The Vampire Prince by Lissie (online e book reading .TXT) 📖

strange boy.
“You look just like your brother” he remarked coolly.
Talor raised his eyebrows.
“Maybe. I need to talk to you. Is there somewhere slightly more private we can go to?” he replied smoothly.
Elliott scrutinised him, head to foot. He was dressed to fit in with anyone’s family in dark wash jeans, black Docs and a navy blue t-shirt. He shrugged and nodded.
“My sister will love you” he muttered, starting up again.
Talor stepped into place beside him and then walked the next ten minutes with him until they arrived at his house. The second they came through the front door into the hall, Kimberly Turner barrelled down the staits from her bedroom and stood smiling at her older brother and his company. Elliott nodded to her, then glanced at Talor.
“Who’s he?” Kimberly asked him, pulling her wavy brown hair into a ponytail.
Talor smiled at her ingratiatingly.
“My name is Talor” he told her, holding out his hand.
She shook it and then let it go. Elliott saw the look in her blue eyes, the same one she got when she was thirteen and had her first crush on a boy in middle school. He shot a quick look at the boy with raised eyebrows, and his smile faded. Kimberly glanced at Elliott and then wandered into the living room. He led Talor further into the house and inside his bedroom, closing the door after them both. Elliott sat down on the edge of his bed and Talor backed up against the desk, gripping the front edge with both hands. Elliott felt slightly uncomfortable being on a lower level, but he didn’t want to move and let the vampire know it.
“Don’t think about taking Kimmy away with you. She’s too young” he said firmly.
Talor smiled widely at him and he glimpsed the pointed fangs where normal human incisors should be. He refrained from flinching and stared straight at the blood sucker.
“Your sister’s just two years younger than you, Elliott. I can see that you love her very much. But I can also see you betrayed your love for Elara today. Your blood temperature is much higher than usual” Talor said blandly.
Elliott flushed and lowered his gaze, ashamed.
“She’s married now, vamp. Nothing I do now is going to mean very much to her. She has never loved me” he muttered bleakly.
Talor stared back at him. Then he shook his head.
“No, you are wrong. Whatever you do that could offend her will offend her. She does love you. She knows that if my brother had not removed her from this society, she would marry you. You were always her only choice, Elliott. Elle would have grown from fondness of you to love for you. And that is the crux of the matter which I have come to talk to you about” he replied.
Elliott glanced back across at him curiously.
“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.
Talor folded his arms, opened his mouth to speak, then glanced to the side of him. Elliott looked towards the door and saw it open slowly, then Kimberly appeared.
“Mom wants to know if you want to stay for dinner, Talor” she said, smiling at him.
Elliott suppressed an unwanted smile, imagining what it would be like for his family, especially his little sister, if the teenage vampire stayed for dinner.
But, to his immense relief, Talor shook his head.
“No, thank you, Kimberly. Please tell your mother it’s very kind of her to offer, but I have business to attend to elsewhere” he said demurely.
Kimberly nodded, and with a swirl of her blue skirt, was gone. The door shut behind her and Talor looked back to Elliott.
“Yes, anyway. I think that Elara will soon want a child. To me, she has always seemed to be the mothering type” he said clearly, standing up straight now.
Elliott was taken aback.
“I still don’t see why you are telling me this” he said slowly, unsure of the purpose of Talor’s words.
Talor sighed.
“My kind, apart from my parents, cannot produce young” he answered.
“Why only your parents?” Elliott replied.
“Because my mother used to be human. A human woman can produce vampire children when the father is a vampire. But Jayce is different. He is the eldest child and as such, he cannot have children, even by human Elara. He has a vampiric bacterial defect and this completely eradicates his ability to procreate efficiently. Any baby of his Elara carried would be neither wholly human or vampire, and wouldn’t be equipped to survive in either your world or mine” Talor explained matter of factly.
Elliott raised an eyebrow.
“Still don’t get it, bro. And, I’m afraid, you are running out of time. Kimmy will be fetching me for dinner any time soon”he said shortly.
Talor pierced him with his bright eyes.
“When Elara voices the desire for a child, and as she talks more to me than Jayce, I will find out first, I will contact you. I will bring Elara to you so you can give her what she wants” he told him.
Elliott’s eyes widened immeasurably.
“You want me to get my best friend pregnant?” he asked, shocked.
Talor nodded.
“But your brother will kill me” Elliott protested, his mind racing at a million miles per second.
“He would not be strong enough to stand up against me. He is weaker than I am, by a lot” Talor argued calmly.
Elliott stared in disbelief.
“And what on earth makes you think she will have me, just for the sole purpose of having her baby?” he demanded.
Talor smiled at him.
“She will take you, Elliott. If she wants a baby badly enough, and I believe she will, Elara will do anything she possibly can. And she has known you all her life. There is no one else she would rather be with, apart from Jayce. Plus, it’ll be just like sperm donation! Think of it that way, if it helps. If and when it comes to this, Elliott, will you do this for your best friend in the world? Speak the truth to me, Elliott Turner, or you will be sorry, no matter how much Elara does love you” he said, finishing sharply. “I have come to love her, too.”
Elliott blinked, and then finally nodded.
“I will” he decided firmly.
His hands were shaking in his lap.
Talor stepped to the middle of the room, clicked his heels, spun once and vanished.

Chapter 8
The room was totally empty when Elara opened her eyes. At least, at first glance, it was. Lacey was sitting perched primly on the edge of one of the comfortable sofa chairs, her hands curled in her lap. She glanced towards her when she heard Elara wake up.
“How do you feel?” she asked, sounding unusually anxious about something.
Elara tilted her head curiously.
“I feel fine, Lacey. Why do you ask?” she replied.
She almost rolled her eyes; she was beginning to talk like them now.
“You’ve been asleep for two and a half weeks, Elara” Lacey said meekly, pulling her feet up under her on the chair.
Elara sat bolt upright, and instantly wished she hadn’t. The blood rushed to her head, leaving her feeling woozy and sick.
“Ugh” she groaned, pressing her hands to her head and closing her eyes again.
Lacey jumped up and ran across the room to stand by the bed.
“You’re still in my brother’s room. No one saw fit to move you anywhere else” she told her, patting her hand.
Elara peeked at the little girl, wondering why she had been hand picked for the job of waiting for her to wake up.
“Where is he? Jayce, I mean” she said, removing her hands and pulling the duvet up under her chin for extra warmth.
Lacey grimaced and shook her head very slowly.
“I don’t think you really want me to answer that question for you, Elara” she murmured quietly.
Elara narrowed her eyes and sat there helplessly. It wasn’t as if she had any power to overcome the eleven year old vampire child. Lacey could easily hold her own, and Elara would just get ill and fall down, as she eventually always did. She sighed and waited impatiently, folding her arms across her chest.
Lacey fidgeted, then finally broke her silence, unable to handle the lack of speech for another moment.
“He’s feeding” she whispered, as if the word were blasphemous and she would be burnt alive if she spoke it loud enough.
Elara chuckled and laughed harder when Lacey looked at her, incredulous.
“I don’t mind, Lacey. It should bother me, but it doesn’t, as long as I don’t have to watch it done” she explained, grabbing the girl in an impromptu hug.
Lacey awkwardly hugged her back, aware of the strength she wasn’t allowed to use on her frail sister-in-law.
“Do you have any idea how long he’ll be?” Elara inquired casually, leaning back on her pillows.
Lacey shrugged.
“I’m not sure. Us girls don’t take very long because we’re smaller and don’t need to feed as much, but Jayce is male and bigger, so he may take a lot longer; I don’t really know” she replied, stepping back.
Elara watched in surprise and fascination as the girl curtseyed to her. She held up a hand to stop her and Lacey glanced back up at her, perplexed.
“What are you doing that for, may I ask?” Elara asked warily.
Lacey nodded, but she did not move forward again.
“You are next in line for the throne, Elara. You are my elder and my superior, so royal law dictates that I must display my reverence for your majesty. I may call you by your given birth name, but only until you are crowned Queen. For the moment, my mother and father are still occupying those all important positions” she said formally.
Elara raised an eyebrow, skeptical.
“You are a princess of the realm before me, Lacey. You are more important than me in the grand scheme of things, you must know that. I haven’t got a title, remember. Jayce has said nothing of this to me” she responded. “And who taught you such fancy wording?”
Lacey frowned faintly, tapping her small foot on the floor.
“I have been taught how to speak properly since I could speak, Elara. So have Jayce, Talor and Kimba. It is the way we are raised” she answered carefully, hoping not to offend.
Elara stared back at her, still confused and looking for answers.
Lacey sighed quietly.
“Jayce didn’t want to worry you with all of this. Within a year, our father and mother will have resigned and stepped back from their royal duties, and you and Jayce will take their places as King and Queen of the realm. Either before or after that happens, you are expected to produce an heir, preferably a male, but it really doesn’t matter in the long run. A girl can also rule in our world. At some stage, the job should fall to Kimba eventually, even though she is so young at present. We age fairly slowly, but when we reach about thirty years old, our aging clock stops and we stay the same until someone kills us. We cannot die on our own from natural causes” she explained at length.
Elara opened and closed her mouth slowly, unsure what to say next.
“I have to have children? I thought Jayce couldn’t procreate?” she said, her voice breaking from shock.
Lacey shrugged.
“He is one of the smartest vampires I know; I am sure he will figure something out for you both. Now, if you will excuse me, Elle, I must leave and inform Jayce of your newly awakened state” she murmured, dropping a second curtsey and leaving the room.
Elara looked on as she left her alone once more,