Bad News (08)

Dimitri

When I finally got home, it was sometime close to midnight. I really did spend a lot of time in the human bar. Because of the time, I would normally sneak into the house such as to not wake up Damien. But being a vampire and all, he would hear me no matter how sleek I was. It was the thought that counts anyways. But today I had no energy to do so, besides in the past Damien has always been up waiting for me to return. So, I decided that I would just walk in the front door. Before opening the door, I mentally readied myself for his overload of questions on my whereabouts. Damien was sort of like my father. He would want to know where I where I was, with who, and why.

Surprisingly, though when I got into the house, Damien was nowhere in sight. I could not even smell him. This fact put me on edge so, I quickly did a full sweep of the house as I was under the impression that something was horribly wrong. Damien was never out at such a late hour. Besides, he always tells me when he goes somewhere. I tried to think back of last night and he did not mention any late-night activities at all. Yet, everything in the house seemed intact. Damien was simply gone. But where would he be gone to? I was not worried about Damien's life. And no, I'm not heartless. I just knew without a doubt that Damien could take care of himself. He was after all the strongest warrior in the kingdom. Hence, he was also my personal bodyguard. I took a seat on our sofa while I thought about where Damien may be right now.

While I slaved myself away working and interacting with my people as a simple postman, Damien did inspections for my dad in secret. They couldn’t know it was him because then they would figure out who I was too. So, we never interacted in public and were both in disguise. Damien would have to hide his tracks well every day and ensure he was not followed home. He would check in with the lords and noblemen in the kingdom to check whether they were still up to par per my dad's standards. Standards, which I should know as well but that is what Ellie is there for right? I really need to sit and learn all these things once I get back home. It is about time I took this throne seriously.

I did not really care to know the deeper details of Damien’s daily dealings, but I knew that he returned home by seven every day, so this was rather odd. Like I said before, I was not worried about Damien's safety. But I had to tell him of my plan to return and claim my mate. I needed to leave soon to make it in time before the horrendous wedding happened. And of course my best friend would chose this very day to disappear to lord knows where.

To put it lightly, I was pretty pissed. Both at Damien and my mate!

Xxxxxxxxx

So, in my anger, I decided to treat myself to that one human feed I had earned for completing my first month. It was always easier to feed at this time of night. It’s why we vampire’s love the night so much. We can let our beasts out freely. But in the day, the humans would pick up on us if we were not stealthy enough. Not that we never feed in the day. After all, humans were very silly creatures. Which means easy prey for us.

After a mere minute of standing on a rooftop and observing my perimeter, I easily spotted a lonesome human being. What they were doing at such a late hour outside, I do not know. I quickly descended and had my fair share of his somewhat average blood in a dark alley. His blood was not that great since he was not in optimal health, but it still satisfied me, nonetheless. I felt so much better. It is a surprise how many humans walk around alone at night. It is like they are actively asking to be fed on. So, I gladly did. Apparently, the sensation of slowly becoming hypoxic turns on the erotic center on in humans so they find pleasure being fed on. Thus, we do not actually cause them pain. Even if we feed on them to death. They die in a state of euphoria.

Fresh human blood always has a way of calming me down. But also human blood would keep me sated for much longer than animal blood. I knew that my father would be pissed if he knew I fed in the middle of the month, but things weren't exactly going my way right now so, I deserved a break. Besides I had my one free pass. I just cashed it in late. When I finally got back to our tiny house, I saw Damien waiting for me at the doorpost rather impatiently.

"Well you sure took your time coming home! Where had you been?" Damien rushed out before I even reached him. With a human’s ears I would not have heard him from this distance, but I heard him just fine with my vampire hearing. I did not respond to him as I am still kind of mad at him for not being home when I got back.

As I finally reached Damien, I noticed that he was tapping his right foot, which was a trait he did whenever he was anxious. Why was he anxious?

I was still mad at him so, I ignored him and his question. I moved past him and into the house hoping to see what made him anxious. But everything in the house looked just like I had left it.

"What is it Damien?" I finally asked. I was still mad at him but I also just wanted to tell him of my plan to leave. But after asking the question, I realized that I also needed to know what this thing was that made Damien nervous.

"The... The palace..." he stuttered. Damien never stuttered. This was a serious matter. I just hoped everything was alright. I couldn’t afford more bad news. "What about the Palace?" I rushed out. I could no longer hold it in. He sure succeeded in making me anxious as well.

I had told Damien to not speak to me about my family while we were on this trip. I missed them and talking about them only made things worse. So, whatever this was, it must have been urgent if he felt the need to bring them up. Then Damien finally began explaining. I was never prepared for the words that came out of his mouth next.

"The Palace was attacked. They killed everyone."