The Vampire Prince's Servant

I still stood in the middle of the floor, watching him. He ran his hands through his golden hair. "I guess no one mentioned that to you before." he sighed heavily. I stared at him, while he looked at the ground.

"Why aren't you a prince as well then?" I looked at him, puzzled.

"Sit down." he gestured to the leather-clad seat across from him. I moved towards him, and sat there, waiting for what I hoped would be an explanation. "Although I am the oldest, Julian is still the Prince. When the time came, a long time ago, he was willing to do whatever it took to do to become Prince. That meant killing innocent people and creatures." he looked away. "I could only do so much. But Julian..." he trailed off. "He didn't care. He became unhinged. There was no stopping him. It was like he just wasn't even himself. It was as if something possessed him." he looked me in the eyes. "Power does crazy things to a man, Melody. Things that they wish they could take back."

I wished I could do something, but I couldn't. I just nodded. "Don't get me wrong, sometimes killing people isn't so awful, but I try to limit my killings to only those who deserve it. The ones that are on death row anyway." he shrugged. "So now I'm the Duke of a larger region of this place."

I thought about it all for a minute. "Can you ever become a Prince?" I asked.

"Only if I were appointed one by the King." he laughed. "And I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon."

"Why not?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"Because, during the 'Judgment Period', the time when the king decides who will be next in line for the crown, I messed things up between us. He has 'disapproved' of me since." Jared rolled his eyes.

The two of us sat in silence for a minute or so. "Well that sucks." I leaned back in my chair. I would hate it if my parent didn't like me.

He didn't seem to upset about it. "It's not so bad." he shrugged nonchalantly. "It means I can do things like this."

He leaned forward in his chair, and I did the same. I felt his hand wrap around my neck, bringing me closer to him. I realized I didn't know what to do with my hands. I stopped thinking about it for a second, and placed them on his chest. I grabbed onto his shirt, grasping at it in my fists. In those seconds, I had time to think. I had never been kissed before, and this was my first one. And it was with a gorgeous vampire that wasn't to moody, or to soft, but just right.

I felt him stand up, so I followed, I craned my neck up and stood on my toes to reach him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and I felt his arms roam across my back. I didn't know how I managed to not gasp for breath for so long, or maybe it had only been a few seconds. I didn't know anymore. I didn't know about anything anymore.

I didn't know about this place, my family, my friends, myself, the man who was my forced employer, or the man with his lips locked on mine. I didn't know about anything for sure anymore.

I pulled back first, but slowly. I needed to breath. More than just physically. The ironic part, was that in the time I was kissing him, I thought more than I had managed to in the past few weeks.

"See? Being a Duke isn't so bad." he leaned his forehead against mine.

I smiled. "Not bad at all."

He put his hand on my bruised cheek. "Now, let's see what we can do about this." He laid his lips on my cheek, I squinted hard. It hurt to be touched, but I felt a warm sensation across my face. He moved away, and I felt ten times better.

"Thank you. That's much better." I replied gratefully.

"I have to leave today. But I'll make sure to mention to Julian about Jessica. And don't worry, I won't say your name." he winked.

~~~~~*~~~~~

Jared left later that day, leaving me back alone doing the same chores as before. I had to serve dinner though. I was anxious to see if Jessica was there, which she wasn't. Everyone was talking about how Julian just started screaming at her to get out, and to never come back. Some said that he literally threw her out, others mentioned him throwing furniture at her. Either way, I wished I had been there to see it.

I was putting out the second course, and it was only Julian for dinner. He looked so somber, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad for him. I was taking away his plate when he reached over and grabbed my wrist. "Sit down." he commanded.

I sat in the seat on his left. "Is everything alright?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I knew the only reason she was with me was because of my situation, but I never wanted to believe it." he shook his head. "How could I have been so stupid!" he hit his fist on the table, causing me to flinch back. "The worst part was that everyone knew, even Jared. That was the bottom line." he glared at the table. "She begged not to go, that I was wrong." Julian gave a half laugh and shook his head. "Did she think I was an idiot?" He looked up at me for an answer.

I shook my head. "Sometimes, when a person wants something so badly, they'll do anything, and say anything to get it." I placed my hand on his, which was resting on the table. "She was the stupid one for thinking you would ever believe her." he looked into my eyes. I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't read what was behind them.

"Jared was talking to me about you." he stated. I moved my hand off of his and waited for him to continue. "He told me that you were a smart girl, and that you deserved more respect than I gave you." I still didn't say anything. "That may be true, but you have to earn my respect."

I nodded slowly. I didn't know how I was supposed to do that. "You're on your way to earning it." he answered my thoughts, I had forgotten that. "You've started by not telling people about Jared. If the rest of the kingdom knew, then there would be chaos. People rebelling, wanting to know things that they don't need to. I would be thrown out." he took a breath. "What I'm saying is that it would be bad, so thank you." I had never seen him smile genuinely before, but this was beautiful. His teeth glimmered and his eyes sparkled.

"You're welcome." I smiled. "I'll get the rest of your dinner for you." I stood up and walked out of the room.

The door swung shut behind me, everyone was staring at me. "What did he say?" Sasha was sitting on the edge of her chair.

"Nothing really. He said he thinks he did the right thing." I shrugged. I purposefully left out everything else, that wouldn't help with the trust thing.

"Are you sure that's all that was said?" Matt narrowed his eyes at me. "You were out there for a while."

"Positive." I grabbed a tray and left. I walked out, pushing the swinging door open with my back so I wouldn't drop it. I turned around to see that he was gone. I stood there for a second, trying to figure out what to do. Leave it anyway? What if he didn't come back? Should I take it to his room and risk getting in trouble? It would have been his fault for not telling anyone-

I was pulled out of my thoughts by an arm wrapping around my waist. I was turned around so quickly, I ended up dropping my tray to the ground. I didn't have time to react to anything, but there were lips being pressed against me. I opened my eyes to see Julian. I didn't know what to do, but it felt like he wasn't letting me go for a bit. I leaned into him. Then I remembered his ex. He just broke up with her, this kiss didn't mean anything. It was his way of dealing, that was plain to see. I didn't know what to do. He pulled away first.

"You don't know what you're doing." I gasped. His arms were still around me, I kind of liked the way he held me close to him. "You just broke up with Jessica."

"Why does that matter?" his voices was airy and sexy as hell.

"It-it matters because you're thinking irrationally." I was losing my train of thought, he smelt really good. I didn't want to be selfish about him, but I didn't want him to let go. I had to do what was best for him.

"Who says?" he challenged. He towered over me, his eyes playful and demanding.

"I do." I told him.

"Oh?" he raised his eyebrow. "And since when have I listened to a servant before?" he seemed a bit intoxicated, but his breath didn't smell like alcohol. I remembered Jacob mentioning to me how they could get drunk from an overload of 'rich' blood.

I sighed. "Let's go to your room." I took his arm from off of me and walked with him down the hall. I wrapped my arm through his to keep him balanced.

"You were just telling me I was being stupid, and now you want to sleep with me?" I rolled my eyes. "You Melody, are a hypocrite."

"Sure." I opened the door for him. "Here you are Your Majesty. Get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning." I walked him to his bed and sat him down. I turned to leave but he caught my arm.

"Thank you, again. For not letting me be stupid." I nodded.

"Goodnight." I closed the door and went to clean up my mess that I had left in the dining room. I'm sure the gossip gang would be dying to hear about this escapade of mine. I couldn't help but smile on my way back.