Excerpt: When Lies Became Real

If Griffin had known that this would’ve happened, he would have stayed in bed this morning. The minute he had stepped out of his Mercedes Benz 2009 SL65 AMG Coupe/Roadster (whose sweet exterior was coloured an elegant ‘Palladium Silver’ and had taken him about 3 weeks to make his mind up on its colour) and literally set his foot in the harbour, he was instantly surrounded by a volley of guards. About to wave them off, Griffin suddenly realized that this set of guards were not his own but that of his younger friend’s. It was actually that friend’s cruise ship, in name, that he had been about to board.

'What did you do now, Solan?' Griffin thought as the guards informed him with panicked expressions on their charge’s startling disappearance. Sighing, he listened to their plights and silently noted that each one of them had lost a bit of their composure since the last time he had set eyes upon them. It was kind of ironic to see them stare into the face of death without flinching (which may sometimes be the situation when it considered Solan) and then see them like this, practically scared out of their wits when the person they were responsible in protecting went missing. Let’s just say that Solan’s father, a formidable foe indeed as he holds a great position of power as the leader of a huge conglomerate corporation, was strangely over-protective of his only son which was quite understandable if not for the fact that as vampires, they were virtually indestructible to anything but each other. And Solan was…..rather vicious when riled up. So, all the while knowing that these lower class vampires were worried about Solan, Griffin felt a pang of sympathy for them because at this moment, their lives were at stake too because that same over-protective father, however cold Griffin thought he was) would literally kill anyone who would harm his son….or in the guards’ case, those who failed to look after him properly. Grimacing at the information that was bombarding his ears, Griffin squinted at the cruise ship up ahead and tried to imagine what his friends was doing at this very moment while he was suffering. Whatever it was, he hoped he would come back soon.

'Itchy…' A lone figure weaved through the many boxes and over-sized pieces of luggage that were being carried onto the ship by the cargo workers. The workers saw him and paid no mind. Of course they wouldn’t recognize him now…Pleased with the disguise he had cooked up while at home, Solan lovingly patted the duffel bag that was hanging off his shoulder that had the clothes he had left his family’s mansion in. By now, they were crumpled and had crinkles everywhere but he didn’t care. It wasn’t his job to care about small details like that. That was the maids’ job. Irritated by how his ear itched, he scratched it skeptically and frowned a little, just enough to turn his innocently handsome features sullen. “Who’s talking about me?” He wondered aloud to no one in particular.

He looked around himself warily as he continued to walk, constantly checking behind him to see if any of the guards that his father had appointed were following him. Satisfied upon seeing no one was after him, Solan looked back to where he was walking….and nearly fell over a sitting girl who was leaning against a pile of boxes with her back near the cruise ship’s cargo hold. They just stared at each other and to the curious passerby, it would seem that the two of them were having a staring contest.

Finally, Solan decides to speak up and asked, “Why aren’t you carrying something?”

“I don’t want to.” The girl replied in an indignant manner, her eyes narrowing in indignation. A second later, it dawned on Solan that he was looking down upon a vampire much like himself…meaning that….she was an aristocrat? But no, even despite that, she should not have responded that way to him.

'Does she even know who I am?' Solan asked himself in his mind, a dumbfounded look on his face. “You aren’t allowed to speak to me like that.” He informed her, trying to covertly hint at his own status in their society’s chain of command.

“Really?” The girl inquired derisively, cocking her head to its side mockingly. Lights danced in her too blue eyes and he marveled at them for a split second. Solan restrained an irritated grunt at her answer and settled for clearing his throat. He said such a stupid thing.

'Of course she doesn’t recognize me! I’m wearing a disguise remember? Stupid me….'

“You don’t even work here.” Solan tried to cover up his blunder and chose to look her up and down with shameless gall. Solan found that he had no interests in girls at that point of his life, even though he was supposedly at that “time” where puberty was taking its toll on males, both human and vampire.

“I’m wearing a suit, aren’t I?” She retorted in an even tone. Still, no recognition flitted across her eyes.

'Does she really want to get in trouble?' Solan thought, mentally shaking his head. But she amused him. No one had talked to him like this before. And then without warning, the girl stood up and brushed off imaginary dust from her simply designed suit. She held his gaze while doing so and then said the most unusual thing he had heard in his entire life.

“I’ll give you a strawberry Pocky pack if you pretend you didn’t see me.”