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A tall glass of blood floated toward Louis and landed with a thud in front of him.
“Your drink, Highness,” Pucker said, waving his phantom wand. “Courtesy of the house.”
Louis lifted the glass and sniffed, his smile morphing to a snarl, his vampire fangs showing and glinting in the light. I leaned back in the chair.
“This is chicken blood. It isn’t even fresh!” he growled. “Fuck Killian!”
I wrinkled my nose. It did smell bad.
“Another point taken from the House of Vampires for disrespect toward the heir of the host house,” Pucker chimed in. “And you have three minutes left, Prince Louis.”
Louis shoved down his temper and pushed the glass of chicken blood away from him. I could see that he put in great effort not to hurl the glass of blood at Pucker or the wall.
He retracted his fangs and smiled at me to show how harmless he was, but a gentleman vampire didn’t fit in with his brand. I had intimate experience with his fangs when they broke my skin and pierced the veins in my neck.
“Well, Barbie,” he said softly, which didn’t sound like his usual self either. “I’d rather go high, even when Killian chose to go low and play dirty. I refuse to stoop to his level.”
I looked bored and fought to keep my other eye open to peer at him.
“Good to see you’re getting better, Barbie. Have I ever told you that you’re beautiful?”
“You haven’t, sir,” I said. “You only told me that I smelled delicious, then you sank your big fangs into my neck when I was your squire.”
He blinked.
“Anyway, Sir Louis, did you bring me a gift?”
He looked confused, so I decided to help him out.
“They say in this realm, a man must give a woman nice gifts when he visits her with intentions. Since this is a date, what gift did you bring me?”
He stared at me, taken aback. “No female has ever asked me for a gift before, especially not directly. I guess they dared not.”
“Their loss,” I said in displeasure. “But I’m a woman of my own mind. I know what I want, and I go for it.”
An incredulous expression flitted by his eyes. For a tick, he was speechless, before a grin broke out on his face. “That’s the little Bob I knew. Killian might call you Barbie, but he can never tame you. No one can.”
“Now we know what kind of man Prince Louis is,” Pucker chimed in, planting his butt on the table near us. “He didn’t bring you a gift, did he? While he’s a cheap date, he bad-mouths our prince.”
Louis was about to backhand Pucker, but then he dropped his hand, remembering my protectiveness over Pucker.
I thinned my lips. “I just thought it was a custom in the realm to pay respect to one’s date.”
“Who told you about this non-existent custom?” Louis asked.
“Sir Killian,” I lied easily.
“I knew it was that asshole’s doing!” Louis growled before mellowing his tone and schooling his expression to gaze at me. “I apologize, Barbie, for my neglect, since Killian didn’t inform me that this was supposed to be a speed date and a gift was expected. In fact, he’s been trying to block me?—”
‘My, my, Prince Louis,” Pucker cut in. “Since you admitted your error sincerely, I’ll let you in on a little secret as to what kind of gifts you should bring Barbie. Do not bring flowers, as flowers are everywhere in Mist of Cinder. They cost nothing. Chocolates won’t gain you any favor either. Barbie can have them free in the house. She also secretly raided two bakery shops and hoarded two boxes of strawberry chocolates in her room.” I gave him a glare, but he focused on the vampire. “Don’t be like those cheap fools who think a single flower can get them into a chick’s pants. Times have changed. In today’s market, where there are no brakes on inflation, my lady would appreciate jewelry, especially diamonds, for a gift. She’ll be in need of them if she has to flee the realm in a hurry.”
Both Louis and I stared at him incredulously, though for different reasons.
“When she leaves,” Pucker said with determination, “I’ll go with her!”
Then, out of the blue, an ear-piercing alarm blared in the room. The vampire prince and I jumped out of our seats. My heart rammed into my rib cage. My foot dropped from the edge of the chair. Louis shot to his feet, baring his fangs and positioning himself in front of me on the other side of the enormous table, ready to take on any threat and defend me.
“Prince Louis,” Pucker said with glee, and bowed deeply, “I’m afraid that your five minutes is up. Prince Silas of the House of Shifters is next!”
