Zuri had been shaken by the attack the previous day and the icing on the cake was witnessing how Prince Jaden had killed the vampire that had almost bitten her.
The prince had killed that vampire with his bare hands effortlessly as if he had been swatting off a fly.
That same prince had walked her back to her quarters while holding her hand, and all through, Zuri wondered if it was the same person that had killed his kind just a few moments ago. At some point, Zuri had struggled to remove her hand from his firm grip but he had held still and had not let her go.
When they got to the door of her room, in a low voice, Jaden said, "We have breakfast in a few hours. Come to my office first, then we'll go together."
Zuri nodded in response to what he had just told her as she stared at him through widely opened eyes. She continued to stare at him and jerked when he stopped abruptly and turned his head a little so that he would speak over his shoulder.
"Go in now and lock your doors."
He remained standing there till it occurred to Zuri that the prince was waiting for her to enter her room. Hurriedly, she opened the door and walked into her room. Zuri placed her ears on the door and listened to Prince Jaden's footsteps as he walked away.
Morning came slowly because Zuri hadn't been able to get enough sleep. How could she sleep when they were not only blood-sucking vampires but now, there were infected vampires that she guessed posed a threat to the 'healthy' — if she could even use that word — ones? 'Healthy' seemed misused when she thought about vampires. They didn't suit the definition of the word.
Another thing that scratched the walls of her mind was the blood contract that she had entered with Prince Jaden, her boss. The fact that she had no say in the matter annoyed Zuri but she was painfully aware that there was nothing she could do about it. She was a slave here.
A human slave in the land of vampires, at that.
Survival was already hard enough, much less riling up one of their elites just to ease her irritation.
Zuri dragged herself up and got ready for another day. The sun had not risen yet since 4 A.M. was when the vampires 'ate'. Then, the ones that wanted to sleep — as sleep was a choice for them — would go to sleep at dawn. This was something that Zuri had to get used to.
She combed her full, silky hair and used her hand to straighten the front of her uniform.
"Be strong, Zuri. You will be fine," she muttered to herself and walked out of her room after checking if both sides of the hallway were clear of any lurking infected vampire.
As soon as she got to Prince Jaden's office, she stood and stared at the door as she tried to gather herself to face the prince yet again.
Zuri raised her hand to knock when she heard, "Just come in. We are already late."
Late? How did he even know that she was there? Zuri was sure that she had made no sound because she had tiptoed to his door. She swallowed and pushed the door open.
"Good... morning, Prince Jaden." She was unsure of what to say — was this morning or night?
"Good morning." It's morning, apparently, despite the moon in the sky. "Let's go," Prince Jaden said as he walked past her.
It seemed to Zuri that he had been waiting for her. She had to adjust quickly to their time.
* * *
They were all seated on the majestically long and decorated dining table that had golden cutlery properly lined on each side.
As Prince Jaden walked to where he would sit, Zuri could see three sets of eyes fixed on her. Suddenly, she felt self-conscious and pulled the collar of her dress up to protect her neck. Her thought at that moment was, if they couldn't see her neck, they wouldn't develop the urge to bite it. She had taken note of how that infected vampire had been staring at her neck as if he was mesmerized by the mere sight of it.
One of the men seated let out a burst of mocking laughter.
Zuri knew that one. She had been unfortunate enough to bump into him.
"She thinks if she covers her neck, she would not entice us," Prince Kane laughed.
No one answered him.
Prince Jaden sat down beside the only lady in the room and signaled Zuri to stand behind him.
"Stay there," he whispered, but audible enough for her to hear him.
"Hmm. Your new assistant?" the lady asked Jaden as she nudged him with her elbow.
"Yes."
Zuri felt the other man's gaze burn into her face. She dared to glance at him and saw that he was actually staring at her.
'Does he not know that it's wrong to stare for that long at someone?' Zuri thought.
She shifted her weight from one leg to the other and wondered when the breakfast, or whatever they called the meal, they were about to eat would end.
"Stop staring, Kane," the lady said. She turned around and faced Zuri. "I am Princess Jessica and my brother that can't control his eyes is Prince Stephan," she said with a small smile on her face. "It came to my notice that you have already met Prince Kane."
She rolled her eyes at Kaine and returned her gaze to Zuri.
"What's your name?"
"Zuri," Prince Jaden replied.
"Ooh... so protective of his new, little human toy. People lose toys, you know. One day, you'd wake up to realize that you had misplaced it and someone else had picked it from where you had left it," Prince Kane said as he stared directly at Zuri.
Silence filled the room as Prince Jaden stared at Kane.
If Zuri had an option, she would have darted out of that place. However, she knew that her station was with Prince Jaden.
"So!" Prince Stephan suddenly shouted. "I heard that we would be served my favorite today... Livers!" His voice was a little bit too high in a desperate attempt to reduce the tension in the room. He looked every bit as awkward as Zuri currently felt.
"I hope we get to actually finish our meals like civilized vampires," Princess Jessica mused. Her eyes were closed and she smiled gleefully hoping that her brothers would chuckle at the expression on her face.
However, her efforts had fallen to the ground as she opened her eyes and saw Jaden and Kane staring each other down.
"Urgh," Jessica grunted and threw her hands in the air. She gave up trying to distract both of them. At that point, she was ready for a fight to break out.
Their meals were served and Stephan rushed it like he had not eaten that decade.
"Take it easy, Stephan. You know what happens when you stress yourself and you are stressing yourself right now with the way you are rushing your meal," Jessica warned.
"Come here, slave. Would you like to know how your liver tastes? Come and have a bite. A pansy like Jaden only eats pig livers so you won't be able to taste your own kind with him," Prince Kane taunted.
Zuri took a step back without even realizing she did. Hidden by Prince Jaden's chair, her hand was furiously trembling in disgust.
"Leave her alone, Kane. I won't say it again." Prince Jaden uttered just before he put a piece of raw pig liver in his mouth.
"Or else what?"
"Just stop it, will you? Why do you have to be overly troublesome, Kane? It's getting old," Jessica spat.
Kane snarled at her and continued with his meal. At intervals, he would look at Zuri with a wicked and taunting smirk on his face.
The sound of Prince Stephan's head hitting the table stole everyone's attention.
"Guards!" Princess Jessica screamed as she ran around the table to where Stephan sat. She held up his head to avoid it hitting the table as she shouted again. "Get in here now!"
Prince Jaden was already at Stephan's side and with a swift movement, Jaden lifted Stephan and put him on one of his shoulders.
With neck-breaking speed, Jaden was out of the dining room.
Zuri hurried after him even though she knew she would not catch up to him.
Meanwhile, Jessica was stopped by one of the guards with important and threatening news from inside the town.