Chapter 10

"HELP!" I cried out, as he leaned forward again.

Name…what was his name…

"Oh my sweet little angel. No one will help you now…" He smiled menacingly.

"Someone please help!" I called out as Remuir placed his other purple skinned hand on the base of my neck.

There was a silence as he held me up above the ground for a few seconds. The wind rushed around us but that was all that we heard.

Remuir started laughing hysterically. "Ha! Obviously no one is coming…"

He placed he mouth over the cut again and started to lick the small bit of dried blood off. "Mmmm…delicious, juicy, and fresh…"

Creak…

BAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

I was suddenly dropped onto the ground, wrists free.

"Leave. That. Girl. Alone!" I heard someone hiss dangerously.

There was a sickening stab and a howl of pain.

I blacked out.

"She's coming to! She's coming to!"

"Well duh."

"What's going on?" I asked, opening my eyes. It came out as "Mmmmuuhhhhh huuummmhhhh?"

"Get Shan."

"Mmmmkay."

There was a moment of silence at both of them left the room.

"Girl? Hey, can you hear me?" I heard someone ask.

"Yeah…" I nodded, and then regretted it as the world spun slightly to the left.

"Can you remember anything from last night?"

"Yeah…wait. WHERES REMUIR!?!?!?" I screamed, sitting up and ignoring the pain coming to my head.

The one that they called 'Shan' pushed me back down gently. "Hey, hey, chill. If this 'Remuir' character is the one that almost sucked the blood out of you, then he's dead."

"Oh. Oh! Oh, phew…" I relaxed. "Where am I then?"

"You're on a ship." He told me, playing with some chain around his neck. "You passed out before and we couldn't have gone to the hospital, so we had to take you back here. We're not moving yet though. What's your name?"

"I can't...remember…" I placed my hand across my forehead. "Arg, I have the worse head ache ever…"

"Wait, where did you get that ring?" He asked, grabbing my hand.

"Hm? Oh this?" I asked, focusing my blurry eyes on the ring that was on my forth finger. I always wore the ring. "I got it from…wait…I can't remember. It was a long time ago….probably some random relative gave it to me."

"It's a pirate ring." He studied my face.

"It is? That's cool." I said, trying to pull my hand out of his grip.

He didn't let go. "Is your name Alexia Leaf?"

"Oh! Oh yes, my name is Alexia. Alexia Leaf." I sighed, glad that I knew who I was again. "Wait. How do you know that?"

"Don't you remember me? My name is Luke Shan. I gave you that ring when you were seven. I still wear that necklace that you gave me as well. Does this ring a bell?" He asked, reaching into his shirt and pulling out an old fashioned Leaf royalty necklace that only the Leaf Royalties wore.

Luke…Luke…Luke? Oh my goodness, it's Luke!

"That's a Leaf necklace!" I gasped, looking up into his face again. Slightly older but handsome familiar features glanced back at me.

Actually very handsome.

"Your hair! It's even darker now! You have blue eyes…"

He smiled gently. It reminded me of Remuir and I shivered at the thought. "Yeah. I didn't recognize you either. Haven't seen you in what, fifteen years?"

"You haven't grown much though…" I noticed. "Wait! I remember! I remember now! You're a Two Star Vampire!"

"One Moon vampire." He coughed. "Actually, I'm about to-"

"One Moon vampires! Half vampires! Scarface, Darren Shan, Oswald! I remember! I remember now, I remember!" I turned to him, interrupting. "You're the one that saved me before!"

"Hey, hey, calm down. The end of September is nearing and we don't need to be freaked out and ruin October-"

"End of September? END OF SEPTEMBER? WHAT DAY IS IT? OW!" I said, whacking my head against the top of the bunk bed. Hm, I remember doing that before somewhere else as well…

"It's September the 30th. Relax, relax, no one is going to die-"

"IT'S THE 30th?!?!?!? OH NO!" I said, trying to fling myself off the bed.

"Hey, hey, what's the rush?" He asked me, helping me up so I wouldn't hurt myself.

"You know I'm a Princess right? Well I got a note and the marriage people want me to get married but I don't want to get married so they gave me a month to find a husband and if I don't they'll pair me up with someone and it's already the 30th and I still haven't found someone and they'll pair me up with someone really stupid like they did with my sister and now it's the 30th and I haven't found someone and…"

"BREATHE!" He ordered, picking me up like a potato sack and sat me back down on his bed. "RE. LAX. OK?"

"Let me go let me go I need to go find someone and then I-"

"Shhhh, stop it, stop it, I can't understand a thing that you're saying. Speak English please."

"Ok, ok, ok." I tried to calm myself down and explained the whole entire thing. By the time I was at the end of it I was in tears.

"What am I going to do? They're going to pair me up with someone I don't even know and it will be terrible!"

"Whoa, Alexia. Don't worry. You'll find someone." He said, hugging me tight. I looked deep into his eyes and sighed.

"And like, don't get me wrong I really really really like you but then you're a vampire and then my parents will wonder why I'm not growing if you change me into a vampire and then-"

He laughed quietly. "I was trying to tell you a moment ago that the blood of the vampire in a One Moon Vampire wears off after fifteen years. Since to blood a One Moon Vampire takes only a small amount of Full vampire blood, it wears off."

"Wait, so you're like, a human?" I asked him, amazed at this new information that I had received.

"Not yet. I will be tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No."

I looked away, embarrassed.

"Why, do you want to ask me something or something?" He raised an eyebrow. "I love you, and I've missed you a lot you know."

I looked up and stared at him. "Really?"

He smiled. "Yes. And I know that I have just seen you, but you were just as charming as you were when you were little. Do you love me?"

I nodded. "Yes. Though I'm not sure if it's right to marry just quite yet. You know, some catching up and a few dates, etcetera so it's not so awkward? I'm sure I can talk my dad into making the marriage committee give me some leeway."

"Of course, of course. I didn't mean to bring up the subject and like think that I was going to just propose off the bat and like…"

"That's ok. I know what you mean." I told him as he stood up and walked me off the ship.

"Thank you. You've become smarter now that you're older. Now come on. Let's get you home."

~Part II~

Luke Shan and I sat in the very far corner of some Malaysian restaurant. Having ordered already and with the restaurant busy like nuts, we figured it would probably be a long wait until we could get our food. I decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, what have you been doing these, fifteen years that I haven't seen you?" I asked him, playing with a loose string on my sweater. My parents had asked for some leeway, and the marriage council couldn't really disagree now that I had found a man.

"Well, I spent another five years on that ship, just training and raiding and stuff like that. I wasn't able to visit unfortunately because we had to keep a very low profile those five years. I'm sorry about that."

"That's ok." I said, accidentally ripping the thread off. "What else have you been doing?"

"Well, I joined this, sort of circus thing. But it's not a circus. It's like, a special circus. Maybe I can fetch you up some tickets sometime."

"Oh? That would be wonderful!" I laughed.

"Anyway, the circus like thing is called Cirque du Creak. All of its actors and performers move with no sound, with an exception of one creak. It's like…an illusion thing. One second don't you see me… creak…One second you do. It's pretty cool."

"I remember a creak happening before I got attacked by Remuir again!" I said a little bit too loudly, drawing stares. "So like, you guys do disappearing acts and stuff like that?" I piped down.

"Yeah. It's actually really fun just to watch the crowd lean in whenever they hear a loud creak." He laughed softly. "Usually something great happens after it."

"Awesome…"

"Oh yes! And I need to let you meet my new friend that I met there. His name is Erva Van."

"Erva Van? Erva Van-what?"

"Oh no, just Erva Van."

"Oh. Cool!"

"Excuse me, here is your food. Enjoy!" The waiter swung by with platefuls of food in his hands.

"Thank you." Replied Luke, and we both dug in.