Ruthless

Chapter 9 - Venturer

He walked into the crowded room and heads turned to look at him. The mighty king Gabriël Malory. His chin up high and his back straight, he walked with his hands entwined on his back. There was nothing he feared. No one he had to bow to. People were to fear him, to bow to him. Amazing his reign is.

Everyone feared him. Is that what a good king inspires? Fear? Yes, to him it was the most important thing. Fear meant power. It meant people not caring about his broken promises. But no more of those anymore. He had finally found her. The descentent of the infamous lady Oneida De Aquila. What a terror that woman had been to our delightful king Gabriël. Anyway... More of that later.

"She is very beautiful isn't she?" The king asked and the crowd in front of him answered disharmoniously but all replied with the same answer. Voices were heard all over the massive room and they were all agreeing with the king. All the servants, armed forces and his dear helpers, whom he'd loved to call his friends. Two of them were Tristan and Dominic.

Tristan looked around at the bodies he stood behind, at the very corner of the enormous room. They looked lifeless, as all they had to live for was the King. Their eyes were drained of happiness. And once where Tristan saw smiling faces, he now saw dull skin (with very bland blood), like every servant, guest and guard was walking under a rainy cloud. The conditions these people had to under were none to be too happy about but the respect they had for their king was immense and unfailing. In the end, he was the one who promised them he would give them back their lives.

"And of course, now that we've found h- I mean dear Tristan has found her, we shall have a ball. Just like in the old days." The king gestured at Tristan, everyone turned around and he felt embarrassed. He looked down, fiercely biting down on his lip,  trying not to think of how much he wanted to hurt the king right now.

A ball, that was all that was needed. This king and his stupid love for royal balls. What was the purpose of them? Showing his people what a great king he is? How he loves to listen to opera music and dance and sing? 

The sad thing was people actually believing and fearing him. Tristan saw him for who he really was, though. A monster who only had the succes he had because of the people around him. How could they love him? He was the one who got them into this mess.

The king wondered if the little monkey called Ruth would behave. He hoped for her she did. He hoped for himself she didn't. Seeing the look of hurt on her face thrilled him. It was nostalgic to him.

Numerous important guests around the entire globe were staying in the castle. If he listened intently, he could hear their dead hearts not doing anything at all. You know, because they're dead.

Vampires were vicious creatures. They loved hurting even their loved ones, that's what they enjoyed doing. They killed for pleasure, which was one of the reasons Ruth was mixed into this world of the living dead.

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Dominic knocked on the dark wooden door of Ruth's room. The room she hadn't left for the few days she had been staying at the castle. She didn't really have to as everything she needed was in there. Ruth had her own bathroom with bath and shower and even her own sauna and swimming pool.

She looked up and didn't know what to say. What if it was Tristan? She couldn't deny that she hoped it was. She missed his presence even though he betrayed her in the worst way possible. She thought of him for many hours, tried to understand the situation he was in. Would she have done the same?

"... May I come in, miss?" Dominic's voice filled the room and Ruth was disappointed it wasn't Tristan's face she laid eyes on. Ruth knew who he was, the second most respected man in the castle. The servants often spoke highly of him.