been avoided. Aaliyah had conflicted emotions about why she was so invested in Emir’s problems, but she knew she had to help.

It was the first time she’d deflected from her path – neglecting his queen duties to give her undivided attention about a company she didn’t give a damn about. Only because of the man. When they managed to sort things out at the labs, she knew she had made an impression on him.

That made her inordinately pleased with herself, and she breached one of her rules by entering his mind.

“Thanks for your help, Aaliyah,” he was saying as they were exiting the meeting room with his brown eyes glistening with a purposeful intent. “Let’s celebrate this over diner tomorrow?”

One of the advantages of being a vampire was that she didn’t have to speculate to know her interlocutor’s thoughts. All she had to know was read the latter’s mind, which she usually avoided under normal circumstances.

This was not normal – for her to feel so much for a mere human must be some ploy from one of her enemies. Like she hadn’t suffered enough in the past. For falling for a werewolf. A surge of agony blasted her heart unexpectedly at the reminder of him, and she gritted her teeth against the pain.

Run, Aaliyah! she told herself, desperately searching for an excuse to refuse him

“Before you refuse, let me tell you we have only managed to convince the higher operations for the moment. You will be responsible for the supervision of the mass production of your new formula in the immediate future. This dinner is to discuss the opportunities that I can offer you.”

Aaliyah could have laughed outright at his face at his arrogant assumption that she wanted to progress in her career. The idea was so far from the truth that it was almost ridiculous. Never in his wildest dreams would he be able to decipher her intentions.

But she had a front to keep up with – the fact that she was an ambition scientist who was struggling to leave a mark in the business world. That smokescreen image of hers should jump at the opportunity. Yet, she found herself shaking her head.

“I am not interested in upgrading my career,” she weighed her words carefully, sure that she was dealing with someone who was intellectually as smart as herself.

As expected, his eyebrows c****d to his hairline as he expressed mocking disbelief. “No? What are you interested in, Aaliyah Smith?” he stressed on her fake surname with a contemptuous emphasis, his eyes roaming over hers with the same intense dark look.

She fought the urge to fold back on herself – she was the queen of the accused damn it! She didn’t cow before mediocre men, especially not this one! Then, he bent closer towards her, and her eyes popped out in stupefaction, It didn’t even require her mind-reading skills to understand his intent behind that simple action.

He wanted to kiss her.

A burst of incredible heat filled her core where it had no business, and it took her all her vampire strength not to step back from the cocoon that he’d surrounded her in. His lips were inches away from hers, barely touching her skin, but she could literally feel a tingling sensation right on her lips. That was how much she was craving for the actual kiss.

That was why she didn’t protest when he got bolder and brushed his lips oh-so lightly against hers. It was a slight caress but the sensations which cascaded down her was nothing similar. Her nostrils flared and she felt the unquenchable thirst take over once again.

With an abrupt movement, she veered her head away before the desire became too overwhelming. Love was not for someone like her. She was no heroine – she was a monster who drank human blood as food.

She must have given a petty excuse before fleeing from the meeting room without a backward glance.

In her turmoil, she forgot to use her vampire speed keeping her normal pace to fled to her apartment. When she reached, she was breathless and that was not because of the running. She was the strongest vampire who could cover miles in impressionable speed without the slightest problem.

No, it was the man. Leaning against her door, she clutched her heart which was beating out of rhythm, trying to get her breathing under control.

That was when she noticed that her apartment had been turned inside out. With a sharp breath, she focused back to the present with sharp focus. With a flash, she whooshed towards her experiments to check for anything missing.

Incandescent rage filled her, and she let out a animalistic shriek as she crumpled a piece of blank paper in her hand. That was her punishment for her one second negligence, that one second that had taken her attention away from her mission.

The formula was gone, the one she’d written right before Jade had tried the final version. It was gone! Even the scribblings were nowhere to be found.