Rosangela: The Half-Blood Princess

“Long time no see, Son-in-law,” King Bellamy said with a sneer in his voice.

“Yeah, right. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, Father-in-law,” the man whom King Bellamy referred to us as son-in-law replied.

I was flabbergasted to know that the person who answered wasn’t Alpha Adolph Wolfgang like what I had guessed, but he was Ivan.

'Why did Ivan answer Grandpa’s question? Does it mean that Ivan is my biological father? But how come? From his look, Ivan can’t be older than 30 years old. If Ivan is really my father, it means that he had to marry to my mother when he was 13 years old. But I doubt a vampire princess like my mother wanted to date a boy,' I thought.

“To be honest, I’m shocked to see you who are supposed to be dead come to live, Son-in-law,” King Bellamy said in a mocking tone.

“Maybe because you never succeeded in killing me, Father-in-law,” Ivan scoffed.

The vampire king was about to give a retort, but I interrupted him by shouting at the top of my lungs, “WAIT! WAIT!”

A sudden silence fell, and all eyes were now focused on me.

“Grandpa, why did you call Ivan ‘son-in-law’? And Ivan, why did you call my grandfather ‘father-in-law’?” I queried in bewilderment.

“So he hasn’t told you yet?” King Bellamy asked me back instead.

I frowned. “Tell me what?”

“Tell you that he’s your father,” he answered.

My eyes widened. “What?!”

“Yes, Mirabelle. The man whom you called Ivan is the human who married my daughter, your mother,” he confirmed.

“No, you must be lying. Ivan isn’t my father,” I said in disbelief.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” King Bellamy challenged.

“Ivan?” I called.

Ivan turned around to face me.

“Tell me that my grandfather is lying! You’re not my father, are you?” I demanded.

Ivan remained silent.

“Answer me, Ivan! You aren’t my father, are you?” I shook him violently by the shoulders.

Ivan lowered his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Rosanne. I should have told you about it earlier, but I can’t. I’m not ready to tell you yet.”

I let go of my hands from his shoulders and took two steps backwards.

“No, it’s impossible. You can’t be my father.” I shook my head in denial. “My father’s name is—”

“Donovan Grandville?” he cut me off.

I nodded my head. “Yes. You told me yourself that his name is Donovan Grandville, not Ivan Wolfgang. And he’s a human, not a werewolf.”

“I was a human when I married to your mother, Rosanne. Alpha Adolph Wolfgang found me dying in the middle of the forest after I got attacked by the vampire king’s soldiers. He then turned me into a werewolf to save my life,” Ivan told me.

“He’s right, Rosanne. Everyone knew that Donovan Grandville was Princess Claribelle’s human husband. So after he was turned into a werewolf, I suggested Donovan to change his name into Ivan Wolfgang in order that no one knew that he was still alive. Because it could endanger him and you,” Alpha Adolph Wolfgang explained.

“So you’re really my father?” I inquired, still couldn’t believe it completely.

“Yes,” he replied with a nod.

“How could it be possible? I mean, you seem too young to be my father. If you’re really my father, you should be at least in your late thirties now. But look at you! You still look in your twenties now.”

“Werewolves age slower than humans, Rosanne. Even though we do not age as slow as vampires, but it’s still pretty slow,” Alpha Wolfgang explained.

“He’s right. I’m actually 43 years old now. I first met your mother when I was 23. We fell in love with each other, and after dating for two years, we decided to get married despite her father’s disapproval. One year later, you were born as the product of our love. However, our happiness as a family only lasted for one month, thanks to your so called grandfather,” Ivan elaborated.

“What do you mean?” I queried, didn’t understand especially with his last statement.

“I can explain,” Ivan said with a sad smile. “One day, the vampire king suddenly sent his soldiers to attack our house. He wanted to take you and your mother away from me. Of course I fought them to protect my family. But they’re all vampires, so they’re much stronger than me. It was a miracle that we could escape from them.”

“It’s not like what you think, Mirabelle,” King Bellamy chimed in, “I swear I never intended to hurt you and your mother. I just—”

“You’d better shut your mouth up, Bloodsucker,” Alpha Wolfgang interrupted him, “it’s only between a father his daughter.”

The vampire king snorted in annoyance, but he didn’t utter another word.

“While we were running away from the vampires,” Ivan lastly continued, “we bumped into one of our friends, Dexter. I and your mother then asked for Dexter’s help to take you to a safe place. Meanwhile we kept running to opposite direction to distract the vampires who were after us.”

“Unfortunately,” he carried on, “those vampires could catch up with us and we were finally cornered by them. They managed to snatch Claribelle from me and brought her back to the vampire kingdom. After that, they tortured me and left me to die in the middle of the forest. I would have died if it weren’t for Alpha Wolfgang who saved my life by turning me into a werewolf.”

'So this is real?' I asked myself. 'Ivan is really my biological father, Donovan Grandville? My father is still alive.'

I didn’t know if I should feel happy or not after meeting my biological father. I was grateful that my father was still alive. It meant that now I had other family besides my grandfather, the vampire king. But honestly, I didn’t expect Ivan to become my real father. Don’t get me wrong! I knew Ivan was a nice guy. It’s just his appearance that bothered me. Despite his real age, Ivan still looked too young to be my father. People might mistake him for my bother or even my boyfriend.

Speaking of boyfriend, when the first time I met Ivan at my and Maximilian’s engagement party, I thought I fell in love with him at first sight, and I even secretly wished he could be my boyfriend in the future. I felt myself cringe with the embarrassment at the memory. How could I be so stupid to fall in love with my own father?

“Rosanne, are you okay?” Ivan’s question finally pulled me out of my train of thought.

I stared at Ivan. Since I was a little kid, I always dreamt of meeting my real parents. Now, I should be happy to be able to reunite with my father again. No matter how he looks like, he’s still my father. Thus, I must accept him as he is.

“Dad,” I whispered with tears rolling down my face.

Ivan also reduced to tears when he heard me call him ‘Dad’.

I wrapped my arms around him, and he returned my hug immediately.

“My daughter I missed you so much,” he said under his breath.

I didn’t respond him. I just buried my face in his chest as I cried.

“Enough with the chit-chat!” King Bellamy suddenly barked, forcing me and Ivan to pull away from our embrace.

“Let’s get straight to the point now! I come here to pick my granddaughter up,” King Bellamy stated.

Ivan put a protective arm around my shoulders. “No, Rosanne is not going anywhere. She will stay here with me.”

“No,” the vampire king disagreed, “she’s going home with me. You had taken away my daughter, and now I will never let a werewolf like you take my granddaughter away from me too.”

“But the werewolf you’re talking about here is her biological father,” Ivan emphasized.

“Mirabelle is my biological granddaughter too. And the most important is, my vampire blood runs in her vein, not your veil werewolf blood. She will be better to stay with me rather than with you,” King Bellamy said with disgust.

Randolph and Alpha Adolph Wolfgang flared up when they heard King Bellamy said that werewolves had vile blood. But surprisingly, Ivan didn’t seem to be offended by the vampire king’s remarks.

“But the problem is, Rosanne doesn’t want to live with you. That’s why he ran away from you and came to me,” Ivan said calmly.

“That’s because you’ve brainwashed her into believing that I’m a bad guy. But I know in the bottom of her heart, Mirabelle only wants to live with me,” King Bellamy accused.

Ivan was angered by the king accusation. “Watch your mouth, Old Man! I never brainwashed my daughter to—”

“Stop it, Gentlemen!” Alpha Wolfgang roared, cutting him off. “I think Rosanne is old enough to decide with whom she wants to live. So why don’t you ask her?”

“Mirabelle, tell me now! Who do you want to live with?” King Bellamy demanded.

“Yes, Rosanne. Tell us with whom you want to live please!” Ivan added.

'What shall I do now?' I wondered.

I was caught on the horn of a dilemma. On the one hand, I had my father, on the other hand, there was my grandfather too. Both King Bellamy and Ivan are my family. How do they expect me to chose one over the other?

I have just figured out that Ivan is my father and I don’t want to be apart from him again. But I also don’t have heart to leave my grandfather. I’m the one family he’s got left. He certainly would be very lonely without me.

'Remember, Rosanne! The vampire whom you call grandfather is the one who had killed your mother,' suddenly, a voice at the back of my head said.

'She’s right,' I thought, 'How could I forget that King Bellamy had killed my mother? He also tried to murder my father. He had kidnapped me and forced me to marry a man— to be precise a vampire whom I don’t love. And don’t forget the fact that he’s probably going to sacrifice me in my seventeenth birthday. So I think it would be better if I lived with my father. Besides, I have to get to know him better, right?'

'But I am afraid my decision will make King Bellamy’s blood boil. And he probably will take out of his anger on me and the werewolves, including my father.'

'But I also can’t put up with the vampire king any longer. How could I stand by and let him make me become a sacrifice? So no matter what happens, I have to tell my grandfather my decision.'

“I— I— I am so sorry, Grandpa. I— I— I want to live with Ivan. I mean with my dad,” I stuttered.

“You heard her? Rosanne has chosen to live with me,” Ivan said with victorious smile.

“I don’t care what Mirabelle wants. No matter what happens, she must live with me. One day, she is going to be the queen of vampires to replace me,” the king insisted.

“Have you ever asked her if she wants to be the vampire queen or not?” Ivan inquired.

“Daddy is right, Grandpa,” I said, “You always decides everything without asking for my opinion first. Honestly, I don’t want to be a queen. I don’t think I can take on such a big responsibility.”

“You have no choice but to be the vampire queen, Mirabelle. Your mother has passed away. So you’re the only heir to the throne now,” the king said firmly.

“She wouldn’t be the only heir if you didn’t kill your own daughter,” Ivan chided.

“Enough!” King Bellamy bellowed. “Mirabelle, come here! We’re going home now.”

“I’m sorry, Grandpa. I can’t come with you. I want to live with my dad,” I refused.

“Come here, Mirabelle! Now! We can do this the hard way or the easy way?” he threatened.

I knew he meant it. And I was scared of his threat.

I looked at Ivan. He shook his head, silently telling me not to listen to the vampire king.

“I don’t want to go with you, Grandpa,” I said timidly.

“The hard way it is then,” he said through gritted teeth. King Bellany then signaled to the vampires to attack us.

Randolph howled. His claws suddenly came out and his canines lengthened. His clothes were torn as he shifted into a black wolf. Without wasting time, he leapt at the vampires.

Alpha Wolfgang shifted too. His wolf was also black, but it’s much bigger than Randolph’s. He lashed out at every vampire who dared attack him.

“Stay behind me, Rosanne!” Ivan ordered as we saw two vampires running at us.

Quickly, I hid behind Ivan’s back.

When Ivan was busy fighting against those vampires, all of a sudden, I was being lifted into the air.

I screamed, “Dad, HELP!”