Her Vampire Prince

Her Vampire Prince - Chapter 3

The market in town was a lively place. Every Monday, Daphne and her mother went down from the forest to sell their wares.

"Ma, I see our old place is vacant. Let's hurry!" As she talked, she was walking hastily. Daphne was carrying a large umbrella, a large basket of fresh lettuce, and other paraphernalia for their trade.

Freda ambled behind hurriedly. She had tarot cards inside her coat. She held in her hands the mini-table and two chairs.

"I got here first!" Daphne's fierce voice was resounding around the marketplace.

"But we are here last week!" Selma insisted shrilly. "Didn't we, Lupo?"

"Yeah, we occupy this space last week!" Lupo squawked.

"That was last week. My mother and I are here now." While speaking, Daphne was installing the small stall for her lettuce and the cubicle for her mother.

"Would you like me to read your good fortune now, Selma dear?" Freda intervened to stop the brewing trouble within the youngsters.

Selma, whose looks were ordinary, hesitated.

"What about you, Lupo? Care to know if your beau loved you, too?"

Lupo reluctantly agreed. "For free?"

"Yes," Freda nodded.

"Ma, it's not fair! That means we're paying rent for this place!"

"I will read their good fortune--in exchange for their helping us set up the cubicle and the umbrella. Would you help us, Selma and Lupo?" Freda asked the assistance of the two teenagers gently.

"Yes, of course!"

Daphne gritted her teeth when Lupo and Selma arranged the chairs and table for Freda. Her mother had a way with street children to be biddable--like her!

Lupo and Selma became the first customers of Freda. They seemed happy about their reading because they were both smiling when they went away.

"Ma, my lettuces were sold out!" Daphne shrieked after an hour. "I can't believe it!"

"A lot of people were healthy living nowadays," Freda told her sagely.

"Or maybe, my lettuces just taste fresh and crispy!" Daphne chuckled while she pulled off her apron. "Ma, the money is in there."

"Where are you going?"

"I'll play softball!" Daphne shouted while turning away. "See you before lunch!"

"Take care, Daphne!" Freda waved to the young woman while thinking poignant thoughts.

'Look at your daughter, Lady Beatrice! She grew up more beautiful than you. Not only that, Daphne can do a lot of things like run faster and carry weights like a muscular man can!' Freda was proud to see Daphne turning nineteen years old. They will celebrate her birthday next week.

And a day after that, Daphne would leave with Master Ammad.

Freda's smile soured.

"Daphne's training should begin last year! I already gave you one year. You're not helping her with you being an over-protective mother!" Master Ammad scolded her.

"Okay, okay! Promise me, you're going to take care of her!" Freda sobbed silently.

"You make the training camp sound like a war zone!" Master Ammad was disgusted.

"What will you teach her? Shoot a vampire? Or put a stake against a vampire's heart?" Freda cried out hysterically.

"No! You must not put wrong ideas to Daphne's head, Freda!"

"Then tell me what you're going to teach her!"

"Listen to me, Freda. I'll tell you just this once! We tell the young dhampirs their strengths and their weakness. We teach them how to use their powers for the good. That's all!"

"No fighting?"

"None!" Master Ammad lied without blinking his eyes.

"Liar!"

"They are taught how to fight defensively," Master Ammad admitted grudgingly. "Freda, Daphne is a dhampir. No one can change that. She must know how to defend herself."

"I don't want her to know her true parentage!"

"Nobody shall tell her about that!"

"How can you be sure? You introduced her as the child of--of royalty and a vampire!"

"When Daphne is at the right age, she will ask about her father. What will you tell her, Freda? She is intelligent so she will ask herself: how can you be her real mother when you don't have similarities?" Master Ammad challenged Freda.

'Ma, why is my nose so high and pointy while yours is flat and large?' Daphne had once asked Freda when she was a little girl. Her small fingers fiddled the nostrils while looking into them.

'My nose is flat because when I was little, I ran fast and fell on my nose. That is why, girls should not run fast.' Freda made an adlib to that question.

If Daphne asked the same question now, Freda had no answer.

After next week, she would just have to learn that the bundle of joy had turned to a beautiful young woman. She would have to live on a day to day basis onwards.

Daphne had not discovered yet that her alluring features and slender body could muddle the brain of the men around her.

And Freda was grateful that Daphne was hiding her beauty beneath the loose coat and loose pants. Her favorite color was gray because there were no colors available in the house.

The sack hat had covered her brunette head. She bundled her thick lustrous strands underneath the beanie, which was black in color.

'It is time to say goodbye to Daphne, the light of my life!' Freda whispered to herself. Her eyes looked glumly at the group of youngsters playing a game of softball.

Daphne was taller than the rest. She was laughing as the ball sailed to her. She caught it even though it was high.

"Touch base!" she shouted cheerfully.

"I don't want to play anymore! Daphne is faster and taller than us!" Lupo protested the loudest. The others had complained, too.

"Come, Daphne! We need one more player in our basketball team!" Olen invited her.

Disgruntled because she was kicked out of the softball game, Daphne went to the giant basketball player.

"Okay. You have to teach me how to play basketball. All I know is dribble the ball like this..." Daphne dribbled the ball. "And throw the ball to you!"

"Or shoot it to the basket!" Olen caught the ball and threw it back to her.

Daphne was confident that she could catch the ball but, alas! she bumped onto a wall!

"What the--?" There was no wall in the field where they were playing!

Daphne turned around to look. Her sight was arrested by firm lips, aristocratic nose, and the most mesmeric eyes she had ever seen!

She had collided to his hard chest!

His long fingers wrapped around her arms to steady her.