The Vampire Prince's Beloved

Kindled

Shock waves filled the room as Frednard's name left Angela's mouth. Frednard felt the muscles around his cheeks stiffen in a bitter frown. Calling him by his name was a thing Mac, his right-hand man, couldn't even dare to do talkless of a mere slave girl. What made him bewildered was how confidently she called his name and the stupid smile she had on her face.

"What did you just say?" He asked Angela in a voice that sounded like a growl. The room had long gone silent so the warning in his voice was loud.

"I just greeted you," Angela said, wondering why he was being so dramatic about an innocent greeting. "I said, 'Good afternoon, Mr Frednard'. Did I in any way mispronounce your name?"

She didn't sound or look like she knew the gravity of her words. It was Roseline and Drey, her brother who quaked at her response. Frednard stood with a grim face. He didn't reply to Angela's question but his deadly gaze at her did the talking.

Seeing that it seemed she had made a mistake, Angela attempted to correct it though she had no idea of where she had erred. "Well, I do apologise if I was rude by the way I greeted you. My apologies. I know you don't know me but –"

"How dare you?! . . ." Mac, Frednard's righthand man, boomed. He made moves to charge towards Angela to remind her of her place but Frednard restricted him by raising his right hand.

Mac, who looked like he was inflated with anger, stepped backwards under the command of his boss. His body rose and dropped as he breathed heavily trying to suppress the fumes that had risen in him.

Frednard rubbed his fingers a little on his forehead and clamped his teeth together. He was trying to hold back the boiling anger in him that was threatening to spill out. The reason he stopped Mac was because he was trying to process the fuel behind Angela's effrontery.

It had been about a week since he had taken Angela as his bondslave but in the little time she had served him before the accident which led her to coma, she had always trembled at his presence. The boldness she was exhibiting now was alien and that was what he wanted to understand. What baffled him the most was how calm and composed she replied to him, confidently matching his gaze with hers.

He moved his eyes from Angela to look at her face to see if he could get any clue but they couldn't even look up. They were trembling where they stood, knowing how badly Angela had flopped. The little encounter they had with him when he came for his money before taking Angela, was enough to establish that he was not one to be messed with. He returned his gaze to Angela who was still wondering why everyone was overreacting to her greeting.

He turned to the doctor and said, "Explain this, Doctor Richard."

"Like I said earlier, I was just carrying out some verbal examinations on her before you came in. From what I have gotten so far from my little conversation with her, it appears that she is just recovering her memory," The doctor explained.

Frednard glanced slowly at Angela who nodded in affirmation of the doctor's words and then returned his eye to the doctor. "However, this is not strange among people who are just coming out of coma," the doctor finished his explanation.

Frednard stood to his full height, adjusted his white suit jacket, and moved his eyes one last time to Angela and her family. "Let's go to your office," he said as he turned to the doctor.

"Definitely, sir," the doctor agreed signalling to his nurse to finish up with the remaining examination. He turned to Angela and said, "Try to get enough rest." Addressing her family, "Please, no one should stress her in any way. I'll be back." He opened the door and said to Frednard, "Please, come with me."

Frednard followed the doctor out of the coma room with his bodyguard following after them. As he left, he heard Angela try to call him again by his first name but her mouth was covered by someone in the room before she could complete her sentence.

He struggled within himself to ignore her and continue with his walk. It was a good thing he didn't stay in there for another second. He probably might have lost it if he hadn't told the doctor to take him to his office. He hoped she recovered her memory quickly because he was very sure that he couldn't put up with such an attitude again.

They reached the doctor's office and the doctor unlocked the door.

"Please, do come in, Mr Frednard," Doctor Richard said as he entered his office, leaving the door open for Frednard to follow after.

"Wait outside here," Frednard instructed his two other bodyguards. "Mac, come with me," he said as he went into the doctor's office. Mac shut the door behind them.

The doctor was already seated on his chair behind a medium-sized desk which had a computer system placed on it. He was imputing Angela's registration number into the computer through the keyboard to search out her folder.

"Please, have your seat, sir," he said to Frednard, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk.

Mac brought a white napkin out of his pocket, pulled one of the chairs in front of the doctor's desk and cleaned the surface of the chair thoroughly with the napkin. Frednard sat on the wiped chair when Mac was done and Mac dumped the napkin in the office dustbin before he came to stand by Frednard's right side with his arms folded.

"So, Mr Frednard," the doctor began taking his eyes off the screen of the computer monitor. "All the test we ran on Angela while she was in a coma shows that she has been fine since yesterday when she was rushed in. We have been waiting for her to come out of the coma so that we could run a few more tests on her before he can certify that she is free to go."

"So what made go into a coma?" Frednard asked inquisitively.

"Probably, it was the shock from the accident because from what I have here, there was nothing wrong with her. No injury of any sort on her external or inner tissues. Even her head which was reported that she hit hard against the pavement, has no issues internally or externally," the doctor said. He leaned forward towards his computer and announced, "Her ECG results just came in now. Let me have a look at it."

Frednard watched the doctor as he glued his eyes to the monitor, clicking the computer mouse with his right hand and punching the keys on the keyboard with his other hand.

"Hmm, this is strange," the doctor observed, wincing his eyes and adjusting the glasses he had on his eyes.

"What's strange?"

"I don't understand but the readings from the ECG show that Angela died five minutes before she came out of the coma."

"How do you mean?"

"Her pulse seized for about five minutes before it continued. Two minutes later, she woke up."

Frednard stood up and turned the doctor's computer monitor towards himself to see for himself what the doctor was saying. His eyes studied the result for a while. He didn't have prior medical knowledge but the ECG result was easy to read.

"It is unexplainable. I don't understand. Allow me to study her for some time to –"

"Discharge her now," Frednard said as he took his eyes off the computer.

"But we still need to –"

"I said discharge her immediately!" Frednard snapped.

"Okay, if that is what you want. But I advise we still study her –" the doctor was saying but was interrupted by the heavy bang on his table by Mac. He saw the warning glare on Mac's face and he didn't put up any further arguments. "Alright, she is discharged."

"Very good," Frednard said and stood upright. "I'll be taking my leave now. Send the bills over, Mac will take care of it.," He said and walked out of the office with Mac following him.

When they were out of the office to the two bodyguards waiting outside, Frednard said to Mac, "Angela was never admitted here. I trust you know what to do?"

Mac nodded his head in agreement. His face toughened and his eyes hardened like a fearless lion. He totally understood what his boss had instructed him to do.

"I'm off to the office. Let me know it is done," Frednard said and left with the other two bodyguards..