The Vampire Prince returns to High School (Book 2)

A Small World

My smile stiffened. I didn't have anything against Lisa - sort of - but she was still Cassidy's friend. She was also still a vampire and perhaps pissed at me for spilling the beans at school. 

Lisa walked up to her uncle and smiled at me. "Hey, Rin," she said. "I'm surprised to see you here, considering the company and all."

I smiled back at her, probably not as menacing. "Of course," I told her. "Your uncle has been very helpful and I wanted to thank him personally."

"That is a shocker I must say."

B*tch. 

"I can't imagine why," I forced out. 

"I guess there is no need for introductions," Ian interrupted with a smile. "I'm glad to see you two getting along so well."

Yeah. That was sarcasm. 

"Lisa, here. I want you to meet my co-workers." Ian steered Lisa towards my parents.  

That was going to be fun.

"Any second there and I thought you two were going to attack each other."

I turned towards Caleb. There wasn't much I could say. Even if I whispered, the vampires would hear me. They would be polite and pretend that they didn't hear.

"We had a disagreement," I finally said. I shrugged. "It just so happens that I have my way of doing things that others don't like."

Caleb motioned me to follow him so, I did. We went into the house where he placed his plate down on the kitchen counter.

"I did hear from Ian what happened," he said. "Lisa was very vocal about it."

"I'm sure she was," I said. "For them, it's only about vampires and nothing else. Alexander was the same way when I met him. He only thought about ruling over humans."

"Alexander?"

"Oh, he's my boy-" I stopped.

Had I just told Calen what I think I had? Clearing my throat, I avoided his gaze. I shouldn't have said anything.

"He's a vampire?" Caleb asked.

There was no point in denying it now. I had already let that cat out of the bag. Plus, I wanted to talk to someone - anyone at this point - about what was going on. 

"Uh, yeah," I replied. "But my parents don't know."

"That you have a boyfriend or that he's a vampire?"

"Um, both?"

He didn't say anything. Maybe that was a good sign. I couldn't imagine what he was going to say next. I probably shouldn't have come at all.

"So, what do you think?" he finally asked. 

I frowned. "Of what?"

"Dating a vampire?"

That was unexpected. I guess I had never really thought that there was a difference. Dating was dating, but I didn't think that was the answer Caleb wanted. 

I bit my lip. "Well, Alexander is sort of special. You might have seen him on TV a few months ago."

"On Tv? Hmm, . . . Oh."

I shrugged. "I don't get to see him often. He's so busy. We don't go out and we can't be seen in public. Honestly, I don't know how to feel about it."

"Just so you know," he said, "dating is the same no matter who you're with. It's still dating. You just have to make time to be with your partner."

"What about you?" I asked. "How does it feel for you? Anything different you couldn't do with a human?"

"There are restricted zones so, we have to be careful with that and you can't always tell everyone we're dating. Not many people approve of that. You just got to figure out what works for you as a couple and stick to that."

"Sounds about right," I commented. "At least you two can spend time with each other. " I shrugged. "We do find time for each other but . . . I don't know. It's not enough. At least, I don't think so."

"Have you told him?"

"How can I?" I asked. "He'll ditch a lot of important meetings if I told him that. I don't want anyone to say that I'm distracting him or something."

"Yeah. That has to be rough. Do his parents know?"

I nodded. "Yup. They know. I'm surprised they haven't asked me to break up with Alexander. Honestly, I don't know if his dad likes me or not. He got in trouble because of me."

"Isn't that something?" he muttered.

"Isn't that something?" Ian asked.

We turned and saw him in the living room. He had a wine glass with him. I didn't want to imagine what was in that glass. Then again, could vampires have alcohol? Did it even affect them? 

"Rin was just telling me about school," Caleb replied. He turned to me. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll have plenty of friends in no time."

I forced a smile. "Yeah, everyone is so shy. Vampires and humans don't like to mingle just yet, but I'm sure it will change."

"I know that Lisa will be more than happy to be your friend," Ian said. "Sure, it's been rough but let bygones be bygones."

I felt like a child watching my parents complain to the teacher that no one wanted to be my friend. Been there. Done that and see how well it turned out. 

"There's no need," I quickly said. "You can't force people to be friends with one another. If it works out, it will." I cleared my throat. "My parents might be looking for me. Excuse me."

Avoiding Ian's gaze, I quickly walked back outside. Hearing Caleb . . . sure, dating was dating, but his boyfriend was royalty. Regardless of species, being royalty just changed everything. If the King didn't want me with Alexander, there wasn't much I could do even if I still wanted to be with him. Plus, I could never ask Alexander to give up his dream just to be with me. 

No one had said it, but at the end of the day, vampires were doing to outlive us. Alexander was going to outlive me. I couldn't let him go off track for me. I could never ask him to. It wouldn't be fair. It is nice if we stayed together, but neither of us could guarantee it and I didn't want Alexander to stress over it. He already had enough to worry about. I didn't want to become a burden to him. I had already put him through enough as it was.