25. Puke Pancakes
1836 Words
Bree
"Sabrina, wake up!" Someone was shaking me.
"No, I'm still tired..." I muttered and rolled over. Then woke up because I rolled onto my hand and it hurt. Not as much as before, but still enough to get me up quickly.
I opened my eyes and looked at Chayton standing by me, and Jamie in the doorway scowling. They obviously couldn’t stand each other, especially around me.
"Oh hi," I said, sitting up. I was happy that Jamie was safe and he’d gotten here at all, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Chayton hadn’t let him in. He was clean now too, and all I could say was wow. He looked amazing. His black hair was still a little long, falling messily around his ears, but shiny and clean instead of greasy. He was deathly pale, but the dark circles have retreated from around his eyes and bloody dirt no longer streaked across his skin. He was wearing a simple black hoodie and jeans, but they were fitting. He looked more handsome than I could’ve imagined a guy being.
"Yup hi to you too, now we gotta talk. We have a lot to talk about and problems to solve. Only wolf boy says you need sleep so it took so long to get in here to wake you up."
Jamie's eyes flashed but he remained calm. "You wanna come down and talk over some food or we stay here?" He asked, obviously directing the question at me. I could tell it was partly to be nice to me and partly to tick Chayton off by making him wait longer and taking charge in Chayton’s house.
"Food definitely, it's been forever since I had an actual meal!"
"Ok, come on then!" Chayton walked out of the doorway, and I got out of bed to follow. But Jamie swept me up and ran down the stairs with me, making it to the kitchen before Chayton.
"What would you like?" Jamie asked, his eyes fixed on me.
While I was thinking Chayton came in. "The cabinets in here are magic too, just think about what you want and it'll appear in there."
Oh wow... Heck I wanted to stay here forever! I thought about chocolate chip waffles with strawberry syrup, and just as soon as I did I smelled waffles.
Jamie opened a cabinet door behind him and pulled out the waffles exactly as I'd imagined them.
"Well someone has a sweet tooth and a taste for fancy food..." Jamie murmured with a smirk as he handed them to me. “Just be careful, you could get sick if you eat too quickly since you only had that disgusting mush for so long.”
"Ha ha, well I can't deny it. And thanks." I also couldn't deny how cute his smirk was, but didn't say so.
I sat down and looked expectantly at Chayton as I munched on my waffles.
"Well, what do you wanna know? We’ll start with your questions and end with the big problem. Unless you cover that in your questions." He asked.
Jamie answered first. "Why in the world do they want her?" He growled and clenched the table, which splintered under his grip. It surprised me how quickly he could go from cool and collected to smashing tables.
"Well... They want her to be their queen." Whispered Chayton.
I choked on my mouthful of strawberry coated in syrup. "Why?" I sputtered. Me? A queen? Seriously, these vamps were more wacko than I’d thought!
"Well, the current queen has... Had an affair and can no longer be queen. The king has wanted a human to be queen, partly to establish a connection with you by turning you and also to bring someone new into the throne. And you... Because when he heard of a human knocking out a vampire's teeth, he was impressed. He wants a strong, independent queen."
Jamie growled, "So why are you stopping them? Aren't you supposed to be on their side?" His voice came in a wolfish tone, and very threateningly.
Chayton was quiet for a moment before replying carefully. "Yes, I should be on their side. But I went rogue. There are reasons I won't just hand her over."
"What reasons?" I asked.
Chayton looked uncomfortable, but he said. "Firstly, because if they take you you'll have no choice, I didn't know if you'd want to be queen or not and wanted to give you that choice. Second... Doesn't matter."
Jamie narrowed his eyes. "Oh yes, it matters..." He said quietly. “Anything involving Sabrina matters.” He snuck a glance at me, his eyes surprisingly soft considering how obviously angry he was.
I stayed quiet and tried to force down my last few bites of waffles. I was actually eating way too fast and already felt sick, but whatever it’s strawberry waffles!
"Oh well, I might as well say then..." Chayton glared at Jamie then looked at me thoughtfully. "Second reason is that I happen to be a selfish vampire and I like you, I was hoping you'd like to stay with me if you didn't wanna be queen."
Jamie transformed into full wolf right, growling, before changing back quickly. His jaw was tight, letting on exactly how he felt, but said nothing. He moved around the table and sat down next to me, holding out his hand. I took it out of habit and continued eating. I didn’t know how to react to Chayton’s confession.
“What, are you two together or something?” Chayton asked mockingly, hurt registering on his face.
“No… It’s just something we do when we’re stressed or scared. It helped in Sanguis.” I said.
“So you’re not going to respond to what I said?”
“Chayton. I respect your feelings and all, but now isn’t the best time for romance. I need to be safe, then I can try to appease my many suitors. But now, no. I’m being hunted down, I’m a murderer who escaped prison, I don’t have time for this.”
“Fine.” He looked down, chagrined.
Right then, I got a weird feeling in my stomach. Uh oh… I had just enough time to register what was happening before I puked all over myself and Jamie.
“Uhh sorry?” I muttered with an apologetic grin, wiping my mouth clean with my hand as my face grew red.
Jamie looked down at himself, drenched in stinky yuck, then up at me. “Bree really…” He chastised me, shaking his head. I saw him smirk slightly as he turned away to clean himself up though.
I ate the last few strawberries, dumb idea as it was, but I’m already covered in puke anyway! After I was done, I picked up my now empty plate, hoping that they'd be distracted by trying to help me clean it or something. Jamie had gotten basically clean in the sink and Chayton was doubled over in silent laughter, while my face was growing redder in embarrassment. "What should I do with this?" I asked. There wasn’t a dishwasher or anything.
"Oh, I'll take care of that," Chayton said and stood up. I handed him the plate, and he took it, though I noticed his purple eyes were on me the whole time and he hardly took any notice of the plate. Jamie noticed this too and his eyes narrowed. Nice to know he cared even after I puked on him.
Chayton put the plate into the sink and turned on the water, and the water somehow washed the plate away the same way it washed the pink syrup off. I stared at it, wondering how that was possible. Chayton smiled at my awed look. "More magic, it'll appear back in the cabinet when it's needed." He explained.
I loved this house. If I did end up living here, no chores!
“I have one more question though…” I said, “That guy, who made me kill people… I saw him in Sanguis, handing out food. Who was he?”
“What’d he look like? Long grey beard, talk like an uneducated rat?” Chayton asked, to which I nodded. “His name is Ralph. He was supposed to be a prisoner, but made a deal… He’d work for Sanguis as both a guard and to bring new people in, in exchange for his freedom. Despicable brat.”
“So he framed me. Didn’t he. He called the police on me to get me caught, right? Are the police in on it, is that why they didn’t give me a full investigation or chance to defend myself?” I already knew the answer. It was obvious.
Chayton nodded.
“So… Those were innocent, random people?” I asked quietly.
He nodded again.
I sighed, guilt hitting me like a brick wall. “So what’s the big problem?” I asked tiredly.
“Pretty much your choice. I’m assuming by your reaction that you aren’t interested in being queen. So how do we get you out of here, or do you stay here until you die?”
“Oh. Good question…”
“Also, which of us are you being with?”
“Bad question.”
⇎
"So... What are you gonna do?" Jamie asked.
We were sitting in my bedroom alone, Chayton had gone to eat. He could pull cups of blood from the cabinets and I'd decided I'd had enough with blood for a while so I stayed upstairs. And of course so did Jamie, much to Chayton’s dismay.
"About what?" I asked, knowing perfectly well what he meant. “About the fact that I really need a shower now?” I asked, trying to keep the mood light. It was true anyway, I reeked of multiple stinks.
"No… Are you gonna be leech queen, stay here, or... Come home with me?" He looked both worried and hopeful as he asked this.
I was silent for a minute, thinking. "I don't know yet… I don’t want Chayton. I don’t want to be queen. But I’m afraid of what happens if I tell Chayton that, if he’ll hand me over or not help me or what..." I answered truthfully.
Jamie sighed and looked over at me, his blue eyes full of worry. "I can protect you too, and I promise I'm not always this touchy…"
"I know, Jamie..." I closed my eyes. I felt his hand slip into mine gently.
I gently squeezed his hand and leaned against his shoulder tiredly.
- Writer
