Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

“Emily. Emiiiily! Em! Wakey-wakey!” A pair of gentle but firm hands gripped my shoulders, lightly shaking me. “Come on, Em! Get up!”

A low moan came from me and I tried to squirm out of the grasp of my captor. “Go away,” I ordered in a grumble.

Giggles came from above me. “You want more alone time with Vincent?”

“What?”

“Sebastian is coming. I hear him now.”

Now I was even more confused. Sebastian who? Opening my eyes sounded like the best idea, but I just wanted to sleep. So I pretended I was just hearing voices in my head and spread out further on my bed. When my leg and hand touched another body, I froze.

“Is Emily up ye-”

“Argh!” I cried loudly, shoving myself away from the body I recognized as Vincent’s. Unfortunately for me, the guest bed wasn’t large enough for me to push backwards without falling off it. My stomach flipped uncomfortably as I fell the two feet to the ground. I landed on my back roughly, screwing my eyes up, and holding in a shout of pain.

“Are you up now?” a female voice, which I now recognized as Fiona’s, chirped.

For a second I debated on pretending I’d stayed asleep through the ordeal, but I figured she’d be able to tell I was awake by my heartbeat. The next thought I had was to kick her in that face. That one was also dismissed swiftly. If I tried that, chances were I’d break my foot, not her face.

“Emily?”

My eyes shot open and automatically met bright green ones. It took me a second to register the rest of Sebastian’s face. When I did, I immediately sat up, nearly bashing our heads. “Sebastian!”

He chuckled, holding out a hand to me. “Good morning, Emily. Or should I say afternoon?”

“Sure! Ignore me!” Fiona protested grumpily.

“What time is it?” I inquired, looking for any type of clock in the room. It only took a few seconds for me to realize there were no time-telling devices in the room.

“It’s time for you guys to shut up and get out.”

Fiona pursed her lips at Vincent, who was now glowering at all of us. “I see sleeping in the same bed with people makes your morning grumpiness rub off of them.” Her eyes twinkled in amusement. “I bet it’d rub off more if you two-”

“Get out,” Vincent repeated in a hard tone. “I’m sleeping.”

“It’s noon,” Sebastian stated, half answering my question, half informing Vincent. “You should get up. It’s not healthy to sleep this late.”

Vincent snorted, burrowing himself under the comforters. “For humans. Vampires are different and you know that.”

Without warning, I threw myself at Sebastian, wrapping my arms around him in the hug I’d been holding back. “Don’t argue! I want to have a nice day where we all get along!”

“I didn’t realize you were trying to perform a miracle,” he responded with a deep chuckle, returning my hug.

“Sebastian.”

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“I didn’t say I wouldn’t try. Although I’m not the one who does his best not to get along with his family…”

Vincent flipped over to glare at his brother. “It’s normal for brothers to argue with their siblings, Sebastian.”

“Well actually, Jake and I get along pretty well,” I pitched in, cocking an eyebrow at him. “I think we’ve only fought seriously like four times in our lives.”

“Yeah, and you haven’t lived with your brother for a million years-”

My eyes bulged. “A million years?”

There was a moment of silence before Sebastian and Fiona burst out laughing. Even the right corner of Vincent’s mouth lifted up in amusement. “Not literally,” he notified me.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Oh,” I said lamely, ducking my head.

Sebastian put a hand on my shoulder. “You should go get ready. If you take as long as Fiona takes to get ready even as a vampire, we’ll be here for the next few hours. And don’t you have to go to the hospital at four?”

Reluctantly, I nodded. “That only gives us four hours… Will you be around after I get out?”

“I have to go back,” he admitted unenthusiastically.

Nodding in acknowledgement, I stepped around him, heading for the door. “Okay, I’m going to hop in the shower really quickly then.”

“Take Vincent with you!” Fiona called after me. “He probably needs one as well. You guys slept in the same bed, so why not shower together?”

My head snapped toward her and I glowered, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “Fiona! No!”

She cocked her head to the side, her green eyes wide and innocent. “Well why not? It’d save on water.”

“Fiona,” Sebastian said reproachfully. “Stop… Can’t you see she’s too embarrassed to admit it’s a splendid idea?”

“Sebastian!” I cried in betrayal, whipping my gaze to him. “No!”

He patted the top of my head. “Go on, admit it.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Vincent decided to speak up at that moment. “All of you stop being idiots and get out.”

“Aww,” Fiona cooed, sounding highly amused. “Vivi is embarrassed! Seb look at him!”

“This is new,” Sebastian mused, his eyes sliding over my head to the bed where Vincent was still lying.

Interested, I twisted on my heel to look at him. To my surprise, he did look embarrassed. Sheepish too. He was glaring, but there definitely was a faint blush on his defined cheeks. In turn, this caused me to grow more embarrassed. Why was he acting like that? He should be the one smirking smugly at me and saying it was a great idea! Why wasn’t he doing that? What was he thinking?

“I-I’ll go take a shower downstairs. Vincent, you can use the shower upstairs,” I blurted finally, wrenching my gaze away from him. “Sebastian, Fiona, you guys can go wait in the den or something. Make yourself at home.”

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“Sure!” Fiona chirped happily. “I’m actually kind of hungry.”

“Then go eat,” I told her, starting for the door. “I’ll be about fifteen minutes. Try not to mess up the house too-”

Suddenly a body appeared in front of me, causing me to run straight into the owner’s chest. A startled gasp left my lips and I stumbled back, looking up to see a familiar blonde. “Hey!” Joel greeted me.

My hand flew to my heart. “Joel! What are you doing here?”

“You thought I’d miss out on a day of fun in the human world?” he asked rhetorically. “Vivi’s right. You are stupid.”

My response to his comment was cut off when Vincent appeared out of nowhere at my side, shoving Joel roughly in the chest. “Get out of the way.”

Joel winced, staggering back a few feet. “Ouch, dude. You need to control your force.”

“I did that on purpose, idiot.”

I escaped by the two, deciding not to listen to their bickering. There was only about four hours before Sebastian had to go back to the manor. It wasn’t in my best interest to dilly-dally with anyone. My plan was to hop in the shower, hop out, and be on the way. That could easily be done in ten minutes. After stopping in my room to snatch up a fresh pair of clothing, I hastened to the downstairs bathroom. All the while I was in the shower, I was half-expecting someone to burst in, but, fortunately for me, that didn’t happen.

After I finished cleaning myself, I speed-dried by body, pulling on my clothes as quickly as I could. With a towel around my damp hair, I exited the bathroom, heading for the den. When I entered, a confusing sight met my eyes. My brother was there, lying on the ground on his back, his face screwed up in frustration while Joel was on top of him, pinning him in place easily. Fiona was squatting by my brother’s head, poking him in the cheek, grinning widely. Hachi was next to her, waving his tail excitedly. Vincent was sitting on one of the dark brown leather couches, his arms crossed, looking incredibly bored. Sebastian was next to him, the very same expression on his face. It was the first time I’d ever seen them seem so similar to each other.

“Okay! Okay! You win!” my brother suddenly cried, thrashing around under Joel. “Geez, man!”

Joel laughed triumphantly, easily pushing to himself to his feet. “Geez what? Geez, I knew you were incredibly strong?”

“You have like, super human strength,” Jake muttered, ignoring both Fiona and Joel’s hands and easing himself back up. “You’re like a freak of nature.”

Now I decided to interject. “What were you guys doing?”

Jake’s eyes snapped to mine. “There you are! You didn’t tell me you were throwing a party.”

“We’re leaving,” I informed him, crossing my arms. “Why were you two wrestling?”

“Obviously to see who is stronger,” Joel responded with a mysterious smile.

I rolled my eyes. There was no question about the answer. Everyone in the room, aside from Jake, knew Joel would be the stronger one. Why even bother testing it? “Okay, well we’re leaving. Come on you guys.”

“Hold up,” Sebastian said, springing up from the couch. Taking the towel from around my shoulders, he covered my head with it, and began to dry my hair energetically. “You’ll catch a cold if you don’t dry your hair properly.”

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Trying to shove him away, I grabbed his arms, attempting to hold them in place. “Sebastian! I just brushed it!”

“You are her boyfriend!” Jake stated accusingly. “I knew it! You lied to me!”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“I’ll be in the car,” Vincent announced, leaving the room briskly. “Hurry up or I’ll leave without you.”

I managed to throw the towel off my head. “You don’t have my keys…” I trailed off when he dangled them from his pointer finger. “Okay, never mind.”

“Where are you going?” Jake demanded.

“Out,” I replied, grabbing Sebastian’s hand and leading him out of the den. “Fiona. Joel, let’s go!”

“Coming!” they chorused cheerfully.

“Wait!” Jake cried after us. “Tell me!”

I ignored his calls, hurrying outside. The air was pleasantly warm when it met my face as I opened the front door. Definitely warmer than the past few days had been. It almost felt like summer. The sun was shining high in the sky and there was virtually no wind at all- just a small breeze now and again. Not bad weather for the beginning of November.

Vincent was already in my car and had the engine running. After a five-second fight between the three vampires, it was decided I would ride shotgun since it was my vehicle. Agreeing, I slipped into the seat, snapping my seat belt. As soon as it was secured, Vincent pressed on the gas, jolting everyone inside.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Look Park.”

He glanced at me briefly. “Really?”

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. “Yes… Why?”

“Never mind.”

“Are we going to go on the paddleboats?” Fiona inquired, leaning forward in her seat so that her head was in between Vincent and my headrests.

Joel moved forward in seat as well. “Are we? Really?”

I nodded. “Sebastian has never used them before, so yes.”

“Did you bring money for the park fee and paddleboat fee?” Fiona asked, a frown adorning her face.

“I have money,” Sebastian interjected before I could respond. “I don’t mind paying if it costs money.”

Shaking my head, I turned in my seat so I could grin at them. “My dad helped build all of the establishments in the park, so I get in for free. That includes all of the amusements too.”

Joel looked impressed. “I’ve never met your parents.”

“That’s because one, you’ve only been to my house twice, and two, they work a lot. My dad’s a contractor and architect and my mom is a nurse. My dad doesn’t really like guys either, so you might not want to meet him.”

Vincent scoffed. “Doesn’t really? That’s the understatement of the century.”

“He really doesn’t like Vincent,” I informed the trio. A smile crossed my face at the thought of my dad’s reactions when Vincent was around. Brief, rude, and sarcastic. It was actually highly amusing.

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“It’s probably because he’s a bad boy ,” Fiona giggled.

“Or maybe it’s because Vincent sleeps in the same bed as Emily,” Joel said suggestively.

I shook my head at him. “This was the first time that ever happened! And it wasn’t even the whole night. It was only like, four hours.”

“And she counts the moments spent in that bed,” Sebastian commented in a dramatic tone.

“Knock it off,” Vincent and I demanded at the same time.

Snickers filled the back of the car. As much as I tried to be annoyed with them for teasing us, I found I couldn’t be. It was hard to believe these were the same people who kidnapped me. Well, indirectly kidnapped me. Still, it was basically the same thing. And here I was today, acting like they’ve been my friends for forever when in truth I’d only known them for over a month. A month and I felt as close, if not closer, to them as I felt to Alli, Leah, and Kai. It was crazy.

The park was only a few miles away from my house, so we arrived quickly. Vincent slowed down by the tollbooth, after the park’s gated entrance. “It’s closed,” he declared.

“Doesn’t matter,” I responded, gesturing him to go on. “That just means nothing will be open.”

“But if nothing is open then how are we-”

“Just go,” I ordered, shaking my head at him. “I know what I’m doing.”

He grunted in response, pressing down on the gas and heading down the hill that led to the main parking lot of the park. Following my directions, we traveled through the park on the paved roads until we reached the other side, where the lake was. Some straggler ducks were floating around in the stream before it, looking around for something to eat. Vincent parked in the paddleboat parking lot, cutting the engine. All of us piled out of the car and headed toward the wooden booth that usually collected the money you had to pay to use the boats. Today, however, it was boarded up and locked. Ignoring it, I moved toward the gates leading to the lake. They were also closed and locked.

“Now what?” Fiona asked in a disappointed tone. “I thought you knew what you were doing?”

I turned to cock an eyebrow at her. “Do locks really keep you out of places?”

“Yes?” She blinked.

“Not me,” Joel interjected with a grin. “I think I know what you’d do in a situation like this.” To show what he meant, he moved toward the tall, black gate. In one swift, graceful movement, he vaulted himself over it, landing on the other side without a sound.

Fiona stared after him for a second. “Ohh! I can do that.” Keeping true to her words, she also hopped over the fence.

“Sebastian, go on,” I urged, turning to him.

He looked a little hesitant. “This is breaking human law…”

“You’re a vampire. It doesn’t count for you.”

The corners of his mouth lifted into a tiny smile. “You’re a bad influence, you know that?”

I returned his smile. “It’s okay to be bad every once in awhile.”

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