Blood Isn't Always Thicker Than Water

Part Two

An assortment of people, Guardians and “vampires” surrounded me as I sat down on the lone couch in the large room in the even larger manor. Jeremy died five days ago. My new servant that I met in the Royal Bedroom place was with me, and he didn’t understand the “Prince Caspian” thing that I’m sure everyone else would make fun of me for. Well, they might not make fun of me, but they’d toy around with it and make me feel like it was a bad thing. I adore them all anyway. Except for Pete. Especially not Pete.

Oh, also, that black cape that I gave to Samantha follows me around.

“Cas, did you, um, take care of Jeremy?" Fallen asked. He was perched on the top of a large armchair. Samantha sat underneath him on the cushion of the chair—where you’re supposed to sit.

I nodded in response to the question. “Yeah. Only I know where he is now.”

“Alright, that guy is fuckin’ creeping me out,” George proclaimed. He was referring to the rather short servant guy clinging piggyback style to me. I had guessed the he was about 5’2” or 5’3”. Give or take.

“He won’t let go,” I replied dully. The guy himself stayed silent. I think he was asleep. He tended to do that a lot. So much for twenty hours of sleep being the maximum for a “vampire”. Why did King William tell me I was right? Oh well.

“Is he awake?” Jon Walker asked. This was the first time I had heard him talk. And, really, being a PFSIS isn’t actually servitude. It’s slavitude. Oh, oops, slavery. Sorry.

I checked to see if my servant guy was awake for Jon. “Hey, servant dude? Hello?”

He didn’t make a sound.

“Yep, he’s asleep.” I put my elbow onto my knee and my head onto my hand. We were gathered into one of the multiple extra rooms in Logan’s manor.

“Who is that?” Samantha asked, her nose wrinkling a bit.

I shrugged. “He doesn’t have a name. But he says that he was sworn into service back when my dad was King, and now he’s my personal servant.”

“So…he’s not just some random replacement you found for Jeremy?”

I turned my head, quick as lightning, to stare at Fallen. I forced myself to take a deep, calming breath. I didn’t blink. My hands started to curl at the fingers, shaking and trembling. My lips curled into a snarl and I let out a hiss that would have scared the living daylights out of me if I hadn’t been the one creating it.

Samantha jumped out of her chair and hurried to my side. She held my head in her hands and forced me to look at her. “He was just checking, Cas. We know you’re not that kind of person.”

“Then why the hell did he say that?!”

Then I felt my servant dude wake up and heard him say, “Okay, this is, like, the twenny-seventh time thissis happened, Princey.” He slithered off me and proffered a slightly shiny black cape to me.

“DAMMIT!” I yelled. “Why can’t the darn thing just leave me alone?!”

Samantha tightened her grip on me. “Cas, calm down.” She stared into my eyes and I stared right back as I tried to calm down. But it was so hard. I had been ridiculously angry these past five days. Probably because my friend died, this guy who can liquefy himself is my servant, I have a cape that follows me around, and I just found out that I’m the Prince of “Vampires”. What do you think?

“Your eyes are red, Cas,” Samantha continued.

I closed my eyes now, thinking, Of all the fuckin’ things that could’ve happened. Becoming Prince had made my eyes black, just like King Liam’s. So now, whenever I get angry, they turn red. It’s not that enjoyable.

“Can I have something to eat?” my servant guy asked, standing up and looking to me for an answer while in a normal human-looking form. He had taken up the look of a girly guy. His eyes were light blue, skin was pale, and hair was long. Very long. Cascading-over-the-shoulders-and-down-the-back type of long. And he had not-as-long-but-still-long side bangs on the right side. I idly wondered what his sexual orientation was.

“Kitchen’s over there,” George said, pointing in its general direction.

Just hearing my brother’s voice started to make me feel angrier.

“Oh great…” Fallen murmured as my very eyesight started to go red.

Samantha let go of my head. “Has this…happened before?’

I watched Fallen nod and barely heard him speak over the sound of my blood boiling, rushing and roaring inside me, the chaos of my mind at the time. “Yep. When he, Jeremy and I were doused in darkness.”

Monty suddenly trotted into the room, licking his chops. He stopped walking and cocked his head at me. I was still seeing red. My insides were roiling in mountainous waves of anger.

Then my overgrown hair fell in front of my eyes.

“GODDAMMIT!” I screamed and jumped to my feet. A tear ran down my cheek. All of my muscles were tensed. Images of Jeremy, Fallen, Monty, Sam, George and King Liam were coursing through my mind, seeming to sear the inside of my head. Then my muscles began twitching. My neck cracked as my head snapped to the side.

My vision was black. But I could still see everyone. And everything else…

And then I was locked in physical combat with a man—or an old-looking teen. He had a shock of orange hair and cold blue eyes that clearly were seeking for my downfall. I stood in front of him with an amazing sense of self-security. My cape was billowing out behind me and I was dressed in a close-fitting black outfit with intense green and black sneakers. Some loud noise was in the background. I couldn’t tell what it was. Under my feet were thousands and millions of blades of grass. Some sort of…wall, I guess, was blocking my view of the horizon.

Before I could take anything else in or figure out what in the world that wall was, the dude before me who seemed to be a mass of skin, bones and muscle came charging at me like an enraged rhino on speed.

Before I could retaliate, I found myself sprawled spread-eagled on the floor, Lancaster’s worried hazel eyes darting all over me.

I wasn’t seeing black anymore.

I closed my eyes and took a shuddering deep breath. That made me remember Jeremy’s death. Another tear leaked out from one of my eyes. “no…”

“Caspian! Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Lancaster.” I stayed silent for a few seconds, then randomly started sobbing.

“Oh no…” Lancaster sounded very lost.

Something wet touched my face. I opened my watery eyes to see Monty looking down at me with his deep brown compassionate ones. He locked my cheek again.

I reached out, still crying and sobbing, and scratched the side of my dog’s face, behind the cheekbone. He loved scratches there and behind his ears. “Oh, Monty…” I closed my eyes and took my hand back. “What have I done?” I then curled up on myself and cried into my left hand. I felt Monty lie down next to me and heard him whine.

“Caspian…” Lancaster sounded very strained. Oh yeah. He’s got a crush on me. Dur.

“Caspian, listen to me.”

Whoa, miracle of my life. Pete Wentz was talking to me. But that didn’t surprise me enough to get me to stop crying. This was all just too much. Jeremy…my servant…King Liam…that infernal cape…and my immediate need for getting accustomed to being called the Prince of “Vampires”.

Not cool.

“Go away,” I told Pete with difficulty.

“No. Cas, you’ve been put through all of this—”

“Hell,” I cut in.

He glared at me. “You’ve gone through all of this for a reason. I know it. You may not like the turn of events now, but later you’re going to be glad they happened.”

“How do you know?!” I hissed, tears streaming down my face that was randomly a mere three inches from Pete’s. He showed no sign of surprise as I glared at him, hair in an unPrincely disarray, look on my face probably one of insanity. “How could you fucking know that? Tell me!”

He didn’t. He looked at me for a second longer then lowered his eyes.

My eyebrows contracted and I pulled away from him a bit. “I thought so… The only one who knew the future was Jeremy. And, incase you haven’t noticed, he’s gone, Wentz. Forever.”

He just stared at the floor.

“And I’ve inherited the biggest load of shit ‘vampiricly’ possible!” I continued. “I’m seventeen! I didn’t ask for this! I’m supposed to lead a hoard of intensely dangerous part-people. I can’t even take care of myself!” My fingers flew into my hair and I sat back on my heels. “Jeremy took care of me. Logan took care of me. Marietta took care of me. My own fucking father, however, chucked me into a river!”

“You’re wrong.”

I looked back to Pete. “Excuse me?”

“The Guardian is right.” Lady Ivy suddenly showed up. She had golden sparkly handcuffs on, but other than that she looked kinda normal. “Your father loved you dearly. He would have thrown himself into the current in your place, if given the choice.”

I blinked, some tears still sliding listlessly down my face. “Huh?”

“I’ll tell you,” Pete said. “Just take a seat.” He gestured to the couch I had recently vacated to go through a weird seizure of events. I mean, what was with that guy with orange hair? I humbly returned to where I had been, Monty pining after me. He leaped onto the couch and lay down. I then used him as a pillow and lay down myself. I surveyed the room and saw that some people had left. The only ones left were Fallen, Pete, George, Ivy, Sam and Monty. And me. But that’s obvious.

With a pang, I noticed Sam and George were whispering together, Sam’s head turned because her back was to George and his arms were slowly but steadily wrapping around her waist. Some part of me kept my head intact. I took their…togetherness…with pretty good calmness and acceptance considering how I’d been acting recently.

“Begin,” I instructed, and motioned for Pete to start.

“Your father had your brother Ryan first, but didn’t want him to become a ‘vampire’. He wanted Ryan to live a normal human lifestyle. So he planned to have a second son, one that would be raised as a ‘vampire’, his true heir. That’s why we have Fallen here today. Your mom didn’t want one of her own children to have a set, decided future. She actually did something illegal to your father, most likely. My guess is that she drugged him, sent him into a human nightclub, and there he met Lydia Royce. And…yeah.”

“Now I exist,” Fallen said, waving to me, eyes still a blue-lavender color. That Guardian-illusion blood took a long time to wear off.

“Then…what about me?” I asked as my servant guy came swaggering back into the room. Lady Ivy went to tell him to leave—I presume—but he ignored her and sauntered over to me. He then snuggled up onto the couch next to me. I was on my side. He tucked his nose against my lower shoulder and closed his eyes. I blinked and looked down at him. Then I looked up at everyone else. Every last one of them had one eyebrow raised.

“Watch out, Cas. Don’t let Lancaster see. He’ll get jealous.” Fallen’s eyes sparked darkly. He was still on top of the chair, lounging like he didn’t have a care in the world.

I rolled my eyes, beginning to feel normal again. Being with Fallen had a tendency to make me feel comfortable. He just continued to make a better older brother than George.

“Well, Cas,” Pete continued, “Not long after Ms. Royce found out she was pregnant, your mother became pregnant with you.”

This was extremely awkward to talk about. Why does “pregnant” have to be such a weird-sounding word?

“Your father never knew what had happened that night your mother tricked him, so he presumed that you being conceived was his wife’s long-awaited approval of his plan.

“And so did your dad’s Advisor. I believe you know him as King William.”

I tried to get out of servant dude’s grasp for a couple seconds, then withered in defeat. He had subconsciously turned his arms into this get-like substance and now they were welded onto my shoulders. He could do the same to the rest of his body—gellify it, I mean. It was his special power.

“King Willy was my dad’s Advisor?” I asked. “My life is just complication after complication.” I sighed, eyes closed. “Okay, what’d Willy do?”

“Please don’t call him that.” I opened my eyes to see Lady Ivy looking guiltily at her handcuffs. She was sitting straight up, perfect posture. Then it struck me that she was a widow. “He only ever liked being called William or Liam. I’d appreciate it if you could still follow his wishes, if only as respect for the dead.”

“Since you mention dead…” I murmured. “All right. I’ll call him King Liam, and the other stuff you said, but only for Jeremy’s sake. Or memory.”

She nodded her thanks, eyes still lowered down.

“Now. As I was saying.” Pete cleared his throat and situated himself cross-legged on the floor. “William only knew about you, Caspian. Because of your mother’s sneakiness, no one ever knew about Fallen. She figured he’d grow up and make a fine King and whatnot someday. She really didn’t give a damn.” Nice woman. “But her so-called ‘cleverness’ did nothing to help you.

“Now, purebred ‘vampires’ aren’t supposed to have more than one son. And, for some reason, purebreds never seem to have daughters.” He looked thoughtfully out the window for a second. “The reason is because of people like Samantha. She was originally meant to be destined for the one sole purebred ‘vampire’ that was supposed to be born. But your father had three sons, and one, by chance, is her cousin. So three purebreds mean not just one extra, but two extra, if you look at it from a Guardian’s point of view.

“Your father actually didn’t marry a Guarded. He married a human, which is very rare. As you can see, even without meeting her, King William was drawn to Samantha. And he’s not even a purebred.” Pete gazed seriously into my eyes. “Samantha’s really any ‘vampire’s’ dream come true.” The girl was blushing profusely. “But back to my earlier story. Advisor William became aware of your existence, Cas, before you were born. He saw you as a threat to his possibility of becoming King after your father. Since Ryan wasn’t even aware of his being a ‘vampire’, William knew he wouldn’t be a threat. Then the day you were born, he hired my father.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “How does your dad have to do with this?”

“If it weren’t for my dad, your past would be extremely different, Caspian. So. My dad decided to work for a short amount of time with Advisor William, only because he believe he was making his job as a Guardian easier.”

“But…how would working for—or with—a ‘vampire’ make being a Guardian easier?”

“Cas… My father was hired to kill you.”