5. The one to make Lucien disappear

5

THE ONE TO MAKE LUCIEN DISAPPEAR

I have a brief moment of panic when I wake up at five o'clock that evening. It takes me a few moments to realize where I am.

I'm not in my little apartment and I'm not eight hours late for work.

Sitting up, I look around the large room that my dad brought me to this morning. I'm pretty sure my entire apartment could fit in this one bedroom. While this place is nice, I can't help the feeling of homesickness. I loved my tiny apartment. Sure, there was a stain on the carpet in the living room that I could never clean up from the previous tenants and my upstairs neighbor liked to listen to music a little too loud, but it was mine. This place doesn't feel like mine . Because it's not.

The bedroom is nice. The furniture fits the vibe of the rest of the rest of the house and the sheets are the softest I've ever felt in my life. As I push myself off the bed to check out the rest of my room, my feet hit a plush rug. My feet feel like they're stepping onto a cloud.

The first thing I check out is the walk-in closet. I was too tired to look last night. When I walk in, my eyes bulge at the size of the closet. When Eden said she hired somebody to buy me clothes, I didn't realize she bought enough clothes to fill a closet bigger than my old bedroom in my apartment. I could wear a different outfit every day for three years and never wear the same things twice.

I grab the first outfit that catches my eye—a nice dress. I have no idea what is appropriate to wear, I just have to hope somebody will tell me if I do something wrong. With my clothes in hand, I head to the large bathroom to get ready for the day. Or, er, the night. Wow, that's going to be difficult to get used to. Not the sleep schedule, that's the easy part. Just getting used to the idea that everybody else is on the same schedule.

After getting a shower and getting ready for the night, I venture into the hallway. I have no idea where I'm going, so I wander around until a servant finds me and leads me toward the dining room. When I get there, Eden and Dad are already there. Julien comes sauntering in moments after me. A servant offers me a wine glass full of blood and I shake my head.

"Can I get water instead?" I ask.

The servant's eyes widen slightly, but he gives me a half bow before offering the glass to Julien. He takes it and readily takes a sip, sighing after he swallows.

"That's good stuff." Julien motions toward the glass. "Are you sure you don't want some?"

I wrinkle my nose. "Quite sure."

Dad moves in his chair, capturing my attention. "Madeline, when you said you can't stomach blood, what did you mean by that? Have you ever even tried it?"

I nod. "I have tried it—multiple times in my life. It's not unpalatable or anything—it tastes fine. It just always gives me horrible stomach cramps and I end up throwing it up later."

He frowns at my response. "So what do you do for sustenance?"

"Food," I answer. "Human food. I also have to take iron supplements."

Dad taps his finger on his wineglass, furrowing his brows as if he's considering something. Whatever it is he's thinking, he keeps it to himself as servants bring out plates of food for us.

"I didn't know full blooded vampires ate food," I comment, as I look at Julien's plate that is overflowing with bacon.

Julien gives me a look. "Do you know anything about vampires at all?"

I shrug one shoulder. "Just what I learned in school. Considering I went to an incubi and succubi exclusive school, I didn't learn much."

He cringes. "Ew, how awful. I can't imagine being stuck going to high school with a bunch of puffed up airheads."

" Julien ," Eden scolds.

I grin at her. "It's fine. Julien's description is quite daft—there were a bunch of puffed up airheads."

Julien snorts out a laugh and shoots his mom a smirk before stuffing a piece of bacon in his mouth. I turn my attention to my breakfast.

"I'll alert the kitchen staff that you need a high iron diet," Dad says. "In the meanwhile, tonight you will be meeting your advisors."

I sit up straighter. "Advisors?"

"Well, they are Lucien's advisors, but they have agreed to help you get settled. I'm hoping that you will get along well with them—they have trained for this their entire life. They will be a big help to you."

"Shouldn't you warn her about Kaine?" Julien mumbles around a mouthful of bacon.

Eden shoots her younger son a scolding look. "Julien Scott, do not talk with food in your mouth."

He grins at Eden and her face softens immediately. At that moment, I realize that Julien could get away with murder. When he sees me watching him, he smirks and wiggles his eyebrows.

"You're excessively spoiled, aren't you?" I ask him.

"Me?" He puts a hand to his chest, giving me an innocent look.

"Very spoiled," Dad responds.

Eden chuckles. "He's our baby. Of course, he's spoiled."

I don't comment on the fact that Julien is a twenty one year old ‘baby.'

"Like you're not spoiled. Weren't you an only child?" Julien asks.

Eden stiffens.

I clear my throat. "I was an only child, but I have a very large family. Most of my aunts and uncles have about ten kids each."

Julien's eyes widen. "Wow. Succubi and incubi certainly like to procreate."

Dad chokes on his sip of blood. "Julien!"

I can't help but laugh. When I start laughing, Julien does too. Eden looks between Julien and me and her face lights up, her lips curling upward.

Dad shakes his head. "The two of you are going to gang up against me, aren't you?"

Julien scoffs. "Would I do something like that?"

But from the way Dad sighs, I'm pretty sure the answer is a solid yes . Yes, he absolutely would do something like that.

After breakfast, Dad leads me away from the dining hall and toward a large room on the main floor. There is a long, wooden conference table inside. It's similar to the tables we had at work, but these are in the house .

Does that mean we don't have to leave the house for work? That might be nice considering it's below freezing and snowing.

I work to keep my breathing even when I see the group of men sitting at the table.

Does Lucien not have any women advisors?

"This is her ?" A snooty voice asks.

Dad pulls me to his side, keeping a hand on my arm. "This is my daughter, Madeline."

" She's half succubus?"

This time, I get a good look at who the snooty voice is attached to. And of course, since life isn't fair, the guy is gorgeous. He has short brown hair and dazzling glacier blue eyes. Even with the scowl on his face, I can see that his features would put any incubus to shame. It's probably a good thing that he already hates me because if he didn't I might be in trouble.

"Yes, my daughter is a hybrid and yes her mother is a succubus," Dad says, his voice growing darker. "And she is not only a princess of the succubi and incubi, but she is your princess and heir to my throne until Lucien returns. Even when he returns, she's still my spare and you will respect her."

Until Lucien returns? What, do they think he's just off on a vacation? Did he run away? I need to find somebody I can ask about this, but I don't want to bring it up with Julien or Eden and something tells me my dad won't be forthright with me about it.

Dad turns to me, a smile back on his lips. "Madeline, these are your advisors." He points to each one, introducing me to them. I'm not surprised by their ages, most of them are close to my dad's age, except for one. The last one that is introduced, is the one who is still scowling at me.

"And this is Kaine. He is going to be the one to help you get settled. If you have any questions at all, he will be the one to ask. He's going to be at your side until you're more comfortable," Dad says.

I swallow hard.

Him?

The grumpy one?

Great .

After that, Dad dismisses Kaine and me while he finishes the meeting. Apparently, Kaine has a lot to catch me up on. I'd argue if it wasn't true—I know next to nothing about vampires let alone my father's clan. Part of me wishes I hadn't been so stubborn in my refusal to learn about vampires as a teenager. I failed that exam on purpose.

Kaine refuses to look at me as he leads me away from the meeting room. He huffs loudly like he's upset that I'm causing him to be excluded from the meeting. Or maybe he's upset about his glorified babysitting position.

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to get up the courage to start the conversation. "So… you're kind of young to be an advisor."

He turns those icy blue eyes on me. "Lucien is my best friend," he says like that explains it.

"That's… nice," I say, for lack of anything better to vocalize.

Kaine stops in the middle of the corridor and turns to face me. His jaw is tight and his eyes are hooded as he looks at me. "I know that you were the one to make Lucien disappear."

"Wh-wh-what?" I manage to choke out.

He growls in my face like an angry wolf shifter. "And when my king finds evidence of your wrongdoings, I will deal with you."

I stand there in complete shock. "I didn't even know I had a brother before my father came to get me a couple of days ago. You've read me wrong. I didn't have anything to do with Lucien disappearing."

Kaine takes a menacing step forward. "I don't believe you."

I stand there and stare into Kaine's glacier blue eyes, not knowing what to say or do. He looks at me for a moment longer before he faces forward again. He puts his hand on the small of my back to urge me forward and I allow him to lead me. No matter how we feel about one another, my dad gave him a command. He has to show me the ropes and teach me about vampire politics.

This is going to be a miserable few days, I can already tell.

"Are you sure somebody else can't help me?" I ask tentatively, carefully keeping my eyes on the hallway ahead of us so I can't see his glower. "My dad would understand if you're too upset over Lucien's disappearance."

He snorts. "As if you haven't already killed him."

I stop abruptly and turn to him. " Why would I want to kill my brother?"

He lifts one eyebrow as he boldly stares back. "You wanted to be heir. The quickest way to achieve that was to get rid of the competition."

"I don't want to be heir," I protest. "I was content to work for my grandfather and live in my small apartment. I didn't even know I had any brothers until my dad showed up the night before last and asked me to come with him. I even turned him down at first because I don't want to be heir."

"Your grandfather…" his voice trails off. "King Bennett?"

I nod, confirming.

He crosses his arms over his chest. "What did you do for him?"

My cheeks turn bright red. "Just whatever he needed."

Which was most of the time just fetching food, and coffee, and taking notes. But Kaine doesn't need to know that.

"You had a lot of cousins between you and your grandfather's throne," Kaine says, still eying me suspiciously.

"Every time my aunt and uncle had another baby, I celebrated the fact that there was one more person between me and the throne." I don't break eye contact as I tell him the truth. "I hate politics. And I might not know much about vampires, but I do know you have excellent hearing. You can tell if I'm lying by listening to my heartbeat."

He shakes his head. "Anybody can learn how to mask it. For all I know, you've been training for this your whole life. Maybe you're a pathological liar as well as a murderer."

I roll my eyes, walking forward again. "Let's get this training session over with. Teach me about vampires or whatever."

Kaine paces beside me. "I thought succubi were supposed to be charming."

"They are. I'm a hybrid, remember? That particular trait skipped me." I cross my arms over my chest, hoping he'll drop the subject. "I am well aware of the fact that I'm not charming or attractive. So can we skip the lectures about my lack of typical succubi beauty and focus on vampires?"

"I didn't say you were unattractive. Whoever told you that lied."

I turn my head to him and raise an eyebrow. "Careful, Kaine. That sounded an awful lot like a compliment. You wouldn't want to compliment a serial killer, would you?"

He huffs. "You're annoying."

I put a hand to my chest and bat my eyelashes at him. "Now you're flirting. How sweet. I'm flattered."

He ignores me as he opens the door to a room and motions for me to walk inside first.

The room is large with two wooden desks sitting side by side with just enough space to walk between them. The back wall is lined with bookshelves that are full of thick, leather bound books. Something tells me those books aren't the entertaining kind.

"Let's start with the basics. What do you know about vampire politics?" Kaine slides into a chair across from me.

"Uh, well…" I rub a hand on the back of my neck. "I know you have multiple monarchs."

He nods. "Yes."

"And each monarch rules over their clan."

"Yes," he agrees.

"And I know that there is an appointed monarch that is voted on every couple of years that handles all vampire politics with other supernaturals, but that doesn't give them any more or less power over the other monarchs," I say. "And that about twenty four years ago, my father was the one voted to be in charge. Which is why I exist."

He nods, waiting for me to continue.

"That's it. That's all I know."

He sighs. "That's not a lot."

I shrug. "I was never interested in learning about vampires—I thought my father had abandoned me. I didn't know that wasn't true until my dad showed up at my apartment."

"Fair enough," he says. "So, I know you're a hybrid. I get more vampire vibes off of you than I do succubus. What kind of powers do you have?"

I was hoping this wouldn't come up. "I have strength and speed, like a vampire, but I can't drink blood."

He lifts an eyebrow at that. "No blood?"

I shake my head.

"And what about succubus powers?" he asks.

I shake my head again. "I don't have any."

He looks at me for a very long moment before nodding. "Very well. And what about compulsion?"

"I can compel other succubi, incubi, and humans. I imagine I can do the same to vampires, though I haven't tested it." My royal blood makes it so I can compel other supernaturals. I always thought it strange that my compulsion was so strong when some of my cousins who are further up the line of succession couldn't. I guess it was because my royal blood comes from both sides.

"Try it on me, we will find out," Kaine says.

My eyes widen. "You want me to compel you?"

He nods. "Though you should know that cameras are recording us. I will be watching back later to make sure you didn't try anything nefarious."

I roll my eyes, no longer feeling conflicted about compelling him. I lean forward, making the necessary eye contact, and I let my magic connect to him. "Don't insult me for the next thirty minutes and forget I said this."

He blinks. "Are you going to do it?"

"Already done." I grin at him.

He furrows his brows. "What did you tell me to do?"

"I guess you'll find out when you check the cameras later."

To my surprise, he doesn't scowl at me.

Huh, I guess my compulsion worked.