I reached out and steadied him. "Nate? Nate! What happened?!" I asked worried as I held him close. I placed my ear to his chest and tried to listen to his pulse. It was still steady and strong.

"I-I-" He broke off.

"What is it, Nate?" I urged him to continue as I feared for his life. He reeked of blood and I kept thinking where his wounds could be. Nate started to mumble something that I could hear. "What?" I asked. My voice almost broke.

I heard him taking a deep breath. "I said you smell so good. Can't we stay like this forever?"

It took me a while to process things, but finally I got to my senses. I kicked him in the groin, making him lose his grip on me before I slammed the door to his face and glared at it.

That bastard! It was all a joke!! And to think that I was worried.

Nate was persistent as he knocked on the door. "Hey, I'm sorry. I was just kidding." I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Come on, Princess. Can't you take a joke?"

I opened the door again and glared at Nate. I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at his appearance. He was indeed covered in red. "Seriously, Nate. Sometimes, you take your jokes too far." I chastised him. "Look you even put fake blood on yourself."

"About that..." Nate looked away laughing nervously. "It's actually real blood. Animal blood that is. Look. I learned how to skin a squirrel!" Nate brought out a cloth and started to unfold it revealing a dead and skinned squirrel. He looks so happy and proud as he raised it.

My skin crawled at the sight and I could feel my face scrunch up in disgust. "Ugh!" I stepped back and slammed the door once again at his face.

"Princess? Hey! Princess, open the door!!" Nate yelled from the other side while knocking.

"You are so disgusting, Nate! Why would you even bring that here?"

"I was trying to learn how to skin so the next time we travel we can hunt and actually get to eat it!" He said. "And I was hoping that you can come along so we can learn together. Pleaaaassseeee?"

"Not a chance!" I growled at the door.

"Princess." I turned around to see the maids looking at me in concern before glaring at the door. Crap, I forgot about them.

"Would you like us to dispose of that vampire?" There was seriousness in their words that I actually felt afraid for Nate. These guys are serious!

"Princeeessssss Rosalie Amber Staaaaaann, COME WITH MEEEEEEEE~!" Nate wasn't helping either especially since he started singing. Like wow, where did he get all that energy from?

"Princess." Called the maids.

"Princcceesss~!" And you can probably guess who that was.

Great, now I have to make a decision. It's either staying here with the creepy maids or going with Nate and learning how to skin poor animals.

But let's be honest here, I would rather go along with Nate than stay here with this trio.

Sighing I turned back to the door and opened it. "Smelly prin- Oh there you are!" Nate started yelling insults at the door, but stopped as soon as he saw me. "Thought you would never open it again." He grinned.

"Shut up." I told him as I excused myself before closing the door behind me. I looked at Nate. "And did you just insult me?"

Nate scratched the back of his head and muttered, "Well you wouldn't open the door so - ow!!" Nate hissed when I hit him.

"Well I guess I deserve that. Shall we get going?"

"Yeah yeah. Lead the way, Vampy."

As Nate brought me outside of the palace kitchen. It was a wide vacant space and I could see that he really took his practice seriously with the basket full of dead squirrels, a knife, another empty basket, and a steel container smeared with blood.

"Wow, Nate. You sure did a number on this...."

"Hey, I only have 10 squirrels." He pouted. He looks ridiculous that I chuckled.

"Who taught you?"

"The cooks at the palace." He answered. "They taught me how so now I am helping them skin these squirrels for our dinner tonight." He grinned proudly. He started rolling up his sleeve and headed for the basket of squirrels. He took one out and crouched on the ground. He picked up the knife and I had to avert my gaze as he started to skin it.

I pictured some big dogs catching squirrels and cooking it to eat. Squirrels. Typical dog behavior... I shook the thought away as I was starting to laugh. I can't tease them. Not with all the beast men around.

"Um...." I said uneasily and stood behind his crouched form. "W-Where do I start?" I asked even though I have no desire skinning a squirrel. Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.

I heard Nate laugh over the sound of ripping and cutting. "I take it back, princess. I don't want to teach you." He said and gave me a side glance "Wouldn't want to mess your pretty dress."

"What?" I looked at him - or at least the back of his head. "Then why did you call me out here?"

He shrugged. "When I saw the relief on your face the moment you opened that door, I had a feeling that you wanted to get out of that room. Maids giving you a hard time?"

"Sort of." I said and tried to peak at what he was doing.

"Don't look. I'm gutting it." He said and I could just hear him taking out its organs and felt my stomach churn at the thought.

"So," I said trying to distract myself. "Why on earth would you volunteer to learn skinning amongst our group? Don't you find it....gross? I mean, for a prince like yourself you should have thought how gruesome this is."

I notice Nate pausing and breathing in. He dumped the newly skinned squirrel to the empty basket beside him. "Well I am a vampire and I have done more gruesome things compared to this." He said shortly.

Silence.

I froze at his statement; wondering what he meant. Nate must have sensed my uneasiness because he started to change the subject. "By the way, princess, PRINCE Ace and I went to town today to have a look."

I raised an eyebrow at him until I remembered that he couldn't see it. "The town? Didn't they chase you off like they did earlier?"

Nate chuckled. "Yeah, but this time they didn't chase us." He said and started to get a new squirrel. "There's a chair over there that you can sit on." He pointed to his right where I saw a wooden chair 10 feet from his.

Walking towards it, I dragged it until I sat just a few feet behind Nate. "Why would you go to the town?" I asked after the long pause.

"Well it wasn't really my idea." He grunted as he tried to work while talking. "It was more of PRINCE Ace's idea. I was just tagging along."

"Ace? Why would that lazy bookworm want to go?"

"I don't really understand, but the reason why PRINCE Ace wandered the town was to investigate why the townspeople chased us." I could hear the ripping of flesh from Nate so I continued talking.

"But we already knew that, remember? They said so themselves." I reminded him.

"True, but the elven PRINCE thinks there's another reason so he investigated. And guess what? There was another reason."

Another ripping sound. "Turns out the people don't really hate the twins. In fact they love them."

"What do you mean love them? Vandalizing a roof is a good thing?"

Tossing it to the basket and getting a new one from the other. "Actually when you think about it, it is actually a good thing. When a prince such as them vandalizes the roof of their citizen and complains to the king and queen, what do you think happens?"

I thought about it and came up with a simple answer. "They provide them a new one?"

"Exactly!" said Nate and let out a curse when a few blood splashed on his shirt. "You see the roof that the twins vandalized was actually old and rusty. It wouldn't even hold off the rain. The broken fences? It started to splinter. Stolen shoes? It's old and couldn't be much of a use. Shaved tree? There was a poisonous snake living there and kids tend to play on it's branches. Broken door? It was already broken so they broke it even more. As for the daughter having a crush on one of them? I don't even know. Point is, they are trying to help their people in their own way by pretending to damage things that are already broken so their parents could replace them."

I started playing with my fingers as I took it all in. "I did not expect that." I whispered. "But are you sure that it's not just a coincidence? If it isn't then why did the people chase us?"

"It wasn't a coincidence. Everything that they broke is either harmful for the people or is already broken. As for why they chase them, they sense that they don't want their gratitude or for them to treat them differently. So the people are just playing along and pretending to chase them off as if they hate them, but in reality it is actually the opposite."

"Again. Wow." I let out a breath and gaze up. "What you just said there is actually hard to believe."

Nate laughed and I heard the basket rustle, he's probably done with another one. "Yeah. I was even shocked. I thought they might have done something worse - like maybe they secretly have a kid there or something."

I looked at Nate's back and smirked. "Nate, you are more likely to do that sort of stuff."

He gasped. "Now I am terribly offended, princess!!" He said as he faked hurt by placing a hand to his chest and cursing when he remembered that his hand was covered in blood. I laughed. "But they kind of earn PRINCE Ace's respect there." He said. "I saw his eyes soften for a bit."

I grinned. "Well if that's the case then they will become great kings some day."

"True. But the problem is, there is only one king." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but they have the same faces." We laughed a little bit before Nate turned his head to me. His forehead and cheek is smeared with blood as he regarded me curiously.

"By the way, princess. How can you determine which twin is which?" He asked.

I winked and gave him a mischievous smile. "It's a secret."

Nate scoffed and whisked his hand towards me and splashed the ground beneath my feet with blood. I quickly moved away and glared at him. "Hey!!" Despite my glare, Nate only laughed. After our trip to Nate's place, it seems that he and I have become a bit closer.

After Nate finished skinning the squirrels and handing them to the cook he pulled up another chair and sat beside me. We continued to talk the whole afternoon about random stuff like politics, flowers, kinds of snoring, 10 ways to die from heels, and just Nate being vain.

"I still don't understand the girls in this kingdom. How can they resist my charm?" Wondered Nate.

"The fact that you are a vampire could be it." I said in a duh tone.

"The fact that I am a vampire should be the reason to drool on. I mean come on. Strength, speed, charm, abs what more could they ask for?!"

"A werewolf?" I offered. Enjoying the pissed off look on Nate's face.

"But I have abs! Hard abs."

"A big stomach?" I snickered.

Nate pointed a glare on me. "These babies are not fat!" Nate got up from his seat. "Feel it."

"What?"

"Feel it." There was a determined look on his face as he said it. "These abs are real hard core muscle that I worked really hard for! I will not let you insult them. Feel it. Come on."

He started towards me. I got up from my seat as I backed up. "Woah woah easy there, Fangaroo. You have a great build. Okay. I don't have to feel it."

Nate wasn't convinced as he stared at me blankly. "In that case tell me I'm sexy."

"Wha-"

"Say it." He said and lifted up his shirt and exposed his (no joke) 8 pack abs. "Say it to them."

"Geez. You are one sick vampire, Nate." I told him and he just grinned. "But alright. You are - cough - sexy." That seemed to satisfy him.

Would it bother him that I was looking at the bird on the tree behind him and not his abs? No, I guess not. As long as he won't know.

As soon as we noticed that the sun was starting to set, Nate excused himself to go and wash off. I, on the other hand, decided to stay outside for a little longer as I watched the sun descend. My gaze fell into the forest and I suddenly remembered the strange little wolf earlier. Ren said that it was a spirit that I should stay away from. Well it's not like I was the one approaching it in the first place. It's more like it's following us.

But what could a wolf spirit want? Even going out of it's way to follow us here? At the sudden thought, the hairs on my arm started to stand.

Don't tell me....are we being hunted? Hunted by a wolf spirit!? Oh crap no!! I hate ghosts! Sure I watch zombies but ghosts are a different story.

The light started to fade and I started to panic. Great! Just great, Rose. Scare yourself in the dark. Yeah. That should help! Idiot.

I started to get up and head back to the palace when I heard something rustle behind me. I froze. I looked back towards the bushes but there was nothing there. I laughed nervously. "M-Must be the wind." I told myself and trudged forward.

There was the rustle again and this time I did not dare to look. It was getting dark out and I hurried my pace to get to the door. Once I got there I finally let out a sigh of relief.

Good. I'm safe. I thought until I tried the door handle. It didn't budge. Huh?

I tried it again. Pulling and kicking but it did not open. My heart slammed against my rib cage when I heard the rustle again. It was getting louder. I gulped and started to knock on the door. "Hello? Open up!! Quickly.....QUICKLY!!" I was sweating even though it was cold.

I was breathing heavily especially since I started to hear a couple of footsteps behind me. "I SAID OPEN UP!!" I yelled in panic.

I should have gone with Nate when he left! Now the ghost is going to get me.

"Damn it!" I rattled the door.

Suddenly, I felt hands grab my shoulder and felt a hot breath on my neck. "Well don't you look tasty?"

"Should we have a bite?"

I screamed and started throwing my fist in every direction. My eyes were closed but I felt that I made contact. Twice.