The Vampire Prince's Servant

The dinner was uneventful; I did have a few moments of feeling lightheaded. I would suddenly get very dizzy and nearly faint, I would assume that it was from the loss of blood and the sudden activity I had been doing.

“Melody, would you mind going in to collect the dishes from the dining hall?” Cole asked me. He looked like he was about to fall asleep on his feet, kind of like I felt. I didn’t want to make any more enemies than I already had, which was only Julian, but that was enough for me.

I nodded. “Yeah, sure.” It wouldn’t take too long to do, then I would go to bed as soon as I was finished.

He hugged me quickly. “Just go in, with your head down, ask if they are finished, and gather it, and bring it back. Don’t make eye contact though.” I nodded in reply. “You are a life saver.” He walked out of the back door into the hall way. I found the door he directed me to go through, took a breath, and pushed through.

There was about ten people seated at the table, Julian was at the head, of course. There were six handsome men, and four very beautiful women. No one looked up when I walked in thankfully. I went through everyone and waited to get Julian’s until last.

“Are you finished, sir?” I mumble loud enough for him to hear. I could feel his eyes on me; I looked down at my feet, and noticed the vibrant red carpet placed underneath them, the dim lighting making pop in comparison to everything else in the room.

“I thought I informed you that you weren’t permitted to work today.” His tone was harsh and angry, which was ridiculous. It wasn’t like a regular job where I was being paid, it was like forced volunteer service.

Still looking at the floor I replied, “I felt the need to help. I’m sorry if it upsets you.” The last part I said through clenched teeth. I started to feel scared, and I knew that it was very easy to sense. I bit the bottom of my lip and glared at the ground.

“What upsets me is that you didn’t follow my orders.” He growled fiercely. The breath in me was caught, and I stood there looking at the ground, not being able to breathe. I glanced up at him and saw him staring at me with hate filled eyes. I wanted to run away quickly, but I knew that would have made everything worse, and I didn’t know where I would run to.

“Only you would get upset for someone working, Julian.” Came a melodic voice to the left of me. I looked over at who was talking. A beautiful man; blonde hair, fit, and had a beautiful smile on his face.

I heard him sigh. “Yes, I’m done. Now leave.” I grabbed the plate before he could say anything else, and I ran back to the room. I set the dishes down on the brown table that was placed to the side. The light blue walls covered the room, making it seem cheerful; which was quite the opposite. I left the room, only to be called back in by a fellow servant who I hadn’t seen before.

“Miss, the master requires your presence back in the dining room.” I sighed, and wanted to sit down and cry. He stood there, waiting for me with expectant eyes. I turned from the hall way and walked back into the dining room.

The group hadn’t moved since I had been in there from the last ten minutes. I stood in the door way for a minute before anyone noticed me. “You asked to see me?” I asked, but what should have been more of a statement.

He looked up from his conversation. “Yes. Come here.” I didn’t hesitate, but I kept my head down until I could tell that I found my way over to the head of the table. I could feel their eyes on me, boring into my soul. Everything in my body told me to run, but I knew that would be stupid to do. “You disobeyed me.” He said in a spine chilling whisper.

In return, I nodded. “That is twice in one day.” He pointed out. “Once, in front of my company.” I looked up into his painfully cold blue eyes, but quickly averted them back to the ground. Even with him sitting down he was taller than I was.

“I-“ he cut me off. “No. Don’t say a word. You will be working tomorrow with Matilda. Make it through the day and nothing will happen.” I felt relief rush through my body. “Are we understood?”

“Yes.” I nodded. I wanted to faint with happiness.

“Good. Now leave, Melody.” He jerked his head towards the door and I walked quickly down to it and left. I rushed out of the kitchen and servant dining hall and rushed through the grand corridors. I opened my room door and slammed it behind me. I went to the closet and found whatever pajamas that were there and quickly put them on.

“What’s got you in a rush?” Mattie asked, stepping out of the bathroom. I was crawling into the uncomfortable bed when she saw me.

“I have to work with you tomorrow. I want to sleep as long as I can.” She climbed into her bed on the opposite wall from me.

“Well, I’ll wake you up then. Goodnight Mel.” The lights when off after.

I drifted into a nightmare. I was being chased through a dark hallway. Screams and laughter were coming from all around me. Everywhere I looked was spinning and I had no idea where I was going. No matter where I turned or went, there was always the dark figure standing in front of me, threatening my very life. It was covered in a dark cloud making it impossible to see who, or what it was. Moments from seeing their face, I was woken up by Matilda.

She was shaking my shoulders. “Melody. Wake up, we have a long hard day ahead of us.” I quickly jumped up out of bed, still tired. “Take a shower first.” she recommended. I did. It was short, I didn’t know how long I had until we had to start. Mattie left my new stupid uniform out for me on the small counter.

A strapless black shirt with cream lace across the front, a skirt that went to my knees and black heels; this is what I had to work in. I was fairly certain that I would be taking off the shoes with in the first half hour they looked pretty painful. Depending on what I would have to do, I would be dying. Hopefully there were more Band-Aid’s nearby.

I emerged from the bathroom and shove my hair in a ponytail. “Great. Let’s go.” Mattie grabbed my hand and we went out of the room. I shut the door behind us, and I followed her down the hall. I never noticed the tapestries and chairs that filled them. Of course they were all very regal things, and covered in a dark blue satin.

We stopped at the door to his office. “Come in.” the voice said. We opened the heavy door and entered his dimly lit room. The walls were filled with books and trinkets. He sat at the large oak desk, writing. I shut the door behind us and we stood, waiting. He looked up at us and handed Matilda a slip of paper. “There are your chores today. I assume that Melody has already told you that she will be working with you today. Since there are two of you, I expect twice the amount of work to be twice as good as usual.” He glared at both of us. I nodded back at him, and we curtsied and left the room.

We walked briskly down the hall, stopping in a room to grab cleaning supplies before we went to work. We went past several winding staircases and turned down plenty of halls, I knew that there would be no way I would ever be able to find my way back. My feet were already killing me and I wanted to die. We finally stopped at a huge door that towered over us. Mattie pushed it open after unlocking it.

The room was filled with red. A red bed, floor, walls, the only thing that wasn’t red were the dark brown tables and dressers. The bed was wrinkled and looked like it had been slept in, there were clothes tossed aside on the end of the bed. We started out with changing the sheets and making the bed back up on the giant king sized bed. The clothes were put away and the hard wood floor was scrubbed clean until it shined. The bathroom that led off of the side of it was spotless by the time we were done. We finished it in roughly an hour. We went on and did this for eight other rooms, which I assumed belonged to the people that were dining the night before.

We made it to the tenth room. “We have to knock before we go into this one.” Matilda told me. I nodded and knocked on the wooden door three times. There was no answer, so I opened the door for us to go in. I held the door for Mattie, but she shook her head at me.

“Aren’t you coming?” I asked, puzzled. She shook her head again. ‘Oh crap,’ I thought. ‘he’s standing behind me.’ But when I looked, there was no one there.

“No, it says on here that you have to do it yourself. I have to clean these halls.” She handed me the white piece of paper that said, ‘My room~ Melody. East Wing Halls~ Matilda’ I handed it back to her. I wanted to throw something at the wall. She handed me the supplies and we went our separate ways. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it for a moment. I took a deep breath and walked towards the bed to strip it of the sheets. I was about to collapse from the pain in my feet and legs. I sat down on the black silk comforter and took a breath. I sat for a second before getting up and removing everything, leaving the bed bare.

I went into the walk in closet, and found the where the sheets were located. They were in the same spot in every room. I remade the bed, tucking in every corner, and smoothing it out. The room had to look absolutely perfect, no mistakes or slip-ups. I cleaned the floor to the point where it practically sparkled -it was the only room with hardwood floors-, and I dusted off the shelves and tables. I cleaned the bathroom, which was the size of my room, if not bigger.

I checked everything else, making sure it was perfect. I was determined not to screw it up, or I knew the consequences would be dire. I stepped outside of the door, looking both ways, searching for Matilda. I shut the heavy door behind me, trying to make as little noise as possible. I took off to the left, and went looking for my friend.

After about five minutes of not being able to find her, I turned around to go back the other way. I walked for a while, then stopped and leaned against a wall in exasperation. I closed my eyes momentarily and felt a tear roll down my cheek. I was so concentrated on trying not to cry, that I didn’t even hear him coming down the hall.

I felt a hold hand grasp around my neck and my eyes flashed open in an instant. “What do you think you’re doing?” I was looking into Julian’s cold blue eyes. I wanted to scream out, but I couldn’t make a sound. “Did you hear me?” he roared again.

I nodded as I felt the tears drop from my eyes. “I was looking for Matilda, sir.” I whispered barely loud enough to be heard. My voice shook with every word I spoke, and my breathing was wavered and unsteady.

“Did you finish cleaning up my room?” He loosened his grip on my throat only slightly. I nodded slightly, it was all I could manage.

“Well let’s just see about that.” He grabbed my hand roughly and drug me throughout the hall to his room. I stumbled to try and keep up with him, my legs were smaller than his and he walked much faster than I possibly could.

Throwing open his door, he roughly tossed me in and slammed the door behind us. I was on my hands and knees on the floor trying to regain myself; I stood up and looked at my hands which had burns, along with my knees. I felt him watching me with hate filled eyes while I balanced myself once again.

He stormed through his room looking for any possible flaw that would have been visible to him. I stood scared out of my mind by the door. I knew it would have been stupid to run, and I wouldn’t have gotten far, and as I thought about it, he appeared before me again.

“Go back to your room and wait for further instruction.” He commanded me. Thankfully he didn’t find anything wrong with my cleaning job and I practically ran out of the room back to mine. Upon arrival, I shut the door behind me and dove to my bed.

After a half hour, I received a knock on my door.