The Queens Demand

The tornado warnings go off...I can hear them, but I’m not home yet! I have to hurry! I run like I’ve never run before, but when I get there, the basement door is already shut and locked, and I can’t get down there, so I have to do the next best thing, I have to get in the bathtub with a mattress over me, so I run to my room, strip the mattress, and pull it into the bathroom and get in the tub, putting the mattress over me….
  
*CRASH* I heard a huge noise, I opened my eyes and got out of the tub, nothing seemed broken, and I didn’t hear the tornado siren anymore…I yelled “Mom?? Dad!!?” no response…I’m scared now. I ran to the basement door and opened it…it wasn’t locked anymore…I shouted down the stairs…”Anyone down there!!?” once again, no answer, I’m freaking out now, where is everyone? I thought to myself. Maybe the neighbor’s house…I’ll go there. I went to my front door and opened it…but I didn’t see my big driveway and all the cars sitting there….I saw…a huge, gorgeous field, with perfect green grass, there were red, white, and purple roses everywhere, Oh! I love roses!! I completely forgot what I was doing…I forgot about my mom and my dad and where they are…all I could think was I must be dreaming…but I didn’t care…this place is just gorgeous and is that a…it is..it’s an apple tree, right there, and the apples look so delicious…I can’t believe I didn’t see it before…maybe I’ll try one…I take a few steps closer to the apple tree…out of nowhere this gorgeous girl appeared, she had long, wavy brown hair, about waist length, and her lips were the red any girl would kill for, her skin was olive, and she wore a black skirt that was a little above her knees, shirt was a purple blouse that had a white crown on it.  “Do not touch those apples!!” She said this with a very strong emphasis on the not. 


 I looked at her, straight into her big, dark brown eyes, “Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t touch? This is my dream,” I said the last four words with a really snotty attitude. I glared at her and started to reach for an apple…she appeared next to me before I could blink, she pushed my arm away, she was stronger than she looked. 


 “I said do NOT touch!!” she held a tight grip on my arm and pulled me away from the tree “Unless you like bloody apples that is,” She glared at me then picked an apple and, with her bare hand, broke it in half, and instead of juice, it was blood. I was revolted. I wanted to puke. I looked back at her face.


  “What the…how is there blood inside the apples?” I kept staring at her, super confused, and wanting to know what the heck was going on. I started to give her more of a glare than a stare and she loosened her grip on my arm, I let out a sigh of relief.


 “All the red fruit you’ll find here is bloody. The…” she shivered a little out of fear, “The queen likes her red fruits very juicy.” She let go of my arm completely and took a bite of one half of the apple then looked back at me. “Welcome to Vampyre Meadows, I’ll give you the tour.” She took my arm again, but not as hard and started leading me through the field, and out of nowhere there was a huge house and on the door it read ‘HUMANS NEEDED, PLEASE DONATE A PINT OF YOU’RE BLOOD AND YOU WILL BE SAFE FOR LIFE’ she giggled and looked at me. “You HAVE to do this first, or you will either die or become like…” she shivered again “Like the vampyres, like me.” She had a broken look in her eyes, and I felt sorry for her, she seemed like, she hated this place and who she was…I honestly felt sorry for her.


 “I…I d…d..don’t do n..needles, I hate donating b..blood.” I stammered out and stared at the building and read the sign over and over. “Do I…I really have to?” I looked at her again. “What’s so bad about being a Vampyre?” I’ve only ever head of vampyres in books and movies, but based on the bloody apples, and this girl who I don’t even know, they seem kind of…well…real. It’s official. I’m scared out of my mind. I’m surrounded by vampyres. Besides the few humans that donated blood, at their own will and kept themselves from being turned into one. So, I’m faced with a decision…Donate, die, or become a Vampyre.  I don’t know what to do..


 “Come on, Alexis! You HAVE to donate blood!” She exclaimed. Wait a second…


“How’d you know my name?” I asked her, as I think back to what I’ve told her…I sure didn’t tell her my name…but she knew…this dream is getting weirder and weirder…if it is a dream?


 “Silly girl,” She laughed, it was a weird laugh, but enchanting...”We’ve been waiting for you to come here, Alexis. Everyone knows who you are! Oh, and hun, this is no dream.” She looked at me, losing all the laughter and smiles from her face, she looked me in the eyes as I looked back…I saw sadness, or confusion, or maybe seriousness. I’m not sure..but I swear I could stare into her eyes for hours…they’re so…deep and enchanting… “You okay?” I heard her voice and snapped out of the trance her eyes put me in.


 “What? Yeah I’m fine…what do you mean this isn’t a dream? There is no way this could be anything different.” I looked around. “Everything is to beautiful and perfect.” I looked down to see a small puppy by my feet. I bent down to pick him up. He had the cutest puppy dog face. “Awh, well aren’t you a cutie!” I exclaimed to the little brown dog. I’m not sure what kind of dog this is though. All of a sudden I realized I never asked this girl her name…
   
 “All of this is far from perfect. Oh and my name is Annabel by the way, I can read your mind so be careful what you think.” She gave me an evil smile; I nervously smiled back and nodded my head. “All of this is 100 percent real. I promise. Now let’s go get your blood drawn!” She looked at me and giggled and grabbed my arm hard and tugged me to the big door with the sign about donating blood.
   
I tried to pull my hand away. “No! I’d rather become a Vampyre! Turn me into one. I absolutely hate needles and every time I get my blood drawn I pass out for like two hours!" I finally tugged my arm away and looked at her with a very serious look in my eyes.
  
  “Are you sure that’s the decision you want to make?” She asked me, with a face that said ‘I’ll do it if that’s what you want’ but her voice was kind of sad.
   
    “I’m sure. I am completely 100 percent positive.” I looked at her with a very confident look in my eyes; waiting. 


 “Okay. If that’s what you want. Let’s go to the changing lab.” She took my hand and led me to a little building that I hadn’t noticed before. On the door there was a sign that read “CAUTION, CHANGING LAB; NEW VAMPYRES” I wanted to ask why it said caution..but I decided against it..until I remembered…


”I can read your mind, remember? It says caution because new vampyres are very strong and very dangerous.” She gave me another evil smile.
   
 “Oh, okay. Well I’m ready. Let’s do this.” I gave her a half smile and she pulled me in.


 “It hurts at first, but then it gets better, don’t worry.”  She led me to an open door and led me inside then shut it. “Sit on that table.” I did as she said and then looked at her. She moved her hand towards me and gently tilted my head. She stared at my neck. I got scared. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.” all of a sudden she leaned in towards my neck and I screamed. It hurt. It was agonizing pain. She sunk her teeth in and I felt strange. Like my body was....transforming. It was really happening....
                                              **AN HOUR LATER**
    I open my eyes. I’m laying on that doctor’s table. I’m amazingly thirsty. I feel like I will die if I don’t get water soon. I sit up slowly, and there’s Annabel, looking at me with depressed eyes. “What...what happened?” I ask her, confused on why she’s so sad.
    “You..you passed out because I took a little to much blood..I thought I killed you. Your blood...it just tastes so good....like..bloody cupcakes,” she smiled at me and licked her lips...I suddenly remembered I was insanely thirsty when she mentioned blood...I cocked my head the side and looked at her questionably. “You’re thirsty. Come, I’ll get you something to.....drink.” she took my hand and lead me off the table and out the door. 


    “Where are we going?” I asked her, feeling a little light headed, “I am REALLY thirsty! I need something to drink badly. Very badly.” I said and looked at her.


    “We’re going to get you blood!!” She smiled at me and came to a stop in front of another new door. This sign read ‘NEW VAMPYRES MEAL ROOM. CAUTION. HUNGRY NEWBIES. NO HUMANS ALLOWED’ she pushed open the door and took me inside. I looked around. It was a huge dinning hall. The walls were a gorgeous lilac. The floors were a perfectly polished wood. The huge, long tables had very fancy goblets. I took a sniff. I smelled a mix of different smells, I smelt strawberries, vanilla, bananas, I think I even smelled chocolate. I looked at Annabel. She smiled at me and pointed to a table, “This is the strawberry banana table, the next is the vanilla table, and the next is milk chocolate. Dig in!!” she herself walked to the vanilla table and took one of the big goblets and drank it all.
   
“Wow. This place is amazing....and it smells so good!!” I exclaimed as I walked over to the strawberry banana table and picked up a goblet and slammed it. Once the blood touched my tongue, I felt a jolt of energy sizzle through my body. It was something I’ve never felt before. It felt amazing. I wanted more. It felt like I was addicted. Maybe I was. I didn’t care. I just wanted it all. I slammed about three more goblets before Annabel stopped me.


   “Okay..that’s enough. I know it feels to have your first taste. Amazing right?” she giggled and took my hand and led me away from the building. I looked back at the building with awe. I didn’t want to leave...it all tasted to good, but oh well...I realized I’m not even thirsty more, but I do feel like I could just sprint 40 miles. I probably could. I don’t think Annabel would let me though...grrr I thought to myself, then remembered she can hear my thoughts. I looked at her expecting her to say something. She looked back with a blank expression. “What?” She asked, looking confused. I was confused myself.
   
  
  “I thought you can read my mind.” I said, starting to glare at her, wondering if she still could but she was just lying.


   “I could when you were human, but you are a vampyre now. Remember??” She said, clearly annoyed that I didn’t think about that.
  
  I shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry. I didn’t think about that. Your right.” I looked at her. “What are we doing now?”


   “You, my new friend, are getting a house to start your new life in!!” She smiled at me and tugged my hand and she led me down the road. We walked for a while when we stopped at a huge gate, where all you could see behind it were houses after house, gorgeous, rich people houses. I looked at her. “You are house number....” She trailed off and checked a list. “Number 11. right next 12. Which is me!!” She typed a number into the keypad on the gate and the doors opened Out of no where, a golf cart appeared with an obviously human driver. I could smell his blood. It didn’t smell good either. I wrinkled my nose, Annabel obviously noticed. “That’s why he’s still alive. He doesn’t taste or smell good. So he’s a driver,” Then we both got into the golf cart, and directed to the driver, Annabel said, “Number 11 please.”


   I whispered. “He does smell horrible. Why does some blood smell so good and his so bad?” I looked at her confused.
   
She looked back at me and shrugged. “You don’t need to whisper. He hears it all the time, right, Smelly?” She looked at the driver. He just grunted.Annabel giggled. “Anyways. The one that smell bad are usually crazy, dumb, or they are just plain out screw ups. This guy? He is a failure at everything he does. Except driving obviously.” She looked at the houses, away from me, pretty much saying ‘Don’t ask me how I know this, end of subject’ the golf cart rolled to a stop. Annabel got out as quickly as she could, while I took more time getting off.
  
  I said a quick and quiet “Thanks,” to the driver as he drove off, I made sure Annabel didn’t hear me. “Which one is mine? They all look the same.” I looked at her annoyed.
   
    She looked at me with a face that clearly said that she was about to say something either sarcastic or mean. “They have numbers on the door, I told you, you’re in number 11, right next to me. Here. It’s this one.” She took my hand and led me to a house with the number 11 on the door and opened it. “This is it. Living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, guest bedroom. Pretty much a normal house. There are catalogs on the kitchen table. Circle whatever you want, then put them in the mailbox. You’ll get everything by tomorrow. Possibly sooner. The key to the house is also in the mailbox. I think you know everything now, umm....,” She paused for a moment and looked past me, as if she saw something...or someone, but the she shrugged her shoulders and looked back at me. “If you need anything, I’m right next door. number 12. Oh and there’s a pool in the back yard. You’ll find all the clothes you need inside your bedroom closet.” She smiled at me. I smiled back, even though I could tell her smile wasn’t really real and genuine.


    “Okay..” I looked at her and she turned to leave, “oh, and Annabel, thank you. For everything, and for not killing me.” I said the last part jokingly, and smiled, but I don’t think she got the joke. She just turned her head over her shoulder to look at me.
  
  “Yeah. Your welcome. I’ll see you at dinner. The queen is coming and we all have to go the dinning hall. I’ll be back here...” She looked at the watch I just noticed she had on, “Well, it’s 4:00 right now, I’ll be here around 5:30. Be ready,” and with that she left my place and walked over to her house and unlocked the door. When she opened the door her face lit up into a huge, genuine smile...


    “I wonder what that was about....” I whispered to myself. I then turned around and went into the kitchen to start looking at catalogs. Might as well personalize this to make it mine. Just as I walked into my kitchen...I looked at the table, and along with the catalogs, there was an envelope with my name on it...I reached for it and opened it, inside was a letter, the paper a light purple color, almost lilac, I unfolded it and read...


   Dear Alexis,
I have noticed you’ve become a vampyre, and you have become friends with Annabel. Let me tell you a story about Annabel, because you must change your mind about her....Annabel came her like you did, she did not understand what was happening. She made the mistake of eating one of my apples, even though at the time there was a sign that read Do not eat the apples. She just didn’t listen, those are my prized fruit and I do not allow any one except myself to take a bite of them. I ordered her to be killed. The vampyre that was supposed to drain her blood felt sorry for the girl, so instead he changed her into a vampyre. She never even wanted to be a vampyre. I need you to murder her, but you cannot do it by drinking her blood, and all vampyres are nearly invincible, so use your new vampyre strength to do this task....Swords play. You are the only vampyre ever to get this ability, and it is the only thing that can kill Annabel, that is why she does what she wants when she wants. She is practically invincible, until now. You will find a beautiful sword waiting for you on your bed...please, do as I ask, and you will be allowed to eat my apples whenever you choose, also, you will become the next queen when I die. Please, do as I ask....
Signed,
 Queen Alexandria


I gasped...I didn’t know what to do...I decided to see if there really was a sword in my room. I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall until I looked into a room, with a sword lying on the bed...I was amazed. It was beautiful. The hilt was gold with red rubies down the front. The actual blade was a perfectly polished silver. I didn’t want to touch it though. That was the weapon I was supposed to kill Annabel with....What do I do?


I didn’t know what I was supposed to do as I stared at the sword. I didn’t want to touch it. It was made to be a murder weapon. My murder weapon....but for some reason...I reached my hand out and wrapped it around the hilt of the sword. As soon as I touched the sword I felt something sizzle through my body. The hilt of the sword had a perfect ridge to it. Perfect for my fingers. I wondered if the queen had this sword specially made for me...I dropped the sword. I couldn’t kill Annabel! I can’t and I won’t. She’s my friend. I thought to myself. Even though I longed to touch the sword again. I left the bedroom, thinking about taking the sword with me, but I didn’t. I left the room and went back to the kitchen and sat down and reread the letter. The queen wants me to kill someone....if I do I can become queen. Is that what I want though? I’m not sure. All of a sudden the door burst open and Annabel walked in. I looked at her. She had changed.  She still had her long hair down, but now she was wearing a pair of black jeans and her shirt was also black with a hot pink heart on it. She had her nails painted hot pink, different than earlier as well. I then realized I didn’t even change my clothes, but it surely can’t be 5:30 already. I looked at a clock. “It isn’t 5:30 yet....your an hour early!” I sounded a little bratty I know. I couldn’t help it. She just walked in AND I have to think about...no I won’t kill her. I decided. I also decided I wouldn’t tell Annabel about it. I’d just ignore it.

    “Pffft...you probably wouldn’t even know what to wear if I didn’t just show up. Here, follow me...” She took my and lead me to...oh god the bedroom I thought the sword is still in there! oh shoot shoot shoot. I tensed up and tried to get her to stop walking but I couldn’t. She opened the door and her eyes fell on the bed. So did mine. “Where did this come from?” She reached out and tried to pick the sword up, but when she touched it she jumped and backed away. “OW!! That hurt!!! What is wrong with that sword! AND WHERE DID YOU GET IT!!” She yelled at me.

    I grabbed the sword and picked it up, and once again I felt something sizzle through my body. “I got it...someone...gave it to me....the..the queen...” I stammered this out and looked away from her, she had fury in her eyes. I can tell she has an easy temper. “There’s a note on my kitchen table...go read it.” I tossed the sword onto the bed, but I kept looking away from her.

    “Fine! I’ll go look at it! I swear if that witch....” her words trailed off as she left the bedroom and walked out to the kitchen, I followed her reluctantly and watched her read the note...her face went from surprised to horror. She turned around to look at me, utter fear in her eyes. Like I was a monster. For once she was scared of me. “You’re...supposed to kill...me?” I just nodded. “Well your power is definitely swords play. NO one can touch swords. Unless your gifted. The queen wants everyone to be at the dinner tonight. Your going. I’m not. If she sees you next to me she’ll expect you to do the task she needs of you. Go get dressed. Mostly black preferably. “ She spoke confidently, but the look on her face didn’t say the same. Her look was scared, worried, nervous. I could pick up the sword and slice her in half if I wished, but I refused to. No way was I going to kill Annabel. She’s so nice....

    “Okay....” I was thinking of saying something else, but I decided to just go change. I walked back into my bedroom and opened up the closet. I looked through the clothes, I finally found a black and hot pink plaid skirt and a black blouse. I changed into those and let my long black hair out of the ponytail to fall around my waist. Before I walked back out into the kitchen I  grabbed the sword off of my bed and carried it with me to the kitchen. Oh the look on her face. You would think she saw someone being murdered. I found it sort of....amusing, but I hid my smile and set the sword carefully on the table. “Sorry. I enjoy carrying it..” I said with a smirk. “How do I look?” I asked her while I turned in a circle, mid twirl, my door burst open once again. I turned to face my door and saw an obviously human guy rush in, but he wasn’t bad smelling, not to bad looking either, I thought to myself then looked over at Annabel, who had stepped pushed him against a wall, practically choking him. “Annabel stop!!” I yelled to her. She didn’t listen.

    “What do you want human? How dare you don’t knock! NO human is allowed inside a vampyres house UNLESS called upon for a need. WHAT DO YOU WANT!” She sounded practically evil. For a girl who didn’t want to be a vampyre, she seemed to hate humans, but the boy had a smile on his face. He looked straight into my eyes.

    “Wow...” I whispered...his eyes, the prettiest blue anyone could dream of. I smiled at him...then remembered Annabel still had him against the wall. “ANNABEL PUT HIM DOWN!” I said the last part with such authority Annabel dropped him to the floor and practically cowered in fear. I ran to the boy, “Are you okay?” I said, with a little extra sweet in my voice. I smiled gently at him as well. He smiled back, a genuine smile, perfectly white teeth...

    “I’m fine. Don’t worry, Alexis.” He said those words so sweetly, I didn’t expect what came next. His voice got so agressive and rough as he stood up and looked down at me. “The queen requests you. Dinning hall ASAP. You must bring your sword,” then out of no where he bent down and helped me up by pulling my hand up, then his voice got soft and sweet again, “Come, I will take you.” He gave me a small smile, and I smiled back.

“Okay, um, may I ask your name?” I asked him while I looked into his eyes. “You already know mine.” I said the last part a little teasingly. He didn’t catch the tease.

“James. The name is James.” He looked away from me and kind of pushed me towards the sword. I walked to the kitchen table and grabbed the swords hilt, I felt something sizzle through my body once again. I turned to face him, but he was already walking out the door. “Come on, let’s go.” I followed him out the door, giving Annabel a quick smile. When I walked outside I expected a golf cart like the one that brought me to my house, oh boy was I wrong. There was a nice, big, long limo sitting in the road. I looked at James. He had a door opened, I walked to the door and slid in the limo, still grasping the sword. He slid in after me and shut the door. As soon as the door had been shut, the limo sped off.


“Why does the Queen want me so early?” I asked while looking over at him. He just shrugged and gave me look that said ‘I don’t want to talk.’ So I just stared out the window until finally the limo rolled to a stop in front of somewhere Annabel didn’t show me. James opened the door and slid out, I followed suit. He took my hand and led me to a gigantic building. On the door there was a sign that read ‘DINNING HALL FOR WHEN QUEEN IS HERE, DO NOT ENTER UNLESS INVITED.’ James opened the door, and lead me inside. I thought the other dinning hall was beautiful. The other one seems like garbage compared to this. This one had the same very long dinning tables, with very elegant chairs pushed in under it, the backs were made of, I’m pretty sure of this, gold, they also had the same little rubies that were in the hilt of my sword. The floor was a dark wood, the walls were a rose-ish color. In the front of the room, I saw her, the queen, sitting in a huge throne, with an empty smaller one to her right. “Wow...” I whispered, thinking James couldn’t hear. Wrong.

He was looking at me, “The room is beautiful, I know. “ I kept staring at the queen. He finally noticed what I was staring at. “Oh...her.” I just nodded. I mean, she was really gorgeous, picture perfect definitely. Her hair was blonde and flipped over one shoulder, and it had the perfect cross between straight and wavy. Her eyes were big, and they were a stunning blue. She was kind of pale, but it suited her. She had a dress on, a little longer than her knees. It was black, but on the bottom it had little red rubies...Rubies must be her favorite, they are everywhere. I thought to myself.

“Yes! Yes yes yes. Rubies do happen to be my favorite.” The queens voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Her voice was soft and gentle, but I could tell she could be very mean when she wished. She looked at me and smiled. “Yes, I read your mind, I apologize. It’s a bad habit that I do when I meet someone new face-to-face. I’ll try not to do it again, dear,” She motioned to the smaller throne sitting next to her, “Please, sit.”

What was I supposed to do? Say no? I don’t think so. I walked up to her and quickly sat down on the smaller throne then looked over at her. “I got the letter and the sword...” I hesitated, not knowing if I should call her anything special. I just kept looking at her. Not knowing what to say.

“Yes, this is why I called you to me early...I need to know something important.” She looked at me, her face got serious.

“What is it you need to know?” I asked her, even though I had a feeling of what it was.

“Are you, Alexis, going to use the sword to...get rid of...Annabel?” She said ‘Annabel’ with a spit of disgust.

    I didn’t know what to say...I wanted to say no...but...how do you say no to a queen without ending up dead? I looked away from her to James....who just shook is head...I didn’t know what that meant. I looked back at the queen...she started to glare at me. What do I do?
    

“Alexis?”  The queen asked me, kind of annoyed I hadn’t already answered her. “You don’t know what you want to do, you think,” she said think with a very strong emphasis, “Annabel is not your friend, she’s using you. She knew right away when she saw you, that is one of her gifts, I bet she didn’t tell you that. When she sees a human, she can read their mind as well as tell what their gift would be if they were to become a vampyre. She saw your gift. She decided to become your friend, because she, being able to see into your mind, now knows that you can’t hurt your friends, no matter how bad they are. Let me make this clear, she isn’t your friend! She knows I want her dead, she knows you’re the one who has to do it, and she knows if she gets you to think she’s your friend, you won’t do it! Listen to me, don’t you want to be queen one day? I promise you, if you do as I ask, you will be.” She gave me a sickenly sweet smile...I wondered if she was right. Maybe Annabel was just using me.

“Is that true? She really is using me?” I got mad, I thought I made a friend, but if what the queen said is true...she was just using me! I hate being used!

“I can’t be-” she cut me off..

“Believe it. I’m sorry Alexis, but it’s true. So will you do it?” She looked at me, I know she saw anger in my eyes.

I looked over at James, he was staring at me. I looked quickly back to the queen. “Uh...yes. Yes I will.” I can’t believe I said that, but I did. There was no turning back now. WHY DID I SAY YES! Gosh I’m an idiot. I then remembered the queen can read my thoughts if she wished.

“Excellent! And you must use the sword we had specially made for you!” She had such....joy in her eyes and voice. How could she be so happy? This girl was twisted and evil. I needed to come up with a plan to trick her, but how? I just looked at her and nodded my head yes. Then turned my head away and started to gaze out a window...I kept trying to figure out a way to trick the queen, I couldn’t think of anything...when all of a sudden a voice snapped me out of my thought.

“My queen, it is about time for people to start to show up.” It was James. I turned to look at him. He was still staring at me, even though he was addressing the queen. I gave him a small smile, I don’t know why...he smiled back though. I looked back to the queen.

“Oh, yes you are right. Alexis, you will eat up here with me. James, for your services today. James get an extra chair and sit beside Alexis.” she smiled and nodded over to a old folding chair.

James said, “Okay,” then walked over to the folding chair and carried it next to me. He unfolded it and reluctantly sat down. “Thank you my queen.” He gave the queen a small smile, then he looked at me and leaned in and whispered “The queen is lying. Annabel isn’t using you. Don’t you think it’s a little unfair for her to die just for eating an apple? Think about it.” He pulled away from me and looked at the door as people started to walk into the dinning hall.

I nodded my head yes quickly then turned my head to the door and watched the people. Everyone found seats and sat down and started talking loudly to their neighbors. I looked over at the queen who was standing up. Everyone got quiet. “Everyone! Welcome! I know this was a surprise to many of you, but I got word that a new vampyre was made today. One with a gift for sword play! She is sitting next to me at dinner tonight. She is the one who will kill Annabel Rose!” She smiled as everyone cheered, then motioned for me to stand up. I stood, “She has already agreed to doing this task, and when I am dead, she will be the Queen! Her name is Alexis!” She gave me a genuine smile, I gave her a small smile. “Thank you Alexis!” everyone repeated the queens last three words. I blushed and sat down. “Now, let us eat!” right as the queen sat down, a girl stood up. It was Annabel.

“YOU AGREED! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD SAY NO! YOU CAN’T GET ME IF YOU CAN’T FIND ME!” Annabel screamed, obviously directed towards me. Then she sprinted out the door, I had no idea what to do, I looked to the queen. The queen just smiled at me and shrugged her shoulders, half of me wanted to run out to Annabel and tell her I wasn’t really going to kill her, but I couldn’t. I had to stay put in my seat. Everyone still had eyes on me...I think I was supposed to say something, but I didn’t...the queen did.

   

“What an outburst! Anyways! Lets eat!” She gracefully swept her hand across the room and about 10, definitely human, waiters walked out with huge trays that held gigantic platters and goblets, all lined with red rubies, of course. The waiters started placing all the platters and goblets in front of each person, and then removing the lids to show gigantic, practically rare, steaks. Wow they looked good. After everyone had food in front of them, three waiters brought up even bigger platters and goblets for me and the queen, and the third waiter had a small plate and a glass of water for James. I smiled knowing they were feeding James. The queen nodded her head and everyone started to eat like they hadn't had food in years. I looked over at the queen who was gingerly cutting up her steak and eating it bite by bite. I decided to not look like the pig and I did the same thing that the queen did, I picked up my knife and fork and cut up my steak into little pieces and slowly ate it bite by bite. The first bite I took I realized how rare the steak really was. It was so juicy and bloody, but it tasted so good. I ate a little faster and before I knew it the steak was gone. I reached my hand over to the goblet that I already knew held blood, I gulped it down and looked at the queen, she was already done eating as well, and everyone was finishing theirs up. I looked to James, who was sipping his water, with a tiny, half eaten, overcooked steak on his plate. He smiled at me as if to say he was fine with what he got. I nodded my head yes and smiled back. I looked back to the queen as she started to stand up. “Thank you everyone for coming and enjoying dinner with me! You may leave,” She then turned to me and James and in a quieter voice she said, “James, you will take Alexis back to her house, then go and do whatever you humans do when I’m not needing you,” She gave me a sweet smile,”Thank you Alexis, for the task you are going to do for me, and for joining me.” She sat back down on her throne, and everyone in the hall stood up and started talking and laughing as they walked out the door. Once everyone finally left, James stood up and held his hand out to me.

   
    “Come on, you heard the queens demand, I must take you home.” He smiled at me and I reached out  my hand as he helped me stand up. He kept a hold of my hand and walked me to the door then held it open for me, I walked out and he followed. I looked around, this time there was no limo outside to be driven home in. “No, no limo this time...hey when we left your house didn’t you have the sword?” He looked at me with a smile, already knowing the answer.


   “Oh my gosh the sword! I...I left it in the limo! Oh gosh oh gosh the sword...I can’t believe I forgot that sword!” I started looking around hoping for the limo to magically appear or something. No such luck.
  
  “Relax, Alexis. Go check in that bush over there.” I walked over to the bush that he motioned to and reached my hand in, I felt the hilt of the sword and grasped it. I felt a smile spread across my face, I picked the sword up and turned to face James.


“It’s there....thank you. I don’t know how you did it but I know you did it. He just shrugged his shoulders and smiled, then walked over and took my hand again and started walking with me. “Are we going to walk all the way there?”
  
  “Yes, if that’s okay with you. I thought maybe we could talk, I want to talk. Don’t you want to talk??” he said this kind of rushed and nervous, I looked over at him.


   “Sure, I’d like to talk, but what about?”


   “I’m not exactly...well...human. I claim I am and I seem pretty human, but I want you to know, Alexis, I’m dangerous. I’m...fallen.” He let go of my hand and looked at me, then all of a sudden I heard a ripping noise coming from the back of his shirt, I turned my attention to that. It was totally ripped, there were black wings coming from his back, they were unfurling. As soon as they were completely out,  the wings were huge. “These used to be white and beautiful...then I did something very bad...I saw this girl that I wanted, badly. I left the heavens just to be with her, but she was human! It wouldn’t work out...I tried to go back, but I couldn’t. They banished me and turned my wings black. I can never go back up there, I sacrificed a perfect life for a girl I didn’t talk to until today, and I’ve been like this for about a year, me and the girl still cannot work out, because she is a vampyre now, and vampyres cannot be turned into angels, heavenly or fallen. I wish they could though...” He looked at me with a strange look in his eyes...I knew the girl he was talking about...
   
    I could barely let out a whisper...”It’s me...isn’t it?” I looked at him.


James just nodded... I looked down at my feet, I felt heat rise up from my neck up to my cheeks. I started to chew on my bottom lip, he reached out and put his hand on my chin. “Your lips are going to get messed up if you keep doing that, Alexis.” he slowly raised my head and looked into my eyes. I stopped chewing my lip.    “It’s a habit I-” he cut me off.
  
  “You do it when your nervous or confused. I know...I know a lot about you, Alexis.” He took his hand from my chin, but kept looking into my eyes, his eyes...such a beautiful bright blue. I tried to look away. I couldn’t. I felt like I was in some sort of trance...”I know that if your having a bad dream you’ll suck on your thumb, I know about the lip, I know that you’re a little embarrassed about the music that you listen to, I know that the reason you stay so quiet is because you’re scared no one will approve of your thoughts, and there’s much more, am I correct?” once again, all I could do was nod my head...he smiled and reached out and took my hand and squeezed it gently. “I should get you home.”


   “Yeah..” I smiled as he started to walk, and I followed, we were still hand in hand, his wings were also still out...he must have noticed this, because he tensed up and let his wings go back in...I let out a small, sad sigh.
   
“Sorry, I can’t have everyone see.” He looked at me and gave me a small smile and leaned in and kissed my cheek.
  
  “I understand...” I felt myself blush and started to chew my bottom lip...he gave me a look, I understood and stopped. He smiled at me. I couldn’t help but smile back. I noticed we were almost to my house... I pouted, I didn’t want my time with him to end. He looked at me and shook his head with a silly grin on his face. “Whaaaat?” I said a little babyish.
   
We were still walking...we came up to the gate that was in front of all the houses. He typed the code into the keypad. Then he turned to look at me, we were still hand in hand...he pulled me in close to him and put his arms around me, I put my arms around his neck.  He hugged me tightly and put his forehead against mine, we both smiled.


   A cough. James looked over, so did I, I almost raised the sword that was in my hand, but it was resting against James’ back. It was Annabel...I thought she ran away from here. “Alexis what are you doing with this...this...human,” She looked at James in disgust. I glared at her and stepped away from him. I held up my sword.


   "The queen wanted me to walk her home...that’s all.” He gave her a small smile. She was still glaring at the two of us.
   
“Well you looked a little too friendly from what I saw. Alexis put the stupid sword down. I know your not going to hurt me. Which is why I’ve been looking for you.” Her words were directed to me, but she focused her stare on James.
  
  I opened my mouth to speak,but James seemed to know what I wanted to say, and spoke for me. “I was actually hoping to run into you, Anna, I-” Annabel cut him off.


   “Don’t call me Anna...only my family calls me Anna.” A flash of hurt crossed her eyes. I looked over at James.

“Okay, Annabel,” He stressed her name.

Why do I have the feeling they know each other? I thought to myself.

“Well, I have a plan. We have to fake it. We have to put some of your blood on the sword, you need to get out of here, as far away as you can, and the hardest part, the queen has to believe that Alexis did it. The queen might want Alexis to do it in front of her, or me, but if it’s in front of just me then we won’t have a problem. If it’s in front of the queen, however...” He trailed off, getting lost in thought.

“Why don’t you tell her the truth about you, James?” I asked him, referring to the fallen angel thing.

   
“She knows!” Annabel looked like she was going to explode with anger.
   
“Yeah...I told her.” James looked to me, to Annabel, then back to me and mouthed I’m sorry. I was really confused.
  
  “Why would you tell her!”


   “I wanted to!”
  
  “You know your not supposed to tell anyone! As far as people know your a HUMAN! I can’t believe you told her! Are you trying to get her killed!”
   
“I will never let her die! She’s to important to me!”
   
    “I don’t ca-” I yelled and cut her off.
   
“HOLD UP” I yelled. “Stop! Someone explain to me what’s going on right now! How will I get killed because I know the truth!” I looked at James to Annabel.
  
  James moved close to me again and grabbed my hand. In a soft, sweet voice he said,“Hun, let’s get you inside where we can really talk about this,” He looked at me, I nodded my head yes, he lead me inside the gates and we started to walk to my house.
  
  Annabel followed behind and mumbled “Yuck!” I looked back at her, “Sorry, the lovey dovey stuff grosses me out.” She shrugged her shoulders. I blushed and looked back at James.


   “You look tired, Alexis. Are you sure you want to walk?” He smiled at me, “I have other
ways to get there.”


   I smiled, I knew what he was talking about. “Can we?” He nodded his head and let go of my hand, then took a step back.
   
    “James! Don’t!” It was Annabel. I almost forgot about her.
   
“I’m doing it. You should too.” He closed his eyes and I watched as he unfurled his huge, gorgeous black wings. He stepped close to me again, and scooped me up into his arms, sort of like a baby. He whispered. “Close your eyes.” I did what he told me to do. I heard a woosh and we were off the ground, I felt the wind around my face. It was an amazing feeling.
  
  “James! That’s a bad idea!” Annabel warned him, he didn’t listen.


   All of a sudden, I heard another voice, was it, the queen? “JAMES! ALEXIS! What is this!!??” Yeah, it was the queen. I felt James tense up.


    “Alexis, the queen, I’m sorry. This was stupid.” I opened my eyes, we were still in the hair, James was looking at me.
   
“What’s going to happen?” I got scared.
   
“I don’t know...I don’t know.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “I’m terribly sorry, Alexis.”
   
I felt tears. I don’t know why though. “Are you going to be okay?”
  
  He looked away from me. “I don’t think so, I’m sorry. I just found you..now I’m going to lose you.” I felt us dropping, we were going back to the ground. I felt a thump and we were back on land. He gently put me on my feet and hugged me one more time.
  
  The queen spoke. “James! Come with me!”
  
  James looked at me. “Goodbye, for now. I’ll find you again. I promise.” He let go of me and walked to the queen, as he walked, he put his wings back. I watched him and wiped a few tears from my face.
  
  I whispered, even though he wouldn’t hear. “Goodbye...” 


I started to really cry as I watched James and the queen walk away. James looked back over his shoulder at me and mouthed Don’t cry. I’ll be back for you. I promise. I smiled and nodded my head. Then mouthed back I have an idea. Come back. Just take me and fly. Fly far away. He nodded his head yes. He looked to the queen, then back to me. Then, with speed faster than any human I’ve ever seen, he ran to me, while unfurling his wings. He scooped me in his arms and I closed my eyes. He smiled at me and lifted off the ground. I opened my eyes and saw Annabel flying behind us. “Annabel, you can do it too? But your a vampyre!” I stared at her in awe. No wonder the queen wanted her killed. The queen knows about this and didn’t like the fact that Annabel was a fallen-angel/Vampyre hybrid, she made up an excuse to tell me so I would kill her,but I was never going to kill her. I knew that. She knew that.
   

“Yeah. I’m a hybrid. Angels can be made into vampyres. That is why I fell. I fell in love with a vampyre and he changed me so we could be..and then he left me.” She looked away from me and I looked back to James. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

    “I’m taking  you far away from this place, Alexis. Where the queen doesn’t rule. Where the queen cannot come. Where there are no worries for anyone. I promise.” James had a look in his eyes that said trust me. I just nodded my head yes to agree. He leaned down and kissed my forehead gently.

    “Stop with the lovey dovey stuff already you weirdos! Jeez!” It was Annabel, but she was laughing. She seemed really happy. I was glad. I thought we were getting far away from the queen.

    “Alexis you look tired. Close your eyes and rest. You need it.” James looked at me with a concerned look on his face. I closed my eyes, he was holding me like a baby still. I slowly felt my self drifting off to sleep.

*~*

    When I woke up I was in a nice, soft comfy  bed. I looked over to see both James and Annabel sitting on a couch and talking. They noticed I was awake and got quiet. I sat up slowly and swung my legs over the bed and looked at them again. “Where are we? What is this place? What were you talking about? How long have I been asleep? What’s going on?” I asked in a rush.

    James smiled at me and I instantly felt calmer.”We are on an Island that isn’t ruled by the queen. You’ve been asleep about four hours.” He looked over to Annabel.

    “We were discussing the queen, she’ll be here looking for us. This wasn’t the best idea but it kept us all alive...for now.” Annabel looked to me then to James.

    “We won’t be staying here for long. We can’t stay anywhere for long. We are going to take you home. Back to where you belong.” He looked down at his lap.

    “I...I don’t want to go home! Are you crazy! I can’t go home!” I looked from Annabel to James, wondering what was wrong with their heads. “I’m a vampire! I CANNOT go home! What am I supposed to tell my mom!?”

    “Shhh, Alexis, it’s okay. We...we developed a special formula that will change you back to a human.....” James trailed that sentence off, not adding the word ‘hopefully.’ Annabel nodded her head agreeing with James.

    “I don’t like my house! It’s NOT my home!”  I looked at James directly, “YOU should know that. You know everything about me!” I was mad. I did not want to go back to where I came from.

    “I know, Alexis,,,and I really don’t want you to put you back there...but it’s the only place you’ll be safe from the Queen.” James looked away from me, not wanting to meet my eyes.

    “What...what if I killed the queen? With your help of course.” I looked down at the floor where my sword was laying, then back up to James. He looked at me like I was a genius. I smiled nervously.

    “You can’t though, but that gives me an idea. Come an inch close to doing it, make her surrender, become Queen, make her the lowest of the low.” He looked to Annabel to see if she liked his idea. She smiled.

    “That’s a great idea!” She looked to me to make sure I liked it. I just nodded my head yes and smiled.

    “Okay, so that’s the plan...but how do we do it?” James looked from me to Annabel.

    “Your the one who came up with it...I figured you would know how,” I told James. He sighed and shrugged his shoulder, I started to chew my bottom lip, thinking. Then I thought of something. “You said yourself that the queen was going to end up here looking for me. She can’t rule here,  not even the people she brings with her. She’ll be completely alone,  so we don’t leave here. We stay and wait. I like it here so far anyways. So what do you guys think?” I looked to Annabel. She smiled.

    “That’s a great idea!” Annabel said as she looked to James to see what his thoughts were.

    “You are a genius, Alexis!” James exclaimed as he looked at me. I blushed.

    “Oh, it’s nothing.” I smiled and looked at the two of them. They both smiled. All of a sudden there was three loud knocks in a row at the door. I jumped. James got up to open the door. I looked to Annabel, she shrugged.
    “She’s arrived.” I heard an older Man say.
   
    “This quick?” That was James.

    “Yes.”

    “Is she alone?”
   
    “Yes.”

    “That’s good. Where is she?”

    “Looking for you.”

    “Well we have a plan, tell her where we are.”

    “Will do, sir.” I heard the door shut and James came back by us.

    “The queen knew we were headed here. She’s on the island,” James looked at me. “Are you ready?”

    I bent down and picked up my sword and stood up. “Yeah,” I nodded my head and looked at him right when the door burst open. The queen came in.


The queen stood there,glaring at me. I glared right back. She was holding a sword that closely resembled mine. She was obviously not very well trained with swords. She kept switching her grip on the hilt. I just kept my grasp on my hilt and raised the sword, in a blink of an eye I got to the queen and had her against the wall with the sword’s blade barely touching her neck. I smiled. “Why would you lie?” I leaned closer to the queen and whispered. ‘Why?”

    The queen had complete utter fear in her eyes. She stumbled on her words as she spoke. “I...I didn’t l..lie..” her words were barely a whisper.

    I tilted my head to the side, keeping my sword on her neck. James came up and grabbed the sword from the queens hand. “Oh but you did.You wanted Annabel dead because of your precious fruit. That’s not the reason. You wanted her dead because she’s more beautiful, she’s stronger, she’s nicer, she knows what’s right and what’s wrong. She deserves to be queen. Not you,” I leaned in and whispered in her ear, “And, she’s not just a vampyre, she’s an angel as well. Now, you have a choice, surrender, give over the crown,” I paused and pushed the sword a little closer to her neck,”Or I think you know the other option.” She gulped, she had “Horrified” written all over her face. I felt extremely mean. I don’t like being mean, I almost stopped and pulled the sword away. James spoke up.

    “Don’t do it, Alexis. I know what you’re thinking. It’s okay. Trust me, it’s okay. Just follow through with our plan. It’ll all be okay...trust me.” James told me, I could feel him standing behind me, I didn’t let my grip loosen one bit. I stared the queen straight in the eyes and gave her a sickeningly sweet smile. She shuddered and started to shake from nerves.

    “Please...I’ll do anything you want..just don’t kill me...I swear I’ll do anything.” I suddenly had an idea. James already knew what I was thinking of course, so he went to Annabel to tell her. The queen looked scared. She knew we had something in mind. She just wasn’t sure of what. James came next to me and lowered his head to whisper in my ear.

    “Annabel likes the idea, public humiliation, then take the crown.” James whispered the stood up straight again and gave the queen a smile and told her, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
     
I gave the queen a smile and nodded slowly, keeping the sword against her neck. “Public humiliation sounds good. Doesn’t it?” I specifically directed that question at the queen. She looked terrified. At least I wasn’t going to kill her. She should be happy about that. Shouldn’t she?


“Fine. Do what you wish with me, I will never surrender the crown!” Her voice was strong,but her face still showed fear. She will surrender the crown one way or another.

I turned towards James. “We’ll go back with the queen, make an announcement throughout the place.”

“Okay, and hey, you can drop the sword. She’s harmless without hers.” I decided he was right and took the sword away from her neck and took a step away. She slid to the floor slowly, and I looked down at her. “We should leave. How’d you get here, Alexandria?”

“It’s Queen Alexandria, and my boat.” She looked up at James coldy.

“You don’t deserve the title Queen. So, I will call you Alexandria. Okay? Okay.” He glared down at Alexandria, it’s weird, not calling her the queen at all. Then, something dawned on me.

“How’d you get the sword?” I looked at Alexandria.

“I had it made for me.” Alexandria told me, turning her gaze to me.

“That’s not possible. That isn’t your gift. You said it was rare, and you needed me because you couldn’t touch a sword. Because you have to have a swords play gift to touch a sword.”

Alexandria was at a loss for words, then James spoke up. “I touched it, it’s not my gift though.”

I looked over to James, “Yeah, but you aren’t a full vampyre, it doesn’t apply to you.”

“Oh...okay...then how did Alexandria touch the sword?”

Alexandria spoke, “Well...maybe I haven’t really ever been very..truthful. I do have that gift, I just didn’t want to kill her, I wanted you to do it.”

I was speechless for her lie, for what she just confessed. So, I looked over to James, “Are we leaving or what?”

“Yeah, we are. We’re flying. I’m carrying you, Annabel will carry Alexandria.” James looked at Alexandria, “Get on your feet. Come on let’s go. We have stuff to do.” Alexandria slowly got to her feet and walked to Annabel.



Annabel groaned, “Do I have to take her?”

James rolled his eyes and scooped me up in his arms, “Yes Annabel, you have to, now come on let’s go.” James walked outside and held the door open for Annabel, who was now holding
Alexandria. James took off the ground and started flying with me in his arms, Annabel followed. I could hear Alexandria saying something, but I couldn’t tell what, then all of a sudden I heard a scream. It was Alexandria, she was falling, falling to death. Annabel was trying to fly and catch her, but Alexandria was falling too fast. James couldn’t do anything, he was too busy holding me. All of a sudden a flash of black flew past us and caught Alexandria, and flew back up to us, when the thing that caught her slowed down, I saw it was a girl, a gorgeous girl at that.

“Hun, I think you dropped something...or someone I mean,” her voice was a bit rough, but it was beautiful. Annabel went up to her and took Alexandria back in her arms. James stared at this girl with awe. I was jealous of the way he looked at her. She gave him a little smile and brushed her hair out of her eyes, “I’m Brittany, by the way. Some call me the Angel From Hell, because of my wings, they look black like yours, but when I get angry, they blaze a bright red, like fire. No ones ever seen it before in a Fallen, I’m one of a kind, because of my past.”

“Well what’s your past like, what makes you like that?” Annabell spoke up and asked.

Brittany turned her head towards Annabell and snapped at her, “That’s none of your business!!”

James  whispered, “I know...who you are...” it was breathy, he was either amazed or scared, I couldn’t tell.

To Be Continued.....