The Demon's Pa

I was surprised to find that the room the man had shown me to wasn’t a prison sell with iron bars coated in garlic or something. The alliance stood, but that didn’t mean the humans had to treat us well.

It was a room- no windows I noted- with a small single bed that looked rather uncomfortable to lie on. On the mattress was a sheet and a pillow, that looked like it had seen better days, neatly placed in the middle of it. The rectangular room couldn’t have been bigger than three square meters and my first thought was that they’d shown me the broom cupboard by accident.

I hesitantly stepped inside and looked around, there really was nothing else but the bed and the wooden bedside table in the room and the whole place was full, “Uh thanks for showing me to my uh… room.” I told the man and without warning he shoved an unlit candle and matches into my hands.

“Here. Please do not leave here until someone has come to escort you to the feast we will be having tomorrow afternoon in celebration of the newly formed alliance.”

Before I could comment or word my surprise over the ‘feast’ I was apparently going to attend the man spun around and briskly walked away. What was the point of having a feast anyway? We were vampires, we didn’t eat human food. Did they want to make us lose control or something? I shook my head.

When the sound of the man’s footsteps had faded I sighed heavily, shut the creaking door and fell down face first onto the bed. Not surprisingly the springs of the mattress poked at me like I was lying on a bed of iron spikes.

I reached out to find the bedside table with my hands and placed the candle and the box of matches on the table. I didn’t really need the light. I could see just as well in the dark as I could in the light.

I rolled over onto my back and stared at the roof since the ceiling was non-existent.

I peacefully closed my eyes, wondering if I would be able to sleep on the uncomfortable bed. For the first time since I’d found out Alexander was coming back I allowed myself to imagine seeing him again, standing there right in front of me.

I ran to him when our eyes met, a bright smile on my face that lit up my eyes. He had to be the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen in all my life. My hair blew out behind me in the wind and the autumn leaves spiralled around me.

I slowed when I could see him more clearly. The smile dropped from my face.

He wasn’t who I thought he was; he wasn’t even what I thought he was.

He wasn’t human.

He wasn’t a vampire.

He was a demon.

In a few lethal strides he was standing right in front of me and my mind raced in fear of him, conjuring up violent thoughts of what he could do to me. His eyes gleamed dangerously as he smirked down at me. He gripped me tightly in his arms and whispered for me not to fear him.

I slowly closed my eyes, I was calm, serene. What did I have to fear if he was holding me like this?

Without warning his sharp fangs suddenly tore through the soft skin of my neck and I cried out in pain.

He ripped me to shreds in a matter of seconds.

I jolted awake when a hand touched my shoulder and I slapped it off of me with all the speed and strength I had within me, letting out a loud hiss. It took a moment for my eyes to focus on Zaiden standing next to the bed with Fabian, Faith and Samael standing behind him with concerned eyes.

I sat up quickly when I realised where we were, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“What do you mean?” Faith asked. “We came to check on you.”

“Me?” I asked questioningly, “Why?”

“Because you’re our royal, Ash.” Zaiden said, “What those humans ordered us to do doesn’t mean anything to us, we were worried about you so we came.”

I looked at my feet, “Oh.”

I frowned, that dream, I’d had it before. It was the exact same dream, but when I’d had it before I didn’t know who the beautiful man was because that was before I’d met him. Now I knew who it was, it was Alexander, my Alexander.

“Why do you look so deep in thought Ash?” Samael asked, “Are you feeling alright? You can’t live on just animal blood, you need human blood as well and you haven’t had human blood since…” he trailed off guiltily when Faith shot him a glare. He knew I still got upset when someone mentioned how I’d killed one of my closest friends. Samael hung his head, “I’m sorry, I- I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s fine,” I assured him, “I’m fine. I might be a vampire but I don’t need human blood to survive.” A moment passed, “What time is it?” I asked.

“A little past nine in the morning.” Fabian stated casually as he leaned against the wall. They were all crammed into my small room.

My eyebrows shot up, “Really?”

Samael laughed, “Yeah, really, but it’s hard to tell since they stuffed us in little pitch black rooms.”

I couldn’t help but grin as I was reminded of something, “I’m sure you’re all used to it, you know, since you came from the dark make out hole.”

That caused all of them to laugh at me, “Oh, good old Ash,” Zaiden said as he patted my head, “Even as a vampire you’re still the same, so judgemental.” He said playfully.

I wacked off his hand and for the first time, succeeded, “Yeah, yeah… thanks for coming to check in on me, but you all should probably leave now before one of the humans find you here. They’ll probably think we’re hatching some sort of conspiracy against them.” Not a single one of my nobles made a move to leave and I looked at them questioningly. “Is there a problem?”

Faith shifted around uncomfortably under my gaze.

“I’m staying.” Zaiden declared, “I’m not leaving you alone again, last night was hard enough.”

“I told you, I’m fine.” I protested.

“We’re just worried about you Ash.” Fabian calmly said, “We don’t know what these humans could try and to make matters even worse the demon -Clades- is roaming around who knows where freely. It just isn’t safe.”

“We’re safe here,” I snarled, “That’s the reason we formed the alliance with the humans for goodness sakes! I can easily fend off a hundred humans and I really don’t think Clades will be stupid enough to attack us in the middle of a city full of things that can kill him.”

Not a single one of them looked convinced in the slightest, “At least let Zaiden stay with you.” Samael suggested and Faith nodded vigorously, “You two get along well don’t you?”

I sighed and rubbed my temples in frustration, I really should have seen this coming. “Fine, fine, but only Zaiden.” I finally relented.

Zaiden grinned happily, threw himself on the hard, squeaky bed and crawled to the furthest wall so he could sit against it, “You may leave now,” He stated highly at the others, almost like he was proud that I was letting him say, “Go and leave me alone with our royal.”

I rolled my eyes at him, what a weirdo. Giving me one last lingering look the rest of the nobles left and shut the door behind them. Darkness surrounded Zaiden and I immediately but I could still easily see him sitting there.

Without really meaning to I zoned out and my mind instantly went back to the dream I’d had.

How could I possibly have dreamt of Alexander before I’d even met him? Why did I dream about him killing me?

At that moment it clicked into place and I sat up with lightning speed, “Oh snizzle.”

Zaiden raised a question eyebrow, “What’s wrong?”

I gave him a fearful look and sat back again calmly, “Nothing.”

Zaiden rolled his eyes, “Very believable that.” He said sarcastically. “So tell me what’s bothering you. That’s why I’m here Ash, to help you, so let me help.”

I sighed, “You were there when Cherise told me about the visions, right?”

Zaiden nodded and his eyes widened, “You had a vision?”

“I… think… so…” I said softly, “It’s one I’ve had before.”

“That’s so cool!” He exclaimed loudly. “Tell me about it. What was it like? Was it like seeing the future? Did you have control over what happened? Was it exactly the same as the first time you had it? What was it about?” He watched me with large, eager eyes.

I looked down at my hands and fiddled with my fingers as I wondered which of Zaiden’s any questions to answer first. “It was about… how I would die.”

Zaiden’s face fell and his happy eyes suddenly turned murderous, “I’ll prevent it. I’ll kill every single person on this earth if that’ll help.” He was silent for a moment before he asked, “How?”

“Alexander will kill me.”

His eyes widened a fraction, “Alexander? Surely you’re joking Ash.”

I shook my head, “If that was a vision… then Alexander is going to kill me.”

Zaiden was silent for a moment, “Do you know when?”

I frowned as the image of the autumn leaves swirled in front of me. “Autumn, he’s going to kill me in autumn.”

“But now that you know… can’t you stop it?” Zaiden asked. “I mean autumn is… autumn is pretty damn close.”

I gave him a sad look, “I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.” A moment of silence passed, “If I die, Zaiden…” I sighed, “If I die I want you to make sure everyone else survives. You should-“

Zaiden suddenly snarled and I stopped talking to stare at him in disbelief, “Don’t even say thing like that, Ash.” He hissed and he took hold of my hand, gripping it tightly as he moved closer. “I’ve already told you, I’m not going to let you die. I don’t care if Alex is going to come and try to kill you, I’ll fight him, I don’t know how but I’ll stop him.”

By now he was almost right on top of me and I was watching him with wide eyes and my back pressed firmly against the wall, “Zaiden,” I said sadly, “Listen to me. This is an order.” I made sure to hold his gaze, “When I die, you must save as many humans and vampires as you can, kill as many demons as possible and then get the heck out of there before you’re killed.”

Zaiden looked away from me, his grip on my hand still as strong as ever.

“Am I understood?” I asked him. “Because I need you to promise me.” He still didn’t meet my eyes, “Zaiden.” I begged and his eyes finally met mine, “Promise me.”

“I don’t want to.” He said, his voice breaking a little. “I’ve already lost Alex, my best friend and you- he wanted us to protect you Ash. I want to protect you and stay with you. I don’t want to lose you too.” He rested his forehead on my shoulder. “Not you.”

Sitting so close to him was rather awkward and it took me a moment before I realised that I was supposed to be comforting him. I wrapped my free arm around him and patted his shoulder stiffly. “Promise me.” I said again, “that’s all I’m asking Zaiden.” He didn’t move for a long time and when it felt like about fifteen minutes had passed with us sitting in that position I asked, “Zaiden?”

His eyes snapped wide open in shock at the sudden sound of my voice and he lift up his head to look right at me, “I promise.”

I gave him a soft smile, “Thank you.”

And so there we sat, awkwardly staring at one another. Well, it was awkward for me but Zaiden seemed quite at ease as his eyes drifted lower than my eyes.

He reached out towards me and brushed the backs of my fingers against my cheek. He picked up a strand of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

What?

Suddenly Zaiden jolted as if realisation had struck him and he threw himself away from me and against the opposite wall. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry Ash, please forgive me… it was just that being that close to you…” he cursed rather loudly. “I didn’t even realise…” He cursed again.

“Alright.” I said, not completely sure why he was suddenly so against coming close to me, “It’s fine.”

“No it’s not fine!” He snapped. “I should never have gotten that close to you, especially not without realising it…” He sighed heavily and rubbed his temples, “To think this is what the females dealt with when they were around Alex… all these years and I thought they were crazy for acting like that around him.”

Only then did I really understand.

Oh.

I thought he was only looking for comfort as a friend, but he was actually… oh…I didn’t even realise things were heading in that direction. I should have known, he had warned me that the males lusted after me.

Before I could say something that would without a doubt have been the most stupid and awkward thing ever spoken there was a knock on the door and Zaiden and I both looked at it expectantly.

It took another moment for my confused mind to realise why the person wasn’t coming in, “Come in.”

The door opened and the same man from earlier stood there looking as grouchy as ever. I didn’t miss the surprised look that crossed his face when he realised I wasn’t the only one in the room. He recovered quickly after his initial shock, “The feast is about to begin.” He gave me a look of disapproval, “Please follow me.”

I got up and followed him without wasting a second. Zaiden followed behind me with a guilty expression on his face. Suddenly he sped up and he was walking next to me with cautious eyes, “I really am sorry, Ash.” He said softly.

I nodded in understanding, “It’s fine.” Was it fine or was that just my autopilot mode talking? “Nothing much happened anyway.”

“But there could have if I hadn’t realised it when I did.”

I didn’t comment.

The man led us through the building where I’d stayed in silence. When we exited the building the first thing I became aware of, were the curious eyes of the humans we passed. Their eyes weren’t filled with so much fear anymore… I frowned, but why? I hadn’t done anything. Did they really have that much trust in a simple agreement?

The answer as to why the humans didn’t look completely scared out of their wits anymore became clear when we arrived at a huge table. Lucy was charming her way into the hearts of all those who sat around her with her hand firmly in Viktor’s grasp. He didn’t look like he was having much fun watching how she interacted so cheerfully with other people but she looked like she was having the time of her life. I frowned, had she never spoken to another human being before?

My nobles were all sitting on their separate spots quietly observing with mildly amused smiles on their faces as they watched the humans talk about their new weapons. Suddenly Zaiden pushed me in behind him and he stood in front of me protectively. Protecting me from the weapons the humans were showing off.

“Zaiden!” I snapped and his defensive pose dropped, “They are on our side.”

He looked at me uncertainly, “But Ash-“

“No.” I said again. “I don’t want you to protect me. Ever.” I stressed. “Not if it means putting your own life at risk.” I knew Faith, Samael and Fabian were watching me as well so I added, “That goes for all of you. No helping me if it means risking yourselves. Understood?”

They nodded uncertainly.

“Good.”

Lucy smiled and waved me over when she saw me. “Ash! Come over here and meet everyone.”

I straightened myself, held my head high and walked closer to her and the rest of the humans, “Hello.” I greeted them, “I’m Ash.”

One of the older men stiffened at my name, “The royal?”

I gave him a firm nod, “Yes, I was the one who made the alliance.”

There was a tense silence in the air, “I see.” The man said after a moment, “I’m Jean-Luke.”

How was I supposed to address him? “It’s nice to meet you… sir.”

He raised a brow, “Sir?”

I let out an unintelligible sound, “Yes?”

He frowned at me and narrowed his eyes. “You have to be the most awkward vampire I’ve ever met.”

My eyes widened slightly at the old man.

The younger girl that sat next to him elbowed him in the ribs. Then she said something in a language I didn’t understand.

I raised a questioning brow a Zaiden who’d once told me that he spoke most languages. “She said that he shouldn’t say things like that because it’s dangerous.” He whispered. “She’s his daughter.”

“Oh…” I said, I hadn’t really taken offence to the man had said.

My thoughts were cut off short when Myron appeared and used a spoon to ding on a glass, “If you would all please take your seats.”

I was practically forced into my seat by the same man who’d shown me to my room and I gave him a weird look when he hurried away again. What a strange man.

“As you all know, we have formed an alliance with the vampires to fight against the demons that are sure to come for us. So,” he said and paused dramatically, “A toast!” He held up his glass that looked like it was filled with water. How interesting, didn’t they have wine? “Let us enjoy this meal together with our new friends.”

Myron gave me a meaningful look and only then did I realise I had a glass of water waiting for me as well. My hand closed around the glass and I raised it with the rest of the people surrounding me hesitantly.

“To victory!” Myron said.

The crowd chorused along with him.

“To victory.” I muttered afterwards and I gulped down the water, hoping that I could stomach it.

It took me a moment to realise that I didn’t find the water completely awful as I found other human food. I was just about to smile at my newfound knowledge when Viktor screamed like a little girl.