Bitten – Episode 13

Chapter 13 ♀

 

 

Seeing Vincent get yelled at by his father was one of the most horrifying and most amusing things ever. On one hand the King was a force to be reckoned with, while on the other, watching Vincent be scolded by him was worth it. Fortunately or unfortunately the worst of it was over. Saying the King was furious was an understatement. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen anyone as angry as him. I sunk further into the couch as Solomon raised his voice again. “Don’t ignore me, Vincent!”

 

Vincent waved him off. “I’m not. I just chose not to reply. You never shut up.”

 

I grimaced. If I ever talked to my dad like that I’d probably get my head chopped off. My heart clenched at the thought of him. How was he? How was my mom? My brother? Did they miss me? I wondered what they’d think if they found out what was really going on and I wasn’t in California like they thought. “I’m going to the court tomorrow-”

 

“Tomorrow?” I gasped, pulling myself from my thoughts. “What? But I thought that you had to wait a week to talk to them? It’s only been…” Counting on my fingers, I tried to figure out how many days it’d been since I’d arrived. “Four days? I think?”

 

Solomon glanced at me, a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Things have changed now. Since vampires outside of the main family now know of your presence here, they’ve allowed us a sooner date.” My eyes widened. “Do I have to go?”

 

“Of course not,” he responded immediately, shaking his head. “In fact, it’s best if you don’t go.”

 

“Oh good,” I breathed in relief. “I think I would have passed out.”

 

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t have been surprised. The court has some very…

 

interesting people, to say the least.”

 

“How many people are in it?” I inquired, furrowing my eyebrows.

 

“Seven total,” he responded. “For this court, at least. The other courts work the same way as yours.”

 

I nodded my head in understanding. “So these seven are different then the rest?”

 

 

Vincent muttered something that sounded suspiciously like duh, stupid under his breath. I ignored him.

 

“Yes,” the King responded, either ignoring Vincent as well, or not catching his muttering. “These vampires deal with special cases, such as yours. Having you go through the other court processes would be too much trouble, seeing as how you’re not a criminal in any way.”

 

“I see,” I responded slowly. I couldn’t think of anything we had in the human world like that… “So do these guys decide my punishment too?” “I wouldn’t call it a punishment…”

 

“Do they?”

 

After a second he nodded. “The will, yes.”

 

“Do you have any say in it? You’re the King after all,” I said, feeling my pulse quicken. Would the King really not be able to have his input?

 

“I’ll have some say, but it really depends on what they choose to do,” he responded vaguely.”

 

I hesitated a moment before asking my next question. “What do you think is going to happen to me?”

 

He pursed his lips, his emerald eyes narrowing. “I can’t say for sure. The court could decide anything.”

 

“Do you… Do you think I could be killed?”

 

He didn’t reply.

 

My throat constricted. “Are they going to kill me? Is it that bad? Isn’t it fine if I

 

promise to keep my mouth shut? I haven’t told anyone the whole time I’ve been

 

here!”

 

.

 

“That’s because you haven’t had anyone to tell,” Vincent interjected flatly. I glared at him. “No one asked you, asshole!” “Emily,” the King said, frowning at me.

 

I turned back to him, doing my best to keep my emotions under control. Luckily for me, they were manageable. For once I was able to refrain my eyes from tearing up. “Sorry, I-”

 

“Don’t apologize, I understand,” he cut me off, smiling gently. “Sorry to scare you. Since it is technically illegal to kill a human, I highly doubt they’ll come to that conclusion.”

 

His words did little to relieve me. My heartbeat increased at the thought that there was a slight chance I actually could die. I was too young to die. What would my parents do? What would they be told? What…

 

“Wait a second,” I started, staring at the King. “If I die-”

 

“You won’t die,” Vincent snorted, rolling his eyes. “Stop being so overdramatic.” After shooting him a harsh look, I returned my attention to the king. “What about my parents? Would they be told I’d been kidnapped in California or something?

 

There are no records for my flight so no one would know anything. Wouldn’t that give you guys away?”

 

“I won’t let any harm come to you, Emily,” Solomon told me, placing a hand lightly on my shoulder. “Everything will be fine. If… Well let’s not even say if. Don’t worry about it.”

 

I stared at him warily. How could I forget about it? It was my life we were talking

 

about. “Okay.”

 

“Now Vivi-”

 

“Don’t-”

 

“You’re to accompany me tomorrow,” Solomon continued, ignoring Vincent’s death glare. “You’ll have to tell the court what happened. Joel’s coming along as well. Claire will be there too because she’s the instigator in all this.”

 

Vincent crossed his arms. “I knew it was her. How could she have found out Emily was staying with us though?”

 

“Phillip let it slip,” Solomon responded solemnly. “He didn’t think Claire would

 

run off and tell everyone though.”

 

“She’s a bitch.”

 

“Vivi.”

 

“It’s true,” he snapped. “I hate her. Ever since she dated Ashton she’s been such a-” “Ashton?” I butted in. “The person in line to become King if Sebastian somehow isn’t able to?”

 

Both men’s gazes shot to me. The King spoke first. “How do you know about that?”

 

My face warmed and I smiled sheepishly. “Ah, Fiona was talking about him earlier…”

 

“She knows Sebastian killed Fiona.”

 

“Vincent!”

 

A look of shock passed Solomon’s face. “Is this true, Emily?”

 

I adverted my gaze shamefully. “That’s all I know, I swear. Fiona gave the game away, but we didn’t talk about it anymore.” Or more like Joel wouldn’t let us…

 

“Emily,” he breathed, running a hand down his face. “You’re one troublesome human… I’m frightened to see what other surprises you have in store for us.”

 

 

“I don’t have any more, I promise,” I responded, laughing nervously. At least I hoped I didn’t.

 

“Back to the main topic,” Vincent interposed, looking bored. “I’m busy tomorrow, so have Sebastian go.”

 

The King shook his head. “Sebastian is staying with Emily tomorrow.”

 

“He is?” I said, a feeling of excitement washing through me. “Doesn’t he have his

 

princely duties?”

 

.

 

.

 

Solomon laughed. “No. He has a free day so he requested to spend it with you.”

 

“How cute,” Vincent sneered. “Too bad he’s going to court now.”

 

“No, you’re going to court, Vince.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“You have no choice.”

 

Vincent scowled. “Isn’t Joel enough? He was there!”

 

“You’re going and that’s final,” Solomon stated firmly. “You were ignorant enough to take Emily out of the house in the first place, so this is your responsibility.” “Whatever.”

 

“Be ready by seven tomorrow morning. As your punishment, you’re grounded for the next month.”

 

“Grounded?” Vincent repeated dubiously. “You’re grounding me?”

 

The King gave him a disapproving look. “Don’t think I won’t know if you don’t listen to me.”

 

Vincent laughed without humor. “Okay, Father.”

 

“I have to go have a word with Joel, so I’ll take my leave now. Don’t forget to eat dinner, Emily.”

 

I gave him a thumbs up to show him I’d heard.

 

“Ice cream doesn’t count.”

 

“Ah ha ha,” I laughed nervously, glancing at the upside-down bowl on the floor. “I’ll clean that up…”

 

He shook his head. “No, I’m sure Vincent wouldn’t mind doing it for you.”

 

Vincent gave his dad a sarcastic look. “Of course. My life revolves around cleaning spilled ice cream.”

 

“That’s perfect then,” Solomon replied, just as sarcastic. “Have a nice night, Emily.”

 

“Night!” I called as he turned his back to leave the room. When he was gone, I turned to Vincent. “I can clean up my own bowl.”

 

“I know, stupid.”

 

A frown crossed my face. He was going to go back to calling me stupid? “Jerk.”

 

He rolled his eyes. “Good comeback.”

 

“Sorry about this,” I apologized, turning away so I wouldn’t have to face him. “You know, being so bothersome to you. I wouldn’t have gone to Walmart if I knew it was going to cause you this much trouble.” “I wouldn’t have let you gone.”

 

My lips twitched in irritation. He couldn’t just accept my apology? This technically

 

wasn’t my fault, so I didn’t need to apologize, but I decided to be a nicer person and

 

do so, and yet he couldn’t even accept it? Why did I even bother? I huffed angrily,

 

glaring at the corner.

 

“It’s not your fault.”

 

I paused.

 

“It’s not like you told Claire you were living here,” he continued, sounding tired. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine, so you don’t need to apologize.”

 

I turned to him now, smiling. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard you say something was your fault.”

 

He shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal.”

 

“It…” I trailed off, deciding just to let it drop. If he wanted to be modest, I’d let him. “So do you have to dress up fancy for court?” “I don’t know.”

 

“Have you ever gone before?”

 

“No. We don’t usually have humans whose memories we can’t erase around.”

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I smiled wryly. “I see.”

 

“Those court shows on television always have people formally dressed, so I’m going to guess that I have to, especially since I’m a prince and everything,” he muttered, looking irritated again. He said the word “prince” like it caused him pain. “What do you think is going to happen?” I inquired before I could stop myself.

 

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “They’ll decide just to kill you. It’s the easiest way.” It took a second for his words to set in. Then horror washed over me. “Are you serious? Is that what you think? How could you say that so calmly?” I cried, my mind starting to race. “Oh my god…”

 

Suddenly he started laughing. I glared at him. “How could you laugh? You may hate me, but dying is still a sad thing, Vincent!”

 

He shook his head at me, covering his mouth. He coughed a few times, coming out of his laughing fit. “I don’t hate you.”

 

“You don’t?” I repeated.

 

“Quite the contrary,” he told me, a smirk crossing his face. “Like I said before, you add a bit of fun to this hellhole. And you’re a much better sight to see then all these men all the time.”

 

I flushed in embarrassment. “D-do you really think I’m going to be killed?”

 

“No,” he responded simply. “I was just being a jerk.”

 

“You…”

 

“But I won’t promise you there’s not a chance they might just decide to punish you.”

 

My face paled. “So there’s a chance I could die.”

 

Vincent shook his head. “You won’t die.”

 

“If they decide to silence me, obviously I’m going to die,” I snapped at him. He rolled his eyes. “What I’m saying is I won’t let you die.”

 

My mind blanked at his words. He wouldn’t let me die? What did that mean? “What are you…?”

 

“I got you into this mess. I’m going to get you out alive,” he told me flatly. “I won’t let you die.”

 

A small chuckle left my mouth. “You make it sound like we’re in some sort of romance-action movie.”

 

He cocked an eyebrow. “Romance?”

 

“Well what you just said sounded romantic,” I muttered, sending my eyes downcast. “You know?”

 

“I was only saying it because I don’t want a death on my conscious.”

 

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. Of course. “You always take the fun out of

 

anything, don’t you?”

 

“Yup.”

 

When I looked up at him, he was smiling. Not smirking, or simpering, or smiling in his smug manner, but actually smiling. The sight took me aback. I didn’t think it was possible for him to become any more handsome, but when he smiled like that… It made my heart race just looking at him. His next words however, ruined the feeling.

 

“Seeing Sebastian with his conscious of killing someone made wary of killing someone. I wouldn’t want that guilt. Though, I’m sure it was worse before he decided to turn her.”

 

My prior light feeling disappeared, replaced with a crushing feeling. “Vincent, can I ask you something?”

 

“You just did,” he pointed out.

 

 

I ignored his jibe. “What was Fiona and Sebastian’s relationship while she was alive? Why did he… um, kill her?”

 

Vincent’s friendly demeanor dropped instantly. “That’s not something you should

 

be asking me.”

 

“But…”

 

“I won’t tell you,” he snapped at me. “Drop it.”

 

I held up my hands defensively. “Okay, okay.” Another frown appeared on my face as he let out a sigh. Obviously it was touchy subject. Which made me all the more curious. What happened with Fiona and Sebastian?

 

“The storm will be starting soon,” Vincent spoke up. “What are you planning to do?”

 

I bit my lip for a moment. “Um… Can I stay with you?”

 

He turned to face me. A smug expression crossed his face. “Of course you can, scaredy-cat. You can sleep with me too, if you want.” “I don’t want to,” I retorted, abashed at his suggestion.

 

“Just an offer.”

 

“You’re a pig.”

 

“Better than a scaredy-cat.”

 

I grit my teeth together, but didn’t reply. It’d gone on all night if we kept at it. Instead, I sunk back into the couch, trying to get into the program we were watching- another cooking show.