Riley Adams

Kate chuckled. “Yes, he’s a noble.” Sometimes she forgot about how much Riley didn’t know about her father, she truly had closed herself of all those memories and haven’t shared much with Riley. “Once his mother passed away, his father had a hard time accepting it.” That was sugar coding, to say the least. “After losing most of the things, your father had to start working, and life wasn’t that easy for him.” Which was why Kate fell in love with him, he wasn’t a perfect dress noble, he was fun to be around, he understood what truly mattered in life. 

She took a deep breath and nodded it. “You’re right. Why did I raise you to be this smart.” Kate joked around, it wouldn’t be easy, but the truth was always better. “One thing I know is that he’s going to love you.” She said with a warm smile, he might, he shock to learn that he had a daughter, and a little sad that he didn’t got to see her growing up, but he would love Riley no matter what.

Riley frowned, not sure what to make of the man’s background. In a way, he might have been better off without a father and she was reminded of how much a father would impact her life. Sure, she was old enough to have more control but he was her father. What did that even mean at this age? Riley had been fine without a father and she was happy so she wasn’t sure she even wanted one to shake things up. Now that the possibility was more real, she was regretting not putting more thought into it.

Kate was happy to see Riley surprise. “He is.” Kate nodded. “As much as I would love to take credit for finding him, turns out he was on the island already.” She told Riley. “I saw him at the festival, he’s working as a mechanic now.” Which explained why they haven’t bumped into each other sooner, if he was working at a club, Riley would have seen him already. “No, he’s not here right now.” Kate told Riley, letting the hammer go and grabbing the hand of her daughter, she looked into her eyes. “I need you to remember what I told you before, he doesn’t remember us.” Kate said with a sad look, taking with Darius had been very hard on her and the memory still hurt. “I kinda lied and told him he looked like someone I knew.” Kate almost never took the easy way out, this was actually the first time she did because every time she opened her mouth, the words didn’t come out. “But we can tell him if you want… I… I can tell him.” Or them, she wanted Riley to have a say in this. “What you want to do now, is up to you.”

Riley scrunched her nose a bit at the mechanic part. What could she say? She was a spoiled snob. “Isn’t he a noble though?” Did he do it as a hobby? Riley didn’t even bring her car to a mechanic let alone get her hands dirty with maintaining one. Her mani-pedis didn’t maintain themselves after all and the last thing they needed was engine grease coating them.

When Kate refocused her attention, she nodded. “I remember, mom. I don’t know him anyway so it’s probably easier for me to deal with it.” He was a stranger in every way to her so their dynamic wouldn’t be that out of the ordinary if they met now. Her mom was the one with all the heart-wrenching memories of him. They had to be painful because it wasn’t like her mom to dance around the subject if politics weren’t involved. 

Katherine smiled, she was always glad to spend some time with Riley, even being sure that this was the last place her daughter wanted to be, as much as Kate would love to take a break to check on everyone and go see how much Riley had changed Jeremiah’s place, this was more effective.

“I will buy you as many dresses as you want.” Kate said, one of the things she loved to do was to shop with Riley, her daughter had an impeccable fashion sense after all. “And maybe we can get you something for you to meet your father.”

“Your mother is a great woman, took a long time for David to even be willing to see that. I’m glad she was there for you at least.” And he meant that, knowing his soon to be wife wouldn’t have turned out the way she did if her upbringing had been different. Jer smiled, taking a sip from his glass while he listened to her speak, in a way he felt relieved she saw it the same way he did. 

Due to their difference in age, he wasn’t sure at first how much they[’d be able to see eye to eye on things, but so far it just seemed to work out somehow. Though he hated to admit it, David and Kate might have been right with this match, as he knew it could’ve been much worse. “We’ll see how far that will be in the future, might be sooner than you think. Oh yes, you’re such a child.” He couldn’t help but smirk, just mocking her right back. “I have no worries about you being a good mother one day though, seeing how you are with your little brother. It’s like it just comes to you naturally. First time I held a baby I was afraid to even move, David is lucky I didn’t accidentally drop him on his head.” He said with a chuckle, taking some more of his plate that he had now filled with food and making sure the glasses remained filled. 

Riley scrunched her face, kind of skeptical. “No offence, but sometimes I think David would have faired better if someone dropped him on his head a few times.” It wasn’t to say that the man was a bad person, he just had a few traits that reflected his status. He was a prince through and through, the good and the bad. There was a darkness that came from power, even her mother and her had some of it in them. David wasn’t afraid to show it though. She heard that it was more of a reflection of his father and upbringing than anything else. 

Why Monogamy? “I’m…clingy. I don’t like the idea of someone swiping him out from under me.” He felt his cheeks flush, “Pun intended, I suppose. He’s always been my person. He’s always been my best friend. I’ve never considered not seeing like…one person at a time.” 

A loveless marriage? Sounded…awful to him, he couldn’t help the face he made. “See that’s what I don’t understand. If vampires are looking for population- right? That’s why you do the whole arranged marriage thing- why not just….play the field. Wouldn’t your chances be higher if everyone was doing everyone?” He paused, “You’d at-least be in happy partnerships. Not weird…controlling….dictator-esque engagements?” 

Max definitely had a point. If it was all about procreation and population, it would make more sense for any male to spread his seed everywhere. “Unfortunately, we are also old-fashioned snobby creatures and value our money and titles. It’s all about making sure our bloodlines remain strong and our children inherit our prestige.” She gestured for him to enter one of the rooms. Along the wall were various portraits. “These are most of the pureblood vampires of the past... or at least the closest image of them we have.” Her grandfather had been ruling quite some time and there weren’t many paintings that survived that long so all of them were from memory. “They were painted by the King himself.”

“Probably best for the island as a whole.” She teased, grinning over at her, and as Riley continued to speak Rhea couldn’t help but let out a little laugh, snorting in disbelief at the words coming out of the other’s mouth. “We come from such wildly different worlds..” decades ago she was living on the streets. A year ago she barely could afford renting a shitty little studio. And now here she was- room and board for free, a place of her own, a steady job… for the first time life was decent for her. Whereas decent was probably base-level for everything Riley’d ever done in her life. “You wouldn’t have lasted a day in my life before here.”

Even as she spoke though, her tone was light and easy, not judging because..who was she to judge at this point? She was sure if she lived hundreds of years she’d start amassing wealth too. And if she did, she wasn’t going to exactly be modest about it. “Trust me, I’m starting to learn that.” The comment was out of her mouth before she could realize, and she felt a little pang because she genuinely was falling in love with little Lily. If only the rest of her life could slot into place so efficiently… Shoving the thoughts away, Rhea shook her head a bit before turning to Riley, focusing on the here and now, “So, aside from drinks, I seem to recall you saying you’d want to serve me other things. Care to give a girl a little hint? Or are you going to make me wait until you’ve got me all liquored up, princess?” official or not, the title worked.

Riley didn’t quite understand what Rhea meant by how she was starting to learn that but she shook it off. Perhaps it was just personal experience knowing how hard it was to control being a vampire overall, let alone a child one. The conversation swiftly changed, however, so Riley didn’t have a chance to ask anyway. 

At her question, Riley quirked her brow. “Just enough so that the experience is heightened.” Riley didn’t believe in nor did she need to get people drunk to fall into bed with her but alcohol made things fun. She leaned forward, her finger gently tracing over Rhea’s thigh as she whispered, “After all, I wouldn’t want you to forget me in the morning.” Not that anyone could forget her, even if they were blackout drunk… at least that’s what Riley hoped. 

“Surprise me.” Meena grinned slightly, having composed herself a bit, although she still felt a bit shy. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew the other. It was likely she did, as she’d met to many people during her travels. She’d run into the same people several times, even some on the island! But there was something about the other that made her feel like the other should be set apart from everyone else, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “You have a name?” 

“That’s what I said to Cyrus!” He was near pointing at her, smiling a bit more. He was too happy to be right- to have someone on his side- to care about what she had said . “Add in that i’m stupidly in love with my best friend, and let me know what you think about the prince’s insecurity.” He stood, brushing off his pants and approaching the other. “I am so down- we can talk more too, if you’d like?” 

*

Riley was pleased that Max seemed to understand that Octavia was tragically unavailable and had someone else to occupy his attention. She wouldn’t blame him if he did have a thing for Octavia. She’s a gorgeous princess and there was something intimate about sharing one’s blood, but she was far too reckless and powerful to safeguard any romantic relationship with a human. 

When he accepted her offer, she nodded, pleased. “I would love that.”

She began to lead him out of the room and towards some of the more interesting ones. “About your best friend. Why can’t you just tell them you’re in love with them?” she asked. “No offence, but you humans don’t have long to live and even have less time when you’re attractive so dilly dallying around the topic does you no favours. The answer seems stupidly easy to me.” She could never understand why people these days were so bad at communicating. 

Max sat up straight, the way she spoke was telling in itself for him. As he had heard at some of the public events he’s now attended. Well that and- the last time he meant someone spontaneously in the castle was Octavia’s fiance. 

“Oh- yea.” He paused, smiling a little bit more. “I’m Max, I’m a friend to princess Octavia. It’s lovely to meet you, miss.” Friend was an enough, right? She wouldn’t need to know about the walking blood bag part of his title. WIth a bow of his head out of respect. He had become much more aware of how he came across to the others in the castle. Less work for the princess in the long run.  “Princess Octavia’s in a meeting, she said I could just hang out.” 

*

Max... Now where had she heard that name before? It took her a few seconds but it finally sank in and Riley’s eyes widened. “So you’re the Max that’s driving Cyrus mad.” She narrowed her eyes and took him in. “Passably handsome. Cutely nerdy. Tragically non-threatening... I don’t see it.” Riley didn’t understand how Cyrus could even remotely find this boy threatening to him. She shook her head and sighed. Frankly, she had been expecting some adonis brought to life and this was a disappointment. 

“Well, Max, why don’t I give you a tour instead? I’m bored and surely you won’t deny a lady like me some entertainment?” If it wasn’t the looks, there had to be something else to it, right? Riley would figure it out. She had no plans on confronting either of them about it but she was too curious to ignore the opportunity.