Nobody is Safe

Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Richard it turned out liked to be called Rick like I preferred to go by Becka. We got along smashingly well and actually seemed to like some of the same things. After he was done being my drill master on all things Vampire, we laid on the carpet side by side on our stomachs and he taught me a few things about my new phone. 

“See this is the S8 a lot cooler than the S6 which is what I have…” he pulled out his phone and we compared them. “Now there are some new features to yours I’m not sure how to work but I’m sure in your box..” he trailed off and dug in the box the phone had been in. “Here it is!” he handed me a packet of paper that said manual on it. “If you read this cover to cover you will know how to work all the features of your phone.”

“Cover to cover?” I asked slightly bemused by that terminology. 

He grinned. “Sorry it means to read the whole thing from the front cover to the back cover.”

I nodded and just stared at the phone and manual and felt slightly overwhelmed.

“Hey so I was thinking…. Oh Hello Richard you're still here?”

We both jumped up at my mom’s voice as she came in through the adjoining door.

“He was just showing me something on my new phone he has the…” I looked at Rick totally lost. I had forgotten what he had called his phone.

He laughed softly. “My phone is the S6 but I was showing her what I know about the S8 and set her up with her manual. I should be getting going my Uncle doesn’t like when I slack please don’t tell him!”

“Rick don’t worry you were helping me just like he said I got your back.” I gave him a smile and he nodded flushing a light pink color rising on his cheeks.

“Thanks see you ladies later.” And with that he bolted from the room. 

I looked at my mom. “What were you saying?” I asked, shaking my head trying to focus.

She smiled. “I’m so glad you two are friends already from what King Jared was telling me little Richard doesn’t have many friends. Most people find him intimidating because he is so far advanced for his age that’s why he figured it would be good for you and Richard to work together.”

“He likes to be called Rick mom and he seems fine to me. He had to re-explain some things but for the most part I understood everything he told me.”

“Well honey just take it one day at a time and always play it on the safe side, always.” She smiled at me and walked over to me and hugged me gently and quickly released me. “Did you want to go for another run before we meet up with all the Royals at the Royal diner?”

“We have to go there again? Can’t we just hole up in here and have something brought to our room?” I asked already knowing she was going to say no.

“Darling we are Royal too we can’t just hide in our room. We might be hiding on this estate to keep us safe but within the boundaries of this place we have to follow the orders given from the King and Queen and they both insisted we both be there tonight. You will be fine so you up for another quick run before we need to get ready?”

I sighed and looked down at the phone still in my hand. “Sure I have music I can run to now.” I said softly and headed into my room to change my shoes and then we were out the door after I took forever figuring out how to access the music and turn it on so it played while I had the phone in my bra pocket along with my key to my room.

Once we were outside and had the crisp night air surrounding us, together we moved as one as we quickly picked up our pace and then we were bolting across the grounds towards the track again causing stares as we tore past people out and about on this night, well day I guess. I didn’t have much time to think because we finally hit the track and I picked up speed kicking gravel everywhere dust flying into the night air but I couldn’t think it was all sensation. The music was perfect for running and the night air made me feel all that more energized. I ran hard and fast, my breathing stayed even, it just picked up a little. I ran around and around the track and suddenly was next to my mom again. I smiled at her as I blew past her once more.

“Becka be careful!” she shouted but it sounded garbled over my music. I looked back at her and that’s when I tripped, and did a summersault to try and save my face. I landed flying gravel everywhere, some of the gravel biting into my skin but I couldn’t think of anything. There was something strange happening, my chest constricted as I rolled and finally landed hard on my back getting all the air knocked out of my lungs.

I lay there for a split second and then I jump up and look around. There was a crowd that had formed watching us run and some seemed to be making their way towards us as mom sprinted to my side. “Rebecca are you okay?”

“Mom it was like my ankle hit an invisible wall.”

“It was a vortex hole a simple spell but to the untrained eye it’s almost invisible.” She looked around then took my hand and together we slowly walked around the track my ankle was hurt but as I was thinking about it the pain dulled and then vanished.

“Want to go another lap?” I asked grinning.

She shook her head and started leading me off the track. “No we should get you propped up and some ice on that ankle before we head to the diner.” She looked around as the crowd slowly dispersed. “Plus I don’t know who cast that spell and I would feel safer if we just got back to our rooms.” 

I looked at her and grinned. “Okay then let’s run back to our wing, less danger of finding spell’s there right?”

She smiled at me shaking her head. “If you feel you are up to it we can run back to the wing it will shave off some time giving us a little more relaxation time.”

I giggled and together we started picking up speed and soon maybe too soon we were at our wing we walked inside doing our cool down walk and then when we reached my door mom came in with me again. I went right to the couch and sank down into the soft material and gave out a soft sigh. My Mom sat next to me and smiled down at me. “Do you need ice or is your Vampire blood healing that as well?” she asked, seeming to be truly curious.

“No I’m fine I might need a shower before we do anything more though.” I said in a lofty voice so she couldn’t tell I was fudging the truth just a little. My ankle was throbbing and I’m sure it would be swollen soon but I had to hide it. My mom is overprotective and if she thought I was in any pain she would probably have a legion of people in the room making everything better but I know she can’t always fix things and a little swollen ankle was nothing compared to everything we have faced this far and what was yet to come even if I wasn’t sure what exactly was to come. I picked a dress at random and got in the shower making the hot water sooth my throbbing ankle.

When I stepped out of the shower I noticed two things. First my phone was no longer on the counter by the sink and second the dress I had picked out had been swapped for a longer more fancy dress and there were tights and high heeled shoes sitting by the bench in front of a full body mirror. I dried off and quickly slipped into my under clothes and then slipped the dress on. “Mom are you out there?” I called and seconds later I heard her soft footsteps come up to the door. 

“Yes darling do you need me to zip you up?”

“Umm yeah.” I opened the door and smiled. My mom was in a floor length blue gown that made her eyes seem to sparkle. There were sparkles all over the dress silver glitter everywhere. “Whoa!” I said totally floored. “You look so beautiful mom!” 

“What?” she shook her head and walked in and started zipping up my dress. “I just look how I’m expected to darling you, on the other hand, are extremely beautiful. This dress really does make your face glow.”

I looked down at the bright pink dress that almost looked purple and was floor length with frill and lace all over it along with red sparkles all over the dress. The arms of the dress dangled from my fingertips making it almost look as if it was too long for me. She pulled my hair down from the towel and quickly brushed through it and then styled it how I always wore my hair straight parted on the left side so it was thicker over my right eye and my black hair seemed to shine and in the mirror it looked like it had an almost blue hue through the thick layers of black.

“Mom would you ever consider letting me cut my hair?” I asked and waited for her answer with baited breath.

“No absolutely not!” she said coming out of her dreamy haze.

“Why not? You are always telling me that this is my body, my temple, and that I should take care of it how I want if all of that is true then why can’t I cut my hair to a more manageable length? I mean on the run I understood we didn’t really have a barber on hand but here there has to be one! This is like a mini city in the walls of a fence they have to have a salon somewhere I know you probably want to cut your hair to or get your nails done or something girly like they did in those movies we watched, please we can make a day of it.” I pleaded with her. 

She sighed it was hard to fail my logic. “Fine Rebecca tomorrow we will find the salon but tonight we must be getting going or we are going to be late. Put on the tights and the shoes and let’s head over.”

“Yes! Thank you Mommy!” I cheered and hugged her then went to the bench and slid on the tights and then the shoes which Mom helped me buckle and together we walked out of the bathroom both of us wearing our crowns our heads held high. I stopped as we hit the door. “Did you take my phone?” I asked. “It was on the counter in the bathroom when I got in the shower but it wasn’t there when I got out.”

She bit her lip and I knew she was deliberating. “Okay, yes I took the phone, only because it isn’t acceptable to have a cellphone on when you are in the presence of the King and Queen. I was just going to play stupid but your too smart for that you understand we must do what is asked of us immediately with no hesitation. We are Royal but we follow the orders that are given to us. Neither of us is Queen so until that happens, if it ever happens, then we must always follow what we are told. No matter what we think is right or wrong we must forever do our duty and follow what is expected of us!”

“Mom, breathe, it's fine all you had to say was that I couldn’t take it with me. I would have left it here in my room.” I patted her hand and smiled.

“Really?” she asked, seeming bemused. 

“Yes mom really all you have to do is tell me some of these things I still don’t get but I would understand if you explained it like you did you don’t have to sneak my phone just tell me to leave it behind.” I blushed and looked away. “Can I have it back so I can put it in my room?” I asked and reluctantly she went to her room again shutting the door and keeping me out and a few seconds later she came back with the phone in her hands and an angry glare in her eyes.

“What do you think you are doing texting the King's nephew? You have no time for boys, you need to focus on your studies, this is unacceptable!”

“Mom!” I groaned and snatched the phone from her hand. “Can’t I have any privacy? We were texting about some of the things he was teaching me earlier and he told me I could text him with any questions.”

She stared at me hard and then took a deep breath after a few tense seconds and closed her eyes as if asking for strength. “What do you have questions about? I can answer your questions better than a teenage boy.” She finally said opening her eyes and looking at me again.

“It’s nothing you can help me with mom.” I said softly, truly pained but I didn’t want her to know I had been texting Rick asking him how to handle being close to my mom without having my fangs drop at the smell of her blood. We had been going back and forth with ideas but he wasn’t sure how to fix it. His mom and dad were both vampires so he had no such problems when hugging his mom or his dad and he kept to the vampires and didn’t mingle with the witches much.

“Darling, I can help you with anything just tell me.”

I looked at the display on my phone and said softly. “We should be getting going or we will be late.” I walked over to my room and texted a fast reply to Rick and then rushed back out and to the door the heels made it hard to walk fast but mom kept a gentle grip on my arm pulling me at a faster pace than I would comfortably walk in these heels. 

As we approached the diner we were greeted at the door by two big bulky looking men in black pinstriped suits and their hair black and short with a comb-over their eyes constantly roaming, the both of them nodded to us.

“Frank, Carl.” My mom said in greeting.

“Hello Princess, are you joining the other royals tonight? Who is your guest?” The one closer to us spoke with a big goofy grin.

“Yes, the Queen and King requested us to be here tonight. How's the crowd? Are you and Carl on patrol all night?” she asked with a warm returning smile.

“Princess you should know we would do anything to keep you all safe if that means sitting protecting a door and letting in people then that is what we will do.” Carl smiled at my mom. “Who’s the tag-along? I don’t remember you ever having a shadow.”

My mom blushed and looked at me then turned back to them. “This is my Daughter Rebecca.”

“Nice to meet you Princess.” They both said in unison and then opened the doors allowing us to enter.

We slipped into our seats just as things were starting. The Queen leaned over to whisper to me and my Mom. “That was cutting it very close, Taylor you know better you should have arrived early!” she sat back up not waiting for a response or an excuse.

I looked at my mom then reached over and squeezed her hand gently. Don’t let her get to you. We made it in time and she's just stuck up. I whispered to her softly passing the message through our linked hands and I saw mirth temporarily flint in her eyes but then it was gone. Behave! Is what she sent back then pulled her hand from mine. I sighed softly and tried to focus on what was going on but I was so lost none of it seemed to make sense like they were speaking French and I only know English. My mom seemed to follow everything that was going on and I wanted to ask her what was happening but she suddenly stood up and smiling like they all were the best of friends she waved her hands and all the candles in the room lit with the wave of her hand and then she mumbled something and waved her hands again and Poof food was placed on all the tables. She smiled brightly and spoke loudly. “Friends and family come together now under the goddess and cherish this food she so gratefully gave for us!” she sat back down and as one the crowd moved and began eating.