Page 70 of A Vampire's Pain
“It turned out to be a good decision though,” he said.
“Sure, kidnapping me was a good decision.”
“Are you or are you not my queen now?” he asked.
Lara acted like she needed to think about it, and Dominic rolled his eyes, while Valeri and I laughed.
“Fine, I guess I am,” Lara said, yet I could see the love she had for Dominic in her eyes.
“See?” Dominic said. “It was a good decision.”
Chapter 29
-Valeri-
Lara and I were out shopping in stores owned by vampires since they were the only ones staying open in the middle of the night. I was happy to be out with her. I had never really had friends, and now I was out shopping with the queen! I couldn’t believe it, and I kept glancing over at Lara as if she might disappear, and I would find myself all alone, but she never did.
“How about this?” Lara said and held up a shirt.
I just nodded. I was happy just being out with her. I didn’t care much about getting more clothes. I had lots of clothes at home. I understood I couldn’t really go back and get it right now, but I did have it.
“It’s pretty,” I said.
“You don’t sound overly happy though,” she chuckled and put it away.
I shrugged a little.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“No, the opposite actually.”
“What?” she asked, and I smiled at her over the clothing rack.
“I just … I have never gone out shopping with someone,” I confessed.
“Never?!”
I shook my head, and Lara smiled a big smile.
“Me neither.”
“What?!”
She chuckled a little, as she heard how shocked I was, but how could I not? Lara was so sweet, and she didn’t act like she was better than everyone else now that she was queen. She was so down to earth, and it was very refreshing, so I couldn’t understand why she had never gone out shopping.
“Before I met Dominic I was pretty much on the run,” she told me.
“You were?”
She nodded.
“My stepdad had a gambling addiction and he ended up borrowing money from the wrong people. When he couldn’t pay … I … I became the thing he could pay with,” she said.
“No!”
I stared at her shocked, and it seemed my reaction to this was a lot stronger than hers, but I knew what it was like being ripped away from everything you knew and then used over and over for others' entertainment. It still filled me with so much hatred and anger just thinking about it, and then hearing Lara had almost ended up in the same way, just made me even angrier.
