The Turned Queen

The odd rivalry

Ryder nodded but couldn't help sulking when he suddenly remembered the rumors.

"You have a fiance?" Ryder asked catching Scarlett off guard, Scarlett's expression was enough for Ryder to know what has actually happened.

"Your mate found you?" Ryder knew about her story and he promised her he will do his best to keep her safe.

Scarlett nodded as her eyes suddenly went wide when his smell hit her like a lightning bolt.

"So you have actually told people about me." Vincent's melodic voice rang in her ears as she turned around to look at Vincent standing in front of her looking at her with every ounce of affection. Ryder stood up as his mouth went wide.

"Vincent Von Stein?"

Vincent walked towards Scarlett as his intoxicating scent made Scarlett lose her sanity as seconds passed by each step he took towards her.

"Long time no see, Ryder." He smiled brightly at Ryder as he turned towards Scarlett. "Here you are, love."

"What are you doing here?" Scarlett asked in a daze.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you this morning. I'm your new History Professor. Prof. Vincent Von Stein." Vincent smirked as Scarlett's mouth went wide as stood there baffled.

"What in the earth is going on here?" Ryder looked between Scarlett and Vincent in turns as he found it unbelievable. Ryder knew Scarlett sure was oddly powerful by the aura she reflected, he knew she'd have an extremely powerful mate, her ranking has to be on top for her to be that powerful or maybe the vampire who turned her is extremely powerful, that is her mate, Vincent Von Stein.

"You are mates?!" Ryder was on shock as Scarlett sighed.

"Why the hell everyone around me already knows this damned guy?!"

"Who wouldn't? He is the fuckin' next in line Vampire King!" Ryder exclaimed as Scarlett hit his back of the head, "Keep it down, will you?" Scarlett spoke while gritting her teeth as Vincent laughed.

"How have you been, Ryder?"

"It's been a while. I am still processing the situation, give me a minute."

Scarlett rolled her eyes at Ryder as she walked up to Vincent.

"You're unbelievable."

"I'd chase the end of Earth for you, this is nothing." Vincent smirked as Scarlett shrugged off the butterflies she got in her stomach. 'Scarlett, get a hold of yourself! Don't fall for his tricks.' Scarlett kept encouraging herself with empty hope because a part of her already knew, she's already fallen for him the moment his deep amethyst eyes met her silver ones that night when she was holding onto her last breath.

On cue the bell rang as all the students rushed to their seats.

"See you later." Vincent winked at Scarlett as he walked out of the class.

Ryder shook Scarlett's shoulder to get her out of her daze.

"f**k my life."

____

"So that's what happened."

Scarlett sipped from the flask, Ryder looked at her.

"So Vincent Von Stein turned you into a vampire to save because you were dying from excessive blood loss. You stayed with him for two months-"

"Imprisoned, it is."

"-Yeah imprisoned for two months and in the meanwhile you met Nicole there who was imprisoned as well-"

"That was for her safety, I didn't knew about it until now."

"-alright, and then Vincent actually didn't force you to leave with him instead he is living next door as your neighbor and now he showed up as our History Professor."

"Yes and in the ball Athanasius pissed me off."

"Oh yeah, I never thought he'd actually do that. I knew he was into you by observing him for the past days but to actually give you his betrothal gift to make you his fiance, he sure is insane. Thanks to your abilities or you would've been in a deep shit."

"Though I ain't too far from getting myself into deep shit."

"Wait what about Riordan? How did you met him?"

"I saved him the other night from full blood Vampires, he was seriously injured so I gave him my blood to heal and let him live for that night. I didn't knew who he was until the ball."

"You were baffled to find out he was the actual Crown Prince, weren't you?"

"Yeah, it was a shocking evening for me to go through a series of twists and turns, tragedies and tales. I'm exhausted." Scarlett sighed deeply as Ryder patted her shoulder.

"Get a hold of yourself. This is just the beginning of your series of tragedies and tales."

"Can't you say something nice?"

Ryder smiled sheepishly, "Well don't worry. I'm with you, right here, I'll accompany you through the series of tragedies and tales."

"You should actually look for your mate for now. I can handle it on my own."

On the mention of his mate, Ryder's face went gloomy.

"I'm giving it my all. Do you think she deliberately ran away from me?"

"Hey, What kind of nonsense is that? And what's with that gloomy face of yours? You're her mate, you both are fated. People who meet are bond to meet again and again, especially the fated ones. Moreover she hasn't met you, how would she know she doesn't want you? Trust me, when you both meet, she'd thank the heavens for gifting her with you." Scarlett encouraged him.

Ryder smiled warmly at Scarlett.

"Thanks Scarl."

"Let's go, it's getting late."

____

In the cafe nearby the campus, Ryder and Scarlett sat, focused on the laptop, rewatching the CCTV footage to trace Ryder's mate.

While watching the footage of the main hall, Ryder saw how Scarlett fell into Vincent's arms and how Athanasius lost his cool and how Riordan took Scarlett away for the so called making-stuff-clear.

"Am I the only one who noticed it?" Ryder stares at the screen in amusement.

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you see? The odd Rivalry between the three of them? They are practically glaring daggers at each other. If they encountered each other at some other place, I'm damn sure, they'd rip each other off."