His Wicked Smile

"Oh my god. You can't be serious?" I said as I fixed myself some red beans and rice over the stove. I rested the phone between my shoulder and my head and talked to Charlie. Currently, she was away at Amel's home a few towns over. She had been infatuated with some hot demon guy.

"He's just so gorgeous! Wills you would just not believe it. Beautiful sparkling sea-foam eyes, the perfect slightly tanned skin with wavy dark hair." She swooned.

"Yes, yes but he's a demon, right? So doesn't he have some horribly ugly other form?"

"Well, I mean yeah. But I can totally look past that you know? Plus, it wouldn't be ugly because I'm pretty sure he's incapable of being ugly. Or anything near it, for that fact."

"Charlie be serious here, he's evil. So he like is from Satan. Do you know what that means? He's from hell. Hell is a no-no, Charles. What's his name anyway?"

"It's Haden. And I'm not going to go to hell, woman. My boyfriend is just from there."

"BOYFRIEND?! I thought you were just dating this guy!"

"No! You've just been too busy being lovey-dovey with Damien to notice." So that's it. She's right though, I haven't really paid attention to her. I haven't paid attention to my best friend. To say the least, I felt really bad.

I paused, "I'm sorry. I've just got, you know, caught up in my feelings for him lately."

"I know. You're pregnant and all, it's understandable."

"Yeah..." The conversation got awkward so to avoid further awkwardness we said our goodbyes and hung up.

I finished making my dinner and ate it. As if my body was set to automatic, I washed my dishes and cleaned up my mess. I blankly waddled to Damien's office hoping he would have something interesting to do. I was ridiculously bored.

I snapped back into my regular state when I heard Damien speaking slowly on the phone. I tried to be stealthy and pressed myself against the wall to hear the conversation going on behind the double doors.

"--Fuck. Really?"

....

"No serums? No potions? No ancient tribe with some random fruit? No spell or enchanted thing? No anything?"He sounded desperate.

....

"I understand that sir." I could tell Damien was getting frustrated with whomever he was on the phone with. Obviously, they weren't giving him what he wanted.

....

He sighed. "Screw it. I'm coming there. I don't know what the fuck you're doing."

There was a click, followed by a loud crash.

"Willow, stop snooping and get in here." Whatever had him in an angry mood was going to, in turn, make me angry...and I'm the pregnant one.

I sat down opposite him. "What's wrong?" It seemed that the crash caused the great mess of papers all over the floor and the cracked and broken wooden bookshelf.

"King and Queen. Few hours. Pack-- we gotta go." He said quickly facing the windows that were displaying the black sky which was void of any light due to cloud cover and the new moon.

"Uh, um. Right. Right."

--------------------------------

It was cold. I woke up in my seat with a blanket over me. We were only on the jet for an hour and we were already here. An isolated island a billion miles away from the house.

"Good you're awake." Damien said appearing.

"So why are we....here?"

"The stupid doctors want me here to sign papers for them, they're literally about to die."

"Dude, I'm sorry."

He shrugged. It was so strange how he could just not care about his parents. Although my parents were bitches after they found out I was knocked up, I still felt the complete rejection by them....so obviously I cared.

When Charlie and I faked our deaths I realized I'd never see my parents again. I knew I had rocky times with them but, hell, they raised me.

"They weren't around when I was younger, I had nannies and such that raised me."

I nodded. Childhood neglect. He was a product of silence.

The plane landed and the two of us had our luggage retrieved for us. We were quiet in the limo as we drove in the dark. The island was small and seemed completely uninhabited except for the hospital which we were going towards.

It was a huge white building in which when you walked in you were greeted in a respectable fashion as this was a hospital strictly for royalty. I yawned sleepily. The fluorescent lights were bright white like the sun making the already white hallways contrast to the darkness enveloping the world outside.

Three nurses who were extremely pale came over to where we were standing by the front desk.

"Hello, your majesty." The three of them curtsied in their too-short coats. "And M'lady" They all said simultaneously.

Two of them took our bags and handed Damien a key. The nurse that was left spoke in a sweet voice. "We are sorry for your predicament. It is always a gloom-filled time when great kings and queens pass." Her nametag was white and read: Aislinn.

Damien nodded.

"This way please."

We followed her down the hallway, passing crying families and rehabilitating patients. Certainly this couldn't be all royalty.

Noticing my curiosity, Aislinn spoke. "We treat all descendants and branches of all the royal families."

"Oh."

The elevator dinged and we walked down another hallway, the nurse stopped in front of a large wooden door with the number 270 on it.

Damien nodded in thanks to her and he walked in with me following on his tail.

A man and a woman were sitting up in two beds with tubes and IVs connected to them all over the place. The king's face was worn and had a leathery look to it. He had a permanent frown on his face and his hair was white. His eyes were sunken in.

The Queen was in the same state as the king. Vampires never aged past a certain point if they were born and once bitten you remained that age forever. It puzzled me as to how these two could have aged.

"Hello, Arthur. Emily." Damien nodded to his parents.

"Even on our deathbeds you can't call your mom 'mom'." He shifted awkwardly and sat down in one of the seats there.
Of course, that wasn't his birth mother. It was just the mother his father had married and his constant separation from her must have increased his lack for an actual mom.

"This is Willow." He looked at his dad, "She has my heir."

"We saw the press conference. She's a keeper, son."

I felt as if I wasn't meeting a kind or queen but rather one of my boyfriends parents for the first time where you awkwardly stand there.

"Sure, Arthur."

A moment passed. Emily breathed in deeply. "We're leaving everything to you. The papers are there, on the table."

She closed her eyes for a moment and reopened them. Even for the common stoic vampire appearance most put on it was easy to see she was in pain, the same went for her husband.

"We only have moments left, Damien. We're proud of you." Emily looked at me, "I don't know you. But from what I hear, you're a good person. I trust you to take care of my son."

Son. Her son. I still don't understand this vampire tradition thing. I nodded and looked away. She breathed in short breaths. And at last she breathed in one long painful breath. Her breathing sounded as if she had wood for lungs. and water for breath. Her body creaked and she sunk into the bed. She was quiet.

"If I had tears to cry, I would." Arthur croaked out. "I feel I raised you right Damien. Don't screw up all I've worked for." He said nodding towards him with his eyes shut. "Willow?"

"Yes sir?"

"I like you, kid."

I smiled and stood back. Damien stood up beside me. "I don't know if I'm ready for an entire kingdom, Arthur."

Arthur smiled. "Too bad." He coughed and closed his eyes. His breathing was of a normal person's-- until it stopped. His head relaxed and his body went limp.

"D-dad."