The Princess And The Wolf

How to get to Uni

I was bursting at the seams with excitement all through the ride from home to the University, so much so, that I barely felt the 4 hour journey come to end.

I had to beg my parents not to come along, and the compromise was that Patrick will drive me and stick around the campus, just case I would need him. I didn't protest, because I understand I need security and protection. You never know, somebody might find out who I am and take advantage that the soul heir to the Vampire Kingdom's throne is alone and vulnerable, and decide to take me out. I quickly dismiss that image. Brrr, happy thoughts, Clara. Happy and positive thoughts only!

I have no idea where Patrick will be staying or what will he do out here, because let's face it, he's a little old to be a student, but once he drops me off, I plan on acting like I don't know him. Oh, I wonder what my roommate will be like. It would be amazing to become best friends, I've never had a best friend.

Getting out of the car, feeling the confidence oozing out from my every pore, I take a moment to breathe in the sweet air of freedom. This is it, no more Royal title, no more Royal duties, just me enjoying a normal life for a change. My eyes eagerly read the big golden letters mounted on a very tall and imposing building: Western Institute of Business.

As I stand here grinning, feeling like this is definitely going to be my year, I can hear Patrick calling out to me, trying to get my attention.

I'm still taking in the architecture of the main building, comparing it to the castle I have called my home for the past 19 years, when an incoming roaring noise breaks my thoughts.

"Clara, watch out!" Patrick yells once more, but before it registers in my overexcited brain that I have stopped in the middle of the road, and try to move away, an obnoxiously loud sports car almost runs me over. And I am not being dramatic here. The screeching tires were mere inches from going over my shoes, and crushing my toes to a pulp, and the side mirror grazed my fingers, almost taking them off, when I instinctively lifted my arms up and jerked away from the metal monster. And yes, even vampires can die from being run over, and I was not planning on dying any time soon.

"Are you alright Prin... Clara?" A paler than usual Patrick is quickly inspecting me for any signs damage, but I am unable to move.

There is damage, but not physical, at least not yet. A drowning feeling of being in over my head hits me hard. I haven't thought this trough, have I? I almost got run over the minute I got here, how I am going to manage living here on my own? What am I going to eat, who will take care of laundry and cleaning my room? Stupid little things like that, that I have never done before, and as a consequence I am clueless as to how I will get them done. I curse myself for coming here so unprepared.

The thing that is the most concerning is my feeding, and I don't mean regular food. Usually, vampires get blood from humans who who sell their blood, or from those sentenced for gnarly crimes. I would lie if I told you that you can't feel a different taste depending of who the blood comes from, and so far I have been quite picky.

Drinking from the source is incredibly expensive, and generally only the richest of vampires can afford it, well, legally at least, but since my parents are literally the King and Queen of Vampires we have access to that without any issues. So far I am yet to drink from human who didn't offer their blood willingly, and I would like to keep it that way. I don't see myself beasting out and attacking someone or using my powers to compel a weak human into letting me feed from them.

I've actually come to learn that most of the humans that live in our Kingdom give their blood to vampires wilingly, either by bag or straight from the source, for various reasons. But being allowed to live in our Kingdom safely and having the chance to live a good amd prosperous life with anything they might need, usually does the trick.

The first time I had blood from the vein was from my nanny, and I was 4. She kept feeding me until I was about 10 and only then I found out about blood bags. Luckily I never needed to drink from one. And before anyone freaks out, vampires only need blood about once a month (I would always joke that for women it just means replacing the blood they lose anyways). It's similar to how shifters need to change once every few weeks in order for their animal side not to go feral.

The whole point of my rambling about blood is that here in the human world, where nobody knows who I am, there will be no more human nannies or other friends of the Vampire court to make sure I feed. That might be a problem, but I'll figure out how to get access to some blood bags once a month. The best plan I have right now is to pretend I'm injured and help myself to a blood bag from a hospital. I wonder if that would be hard to pull off. Maybe I should just find that loud sports car again and post myself in it's way once more. It went into the campus, so maybe giving it a second chance at it, should do the trick in getting me hurt. OK, maybe I'll keep brainstorming on that one, but in the mean time, I think I need to get slightly more creative, and smarter.

"Patrick, I need a car." I inform him once I snapped out of the trauma induced state of paralysis.

"Sure, so you want to keep this one?" I roll my eyes. Yeah, of course, a massive SUV with tinted windows definetely screams NORMAL 19 year old college student.

"Could you find me something a little more... apropriate, if you don't mind? Remember that I'm suppose to be a normal girl."

"You can still be normal and well off at the same time, you know? Why do you insist on making this hard on yourself?"

"Patrick..." I warn him, but he just dismisses me and carries on with the same stuff that my parents would say.

"You can still be in college and have your own little condo with a house keeper and a chef. Nobody would know."

Gee, thanks for the boost of confidence, Patrick. I was actually hoping that I would make some friends here. From the movies I watched, friends come over, and I'm pretty sure that having a chef and a maid would either scare those potential friends away, or cause them to ask obvious questions. And that brings me to the original reason why I wanted to leave my parents back home, and not be their daughter for a while. I want people to genuinely like me for who I am, not because of who my family is, or how rich I might me.

"Nope, I'm sticking with the dorms, thank you very much. But I do want a car, and then that's it, I'll see you in a year, Pat." He hates it when people call him Pat, yet I chirp like a happy little bird, collecting my bags from the car.

"You know I have to be around, right? It's the only way, I have to be close by."

"Fine, but no one can find out that we know each other." I huff, placing a large backpack on my shoulders, while balancing my huge handbag on top of my luggage. I so got this!

"You know I could drop you off in front of the dorm, I'm heading into campus anyway." Patrick offers, amused by me. I must looks like one of those people who want to carry everything at once to avoid making two trips, but end up dropping everything just as they reach the destination.

"We don't know each other, remember?" I start dragging the bags with me, being mindful of crossing any roads on my trek to the dorm, and hoping that my bags don't go tumbling down and bursting open.

I stand proudly in front of the building that houses my dorm room. Looking at my watch, I can see how I've wasted 20 minutes of this precious year of freedom by walking here all while hauling the bags with me. I could really do with a car. Just as I was thinking that, I look over to my right, noticing a small car park. My eyes scan the place landing on the same inanimate assassin from earlier. A desire to take a key and just scratch the hell out of that paint overcomes me, but before I can even think of acting on that impulse, I spot the driver of that monstrosity, and he winks at me, visibly smirking.