Lilith

"Did you know they don't just drink blood?" I asked Alex when he met Christian and I for lunch. He only laughed at me.

We ate lunch at the same place Christian and I had eaten "breakfast," which surprisingly consisted of a banana, a fruit bowl, and some oatmeal.

It was completely strange, eating breakfast at 9 o'clock and lunch at midnight. I was running purely on the sugars from this morning. I knew that Court was a two hour flight, and Alex had warned me that we'd be "making arrangements" all day, but I hadn't figured in the part where we were doing all of this on a vampire schedule.

“You’re being ridiculous, Lily,” Alex muttered under his breath with a small chuckle. We were walking towards the cafeteria, with Christian and Rose bantering behind us and Daddy and Lissa conversing in front of us. Lissa had more than one guardian, come to find out, which made sense with her being queen and all. She had at least four that followed her around all the time, but they stayed far enough away that I hadn‘t noticed them and close enough that they could jump in at any moment if someone were to attack. “They’re not monsters like the Alchemists make them seem. They’re more or less just like us, young adult people.”

It was a little hard to believe that, but Alex was usually right.

We stopped talking then, because the cafeteria was full of chattering vampires. It was like my old high school cafeteria, but much bigger and these people had fangs. Everyone grabbed their lunches--Daddy, Alex, and I didn’t eat much because we’d already had a full day’s meals, but I grabbed an apple--and we found an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria.

“Why is everyone staring at us?” I mumbled, looking around. There were so many people, ranging from my age to adults, and they all took a special interest in us as we walked by. Their gazes lingered even after we sat down, and it was odd. I’d never been stared at quite so intensely before.

As soon as I asked the question though, I regretted it--I was walking around with the queen, and if that wasn’t reason enough then maybe the part where we were the only three humans in Court was. It really was a stupid question, and Christian’s “Is she really this blonde?” remark didn’t make me feel any better about it.

“So, Erick, are you sure you have to leave so soon?” Lissa asked, to change the topic. I flashed her a smile of gratitude and she returned it.

“I’m afraid so,” Daddy replied, smiling at her. “We’ve got a lot to do back at the office, finalizing everything and all that.”

It was quite strange to find him talking to her just like he’d be talking to me, as a daughter. We were the same age, but it was…odd. I felt like I should be jealous, but I was kind of relieved instead. It was like having a sister, and I giggled at the thought of replacing my obnoxious older brother, just for a moment. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one laughing, because Rose had just told a joke. I didn’t bring too much attention to myself.

Party did though. He walked into the cafeteria and it went quiet. The crazy bat was smeared with what looked like oil or something and he had a dirty blue rag in the back pocket of his jeans like mechanics have. He walked right up to our table, sat down beside Lissa, and smiled like he owned the place. “Hello, Queeny,” he greeted Lissa. She smiled and greeted him back. They must have known each other, if Party was the Alchemist pilot all the time. He winked at me and leaned over to talk to Daddy.

“We got a problem, Mr. Serin,” Party said, business-like all of a sudden. “We ain’t leavin’ anytime soon.”

Daddy paused for a moment and then sighed. “Let’s go get you some food and talk about it,” he said, and Party didn’t argue. It was free food, after all. I’m sure Party had never objected to free food.

“Sounds like bad news,” Alex mumbled after they were out of earshot.

Lissa bridled though, looking like she’d come up with the most brilliant plan ever. “Maybe you’ll have to stay long enough for Priscilla’s party!” she cried gleefully. “Erick and I were talking about it earlier, but it wasn’t an option. Oh, it’d be wonderful for you, Alex! You’d be able to mingle with the royal families.”

“That’d be nice, Liss, but we still have a lot to get done at the office. The flight wasn’t even chartered yet.” Alex shrugged apologetically.

Lissa looked disappointed. “Well, it would be exciting.” She looked up at me and smiled. “We could even get you a new dress.”

I grinned, a little more excited for this party. “I like new dresses,” I said happily, giving Alex a look.

“Well, it sounds like we might just be going to the Badica party,” Daddy said as he came up behind us. He looked at Lissa. “If we’re still invited, of course.” He sat down and Lissa clapped excitedly.

“I just told Alex and Lily about it!” she said. “Of course you‘re still invited!”

“There’s something wrong with the engine, and it’ll take at least four hours to get fixed,” Daddy explained. “Party tried firing it up after he refueled. It didn’t work.”

“Well, we don’t need to worry about that!” Lissa said, her attitude just full of cheery good feelings. She turned to me. “We’ll go shopping in two hours. I’ll have Rose find you, okay?”

I nodded, finding it odd that she didn’t ask for permission from Daddy, but he didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

“Well, I must be off,” she said, picking up the trash from her lunch and standing. “Important queen business, you know.” She grinned before turning around. Rose and Christian excused themselves as well, escaping with “girlfriend business” and “guardian business.”

Alex looked at me with a big, mocking expression on his face. “Dresses, huh?” he questioned. He shrugged before I could reply. “Looks like we’re already dressed for the party, Dad.”

Daddy chuckled. “Lissa has been trying to get me to go to one of the Badica’s parties for years,” he said. “They’re supposed to be very elegant.”

Alex laughed. “And this one’s even got a twist to it,” he added, looking pointedly at me.

“Well, let’s leave that a surprise for shopping,” Daddy said, winking at me. I felt very left out in all this. He stood up and gathered his orange peels. “I’ll see you two around.” With that, he left.

“What’s he going to do for the next four hours?” I asked, turning to Alex.

He just shrugged. “Same thing I am,” he said, and stood up.

I looked at him, reeling. “You‘re leaving me again?” I asked. “And without a babysitter?”

“You go ahead and walk around a little bit, find something cool to do until Rose comes looking.” He smiled at me, kissed my cheek, and then disappeared.

I stared after him for a moment before it set in that he‘d really left me. If I wasn’t careful, they might just fly off without me.