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

left to lie and wait until Jayce or somebody else came to assist her. She could feel in her resting bones that almost all her strength was gone, and she didn’t feel right in her own skin.
She was nearly asleep again, her eyelids drooping shut, when Jayce appeared beside the bed, looking down on her. Elara sat back up, fighting the dizziness threatening to overtake her. She glared at Jayce until he flinched and sat down on the edge of the double bed.
“You didn’t tell me I had to have a baby heir, Your Highness” she muttered acidly.
She sniffed and raised her chin, trying her best to be grumpy with him. But when he just sat there, silent and not trying to explain himself, she relented and turned back to him, her brown eyes pleading.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she amended.
Jayce sighed and lifted his eyes to hers.
“I didn’t want to make you worry about it and get sicker” he replied.
Elara rolled her eyes.
“That’s what your sister told me. Try again, Prince” she told him.
“Lacey?”She nodded.
“I knew I should have chosen Kimba. She doesn’t talk as much” Jayce mumbled to himself.
Elara grinned suddenly, imagining trying to extricate from the almost permanently silent Kimba what she had found out from Lacey, the chatterbox.
“I like Lacey, Jayce. I like all your siblings” she said.
“Especially Talor, I’ve noticed. You spend a lot of time with my brother, Elara” Jayce retorted.
She scoffed at him, waving a hand dismissively.
“Talor is like what Elliott is, Jayce. He’s a good friend and I enjoy talking to him. I don’t have Elliott, so don’t complain about who I talk to when you’re never here anyway” she muttered, eyeing him.
“I know, I know” Jayce said defensively, holding up his hands.
His black ring gleamed on his left hand and Elara felt compelled to look at her own wedding ring. The band was lovely, but it made her wonder what it would be like if she had married Elliott instead.
“I meant to ask you something, by the way. I feel a lot weaker than I do usually, and I was wondering if you knew why” she said slowly, fiddling with her ring.
Jayce glanced up sharply and grabbed her face, looking hard into her eyes. Elara stared back into his black orbs, uncertain what he was doing.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
Jayce groaned and took his hands away from her face.
“You’ve been here too long without real sustenance. You’re in the middle at the moment. Somewhere between humanity and vampirism. You have to… I’m so sorry, Elle, honey. You have to feed. The way we do” he told her, staring down at his hands.
Elara gaped at him, her eyes wide. She gulped as she tried to find more words to say back, but she could find none. All she could do was close her eyes as Jayce leaned down and scooped her up into his arms, walking to the bedroom door. Talor appeared framed in the doorway. He met Jayce’s gaze and shook his head at his older brother.
“No. She can’t do it, Jayce. It isn’t right or ethical” he said sternly, his hand on Jayce’s shoulder.
But Jayce just moved past him and kept on walking along the hallway until he reached the end door. As he walked purposefully, Elara felt two slight pinpricks of pain burning in her mouth, at the tops of her gums. Jayce started to walk faster, and she knew he must be able to tell what was happening to her. She could hear pounding feet behind them and knew that Talor was following right on Jayce’s heels.
Elara opened her mouth and gingerly prodded her upper gums. She hissed in pain when she touched a tender spot, something sharp almost coming right through to touch her fingertip. Jayce groaned again; he sounded like he was in immense pain.
Talor raced behind and managed to put a hand on his brother’s shoulder again, spinning him round. He glared at him heavily, his eyes just as black.
“At least let me take her to someone who won’t mind, brother. Where she’ll be safe” he begged, his words dark and foreboding.
Jayce stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly and giving Elara to his younger brother. He kissed her forehead and Talor stepped around him, immediately transporting the girl and himself to their new destination.
Elara started to cry when she saw Elliott sleeping peacefully in his bed back at home. She shook her head adamantly, but Talor let her down onto her feet, and as soon as she touched familiar territory once more, the feeling of home sang in her veins and the pull of her best friend’s blood pulled her towards him. She sat down on the bed, the mattress sinking slightly under her delicate weight. Elara held back the remaining tears and reached out her hand to lightly touch Elliott’s hair, brushing the dark strands away from his eyes. They opened, very fast, and then he was sitting upright, staring at her in shock and fright. It was then that Elara realised that two small, lethal fangs were protruding from beneath her upper lip. She wasn’t a full vampire yet, but she was hungry and human food wasn’t going to cut it now. She was halfway there, but there was still some ways to go before she met all requirements.
“Elle” Elliott breathed quietly, reaching up to hold the hand that was still stroking his hair.
Talor approached the bed and guided Elara’s gaze to the blood line flowing under the skin of Elliott’s neck. He backed away from the vampire in a hurry and appraised his friend again, this time understanding all.
“No, Elara. Please don’t” he said softly, letting go of her hand.
Elara steeled herself and moved forward, up the bed until she was near enough to see the blood coursing through the boy’s veins. She placed her mouth over the closest artery, and bit down.

Chapter 9
When Talor returned with Elara to Jayce’s bedroom, he was there waiting for them. His gaze was hard and unforgiving as he turned it on his brother. Elara went to him immediately, for once fairly steady on her feet. She sat sideways on his lap and hugged him round the neck. He listened to her still beating heart for a moment before sliding her gently onto the bed and standing up.
“You shouldn’t have taken her to feed off of her best friend, Talor!” he shouted, his normally calm face thunderous with rage.
Talor shrugged.
“You followed, didn’t you? Thought you would” he replied casually, glancing briefly at the ceiling.
Elara watched the two of them, worried for their health. Jayce wasn’t as strong as Talor was.
“I’m sorry, Jayce” she said quietly, from behind him. “I didn’t want to, but I had to…”
He turned to face her, his features softening somewhat.
“I know you had to” he said. “But Talor shouldn’t have taken you there, knowing what an attachment you have to that boy.”
Talor sighed and turned toward the bedroom doorway. Jayce stepped in front of him, blocking his path out.
“You’re not going anywhere, little brother. You have to answer to me first” he muttered steadily.
Talor raised one dark eyebrow and lunged at his brother. Elara gasped and sat up straight, ignoring the twinge in her shoulder blades, and stared in horror as they went at each other like rabid dogs. Jayce snarled roughly when Talor aimed a jab up into his throat, rolling away from the hit and coming up under the other boy, jamming his shoulder into Talor’s stomach. Even as vampires, they fought as teenage boys, or as grown men. They didn’t bite each other, not once.
“Stop it!” she cried out loudly, clenching her hands into fists.
Ignoring her, Talor grabbed Jayce’s arm and forced it up behind his back, at an unnatural angle. His fevered black eyes met Elara’s gentle brown ones, and she saw in them what she’d never seen in Elliott’s: pure, unadulterated innocence and passionate desperation. He thought he knew so much, but of real life, he knew nothing.
Elara clambered off the bed and walked unsteadily over to the boys, grasping Talor’s upper arms. He stared back at her in surprise. Maybe what he saw in her face spoke something to him, because he let go of Jayce and moved away from them.
“Don’t hurt him” Elara said firmly, her arms now around Jayce’s neck again. “He is my Prince and I don’t want you to harm him.”
Talor blinked and then turned around, facing the door once again. But then he pivoted on one foot to gaze at the two of them. Jayce slowly shook his head at him warningly.
“Don’t do it, Talor. You’ll regret it one of these days; you open your big mouth too often.”
Elara clung to him, feeling her strange new strength ebbing away and streaming straight into Jayce. She felt weak once more, and she slumped down onto the ground, her eyes shut. Jayce knelt next to her, his hands gently touching her hair and face. He glanced back up to see Talor was still standing in the same place.
“You should tell her before someone else does, Jayce. Before I do, or before she feels it inside herself. It won’t stop, brother. By now, you know that much. Don’t leave it to fate, or me, or one of the girls to tell her. It has to be you, or it won’t mean the same. One day, she might be gone and you won’t be able to do a thing about it” he told him quietly, his eyes faraway and icy.
Jayce dropped his head and stared at the carpet. Elara was lying on her side, her head tilted up towards the ceiling. He thought she was beautiful, but that would all end if he didn’t tell her what he knew he must. She could leave him, because Talor would take her home, and he would never be able to retrieve her again. What he did was about to ruin her, but he had to tell her about it anyway, or everything would go wrong.
He lifted his head and met Elara’s wide open brown eyes. She smiled at him and extended her arms; he pulled her to a sitting position and then moved her onto the bed. She sat there, her legs crossed, the folds of her white dress draped over her delicate limbs.
“What do you need to tell me?” she asked curiously, lying back on the bed.
Jayce sat up beside her, staring down at her face. Just to make sure of it, he laid both hands gently on her stomach and pressed down ever so lightly. He bit his lower lip and sucked in a quick breath when something pressed back at him. He glanced back at Elara, but she hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. But she was staring at him with a peculiar look on her face, wondering what on earth he was doing to her abdomen.
“Speak” she ordered bluntly, raising her eyebrows at him.
He sighed and rocked backward on his heels, moving his hands slowly off her stomach.
“You’re pregnant” he said sadly, turning his back on her.
Jayce climbed off the bed and walked to the door, only once looking back at her. Elara sat bolt upright, her eyes focused on him. Jayce stopped moving and gazed back at her.
“How?” she breathed, eyes wide.
Jayce copied his brother’s earlier shrug, smiling weakly at her.
“The usual way, I suppose” he replied.
Elara scowled darkly at him and waited.
Jayce folded his arms and leaned back against the door frame.
“Elle, I have a vampiric bacterial malfunction inside of me. A tiny percentage of