Page 4 of Royal Bite
“Thanks for doing that,” Jack called out from behind the check-in counter. His dark mop of hair was uncombed and fell forward into his eyes.
“No problem.” Stormey nodded to him and headed past the counter toward the employee lounge where she could hang her coat back up. She had worked at the Jade Inn for a few years now and was thankful for the inn. It allowed her to have a small home of her own, allowed her to feed and dress herself.
Life since the war had been hard. It had certainly taken its toll on the world. Life as humans knew it had changed the moment vampires presented themselves. Humans who were unaware that others existed amongst them were cocky and thought they would be able to eradicate the vampires.
The humans had their asses handed to them.
Vampires were the superior beings. They were masterful hunters and didn’t hide the fact that humans were their prey.
Many humans had lost their families to the war. The human governments put a gun in any able-bodied human’s hand and sent them off to fight. The draft had been unfair and was forced. Many humans tried to outrun being sent to war. Some were successful in evading their imposed duty while others weren’t. The loss of human life had been astounding. The numbers were depressing but were on the rise again. As with any deadly event in history, there was a boom in the number of children born.
Stormey dreamed of a day where she would find that special someone in her life.
She arrived at the lounge and shucked off her coat and hung it up. The air in the hotel was chilly. She doubted Jack would want to turn up the heat in the areas that were designed for employees. She changed her shoes and moved to the closet where her cart was. She was sure Jack had a few rooms that needed to be cleaned from late checkouts.
She got her assignment and saw that she only had one room to clean.
“Room two thirty-seven. Perfect,” she muttered. She pushed her cart and headed over to the service elevators. It wouldn’t take her long to clean this room. It was a standard, and by the time she was done, it would be time for her to clock out.
She arrived at her destination and knocked on the door.
“Housekeeping,” she called out. Even though Jack had listed this room as one that needed cleaning, it didn’t mean the people had actually left. Hearing no sounds from the other side of the door, she opened it with her key. Stormey wrinkled her nose at the stale air that greeted her. She turned back to her cart and grabbed some gloves and slid them on.
She entered the room and immediately found the remote. She turned the television on so she could watch the news while she cleaned. She was unable to afford a television of her own, so she got all of her news at work. There were a few shows on that she was guilty of watching when they were on while she worked. Also, she took advantage of being able to watch some of the old movies that were streamed.
She flipped through the channels and didn’t see any of the news programs on. She found a movie and set the remote down on the dresser. She hadn’t seen this one before. She spun around and got to work.
Even with the TV to keep her company, her mind wandered. She still couldn’t get the image of Hegna Riskel fighting the rogues out of her mind. Stormey would admit she had a little crush on the princess who was the warden who oversaw her area.
There was just something so fascinating about the vampire. She was tall, beautiful, strong, and quite older than Stormey’s age of thirty-five. The princess was said to be around two hundred and thirty-six years old.
“She looks good for an old woman.” Stormey chuckled. She stripped the bed of its sheets and blankets while trying to not think of what a few of the stains she spotted were. She became lost in her thoughts while working. She hummed to herself, occasionally glancing at the television.
“She’s my mate,” the man on the screen swore.
Stormey froze in place, her attention now on the television. The movie that was playing just so happened to be an old vampire flick from the twentieth century. The man, a vampire, had dark hair, pale skin, and he fought against another trying to get to a woman. He was frantic and desperate.
How ironic that this movie played. The real vampires of the world were all in search of their mates. It was one of the reasons they had presented themselves. Aside from securing more food for their people, they were in search of their fated mates. Stormey found it fascinating that the vampires had come up with a way to find them. They had used science and designed a test that would connect them with their intended.
The draft.
This was instilled by the ruling vampires once they came into power on this planet. Humans, when called, were to submit a blood sample. A simple test where the results would determine if the donor had a vampire mate. If the human matched to a vampire, then they would be shipped off to the vampire.
Not all humans wanted this. There were plenty of protests from groups on both sides, human and vampire. These anti-vampire groups felt that humans should not be forced to become a vampire’s mate or food. According to them, it was against human rights to make them submit to a vampire.
Then there were the anti-human groups that felt vampires should not take humans as their mates. They were against a mixing of the species. Mating with humans and producing children was an abomination, and the vampire race should remain pure.
Stormey had heard both arguments. There was no way to get away from it. Both sides were fierce in their protests, and one couldn’t go anywhere without running into one side voicing their disgust.
Stormey was captivated by the movie on the screen. She knew what she wanted.
She wanted to belong to a vampire.
Her heart quickened just thinking about it.
Who did she dream of belonging to?
None other than Hegna Riskel.
