Page 46 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

Group chats were perhaps my least favorite part of texting, for the short time I took part in it, and I had only been in one.

I wasn't even sure how I'd gotten added to it, but it was for people who sold things at a farmer's market that I'd taken my pottery to a bunch of times. The number of texts had been atrocious. It definitely contributed to getting rid of my phone for good.

That, and the phone bill.

I plopped down in a chair next to Kat's. She offered me a to-go container of pancakes that hadn't been touched yet. I accepted it without hesitation, dumping syrup all over them and cutting in immediately.

"Do you want coffee?" she checked. "I make a mean latte."

"God, yes," I said around a mouthful of food.

"Don't offer fallen angels coffee, Kitten," Callum grumbled.

"If she's making a torturous fae king coffee, she can make it for a fallen angel too," I countered.

"That's a good point," Kat agreed. "Caramel or vanilla?"

"Both?"

She gave me a nod that said she understood and appreciated the request.

"What do you want, Ophelia?" Callum asked.

"I'm out of money. Before you complain, you gave me hardly anything last year, and I stretched it very well. All I've eaten is cup noodles. It's been a serious test for my digestive system, but I think I passed. I have no debt, and I'm not interested in it. I just need money for food while I fix the prison."

Kat snorted, but the fancy coffee machine on her kitchen counter softened it.

Callum eyed me suspiciously. "What else is wrong with the prison?"

"How long do you have?"

He grimaced. "How badly did you fuck it up?"

"There are a hundred more people I need to break out."

Callum blinked. "Excuse me?"

"A hundred. There are other issues, too. Smaller ones. But still issues. Like, all the vampires down there are constantly starving. Who knew? Anyway, I have more power now, so I think I can fix it and break the innocent people out. Probably. Depending on what, exactly, is broken."

"Probably? How long has it been used as a weapon?" Callum demanded.

"Thirty years."

"It's a fucking miracle no one has tried to use it on my family, then."

"Maybe they tried, and failed?"

Kat caught my attention, and made a slicing motion over her neck, telling me to cut it off.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway. I'm going to fix it. If I can't, I'll take it down and rebuild it somehow. But I need to eat while I figure it out, and I currently only have ninety-four cents. Last time I went to the grocery store, that wasn't even enough to buy a gumball. Inflation sucks, man. Gets to the best of us."

He narrowed his eyes at me "You're mated to Dante Dusk, and you're here to ask me for money? While telling me that anyone in my family could've easily been thrown in your prison for the past thirty years?"

"Is that his last name? I didn't know." I took another bite of my pancake.

Kat coughed in the kitchen. Definitely trying to hide a laugh.

"You realize that many of your mate's businesses compete directly with mine, right? And that a significant number of them do better than mine?"