Beasty (A Royal's Tale Book 2) Read online

  River. My dead brother-in-law’s breathing, walking younger brother.

  Thankfully, we reached my car. Sensing my discomfort despite my best efforts to mask it, River asked as I opened the door and shoved my bag pack inside, “Do you want me to drive you over?”

  He knows…

  I turned, my arm bracing the door. “It’s fine, River. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

  Can you?

  Our eyes stayed—before he nodded. He put his hand up in defeat. “Okay then. Good night.”

  Smile.

  I beamed up at him. “Good night!” I chirped, then went inside, closed the door, turned the ignition, and fled.

  ~

  The ride seemed to be going too slow. It was quieter, longer than usual. I was feeling more than the normal amount of reluctance of getting home.

  Just then, the song slipping out from the car’s speakers changed into one of the more upbeat songs I had in my iPod, and I immediately straightened in my seat, already feeling more than energetic enough about getting home.

  Music therapy always worked.

  Suddenly, the loud blast of my offensive ringtone replaced the song and surrounded the entire car, and I, shocked for a second, blinked before I looked down at it on the passenger’s seat.

  Prue calling...

  I didn’t bother to answer the call. I’ll get home in fifteen minutes anyway, I reasoned with myself and looked back up at the highway. Out of nowhere, a guy in a dark hood stood in the middle of the road directly in front of my car.

  A loud shriek ripped out of my throat, and I swerved the car sideways, hoping that I did no harm to the man. I felt my car go out of control as it swerved off the road and move towards the darkness. I was so shocked; I couldn’t stop as my head hit the steering wheel with a hard bang. Everything went black for a second.

  That’s it. First, it was your family. It’s your turn now! I screamed in my head as I tried to gulp down my heart, crazily beating fast. In the blackness of the night, my eyes adjusted and my sight came back.

  Warm blood gushed down the side of my head, and I fought a blackout from engulfing me as my feet hit the brakes. But that didn’t work, and now, I desperately tried to turn the wheels around, crying out helplessly when it rotated towards the other direction.

  I’m dying. I’m dying.

  Tears leaking down my face, I turned around to look at the road. My eyes widened when I found nothing.

  No hooded man.

  No man at all.

  Nothing.

  I tried working on opening the windows when I felt the car turn over. My heart stopped in my chest.

  I don’t want to die yet. I don’t want to die!

  As I sat—thanks to the seatbelt—suspended in the upended car, tears kept rolling down my face. I thought about my mum and dad, then my sister and her husband—who all died in a similar fashion. They were all gone.

  Dead.

  Just like how I will be.

  The car gave an ugly screech as a large dent made through the driver’s door, pushing the metal inwards. A final jolt and the car reached the bottom with a big drop. With no control over myself, I felt my head hit the dented roof as the final strains on my life began to loosen.

  Want…to…li…

  A loud sound of ripping metal shrieked in the dead silent night, and I felt light seep through me again. Hanging by a thread, I creaked my eyes open just in time to see a pair of golden eyes shining back at me.

  Dying and delirious, I giggled, then sobbed as I felt the darkness coming over again. My mind desperately clutched back to the image of the golden-eyed—golden-eyed creature. What was that? I heard myself groan again, and my lips moved up to form a smile.

  My eyes creaked open, and I saw the golden eyes were still staring at me. Was this the grim reaper? Was this it?

  I felt a strong grip working around me, but it was too late. Still looking at the golden eyes, I realised I was still smiling. It was then when I realised it was finally here. Without knowing it, a singular name rose up in my mind and came out of my mouth in a whisper.

  “Beasty…”

  Death…

  Everything around me began turning bleak again, and I almost didn’t even notice as I was pulled out of the now ruined car. I felt as something warm caressed my neck—soft, slow, soothing.

  Then it turned into something sharp.

  A scream ripped out of my throat as I felt an intense pain in my neck.

  I heard my scream fade away in the distance.

  And then my entire world went black. The darkness. It had come.

  Beasty…

  Chapter 2

  It’s like watching a rose bloom in a time lapse—watching someone transform from something normal into what you would only see in televisions.

  You know that feeling when what you’re seeing is one hundred percent real and unedited, but you’re still crazily deciding against believing it. Because that’s what you have been doing ever since.

  I believed everything I had seen that night. I knew what I saw. And even though my aunt kept telling me that it was just some figment of imagination my clever mind had devised to portray the kind of man who had saved me, my belief didn’t waver.

  I had seen it. I had seen him—and his golden eyes. What was even realer?

  I had even felt him.

  I jolted up abruptly from a medicine-induced slumber last night. I noticed I was so tensed and sweating like a pig, and the only thing that I had managed to deliver out of my dry throat had been a scream.

  I admit that the first few seconds of consciousness felt like I had woken up in hell. Every part of my body was in pain. I didn’t know what was going on. I just wanted to escape. Truth be told, I was not ready to meet Lucifer yet.

  I winced as I chased the thoughts of that horror away, the hospital robes around me clinging tightly to my body because of the sweat. My eyes skimmed around the empty room again, and I sighed, almost happily, at finally having a chance to be alone.

  I could think now.

  Tiny jolts of electricity shot through my neck, spreading warmly down my chest. My breath hitched when I realised my fingers were unconsciously caressing the bandage on my neck. Strangely, even though the accident had occurred three days ago and I had woken up on the night of the second, the pain I knew I should be experiencing from my neck never came.

  Aunt Prue seemed to be trying to coax out the information from me from the moment I had regained consciousness. I, however, refused to tell anyone.

  “Beasty.”

  My whisper seemed like a loud declaration in the cold, silent yet oddly comforting room. A sigh left my lips as I eased back into the hospital bed.

  The man in a grey suit with golden eyes. The man whose canines dripped with my blood had been the last image I had seen. Unlike his name, he did not leave me to die for him to eat. He was the one who apparently brought me into the emergency room, bloodied in his arms—the man about whom I knew the nurses would spin romantic tales about for ages.

  It was sad though—and I believed fate was being a bit of a ninny with this—that I couldn’t remember exactly how the man looked like. Just blazing inhuman golden eyes, a rock-strong chest, and black hair that fell over his cheekbones.

  Yes. My mind agreed. Even his human form exuded what his name suggested.

  Human.

  My heart jolted in my chest, and I made an attempt to calm it down. It was clear my saviour was not human. After everything, I would be foolish to think he were. But I would be even more foolish to tell anyone that the man who had saved me was a vampire.

  Yes. That’s what he was. A vampire.

  From the moment I woke up, my mind had been trying to figure out what he is. This was something that constantly ran in my thoughts. In the end, I concluded: certainly no other beast would be so fascinated with piercing girls’ necks and drinking their blood other than vampires.

  It was surprising how much my life had changed in just a night
from finding that these creatures in fairy tales existed in the real world too. Something else that I had thought about for long hours was whether I should tell someone. I decided I wouldn’t. There was no need to make such a confession only to end up in a loony asylum.

  I shuddered at the recollection.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  I looked up, shocked, then relaxed when I saw it was only River.

  He and Jaydin often visited—no, in fact, to say that would be an understatement. They had made a temporary base at the hospital, whenever deemed possible. Somehow it had settled into their brains that the accident wasn’t much of an accident at all—but attempted murder.

  I had an inkling that somehow Abigail was behind all this nonsensical boarding in the hospital and hovering over me. Or maybe they were just watching too much crime investigation programs.

  Over the past day, I had noticed how Abigail looked warily around the room, searching for some kind of anomaly, and how she made sure the windows were kept locked. It made me suspicious, too. But that was the last thing I could do right now: suspect my best friends of being vampires.

  I hadn’t even gotten over seeing one vampire in my life. Lord knows I didn’t need two more!

  Despite myself, I rolled my eyes, an amused grin already in place of my usually straight lips, and faced River. “Okay? Oh, no no! I’m ready to visit the queen!”

  River grinned as he settled on the seat beside my bed. “Madame Crawfort came over when you were resting. She sends you her warm ‘get well soon’ greeting, a basket full of chocolates, and a week off—with an extension of another. She says you should rest.” River’s hand found mine, and I squeezed it appreciatively.

  “Thank you for telling me, Riv,” I mumbled, sending a small smile at him.

  His grip tightened, and he squeezed back. “That’s what families are for, Liv.”

  “We bring news!”

  Both River and I turned towards the room’s entrance, and I groaned.

  Jaydin.

  Jaydin grinned as he strode into the room with Abigail walking in tow. I frowned when I noticed the absence of Aunt Prue.

  “Here’s your phone. Keep it somewhere, okay?” he said.

  Reaching as far as I could for the phone, I quickly grasped it and unlocked it. Then I locked it again and slid it under my pillow. I’d check the notifications later.

  “Prue told us to let you know tha—” he turned to River for a second “—Mrs. Welshnit dropped Lolette this afternoon, so she can’t drop by until Lolette has a sitter.”

  River’s hand—which I barely noticed was still holding mine—tightened on mine, and I cringed. “My parents have lost their minds.”

  Easing my hand out from his grip, I muttered, “Didn’t you know your mum was flying over from London?”

  His stormy eyes turned to me, and he shook his head. “No. And it’s no shock really. They never tell me anything anyway!”

  I sighed as I eased into the hospital bed and closed my eyes at tonight’s new revelation, at my new role: guardian.

  I was now a guardian over a three-week-old baby. And then there was still that nagging need to know my saviour.

  The Lord is testing me.

  ~

  There was a lake. A black lake.

  It stayed stagnant. Almost dead.

  But somehow, I knew it was alive.

  I sat on the edge of the dock, my legs folded instead of dangling to avoid touching the black water.

  I was afraid.

  The air was calm, but the sickening chill was definite.

  The lake smelt like brine.

  Saltwater lake.

  Dead lake.

  The sky was brown. Not a cloud in sight. Just a brown sky.

  Everything around me foggy.

  I watched, still, as I waited for something to happen—for something to emerge from the black lake, for something to move out of the fog.

  Something.

  Anything.

  And then it happened.

  Beep beep.

  The black water bubbled, a singular bubble that widened to that of a basin before it popped. Then another. And another.

  Beep beep.

  I frowned at the sound each bubble emitted.

  Beep beep.

  Beep beep.

  As more bubble popped, the louder the sound grew. Heightening to a deafening volume.

  Beep beep.

  My eyes widened as another large bubble emerged from the black lake, swelling in size until it almost reached the dock’s height.

  And then it burst. Dark, warm water splashed on me, and I realised it was anything, but I was drenched in blood.

  Beep b—

  I screamed and sat up, breaking free from the horrid place. A layer of sweat coating me, I panted as I looked around me with wide crazed eyes.

  Nightmare. It was just a nightmare!

  The dark room stayed silent as my panting decreased, and I eventually calmed down.

  It was just a nightmare. My grasp on the hospital bed sheet began to loosen.

  Beep beep.

  My ears caught the sound, and I turned—much to my regret—as a blinding pain shot through the left side of my head. It hurt so much that I whimpered for a second. It soothed a little while later, when I relaxed, and I reached for my phone, which was still shrieking in urgency.

  Unknown Number calling…

  Hmm…Strange.

  I stared at the ringing cell phone until it stopped, content with the outcome of determined patience. I sighed as I closed my eyes and eased down onto my back, ready to go back to sleep.

  Then it began again.

  Beep beep.

  “This punk is going to get a piece of my currently damaged mind,” I hissed as I grasped the iPhone again and stabbed a finger on ‘accept.’

  “Hello.”

  I stilled.

  The tingles that spread around my body after hearing the deep husky voice completely shook me. He didn’t need introduce himself for I knew who he was. “Beasty.”

  The man growled, and I listened to him moving about before I heard a soft thud, probably him sitting on something.

  “Is that how you thank me? Giving me horrible nicknames?” the man hissed, and I flushed with embarrassment. Maybe I was being rude.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered back. My heart felt like it was about to give in within a minute or two. Each thud seemed to echo loudly around the room that I supposed even my saviour could hear them. I remained quiet as the man heaved out a frustrated sigh. What was he frustrated with?

  Me?

  Or himself?

  “How are you feeling?”

  I almost gasped aloud with the softness his question now held. Something in my chest stirred, and I shivered.

  What was happening to me? Was I having a case of hero worship? Startled with myself, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

  “The bite you gave me on my neck doesn’t hurt. Why?”

  The silence that followed was heavy, if not punishing.

  “I think you’re mistaken. I did no such thing.”

  I jolted up in my bed and whimpered when my head throbbed at the sudden physical exertion. “Yes, you did!” I retorted, grinding my teeth—my best effort to keep the pain at bay.

  He wasn’t one to be so easily cowered for he issued another growl. Wait, don’t vampires hiss?

  “Foolish girl! Take care of yourself!”

  Foolish girl? Hmmm…Definitely a vampire.

  “You think I’m a…vampire?”

  My breath hitched, and I gripped my iPhone harder.

  Damn it, Liv! You had to say that out loud! I blinked, then gulped. “Yes. You drank my blood. I’m not that oblivious.”

  “And you have not screamed monster yet?”

  I scoffed. Did this man take me to be a sixteen-year-old kid? “And be sent to a psychiatrist? Because I’d be declared mentally insane the very minute I’d scream that. So, yes. No. I…I just want to know. For
myself.”

  There was silence for a minute, but then to my surprise, the man chuckled, the husky sound shaking me to my core yet again. How come his voice was capable of doing this? Was this even normal?

  “Alright. I’ll indulge you. I may be something. But not a vampire. Find out. If you can, that is.”

  I frowned. This game sounded rubbish, and with my head aching this badly, I was at my wit’s end. I do not have the time for this nonsense.

  “How hard is it to just admit it?” I demanded, my lips forming a thin line and my frown hardening into creases. It was also palpable in my voice, and it was not lost on him. To my surprise, he didn’t snap but remained teasing with his reply.

  “Quite easy, really. But oh, Olivia, I am so much more.”

  I stilled. “Thank you. For…saving me…Doctors said it’s a miracle I survived.”

  The man growled, and I flinched. “Goodbye, Olivia.”

  Ooh that hurt. And it truly did. Something in my chest just snapped. I blinked back the strange sense of hurt.

  “I’m never going to hear from you again, am I?”

  “Probably.”

  I felt some strings snap, my hold on hope slackening. I felt like I was losing something. I convinced myself that I wasn’t. Why should I? I did my business with the guy—giving my thanks—but try as I might, curiosity eclipsed my reason. I held my phone closer.

  “At least tell me your name. Y-you know mine,” I mumbled helplessly, my grip tightening and loosening its hold on the bed sheet.

  The silence that followed was thick and cold. I was about to hang up, but then he replied. His voice, still husky but slightly croaky, answered with obvious humour.

  “Beasty.”

  And then the line went dead.

  ~

  One month later

  “Did someone take a wee in her nappy? Ha, did someone—oh wahewww! That’s nasty, Letty! I’m reporting this crime to the potty minister. Ya hear me?”

  Watching Letty gurgle up a baby laugh at Jay’s mock outrage, I couldn’t help but grin. Jay seemed to have made a bond with Letty. He never minded cleaning up her dirty nappies, and he was always at my place—beside me and Prue while we fed her, bathed her, clothed her, and put her to sleep.