Rejected by My Royal Mate

Ch 6- The Vampire

-Alyna-

Irene and I walked through Darhe, the town that was very close to the castle grounds. Most of the extended members of the councilmen lived in Darhe with their families, and it was where Irene lived, as well.

We finally reached her small house. It was more a hut than a house, but it was perfect.

"Thank you for letting me stay," I said as I walked inside the quaint house. I have spent a lot of time here with Irene, but I never thought I would ever leave the palace to live here in the town.

Thanks to that royal pain in the ass, I had to leave the only home I had ever known.

"Oh, you can thank me later. Can we look through the list in your file?" She was like an overeager puppy and I didn't have the heart to say no to her. I nodded as we sat down at her table, which she had cleared for the file. She also had a notepad ready. "We can write every name in the file, and list the pros and cons, and finally we can decide who we are going to-"

"Hey Irene, do you think anyone will accept my invitation?" I whispered, nervously nibbling at my nails.

I was finally back on the ground after flying in the sky, with a jet fueled by my rage. I couldn't stop Theoden's words from ruining my perfect moment of victory. Of course, I meant what I told him, when I told him that I would get back at him, but worry was my best friend next to Irene, and she always followed me with the shadows of insecurity and doubt.

I knew no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise, I knew, in some ways, Theoden was right. Why would anyone want a dragon-less girl when they could have their fair share?

I knew the only reason Nathan agreed was because he was so angry with Theoden at that moment.

"God, Alyna, from the way you talked with Theoden, I was finally happy that you are becoming who you have always been... but now, I don't know what to think? Was that all a lie?" she whispered as she shook her head, a flash of disappointment in her pale green eyes. "And Nathan accepted it."

"No, at that moment, it wasn't a lie. I had this perfect clarity, but-"

"Let's stop talking about buts, and open the file. We have a lot to do," she said as she motioned me. "Hurry along, now, little snail."

I chuckled at her eagerness, and it was contagious.

"We have a month, Irene."

"A month to prepare... we have to spy on all of them, then send invites to the ones you are interested in, receive their response back, spy once again... on the ones who accepted the invitation to find out whether they are creeps or not, find perfect dresses for you... the list goes on. This rejection game will be one for history... and it has been a long long time since the last rejection game. We weren't even born then," Irene said with a clap of her hands. "Chop, chop, my dear."

I opened the file, with each of its own small dossier pockets, with names labeled on the top. It was impressive, thorough and looked well thought out. I picked up the dossier pockets and saw that there were twenty names in there.

"So? Let's do it, shall we!!! Theoden will regret this, we will make sure." Irene, like I said, hated Theoden more than I did for doing this to me. "Now, close your eyes and choose one..."

I laughed at that and closed my eyes as I grabbed one dossier out of all the others and handed it to Irene.

"Felix Black," Irene read the name on the front of the file. "Let's hope he is as sexy as his name sounds."

"Yeah, why don't we?"

I already had two sexy ones in the game, and another one was not going to help me any. I just had to find some reasonable, decent men. They didn't necessarily have to be sexy or hot, or whatever Irene had on her list.

She opened the bunch of papers from inside the file cover, and I almost felt myself buzzing from the excitement of it. Irene was slowly rubbing off of me.

"23, whoa. Vampire," Irene said with a look in her eyes that made me want to laugh. Irene had an unhealthy obsession with the Vampires. Vampires were from one of the small kingdoms near Lumene. Allies of the kingdom. When they were attacked by King Romano of the Empire of Eithon, the few surviving ones came to Lumene seeking refuge. "He looks so damn handsome," Irene said as she pushed a picture of the vampire and I had to admit, that he indeed looked sexy as hell.

"If we get him in, it would destroy Theoden," Irene said with an evil look in her eyes that would have frightened even the seasoned super villain. Yes, the kind of look that made you want to hide under your blanket. I was glad she was my friend, and in my corner, and not against me.

"He is also handsome."

"He is another level of handsome." I had to admit to that.

"Want to go check him out?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow it is, then."

***

And it was the next day, and Irene was ready even before I blinked my eyes open. Bright and very early. She handed me the cup of coffee, hurrying me along.

"It was still- early." I blinked and she shook her head, bouncing on her heels. I think she was trying to live vicariously through me or something. Damn, she must have had a whole lot of caffeine, because, I could literally see her vibrate.

I took a shower and finished eating my eggs and juice, which Irene had so generously made for both of us.

"So, are we really going to stalk the vampire?" I asked, even though I knew what her answer would be.

"It is a reconnaissance mission. We need to weed out the pervs and the creeps. Not all the sexy men are worth your time," she said with a frown. I knew the sexy man she was talking about.

"So, where will we find this vampire?"

"He loves shopping in the farmer's market in Market square," Irene said as we walked along the paved streets, looking at the shops. It was a beautiful day, and maybe I should enjoy it. Overthinking this was not helping me.

"Look who it is... girl, even your mate didn't want you. So, you sure other guys would want you?" Everly's eyes were full of maliciousness, and I took a step back from her. It was better not to shower in the s**t as it blew in your direction, and Everly was the s**t.

I took in a deep breath, controlling myself. Some people don't know how to live their lives in their highrises without pulling down others. Everly, one such person. I didn't know why Everly was so hell bent on debasing me. It wasn't like I had done anything to her.

I didn't know whether it was a coincidence or Everly Vane stalked me. Whatever it was, I didn't like those random moments we met. She always had something snarky to say to me.

"Oh, if she sends me an invite I will want to accept it," a smooth voice said. I blinked and turned around to see Felix Black in the flesh. His pale silver eyes met mine, a knowing look passing through his eyes, and I took in a sharp breath. It was as if he knew my secrets and still wanted to know more about them.

His silver-white hair shone in the sunlight.

"Who the hell are you?" Everly wrinkled her nose. I never understood what Everly's end game was! What was the point of bullying me, when I never did anything to her? I hadn't killed her parents, or stolen her boyfriend... it was impossible to understand what was going inside her f*cked up head!

"No one you need to know," Felix said before he turned to look at me, his eyes scanning my body up and down. "Oh, you look rather delicious!" He licked his lips as if he wanted to take a bite of me or something. "You are here for me, aren't you?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I know who you are, and you know my name is on that list. You are stalking me."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it stalking," I whispered, and his grin was dangerous. "I just want to know who you are."

"I don't blame you. I mean, if you want to invite me for your rejection games, you need to make sure I am more than just a sexy body," he breathed out, and my eyes instantly fell on the said sexy body.

"This guy is giving me heart palpitations," Irene whispered in my ears. "Oh, we are definitely sending him an invite."

"We will see," I said to her.

Felix watched me as he took a step towards me. "I can convince you to send me an invitation." His voice had a seductive lilt as his eyes danced in mischieviousness. "I am very good at convincing people to do things they don't want to do..."

"Like?"

"That throbbing pulse in your neck I want to sink my teeth into. You will say no, for now."

My throat went dry, as if I had been standing in the middle of a deserted tundra, with the sun hanging in the reachable distance. I licked my lips and his eyes flashed to my tongue, peeking out slowly through the pink-parted lips.

He thumbed my lip, softly stroking, bringing a moan out of me. I didn't know what the hell was going on here... the vampire must have hypnotized me or something!

"I will never say yes," I said as I took a step back.

"Oh, we will see, won't we, little girl?"

"I am freaking 20."

"And so, so untouched and pure. And f*cking innocent."

"What the hell are you-"

He pressed a finger against my lips, staring into my eyes with those silver orbs. "Not now, little Alyna. We will have two months in our hands for me to teach you things you can only dream of."

My heart thundered. He was so close and I could smell his spicy aftershave, and his own scent. Felix Black was dangerous, and there was just no turning back from the fact that my he knew how to play a woman like a piano!

"Get the f*ck away from her."

Oh! The Royal ass is back!

~~~