Chapter 9

I woke up to the rays of sunlight, which I could see with my eyes closed. Jace must have pulled the blinds open.

I started to wonder whether vampires actually burned up in the sun, but then I opened my eyes and met a huge pair of hazel ones, which caused me to bolt upright and let out a scream of horror.

The stranger screamed as well and jumped a few steps back. She was a young girl, maybe a little older than I was, but not by much. She had big hazel eyes, and she was pretty, perhaps too pretty to be human.

"I am so sorry; I didn't mean to scare you! Master Trueblood told me to wake you, but then I saw you sleeping, and you looked so adorable and... I'm sorry," She gave me a sheepish smile.

I eyed her strangely and only managed to say, "Who the hell is Master Trueblood?"

"Oh, the Prince. Jace Trueblood."

I started laughing bitterly and then covered my mouth to try and hold it back, "His last name is Trueblood? Like the TV show, True Blood, the one about vampires? Oh, that is hilarious."

She scratched her head and said, "I guess, I mean, the show was named after them."

She must have noticed my confused expression because she added, "The Truebloods. The royal family. The show was named after them, and I have a feeling Jace inspired the character of Eric Northman."

"Huh," I was about to ask her who she was, but she cut me off.

"I'm Jennifer, you can call me Jenny. I'll be keeping you company when Jace isn't here."

"Are you one of them? You know, a vampire?"

She gave me a warm smile. She had a cute smile, and it was fang-less, "No, don't worry, I'm as human as you are."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, "So, what are you doing here then?"

"I told you, Jace told me to--"

"I know, I know. I mean, why are you here if you're human. I did not think they would hire any humans, Jace doesn't seem very fond of us," I stated.

"Oh," She looked uncomfortable, "I'm one of Jace's... consorts?" The last word came out as a question for some reason.

"And what exactly does a consort do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well... um... tend to his needs, like hunger, I give him blood when he needs it."

"Like hunger, and what else?"

"Um..." She lowered her head and mumbled, "There's also his sexual needs."

"HIS WHAT?! Oh, please tell me I don't have to sleep with him. Oh, god. He's going to rape me."

I got up and started pacing around the room in a panic, so she walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Calm down, if there's anything Jace wouldn't do, it's that. He would never force himself on you, trust me. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but the blood isn't optional, you have to give him your blood."

She made it sound like there was a reason why Jace would never do that, but I didn't ask. I just took a deep breath, "Sex is optional, blood is not. Got it," I then paused and looked at her, "Does he have to bite me?"

She chuckled, "Not if you don't want to, he can draw it with a needle, you don't even have to be awake when he does it. In time you'll find that Jace is actually a pretty nice guy, I mean, he's got an attitude, but he's nothing like his sister. Stella Trueblood," She shuddered at the name, "Now that is someone you do not want to meet. She's like the devil incarnate."

She then looked at me strangely, "Unless you've already met her. You have, haven't you? Oh, you poor thing."

"How do you know I've met her?"

"You flinched when I mentioned her," She sat on the bed and patted the space beside her, "Come on, tell me what she did to you."

I gave her a confused look but sat anyway, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, you can tell me, she's not here to hurt you."

"Hurt me? She wouldn't hurt me."

Now it was her turn to give me a confused look. In fact, she looked at me like I had just said I saw a purple unicorn prancing on a rainbow

prairie, "She didn't do anything bad?"

"Well... I don't know... She, um..." I paused for a long time.

"She, um, what?"

I looked down and mumbled, "Shekissedme," quickly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch that."

"Shekissedme." I said just as fast, but louder.

I think she understood this time because her eyes widened in shock, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard right. What did you say?"

"Oh, for god's sake, she kissed me, we made out!"

I tried not to laugh, but the look on her face was so funny, she looked like a cartoon, "She KISSED you? As in, kissed you in the mouth?"

I nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Did she do it by force?"

"No, no. I um... I started it."

She let out a breath and stared into space with a shocked expression, then she laughed and ran a hand through her long black hair, "Well, that's a new one. So, after you guys... well, yeah... was she nice to you?"

I nodded, "Mhm."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she comforted me and explained everything to me. Everything was going fine until Jace barged in and threatened to kill me, then she almost killed him, and when they calmed down, she told me to leave."

"And you seem sad about this, because?"

"Because I was starting to enjoy her company."

She smiled and said, "You like her, don't you?" She looked like a schoolgirl getting her hands on some juicy gossip. For a second, my thoughts drifted back to school and my friends, but they faded away.

"Sure, she's nice."

"I mean, like-like her. You have a crush on her."

"What? No! I have a boyfriend. I like guys."

"Really, what's his name?"

"Gabriel."

"Is he cute? What does he look like?"

"He has dark hair and baby blue eyes, he's fit, he has a nice body and the cutest smile, but he smirks and pretends to be a bad boy most of the time."

"And the girl you kissed, are you sure it was Stella? What did she look like?"

"Well, she was blonde, she had a piercing gaze, her eyes were a grayish-blue color, they seemed silvery sometimes. Her mouth-- I mean smile was um, nice. She basically looked like a Victoria's Secret model." I sighed.

"Uh-huh." She looked at me intensely with her eyes narrowed like she was studying me. Then she smiled and started saying, "You have a crush on Stella," repeatedly in singsong.

I laughed, "Shut up, no, I don't!" Then I put a hand over her mouth, and she pushed it away.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say. But the way you described her was like a person would describe their lover. I mean the look on your face; you care about Gabriel, but you are head over heels for Stella."

I crossed my arms and pouted like a little kid, "I am not."

"Are you trying to convince yourself or me? Trust me, I'm a singer, and if I were to become a vampire, my ability would be reading people, not like Jace's because he was a siren. Mine would be more like knowing stuff about people by looking at them, rather than reading minds."

"But you're not a vampire, so you don't have that ability yet, do you?"

"Fair enough," She smiled, "Come on, let's get you something to eat," She offered me a hand and pulled me up, then she started walking towards the door.

"Am I allowed to go out?"

"With me, yes. Now come on, I'm hungry, and you look like you didn't eat last night."

Huh, maybe she is good at reading people. But I don't like Stella, I can't, she's evil. I mean, that's what Jenny made her sound like.

And anyway, I have Gabriel, he's perfect for me, what more could I want?

Jenny led me down a fancy looking hallway until we reached an elevator.

They have an elevator?

The place was starting to look more like a hotel. Jenny pressed the button, and I looked up at the floor numbers as we waited. They went up to five, and then the elevator doors opened, and we got in. She pressed the button for the second floor.

"So, how big is this place, exactly?" I asked.

"Pretty big, huge in fact. The Verasanguis vampires have everything. It's like their private oasis."

"Verasanguis... Wait, where are we, anyway?"

"Their real name, they tend to say it in English, but it is Latin. We're on an island in the Caribbean. Humans can't find it. They have some spells around it or something. This place is the secret behind the Bermuda Triangle, actually."

"Great, this is getting weirder by the second."

She laughed, "You'll get used to it."

Just then, the elevator dinged, the doors opened, and I gasped at what I saw. The place was amazing. One wall was made of glass, giving you a good view of the island.

There were comfy looking couches everywhere, with little tables in front of them. There was a big screen where the couches were facing, not as big as a movie theater screen, but close enough. There was also a bar, and a guy watched a basketball game on a flat-screen TV behind the counter. He must have worked there because he had what looked like a uniform, a white button-up shirt with black pants and a black vest. The place was a mixture of the living room of a mansion, a hotel lobby, and a... cafe?

"I know. It's awesome, isn't it? And this is the least of it, come on," She led me past the bar, and the bartender turned to us and smiled.

"Hi, Jenny," He said, "What's got you up so early?"

"I'm showing the new guest around."

"Really, well introduce us, I haven't met her," He said with a slight accent, Italian maybe.

"Paulo, this is Annabelle, Annabelle, Paulo," She said, gesturing at each of us.

Paulo smiled kindly and held out his hand, which I gladly shook and was relieved to find that it was warm, "You sure are beautiful, miss Annabelle, I would have thought you were a vampire if it wasn't for all the gossip."

"Gossip?" I asked at the same time as Jenny exclaimed, "Paulo!"

He covered his mouth, "Sorry! I didn't get a lot of sleep last night; you know how dumb I can get when I'm tired. I didn't mean to say that", He said to Jenny, giving her an apologetic look.

Jenny sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "But you did. So, what are you talking about?"

"Not much, just that Jace found a powerful siren, and she's got Stella acting all weird."

I flinched at her name again; I really need to stop doing that.

"What do you mean by weird?" I asked, dying to know what I was causing her and secretly enjoying the fact that I was having an effect on her.

"I don't know. She started acting a bit nicer when she met you, and when you moved to Jace's wing, she seemed down. I don't think she's left her room, and she refuses to eat."

Jenny sighed, "And you know this, how?"

He shrugged, "The maids talk a lot. They like to gossip."

I didn't say anything, but I felt bad, terrible. I needed to see her.

Jenny chuckled, "Bye, Paulo. Come on, Annabelle, let's go to the kitchen."

We started walking down a wide hallway, but Jenny seemed to have noticed the look on my face because she stopped and said, "Are you okay? I wouldn't pay any attention to what he said if I were you, those maids tend to exaggerate a lot."

I would have believed her if it weren't for the feeling in my gut. I was causing her pain; I was sure of it. I had to see her, "Jenny..."

"No. I know what you're going to ask, and the answer is no. I can't take you to Stella."

"Please, nobody has to know."

"Jace knows everything, he can read minds, remember?"

"If you don't help me, I'll find my own way."

"I can't let you do that. I like you, I do, and I know we're going to be good friends, but you have to let this go."

I sighed, "Fine," this was not over yet.

She led me over to a huge kitchen that was as amazing as the rest of the castle, no need to go into details.

They had a personal chef, of course, so we didn't have to prepare anything. He did it for us.

I really liked the chef, he was funny, and he seemed like a cool guy. His name was Bryan, and he was Puerto Rican, which made sense since we were apparently near Puerto Rico.

I ordered some pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries. It was like ordering breakfast at a restaurant, and the pancakes were better than Ihop's. After eating, I said goodbye to Bryan, and we headed back upstairs to the asshole fanger's room.

Yes, that's his name now—asshole fanger. Fanger is my new word for vampire. That ought to piss him off.