Nilsa spent the evening trying to calm Aerilyn down and cheer her up.

"Come on you need to put it in the past and move on" The vampire tried to reason as the girl paced the room.

"You seem like you are going to do something stupid, whatever it is, it's not a good idea" Nilsa stopped in Aerilyn's way and grabbed her wrist causing Aerilyn to stop and look up.

"I should have killed her, I'm a disgrace to my own race, once they find out I'll be killed" she carried on pacing.

Nilsa pulled her hand away and sat down on the large bed in the girls room. It was dark, dreary snd depressing in there because the girl refused to have the bright lights on. "That isn't going to happen" Nilsa spoke lowly.

Aerilyn was frustrated, she had just held a dangerous weapon up to the Queen's throat in front of everyone and was probably now the most hated human alive once word spread.

After all that her best friend came to find her and the Queen never told her. "I need some time alone, sorry" she came to the conclusion.

Nilsa knew there was nothing she could do, she was tied to the Queen's allegiance and would never betray her, she could sense the girl wanted to ask for her help, but couldn't knowing the answer.

Nodding she got up and left.

It was the middle of the night before Aerilyn left her room, she couldn't sleep and thought a walk might help.

That walk took her to the kitchen to find food, as she was rustling about in the rather large fridge, a man was stood watching the girl.

"Ahem" he coughed.

Aerilyn banged her head on the fridge as she whipped round, red reaching her cheeks.

"Oh hi" she waved shyly.

"What an odd hour to be in here, I do say" he spoke slow, with wisdom and knowledge at the tip of his tongue, she could tell that much.

"I couldn't sleep" Aerilyn closed the fridge and went to sit at the breakfast bar.

"Some thing is on your mind" he spoke quietly, walking further into the kitchen, keeping a respectful distance between them.

"I guess" she whispered.

She looked at the man properly this time, he had short brown hair, was a medium size build and a bit taller than her. His clothes weren't nice but they weren't horrible either, he looked rather well kept. "Are you human?" She asked.

He cocked his head to the side and chuckled.

"Not that I'm aware of, what is your name child?" He started to gather ingredients from around the kitchen, placing them on the work top.

"Aerilyn" she smiled.

He rubbed his chin in thought. "Ah yes, I am Richard, it's nice to finally meet you" he smiled back.

Aerilyn was so unsure about this man, who was he, why was he here, she had not seen him before. "Are you a worker?" She inquired.

He shook his head and frowned.

"No, I'm Luanna's mate, now let's get you something proper to eat because God knows eating that small piece of cake won't do much for you" he began to crack eggs and whisk them.

"You don't need to, I can make something, honestly, I don't want to keep you up" she reassured him.

He just ignored her.

"Why don't you tell me what's keeping you up" he asked.

Aerilyn rested her hands on her chin, she found it hard to warm to vampires, but he made her feel comfortable, like a father figure and he didn't look much like a vampire.

"I'm sure you've already heard" Aerilyn rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but it's better to hear it from the horses mouth" he quipped as he stirred the eggs and heated a pan up.

"Well, I got so mad today, seeing my best friend had been captured and she never told me, so I held the sword to her and I wanted to kill her but.."

"But you have grown to care for her" he finished what she couldn't bring herself to say, she just looked away knowingly.

Richard walked and opened a cupboard on the far side of the room to grab some bread. "I can't care for a monster, she almost killed me, collared me, I can't care for someone who has no feelings and kills unnecessarily" she claimed.

He popped the toast into a toaster. "I don't think we are talking about the same girl"

"I don't understand" the girl shook her head.

"What I think is she took you in for whatever reason, looked after you, killed her own kind for you, looked after your friend and still looks after you even after you disrespected her, plus the collar was so you would not be attacked by others" that left her speechless. He had almost finished making the food.

Aerilyn didn't say anything.

Richard stood with his hands on his hip with a very thoughtful face, reminiscing on the past. He knew Solenne had her work cut out for her with Aerilyn, the human was in denial and had grown up learning things that weren't necessarily true. "Sometimes, it's easier only to look at the bad, It's what we remember the most. But the girl I grew up with, was a kind and caring one despite the way her family was and would do anything for those she cared about"

"You grew up with her?" Aerilyn was shocked.

Richard plated up their food and came around to sit opposite her, placing her food in front of her.

"Yes I did, I helped look after her and I still do" he began to eat his food.

Aerilyn tucked into the scrambled egg on toast, it was delightful. "What was she like as a child?" The girl asked.

He had an expression on him that looked nothing but nostalgic.

"Playful, funny, many things really, i'm a bit older than she is and came from a noble family which meant we went to the same school" he laughed.

Aerilyn was very quiet in thought.

Richard knew pretty much everything about Solenne and what she had been through, knowing why she had become cold. "The point is, you think she is a monster and that's how they want you to see her, but in reality she has just as many feelings as you do except she is bound by beauty and had a lot of them beaten out of her by her father" he was solemn at that.

"You know it's actually a myth that vampires have no feelings" he smirked.

Aerilyn placed her knife snd fork together on her place after finishing.

"Thank you for the food, I think I need to apologise to her" she confirmed.

"Yes, but get some sleep first, it was nice to finally meet you and I'm sure I'll see you around" the vampire said good night.

Aerilyn fell asleep.

Low and behold the Queen went straight to the girls room as soon as she heard that sweetheart beat slow down.

She snuck in and sat in the dark on the edge of the bed, watching the girl. "What am I going to do with you" she muttered to herself, reaching over the push a stray hair out of Aerilyn's face.

Solenne stayed there most of the night, she lay next to the girl but they were not touching.

The Queen only left when the sun started to come up so she would not be caught there.

Aerilyn woke up the next day with one mission on her mind, to find Solenne and apologise.

However the girl woke up an hour later than usual, getting dressed and heading down to breakfast, what startled her was the laughs coming from the room, to which she did not recognise.

Opening the doors she realised it was a mistake to wake up at all, there was a burly male vampire sat next to Solenne with a pet on the floor and a smaller male who was nicer looking sat opposite without a pet. On the other end sat Prince Louis.

Solenne looked up at the girl with cold eyes. "I see your pet has finally joined us, I can't wait to see what punishment you'll give her. My pets wouldn't be able to stand for a week if they were this late. Her smell maybe insatiable but rudeness is not" he roared.

He had dark black hair with a scar on the left side of his face, his eyes were extremely red and his prescience made her want to shrivel up.

Aerilyn had to tread carefully, she looked to Solenne for guidance.

"Sit" the Queen gestured to the pillows on the floor. "I will deal with your late entrance later" the girl gulped, this had never happened before, was it real or just pretend because of these new guests.

The other vampire hadn't said a word as of yet, he just clenched his fists and looked away.

The arrogant one kept his eyes on Aerilyn, licking his lips. "Well aren't you going to introduce us" he smirked. He looked much older than the normal vampire and was over weight for one, if that was even possible.

"This is my pet and pet these are my two uncles, Prince Ras and Samuel" Ras was the scary looking one and Samuel was the meek looking vampire.

"And you know Prince Louis" she sure did and she hated him.

"And what is her name?" Samuel asked kindly, he was intrigued to know.

"Filthy pets don't have names brother, god you're so weak" Ras beat him down.

Aerilyn sat on her knees quietly with her head down as she had done previously, she was shaking out of fear. This was causing her flash backs as she sat there of the Queen with her hands around Aerilyn's neck.

"If I remember correctly her name is Aerilyn" Prince Louis spoke.

Tears fell down her face. Solenne noticed but could do nothing about it, her uncle was a vampire you did not mess with, she had to be careful to not be too protective otherwise he would want the girl for himself and there was no way she would part with her.

"You see after Louis told us that you had this pet here, we just had to come and see for ourselves, I didn't quite believe that you had caved in and got one, but how times change. Although I was hoping she would be a bit more battered than this" he was prying for information.

"It's a pity if that is the only reason you have come here, do you not have anything better to do? I'm a busy woman with a kingdom to run" And there she was, Queen Solenne. They may be blood but she did rule over them all.

Ras scoffed at her insultingly "as if that would be my only reason, in fact you have let your reign slip, the werewolves are attacking and the humans are out of control" Solenne never liked Ras but being her uncle he was a very powerful man, he left most people shaking in fear, but not Solenne.

Her ever cold demeanour was terrifying to those who did not know her well. "I have it all underhand" she left the girl shaking.