The Eye of the Vampire

2: Hjartaðr

Emilio
"Please call me Emilio, M'lady."

Even I was caught off guard by my words. I have never, ever, in my life have ever wanted for somebody to call my name more than I want her to call my name. Her reaction was adorable. Her eyes went wide and she had her lips slightly parted. Not too far, I mean, she didn't open her mouth up so far like her jaw got dislocated, no she's too perfect to pull something so predictable like that.  Her mouth was just open enough to see her teeth. She has the teeth of a normal human, with buck teeth. It was so adorable. Everything about her is so adorable.  Again, she is just, so perfect. "Okay then Emilio,.." she said, snapping me out of my daze. "You can call me Mable then, Emilio." She said with a slight grin. "I'll Keep that in mind, Mable." I replied while grabbing her hand and pecking it. All those gentleman classes Mother forced me to take were coming in handy at this moment. I needed to show her that I'm husband material. Luther was death staring me out of the corner of his eye. He had an almost jealous expression on his face with a mix of malice. Did he like her? If he did then that would be a huge problem. She is mine. Not his or anybody else's. Just Mine.

Throughout the night, me and Mable kept talking. Then the dance started. Since this family is very old school, we traditionally do old dances such as the Galop or the Polka. Instead, Mother persisted on doing the Viking dance to honor our gods. Which, I don't think is a bad idea nor a good one. We are stepping off the traditions and going back to the olden days where Vampires killed their mates for not listening. We were not good monsters. I personally did not want to do the Viking dance myself, so I cleverly thought of a way to not do it.

"Mable, would you care to accompany me to the rooftop?" The roof was perfect. Not only was it near my quarters, it was also a place nobody would look at when looking for me. Instead if you were Charlotte. That girl knows exactly where I am at all times. Weirdo.

Mable, caught off guard by my request, looked at me surprised and then smiled. "Of course You're- I mean Emilio." God, her smile... It was worth more than anything in this lifetime.

I took her hand and headed towards the stairs. That's when Samlet stepped in my way. "Are you seriously trying to play hooky on the most important  day of your entire life, Emilio?" He looked at me with such disappointment in his eyes. He looked like he was going to attack me at any given moment.

The thing is with Samlet, Oliver, and Ambrose is that they all would kill for the crown that im now entitled to. See, the eldest, Theodore, was supposed to have the crown. Then he 'mysteriously vanished' according to Ambrose, his twin. Only Father knew what actually happened. Theo didn't want to be crowned so he ran. Father decided that Ambrose would get it. Then Ambrose started having affairs with a beta from the werewolf clan; relationships like those are forbidden, so Father passed it on to Oliver. Oliver then tried to kill Samlet and Charlotte in a blind rage so Father skipped Samlet and passed it on to me, the middle child. Father claims he did that because he didn't want the future of our kingdom in jeopardy from Samlet getting PTSD from the incident.

"I'm not playing hooky, I simply don't want to be here Sammy." I said with a smile. The malicious aura coming from my older brother at this moment was enough to scare the whole ball room if I didn't deal with this situation seriously. He is known as the royal child with a bad temper. "Really then where in the world were you heading there, Brother?" His tone only getting more and more threatening. "Um-" Mabel squirmed next to me, clearly feeling uncomfortable. That's when Samlet's eyes looked her way. The way he stopped and stared. It made my skin crawl. I should punch him. I should Kill him. He was staring at her like she was his when she wasn't. I lifted up my hand to attack when Mother and Father stepped between us.

"Upstairs both of you. Now."

Father wasn't mad like he normally was when Samlet pulled this crap. Instead, he looked at me then at Mother. Mother was next to Mable with a happy yet concerned look on her face. "Samlet, what were you doing?" Father asked after him and Mother had a stare off. Sam only looked down and then towards the door. He was staring at her again. Mable was still in the coronation area doing who knows what. I swear, if I never see her again, I'm going to do some things that will get me dethroned by the higher ups.

"Emilio, you need to breathe, brother." Ambrose said coming from the party. You could hear the music from all the way up here. "Ambrose I-" I was cut off by Father. "He's right Emilio, you do need to calm down before you tear out Sammy's or your Mother's throat." He had a serious look on his face. It was a threat to stay in line. I believe the whole reason Mother and Father pushed me to become the king as soon as possible is because they couldn't wait to divorce and find their actual mates, if they were even alive. They couldn't while they were the center of attention to the public. "Alonzo, look at the state he's in." Mother said with a worried look. Father then looked me up and down then let out a deep sigh. "You've got to be kiddin." He seemed upset with something. Why is he upset? I'm the one who had something that was mine most likely taken away from me. Ambrose walked up next to me and looked for a moment. After staring for a few seconds, he had the biggest smile on his face.

"What the heck are you smiling about Ambrose?" Samlet growled out at him. Ambrose looked at him, then at Mother, then At Father, then at Charlotte and Oliver, who were just walking into the room.

"Our little brother has found his Hjartaðr"