Bride of the Vampire Prince

CHAPTER: 2

Vienna Parker laced up her boots and grabbed her backpack, knowing she had to time her escape just right. Downstairs, the morning activity was in full swing. The refrigerator opening and closes, Mrs. Davies complaining about her coffee going cold, and the twins crying for more milk. Mr. Davies was down the hall hiding in the bathroom, where he would likely stay until his wife had gotten the kids taken care of. 

Vienna waited, listening to the sounds of this family, which had nothing to do with hers. She crept from her room, cursing under her breath when the stairs creaked beneath her weight.

"Vienna?" Mrs. Davies called. "Do you want breakfast?" But in reality, what she meant was 'Will you kindly help me with my little brats?'

Vienna plunged her head into the kitchen. The twins were alternating between jamming chocolate chips from their pancakes into their mouths and then s******g their fat little palms against the table, which was sticky with syrup.

"No, thanks. I am late," Vienna lied.

Mrs. Davies sighed, leaning back against the countertop. Her curly hair hung over one eye. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yep," Vienna replied.

One of the twins started drinking her juice. The other one spilled hers all over the table.

"Ugh, Maria!" Mrs. Davies' shoulders slumped as she started wiping. Vienna had only lived there for two weeks, but she had learned that  Mrs. Davies slumped her shoulders a lot, and wiped things. She seemed like she wanted people to feel sorry for her. Vienna would have, but Mrs. Davies was the i***t who had kids with the jerk husband hiding in the upstairs bathroom then he kept feeding them too much sugar at breakfast. Not that Vienna was judging or anything.

"See you later!" Saying that Vienna bounded out of the door before Mrs. Davies could ask her to release one of the wicked little beasts from its chair restraints and wipe its sticky hands.

Vienna's mother would not have approved of her running from the house when Mrs, Davies needed help, and neither would her little sister, Tina. But they were not here. A wave of something, some sort of terrible, big emotion, threatened to crash over her. She avoided it with a mental sidestep, just like she avoided stepping on the c***k on the sidewalk in front of her. Step on a c***k and break your back. 

Who comes up with such stupid sayings like that? Vienna wondered. She would not risk it. It seemed suicidal, tempting fate to do something even worse to her. She had enough to deal with already.

                                                                            ***********

"I don't really think they were looking to foster a needy kid. I think they were looking for a live-in babysitter." Vienna frowned at Kate, her best friend.

Kate tucked a lock of blond hair behind her ear and scowled back. "You could have just stayed with us."

"I didn't think it was fair. At least the Davies' get money from the state." Kate's family had taken her in, but her parents already had three kids. Another person to feed and clothe was maybe asking too much.

Kate shook her head. "You can still sleep at my house whenever you want."

"Thanks," Vienna mumbled. But her caseworker had told her that she needed to stay at the Davies'.

Vienna still could not believe she had a caseworker. Some of the words from her new life seemed unexplainable and foreign to her. Foster family, legal guardian, and death certificates. Orphan was another new word in her dictionary. 

"Are they creepy?" Kate asked. "The Davies'?"

"I mean, yeah." Vienna shrugged, thinking of Mr. Davies hiding from his wife and kids in the bathroom. "But it is not even their fault. Living in somebody else's house is just weird. It is like I am a guest, but no one is on their 'company' behavior. The dad snores, the mom complains, and the twins are real brats. I don't even know them, but I am seeing all their... stuff. No one is on their best behavior at home."

Kate nodded. "That sounds awful."

Vienna felt the prick of tears and decided to change the subject. "Did you study for the chemistry test?"

"Sort of." Kate pulled her backpack on. "You?"

"Yep." Vienna viewed good grades as a step toward freedom. She was woefully behind on her college applications. But she figured any that might contribute to an acceptance letter and a single dorm room. It would be a ticket out of here, for her.

Kate glanced at her. "It is going to be okay, you know."

But, those stupid tears pricked at her eyes again. "I know. See you later, okay?" Vienna swerved off before Kate could say anything else to comfort her. She was the only person Vienna still had, but she could barely stand to be around her. Kate very well knew how Vienna felt. She understood, and that almost made Vienna feel worse. The rest of the kids at high school just thought of Vienna as that girl, the one whose mom and kid sister had died, the one who had a caseworker; the orphan. Her classmates had flooded her with texts and posts about being sorry for her loss, but they avoided her in real life as though she had something contagious. She did not blame them. What could they say?

Vienna headed to the washroom and locked herself inside a stall. Her breath was coming fast. Oh crap, she thought. It was happening again. She started wheezing, her chest tightening as her heart pounded loudly. She sank, clutching herself, praying that no one else would come into the girl's room. Her reputation would then go down the drain, she thought so. 

Stop it, Vienna! Her heart thudded in her chest, a wild, irregular rhythm that made her think it would explode. Just breathe, she told herself. But she could not. She gasped for air as her whole body shook, racked with contractions, out of her control. Her arms tingled and started to go numb.

The first time Vienna had an anxiety attack, she had thought she was going to die. She had tried calling for help, but she could not get the words out. It had not mattered-- no one could have heard her then. That was because her mother was dead. Tina was dead. They were dead, and they could not hear her. 

A/N: To be continued...