“Are you sure this is what I should be wearing to a basketball game?” I
asked Amylia as I walked out of her massive built in wardrobe. “It looks
like something I should be wearing to a rock concert not a basketball
game.”
“Of course it is Brianna; you look beautiful and Nathaniel better stay
on his game once he sees you,” she replied, sitting on her bed.
She had me dressed in black skinny jeans, white shirt, Converse
sneakers and a leather jacket that stopped at my mid-section. Amylia
had also gone out on a limit with eyeliner and mascara, making sure
that I had smokey eyes to match what I was wearing and to make my
green eyes pop more prominently.
“Are Chase and Lucy joining us?” I asked.
“Yes they are. Chase is meeting us at the school and reserving seats
for all of us so that is one thing that we don’t have to worry about,” she
replied and grabbed her lip gloss.
“Are you both ready?” James asked, sticking his head into the room
and looking between the two of us.
“Of course we are,” Amylia replied and grabbed her jacket.
“About time,” Jack said when we entered the living room. “Nathaniel
just messaged me wondering where we all were, even though we have
over two hours before the game even starts.”
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“Well text Nathaniel and tell him to stop worrying as we are on our
way,” Amylia replied and walked through the door that led to the gar-
age.
I looked at James who rolled his eyes and followed Amylia. Bethany
linked arms with me and led me to her car, while Jack grabbed the keys.
James and Amylia had gone by the time we got to Beth’s car.
“Who was driving?” I asked.
“James was driving, but Nathaniel is getting impatient so we have to
hurry,” Jack replied.
“Patience will never be Nathaniel’s strong point,” Bethany sighed.
“Now, now dear, we raised him as best as we could after he was
turned. He just can’t help that he got his mother’s temper and fathers
lack of patience in his human life that he will never be able to get rid of.
That is with him for all eternity,” Jack said and unlocked the car.
That was a little bit of information that I was keeping in my brain
about Nathaniel’s birth parents. He never said much about them and I
had always wondered why that was the case. Maybe it was the relation-
ship he had with them that didn’t make him want to talk about them, or
maybe it was something else that was tearing him apart on the inside.
The main thing that hadn’t left my mind was his deceased child that he
never got to hold when it was born.
“Brianna, you are looking beautiful as always,” Beth said, smiling at
me.
“Thank you,” I replied with a smile. “I am just a bit worried about the
attention I will bring on myself because of Amylia and her scheming
ways to manipulate me into doing things her way.”
“That is nothing to be worried about. You should be proud that you
can pull off the look Amylia dressed you in. She tried it on me about ten
years back and I couldn’t pull it off no matter how hard she tried,” Beth
replied, getting in the passenger seat.
“Yes I remember that look. I think we have the photos somewhere in
my office that I should pull out for a photo night,” Jack replied, winking
at me.
I smiled and got in the backseat, fastening my seatbelt. Jack got in
the driver’s seat and started the car. Once he put it in drive, he took off
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like a mad man. I didn’t know how the cars could handle being driven so
fast but then knowing the Pryor’s, they would have rigged them so they
could drive them at speeds that would no doubt cause major death and
destruction if a human was behind the wheel. I immediately banished
that thought from my mind.
“Nathaniel will be pacing the car park until he sees our car pull up,”
Jack said half way to Colac.
“Hopefully James and Amylia will be able to keep him cool, calm and
collected until we arrive,” Beth replied.
“What time does the actual game start?” I asked.
“Seven it starts,” Jack said, glancing at me through the revision mir-
ror. “We will get there about five thirty so Nathaniel will have an hour
and a half to calm back down and focus his mind on the game.”
“He won’t be calm, Jack. I know my vampire son and if anything, he
will be worse as he has to deal with Jason playing on his team and the
two of the trying to impress Brianna. It’s a battle between the two of
them to see who can impress her the most.”
The rest of the car ride was quiet and when we pulled up to the
school grounds, it looked like James was physically holding Nathaniel
back while Amylia was shooting someone dirty looks that would even
make me cringe. I looked over to the other side of the car park, and saw
that Jason’s friends were holding him back. Something must have hap-
pened between the two of them again.
I got out of the car and walked over to Nathaniel, a concerned look
on my face. He tensed when he saw someone walking over to him but
then physically relaxed once he saw it was me approaching.
“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between the three of them.
“Jason said some not nice words about you near Nathaniel as he
knew that he would be able to hear and that made Nathaniel livid and
almost caused bloodshed in the car park, even though I wouldn’t mind
seeing that brat be a blood drained corpse so we wouldn’t have to deal
with the brat ever again,” Amylia replied, her eyes turning into the look
of a vampire.
“Amylia!” I yelled, clicking my fingers in front of her, making her snap
out of it and quickly looking around to make sure that no one had seen
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anything. We didn’t need outsiders knowing that they were technically
dead but still alive as immortals.
“Oh sorry; it’s been a while since I had those thoughts.”
“Believe me, I would love to see him in the same position as well,
but sometimes, all dreams can’t come true. Now, what did he say about
me?”
“He called you a gold digger and that you were only with Nathaniel
because of the money and that you didn’t love him or want him physi-
cally and that money was the main reason why you were only still with
Nathaniel, but he didn’t count on our vampiric hearing and catching
every single word that was said,” James said, glaring over at Jason.
“Drain the life out of him,” I said, turning around so I could look at
him.
“When?” Amylia asked a smile in her voice.
I didn’t reply. I walked over to Jason and tapped him on the shoul-
der, making me turn around.
“What the hell-Brianna! Why don’t you look lovely tonight,” Jason
said, touching my arm.
“How dare you call me a gold digger and that I am on with Nathaniel
because of the money! I’m not Augusta! That two faced cow would only
be with him for the money!” I yelled.
“I did not say such a thing! Who told you that?” he asked, but I could
tell straight away that he was lying.
“James told me!” I said, feeling my anger boil.
“He was lying! I would never say anything like that to a girl that is as
beautiful as you,” Jason said, and tried to touch my face.
“Don’t touch me Jason or I will make sure that you won’t be one
hundred percent when you play later,” I hissed.
“Come one Brianna don’t be like that. You want me and I want you
so why don’t you just admit that?” he tried again, getting in my personal
space.
It was too late. I raised my hand and slapped him right across the
face, as hard as I could. He placed his hand over his cheek and slowly
turned his head so he could look at me, shocked.
“Stay the hell away from because I won’t hesitate to get a restraining
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order placed out on you or worse,” I said and walked away from him
with my head held high.
“Did you just do what I think you did?” James asked when I stopped
in front of them.
“And what was that?” I asked.
“Slapped him across the face?” Amylia said, pride in her voice.
“Of course I did. He lied straight to my face and then tried to seduce
me, which didn’t work.”
“He did what?” Nathaniel asked, walking back over to where we
were standing.
“Nate,” I breathed.
“He tried to seduce you?” he growled.
“And he was hopeless at doing so. Don’t go and make this worse. For
me,” I pleaded, placing my hand on his arm.
Nathaniel looked between me and Jason before nodding and grab-
bing my hand, leading me inside where the game was being held. I soon
realised that he was leading me into the locker rooms. I didn’t want to
come in here. What if others were in here and saw me come in?
“Why are you taking me here?” I asked, stopping outside of the
door.
“So we can talk while I am getting changed,” he replied, and tugged
on my hand, but I didn’t move from my spot.
“I’m not going in there Nathaniel,” I said, standing my ground.
“Why not?”
“Because this is just for guys and if you look me up and down, you
will see I am not a guy. I am a girl and Amylia made sure that it was on
show in this outfit,” I said, moving my hands up and down my body.
“Yes that I can see, and if I didn’t have a game and wasn’t raised to
treat a woman like a lady, I promise you, I would have my wicked way
with you in the change rooms,” Nathaniel whispered, his eyes darkening
as he looked me up and down.
“Take a cold shower and get changed. I am going to find my seat,” I
said, taking my hand out of his and walking away, leaving my vampire
standing there.
I made my way to the basketball court and found where my adopted
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vampire family were sitting. I walked over to them and sat down next to
Lucinda, who had a strange look on her face.
“Are you okay?” I asked, catching her attention.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I am just thinking,” she replied, but she sounded off.
I looked at her concerned but I didn’t press the issue. I knew she
would talk to me when she wanted to. I glanced over at Chase and saw
that he had a strange look on his face also. It was like something had
happened between them and I had no idea what. Then it came to me.
Chase was a vampire and there was a very high chance that he hadn’t
told Lucinda about it yet.
“Wow, weird vibe. What’s going on?” Amylia asked, sitting down
next to me and looking at Lucinda and Chase.
“Nothing is going on,” Chase replied.
“Oh really? The mood between you and Lucinda is telling me some-
thing else,” Amylia pressed.
“Amylia, leave it,” Chase warned, glaring at her.
“Fine, but I want answers Chase so you better have a good excuse
why you are acting like you are now. It sort of reminds me of how you
were acting when Brianna entered our lives. Jealous over the fact Na-
thaniel was happy and you couldn’t understand why someone so aver-
age and plain like Brianna was making him this happy,” Amylia said,
making me look at Chase.
“Plain?” I asked, looking over at Chase, and feeling hurt. I was start-
ing to class Chase as a brother figure like James and finding out some-
thing like that was making me hurt.
“At the time I thought you were. I didn’t realise how happy you were
making Nathaniel,” Chase said, putting his hands up in defence.
I narrowed my eyes and shook my head at Chase. I didn’t know what
to say about this little bit of information that Amylia brung out into the
open.
“Don’t worry about it Brianna. You can get your revenge on Chase
one day for what he said,” James said, smiling at me.
“Do I have to plead my case? I will explain why another time, but
now, we are here to see Nathaniel play a game and to put Jason in his
place,” Chase said, putting an end to this argument.
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“Jason has already been put in his place,” Amylia said, smirking.
“What did you do?” Beth asked, sounding concerned.
“Not a lot. I just gave him a stern warning about staying away from
all of us if he knew what was better for him. I think he shall listen to my
words,” she replied, looking at her vampire mother.
“You better not have made this worse for Nathaniel, Amylia,” Chase
spoke up.
“Everything will work out perfectly. Nothing like a couple of threats
that had him scared to do the trick and make him listen,” Amylia said
quietly, glaring down at Chase.
“What does she mean by that?” Lucinda asked me.
“It’s nothing worry about,” I replied, looking at her. “Jason is some-
one that can’t take a hint so we have to use drastic measures to get out
point across.”
“Something isn’t adding up though,” she said.
“You will find out what we are talking about if you ever speak to Ja-
son. Let’s just hope that it never happens for your sake.” I didn’t want to
think of the consequences that Chase would inflict.
I looked down to see a pair of high heels appear. I looked up to see
Augusta standing there with a cold look on her face and her arms
crossed.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“Why the hell are you here? You weren’t invited to this game. It was
invites only and I don’t remember giving you one,” Augusta said, trying
to be scaring and intimidating but it wasn’t working. After being around
vampires and seeing what they could do, she had nothing on them. It
was time to fight fire with fire.
“I believe I am here to watch my boyfriend play basketball,” I said,
making her even angrier.
“You aren’t to sit with the Pryor’s either. I am, so move from your
spot and go sit over with the other losers on the other side of the court.
This side is only for the rich people and you aren’t one of them!” she
hissed.
“Alright Augie, that is enough,” James said, making her look over at
him with a flirty look in her eyes.
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“Enough of what James?” she asked, trying to sound sultry but in-
stead sounded like she had smoked too many cigarettes.
James got up from where he was sitting and stood in front of Augus-
ta, making her take a step back from his height and the fact he had a
scary look on his face. “Enough of the way you are treating Brianna. She
is a part of this family while you aren’t so you have no right to come
along and tell her what is right in your eyes so you can be around us
every single second you get. We don’t even like you Augusta, so start to
realise that for once in your life.”
“I am like you though! I have money and beauty while Brianna has
no money and sure as hell has no beauty!” Augusta cried, stamping her
foot.
“If I were you, I would stop talking and walk away from us this sec-
ond. I don’t believe in violence against women, but right now, I wouldn’t
hesitate to slap across your face,” James said, venom lacing his voice.
“James baby, you wouldn’t do that. We both know there is a spark
between us,” Augusta said, making Amylia slowly get up when she
placed her skinny hand on James’ chest. I grabbed Amylia’s arm and
forced her to sit back down before this ended badly for both Augusta
and the secret that the Pryor’s were hiding from everyone.
“I think you should leave,” I said.
“I don’t have to listen to you,” she spat, looking over at me.
“Nathaniel and the team are coming out,” Lucinda said, making Au-
gusta turn around so she could look at them. “Wow, look at them all.
They are look like they are ready to kill.”
“Jason is still shooting daggers into Nathaniel’s back,” I said, looking
between the two of them.
“You go date Jason and I will date Nathaniel,” Augusta said, looking
at me like she wanted to kill me. “Then all that will stop and I will get to
be happy while you will get to be miserable. I know how Jason treats
girls and you deserve to get treated like how he treats people.”
“Oh go jump back on your broom stick and fly back to where you
came from and leave us alone,” I said, getting sick of her attitude.
Augusta’s mouth dropped open with shock while Amylia laughed at
what I said. Beth looked over at me with a smile on her face, while Jack
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tried not to laugh.
“I should slap you clean across your face for saying that Brianna,”
Augusta said.
“I will like to see you try Augusta. I’m sure the Pryor’s wouldn’t hesi-
tate to ruin your life and fire your mother from the chemist,” I said,
knowing that I had won this argument with the queen bitch of the
school.
Augusta narrowed her eyes before turning on her heel and walking
away from us without uttering a single word. James shook his head and
sat back down next to Amylia, but I wasn’t paying any attention to
them. My eyes were glued to Jason, who was looking at Nathaniel with
what appeared to be a hidden motive.
The opposing team came out, making Jason turn his attention from
Nathaniel onto them. Five minutes later, the whistle blew, telling them
that they had one minute left before the actual game started. Nathaniel
glanced up to where I was sitting and I gave him the thumbs up, wishing
him luck for his game.
He smiled before walking over to where his team was huddled. I
didn’t even realise that Beth had vanished until she came back with her
arms full of food that would have cost her a fortune and would have
been enough to raise everyone’s blood sugar and fat levels.
“Brianna, would you like anything? I have enough for everyone,”
Beth said, gesturing to the food she put down on the benches.
“Any hot chips?” I asked quietly, feeling weird for eating this sort of
food in front of vampires and when I wasn’t use to eating it.
“There sure is,” Beth replied, handing them to me with a drink.
“This would have cost you a fortune,” Jack said, grabbing a nacho
and popping it in his mouth.
“Fifty dollars all up,” Beth replied, putting her purse back in her
handbag.
“Pass the hotdog,” James said, stealing a chip off me.
“Get it yourself James and stop taking my food,” I said, slapping his
hand away so he couldn’t steal anymore food from me.
“Please Brianna? Can you get it for me? I’ll be your best friend,”
James said, pouting.
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“Sucking up won’t work on me James,” I said, smiling at him. “Try it
on your fiancée when she comes back from the bathroom.”
“What is James trying out on me?” Amylia asked.
“Sucking up to you,” I replied, quickly looking at her before turning
my attention back to the basketball court.
Five minutes later, the whole Pryor family were up on their feet,
cheering for Nathaniel as he did something which I didn’t know what it
even was. And it seemed that they were the loudest out of everyone
else when Nathaniel’s team scored.
“Come on Brianna!” Amylia exclaimed, pulling me up onto my feet.
“Start cheering for your boyfriend!”
“I’d rather not Amylia,” I said.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because there is enough attention on us right now and I do not re-
ally like it as I know they are staring at me also.”
“You will get used to it after a while Brianna. Everyone always stares
at us when we walk past because of our beauty.”
“I don’t have your beauty though and people still stare at me. They
must be thinking why a freak like me would be hanging around people
like you.”
“Go Nate go!” Chase said making me keep my eyes glued to the
court.
“What’s going on?” I asked Beth, making her look at me.
“If Nathaniel gets this in, they win,” Beth said, smiling at me. “That
reminds me, I need to save some of this food for Nathaniel as he will be
one hungry vampire,” she said very quietly so Lucinda wouldn’t hear.
Nathaniel got the ball in, making the noise in the room become
louder and his teammates, besides Jason gathered around him. I started
to feel like I was suffocating and I knew that I had to get out the room.
“I’m gonna get some air,” I said to Beth and walked down the steps
before she or anyone could say anything to stop me.
I found some benches and sat down on one of them, taking off the
jacket Amylia demanded that I wore tonight and placed it on the seat
next to me. The cold air helped clear the fog that started to invade my
head when I was inside. I was alone for ten minutes before the door
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opened and Nathaniel came outside. He looked around before spotting
me and walked over to where I was sitting in his basketball uniform.
“Hey, I was looking all over for you,” he said.
“I just needed some air,” I replied.
“And you couldn’t have waited until the celebrations finished before
you came out here?” he asked, grabbing my hand and started drawing
patterns on my palm.
“If I stayed in there any longer, I would have fainted. I felt like I
couldn’t breathe and like there was this fog that was entering my head,
making me go all strange,” I explained.
“But it wasn’t hot in there though,” Nathaniel said, sounding con-
cerned.
“I know and that is the crazy thing. I would have expected it if it was
hot, but it wasn’t and I felt...strange.”
“It wasn’t something that you ate that might have made this hap-
pen?” he asked, a look of concentration coming into his face.
“I only had chips and a drink.”
“And anything else throughout the day?” he pressed.
“No and you can take that up with Amylia as she spent most of the
day making sure I looked like I am right now, and I think she forgot that I
needed food.”
“Why didn’t you say anything to her?”
“I didn’t want to ruin her fun but I am feeling better outside than I
was inside.”
“You need food that is healthier for you than hot chips. Come on,”
Nathaniel said, getting up and dragging him up with me.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“We are going to buy you some decent food for you to eat so you
don’t collapse from the lack of nutrition that you haven’t been getting
lately with Amylia stealing you from me without my approval,” he re-
plied, leading me back inside the school. “Let me just get changed out of
these clothes and then we can be on our way.”
“I don’t need you to spend any more money on me,” I said.
“Brianna, don’t argue with me,” Nathaniel warned.
“You are a stubborn vampire, aren’t you?” I asked.
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“And you are a stubborn human,” he said back, smirking.
“Take me home Nathaniel,” I demanded.
“Why?” he asked, sounding confused at my sudden demand.
“I don’t want to be out any longer. I want to go home and crawl into
my own bed,” I said.
“But I thought you were staying at my place?”
“Nate, I want to go home.”
“I don’t want you to go home tonight. I want you to stay with me.”
“Talk to mum about staying the night. All I want to do is sleep in my
own bed tonight and no one else’s.”
“Fine you win Brianna. Wait by the car and I will be back in about ten
minutes,” Nathaniel said, walking into the building.