Status: First ever story so it'll be slow, please be patient :)

War Torn Love

Change.

Since Malachi’s arrival at the palace, the mood seemed to have lifted between most of the royals, even though everyone knew the worst was going to happen soon. One royal was going to have to die. It wasn’t even just the upper classes that this was affecting; even the lower classes in the top floors of the palace had been coming to bring gifts and say their farewells to both King and Prince.

Although it was against King Peter’s wishes, it was within Vampiric rules, so therefore, for the past month Lisette, Emeric and Malachi had all been allowed to stay in the palace; Malachi back in his old room next to the twins’, Lisette in Alice’s room, and of course, Emeric with Nicholai.

Emeric hadn’t wanted to leave Nicholai the entire time; it was as though he was afraid Nicholai would disappear without one final goodbye at any moment. Emeric even followed Nicholai to training practice, a terrifying experience in itself; he would sit there for hours a day as he watched his beloved sparring with his brother, sister and random guards to try and boost his speed and skill. Sure, Emeric couldn’t actually see that much of the battling because of the whole vampiric speed, but he knew Nicholai was doing well. Emeric did have his uses though; there now wasn’t enough weights for Nicholai to lift, so he ended up lifting all the weights, Emeric, Alice and four other guards at once to try and boost his strength.

Nicholai’s training time was over now though, four weeks had gone by very fast, and now dusk was quickly setting upon them. Nicholai wasn’t wearing much now, knowing from experience that too much clothing could be deadly in battle; he wore only a pair of skinny jeans; there was enough stretch in them for movement, but not enough fabric that Peter would be able to grab him and go in for the kill.

The three vampires and two werewolves headed down to the battle arena, stopping when they reached two entrances; one for the spectators and one for the competitors. The battle arena was only ever used for serious battles, and this, was most definitely a serious battle.

Lisette hugged Nicholai first, kissing his cheek. She said nothing though; all words had already been exchanged over countless fights and pleas to not go through with this just for her. Lisette’s words had fallen on deaf ears though.

Next was Malachi who hugged his brother tight, kissing his forehead, in only a way Nicholai would ever allow Malachi to do.
“You’re strong, you can do this. We believe in you” Malachi smiled, giving Nicholai a final squeeze.
The younger brother nodded, seemingly unable to speak right now.

Alice came over next, mumbling words to him that were neither English nor Vampiric, they were in fact words from a language the twins had made up when they were six, to talk to one another without people knowing. Nicholai soothed his sister as she began to cry, clinging to him before Malachi moved forward and pried her off of Nicholai, forcing her to cling to him instead.

Nicholai had been about to speak when all breath was taken from his body. Anna was walking towards them, looking paler and thinner than ever. This was taking a huge toll on her, and he not spoken to either her husband or her son in the past month. She had her reasons; she felt if she didn’t speak to either of them, she couldn’t be seen to be taking sides, and therefore could remain unbiased.
“I’ve already spoken to your father; he is already in the arena. Good luck my son, I love you so much” she whispered.
“Thank you Mama” Nicholai said quietly, moving to kiss his mother’s cheek.

Nicholai then nodded, and Malachi led everyone into the spectator’s gallery. Nicholai quickly grabbed Emeric’s hand to stop him following everyone else in.
“I-I didn’t want to talk to you in fornt of everyone else” Nicholai explained, his eyes already welling with tears. Fuck this was going to be harder than he thought.

Emeric just nodded, managing to keep it together for the two of them as he stepped forward and hugged his lover tightly, stroking his hair.
“I love you so much Emeric and I don’t ever want to see you get hurt. Ever. T-that’s why if the worst really does come to the worst, I need you to get Lis out of there. I need you both to be safe. Alice and Mal will help you escape, as will some other vampires whose help I’ve asked for. Just promise me you won’t stay for me. Okay?” Nicholai said, his thumbs now stroking over Emeric’s cheeks as he held his face.
“O-okay” Emeric nodded quietly.
Nicholai took the opportunity to give his beloved one final searing kiss before he entered through the competitor’s door into the arena. It was then that Emeric broke down, sobbing for the potential loss of his one true love. Malachi, who had been stood behind the door, came out and hugged Emeric until he stopped crying before leading him to their seats.

Nicholai entered the arena, his father stood at the other end. He looked up into the stands, and could see his family, apart from…Alice. She was stood in the middle of the arena. Of course. Alice was the only one directly related to both competitors by blood, and who hadn’t been banished. She would have to start the battle.
“There are no rules to this battle; this is a fight to the death for the crown of our kingdom. Both of you have a royal and legal right to the throne. The battle must stay within the arena and not go into the stands. Attacks must be based at one another and no one else here. You may start as soon as I have left the arena” rang out Alice’s clear voice. She quickly stepped back into the stands, and the two vampires were off.

Not much could be seen, the two were unbelievably fast, ever for vampires. But blood could be seen. A lot of blood. The only one of the royals watching the battle was Malachi; Anna and Alice were curled up together, as were Emeric and Lisette; they all hoped for Malachi to call when it was over.

Although they were able to protect their eyes from the sights, nothing could stop the sounds. Fangs could be heard clashing together, bones being ripped from sockets, limbs beings ripped right off in some cases. Bones were heard crunching as well as screams of pain and anger.

In reality, the battle lasted no longer than five minutes, but the sounds and sights would live with everyone forever. Once the battle was over and the dust had settled, Alice stood.

“Fellow Vampires. We have a new King!” she said, her voice breaking slightly. She had just lost her father in a very gruesome looking battle.

All the vampires remain silent as they looked upon the scene in front of them. Nicholai was collapsed on the floor, but clearly still alive from the groans of agony leaving him. The same could not be said for Peter. Nicholai had completely destroyed him; limbs were truly torn away from the body, lying in different parts of the arena, his head furthest away from everything else. Bite marks were obvious over the Kings body as large chunks of flesh had been gouged away. It was not a pretty sight.

Suddenly it seemed to sink in to everyone what had happened. Anna and Alice were screaming with grief, clinging to one another as paramedics raced over to their now King to check he was okay. Vampires filed out of the stands, murmuring about what they had just witnessed, leaving the royal family to follow after Nicholai on a stretcher, being carried to the court’s hospital wing.
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So....Big chapter for you guys huh! It genuinely made me cry a little bit, I could feel how nervous my poor Nicholai was D:

I did enjoy writing this chapter though, it's one of my favourites to write, even though the fighting was quite difficult to do!

Final point of today's chapter. I'd just like to thank all of you who actually take the time to read all of the chapters, and especially thank those who made me feel better yesterday. You know which three you are, and you know how much of a difference you made to this story.

Also, in the words of Julie: Emeric isn't a vampire, he's a werewolf kthx.

(that'll only make sense if you listened to me cry last night ;D)