The Vampire Prince graduates High School (Book 3)

Cooperation

Dinner that weekend turned into a luncheon. I'd figured the only way to sneak in my findings was with my sc­hool work and laptop. After our afternoon picnic in the gardens, we returned inside. At least, Violet, my mom, myself, and Alexander did. Dad and King Rothchester went to the greenhouse instead. Dad was super excited.

Mom said Violet had promised a collection of dramas. Alexander and I were supervised by Trevor and sometimes by Mom and Violet. They had set up a lounge room with cozy armrests for Mom and Violet and a table and chairs for Alexander and myself.

I slipped Alexander my notes and findings across the table. We sat beside each other so it wasn't that difficult. Grabbing it, Alexander flipped thr­ough the sages. He read slowly, flipping through the pages.

I grabbed a cookie from the treats in front of us and nibbled on it.

"Well?" I asked when he finished.

"You've done it," Alexander began.

My gut sank. He probably thought I was being paranoid. Maybe I was.

"This is great," he continued.

"Excuse me sir," Trevor said, appearing beside Alexander. "You have a call from Royal Prints. Shall I take a message?"

"Go ahead," I told him. "Might be important if it's on the weekend."

"Yeah. I need a break."

After Alexander walked off, I stood and stretched. Mom and Violet busily discussed the latest episode of their show. I slipp­ed out and sighed. It was a lot stressful to be monitored all the time.

As I walked around, I thought about Camellia. She had warned me about looking into things. I'm surprised she hadn't dropped by again. It's not like I could stop. We needed to help Alexander. The soon­er we found the people res­ponsible for this. They couldn't get away with what they'd done.

"So this is where you went. Snooping around, huh?"

I turned and saw Noah. He was dressed casually but his demeanor had changed dramatically.

"I'm guessing you have a problem," I said, "but I don't understand why."

To be honest, I did care about app­roval from Alexander's family but they had given that to me already. Noah's approval wasn't on the priority list. He had suddenly turned up out of nowhere.

Noah crossed his arms. "You're the reason my brother got shot," he said. "I saw the footage. It's your fault. Those peo­ple knew he would protect you.''

I felt like I'd been punched. He wasn't wrong. It was my fault. They had used me to get to Alexander.

"It's why I'm trying to find the culprits," I said.

He shook his head. "You don't even deny it," he scoffed.

"I'm taking responsibility." I shot back. "I was there, remember? Besides, I won't apologize that Alexander cares about me."

Noah walked closer. "A vampire would have known."

I practically growled. "So you have an iss­ue because I'm human? Typical. You don't even want to give me a chance. I love Alexander and he loves me. That should be enough for you."

I stomped past him, face warm. To think he didn't like me because I was human.

"Wait," Noah called behind me.

I ignore him.

"Rin, wait. Please."

I kept walking.

"I'm sorry.'' He was right behind me.

I stopped breathing deeply.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "It's not that you're human. It's more like you don't understand how vampires think."

Sighing, I turned. "What?"

"I don't mean to offend, but you have no idea what of the dangers we face. I'd wished you been smarter."

I hated that I agreed with him.

"Plus, we haven't found the vampires who did this. And now Alexander is weakened."

"So it was vampires then?"

"Yeah, we suspect. Humans wouldn't be able to hide their scent. They might use odor suppressants but those have a distinct smell."

"Is that why the mafia is looking into the matter? Why they're using you as a back-up plan?"

The surprise was evident on his face. "Something like that, yes," he admitted. "Have they said anything to you?''

"They don't want me to investigate," I told him. "I've asked my... uh, friend to help."

"Oh, I heard about the terrorist."

"He's not-" I stopped. Now, wasn't the time for this. "He knows people so I'm using them."

"Hmm, then, let me help."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I meant it, what I said at the conf­erence. I don't want to take over my brother. I want to help. Plus, it'll help you, the mafia can't say an­ything."

I did like the sound of that. "Alright," I said. "I can show you what I found."

He nodded. "I've combed the footage over and over again. Whoever set this up, had knowledge of the event and security. It was an inside job."

I nodded. It made sense. I had been thinking about that too, sort of.

"Let's compare notes," Noah said. "And then we can go from there."