They Say That True Love Hurts, Well This Could Almost Kill Me

I didn’t like where this was going.

I lived in a world where vampire, shapeshifters, witches, and lycans hid among humans, secretly having their own kingdoms right under their noses. Each kingdom is very careful about humans, careful about whom and what sees them.

I didn’t bother asking if all the other kingdoms had slaves—the answer was obvious. They’re all super powerful beings, able to kill a human with one snap of their wrist. Why wouldn’t they?

I lay there on the bed, dozing in a state that was half asleep and half awake. My eyes were closed, but that didn’t seem to lull me to sleep.

I flipped over, cringing from the pain in my stomach and sides. I remembered how the wolf had leaped on me, scrapping my sides and stomach with its horrid claws. I cringed again, just from the memory.

“Are you okay?” I heard Tempest ask. I looked up into his bright, worried eyes.

“Yeah, I think so.” I replied, my voice groggy. He smiled and snaked his arm around my waist, his touch light and soft. Tingles spread through me, as if a bell had gone off suddenly. This is how it should be. Him. Me. Together.

Tempest rested his lips on my forehead. After a while, he began to have that hospital scent, the scent of unknown medicines and sickness. At least, that was what it smelled like to me, and I’ve never liked it.

I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him away. “You really reek,” I commented.

His eyes widened and he asked playfully, “What?”

“You’re starting to smell like a hospital. I really hate that.”

He smiled. “Well, I’ll be sure not to get that cologne, then,” he joked, laughing. I began to laugh, too, until he commented, “But, if I’m not mistaken, I’m sure you smell the same.”

I tilted my head down and picked up the collar of my hospital gown, pulling it up to my nose to sniff it. “Oh,” I retorted, “Ugh! I hate being here. When can we go home?”

“I didn’t bother asking because I was too busy enjoying staying in bed with you,” Tempest teased, leaning in to snag a kiss.

That was cute, but it didn’t deserve a kiss for being a smart-ass. I was hoping for a real answer, an assurance that we would be out soon. I was really starting to miss Tempest’s bedroom, and that stupid Grande piano that always called me to it.

I put a finger on his lips to stop him. “Seriously?”

“I don’t know. You can ask the next person that comes in.”

And so, someone did.

A small, cute nurse stepped in, a ratty brown clipboard in her hand, pressed to her chest to conceal the information of their current state. She wore white scrubs, a skirt a few inches above her knees, and a white jacket hanging over it, only a few inches shorter than the skirt. It was really low cut, the button to it down near the waist line, revealing the shirt underneath. It looked like a simple white tank top, but it was a little hard to tell.

She smiled, her cheeks red as plums and her grin bright as stars. Her glittering violet eyes were warm, and welcoming.

“You’re awake,” she stated ecstatically. “That’s good. I’m Marcy,” she introduced herself, the two strands of brown hair siding her head swaying beside her plain silver glasses. She gave a bright and bubbly feeling to the room. I liked it.

“I’m—”

“I know. I was at the party.”

“You were?” I looked her up and down. Her petite and full figure framed in tan, soft skin. She didn’t have the usual sharpness of the vampire, none like the ones at the party. Based on what I’d been told, and what I had learned in the library, the kingdoms were hidden from humans, still above ground, but hidden but an invisible shield that kid the kingdom(s) from the humans. Only the most powerful and richest humans know about the hidden kingdoms, and are sworn to secrecy to protect them, and make sure humans don’t wonder into the kingdoms. I imagined people like the president, or the richest people in the country doing this.

But with one look at Marcy, I knew she wasn’t a vampiric figure. What could she possibly be doing in the vampire world?

“You don’t look like a vampire.” I immediately regretted saying it. It might make her feel bad if she really was one…

She smiled, head tilted. “That’s good, considering I’m not one,” she laughed. “No, my mother fell in love with one, and we moved into the vampire realm. My mother is already turned, and she said she won’t turn me until I’m ready.”

“Oh,” I replied, but a dark thought hit me in the back of my mind, and my throat sizzled with the need to say it. “But do you want to? I mean, you do have a choice, right?”

She gave a cheery smile, unstrained and unforced, and told me, “Of course. She’s my mother, well, and she’s a vampire, but she still loves me. And she’s going to love me no matter what choice I make.”
I wondered why the thought hadn’t occurred to me that not all vampires were heartless. I mean, they had kidnapped me from my home and sold me into slavery. Doesn’t that sound at least a little heartless?

Vampires are still like humans in so many ways. They kidnap and rape and steal and cheat, but I’d bet the last hair on my head that humans have done so, too. So, no matter how hard I fall in love with Tempest, a vampire, I can’t assume that all vampires are so kind. I should know now that they all aren’t. But, it’s still the same way humans work. Even in the human world, you need to be careful of who you trust…

“Marcy, uh, when can we go home?”

She looked up, from writing on her clipboard. She looked back, then read aloud, “Well, we should keep you both here for another two weeks, but the queen…she had different plans. And you know how royalty is, you can’t defy it.”

Tempest chuckled.

“So we’re leaving today?”

“Actually, you’re leaving now.”

“Yes!” I cheered.

Tempest laughed. “My mom works fast.”

“Yes, she does. And for that, I love her,” I laughed and cuddled onto his chest, wrapping my arm around his waist. I tried ignoring the scent that rolled off him and even the room itself, but it didn’t help too much. “Please tell me you’ll shower when we get home.”

He laughed. “Yeah, but you smell the same.”

“Ugh, I know.”

“I’m going to bring in the wheelchairs, okay?” Marcy left the room.

I didn’t argue. I wasn’t even sure if I could walk with this aching pain in my stomach and sides. As an experiment, I began to sit up.

“Blaze, you don’t have to get up now—”

“No,” I intersected Tempest. “I have to know how strong I am.”

The pain never subsided, but I was able to sit up properly. Tempest sat up with me. I could feel him wince, but he never let a a sign that he was in pain. He was only worried about me, and nothing else.

The door opened again, and in came two vampires. One, with silky black hair, stretching down her back in a cascading waterfall. Another, a small child, long black hair pulled up into her usual hairstyle of two pigtails.

Rini smiled, “Bubba!” She jumped onto the bed, but her mother was too fast for her. Suddenly, Queen Serenity was at the side of the bed, holding Rini by her collar, dangling her out of reach of her beloved brother. Frowning, Rini looked up at her mother, silently begging her to at least touch him.

Her mother still held the stern look of a worthy queen, here on business instead of being here to visit her child in the hospital.

“They’re not ready to be jumped all over yet, Rini,” she told her, still holding her by the collar as she placed her onto the ground.
“How are you feeling?” I looked up at Serenity, suddenly realizing she was talking to me.

“Better.”

“Good to hear.” She managed a smile.

Marcy came back into the room, pushing a wheel chair in front of her. Behind her, came a man (definitely a vampire) with muscles the size of my head. He had a head almost completely bare of hair, but didn’t look over thirty. His name tag held a short name: Rod. He was also pushing a wheel chair.

Rini and Serenity backed up to let them through. Rod came over to my side of the bed, and Marcy to Tempests’. Rod lifted me up suddenly, one arm under my legs, the other under my shoulders. He placed me into the wheelchair, an expressionless look on his stern face.

Marcy help Tempest into his, grabbing his arm and supporting him as he stood, crutched over, and then sat into the leather chair.

“Okay,” Marcy made her way to the front of the room where she would be able to speak to everyone. “There is some stuff you’ll need to know.”

Nods came from around the room.

“Since the hospital won’t be there to help you through everything, you’re going to have to do what we would have done. I’m sure you’ve heard of physical therapy? Well, since we’ve taken care of most of the damage,” she stared at the queen, “you’ll have to make these two swim for at least three hours a day. The damage to their tissue will take a while to heal completely ,so you have to exercise it.”

“Are there any meds they need to take?” Queen Serenity asked.

“Yes, actually. Give them vitamins every day. Those should help strengthen the tissue. And, painkillers, which we will supply you with,” Marcy stated with a smile. “The problem is, we don’t have them all in supply, with all the other injuries that there were at the party, so we’ll mail them to you. They should get there by tomorrow morning.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Good. Let’s get the hell out of here.