Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

what do you do if you see anyone?”

“Duck and run.”

Samuel nodded approvingly. “Very good. What if they chase after you?”

I hesitated.

“Stop and make up an excuse?”

“Wrong,” Vincent responded, turning around to look at me.

“Keeping running.”

“But that will make it more suspicious!”

“That will make it more suspicious,” he mimicked, changing his pitch to match mine. “Keep your head low and that’s that. Now get out of the car and let’s go.”

A scowl crossed my face. Maybe Vincent didn’t even know the definition of nice. Nevertheless, I climbed out of the car and into the chilly winter rain. After pulling up my hood, I followed Vincent and Samuel towards the entrance of Walmart. Feelings of nostalgia washed over me as I went through the entrance. Even though the Rutherford’s mansion was only about half an hour away, it felt like I’d been all the way across the country while there and I was coming back home after a long vacation.

“So what are you getting?” I asked Vincent, glancing at him.

He kept his gaze straight ahead, heading towards the back of the store. “Stuff.”

Resisting the urge to glare at him, I kept a polite expression on. “Like?”

“The stuff you buy here.”

“Forget it,” I snapped. “I thought it’d be easier if I helped by getting a few things for you.”

He gazed at me thoughtfully for a second. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Samuel, you go get the toothpaste, toilet paper, floss, and whatever else is over there that we need.”

“Aye, aye, sir!” Samuel responded with a hand salute.

“What about me? What should I get?”

Vincent raised an eyebrow. “You think I’d let you go off alone? Nice try. But I, unlike you, am not stupid. You’ll try to run away if I let you do that.”

I shook my head in denial. “No I won’t!”

“You think that now,” Samuel interjected. “But I’m with Vivi on this-”

“Don’t call me that,” Vincent growled.

I pursed my lips at them. “You’re making me feel like a captive. The Queen said I was a guest.”

Vincent gave me a mocking look. “That sucks. For today you’re my captive then,” he said, pushing me forwards.

“Sounds kinky,” Samuel commented in a teasing tone.

Vincent sent him a hard glare while I blushed in embarrassment. He had to make it awkward, didn’t he? Vincent gave him a hard shove before stalking off in the other direction, snatching up my wrist and towing me along. I immediately tried to pull it free, remembering the first night with him. I still had bruises on my other hand. He didn’t let go.

“I’m not a kid, Vincent. Don’t drag me around like one!” I finally burst, planting my feet firmly into the ground.

He rolled his eyes at me, but let go of my wrist. “Stay within five feet of me.”

Narrowing my eyes, I crossed my arms. “I’m not a kid.”

He ignored my stubbornness. “What do you like for snacks?”

“Why?”

“Obviously to buy something for you to, I don’t know… snack on?”

I ground my teeth together. A ghost of a smirk danced on his face, causing me to become more irritated. Instead of snapping back at him like he expected, I swallowed my anger and nodded. “Oh. I like grapes.”

.

He frowned, obviously disappointed in my reaction. “They don’t sell grapes here.”

“Oh. I like apples.”

“They don’t sell apples here either,” he pointed out. “Don’t you come here often?”

I shrugged. “Oh. I like bananas.”

He scowled. “Stop being stupid.”

“What am I doing wrong?” I asked with an innocent look.

“They don’t sell fruit here!” he growled.

I blinked. “Oh. In that case, I like carrots…”

He sent me an annoyed look. “Shut up. Never mind, you’re getting whatever I get you.” He muttered something else that sounded suspiciously like a curse.

“Trail mix is fine,” I told him, dropping my game. It was fun while it lasted, but I didn’t want to end up with tuna fish or something like that. “The breakfast kind…”

He didn’t reply and began walking again. I kept up with him, deciding it’d be best to follow his rules. After all, he was taking me out even though I wasn’t allowed to. That counted for something.

Keeping pace with him, I quickly stole a glance at his face. His mouth was set in a frown, but it still made him look attractive. I smiled wryly. Why couldn’t vampires be ugly like in the movies? Then it’d be easier to actually harbor ill feelings towards them-even though they’d kidnapped me, I was finding it harder and harder to dislike them. The Queen and King were nice, and so were Fiona, Sebastian, Samuel, and Joel. Even Vincent had his moments. I even felt like I’d known them for months, not just a few days. But they still did kidnap me. A little part of my mind was telling me to hate them, while the rest was telling me to not worry about it.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. It didn’t matter whether or not I was supposed to hate them. I didn’t, and that was that. Maybe at first I did, but it was a different story then. They weren’t doing anything to harm me. This predicament was just as troubling for them as for me, if not more. The least I could do was try and keep out of trouble the best I could.

“Do you want anything else?” Vincent asked, plucking a box of trail mix off of the shelf. “Cereal?”

“Honey Bunches of Oats.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Really?”

“What?” I asked, taking a defensive stance. Was he going to make fun of my cereal choice?

He laughed through his nose. “You have boring food taste.”

“What do you eat? Count Chocula?” I snorted.

He rolled his eyes at my joke. “Of course not. Can’t you guess I’m a Lucky Charms person?”

“I actually think you’re more of a Fruit Loop,” I responded, laughing at my own joke.

“Out of all the cereal jokes in the world… You would choose the Fruit Loops one,” he muttered to himself, pulling down a box of Fruit Loops of the shelf. “I haven’t actually had these in awhile.”

I watched him in surprise. He was actually getting Fruit Loops? It didn’t seem fitting at all. No, the whole vampires eating human food thing didn’t fit at all. It was incredibly mystifying.

“Do you like Nutella?” he asked in a bored tone, grabbing my cereal from the shelf and sticking both his and mine under his arm. “Fiona loves that stuff.”

I grinned. “I do too.”

Vincent made a face. “That stuff is gross.”

“No it’s not!”

“I hate chocolate,” he told me flatly. “And anything related to it.”

I almost gasped. How could he hate chocolate? The only other person I knew that didn’t like chocolate was a girl named Kate in my grade, but she was strange to begin with. “You’re weird.”

He scoffed. “I wouldn’t be talking. No normal human can resist having their memory erased.”

“I didn’t resist it,” I snapped. I’d been practically begging for it! “It just didn’t work.”

“Either way, it’s weird.”

“You know what’s also weird?”

He didn’t look interested, but played along anyway. “What?”

“Going on a Walmart trip with the vampire who kidnapped you,” I told him, pursing my lips. “Who gets along with their kidnapper?”

The corners of his lips twitched into a small smile. “Apparently you do, stupid.”

I glowered at him. “Don’t call me-”

“Move,” he ordered, pushing me forwards. “We’re getting bread and than leaving. The kitchen help will get the other groceries.”

“Why don’t they get all of them?”

He gave me a frustrated look. “Because they never buy any good snacks, that’s why. Now go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I muttered, sweeping into a low bow. When I erected myself, Vincent was standing rigid, his eyes hard. “What?” I questioned, unnerved by his look.

“Don’t do that again,” he hissed, pushing me forwards again. “I’m not a king.”

Stumbling from the force he was putting on my back, I glanced over my shoulder, confused. “I was only kidding!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Well don’t.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Who shoved the stick up your butt today?”

“It never was taken out,” he snapped back. “Now shut up and walk. Evidently you can’t do both at the same time.”

I twisted away from Vincent and made a face at him as he passed me. He had some serious mood swings. We went straight to the bread aisle, silence passing between us. I made a mental note to never joke about royalty to him. It seemed like that was a taboo subject to him. For a moment I debated on apologizing to him, but it wasn’t my fault he got his panties in a twist, so I decided not to.

“Wheat or white?”

“Wheat,” I responded quietly.

“Ah, so just like Vivi, huh?”

My heart leapt into my throat as I felt a firm pair of hands land on my shoulders. Vincent’s head snapped behind me, his eyes narrowing at the person holding on to me. I stood stock still, trying to calm my now racing heartbeat. Whoever was holding onto me didn’t sound like Samuel.

“Phillip, what are you doing here?”

The guy holding onto me finally let go of my shoulders and I twisted around to see a young man with shaggy black hair grinning at me. His eyes were as dark as his hair, but his skin was as pale as Vincent’s. Their face structures looked eerily alike as well. My eyes widened. Another sibling?

“You don’t sound too excited to see your favorite elder cousin,” Phillip complained, batting his eyelashes.

Cousin. That explained it.

“Stop acting like that,” Vincent demanded. “Who are you, Joel? Samuel?”

Phillip laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “I just wondered how you’d react if I acted like them.

“I’d have to kill you. Those two are enough.”

“Very well,” Phillip said, suddenly turning serious. “Why is Emily out of the main manor? She shouldn’t be here, let alone off the premises.”

Vincent clenched his jaw. “She’s not bothering anyone or trying to escape. It’s no big deal. No one knows, anyway.”

Phillip looked dubious. “I do.”

“And you’re not going to tell anyone, right?”

“I won’t, but my father is with me as well… You’d do best to leave before you’re found out.”

“Phillip!”

For the second time I jumped in surprise, turning to see a pretty brunette coming towards us. She looked irritated. When her gaze landed on me, her brows furrowed deeply in confusion. “I didn’t know you were interested in girls, Vincent…”

“Haha Claire,” he responded sarcastically. “I didn’t know you could actually last more than a week with a guy.”

She smiled politely at him. “Is she a human? Can’t get a vampire?”

“Going after royalty again?” he retorted.

Phillip rolled his eyes. “Come on you two. You don’t have to argue every time you see each other.”

“He starts it,” Claire cried the same time Vincent said, “She starts it.”

I looked between the three of them, feeling thoroughly perplexed. They were all vampires? Claire didn’t know who I was? It seemed like every vampire knew who I was. But the King did mention no one outside the family was supposed to know I existed, so that was probably why…

“My father’s coming,” Phillip suddenly started. “You should go.”

Vincent nodded, grabbing my arm with his free hand. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” I said, trying to pull my hand free.

“Now.”

“Bye Emily! See you soon!” Phillip called after me.

I stared back at him, unsure how to respond. Claire gave me another curious gaze as Vincent dragged me away. I adverted my gaze, turning forwards again. As I did so, my gaze landed on a very familiar blonde head. I froze, causing Vincent to come to a stop.

“What are you doing?” he demanded. “We have to go.”

I swallowed nervously, watching the blonde maneuver through the men’s clothing. “Jake…”