Vampire Queen

Chapter 5: James

            Leaving Ava in the library was difficult to do. I knew I shouldn’t have kissed her, but the dress she was wearing, she looked amazing, and I couldn’t help myself. While walking back to Chase, I passed Karter and Jessica in the hall.

            “Happy birthday James!” Karter came to me and gave me a bro hug, then Jessica gave me quick squeeze.

            “Thanks guys, I’m glad you made it. Did you see Jade already?” I asked them.

            “We passed her on the way in and got in some hugs before the rest of the guests showed up,” Jessica smiled at me. “Have you seen Ava? Jade wasn’t sure where she went off to.”

            “I saw her going towards the kitchen.” They nodded and took off in that direction. Since Ava and Jade were best friends, they knew their way around the castle pretty well. The main floor wasn’t too difficult to figure out, it had a few living spaces where mom and dad had their own space, Jade had her own, and I had my own as well. This way Jade and I wouldn’t fight over the main TV when we had friends over. The kitchen was on the main floor, the library, a big conference room and a clinic. A bathroom was close by to every room possible. The one between the kitchen and the library, we had men and women style like you would see in the mall. This came in handy for nights like this.

            The second floor is where mine and Jade’s room are on one side and our offices that we were officially going to start using next week. The other side of the second floor was for guests whenever we had important people come by for meetings. The third and final floor is for my parent’s bedroom and their offices, and also the nursery rooms for when Jade and I were born and for any future kids.

            We had a separate building out back that is like a banquet hall where we host all our parties, and that is where our birthday party is taking place. There’s a red carpet leading the way from the front doors and into the backyard and to the entrance of the hall. I haven’t been inside yet because mom made us promise to stay away so they could keep something as a surprise still.

            I was making my way back to Jade and Chase when members of the coven started to show up. Taking my place next to Chase on the opposite side of Jade, I start to shake hands and welcome them to the party. A few minutes later Ava shows up. Her eyes looked slightly red from crying, I tried to catch her eye when she stood next to Jade, but she focused on the guests showing up and forced a smile on her face. When Jade looked at her, she knew something was wrong and tried to get her to talk, but she only shook her head, but I noticed a side glance in my direction. Was I the one who made her cry?

*Ava*

            I stayed in the library for a minute because I was fighting back tears. I needed to make sure I could overcome that feeling before heading back to the front doors. Why would James kiss me? Many nights I have dreamed of this happening, but in my dreams, he didn’t run away after. Taking deep breaths to steady myself, I was finally ready to go back out and find Karter. I opened the door and walked out, and I literally bump into Jessica. She grabs me and steadies me, but when we look each other in the eyes, I couldn’t stop the tears that started flowing. Jessica grabbed me and held on while Karter was trying to ask me what was wrong. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him anything, he would go after James if he found out the truth. Jessica shook her head to Karter; he sighed heavily and went towards the banquet hall leaving me and Jessica alone.

            “What happened?” She asked while pulling away from me gently.

“James kissed me” I spoke in a soft whisper in case someone else was close by. I’m not sure how others would take it if they found out what he did.

            “Isn’t that a good thing?”

            “Not when he left shortly after.”

            “What do you mean he left after?” Jessica asked angrily.

            “He said he had to in case he couldn’t after tonight, than he left.” I shrugged my shoulders explaining why he did what he did. “If he knew I wasn’t going to be his mate, I wish he would have left it alone. All I feel is pain now. What if he finds his mate tonight in front of everyone?”

            “I know that it wasn’t the best thing for him to do, but now you know that he cares about you as well. It must be difficult for him knowing that he cares about you, but there could be someone else out there for him.”

            “I guess I didn’t think about that.”

            “Why don’t you go back to the front and greet the guests and see what happens throughout the night.” Jessica dried my cheeks with her thumbs than turned me around towards the front doors. “Come find me at any time during the party if it is too much for you to handle.”

            “Thanks Jess, love you!” I went back to the doors where people from the coven were starting to arrive and took my place next to Jade.

            She looked back to me when she felt my presence and frowned at the sight of me. “What’s wrong?” she demanded. I shook my head and took a side glance in James’s direction. He was watching me with a look of confusion on his face, and possibly guilt.

            Many, if not all, of our classmates showed up for the party with their families. Most of the girls were looking at James while all the boys were looking at Jade. Some girls were looking at Chase instead, which was surprising since most girls were hoping they would become the future Queen of the coven. It was difficult to keep my focus on smiling at everyone instead of snarling at them. I tried to convince myself that it was inappropriate on their behalf to address the future King this way, and it wasn’t because of my own feelings towards him.

            It took at least an hour for all the guests to arrive and settle in their seats. The four of us walked into the building and took our place standing in front of everyone. We waited patiently for everyone to quiet down before Jade and James gave the formal greeting. I looked to my right and saw Karter and Jessica sitting a table near the front with an empty seat for me and noticed the Queen and King were there as well since the main table was meant for Jade and James only tonight. I caught Jessica’s eye and she gave me a quick wink.

            “Welcome everyone,” James started. “my sister and I are honored to have you all here tonight to celebrate our 18th birthday.”

            “In a half hour, it will be midnight and our transformation will begin. In the meantime, please eat, drink, and mingle. There will be a dance once out transformation has been completed.” Jade finished the greeting and there was a loud cheer for them. The twins took their seats at their table, and Chase went to the table to the left, while I walked to the right and sat next to my brother.

            Soon enough there were conversations starting around the whole hall as everyone was relaxing into their seats to wait for midnight to approach. Karter was in conversation with Clifford, and Jessica was talking with Lilith. I was not paying too much attention; I felt anxious at the thought of James finding his mate tonight. Could she be here in the room tonight? Could she be from a different coven? It is possible that if both of them do not find their mates by the new year, they will have to travel in search for them. It made me sad to think that they will both find their mates outside of the coven, if they were at least in the same coven there was a chance we would all be friends still. If an outside came here, I am positive things will change.

            “James is looking over here.” I heard a voice close by and I turned to see who it was. I saw Melanie and Lacy huddled together. Melanie has been trying to get James’s attention for years. She turned 18 back in June, while Lacy is still in high school with us. “Do you think he knows you’re his mate already?” Lacy asked Melanie.

            “I’m sure he does. I’ve known it for months now, so there’s a good chance he did too.” She replied back with confidence with a flip of her long golden hair. I guess you could say that she was nice to look at. Golden blonde hair down to her waist, bright green eyes, slim figure, and pouty full lips. Most of the guys at school wanted to be with her, but she always had her eyes on James. He doesn’t even know who she is, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that. I noticed how she kept fluttering her eyes lashes at him and pretending that Lacy was telling her something funny. Was James really even bothering with her? I turned slightly to check where he was actually looking, and those big blue eyes were directly on me.

            Considering Melanie and Lacy were one table over, I could see how they would get mistaken for his line of eyesight. Fully turning around, I look directly back at him and titled my head towards the other girls. He chuckles and shakes his head at them. Obviously, his vampire hearing was starting to get stronger, he probably heard their whole conversation. I raised an eyebrow at him as if I were asking him whether or not Melanie really was his mate. He shook his head again slightly and gave me a wink. It will be funny when he doesn’t run straight to Melanie after the transformation. I look towards the clock just as it strikes midnight.

            Jade gave out a piercing scream, I turned my head towards her and wanted to rush to her side. Clifford placed his hand on my shoulder, and I turned to look at him. “She has to do this on her own.” He told me while pushing me back down in my chair. James made some grunting noise; he was trying to hide the pain. I’m not sure what the process is like, but I heard it was painful, more painful for some than others. They both stood up from their chairs with their eyes closed tight. Jade was gripping onto the table and shaking her head back and forth. James was trying to stand still, but I could see him shaking. This took all of 5 minutes and then they both stopped. The room had an eerie silence while we waited for them to open their eyes.

            Slowly they lift their heads and open their eyes at the same time. They were the brightest of blue I have ever seen. James opened his mouth and showed his fangs, Jade followed his actions and they both gave a loud snarl that shook the room. They were now full adult vampires, and it wouldn’t be too long until they would be taking over for their parents.

            All of a sudden Melanie squealed and ran up towards James. She put her arms around him and tried to give him a kiss, but he pushed her away with so much force that she fell backwards and landed on her bottom. Half of the room gasped, while the other half stifled their laughter. He looked down at her with disgust on his face.

            “Why would you do that!?” She screamed up at him.

            “You are not my mate.” He said simply with a shrug of his shoulders. All the single girls in the room started to whisper excitedly thinking they still had a chance.

            Soon enough, all those girls ran forwards and waited for him to go towards the one he is destined for. He shook his head and instead walked this way towards my table to see his parents. I turned my focus on Jade this time while James was talking with his father in a low whisper. Jade was looking around eagerly, as the single guys took the place of the girls. She gave a deep sigh and shook her head as well. None of them were meant for her. She dipped her head and walked towards me. I pulled her into a hug without saying anything.

            Chase came over to congratulate his best friend while Lilith stood up walked to the front. “Thank you everyone again for coming tonight. It is unfortunate that the twin’s mates have not been shown tonight, but please never fear, there is still plenty of time.” She looks over in our direction as she says this. Was it just me, or did she lock eyes with me? Nah, she was looking at Jade, trying to reassure her. It looked like she was staring in my direction because Jade was with me. “The dance will start right away while a table at the back is filled with plenty of different desserts. Enjoy the rest of the evening, thank you!” Lilith walked back towards and took her daughter in her arms this time. They walked towards James and Clifford. I caught Chase’s eye and nodded my head for him to come to me.

            “Let’s give them some family time.” He nodded his head. Karter and Jessica heard me as well and they went off the dance floor. They can talk to the twins later since we have all night if we wanted to stay that long.

            “You want to go dance?” Chase held out his hand. I looked at him wearily and he chuckles. “Just a friendly dance to get to know each other better since we will be spending more time together starting on Monday.”

            I thought about it another moment and finally gave him a shrug. “Sure, why not?” I took his hand and followed him onto the dance floor. We started dancing and I felt someone else coming towards us, but I heard Chase give a snarl and that person quickly changed direction. Did he have other motives for dancing with me tonight?