War Torn Love

Everyone was at the vampiric palace, well, almost everyone. Every werewolf and vampire from across the land had turned up to this historic event. Both species had been invited to both coronations, but it wasn’t mandatory for them to turn up. Both species had a great deal of pride for their royals though, meaning there were thousands upon thousands waiting to see their new leaders. Lisette’s coronation was first.

They had decided to do both coronations would be held at the vampiric court for the simple fact, that their coronation hall was much larger and would therefore be able to hold many more of their subjects within it. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any fighting today, seeing as technically both courts were still at war. Only men had the power to call the end of a war in vampiric culture, and Nicholai wasn’t technically king yet.

“Are you ready for this?” Nicholai asked his queen softly. He, Lisette, Emeric and Alice were all in a separate room just off of the side of the coronation room; only direct family were allowed in the room. The current werewolf King and Queen were mingling in the coronation room, greeting their people who, in not too long, wouldn’t be their people any longer. Malachi was with his mother, doing the same thing. He didn’t want to leave her alone, not at a time like this.

“Yeah, I think so,” Lisette said softly, shaking a little. It was a big responsibility she was in for, looking after millions of werewolves across the land. But she could do it, she was sure of it.

Nicholai smiled and kissed her temple lightly; they may not have been in love, but they were still married and he loved her as family and cared for her deeply. He didn’t want her to be too stressed out.

Everyone looked up at the sound of the door opening, and Roland stepping inside. His expression was dark yet unreadable; the same as always really. He and Lisette hadn’t spoken since her engagement party.

“Father,” she said politely, as tension rose swiftly within the room.

“May I talk to you outside for a moment?” he said, his voice emotionless, still not giving anything away.

Lisette nodded and followed Roland out of the room, towards a little private alcove were they could talk.

“Lisette, you have brought great shame on this family marrying a dirty vampire. Great shame. Your mother and I are disowning you, and your brother. We can’t be associate with these disgusting creatures. If you were any sort of a daughter you would kill that thing while he sleeps,” Roland growled menacingly at his daughter.

“Well, if that’s the way you feel, goodbye father,” Lisette shrugged, not rising to her father’s bait. She was not about to have an argument with him today, and ruin both hers and Nicholai’s coronations. She knew neither she nor Emeric had ever been particularly close with their parents, but it was still a little hurtful that they could just cut their children out of their lives like that. Still, it seemed they had more of a family with the vampires anyway.

With that said, Lisette turned and headed back into the room, leaving her father stood there alone.

“We’ve been abandoned by our parents Em,” she said softly once she turned around in the room, greeted by inquisitive eyes.

“I thought we may be sooner or later,” Emeric nodded with a sigh as he snuggled closer to Nicholai, who kissed the top of his head.

“Are you alright?” both Alice and Nicholai asked the two werewolves. Both nodded and the conversation was soon dropped.

Another knock soon sounded at the door, and this time, Malachi entered with a soft smile.

“It’s time Lisette,” he said softly as he held out his arm for her to take. The soon-to-be queen took the arm and led Lisette out into the crowds.

***
Four long hours later and both courts had a new king and queen. It was more than a little overwhelming for both Nicholai and Lisette, neither sure that it had actually sunk in yet the responsibility they both had.

A party was now going on downstairs with vampires and werewolves’ alike coming together in happiness. It all seemed to be going well, everyone was getting to know one another and becoming good friends already. The first thing Nicholai had said once both he and Lisette had been made King and Queen was that the war was over, which was met with tremendous cheers from both species. It made him glad that he had pleased so many people.

“Lis, I’ve got a present for you,” Nicholai smiled softly, taking Lisette’s hand and leading her from the hall where everyone was dancing and singing together.

“Nicky you didn’t have to do that!” she giggled, following after him, curiosity was getting the better of her.

“You won’t be saying that soon!” he laughed with her. He lead her down more flights of stairs, down further and further into the labyrinth that was the vampiric palace until –

“Nicky why are we at the kitchens?” Lisette asked, highly confused.

Nicholai didn’t say a word, he just knocked on the kitchen door, smirking.

A tall, dark hair man with a small goatee and a tanned muscular body answered the door. It was quite obvious this servant wasn’t a vampire, but that’s why Anna had always kept him down here away from Peter.

“Hello Sire is there anything I-“the servant began to say but stopped mid-sentence when he saw who he was with.

“Lissy?” he whispered, gawking at her. Lisette however didn’t even reply, she launched herself at the man, kissing him passionately as her arms locked around him. The servant was not just anyone, he was Darren. The same Darren that had given her the locket she always wore; Darren the werewolf, Jaspar’s son, and most importantly, Lisette’s true love. Nicholai had given her her true love back!

“Thank you Nicky,” she smiled softly, tears in her eyes as she briefly pulled away from Darren to hug her husband quickly.

“It’s no problem what so ever,” he laughed softly, hugging her back.

“I’ll leave you two alone now. Oh! Before I go, Darren, you are no longer a kitchen servant; if you want to stay employed here though, Mama says she is looking for a new personal servant, but the choice is all yours. Until then, you have a week off,” he grinned.

“Thank you sire, I will gladly accept your mother’s proposal,” he smiled.

Nicholai nodded in approval before quickly leaving the reunited couple to it. It made him so happy to see Lisette smile like that; he had never seen her smile so genuinely before.

He was a couple of storeys up from the kitchens now, yet still a couple of storeys away from the actual party, when Nicholai realised he wasn’t actually alone. An uneasy feeling suddenly settled over him, one he had not felt for a very, very long time.

“W-who’s there?” he called out, mentally cursing himself for stuttering.

“I can’t believe I still make you stutter Nick,” came a voice from behind the King.

Nicholai whipped around quickly. He knew that voice; it was a voice he truly feared with all of his being. His eyes widened as he saw the vampire in front of him. The vampire was surprisingly taller than the new King, with dark hair that swept over his face along with tight fitting leather trousers and a black shirt. This vampire used to make Nicholai weak at the knees, but not always for all the right reasons. This vampire was Tyler.

In 1965, Tyler and Nicholai had started dating; things had been great at first – hugs, kisses, romantic gestures, but it didn’t take long for things to sour. Nicholai had been deeply in love with Tyler, but Tyler hadn’t been so minded. He used to beat the then heir to the throne for fun; burns, gashes, bruises, bites, you name it, Nicholai had experienced it at the hands of Tyler. He didn’t know how to get away from him; he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He had stayed with the abusive man for twenty five years. It wasn’t exactly a long relationship in vampiric terms, but it was definitely long enough to cause Nicholai some serious psychological damage. Eventually Anna had caught wind of what Tyler was doing to Nicholai and banished him. She didn’t have the power to have him killed, and couldn’t exactly ask Peter to do so as Peter had never exactly been lenient about Nicholai’s sexuality.

All the thoughts came flooding back to Nicholai now, all those memories he’d blocked to try and live a normal life. Nicholai’s head bowed submissively as he looked at Tyler, terror freezing his body in place.

“I see you’re still the good little slut you always were Nick,” Tyler smirked as he stepped closer to the King, cupping his chin in his hand.

“I came back just for you, I heard you were going to be King, but I was very surprised to see you married a woman. Marriage of convenience was it? I bet you’re fucking one of the servant boys now,” he laughed softly.

Nicholai couldn’t speak a word as he was forced to look into his abusers eyes. He was shaking all over, terrified of what Tyler was going to do to him.

“Cat got your tongue Nick? Well, let’s see if I can’t loosen it for you,” Tyler smirked, forcing his lips onto Nicholai’s. The King whimpered, unable to push Tyler away as tears spilled down his face. This had to be one of the worst moments of his life.

“N-Nicky?”

Okay. Now it was the worst moment of his life.

Emeric stood in the corridor looking at Nicholai and Tyler, his own tears erupting in his eyes. Emeric had been accompanied by two guards as he didn’t really know his way around the palace yet, but had known Nicholai was going to the kitchens.

“Oh ho! So this is your piece of meat!” Tyler laughed as he saw the pain in both Nicholai and Emeric’s eyes. It was this that made Nicholai come to his senses, but not soon enough.

“Emmy!” Nicholai began to say as his lover ran.

“Arrest him! He just attacked me!” Nicholai shouted at the two guards who quickly snapped out of confusion and ran for Tyler as Nicholai began running after Emeric.

When he caught up with Emeric, they were in the entrance hall, the front doors thrown wide open. It was the middle of the day and fear could be seen on the faces of the vampires that had gathered there due to the commotion. Emeric didn’t even look back as he ran straight outside, heading for his own palace.

Nicholai didn’t even think twice. He always told Emeric he would walk through sunlight for him, and well, running through it was just the same. With that, he followed his love outside.