The Vampire Queen's Resurrection

CHAPTER SIX: BOREDOM SYMPTOMS

Their relationship somehow improved over the following days for which Aaliyah was eternally grateful. Considering the threat to her life, she had already established that she could never be a ‘normal’ girl. Nope, she was not your regular kind of girl, thank you very much. She was an ex-vampire who’d been awoken from the dead and who had lost her powers along with her memory.

That was in no way normal.

However, like any regular girl, she was craving to groom herself at a beauty salon, the usual beauty care that any woman was entitled to. Trim her eyebrows, get her legs waxed and a decent haircut. Nothing far-fetched but a few basics.

Emir had left strict instructions that she was not supposed to leave the apartment – which meant that she was a prisoner in that luxurious Manhattan building without even the privilege to use the rudimentary necessities.

“What?!” Emir growled savagely on their third day of co-habiting like distant friends, with no mention or pursuing the insane chemistry between them. Aaliyah was starting to get very bored. His eyes were still fixed on his mobile, which he was scrolling through without even glancing in her direction.

“I was wondering…,” she started enthusiastically. “…if I could at least have a mobile phone. I would have something to pass the time.”

With impatience, he flipped a quick look at her face away from the screen. “You don’t need a phone. You can’t call anyone.”

She pursed her lips in displeasure at the excuse knowing full well that she didn’t require a phone to make calls, but to have access to the outside world. He’d kept the Wi-Fi password a secret, to which he cut access every time he leaves the building.

“That’s not fair, Emir. If I spend one more day in this apartment, I swear I’ll go crazy!” she threatened comically.

“More than you already are?” he challenged in an amused voice.

Aaliyah rolled her eyes at his flippant comment. “I’m glad you find this funny. I am not laughing here. You cannot keep me prisoner all day. Come on!”

He sighed heavily, losing his teasing expression as he frowned down at her crossly. “I think we’ve already established that you’re not supposed to wander about as your life is still in imminent danger. Hell, people from this building might recognize you and inform one of the Stonehearts.”

She preened at the new information. “Stonehearts? What’s that supposed to mean? Who are the Stonehearts? The only ones I know are from Indiana.”

It was her turn to crease her eyebrows when the topaz light of his eyes went off as they took on smoldering amber fires. Her shot in the dark must have unknowingly found its target. Her mouth rounded in a perfect ‘O’ as she realized something fundamental.

“To my limited knowledge, the Stonehearts dynasty are damned popular. And loaded to the bones. From what I remember, they are listed among the top ten richest families in America. Wait, why would they want to harm me?”

Another deep sigh escaped him, making her suspect that he hadn’t dropped the information about Stonehearts intentionally. It had been an error from his side. “You are a Stoneheart as well. Before marrying me, you were one of them.”

Her gasp got even louder. “My family? I have a family? No, scrap that. I am part of such a fabulous dynasty? And you’re saying that nobody from my family actually knows that I’m alive?”

His lips pursed in a thin line. “I have kept the information from them. I am not so sure I trust anyone from your family. In fact, I highly suspect that someone from your family has murdered you.”

“Why would they want to kill me? What have I ever done to them that would inspire such a deep animosity?”

“Why would anyone plot to murder a family member, Al? For the throne of course. They’ve always been jealous of you because you proclaimed yourself queen after your mother died. She was a vampire as well, but she went into war with evil witches, and you had to intervene. It was too much of a c*****e and you put a stop to it by killing the witches who harmed your mother.”

A flash of dark emotion echoed inside her heart as he told her the story, part of her relating to it.

“You avenged your mother’s death by killing the evil witch who tortured your poor mother. After that, you decided that there needed to be some rules in the vampire verse, so you ascended the throne. But some members of your family were very unhappy with that. They did everything to overthrow you from your position.”

Aaliyah munched on her lower lips pensively. “Was that why you said that there was a revolution amongst vampires? Is this why I have been resurrected?” she exclaimed as things started to make sense.

“Indeed,” he confirmed grimly. “After you died three years ago, there had been questions raised upon my taking up the reign. I am not as strong as you, but I can control the others for some time because I took over the legacy that you left behind. But you would never have wanted them to rule over the vampires.”

She crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. “How do I know if you’re telling the truth? I have only your version to base my new memories on. For all I know, you could have killed me for the throne.”

Oops that was a bad move! Within a blink of an eye, he was at her side, his hand over her throat menacingly. It wasn’t a hard pressure applied but she gasped in fright.

“Don’t you ever say this,” he threatened dangerously, his eyes glittering with fierce menace. He seemed to read the genuine fear in her eyes for his hand fell to her side immediately. “Why would I resurrect you if I wanted you dead in the first place? No matter the cost to ascend the throne, I would have to be a special kind of stupid to kill you then revive you.”

What he said made sense. Anyway, Aaliyah had sprouted the accusation only to pique him because he was refusing her some leeway. Who would recognize her in the damned building for Christ’s sake? It wasn’t like there were many vampires roaming around in Manhattan, were there? Were there?

She was too afraid to even ask, so she made another attempt to plead her case. “How about the nights then? I understand that I might be recognized during the day, but why don’t we go out at night. Besides, you’re a vampire. Isn’t night escapades supposed to be your thing?”

“I am busy tonight.”

That got her very interested. Busy? As in a date? That would be three nights in a row that he wouldn’t be spending the night at the apartment. Not that she cared, but there were certain things that she knew.

“Busy? Busy doing what?” her neck moving up like an ostrich, and she jumped out of her skin when he accosted her once more.

“Definitely not what you’re thinking,” he drawled lazily, the teasing glint was back in his eyes as he stared at her with that half exasperated and half entertained smile. “I don’t have the time and energy to gallivant around the city.”

It didn’t concern her, she told herself austerely. What he did with his nights was simply not her business. Yet, her treacherous mouth asked the question. “Busy doing what then?” She could have kicked herself after the words were out, but it was too late. Way too late.

“Hunting.”

Her heart lurched violently in her chest, and a lump of emotion clogged at her throat which she had to swallow past. Twice. “Hunting?” she repeated stupidly, not even sure whether she was scared or fascinated. “Hunting what exactly?”

His right eyebrow raised to his hairline suggestively. “What do you think?”

“Stop playing with me. You’re hunting animals? Three nights in a row?” she probed without waiting for his answer. “I thought one feed was supposed to keep you full for a few days?”

His half frown cleared. “I thought you didn’t know much about vampires. But to answer your question, it’s true. One feed is supposed to keep us full for several days in fact.”

Pretending not to be affected by his nearness, she took a stealthy step back to put some place between them. It was only when she was a few inches away that she placed her hands on either side of her hips. “Why have you been out for three days then?” She sounded like a nagging wife, but Emir didn’t call her out on her behavior.

“How do you think I’ve been keeping my hunger for you under wraps, little rabbit?”

“Oh,” she murmured in half whisper at the truth.

That sardonic smile appeared again on his face which gave Aaliyah the clear impression that he was having a hearty laugh at her expense. “So, if you want to be a spectator, please feel free to join me tonight.”

Aaliyah couldn’t believe she was tempted. Was she that desperate? To go hunting with a vampire who’d candidly confessed that he was craving her blood. But she’d been a vampire in the past too. And call that intuition, but she had the intrinsic faith that he would never harm her.

“Alright,” she agreed brightly before she could change her mind, then her heart skipped a beat in fright as she realized what she’d signed up for. It had been an impulsive and stupid move from her. Surely, Emir would simply mock her and refuse her categorically like he’d been doing for the past few days, right?

“Okay, be ready then. I will call you when I’m going to hunt.”

Wait, what??!! He’d agreed? No way! No way would she be able to watch him tear open a live animal and drink its blood like a savage. Woah! Why was she thrilled by that depiction? It should have revolted and scared her. She couldn’t backtrack now, could she? He would ridicule her if she changed her mind now. Oh how foolish!

With a crooked smile, he slowly walked to where she was standing, and Aaliyah realized that she’d moved quite a few steps away. She maintained eye contact when he loomed in closer, his thumb caressing her cheek with a barely perceptible touch.

“Not scared, are you?”

F*ck the mind-reading! She would never confess that she was hysterically petrified at the challenge she had inexorably accepted. Not over her dead body. “Of course not!” she lied right through her teeth, hiding her trembling hands behind her back. “Actually, I am looking forward to our night together.”

He nodded. “If you find me looking at you with yellow narrowed slit eyes, you run. Is that clear? You run for your life. You don’t wait for anything else. Do you understand?” he said in a grave voice.

Oh goodness! “Yellow narrowed slits. Got it!” she nodded hysterically, her back plastered against the wall behind her as she realized that there was no more place to go. She was cornered.

This time, the smile which adorned Emir’s face was not restricted. It stretched from his lips in unabashed mirth, from one ear to another, as he rubbed her cheek with his knuckle. “Right, see you then.” Was what he said, leaving Aaliyah behind in another high-speed sprint.

With a sunken heart. Aaliyah snapped her palm to her forehead in self-recrimination. To repeat Emir’s earlier words, she felt a special kind of stupid to have accepted the challenge to accompany a vampire on his hunting spree.