Fangs & First Kisses

Chapter 5

OWEN

Walking around the castle makes me understand that my family is just a freaking shithole. I see decapitated human heads of those who came into our castle and received their untimely fate. There are several torture devices located all around the castle; guillotines, iron maidens, and the brazen bull.

They are used almost every day when I'm at Rushmore High School to the unsuspecting humans who think our castle is a tourist attraction. The rooms are decorated with paintings made of animal and human blood, mostly of humans being tortured. Why do we do this? Humans don't deserve this. The war two thousand years ago only harmed humans and not us! We won the war by realizing that we could shapeshift into animals, live out our days in the forest, and slowly hunt the humans. I hate my life. I spend days thinking about killing myself but vampires can't suicide and are immortal until another vampire murders us. Looking at the history books tells me that we are the worst creatures to man. We rip the heads off humans with our fangs and use their limbs as utensils during our free time. I walk down the hallway and see Olivia reading a book.

I run up and hug her tightly; she's the only one I can talk to about this. She pats my back lightly and I let go. She looks at me in confusion and asks, "What happened Owen? Are you ok?" I signal her to meet me in my room later. We walk back to my room and I sit on my bed while Olivia sits in the chair at my desk. "Olivia...Promise me you won't tell Mum and Dad about this." I plead with her in a pitying voice. She nods and I start to tell her what I'm going through. "Olivia, I have a...crush on a human..." She screams in shock and cups her mouth. "Owen...You know what will happen if Mum and Dad find out, right?" "I know! I'm just confused...Why do I have these feelings for her?" I ask while trying to get Lexi out of my mind. Olivia comes over and pats my head as I bury my head on her chest and cry. I don't what's wrong with me, I'm not supposed the fall in love with anyone else. "Thanks for listening to me, Olivia." At this moment, a strange smile forms on her face. A glint of red passes through her eyes as she pulls out her phone.

She plays a recording of our conversation and talks to me in a threatening voice. "What would Mum and Dad think if I show them this? What would they do? Now, you listen to me," She grabs my shirt as she whispers to my ears. "You better not make any problems for me and don't try to tell anyone, you pompous ass shit." I'm shocked by her sudden change in attitude. How could she betray me like that? I look at the person in front of me, not sure of what she has become. I hold her down by the shoulders as I try to hypnotize her but she punches me in the groin and pushes me down to the floor.

"Don't you dare try to hypnotize me, you bloody idiot! Vampires can't hypnotize other vampires, asshole. Owen...Owen...Owen!" Her voice fades and I'm suddenly jolted awake by Olivia and notice that it was all just a dream. Am I stupid to believe that Olivia would do that to me? She's so kind, she couldn't possibly do that. "Owen...I promise I won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me." She promises, worrying that I might fall asleep again. Olivia walks out of my room and I am left with my thoughts. What should I do? Do I tell them? They'll kill me sure, but maybe they'll go easy on Lexi. I lie in bed thinking about this as I drift off into slumber.

* * *

I wake up to the servant knocking on my door, asking me to come down for dinner. I check my phone for any new messages, but nothing shows up. I rub my eyes for a while before I change out of my current clothes into my favorite black tank top and jean shorts.

I walk down the staircase and to the dining hall to see my parents already sitting there, feasting on the freshly hunted deer. Trying to avoid eye contact with either of them, I sit down with my head down. "Where's Olivia?" Mum asks. "Who's Olivia?" Dad spits out. I roll my eyes and start to eat the deer. "Fix your hair, Owen!" Dad hisses at me. My black hair is scruffy as usual and I don't bother about it. "And what is with that attire?" He continues. "What's wrong with it? It's my casual outfit, Dad." I reply, questioning why Dad is suddenly so interested in my outfit. "We're expecting Valerie today, aren't we honey?" he looks at Mum who sighs. "I have decided to disqualify her for aggressive behavior. She's too dangerous. She could harm Owen." Dad opens his mouth to argue but must respect Mum's decision and drops the case about my attire. The two start talking about what they're going to do tomorrow when Olivia enters the hall.

"So that's Olivia..." Dad says this, nodding, as he continues eating the deer eye. Olivia sits down right next to me and I see that she has been working on an art piece mostly because of the blood stains on her face. I hand her a tissue to wipe it off before continuing to eat. The deer is particularly tender this time around and I devour the deer leg. The servants next to me give me some deer blood, my favorite drink, and I am suspicious why the day is going so well. "So, Owen, I think it's time for you to understand the importance of marriage when you're in the royal family. You see, being a..."

Shit, I take back my words. This day got a lot worse as my father starts to talk about what will happen if I do not marry before I take the throne and all those other bullshit. I look at Olivia who is chuckling at my suffering, so much for help. I nod occasionally to at least show them I am somewhat listening to him. He talks until he hears a knock on the front gate. It's a human. We can all tell by the way the guards beside the door look at us. Mum gets up from her seat as she commands us to get ready for the so-called fight. "Owen, you hypnotize the human while your father and I will prepare the iron maiden. Olivia...Just go up to your room, honey."

Olivia rolls her eyes as she shapeshifts into her usual white heron and flies up to her room. I walk up to the door and give the signal to open it. There is a human couple in front of us, their ages being in their early thirties. I whisper in the guard's ear to tell my parents to prepare two iron maidens. Next, I hold both of them down by the shoulders and stare into their eyes. "Go to sleep..." My eyes turn from blue to red as the couple stares at me in fear. I drag them to the torture room where I see Mum and Dad already there. They walk over and with a snap of their fingers, the couple have awoken from their slumber. The couple looks around terrified and gets pushed into the iron maiden by the guards as the door shuts. Screams of pain erupt from the iron maidens and my parents grin in excitement when they notice blood flowing down from the iron torture device.

I notice that my clothes have become dusty from dragging the two to the chamber room and excuse myself out of the room. I regret even standing there in the first place. It was horrendous. The absolute fear in their eyes, when they were pushed into the chamber, is enough to send chills down my spine. I despise torturing humans but my parents think otherwise. They think it's a free meal for us which makes me want to throw up. I'm okay with eating animals but I draw the line at humans.

It's just plain cruel.

But again, my parents are jackasses so they never change. I go back up to my room and notice that I have received a new text. It's from Lexi.

Hi Owen.

Hi Lexi.

Where were you today after you returned our cups?

I hesitate to answer this question because I know it will sound unbelievable. So, I come up with a lie that even a child wouldn't believe it.

I had a stomach ache so I went home.

You could've just told me.

I'm sorry, forgive me, ok?

K, bye.

Bye.

I shut off my phone after that, I can't keep lying to Lexi. I want to be with her but I truly don't know how. It's so frustrating...I wish I was just a normal boy with normal parents. But no, I'm a vampire prince with parents who are cold-blooded psychopaths who kill humans for fun. What did I do to deserve this life? How did it end up like this? The day could not be any worse...