Whose Room?!

Flickering candlelight cast large, dancing shadows over the wall as Misa rested against the headboard of her bed. She drank in the words of the book she read, hearing more than just the silence that accompanied the darkness of her room. There were shouts in her head, theme songs and sound effects in her ears. A movie about vampires preying on unsuspecting humans as if they were walking bags of blood played behind her eyes, and Misa was lost in all of it.

After a long day at work--standing all day, trying to keep the engagement of a classroom of ten-year-olds with the attention span of fish--she was finally in her comfort zone. 

She had her feet crossed at the ankles and her neck supported by the donut-shaped travel pillow she'd bought because, unfortunately, she lived in her dreams. Misa's heart constantly carried her someplace else, but her feet (and job) kept her firmly planted at home, reading books to offer her the next best escape. Beside her on the nightstand was a still steaming cup of hot chocolate set atop a mug warmer and next to a jar full of peppermints. It was the completion to her Me Time setup.

Without losing her rhythm, Misa reached over and plucked a peppermint from the jar, popping it into her mouth as her eyes widened in response to the Sir Fegan plunging a wooden stake through his own--

Just then, her bedroom door flung open, and Misa's eyes tore from her book to see a man marching straight into the room. His eyes were wild and angry; his hair, a tantalizing shade of midnight blue and pulled back into a sleek ponytail that hung down his back, whipped hard when he made eye contact with Misa who sat slack jawed on the bed.

Misa, twenty-five and single, lived alone. Very alone. Like, 'never had anyone over because she never wanted to clean her dirty apartment' alone. So, she screamed bloody murder at the strange man who had just stormed uninvited into her bedroom.

"Ahhh! Oh my, God! Go way! Who are you, how did you get into my house!? You better get out now before I call the cops!" Misa was trying to scramble to a kneeling position on her bed while looking frantically for her cell phone, throwing all her covers here and there because she couldn't find it. 

Eventually, she gave up and chucked a couple of pillows--She wondered when ever did she have so many pillows? There were like nine of them--at the man who still stood at the foot of her bed, gawking at her like she was the madwoman who had burst into his home! 

"Get out! GET. OUT!" Misa chucked another of the multitude of pillows and moved over to grab the mug of hot chocolate on the nightstand. She gripped the handle so hard, her hand shook. It was also very possible that she was just scared shitless. "I-I'll throw this hot chocolate, I tell you. I'll do it. St-Stay away from me." She warned the man.

He peered at her through dark bangs that reached down to mid-eye level, revealing an eye that seemed to have a yellowish ring around the pupil. He had the gaze of a man in power, who sought results and accepted no excuses. A man without a sense of humor.

Misa's least favorite type of man. She suddenly felt renewed resolve to dowsing him with scalding hot chocolate if push comes to shove, having been slightly thrown off by his handsome face and dapper appearance.

"That's not hot chocolate." The man spoke in a voice so deep and commanding it shot a ripple of goosebumps across the nape of Misa's neck. 

Her hand shaking well beyond its normal limits, Misa stuttered, "Wh-Wha-What do you mean?" She peeked before waiting for an answer. Sure enough, the beloved hot chocolate Misa had prepared for herself before she'd started reading had suddenly become a mug of steaming hot tea. Her eyes widened as her head spun in confusion. "What?" She whispered, "How?!"

"How is it jasmine tea?" The man said, his voice noticeably closer than before.

Misa whipped her attention back to the intruder and without hesitation thrust the mug of tea at the main's mysterious and handsome face. He had repositioned himself to right-side post of the bed--which seemed considerably larger now that Misa noticed it. 

The man slashed his hand across the air before him just as the hot tea was a centimeter from touching his face. To Misa's utter shock, the liquid evaporated into steam right there and the whole ordeal seemed as if it had never happened. Misa, her eyes growing teary, dropped the mug with a thunk against the carpeted floor and scooted away from the stranger as he rounded the bed, moving closer once more.

"St-Stay awa--"

"Who are you and what are you doing in my chambers? In my bed, human?" The man demanded.

"What? No!" Misa cried, shaking her head ferociously, flinging the tears from her wide eyes. As she yelled, "This! This is my room," she looked around the bedroom, giving it a good once over. 

She found that it was, in fact, not her bedroom.

The room was noticeably larger than her own apartment-sized bedroom. The ceiling was vaulted and the walls so far away that Misa imagined she could probably do 5 cartwheels across the floor and still not smash her head against the wall. In her room, she'd decorated the white walls with posters of characters from her favorite books and movies, and small pictures in tiny frames of places, both real and imagined, that she would love to somehow find herself in someday. In this room, the walls were an ornate artistic decoration. Red birds flying over curled wisps of gold wind, with gold trimming everywhere.

It was something straight out of a storybook palace.

And, Wait. Misa thought, turning her attention back on the man with the yellowish irises. He stood now with his hands in his pockets, casually taking in Misa's appearance in all her hair-under-bonnet, dark-bags-under-eyes, bunny-and-carrots pajama-ed glory. A few words from the intimidating man replayed in her mind:

What are you doing... in my bed... HUMAN?

The word "human" echoed in Misa's head as if experiencing the Doppler Effect, growing quieter and quieter as if the word itself was running away until what was left was basically just an empty ringing in Misa's head. "Shocked" would be the understatement of the century. Misa's mind, in her confusion and fear, had left the damned planet.

"Y-Y-You called me hu-hu-hu-human earlier." 

"Correct, human."

"Wh-Why? Who are you? Wh--WHAT ARE YOU?!"

The intruder (was he still the intruder?) screwed his face into a frown and rubbed a finger against his ear. "Shout again, human, and I'll snap your neck. Tell me what you're doing in my--"

"Aaaahhhhh! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Misa began screaming her head off, scrambling backwards away from the man with the yellowish eyes who called her 'human' until she fell back-first off the bed on the other side. Just as she rushed to her feet, the bedroom door burst open for the second time that evening and a team of lanky guardsmen with armor and spears ran inside.

"Prince Ran! Your Highness!" They screamed, spears at the ready to strike any intruders down.

Does 'intruder' mean me in this case?! Misa wondered, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"It's about time you imbeciles found your way here. Cease her." The man, Prince Ran, indicated Misa with just his firm gaze.

Misa shook her head and her hands in front of her body rapidly. "I'm not an intruder, I swear! I mean no harm! This was my room!! And then it suddenly changed to--" she gestured wildly, "this!! Please, don't cease me!"

"Lower your weapons." A new, more elderly voice commanded from behind the pack of guards.

"But His Highness..." One of the guards protested.

"This woman," the elder voice spoke, "is no intruder. She was summoned here by myself and the wise Oracle of Kkum."

"She was?" A guard asked.

"F-For what?" Misa questioned.

"She will be wed to Prince Ran of Yugure Oukoku at once." The old man continued addressing the room as if Misa had never spoken. "As is foretold in our Vampire Prophecy by the wise Oracle of Kkum."

Against her own volition, Misa's knees crashed to the carpeted floor. Feeling short of breath, she heard through the fogginess that was beginning to overtake her brain the Prince of Whatever shouting:

"What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself at once, Master Om! I refuse to date, let alone marry, a human."

And before Misa collapsed her full weight against the carpet and lost consciousness, she couldn't stop herself from thinking, No way. Vampires?!