Page 1 of Married to the Vampire Prince

Chapter One

Grace

“I can’t have ruby blood.” I looked down at my phone on my knees, checking the time.

4:30 pm. The officials from the Estone Testing Facility were supposed to call me with the results of my blood tests by 5 pm. Time flew by excruciatingly slowly when one was waiting for important news.

Mom turned on the old chandelier, brightening our living room. The five imitations of candles set in the structure lit up, easing the darkness of the October dusk just beyond the windows.

Rain clouds had been gathering all day, creating an atmosphere of doom and gloom. The world waited for rain just as I was waiting for information that could change my fate.

“Love,” Dad clapped his hand on his knee, taking my attention away from my anxious thoughts. “Any human can have ruby blood. So it is possible that your blood is special and has the ability to ward off the insanity vampires suffer from when they live for over a hundred years.”

“I’m not special.” I shook my head, the bangs of my long black hair falling into my eyes. I tucked the unruly strands behind my ears. “There hasn’t ever been anybody outside the twenty Families who has tested positive for ruby blood – the blood most delicious to vampires. That reality won’t change today.”

My head hung low, my gaze landing on the gray skirt I was wearing. I gripped a handful of the fabric. Just as the weather was bleak today, so too was the outfit I had chosen to wear.

I wasn’t happy; anxiety and fear were eating at me. Did I want to test positive or negative for ruby blood? My feelings were a storm. I wasn’t even sure what I felt.

The fabric of the skirt was so thin, nearly threadbare from years of wearing the outfit almost every day. My gaze wandered to the old-fashioned carpet that took up our whole floor, marked with holes and frayed edges. I next looked at our mismatched furniture, all acquired from garage sales.

“You are special, my child.” Mom plopped down next to me. The sofa groaned, as if complaining about still being used despite the fact that it was broken and damaged. “You will always be our daughter – the most amazing child in the world.”

I sighed but squeezed her hand as she rested it on my knee. “I love you too.” I put all the warmth I felt towards my parents into words. “I’m afraid of testing positive, but at the same time a part of me wishes I had ruby blood. If I did, a rich vampire noble would take me as his wife and we would never have to worry about having money for food and bills ever again.”

Mom shook her head. “I’d rather you marry someone you love; a good human boy who will help you run the shop when Dad and I are gone.”

I nodded, imagining the future she pictured for me: a good guy who would work alongside me at my parents’ grocery store, a group of happy children to inherit the store from us one day when we were ready. That future didn’t sound bad. Was running the store with that imaginary man and our kids the life I was destined to have?

Would I finally stop feeling like a piece of me was missing if that future came true?

My parents ran a grocery store, a business they loved just as much as they loved me. After graduating from school, I had started working with them as a shop clerk.

The business barely paid for itself, but my parents would never dream of closing the place. They had dedicated their whole lives to the store. They loved chatting with clients every day and selling everyone exactly what they needed. The shop was their pride and joy.

I had recently turned 21; the age at which every human in the Estone Kingdom had to be tested for having ruby blood, a special kind of blood that was highly sought by the vampire nobles. Its magical properties showed up in humans only when we reached that age.

“Of course I want to stay with you and have a life here at the store more than anything.” I straightened the wrinkle I had made in the fabric of my skirt. “But don’t you think it would be good if I had ruby blood? If I married a vampire and solved our monetary problems?”

“We just want you to be happy,” Dad said. “If you have ruby blood and need to leave us, we will accept that outcome. You must find your own path, Grace.”

“It’s not like I’ll have much of a choice. If I test positive for ruby blood today, I’ll have to marry a vampire noble, a stranger, and make the best of things. If I test negative, then my life can just continue as is,” I sighed.

“Don’t worry about us.” Mom squeezed my hand again. “Even if you have to leave us, put your happiness first. You may not be able to marry for love, but love can come to you regardless.”

What was she talking about? Did she really think I could fall in love with a vampire, a man much older than me and so different from a human?

Falling in love with a vampire sounded so bizarre.

I opened my mouth to ask her to elaborate, when the doorbell rang – a screeching sound that made me jump up in my seat. One of these days I would have the hellish devicechanged to something with a soothing melody. Right now the bell announced every guest that came to our house like they were an enemy to be feared and avoided.

“I’ll get the door,” I rose before anybody else could, putting my phone on the coffee table.

I ran to the front door, the floorboards creaking under my feet.

I peeked through a slight crack in the door that would just barely let me see who stood on the other side.

My eyes widened at the sight of a tall man in a black leather jacket and black pants. I opened the door further to get a good look at him.

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