The Vampire King's Bride

Chapter 9

As we emerged from the backdoors, I realised we were standing in the very same courtyard I saw from his window. The couches were right in front of me, set out in a circle surrounding a small glass table. Right next to the sitting area was a pool that had a slide leading into the water. In the corner of the courtyard sat a room that was made from wood. It was a very strange thing to have in the courtyard. Maybe it was a shed of some kind?

‘What’s that?’ I asked, pointing to the wooden structure.

‘A sauna.’

‘A what?’

‘It’s a room that heats up with steam.’

‘That sounds nice.’

‘During winter it’s amazing. Come on.’

He grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me towards the maze. The hedging that formed the maze was at least eight feet high. No one could see over it just standing up to it. We went left walking like Skylar knew exactly where to go.

‘Do you know your way around the maze?’ I asked, looking around for a way to tell the difference in direction.

‘Not really, but that’s the fun of it, isn’t it?’ he laughed.

I had a feeling he knew exactly where he was going as he took every turn confidently instead of pausing like someone who wouldn’t know their way around the maze. As we progressed through the maze, Skylar never let go of my hand. The warmth that spread between our hands started to tingle almost like an electrical current was flowing through me.

The maze walls started to get further away from each other as we walked into a clearing. I recognised the place as the garden that had the roses. There were roses everywhere here, all ranging in colour. A gazebo sat in the centre of the garden with roses covering the top. We walked towards it and sat side by side.

‘I thought you might like this one the best,’ he said.

‘It’s so beautiful,’ I replied, staring at the flowers in awe.

Skylar didn’t let go of my hand the whole way here. Did he keep hold of it because he didn’t want me to get lost? Or maybe because he was feeling the same thing I was feeling? I know he was the king, but a part of me dared to dream that we might end up together.

Taking a deep breath, I got all my courage up to ask a question I had wanted to do since I spoke to Erik in the kitchen.

‘Can I ask you something?’

Those ocean blue eyes turned their attention to me and I could feel my cheeks turning pink.

‘Sure.’

‘I was talking to Erik yesterday and he explained how every werewolf has a mate.’

‘First time meeting him, and he talks about mates hey,’ he laughed.

‘Yeah, well it got me wondering do vampires have mates?’ I glanced down at my hands, the ability to look him in the eyes gone. The courage I had felt earlier was starting to disappear and I was getting ready to tell him to ignore the question when he answered.

‘Yes and no,’ he replied.

Looking back at him, I raised my eyebrows in question, prompting him to continue.

‘Werewolves know who their mate is just by looking at them, they have a very strong primal desire to be with them. Whereas with vampires, our mate pull isn’t that strong. We also must drink their blood to know for certain if they are our mate. It is not a very common thing for vampires to stay with their mates. It all comes down to what type of person they are. Some like to sleep around, others stay loyal.’

‘There’s no way to tell before that?’

‘Not really. Some say they feel a connection with their mate, like a pull or a warmth. Others say it’s bullshit.’

‘Oh. Are you like that?’ I asked quietly.

‘Sleep around type of guy?’ he laughed,’No.’

‘That’s good to know.’ I realised what I said and quickly tried to fix what I said. I wasn’t ready for him to think I had feelings for him, even though I knew deep down I did.

‘I mean if any girl wanted to date you.,’ I hung my head, knowing that attempt didn’t help much either.

‘I don’t date just any girl,’ he replied, resting his hand on mine again. I looked into his eyes as the warmth started spreading through me again.

The silence broke as his phone started ringing out loud, making Skylar swear under his breath.

‘Can I have my own phone?’ I asked suddenly.

‘You don’t have one?’ he frowned.

‘No.’

‘I’ll organise something,’ he said as he put the phone up to his ear and answered it.

Getting to my feet, I walked over to the roses. I could smell each one’s different aroma the closer I got. The petals were soft under my touch, it really was a beautiful garden.

‘I really need to thank whoever thought of this garden,’ I muttered to myself.

‘That’d be my mother,’ Skylar replied, coming up behind me.

‘Where is she?’

‘She’s away for a while, but I believe she’s due back in a few days.’

‘Who was on the phone?’ I asked, changing the topic.

‘That was Erik, they’re having a movie night up at the house. Did you want to go?’

‘Sure,’ I smiled.

‘Do they often hang at your house?’ I asked, as we started moving back towards that maze.

‘Erik currently lives there. His sister has newly mated and he doesn’t like the mate too much, so he thinks distance will help.’

‘Right.’

‘Come on,’ Skylar said, putting his arm around my waist and started leading me through the maze.

Out of the corner of my eyes I caught a black figure standing amongst the roses. I stopped walking and looked at it as it lifted its arm up and pointed to the other arm's wrist. The voice echoed through my head ‘time is running out.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Skylar asked, making me jump a little.

‘Nothing, I just thought I saw a butterfly,’ I smiled and we started walking again.

I subtly glanced back towards the direction the figure had been but it was no longer there, it had just vanished.