Chapter Nine
“You can?” She asked, suddenly intrigued by the possibility. “And how are you going to manage that? If I don’t marry Fredrick, my mother is going to kill me.”
“Why don’t we go somewhere a bit more private to talk about it?” Kai offered.
Azurdee nodded, following the two men through a series of side roads.
“Where are we going?” She asked once she figured they had ventured too far from the shopping center. She had never been to this part of town before. The buildings all looked rundown and abandoned. There were rats scuttling about on the streets. Kids played with nothing more than rocks and sticks. “Where are we…?”
She stopped, refusing to move another step as she witnessed all the poverty around her. She knew the lesser-class lived modestly, but she had no idea they lived like this.
There was a carcass of some disfigured animal dangerously close to her foot. Noticing it, she jumped away, a small scream emerging from her lips. “I want to leave…”
The men didn’t say anything, they just kept walking, their pace leisurely as if they were perfectly comfortable walking through such a desolate place.
Not wanting to be left behind, Azurdee scrambled after them. “I thought we were going to talk about solving my problem!” She called out, nearly slipping on some unidentifiable sludge that lined the street.
Finally, she managed to catch up, walking next to them, but the brothers still said nothing.
Azurdee started to worry. What if she had been led out here so they could harm her in some way? She clung onto her bags even tighter, fearing the worst.
Finally, they stopped in a small, pathetic garden. At some point, the apple tree probably bore delicious fruit, but now, its last leaf quivered on the branch, despite it being the height of harvest season. It was dying, just like everything else in the neighborhood.
“We just thought we would go someplace where there would be no nobles,” Kai explained.
Azurdee could understand why. This place was a pigsty, but despite this thought, she held her tongue. She had been rude to them once and she didn’t want to do it again.
“Sit down, sit down,” Noah said in a cheerful voice, motioning to the weather-beaten bench nearby. Part of it had been eaten away by termites. The legs were covered in so much rust, it was a miracle that they hadn’t corroded away and collapsed.
“I think I’ll stand…” She said, not wanting to risk such a thing.
“Suit yourself.” Noah shrugged, plopping down on the bench, his arms slung over the back of it.
Awkwardly, Azurdee shuffled from foot to foot, feeling uncomfortable. She rubbed her arms, goosebumps covering her skin.
“Cold?” Kai guessed. Before she could answer him, he shrugged off his long trench coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.
She smiled slightly at his act of kindness, grateful that at least one of the siblings knew a thing or two about manners.
“So, can we talk about your idea? I really need to get home soon…”
Suddenly, Noah flew forward, a deep growl emerging from his throat. A young vampire stood frozen in fear behind Azurdee, the contents of her coin pouch spilling on the ground. Noah picked up the vampire by the scruff of the neck, his teeth barred with anger. “Empty your pockets.” He hissed.
Terrified, the vampire did as he was told, pulling out a few more personal items from his pockets.
“All of it.”
The vampire hesitated, finally pulling out one of Azurdee’s monogrammed handkerchiefs, the same one that had been used during her coming of age ceremony. She had stuffed it in her bag, just to get it out of her sight. Seeing it again made her stomach churn.
“Actually, he can keep that one.” She said, wanting to get rid of it.
The pickpocket ran off with his meager booty, Noah staring him down before he picked up her stuff and returned it to her. “You need to be more aware of your surroundings. I can’t be watching out for you all the time. Of course, if you want to hire me as your personal bodyguard, that’s another story.”
“I can take care of myself,” Azurdee said with her head held high, even though she had come so close to being robbed.
“If you say so.” Noah chuckled, thinking it cute that she thought she was strong enough to defend herself.
A moment of silence passed between them. Azurdee once again shifted from foot to foot, feeling strange being in this neighborhood. She clearly didn’t belong. “Can you two just tell me what your plan is?” She was starting to get desperate at this point.
“As we said before, we’re just as good at taking things as we are at hiding them.”
“What do you mean? How is that going to solve my problem?”
“It’s easy.” Noah butted in. “We take you, then we hide you.”
Azurdee’s eyes grew wide, thinking they had already taken her.
“Don’t look so scared. We haven’t kidnapped you.” Noah assured. “Besides, if we were to hide you, we would do so in a place much nicer than this. We might be lesser vampires, but we’ve done pretty well for ourselves. You might actually like living with us.” He winked, his lips dancing with mischief.
“You want to hide me from my fiancé?”
“That’s the plan.” Noah nodded.
“If we hide you long enough, he’ll be forced to call off the wedding, will he not?” Kai asked, his voice stoic.
“I guess… but I doubt you two would do this for me free of charge. What do you want in return?” She asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“Oh… nothing. We’re just trying to perform our good deed for the year.” Noah flashed his fangs, before he reclined back even further, his expression carefree. “After all, it’s not like you can force true love.”