I was frozen in shock at Ethan's words. He had to be joking, there was absolutely no way that creatures such as vampires would exist. I tried to push him away from me but he remained in the same position as before; hands on my waist and lips on my wounded finger. "Let me go !" I behowled but his grip on my waist only tightened more. Wincing, I tried to come up with a plan to run away in my head. The only problem was, I did not know where I was. "You are obviously crazy, going around and saying you are the king of vampires and what not !" I spat out, earning a deep chuckle in response. Ethan backed away from me a little so that he could stare into my eyes. I turned my head away from him, not having enough courage to face him.

"I am not crazy. You can ask Stephan if you want to. He is going to be here soon since he must've noticed we're gone." I gulped and glanced around the room before properly facing the dark-haired boy in front of me. He backed away. as if undestanding that I was way too uncomfortable at the distance between us. "I didn't mean to come across as rude." He whispered, his voice almost incoherent. Ethan seemed almost apologetic for his way of acting. He just could not express himself and I understood it. Being born with everything given on a golden platter could affect the way you see the world.

"What is the meaning of this Ethan ?" A deep growl which I assumed to come from Stephan broke the silence of the room. He strode towards us, anger and worry prevailing in his hazel eyes. His eyes did not leave Ethan as he did so. They both had some kind of invisible rivalry and tension between them; for what reason, I did not know. Stephan grabbed my hand, snatching me away from the claws of the vampire king. "How did you get here ?" I questioned, the whole vampire thing was making sense little by little. I absolutely did not want to believe it like a fool but facts were put in front of me and I could not ignore them.

"By car." My best friend replied and I scoffed. Having known Stephan for almost twenty years, I knew how he would act if he was lying. He would bite his lips, look anywhere but at me and his voice would quiver a little bit. "Be honest Stephan. We've known each other for so many years." I explained. I wanted to hear the truth from Stephan himself so that it would be more easy for me to believe about the existence of vampires. Stephan glanced at Ethan once again, not knowing what to say and the vampire king sighed.

"Alicia, I um I am a vampire." Stephan stuttered at first but finally managed to complete his sentence. I smiled, showing him that I was not angry. It did hurt me that my best friend kept such a secret from me for twenty long years and it did spike my heart that I had to hear it from another person but I was sure Stephan had his reasons. I went toward him, pulling him into a hug and patting his back comfortingly. Stephan's muscles first tensed when I touched him but he quickly relaxed.

"Enough." Ethan spat, breaking our hug and standing between us. It was almost as if he was angry or jealous even. He glared at Stephan before finally speaking up again."I am thinking of taking Alicia as my new blood bank." Ethan said and snaked his hands around mine, pulling me closer to his body. Sthephan appeared completely frozen at those words. He was trying to protest but I guessed he could not as Ethan was his king. I, in comparison, felt completely indifferent towards the statement. I weirdly knew that I could not just be forced into being his blod bank or anything else.

"Ethan, I understand that you are the vampire king but it is a rule that high-ranked vampires do not hurt each others families. I consider Alicia as my family. Please rethink your decision." Begged Stephan. Something ticked inside of me as I heard the desperation in his voice. Before I could say any words in protest, Ethan was already speaking again. "Fine. However, I have a condition." Stephan immediately nooded, pursing his lips while listening to his superior. The vampire smirked at the gesture.

"If I ever meet Alicia Smith again, no matter where it is, I will without any hesitation claim her as mine. Is that agreed by the both of you ?" He asked, his eyes moving from me to Stephan continously. "Yes I agree." My best friend said, teeth gritting and jaw clenched close. He was pissed off and was trying his best to control his overwhelming anger. Ethan's eyes landed on me, seemingly waiting for a positive answer. "Why should I say yes ?" I replied, grinning. Stephan sighed next to me and facepalmed himself. I was being childish but I just could not understand why I should obey every single word of that man.

"If you didn't know, you are the king of vampires. I am not a blood-sucker. I do not follow your petty orders." I spat, not at all liking Ethan's attitude. The King simply scoffed, walking towards me. The heels of his loafers knocking against the parquet floor. He took my chin between his fingers, making me look up into his dark eyes. I froze at the beauty of them. They were so enticing, so alluring yet so cold.

"You don't understand Alicia. Either you go away right now or you stay and become mine forever. There is no in between. I am not only the King of vampires but also a CEO in the human world. You can definitely make out what I am saying can't you ?" He explains, his gaze not breaking away. I also did not budge, maintaining my grounds.

"Let me rephrase. Accept my offer or lose your job, house and everything else you own. Stephan won't help you. Order of the King." He added, a cocky smile plastered on his slender lips. I was not left with any choice. I did not even have anything to contemplate on so I just answered. "Fine I agree."

I yawned and lied comfortably in the couch of the staff room. A week had passed since the whole Ethan situation. Stephan wanted to stop me from going out to work or even stepping out of the house to buy some groceries but he gradually let go of me. He saw that Ethan would not do anything evil or immoral to try to meet me, capture me or even emprison me in his house. It was not like I obeyed Sthephan anyways. I sneaked out every day to go to work and I was proud of myself. I had to take care of myself. Nobody else would. I cannot just depend on other people or vampires.

"Alicia you need to help Mr Hernández with his luggages." My collegue, Luis ordered, entering the staff room. Sighing due to tiredness, I got up on the balls of my feet and continued with my weakening job. I walked to the reception and was met with Mr Hernández who was already going up to the elevator. Squinting, I tried to figure out whether I have seen Mr Hernández somewhere else before. His overall silhouette and body form seemed oddly familiar and ominous to me.

"Mr Hernández, please follow me." I bowed as a sign of politeness every hotelier had and took his luggages in my hands. We both entered the elevator. In this hotel, I learnt that the rich and influencial people did not like to be stared at or scrutinized. The new workers who did so would most likely end up being scolded by our manager or fired depending on the level of the influencer. After a few seconds, we arrived to the floor where Mr Hernández was staying. I placed his lugguage in front of his door, waiting for him to unlock it. I stoof there for a few minutes and the man was not moving. I gulped, turning around to glance at him but instead, a sharp stinging pain was felt on my forearm.The scream I tried to let out was muffled by the man's large hands. My whole body felt heavy and my ears were stinging. I had been drugged.