Little Of Loure II

6 - The Village

Lincoln's had his guards up the moment they step foot into the village. It was quiet with not many villagers around. The majority of them were buying groceries and chatting with each other. 

Dylan and Abby walked in front of them, with the little slightly in front o the doctor. Lincoln could tell she was excited to be out and the many stalls were grabbing her attention from left to right. Dylan did a good job of tugging at her dress subtlety whenever she gets too excited and Lincoln oversaw both of them. 

He could notice some villagers looking towards them but non looked as though they were going to be of much harm. They mainly stood out because they were both so tall compared to the other vampires. But with how intimidation Lincoln looked, non had the guts to approach them.

'I need to go get cigrattes.' Lincoln mentioned which caught Dylan and Abby's attention.

'Where?' Dylan asked, turning to look at Lincoln for a second before quickly returning his gaze to Abby. He too was wary of the new place and didn't want anything to happen to her.

'I think that's a convenience store right there.' Lincoln said pointing to a*****e by the far right.

'Daddy-' Abby started off but quickly caught herself when Lincoln gave her a sharp look. 

'Lincoln, can we go find the flowers shop?' Abby said slowly. It was weird referring to Lincoln by his name and her brows furrowed at her own voice. She didn't hate it, she just found it unusual.

'Of course, let's head to that store first, okay?' 

Abby nodded and they all slowly made their way to the convenience store.

The storefront was decorated with racks of magazines and newspapers on one corner and loaves of bread on the other side.

'Linc.' Dylan whispered and nodded his head towards the stacks of magazines.

Lincoln took in a breath when he saw what was plastered on the front covers. 

Folley Heir missing since Winter Ball. Trouble in Royal affairs? 

Those words were plastered on the front cover in big bold letters and next to them were Lincoln and Dylan's faces. 

'What are we going to do.' Dylan said and pulled Abby closer to his side. His heart was pounding and he was worried that they were going to get caught by the villagers. It wasn't them who scared him as much as it was Emanuel. He knew that the reason Lincoln was sent to this remote place was because his mother and aunt had plans to lock Lincoln up. 

'Calm down.' Lincoln said and walked to the rakes before lifting the stack of magazines and turning it right side down so it was facing the back.

'There. Let's just get what we need and leave.' Lincoln said 

Dylan nodded and pushed Abby forward. 

The three went into the store and Lincoln quickly searched for where the cigarette packets were before he saw them behind the counters. Urgh. He would have to ask for help from a*****e clerk.

'Excuse me.' Lincoln called out to a young boy by the fridge who seemed to be arranging the orange juices.

'Coming!' he said without turning his back. The boy seemed unbothered that there were customers waiting on him and he took his own sweet time before standing up from his spot and making his way to the cashier where the prince was.

'Can I get one of those?' Lincoln said and took his wallet out. 

'Sure. Are you new here?' the boy asked while taking the box off the shelf. 

'Does it matter?' Lincoln sighed and kept his gaze down and away from the prying vampire. He moved his gaze along the small shelf that lined the cashier counter that was filled with all types of sweets and chocolates and he read the brands one by one to pass time.

Dylan and Abby stood far behind the store where the bread aisle was.

'Well it's just, I know pretty much everyone in this neighborhood and I've never seen you guys before. We don't get a lot of visitors here. Mostly just travelers passing by for a food stop and leaving the next days. Are you guys travelers?' he asked and scanned the cigarette before putting it in a small bag. 

'On second thought, give me five more boxes of that.' Lincoln smiled sarcastically and waited for him to give the price total. He seemed like a chatty fellow and the thought of having to come back again to buy more cigarettes made Lincoln want to grunt out loud. By the looks of the guy's name tag, Lincoln concluded that he was called Isaac.

'Wow...is she human?' Isaac paused his actions as his gaze wandered behind Lincoln and onto Abby who was looking through the candy. She really wanted to buy some but she didn't know if Lincoln would allow it. He seemed really tense and on edge, she didn't want to be a bother. So she merely looked silently.

'The cigarettes?' Lincoln moved to his right to cover Isaac's view of Abby before pointing at the bag. 

Isaac shook his head and looked back at Lincoln. 

'Right! My bad. Uhm... your total comes to 13.99.' he said, still shocked to see a human in his store.

Lincoln placed a twenty on the counter and kept his wallet back in his pocket. 

'Sorry, where did you say you guys are from again?' Isaac asked while he got the change.

'I didn't.' Lincoln snatched the change from him and turned before motioning for Dylan and Abby to leave with him, which they immediately followed behind.

Dylan made sure to smile and nod at the boy as a polite gesture after Lincoln's rather rude introduction. Isaac smiled back and failed to keep his shock at Abby. It wasn't that strange for a human to hang around vampires but it was a strange sight in this village. They don't get many humans here because the location wasn't close to any human villages. 

'Come again!' he said before the door was closed and the three disappeared from his sight.

'That was too close!' Dylan caught up to Lincoln and whispered softly. The prince was already removing a stick from one of the boxes and lighting it.

'Relax...' Lincoln rolled his eyes and turned to Abby who silently followed them.

'Come here, darling.' Lincoln said and squatted down. Abby wanted to jump into his arms but remembered that she was supposed to be a big girl. So she decided it was best to just slowly walk over to Lincoln.

'Look what I got you. Here you go.' Lincoln smiled and took out a chocolate bar. Abby's face immediately lit up and for a moment she forgot her duties of being a big girl and jumped forward before hugging the prince. Lincoln had bought her white chocolate from the convenience store, her favorite.

'Hey, that's enough.' the prince rubbed her back and moved away, taking note of the people walking past.

'Thank you.' Abby said and held the chocolate bar close to her chest. 

It didn't seem like much. But the past few days have been rather stressful and confusing for her. She was in a completely new environment that isn't very comfortable, she had spent days worrying about Dylan's well beings and to top it all off, Lincoln had been rather distant. He would care for her as usual but he wouldn't play with her like he would at home. She could tell he was trying to maintain his calmness around her but she's lived with Lincoln long enough to know that he is acting differently than usual.

It made Abby question the situation even more. She didn't want to bug Lincoln seeing his mood had been fluctuating and she didn't want him to be upset with her. It had taken a toll on her emotions as well and the only thing keeping her going was Dylan waking up and maybe they would go back to normal. But there seems to be tension between the two. So all she could do was keep her feelings to herself and hoped he would go back to being himself again. 

When he handed her the chocolate, he looked almost normal again. His smile was kind and his eyes held so much love for her. And just with that, Abby knew that as long as Lincoln was near, she had nothing to worry about.