The Vampire King's Bride

Chapter 7

Skylar’s house was at the end of the town and the shopping centre was at the centre. So, we decided to drive to the centre even though we could have walked but it was safer driving. I guess being the king of vampires, Skylar, had to make sure he was safe.

‘How far away is the shops?’ I asked.

‘Not far, about a ten-minute drive I think,’ Skylar replied.

‘Okay.’

I was excited to see the shopping centre this big before. Mr Akuma had only let me outside once or twice to go shopping with another maid that needed help. That centre we went to wasn’t that big it only had two shops. Once for groceries the other sold technology.

Benny drove the car through an underground carpark. There quite a few cars parked underneath the centre.

As we found a carpark and emerged from the car, Benny stood close by Skylar. Axel stuck close by me and as a group we moved forward and into the centre.

There were so many stores inside the centre I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was one grocery store that I could see and smaller ones that held clothes, it was unbelievable.

‘This place is so big!’ I exclaimed.

‘It is,’ laughed Skylar.

‘Where are we going?’

‘To any shop that you want to go in.’

‘Can we start there?’

I pointed towards a*****e called H&M. The store itself was big, holding clothing for men, women, children even babies. There were so many different pieces of clothing that I liked but when I tried them on, I didn’t like how they made me look. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why it didn’t look right on me, but I guess only being used to wearing the same leggings and shirt everyday anything new looked a little strange.

After H&M we walked into a*****e called Dotti. This store had a lot of cute dresses, shirt and skirts. I picked out twenty different items to try on in the change rooms.

The dress I tried on first was a red and white one, but it wasn’t quite a dress and the bottom was shorts. I think it’s called a playsuit, well according to the tag that’s what it was called and I couldn’t make up my mind if it really looked good on me or if I should give it away.

A voice came up beside me, ‘That’s looks so good on you!’

I looked over and saw a girl that was similar in age to me. She had golden blonde hair that fell down to the middle of her back in waves. Her eyes were jade green and she was taller then me. I stood at five foot four, she looked like she’d be five foot right or nine. Not to mention she was slim, but looked slightly muscular.

‘Do you think so? I can’t decide if it does.’

‘It does! Why would you question that?’

‘It’s not normally what I wear that’s all.’

‘Well change is always good.’

‘Okay, I’ll get it.’

‘Yay!’ she squealed.

‘Yours looks amazing on you!’

She was wearing a playsuit to except the one she was wearing was white in colour and was shorter than mine, the style was the same though.

‘Thank-you. I’m Aura.’

‘Cordelia.’

‘I think I like Lia for short.’

I laughed remembering that Erik had given me that exact same nickname when I first met him to.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Nothing, you just remind me of someone. He gave me the same nickname.’

‘Great minds think alike.’

As we finished up buying a few playsuits and dresses we walked out of the store together. It was fun having a girl to hang out with, yet she seemed familiar somehow. Not being able to place it I shrugged it off as she spoke to me again.

‘Did you want to join me? I have a few more shops I want to hit up.’

‘Sure, I’ll just let Sky know.’

‘Wait. Like Sky as in Skylar?’

‘Yeah. You know him?’

‘Not personally but a few people from my village rave about his looks.’

‘Who’s this?’ Skylar asked as he approached us.

‘This is Aura. Aura this is Skylar.’

‘Skylar, nice to meet you.’

‘Likewise. I’ve never seen you around here before.’

‘I live in the next town over, I’m just here because this centre has all the stores I like.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘Is it alright if Aura and I got shopping together?’ I asked.

‘Sure, we’ll still follow close to you though just in case.’

‘Why the bodyguards?’ asked Aura.

‘When you’re with me you can never be too careful.’

‘True.’

Aura and I continued to look through store after store. There were so many different types of clothing stores and styles that it was so much to take in at once. We looked through other stores like technological stores and furniture stores. I couldn’t believe that these stores sold so many different things. If you needed something they sold it and if that store didn’t sell, then chances are the store next to it sold it.

A phone dinged making Aura stop. We were inside an underwear store; this was one thing that was needed.

‘Sorry,’ Aura apologised as she pulled out her phone.

As she touched a few things on the screen you could see the features on her face change from happy to concerned.

‘Is everything okay?’ I asked.

‘Yeah, I just didn’t realise the time. I must get going.’

‘Oh, okay.’

‘Do you have a number? We can text and stay in contact.’

‘I don’t have a phone.’

‘Okay, weeeeell.’ She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote a few digits on there.

‘This is my number when you get a phone text me.’

‘Sure,’ I smiled putting in one of my many bags.

She gave me a quick hug and headed out of the store while I continued to finish off my shopping. Underwear is the last thing that I needed before we could head home. Skylar opted to stay outside the store with his guards.

After picking out a few bras I headed to the back of the store for the change rooms. I had to make sure I got the right size as I never really bought one before and didn’t know the exact size I was.

There wasn’t anyone else inside the change rooms when I got back there. As I closed the curtain to my stall the hairs on the back of my neck started standing on end again. I looked around searching for what could be causing it.

A voice echoed in the back of my mind, ‘It’s your destiny.’

My blood ran to ice recalling the shadow from my nightmare. Was it real?

I opened the curtain to get out of there and came face to face with a tall man. I recognised him from Mr Akuma’s personal guard. He stepped forward swiftly, I felt a slight prick in my neck. I rested my hand on the spot before my vision started going blurry and I fell to the floor.