A Battle of Love and War

“Are you an angel?” Makenzie had to force back a snort, and she ignored the small chuckles behind her as she looked down into the brilliant red eyes that were searching hers. Those four words were a grateful relief to the thoughts of her father still out there fighting. They would all worry about that again soon enough.

“If by angel you mean monster cursed with eternal damnation, then yes. I’m an angel.” With a small smirk, she dipped her cloth into the jug of blood and then brought it back to his lips once again. “Here, drink some more.”

The man savored the sweet drops and let out a deep cough before letting his eyes travel to the others in the room who had managed to circle around the bed at this point. Makenzie still sat on the edge, wiping his forehead with her other hand.

“Wh --- where am I?” he choked out.

“Shhh. You’re safe. That’s all that matters right now,” Makenzie’s mother whispered, sitting on the other side of the young man and taking his hand. “You just rest up. My daughter here will take care of you. You’ve had a rough night.” She gave his cold had a small pat, accompanied by a warm smile, as if the young man were another of her sons.

“Do you think you can sit up?” Makenzie asked, still fully aware of the man’s hand around her wrist. He gave a small nod and tried sitting up on his own, but was merely met by Makenzie’s hand pushing his shoulder back down against the bed. “Don’t waste your energy,” she said pointedly before casting a glance at her two elder brothers.

“Slowly. His chest hasn’t had a chance to heal yet.” Seth and Micah stepped up on either side of the bed and slowly eased the man up into a sitting position. Makenzie then lifted the jug of blood up to the man’s lips and gently tipped the bottom up. “Drink slowly.” After he drank a few sips, Makenzie noticed a bit of color coming back to his face, which was saying something considering the fact that vampires were chalk white. Still, his skin had lost its sheen of sweat, and his eyes seemed brighter and a bit more aware.

“Thank you,” he whispered, a faint smile appearing on his bruised lips.

“Would you all mind if we spoke to him for a few moments? Alone?” Micah added ‘alone’ to the end of his question when he met Makenzie’s eyes and saw her resistance to leave. She hated being kept in the dark, but as Victoria, Jesse, and her mother began to head for the door, she could only let out a sigh of disapproval at her brothers’ secrecy. Now, of all times, she didn’t think that there should be secrets within the family.

“We just have a few questions for him,” Seth commented, as if that were to make her feel any better about the situation.

“Fine. Just keep giving him blood and don’t stress him out too much. He’s still very weak.” The man grunted at Makenzie calling him weak, and she couldn’t help but let the corner of her mouth raise in a smirk as she withdrew her arm from his grasp. “Well you are,” she added as she walked from the room, the sick man’s eyes boring into her back.

“She’s a feisty one; I can tell,” Makenzie heard him say, followed by the chuckles of her elder brothers as she closed the door behind her. If he thought that was feisty, then he had no idea. She wanted to remain outside the door and listen in to her brothers’ interrogation of the stranger, but she was abruptly met by the bright silver-blonde hair of her sister. It was almost the same shade as their mother’s, but it was twice as long, falling almost to Victoria’s waist.

“He was rather cute, don’t you think?” Victoria asked, jerking her head towards the closed door. “If you look past the cuts and bruises and huge gaping hole in his chest, that is.” Makenzie just stared at her sister in astonishment.

“The man’s half-dead, and all you can think about is how cute he is?” She knew her brain functioned wavelengths apart from her sister’s, but was Victoria really that clueless?

“Oh come on. I had to think of something to keep my mind off of that gory scene in there,” Victoria sighed as they began their trek down the hall. Makenzie had given up on listening in on her brothers and decided on forcing it out of Micah later. “And you know you can’t deny it. He is cute. Go ahead and admit it and get it off of your chest. You’ll feel much better when you do.”

With a nudge from her sister’s shoulder, Makenzie rolled her eyes and let a small grin appear on her lips. “Okay, fine. He’s cute. Are you happy?” Victoria nodded, proud to have some type of girly influence on her little sister. Their moment of sisterly bonding was short-lived as they reached the first floor to find their mother crumpled in a heap on the couch, their brother Jesse slowly brushing his fingers through her golden hair.

“Oh, mother,” both girls exclaimed, running over and dropping to their knees in front of their mother. With the stranger awakening, he had momentarily caused everyone to forget about their father’s absence. After Melinda Alders left the bedroom, however, the weight of her husband’s absence was allowed to fall heavily and crush her.

While the three youngest Alders children were soothing their mother below, a similar situation was occurring directly above them.

“So you’re telling me that the king and queen and all of their children are dead?” the injured young man asked the two eldest Alders sons.

“Yes. That is what is believed by all,” Seth answered slowly, occasionally casting a glance out the window beside the bed, hoping each time to see his father walk out of the dark forest. Each time, he was only met with disappointment.

“But then that means—“

“Everyone thinks you’re dead, Your Highness,” Micah finished the man’s sentence. The brothers had recognized him the moment they had found him slouched against the tree in the forest. Others, however, would not recognize the young prince. King Lucian hadn’t been in power for long, and to protect the royal family, they had remained out of the public’s eye since he obtained the throne. Thus, nobody who wasn’t within the King’s closest circle knew what the royal children looked like. They only knew the family by name.

The brothers knew for a fact that the rest of the family were dead, but nobody knew that Prince Tristan was alive. “Nobody here recognizes you, and you’ll be safe as long as you’re under our roof,” Seth assured the prince.

“Makenzie’s suspicious,” Micah countered, his eyes not quite reaching his brother’s. “She kind of caught my stumble earlier.”

Seth sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers. “She would be the one to pay attention. Oh well, we’ll deal with that when it happens.”

“If it happens,” Prince Tristan added.

“No. Knowing Makenzie, if she’s curious now, she’ll probably find out soon enough,” Micah seceded. The girl was much too keen for her age or sex. If it weren’t for the fact that she was a woman, Micah was sure that she would be an excellent fighter alongside him and his brother and father. He hesitated for a second at the painful reminder of his father and then continued. “But it would be best for her and for the rest of our family if they were ignorant of this fact for as long as possible.”

Tristan caught on to what the man was hinting at: in case the family got caught. They would hopefully come to minimal harm if they were completely clueless to the fact that they were hiding a rogue prince underneath their roof.

“And because of that,” Seth jumped in, “you need another name. We cannot call you Your Highness or Prince for obvious reasons, and even calling you Tristan may be a bit too suspicious. Do you have another name you favor?”

The prince’s brow furrowed, and after a few moments of contemplation, he spoke up. “I once knew a guy named Aston whom I could tolerate well enough. Will that work?”
Both brothers approved the name, seeing no way anyone could link it to Tristan’s true identity. “Aston, it is,” the prince said firmly. “You know, this code name thing makes me feel somewhat of a spy.” He began chuckling at the thought, only to let out a sharp hiss as he grabbed his side. Apparently laughing was too sharp a move for the hole in his chest.

“You’ve already soaked through that bandage, Aston,” Micah said, emphasizing the prince’s new name. “I’ll go grab Makenzie. She’s our resident doctor in these parts. Stitches us up after every fight.” Throwing a light punch at Seth’s shoulder, Micah sprinted out of the room and down the stairs to find his sister.