Infernal

9.

The next morning, Alaric was up early and because of that, he woke me up early too.

"Come on, I only have a few hours to spare," he hurried me as I tied the laces of the new vans he gave me.

"Alright, " I said, tying the last shoelaces and I quickly jumped to my feet.

Alaric looked me over and nodded his head. "You look good."

I instantly froze and look down, remembering that I had taken one of his plaid shirts and left it unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up, whilst wearing a plain white t-shirt underneath with black leggings. The shirt was a bit long on me but I thought it looked alright and if it got too hot outside, I could easily tie it around my waist.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked..." I mumbled referring to his plaid shirt, that was red and black.

"It's fine, it looks better on you," he shrugged.

I flushed at his compliment and looked down at my vans as if they were the most interesting thing on the planet.

"Let's go," Alaric said.

Ten minutes later we were driving out of Regnum. Neither of us had eaten anything but Alaric said we would pick something up on the way to the mall. We didn't make conversation at first, I was too busy staring outside the window, trying to familiarise myself with the outside surroundings. Once we were out of Regnun Alaric turned the radio on, the music played quietly in the background breaking the slightly awkward silence.

Alaric drove smoothly, but at a fast speed; he was in control and it seemed like he knew his way around a car... well he was over six hundred years old, he had probably been driving for over fifty years or so.

"How was the library yesterday?" Alaric asked me, suddenly turning the radio off. I looked up at him, to see him giving me a short glance before turning his eyes back onto the road.

"It was good, thank you," I replied.

"Read or see anything interesting?" his tone seemed like he already knew the answer to that question.

I cleared my throat and looked down at my lap. Artemis must have told him that I had seen the huge portrait.

"Regnum is a great place," I answered, trying to avoid giving him the answer he wanted. I wasn't ready to discuss his age with him. It was only right that he would tell me properly in his own time. Forcing that particular topic of conversation didn't seem like the right thing to talk about in a car journey.

"It is," he agreed. "You know what I'm referring to though."

The portrait...

I suck in a breath and looked back up.

"I prefer you with short hair," I said causing him to smirk at my response.

"Something we agree on."

The rest of the drive was silent, and it took about thirty minutes until we reached a mall.

"It's a human mall but some of my wolves work here," Alaric said, as we got out of the car.

The first place Alaric took me to, was Starbucks. It seemed stupid but I had never been in my life, and whenever I had watched a show on Netflix and a character would have a coffee or a caramel frappuccino from the coffee shop, I would always get jealous. Alaric had ordered himself an Americano and a breakfast roll. When he asked me what I wanted, I couldn't help but smile in excitement. I asked for a caramel frappuccino and just like Alaric, a breakfast roll also. We waited in line with all the other people, I had noticed that the girls in line stared at Alaric; batting their eyelashes and giggling to get his attention. I didn't blame those girls, Alaric was a fine-looking specimen especially since he was dressed smart-casually in dark jeans that hugged his long and toned legs. He had paired the jeans with smart looking shoes and a light grey buttoned-up shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a few of his top buttons were undone. Aside from Alaric getting looks, I also got a few glances. Not because I looked as good as him but because of my damn purple eyes. As soon as someone caught a glimpse of the colour, they stared in a mix of horror and shock.