Chapter eight

Sarah POV

I watched Max interact with her ward with awe. How does she do it? How can she be the future queen of the most powerful race in the universe and live so easily with one of the weakest of species? I guess I would never understand until I'm older.

"Hey, Max?" I asked hesitantly. The princess's temper is bad, mean, and horrible. I don't want to pique it.

"Yes, Sarah?" she asked, looking back at me. She was letting the Nudge girl paint her fingernails a royal blue. I admit it was a cute color on her. Would've been better on me.

"If you don't mind me asking, how come you interact so well with mortals? Most elite GVs don't." I saw her tense slightly and Nudge froze. "Nope, forget I asked. Sorry."

"No, I can answer that. Five centuries ago, I was the typical Guardian Vampire elite. I viewed mortals as below me, not worth as much as I am. Heck, I was a princess the sixth century I was alive. But the person I had to protect suffered from that each time my assignment was changed. My ego cost a royal family their lives. Since then, I decided to treat everybody as my equal. Including mortals."

I feel so stupid! Why did I bring that up? Of course there was some deep life changing reason why she doesn't act like other elite. Why couldn't I just keep my big mouth shut?

"Oh yeah, Sarah. Clarissa is coming by later for a sleepover. She only knows Max's cousin-you- will be joining us. This way you can… create a barrier around her?" The end ended up as a question as Nudge looked at Max. The Vampire nodded.

"Not only that, but also gain her trust. You have 72 hours to get her to convince her parents to stay in our house with us. Otherwise, you will have to stay with her, which I don't want."

"Why not? Think I can't protect my own ward without you looking over my shoulder?" I scoffed, flipping my hair off of my shoulder.

"No, I don't think it. I know it. You're a rookie that has been placed under my wing by the Ancients. You will not embarrass me on your first assignment." I blushed in anger as the brown haired mortal giggled. 'How… how dare she…?'

"What do you think you're laughing at, mortal?" I snapped. An unseen force threw me back against the wall. I moaned as I slid down to the floor.

"Who do you think you're talking to, Sarah?" she growled. I shook my head, getting to my feet.

"I'm outta here." A force field appeared in front of me. "Let me out, Max. You can't hold me against my will."

"I am royalty. I can do whatever I want. Besides, dobe, your ward is here now."

~Max POV~

Bitch.

~Fang POV~

I watched Max greet Gazzy's little sister warmly, just like an older sister would welcome home a younger sibling. I could tell she was still frustrated with Flare and I, but it really isn't my fault. Stupid heart don't know how to fall in love with those I want to fall in love with.

"And that big boy over there is Nicholas Walker. He prefers being called Fang," Max said, finishing her introductions.

"Angel, I would look out for him. He bites," Nudge giggled. 'Oh, you have no idea how true that is,' I thought as Angel laughed.

"So, there is a dance tonight. Who's taking who?" the blond girl asked.

"I'm taking Max," Flare and I answered at the same time. We glared at each other as the girls went silent.

"We have a problem. Both of you can't take her," Iggy said.

"I'm taking her because I knew her longer," I growled.

"No, I'm taking her because she actually likes me," Flare snorted. I was just about ready to punch this guy. 'Yeah buddy? Then why did she kiss me back the other day?'

"Hey, I'm standing right here! And Fang's taking me simply because I won't have to worry about him wanting me to dance," the dirty blond said, rolling her eyes. I smirked at the fire user who looked ready to burn down the house.

"Great! Now that that's handled…."

"Wait, what about the rest of you?" Iggy asked.

"We already have dates. And you can take Sarah, Iggy. I know Ella already has a date, so she's out." With that, Max was yanked up the stairs by the other girls.

~Line Break~

Max POV

"Ok, I understand I told Nudge she can give me a makeover when I get back. But this is going too far," I groaned. I have been sitting in a chair for three hours wearing nothing but a robe while my hair and make-up was done up.

"This is nothing compared to what we wanted to do originally. But we realized you would hurt us if we went through with it, so we downgraded some stuff," Angel said sweetly.

"Good."

"Ok, done!" Nudge said suddenly. She turned around and grabbed an outfit off of her bed. "Here you go. Change into that and come back out here. Do not look yourself in the mirror or pay special attention to the outfit. I want to do final touches on you before you do so."

"All right." I walked into the bathroom and changed into the outfit. I stepped back out and was instantly gushed on.

"Oh my goodness, Maxie looks like a girl!" Sarah said sarcastically. 'Why did Angel have to be in here?! I would love to just destroy her nose without touching her right now.'

"Shut up," I grumbled, walking to Nudge. She moved a curl here, touched up some make-up there, and smoothed out a few wrinkles before stepping back.

"Perfect. And might I say, I have officially out done myself." She twisted me around to look in the full length mirror and I gasped: I do look different (though I've always looked like a girl. I can assure you that).

My dirty blond hair had been straightened then clipped together by dark butterfly hair clip. The ends were curled lightly and over my bare right shoulder. There were two longer pieces curled to frame the two sides of my face. Light make-up was added to my face with blood red lip stain.

Now the outfit was all mine yet not mine. I recognized the blood red shirt, but I could tell it had been cut professionally to be a sleeveless tight top that shows my belly button. The black pants were mine, but that had been fitted to be tighter than it originally had been. The blood red converse were definitely mine. No changes there (thank goodness!).

"I look… great. Thank you, Nudgey." I smiled and gave her a hug.

"Ok, ok, ok! The guys are waiting for us!" the girl I recognized as Ella exclaimed. 'When did she get here?' I thought as I followed the other girls down the stairs.

Dance is in the next chapter. Two things to Duskingdawn. One: I totally agree with you. This story is fast becoming my personal favorite and best I've written. I always thought MENAM was going to always be my best, but I guess I was wrong. Two: don't kill me about the obvious tension between Sarah and Max! I wanted there to be a… sort of third her. But not like how Maya is her clone. Like, Sarah's background explains why she's like that. That would be explained in another chapter.

Reviews are greatly appreciated.

-RozaCourt